I Received yours , and think my self obliged to let you know , that I am more sorry that such differences should happen between the Clergy of our Church , ( who in the general ( and especially in that Province ) want no Enemies ) than willing to determine betwixt your Bishop and you , who was most in the Right , or least in fault : Yet understanding that your Enemies from thence also have taken an occasion of raising new Calumnies ; and because , for some particular Reasons , I cannot refuse your Request , to let you know my thoughts in the matter ; I have sent them ( such as they are ) to you ; desiring that in case you shall at any time think it necessary in your own Vindication to produce the Judgment of a third Person , you would at least conceal my Name .

The sence of our Church in this matter will be best learned from her Rubrick and Canons .

The Rubrick prefix'd to the Order for the Administration of the Lords Supper , or holy Communion , hath these words , in Paragraphs 1 , 2 , 3.

Thus far the Rubrick

Out of the Canons I shall give you but these two Quotations .

The latter of which seems to be a Translation of the former . So that in the Rubrick and these two Canons , we have the Judgments of the Convocations and Parliaments of both Kingdoms , which surely are abundantly sufficient , without any other Arguments or Authorities , to resolve the Doubt , and cast the Scale on the Rectors side . Yet because this matter is designedly mis-represented by some , and through ignorance mis-understood by others ; I shall consider it more fully , and endeavour to Answer all Objections , and silence all Calumnies .

This Question in my Judgment will be sufficiently Answered by an Enquiry into , and Resolving of these three things :

1. Whether a Rector hath power to suspend any of the Parishioners committed to his charge , from a Temporary Reception of the Sacrament , and in what Cases he may exercise that power ?

2. What is the Bishops Office in such a Case ? And whether he may restore such Persons so suspended , without a Judicial Cognizance of the Crime objected ?

3. Whether in such a Case , the Bishop may regularly command the Rector , and such Commands are obliging ?

1. It must be granted that the Rector hath a two-fold Power of Suspending such Persons as are , or appear unto him to be unqualified and unfit to Communicate , from the actual Reception of the Lords Supper

1st . A Spiritual , in the Court of Conscience , inherent in his Order of Priesthood , given him as part of his Indelible Character in his Ordination , by those words , [ Whose sins thou do'st forgive , they are forgiven ; and whose sins thou do'st retain , they are retained . ] This power of Binding and Loosing , is no other than the Power of admitting to , and suspending from the Sacrament , and is usually called the Power of the Keys ; ( and so Dr. Hamond in his Tract on that Subject , and almost all others , interpret it ) which Power is so essential to the Priests Order , and distinguishes him from the inferiour , and qualifies him to undertake the Cure and Regument of Souls , when they shall be duly and legally committed to his Charge . This Power is so apparently necessary to the Execution of the Priests Office , that the Parish-Priests of the Roman Perswasion ( notwithstanding that the Government of that Church is Prelatical ) do as such forbid any of their Hearers from coming to their Mass , which is but a private Communion ; or from their publick Communion , by vertue of the Rules of that Church , at their own Discretion . And the Teachers of the Presbyterians and other Dissenting Congregations , admit and with-hold which of their Members they judge fit or unfit , upon the Accounts of Crime , Scandal , &c. from coming to their Tables . And every Presbyter in the Church of England , being at his Ordination trusted with such a power , he must be supposed ( when Beneficed , and having the Cure of Souls ) to have the Use and Exercise of it committed to him , in which he must be directed by his discretive Judgment , as to the particular application of it , or else the Power was given him in vain , and he unable to discharge his Function .

