He was a very bad man, and an enemy of Christ. Yet being in a divine office, from which there was no law to exclude him, God vouchsafes to him the gift of the Spirit. He utters a remarkable prophecy, and that utterance is expressly connected with the Priesthood. He spake not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied. Exclusion from the Lord's table, then, does not imply a condemnation of a man's character, but of his principles or his course.
Open communion discourages self-examination.
The churches have pronounced on our spiritual state. We are accepted as regenerate. It discourages the study of the divine word. If I may enjoy the highest privileges of the Church, no matter what I believe within the range of Evangelicalism, or what I do within the limits of a common morality, there is no very pressing necessity to apply myself to a close and searching examination of the word, that I may know the doctrines and laws of Christ. I am well enough as I am.