Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1842-01-26

cSIuYico VIC ua'C 40 W SuttuS VIII tuctD
as dear brethren 10 the Lord, are gone.
But is il so! All! think again. Is ii
true. genuine censure, loving. brothefly
censure. and Holy Spirit, upper-world
Conscience is il conscience, and nothing
but conscience, you have. influencing you
in all this matler2 Methinks if it were,
and the want Of baptism in your brethren
made the only difficulty about it, your
christian love would cause you TO contract
lhetrouble between you and your brethren
in Jesus, into as narrow limits as possible.
! should think your heart which you say
so goes out in brolheriy affection TO those
you exclude. would make you to fellow
ship. at the holy feast Of our common
Head. where you would doit, if may SO
express myself, without pinching consci-
ence loo much. One wonld very natural
ly imagine that you would not make the
least attempts to stretch conscience. so as
to have il cover an inch more Of ground
than absolutely necessary, and that you
would commune with others in all cases
when you ihought it would any way do
But so is not the fact The stretching
seems not to be on the side OF charity and
kindness. but all works in an anli-brolh-
eriy direction. You. my Brother, do
seem intent upon making the case as bad
as you can! All, il has a bad look, as |
remarked about something else just now.
am afraid that conscience, and this strict
communion Of yours, comes fsoma wrong
quarter. Men do not gather thorns from
the. grape vine, nor thislles from the zig
tree, that they are not together by the
Heavenly dove-that they do not come
from the realms OF light. Do you ask
what l mean by this stretching of consci-
ence? Instead of containing with all
you we'll can, you seem bent upon exclud-
ing in every case when you can nuke
out any sort of pretpxl for so doing. II
does look as tho close communion Baptists
wanted TO go to the ends of The earth 10
hunt up and exclude all that do no. move
just so, from their fellowship
There are many in the other sects who
have been immersed. Those you will
not commune with. There is the demon.
ination Of the .Free-will Baptists before
mentioned. These you reject. Why |?
Because unbaptized2 No, you admit they
are baptized. So it is not simply be-
cause people are not baptized that you
exclude them. This Free-will Baptist; ;
why exclude him! ! now only ask the
question: in anolher place intend to look
att again. And then perhaps shall find
my rigid communion brother running
back to the position he but just now de-
serted: that Of -censare. But | have not
yet done with this point. Here your in
consistency comes again in sight. You
fellowship as before noticed your non-im-
mersed brethren as christians, in every
spot but at the communion board. Where
is your warrant for the distinctiona If
baptism is to be attended TO at all, is it moi
to be attended to al once, as the iniliatory
rite Introducing US forward into The chris.
rian kingdom2 And is il not as neces-
sary to practise oil the dulles Of that king
dom as any one ofihem? must insist
ihat i IS. And the burden Of proof must
fall on those who take upon themselves
The immense responsibility OF rejecting
from their iellowship.in on case. while they
do not in any Of the others And must
insist that this be done, not by round
about process. and strained inferences bot
by something positive and direct. Elbow
ing off a part OF the family Of our COM
mon Lord is no slight affair, and it ought
20 have something sIrong and clear to Just
lily il Until this is done. l must charge
with inconsistency The man who will fell
lowship as a christian in one case. but
will not do j. in another.
3. Exclusion partly as an aet Of cen
sure, partly for non-bapt;sm. LIDO SOL
emily think that my Baptist brethren. not
hasing.he truth Of God on their side as res
sPects strict communion, and having plac,
ed themselves 10 wrong position. have
in consequence fonnd themselves in an
awkward predicameni, and one that men