2 Legal in the outward Court ( as the Canonists speak ) for tho' every Presbyter hath such a power committed to him in his Ordination , yet that is only Spiritual ; but , besides this in our Church , as by Law Established , in case of open and notorious Evil Life , or wrong done by word or deed , or malice and hatred , especially persisted in ; The Rector ( having Charge of Souls ) is not only allowed to exercise his Spiritual Power , and Priestly-Office of binding , or retaining of Sin , by Suspension from the Sacrament , by the Temporal Laws of the Land ; but by the second and third Paragraphs of the Rubrick prefixed , to the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion ( in this case of Malice ( as in all others therein contained ) is directed and commanded to repel all such from the Sacrament ; and this Rubrick is the best and most Authentick Rule for the direction of the Clergy in Law , it being ( as all things contained in the Book of Common Prayer ( besides what may be said of all former Editions ) approved by the Convocations , and confirmed by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms ; so that a Priest may Legally Suspend such Persons as are mentioned in these Rubricks from the Receiving the Sacraments , in the general , is without doubt . If a scruple be raised by Objecting , That in this Case the Rector suspended those persons for Malice , Injuries and Contrivances , &c. against himself , which is against the common Rule ; That , No Man ought to be Judge in his own Cause . It may be Answered , That that Rule is not Universal , and holds not between such Relations , and in such Circumstances as admit not of a third persons intervening , as in this Case ; for who could know the circumstances of the Parishioners but the Rector , or suspend them from the Sacrament , but he that ought to Administer it to them . Besides , such a Suspension is not any judicial Act , or final Sentence past by the Rector , but only the taking that intermediate Course which the Law prescribes , to preserve a Sacred Ordinance from Profanation , prevent the scandalizing of others , and to bring the Offending person to the Bishop's Tribunal , and to render him obnoxious to his censure , for his Spiritual welfare ; for the Bishop is directed by the Rubrick to proceed against the Malicious person according to the Canon , and commanded so to do by Law confirming it . There are other persons which Divines tell us , every Rector or Curate , by vertue of his Priestly power , as he is a Dispenser of Gods Sacred Ordinance , is obliged not to admit to the Holy Sacrament , as Youths , Phrenetick , those that are Excommunicate , or under Interdict , manifestly Infamous , as Adulterers , Fornicators , Thieves , Extortioners , Conjurers , Perjured Persons , Blasphemous , &c. Unless they profess at the least to repent , and give satisfaction for the publick Scandal ; but I need not insist on this Argument , Prayer for the whole State of Christs Church Militant , &c. since the Rubrick of our Common Prayer names expresly the Malicious , who are the persons only in question , and are therefore by the Rules of both Divinity and Law to be excluded ; so far is it therefore from Truth , That the Rector ought to admit all persons promiscuously . Neither should our Church have need to have taught us to pray , That God would give his Grace to the Clergy , That they may rightly and duly Administer his Holy Sacrament ; if every Clergy-man having cure of Souls ( without having Liberty to Exercise the power of the Keys committed to him in his Ordination , and Authorized by the Temporal Laws ) should be obliged notwithstanding to Administer it to all persons indifferently , how unfit , or unqualify'd so ever , by the Rules of Divinity and Prescriptions of the Laws . Since no Man stands in need of any special Grace of God , either to assist or direct him to do that Action which he must necessarily do , and which it is not in his Power to choose , or refuse .

The next thing to be considered in this matter , is

2. What is the Bishops Office in such a case , and whether he may restore such persons so suspended , without a judicial cognizance of the Crimes objected against them .

And here ( as formerly concerning the Priest ) we must remember that the Bishop hath a two-fold Power ; one special , appertaining to his Pastoral Office by Divine Right for the Execution thereof , enabling him in Act , as his Office obligeth him in Conscience , to take heed to himself and to all the Flock over which he is Overseer . This Episcopal Power was by the Ancients called Virga Pastoralis , by which the Bishop used ( if more gentle means proved ineffectual ) to endeavour a Criminals Spiritual welfare , by inflicting the penalties of Suspension and Excommunication ( if need required ) till by repentance and wholsom Discipline he should be cured and restored . This Pastoral Rod in the first and purest Ages of Christianity , did wonderfully contain Men in the Observance of their Duty and Freedom , from scandalous Offences and immortal Crimes , as being contrary to , and destructive of the Nature of their profess'd Religion ; The fear of this kept Men in awe , and made them walk cautiously , and in case of Miscarriage , Vice , or Lapse , reduced them into divers Classes of Penitents , and continued them in each , till their performance of their respectively enjoyned Pennances . With this Spiritual Rod ( if Admonition had been fruitless ) the Bishop should have compelled his Malicious and Injurious Servants ( if they could not acquit themselves of their Accusations ) to a Confession of their Crimes , satisfaction for the wrong past , and reconciliation for the future ; and to do this , he was under all the Obligations that the Spiritual oversight of his flock by Divine Right ; that the Trust the Church committed to him , and the Solemn Vow of promise he made , at his Consecration ; That the Caution he ought to have had to avoid the giving of Scandal to the rest of the Flock , and occasion to the Adversaries to Blaspheme ; that the Desire and Zeal which he ought to have had , and those actual endeavours which he ought to have used to promote the Edification of his Flock ( and chiefly those of his Family ) could lay upon him .

