or after other De Polit. Ecclesiast pag. 1. But Order is sometimes so largely taken as to comprehend the disposition and manner of handling any ordinance of God and is as large saith M. Parker as Policy and taken Pro disciplina tota for the whole discipline so Col. 2.5 And so Paul vseth the verbe 1. Cor. 11. vlt. Other things will J order when I come Yet wee take it not so very largely Pro disciplina tota for the whole discipline in respect of the essentials thereof prescribed of God to remaine in perpetuity and not vnder the Churches dispose Whatsoeuer therefore in the worship of God or gouernment of the Church is not Essentiall or Diuine but may bee varied and disposed of according to the generall rules of the Word that wee call Matter of meere Order in Contradistinction to matter of Simple Necessity whereto the Conscience is bound because in these things nothing but Obedience is left to the Church but a power of Disposing which is to Order is left to her in those things to doe according to the generall rules of the Word therein whatsoeuer saith Master Calvin The necessity of the Church shall require That is for Peace Safety Profit Edification and Aduantage in spirituall things Order in the strict sense admits as the Replier to Bp. Morton faith no New thing but onely the disposing of things ordained in time and place But Order in the large sense admitteth all such things vnprescribed as belong to the Churches seruice and furtherance in the seruice of God and as Melancthon saith ad ornandum ordinem to adorne order In this larger sense it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good or comely order Iun. anim ad in Bellar. de cultu sancteâ—â— lib. 3. cap. 10. annotat 13. Repl. 1. part pag. 44. and thus Iunius taketh it when to Bellarmine objecting the Feast of Purim appointed by Mordecai to proue thereby that the Church may make Lawes proprij nominis properly so called which in themselues doe bind the conscience Iunius answereth Praeceptum fuit politicum that is as the Replier translateth it It was a Precept of order Iunius addes * Ibid. annot 34. De Rom. Pont. pag. 841. c. Non sequitur ex dispari But that which Bellarmine would thence inferre being of a different nature followes not Neque enim negamus suam Ecclesiae politiamesse sed imperium per se obligans conscientiam Nor doe wee deny the Church her pollicy but onely her imperiall authority that of it selfe binds the conscience Thus Doctor Whitaker taketh it when hee saith that All which the Church may determine off belongeth ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to good order and by this he putteth off afterwards Bellar. obiections as Iunius doth Thus the August confession Artic. 7. de Abusibus Docemus pastores Ecclesiarum posse in Ecclesiis suis publicoâ— ritus instituere sed tantum ad finem corporalem h. e. boni ordinis causa viz. ritus vtiles ad docendum multitudineÌ„ vt certas dies certas lectiones siqua sunt similia Sed sine superstitione sine opinione necessitatis vt has ordinationes violare extra casum scandali non ducatur esse peccatum c. We teach that Pastors of Churches may institute publicke rites in their Churches but only to a corporall end that is for good orders sake viz. rites profitable to teach the people as namely certaine dayes to be obserued certaine lessons to be read and such like but without superstition and without opinion of necessity and that it should not be accounted sinne to violate these ordinances vnlesse in the case of scandall which might follow thereupon Instit 4. cap. 10. sect 28. For as Master Calvin saith when a Law is once knowen to be made publicae honestatis causa iam sublata est omnis Superstitio for publicke comelinesse sake all Superstition is taken away from it and when it is knowne Ad communem vsum spectare euersa est falsa illa obligationis necessitatis opinio c. To looke at common vse or benefit that false opinion of obligation and necessity is ouerthrowne and remoued Whatsoeuer therefore is ordained in the Church as an Arbitrary and moueable Rite or Ceremony in the vse wherof no Immediate or proper worship of God is placed but the thing in it selfe still reckoned to bee indifferent that is a matter of meere Order sensu largo in the large acception of Order CAP. 6. The scope of the second Commandement TO these I will adde something about the scope of the second Commandement The scope of the second Commandement is by forbidding all will-worship vnder the vsuall and grossest kind of it to inioyne and tye vs to such meanes and wayes of worshipping God as himselfe hath commanded or allowed as Master Cartwright saith Whatsoeuer therefore is forbidden in this Commandement