Excerpt from Close Communion: Or Baptism as a Prerequisite to the Lord's Supper HE position of the Baptists upon the Com munion question is one of neutrality. We do not invite others to participate with us; and not inviting others we do not accept invitations. Our position is defensive rather than offensive This book is written in this Spirit. It is intended? To explain and defend the practice commonly known as Close Communion. We think our practice is Scriptural. The brotherhood of the New Testament were one in' fellowship and doctrines. Under those condi tions Open communion was impossible. This view is confirmed by all history. I have been unable to find an instance of Open communion for the first sixteen hundred years after Christ. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.