2. The other Ecclesiastical , as that person who is by the Civil Magistrate intrusted with the Exercise of Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Causes , for though the Governours of the Church , as it is a Society distinct from , and independent upon the Civil State ( by their own Spiritual Authority ) may disown , separate from , and cutt off any corrupt Member by Suspension , or Excommunication , and hinder him from their Communion in Sacred Offices and conversation in Civil commerce ; Yet having done this , can act no farther , nor can inflict any other Penalty upon the Contumacious and Excommunicated person ; unless where Christianity is Established by the Municipal Laws , and the Ecclesiastical Constitutions are confirmed and supported by the secular Arm , and the Civil Magistrate will interpose to punish the contempt of the Spiritual Censure , by the infliction of a Temporal pain . Now in our Church as by the Laws of the Land Established , and incorporated with the State , we have Canons confirmed by the Prince , the Execution of which Canons are committed to the Bishop , and the Rubrick in our Common-Prayer-Books ( confirmed by the Temporal Laws of the Land ) commands the Bishop to proceed against Persons suspended from the Sacrament by the Priest , according to the Canon . So that in this respect , the Bishop was under all Obligations that the Sovereign Power of the King as he is Gods Vice-gerent ; The Keeper of both Tables ( hath Power in the Externals of Religion , and to make or confirm Ecclesiastical Canons , or Constitutions for the Polity of the Church , as well as Municipal Laws for the Government of the Kingdom ) and hath a Supreme Superintendent Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction , and hath entrusted him with the Legal Exercise of Episcopal Jurisdiction , and the Possession of the Temporalities by the Laws made for the Legal Establishment of Religion , and confirmation of the Rubrick as part of the Common-Prayer . Book by Act of Parliament , can lay upon him .

As to the latter part of the question , whether the Bishop can restore persons so Suspended , without a Legal Cognizance of the Crimes objected against them ; I answer , The Bishop is bound by all those Obligations abovenamed , to take a Legal Cognizance of the Crimes objected ; nor can he answer those Obligations of Office and Conscience , and trusts of the King , the Church , and Laws of the Land , unless he either actually do so , or at least take some other shorter and more private Course , which shall be effectual to obtain the same purpose ; Viz . To cause the Offenders to Answer those two great ends of publick Justice , the Reformation of the person Offending , and the satisfaction of the person injured . As for Reformation , the Bishop may accept of the profession of present sorrow , and promises of future amendment , in case he shall believe the same sincere , because this is all God requires , as the sin is an Offence committed against him . As for satisfaction ( besides what ought to be made to the Church , or Congregation by Confession , or Pennance , in case of Scandal ) it must be made to the injur'd person , and requires Confession of the injury done , and Restitution of Goods or Good Name taken away or impaired ; according to the Nature of the thing , and the possibility of Restitution , in Kind or Value . So that the Bishop can neither justly , nor legally absolve or restore such suspended persons , till such Confession or Restitution be first made ; and the reason is , because the injurious person by Trespassing upon his brother or his right , becomes his Debtour ( and this is plain even from the words of the Lords Prayer , as Recorded by St. Luke 11.4 . For we also forgive every one that is indebted to us ) in such sort , that as long as he refuses to discharge that debt by making satisfaction , he is so far guilty of the breach and contempt of Gods Laws , that before he Reverses that Out-Lawry by Repentance and Reconciliation , he is unfit to perform any Holy Offices , to approach Gods Altar , and his Sacrifice ( like Cains ) will be unacceptable to God , as our Saviour sufficiently teaches us in Mat . 5.23 , 24. And our Church in her Exhortation appointed to give notice of , and to prepare for the Celebration of the Holy Communion , directs the Priest to remind his Parishioners of their Duty in this particular , in these Words ; And if ye shall perceive your Offences to be such as are not against God , but also against your Neighbours ; then ye shall reconcile your selves unto them , being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the uttermost of your Powers , for all Injuries and Wrongs done by you to any other . And it is very remarkable , That there is but one Text in all the Four Evangelists , which can be thought either to give foundation to the censure of Excommunication in the Christian Church , or to warrant the Translation of it out of the Jewish Synagogue into the Christian Church , ( and that mentioning no other Crimes , as if Malice were the greatest ) commands ( concerning an Injurious and Trespassing brother , who after Admonition persists in the Injury , Mat . 18.17 . and refuses to make satisfaction ) Let him be unto thee as an Heathen Man and a Publican .