is either Directly forbidden or only by Consequence 1. Things Directly forbidden I call such as are Prohibited either Expressely or Analogically as it were in recta lineâ in a direct line 1. In Expresse termes two things 1. The making of any Image or similitude not simply but to be a representation of a God-head to vs in the Essence Properties Speciall presence or Dispensation of grace thereby Of which the reason is that all such fansied representations speake nothing but lies of the God-head 2. The tendring of any seruice or honour to God so much as outwardly at in and by such an Image made by the only will of man all which seruice though by man intended to God yea though to the true God yet falleth short of him and resteth in the Image as if it were onely done to it therefore is it said Thou shalt not bow thy selfe to them nor serue them 2. Analogically are forbidden First all false Imagination and conceits of the God-head in respect of his Being Presence Dispensation of grace or will For all these doe falsifie the true God to vs as doth an Image or outward shape made for representation of him at mans pleasure And secondly the Substitution or vse of any wayes and meanes of seruing God meerely after the will of man i. e. which God hath not either commanded in particular or at least allowed in Generall 2. By Consequent all such things as doe prouoke necessarily vnto the breach of this Precept are here forbidden On the contrary wee are inioyned to receiue such as I may say Images or representations as God himselfe shall institute for declaration of his presence Glory Grace or Will For as Doctor Ames * Medul lib. 2. cap. 13. Thes 11 well saith tibi in non facies tibi is not redundant as sometimes it is but Emphaticall to shew that God restraineth men from doing that which hee reserueth to himselfe alone in that matter And secondly he requireth all due respect and reuerent Adoration to be performed to himselfe by such wayes and meanes as himselfe hath either Commanded
euills whatsoeuer c And when hee distributeth the Eucharist vnto others he saith The body and blood of our Lord Iesus Christ bee available to thee vnto eternall life Anno 1090. Extat in Bibl Pat. To 11. pag. 383. lit B. col 1. about the yeere of our Lord 1090 In Micrologo de Ecclesiasticis obseruationibus cap. XVIII these words Orationem quam inclinati dicimus antequam communicemus non ex ordine sed ex religiosorum traditione habemus scil hanc Domine Iesu Christe qui ex voluntate patris Item illud Corpus sanguis Domini Iesu Christi quod dicimus cum alijs Eucharistiam distribuimus Sunt aliae multae precationes quas quidem ad pacem communionem priuatam frequentant sed diligentiores antiquarum traditionum obseruatores nos in huiusmodi priuatis orationibus breuitati stucere docuerunt potiusque publicis precibus in officio Missae occupaeri That prayer which bowing our selues we vse to say before wee communicate wee haue not by any order but by tradition of religious men to wit this O Lord Iesus Christ who by the will of the Father And this also The body and blood of the Lord Iesus Christ which wee say when wee distribute the Eucharist There are also many other prayers which indeed men vse at giuing the Pax and priuate communion but such as are more diligent obseruers of the more ancient traditions haue taught vs to study breuity in such priuate prayers and to bee rather busied in the publicke prayers in the office of the Masse These two witnesses and especially the elder of them Micrologus who dyed aboue a hundred yeares before Transubstantiation was defined tell vs these things First that beside the publicke solemne prayers they had sundry priuate Secondly that they had a prayer which the Minister vsed to say Inclinatus bowing himselfe immediately before hee receiued and another for each Communicant the same which wee haue Thirdly that those prayers were not ab aliquo ordine by any appointment but of the Tradition of deuout men These testimonies doe proue that they receiued with Adoration whether Inclinati bowing themselues in their bodies or on their knees For men neuer knew till now if any bee so blind to beleeue it that kneeling is any more a gesture of Adoration then bowing Inclinate capita Deo bow your heads to God in Chrysostomes Leiturgy was taken to bee a posture of Diuine Adoration and not onely Kneeling Vasquez de Adoratione lib. cap. 4. num 36. Well-fare Vasquez yet The externall tokens of Adoration are bowing downe of the body bending the knee prostration knocking of the brest folding of the hands baring the head censing kissing setting vp lights c. But Inclinatus may agree to Kneeling or to bowing downe Vide Synod Turon