Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-06

i
u edition, as it. is revised somewhat every
four years, and man quoting from al,
\ old edition to- prove the present position
or practice of tour church, is. about as.far
4 behind the times as would be. a. Judge
Edeeiding a point of law in court by quot
/ ing from the compiled statutes of 1910.
i when thepoint of law quoted had. been
1. long since changed, and was to he found.
/ In: the last compilation. f:-,i... fe =. :.
i Says Bro. Spencer: 81 willpow quote
from a copy of the manual of the. Metho-
i dist church.. Let noperson that is not a
! member of our church be admitted TO
+ the. communion without examination,
I and. without some token given by an
!. elder OF. deacon.'"5 Now Bro. Spencer
never quoted that from. any manual of
the Methodist church; he never saw that
! quotation in any manual. of the. Netho-
i dist church. !. more than this. we chal-
lenge him to find it in any manual: of the
!: Methodist church. .i.}.-s.s : sti.,s.ss
j He ':quoted it from arecent number of
1 the Kqa01i,aer and 5G7sr0atcge, 'suppesing
it to be. eorrect;" but it is. not correct.
This secondhand or, hearsay testimony.
is strange peryersion and distortion OF
our discipline and practice. We Judge.
| the writer in the Egann51aeq and C'tro9l-,
iele, auoted.by Bro. Spencer, must have
mutiiated and wrongly applied the. clause
in our manual: concerning the '7eceftgo1o
| of members into, the church, and has
nothing to do with our custom of COM
.nuniops: ssLet no one be received into
1 the, church until such person has been
/ at least six months on trial, and has
been recommended by the leaders and
stewards meeting, or where no such
meeting is held, by the leader, and
/ has been. baptized, and who. shall
an eNatnination by the minister in cha ge
/ before the: church., give satisfactory as
sura ices .bo.h of the correctness. of his
| faith and his Willingness to observe and
!. keeen the rules of the church" This. has
+ reference -to,reeeiVing members FROM pro-
| baton of six months, and not to receiy-
Ling members on trial. Often. they are
/ not baptized till the same day they are.
received from their pr0batiopship Of
! ten they'd commune always they are
I invited by our diGciplif e.a ia always en-
! vited, so far as we know, by those adj
ministering it.. Now oW. any ibtelfi=
I GENT " tier cou.d SO. lnisCu0te and mis-
+ cons, rue, this, clause o. oS-" discipline is
J beyond. oUf comprehension, or. how
+ Brother Spencer could consistently say.
/ II will now qHo.e from TIE nl8ntiai Of
i the Met 'lodis. church. when he qnOtet.
! from the E'e1aa5 7lef'' and C1g6uicJe and
/ ia fact did TO- know only by this second.
4 band testimony what opr mar al. did.
cay 90 this subject, / leave for .oJhers to
judge. e ll.t'..' i.Es..t..S1 .,s..,-'
/ . The clause quoted by Brother Spencer
from 'the E.5raajRtt end G2Arente6 is
,neVGr construed by as as touching bap-
/ tisfn at an No. person ST all be admit
I.ted tothe Lords Supper who is guilty
+ of any practice for which we would ~
eiGde member of our church. This
| lIas strict reference to Christian cor
duct and character; and more especially.
| to. persons. in our church guilty of i'm.
motel practice and an utf1er discipline
or eensure for such open or known. i'm.
! mo: ALT e, as. ia CIR .iutlgr,9 would = =
I Glade them from the Kingdom of grace
and glory: y 50
| And here we will Introduce our dis
cipEnary invitation to the Lords Sup
/ per sIf any man sin we have an advo-
cate with the Father Jesus. Christ the
I righteous and he is the Precipitation for
our sins; and net for our soul, bnt
| also for the sins of the whole world.
| Wherefore. We that do truly and earn
estly repent of your sins, and are in. love
and charity with your neighbQrs; and IN
tent to lead q new life, following the
7 commandments of God, and walking
| from bencef6fth in His holy ways
| draw near with faith, and take this holy
/ sacrament TO yourcQnfoFt; and devout-
| " :kneeing, make your humble confess
sion to Almighty God. In another.
clause the discipline says: q let persons
who have, scrapies eop6erning: receiving
|, the Lords Supper kneeling, be permit
| ted to receive it either staining or SIT
| ting" This Invitation is the voice of the
church. as. expressed ia our Book OF
| Discipline, and.is not the opinion of any
one man. however high or low, nor is It
/ taken at second or third hand from some
irresponsible newspaper correspondence.
| In the Judgment of the delegated.
church, this invitation IS scriptural-it
neither takes from nor adds to lit
neither requires more nor less than lis re-
| qHired of one coming into the Kingdom
/ of grace, and mete for the kingdom of
+ glory. And this is the faith and. prao-
| tiee of the Methodist church. - ~:
I To defend this faith and practice is
not our province in daily paper. IF
| others disagree with us-well, they have
right to, SO far as we are. concerned:
That. It is proper for positively open or.
close communion we. let Others judge
Our position as a Church is The
|. Lords Sunppr is the co35atlt7ajs9t of
Saints, or Christian Communication not
Church or creed communion, not Bap-
tisn. communion, not MethodiSm com
munion, but Christian communion. 1t 4
is the Lord table, not our Church table,
and that all who feel in their hearts and
purpose in their lives that they do and
will keep the requirements of that invi-
tatiOn are invited to the Lords table, be
they baptized or unbaptiZed, be they
connected with any visible church or not,
and hence not only Congregationalists,
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists
and Quakers, as well as Methodists, are
invited. More than this, any poor soul
feeling itself a sinner but needing sal
walton through Christ, and OH hearing
that invitation, says in spirit Eyes, |
do truly and earnestly repent OF my
sins; am in love and charity with my
neighbors; | do intend to lead new
life | will follow the commandments of
God and walk hence in faith in His holy
ways by his grace helping me-" is in
vited then and there to accept Chrst's
spiritual body and blood by taking with
us the emblems of that broken body and
shed blood For this we feel, if Christ
has given His broken body and sanctlfy-
ing blood to the salvation of any soul,
who of US shall withhold the types If
God has given the substance, who of us
shall withhold the Shddoao ? If that per
son in time would join our Church, he
must first be baptized by just such form
as he may elect; but he may commune
with us though unbaptized.
Is this open or close communion
Which Do we Methodists stand on
the same ground occupied by Bro. Spen-
Ger and his denomination We say If
your heart be as ours, come to Christ's
table and be heartily welcome with US.
. Does Bro. Spencer say this to us? Is
the ground and the principle the same
This we call communion open to all
Christians-not to all baptised persons.