The order of the Gospel, professed and practised by the churches of Christ in…

2. Such as are weak in the Faith we are Expressly Commanded to receive. Rom. 14 1. Receiving into Church fellowship may well (amongst other things) be comprehended in that Expression.

3. Weak Christians if Sincere have the Substance of that Faith and Sanctity which is necessarily required in Church Members; and therefore no reason they should be Excluded, though others may Exceed them in measure and degree of Knowledge and Grace.

4▪ Church Communion and the Ordinances of God belonging thereto, being of special use for Confirmation and growth in Grace, such Christians that are the weakest have the most need thereof, and therefore by no means should be Excluded ther•-from. These Rules being observed, we affirm that Examination of persons to be admitted into Communion at the Lords Table is necessary. More Arguments for it may be seen in Mr. Cottons Excellent Treatise of the Holiness of Church-Members. And in this Controversy those of the Presbyterian persuasion agree with the Congregational, as we see in their Vindication of the Presbyterial Government published by the Ministers at London in the year 1650. Wherein what we assert is largely proved by many Reasons, and the usual Objections against it, are solidly answered. In the primitive Times they were very strict in Examining those ⟨p. 21⟩who were admitted into Church Fellowship. The great Chamier wisheth that the like strictness were used in these days. Origen against Celsus (Lib. 3. p. Mihi. 142, 147, 148.) sayes, that in those days, Christians did initiate none but Converted ones in their Mysteries, and that they did all that possibly they could do, that their Churches might consist of none but such as were endued with Spiritual Wisdom, and that therefore they that joined to them submitted to severe Examinations. This principle, That ungodly persons are not fit to be admitted to the Lords Table, was asserted in the first dawnings of the Reformation. Not only such as fell in with the Geneva Discipline, but the First Reformers in the Church of England went thus far. The Twenty nineth Article says, That in the use of the Lords Supper, such as are void of a Lively Faith, to their Condemnation Eat and Drink the Sign and Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Liturgy says, That in no wise men should come but in the Marriage Garment. That if any man be in Malice, or in any grievous Crime, Let him not come to the Holy Table, but let him Repent truly of his Sins past, and have a lively Faith in our Saviour Christ. Such Expressions as these are in the English Liturgy. A. B Cranmer in his Answer to the Fifteenth Articles of the Devonshire Rebels, having quoted many old Canons which require the people to Communicate and not the Priest alone, has these words, I would Exhort every Good