From what has been said , I suppose it is evident , that the Injurious and Malicious person is by the Laws of God and Man under those Obligations to acknowledge , revoke , and make satisfaction for the Injury done by him , and to seek reconciliation for the future , and that the person injured hath such right to have Justice done him , that neither the Priest in the Court of Conscience , nor the Bishop in the External Court can Absolve or Forgive the Injurious person , till such time as he shall repent , and actually make satisfaction and be reconciled , or at least declare himself to be in full purpose so to do ; because such Absolution in Court of Conscience would be false and fallacious , as pronounced clave erroute , and such forgiveness in the Exteriour Court would be unjust , as hindering the person injured from the acknowledgment and satisfaction which the Laws of God and Man , and natural Justice , have made his right . Besides , such proceedings would be evil , if not fatal , in the Effects ; inasmuch as they would be means to harden Men in their Sins and Impieties , by taking away such powerful motives to repentance , as the denunciation of Gods Judgments against all willful Sins persisted in , and the censures of the Church prudently and conscientiously made use of . But for a Bishop to wave proceeding against the persons , as being return'd to him as Suspended from the Sacrament , are thereby accused to him , either as evil persons , or scandalously Malicious , and therefore unfit to Communicate , and he thereupon obliged to make legal inquiry into , and take Judicial cognizance of their Crimes , and point blank to introduce them to the Holy Table at all Adventures , meerly because he will do so , is to break through , and at once to cast off all the Obligations which Conscience , his Office , Solemn Vow at Consecration , care of the flock , and avoiding Scandal , Zeal to punish Vice , &c. lay upon him .

If it be objected , that the Rector ( in this case ) being interested himself , might Suspend and Repel the Parties concern'd without just Cause ; it may be as easily Answered , that the Bishop ( they being his Servants ) might acquit them without good reason , ( and he that knows the circumstances he is in with them , will presently think that Objection sufficiently Answered ) however it must needs be unjust , because unreasonable , for the Bishop to bring them to the Sacrament , contrary to the method the Laws prescribe , and without a publick Animadversion , or at least a private Examination , and hearing whether the said Rector could make good his charge against them ; for to acquit a person accused , is equally unjust ; with the condemning him unheard . And it is the Rector's proper Province to Suspend , Viz . To bind in foro Conscientiae ; and the Bishops to Punish , or Acquit judicially foro Contentionis : Add to this , That the Rector acted within his proper Sphere , exercising the Power of his Order , the use of the Keys on their proper Object , the Flock committed to his care : But the Bishop uncanonically and illegally interposing brings in his Servants ( as it were ) by force and arms , violates the legal Action of the Rectour , and invades his Right in the Consecration and Administration of the Holy Supper ; for though Canon 24 , at London 1603 , seems to allow the Bishop sometimes , as well as the Dean and Dignitaries in Cathedral Churches ( where there are no Parochial Cures ) to Administer the Sacred Supper . Yet the Rubrick in our present Common-Prayer-Book ( which is of far better Authority ) every where gives to the Prebendary that Officiates in Cathedral Churches , and to the Rector or Vicar in Parish Churches , the Right of Consecration , and reserves to the Bishop in the whole Office , no greater burthen than the pronouncing the Absolution , and the giving the Blessing .

The Third thing to be considered is , Whether in such Case the Bishop may regularly command the Rector , and such commands are obliging ?

