2 Read these scriptures : Prov. iv. 14—16 ; Eph. v. 14^1 Cor. v. 9-11 ; 2 Tim. iii. 1-5. The heathen could say, Qui ceqtio anirno malis immiscetur, rnalus est, he that is well con- tented to keep company with those that are naught, is himself made naught.
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Ill APPENDIX TO MEMOIR.
rant, malignant, scandalous persons, are chaff which the fan flings out ./ of the floor. * They be as dirt and dust which the besom sweeps out of z://?^„',the house, Luke xv. 8. They be as leaven, which, if let alone, sours the whole lump ; and therefore must be purged out, 1 Cor. v. 6, 7. They be as thorns and briers, which must not stand in the midst of the corn, II eb. vi. 8, but must be stubbed up and burned. Thev be as open sepulchres, out of which proceeds nothing bat noisome savours, Rom. iii. ] 3 ; Mat. iii. 7. They be as vipers, which must be shook off, as Paul shook off the viper that fastened upon his hand, Acts xxviii. 3-5. They be as ravenous wolves, which every careful, watchful shepherd must keep out of his fold, John x. 1 2. They be as swine, that will trample the choicest pearls under their feet, if they should be cast before them. Mat. vii. 6 ; therefore ministers must not hang gospel pearls in such swine's snouts, nor cast them under such swine's feet. '''The fouler the chest is, the more unfit it is to have a fair and precious garment put therein ; and the filthier the soul is, the unfitter it is to receive in this holy sacrament. I have read of a jewel, that being put into a dead man's mouth, loseth all its virtue. Such a jewel is the supper of the Lord ; it loseth its virtue when it is put in profane, ignorant, scandalous persons' mouths ; who are dead t rod-wards, and dead heaven- wards, and dead holiness- wards, and dead Christwards.1
Lastly, these petitioners say, ' That I will not bury their dead.' To this I shall give this short ansAver, that if they mean that I would bury their dead after the old fashion, I confess it ; and shall only say, that it is most proper for the dead to bury the dead, as Christ speaks, Mat. viii. 22 ; my proper work being to preach the gospel. But if by burying their dead they mean that I will not ac- company their corpse to the grave, being the last office of love that can be performed to the deceased person, it is notoriously false. All that know anything of the Scripture can't but know that there is nothing in all the book of God that will bear a minister out to bury the dead, as profane, ignorant, scandalous persons would have them buried ; and therefore I don't, and I hope I shall never be so far left of God, as to conform to the superstitious desires and customs of vain men.3
Reader, for a close, thou mayest take notice, that though I was ready to give in the fore-named arguments, in answer to the objec- tions made by the profane malignants in their petition against me, yet the Committee, in their wisdoms it seems, did not judge it meet so much as to ask me a reason why I did not baptize their children, give them the Lord's supper, and bury their dead ;3 they well knowing that there is nothing more ordinary than for those to be bawling and cry-
1 The table of the Lord, saith Chrysostoro, is that whereon the blessed carcase is laid ; we must not suffer chattering jays to come thereunto, for only high-flying eagles are to feed thereupon.
* Nay, it is known to hundreds, that it is my practice, after the dead is buried, to preach to the people that are met upon that occasion, if so desired ; many grounds moving me thereunto.
:1 Greater respect the honourable committee could not cast upon me, nor greater con- tempt upon the profane, malignant petitioners, than not to put me to answer to the things objected against me. One of these profane, malignant petitioners objected to me Judas his receiving the supper of the Lord, which I disproved ; and yet this vain person, as I have been informed, boasted of victory.
ing out for ordinances that have no right to them ; and that, if upon the non-giving of the ordinances to such profane persons, they should eject ministers out of their places, they should quickly eject all those in the nation that are most tender of the honour of Christ, and that have been some of their best friends in the worst times.
Before I give the counsel intended to the petitioners, I judge it use- ful, in several respects, to batter down that which most profane, igno- rant, malignant, scandalous persons do count their stronghold, or their greatest argument to prove it lawful for them to receive the supper of the Lord, notwithstanding their profaneness and wickedness, and that is, ' That Judas was admitted to the Lord's supper, and that they are not worse than Judas, no, nor yet so bad.' Ergo —
Now for the casting down of this their imagined stronghold, for the despatching this their first-born, this their Goliath, consider with me these following things :
[1.] The Holy Ghost, by the evangelist John, doth punctually and expressly tell us, that Judas went out immediately after the sop. That this sop was no part of the sacramental supper, both fathers and schoolmen do agree ; and many others in our own time, who are men of great piety and parts. Ergo1 —
Did I know anything of weight that could be objected against this argument, I would be so faithful as to give an answer to it, as the Lord should enable me to do, but I know nothing that has that strength in it as to weaken the truth asserted.
[2.] Those to whom Christ gave the sacrament, he saith, without exception, ' This is my body which is given for you : this is the cup of the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you ; and I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.' Now I would willingly know how this can in the least measure stand with the wisdom, holiness, justice, righteousness, innocency, and integrity of Christ, to say this and promise this to Judas, whom he knew to be an hypocrite, repro- bate, a devil, as himself calls him, John vi. 70, 71, xiii. 10, 11. If this be not to make Christ a false witness, a liar, a deceiver, &c, I know not anything.2
[3.] It is as clear as the sun, from that 22d of Luke, 28, 29, 30, that those to whom Christ gave the sacrament, were such as did con- tinue with him in his temptations, and such as Christ did appoint to them a kingdom, and such as should sit upon thrones, &c, Mat. xxvi. 24, Mark xiv. 2i, John vi. 70, Acts i. 25, 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. Now, are there any so vain and foolish as to say that Judas did continue with him in his temptations ? or that Christ did appoint to him any other kingdom than a kingdom of darkness % or that he shall sit on a throne to judge others, who shall at last be judged as a devil ?
[4.] Judas was no ways capable of any of those noble ends and glorioususesfor which the Lord Jesus appointed this sacrament, behaving