Can. 37. And like enough that on the Station dayes Lords dayes and Pentecost they did rather bow then kneele I meane the publicke Ministers and kneeled on all other dayes when they were by Canon bound to pray Kneeling In which dayes they also did communicate and therefore must needs bee vnderstood to receiue it Kneeling for when it was deliuered that prayer was said The body of our Lord c. Yea it is said by Amalarius Anno. 800. Amalar. de Ordine Antiphonarii cap. 52. apud Bibl. Patr. Colon. Tom. 9. part 1. pag. 411. who liued eight hundred yeare before Berengarius his time and therefore before the decree for Consubstantiation or Reall presence in or with the Bread That according to the Order of the Romane Church in the end of the Psalmes they vsed to say a versicle before the prayer Quam solemus facere genu flectendo siuè vultum declinando in terram which wee are vsed to make kneeling or casting down our face towards the earth whereby is manifest that at some prayers euen in Easter weeke for of that hee speaketh they did vse indifferently bowing downe of the head or kneeling and therefore did vnderstand the bowing to bee as much a signe of Adoration as kneeling and that wee may as reasonably say Inclinati kneeling as it may bee said bowing or bowed downe The story of Plegilis reported by Rabanus Maurus which is botchingly peeced to Paschasius his booke Anno. 830. de corp sang Domini cap. 41. Though the thing reported bee like to be a fable or else was a delusion of Sathan to helpe on the doctrine of the Reall presence which was then in brewing yet so much of it as serues our turne may bee well alleadged Namely when it is said that when hee was in celebrating the Communion hee pro more procumbebat according to custome felt on his knees which sheweth plainely that after the consecration and before the receiuing the manner was that the Priest fell on his knees For else would not Rabanus haue said pro more procumbebat These witnesses may I thinke serue to assure vs that at that time when the Reall presence was come into dispute and after that till the way of Transubstantiation was defined They did vse to communicate with Adoration And yet it cannot bee shewed that any Bishop of Rome did appoint it so to bee CAP. XXII That in the most ancient times before corruption of the doctrine of the Sacrament began the Sacrament was receiued with adoring Gesture NOw for the more ancient times in which the doctrine of the Sacrament was the same which ours now is as Orthodoxus Consensus most largely and Duplessis de Missa and others doe manifest I say with that learned Treatise Dialacticon Eucharistiae confidently that the Fathers did receiue the Sacrament Adoring Adoring not the Sacrament but Christ and to shew this I will begin as high as I can and come downe-wards Tertullian de oratione * Cap. 14. after Reproofe of other abuses about prayer cometh at length to say Similiter de stationum diebus non putant plerique sacrificiorum orationibus interueniendum quod statio soluendo sit accepto corpore Domini Ergo deuotum Deo obsequium Eucharistia resoluit an magis Deo obligat nonne solennior erit statio tua si ad aram Dei steteris Accepto corpore Domini reseruato vtrumque salvum est participatio sacrificij executio officij Si statio de militari exemplo nomen accipit nam militia dei sumus vtique nulla laetitia siue not as it is printed sine tristitia obueniens castris stationes militum rescindit Nam laetitia libentius tristitia solicitius administrat disciplinam Likewise on the dayes of Station most men thinke they should not be present at the prayers of the Sacrifice because the body of our Lord being taken the Station is to be dissolued Doth then the Eucharist dissolue the obseruance deuoted to God or rather more oblige vnto God Shall not thy station bee more solemne if thou shalt stand even at the Altar of God The body of our Lord being taken
some other of his seruices as wee are sure that God had confined all Sacrifice-worship to the place that hee had then chosen to place his name there and vtterly disallowed his people to alter the times of any his prefixed solemnities Now come wee to the Arguments CAP. XI The first Argument against Kneeling answered Arg. 1. NO humane Ceremonies which are more then matters of Meere order may lawfully be vsed in the worship of God But some of our Church-ceremonies are more then matters of meere Order Therefore some of our Ceremonies cannot lawfully bee vsed in the worship of God Answ What wee intend by these words vsed in the worship of God hath beene set downe in Cap. 2. and also what different notion there is of the word Order Cap. 5. According to which I answer That if