He that doubts , whether such an Excommunication as is only a bare Suspension from the Sacrament , is lawful ; may be satisfied from the Universal practice of the Catholick Church . For though divers particular Churches in this last Age have differed ( according to the various notions they have imbibed of Church Government ) about the persons inflicting , and the Causes for which it ought to be inflicted ; yet they all agree in this , that such a Censure there is , and may be exercised by him who hath the Charge and Cure of Souls . As for the Causes for which it may be inflicted , they are any immorral Crimes ; especially when they are great , and by being publick become scandalous : How long and severe Pennances were of old imposed upon those , who in times of persecution , either denyed their Profession , or Sacrificed to the Heathens Idols , or were guilty of Murther , Perjury , Adultery , or Fornication , &c. is so well known , that the insisting upon these things would but reproach the degeneracy of this Age , and the almost total neglect of Ecclesiastical Discipline of the present time . Now , whether an habituated Malice , evidenced by the mischievous Attempts and Effects of it , be a sufficient Cause for a Suspension of any persons from Receiving of the Holy Sacrament , needs no further Proof than the remembrance that Malice is not so much one single Act of Sin , as a continued State of Wickedness ; and that because , as Love is the fulfilling of the whole Law , so is Malice the Transgression of it : and St. John says expresly , Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murtherer , and ye know that no Murtherer hath Eternal Life abiding in him ; ● Ep . 3.18 . & 4.20 . and again , If a Man say , I love God , and hateth his Brother , he is a Liar , &c. Neither is any Vice or Crime more contrary to , and destructive of the the very Nature , Life , and Soul of Christianity , than Malice . From whence , and from what hath been said in the first particular , it plainly appears , that the Rector not only had a sufficient Authority , and a Legal Power to suspend them from the Sacrament , but that he was under a threefold Obligation so to do .

The first of which relates to himself , and arises from the Divine Nature of his Office , and his being a Steward of the Mysteries of God , and as such intrusted with the Administration and Dispensing of the Holy Sacraments , by which he is bound to use all the Care , Fidelity , and Circumspection he can , to preserve the Holy things committed to his Ministration , from being contemned and prophaned . Lev . 22. Thus in the time of the Law , we find , that all persons under any Legal Uncleannesses , were prohibited from eating of the Holy things Sanctified , by being offered at Gods Altar , least they prophaned them . This surely was not commanded meerly for the sake of those External Purifications , but designed to teach Men with what inward Purity and Mental Preparation they ought to approach Gods more especial presence , and the Solemnities of Religion , 1 Cor . 9. & 10 Chapters . and offer up their Spiritual Sacrifices unto him ; for that the Jewish Sacrifices were Types of our Christian Sacraments , the Apostle plainly shews us . And our Saviour forbids the giving of Holy things to unfit and unqualifyed persons . It were easie to fill many Pages with the Sayings of the Antient Fathers concerning the Veneration due to the Holy Communion : but ( omitting all others ) I shall only add the Caution St. Chrysostome gives the Clergy in this Case , Homil . 60. ad Antioch . he says , Thus far my Discourse has been directed to such as Communicate . Now I will add a word to the Ministers of the Church ; for it is necessary to admonish them of their Duty ; that with all Industry and Care , they may Administer these Sacred Gifts ; for they are liable to no small punishment , if they admit any unworthy Person to this Table ; for his Blood shall be required from their hands : For let him be a General of an Army , or any great Officer , or Prince , that comes unworthily to partake of this Sacrament , he is to be prohibited ; for you the Ministers of the Church , have a greater Power than he ; God hath therefore placed you in this Honourable Condition , that you might make a right judgment of these things — And afterwards .

This Divine Mystery does not only require , that we be free from Rapine and Hatred ; but likewise from all kind of Animosity , or any breach of Charity ; since it is the Mystery of Peace .

A Second , respects the persons themselves , and is derived from the Pastoral care he ought to have of his Flock ; for every Rector , Vicar , or Curate is in Conscience bound to Act so , as he shall judge to conduce most to the Edification and Spiritual welfare of the several Members of the Congregation , respectively committed to his Charge ; or else he will have a dreadful Account to give at the Last Day , to the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls , of his Ministration and Stewardship . So that for this Reason , the Rector was obliged to Suspend the Malicious Persons from the Sacrament , for their own good , upon a double Account .

1. Of Charity to their poor Souls , which they would impiously expose to so much present danger , 1 Cor , 11.29 . for since ( as the Apostle saith ) He that eateth and drinketh unworthily , cateth and drinketh damnation to himself . By the same Motives that all men are bound to prevent any bodily hurt or danger that a child , a mad man , an Epileptick person , or a man in a Calenture would run into , through ignorance , or the effects of his Distemper : All Rectors , Vicars and Curates are obliged to suspend and forbid all persons evidently wicked and scandalously malicious ( as long as they continue such ) from the Sacrament ; because the receiving of it in such circumstances would add sin to sin , and encrease their guilt , to their spiritual ruine and damnation . Therefore St. Ambrose , when the Emperor Theodosius ( sirnamed the Great ) ( defiled with the Blood of the Thessalonians , which being in a tumult , he had commanded ( in a passion ) to be slain ) would have approached Gods Altar , and received the holy Sacrament , would not suffer him , ( as unfit to partake of those holy Mysteries ) till after some months humiliation and penitence .

2. Of care for their future Amendment ; Therefore the Apostle delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan , that they might learn not to blaspheme . 1 Tim . 1.29 1 Cor . 5.5 . And wrote to the Corinthians to Excommunicate the Incestuous person , that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus . The severe discipline of the Ancients , and how usual it was with them in case of Lapse , or the commission of any gross and Scandalous Crime , to impose Penances of seven or fifteen years , yea for a whole life , is well known . And of later years , St. Dunstan , Archbishop of Canterbury , enjoyn'd Edgar King of England a seven-years Penance in order to his Reformation . And therefore the Learned Dr. Hammond compares the Minor Excommunication to Spiritual Physick to be applied to the sin-sick Soul for the Recovery of its former state o● Health ; Tract of the power of the Keys . and in the primitive and more pure and zealous Ages of the Church , it was very effectual to that purpose ; Dr. Cave in Prim . Christ . part 3. cap . ult . and therefore was made use of to punish Delinquents for any Offences against the Christian Laws , any Vice or Immorality that was either publick in it self , or made known and made good to the Church .

The third hath reference to the rest of the Flock , and proceeds from the ill effects one mans sin very often hath upon others among whom he lives ; for by gross sins committed in a Christian Congregation , his Neighbours are exposed to a two-fold Danger :

1st , 1 Cor . 5.6 . Morbida sola pecus totum corrumpit ovile . Of being infected by such an ill Example : for so the Apostle argues , Know ye not that a little Leaven leaveneth the whole lump ? And more to the same purpose , in 1 Cor . 8.10 . And it is but too well known , that evil Examples are of so great efficacy , that men are more often led away by them , though bad , than restrained by Precepts , though good . And the taking away those Methods which the Piety and Wisdom of former times have used to discountenance and punish sin in others , is in effect the tempting of Men to do evil , or at the least an Encouragement of them to offend in their own Persons , by subtraction of the Penalty due to others : For the fear of shame , and the being publickly exposed , are powerful Restraints upon all such who have not as yet extinguished the sence of Conscience , and defaced all natural Modesty , by a long continued custom of sinning , but by t●● Grace of God , or the advantages of a good Education retain any love to Vertue : Which yet it is to be feared will ( at least by degrees ) continually Languish and Decay , as not being able to resist the daily Assaults , and Powerful Temptations to Sin , which the frequent Evil Examples of others , and the probable prospect of their own impunity , will Minister unto it .

2. Of being scandalized , or offended at such connivence at , or rather approbation of , their Neighbours Crimes , by those persons , who are obliged by their Spiritual Office to decry , and enabled by the Civil Power to punish , such open Impieties . And no doubt , one or both of these ; Viz . the prevention of Infection , or the avoiding of Scandal ; the Apostle had an Eye to that Precept , But I have Written to you not to keep Company , 1 Cor . 5 11. if any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator , or Covetous , &c. The Governours therefore of the Primitive Church watched over their Flocks with a Godly Jealousie : 2 Cor . 81.2 . And though unassisted by any secular Power , ) but often persecuted by it ) by the frequent and Conscientious use of Suspension and Excommunication , with the Pennances thereunto added ; they preserved the Veneration due to the Sacred Mysteries , the Honour of their Religion , and their Communion , without Scandal given either to their own Members , or those without .

To which three Obligations on the Rector to Suspend the Malicious Persons , I might add a fourth , relating to the Enemies of Gods Church , who by a connivence at Publick Crimes , may be induced to speak Evil of his Name , arising from the care all Men ought to take , not to give Offence . Mat . 18.6.7 . &c. 2 Sam . 12.14 . 1 Thes . 4.12 . 1 Tim . 3.9 . Thus because David by his Adultery , &c. Had given occasion to the Enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme ; God punished him with the Death of his Son . And St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians , To walk honestly towards them who are without ; And says , a Bishop , Must have a good report of them who are without : By those without , the Apostle means such as then was unbelieving Jews , or unconverted Gentiles , and now are Jews , Mahometans or Pagans ; any of these if scandalized at the Vitious Lives of Professed Christians , will conceive a prejudice against Christianity it self , and put a bar to their own Conversation : And by a parity of Reason , the toleration and connivence at notorious Crimes , and neglect , or rather abolition of Discipline , will give offence to the present Recusants and Dissenters amongst which we live , and consequently make them far more averse from the returning to our Communion . So far ( therefore ) was it from being in the Bishops power , according to Scripture , Divinity , Law , or Canon , to command the Rector to administer the Sacrament to Persons altogether so unqualified for it , that by none of those his own Action , in introducing them by force , can ever be approved .

There is but one thing that can be offered in the Bishops behalf , against the Rectors refusing to administer the Cup to the Suspended Persons , and that is , That the Rector ( and that by vertue of his Oath ) owes to the Bishop Canonical Obedience , and therefore when the Bishop commanded him to give the Cup , he should have done it . To which it may be as easily answered , That the Canonical Obedience , and the Obligation thereunto may be granted , and the inference at the same time denied ; for ( besides that , that Oath is but a Relick of the Usurpations that the Bishops within the Papacy have made upon the Rights of the rest of the Clergy , in the more dark , ignorant and corrupt Ages of Christianity ( for in the beginning it was not so ) the imposition of it is in it self unjust , and the Rectors having taked it very uncertain ) that Oath is not concerned in this case , for Canonical Obedience is nothing else but the doing of those things which the Bishop commands pursuant to the Canons ; or if you please , An Observation of those Canons or Rules which the Church hath made for the Directions of the Clergy in their Lives , Doctrines and Polity . Now these Canons are so far from obliging the Rector to administer the Sacrament to ill Livers , or malicious Persons ( as long as they continue such ) that they command the direct contrary , as appears by the preceding Quotations ; and the Bishop will be found ( and not the Rector ) to have violated the Canons . So that though in respect of the inferiour Clergy , the Bishop ( in some sense ) is the Executor of the Canons , or hath power ( in the Cases , and by the Censures therein prescribed ) to compel his Clergy to the observation of such of the Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical as are agreeable to the Word of God , and the Laws and Customes of the Land ( for otherwise they must in conscience , justice , and reason , as well as by vertue of the Statute be postponed ) yet the Bishops Ecclesiastical power is so circumscribed and limited by such Canons and Constitutions as abovesaid , that the Bishop can extend his jurisdiction over the Clergy , or Laity , or exact obedience from either of them , no farther than his actions , proceedings , and censures are thereby expressly precribed , authorized and waranted ; for since the Popes Supremacy in this Kingdome is abolished , that power which ( in the times of his Usurpation ) the Bishop exercised here , either as received from him , or by vertue of his Pontificial Decretals , or any Legantine constitutions must also be void , cease , and be determined ; neither would it be less evidently absurd to assign to a Bishop an arbitrary power over his fellow subjects , and at the same time to deny it to a Sovereigne Prince ; besides Canonical obedience ( least a Bishop ) under pretence of any Popish or absolute Canon ) should command any thing in it self , ( for by reason of circumstances ) unfit to be done , or should abuse his authority , to serve any sinister design , or ill affection of his own ) is in the Oath limited and restrained to these things which are lawful and honest ; So that as a Bishop can command , so a Clergy man , is obliged to obey him in no other things . Now no man will ( I presume ) say , that the Bishop could lawfully command the Rector to administer the Sacrament to the suspended persons , when the doing of it was contrary to the Obligations of his own Conscience , his Function , the Laws of the Land , and the Constitutions of the Church ; or that the Rector would be obliged by his Oath of Canonical Obedience ( in case he took any such ) to have done it , or could lawfully do it , whether he took such Oath or not .

If it shall be said in behalf of the Injurious and Malicious persons . That since they came to the Lords Table , it is in Charity to be supposed , that they did Repent of their Sins before they came there , and so ought to be received as fit Communicants . I Answer , That Repentance , whether general or particular in that Case , is not sufficient ; there must be also Confession of , and satisfaction for the Injury done ; made to the party injured , and at the least intended Reconciliation , with the person with whom they were at varience ; all which according to the Scripture , the Rubrick , the Canon , and the opinion of all Casuists are necessary to qualifie them for the Receiving of the Sacrament , as appears from what hath been said in the second particular .