you vnderstand Order in the strictest sense the Minor is true but the Maior is false For then no humane Ceremony which tendeth properly to Decorum should be lawfull which is contrary to the Text 1. Cor. 14.40 which requireth all things to bee done Becommingly or Decently not onely according to Order But if Order be taken in the larger sense as it ought then is the Maior true but the Minor false which saith that any of our Ceremonies viz. in the Churches Intendment and vse of them are more then matters of meere Order Let vs try that by the Argument brought to proue the Minor Whatsoeuer ceremonies are instituted and vsed to stirre vp men in respect of their signification vnto the remembrance of their Duties to God are in such vse matters of more then mere Order But such is the intended vse of some of our ceremonies as is plaine in that Publicke declaration of Ceremonies in expresse words affirming so much Therefore some of them may not lawfully bee vsed c. Answ I confesse the Minor to bee true of some our Ceremonies but deny the Maior Proposition which supposeth the vse of a Rite or Ceremony for Signification to bee more then matter of meere Order when it is not imposed or obserued as operatiue or as necessary to bee obserued as a seruice of God in it selfe or binding the conscience Ex se of it selfe but with a free conscience For this can be esteemed but a matter of meere Order sensu largo in a large sense The Maior therefore is faulty by opposing things Coordinate if they were opposite I shew it in the like Bellarmine would proue that the Church may make lawes to bind the conscience the obseruation whereof shall bee a proper worship of God To this end he thus disputeth The Christian Churches obserued the Aniuersary feasts of Christs Natiuity and Resurrection c. not for Order but as Commemoratiue Ceremonies for Commemoration man may bee holpen with two crutches but hindred with three or foure and more with more 2. Because in sundry of them they laboured to expresse the Mysteries and Historie of the Gospell as Brentius objecteth which was as I may say to shut out the cleare Sun-light and set vp a little candle or at the best to set vp a Candle where the Sunne shineth to giue light 3. Sundry of them as the Churches Declaration of Ceremonies saith were vtterly vnprofitable and others darke and dumbe 4. Many of them consisted in the vse of consecrated Creatures consecrated as Bellarmine saith to signifie and effect supernaturall effects which was to put vpon them the very nature of Sacraments 5. Because they placed as Calvin saith ipsissimur◠Dei cultum the very worship of God it selfe in the vse of them But that they were not refused for the very reason of significancie alone appeareth both by the practise of all Churches which retaine some or others of that kinde as the Feasts of the Nativitie and Easter And Iudgements for all that ever I saw Perkins Zanch. professedly allow some such as namely dipping vnder the water in Baptizing as more significant then sprinckling and euen the vse of the Crosse as a meere significant Rite as at the first vsage yea and Kneeling at the Communion as a token of godly reverence which in all times before the Doctrine of the Reall presence Beza himselfe judgeth to haue been of lawfull and profitable vse And the Treatise called Dialecticon Eucharistia printed at Geneva and set out with Beza his Workes and liking saith it might also bee now well reserved when the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church is restored And this the Dutch and French Churches doe professedly allow never thinking it either vnlawfull or inconvenient because of the signification or more then a matter of Order for they professe to leaue all Churches as say they is fit to their owne liberties therein All the exception which any of them taketh is from respect of some inconveniences which they supposed it to bee subiect vnto which are not such but that Master Cartwright himselfe resolueth Com. in Luke 22.14 that a man must not refuse to receiue the Sacrament kneeling when he cannot haue it otherwise I conclude therfore that this exception against our Ceremonies that they are Significant is the child of that vnhappy civill warre with which the Churches of England and Scotland haue beene and are vexed CAP. 12. The second Argument answered FRom the scope of the second Commandement and the publike Declaration of the Church touching our Ceremonies aforesaid this Argument may be framed Arg. 2. All Ceremonies deuised by Man or added to those which God hath prescribed which are enioyned or vsed as meanes of minding vs of God or helping vs in any part of his worship or carying vs vnto him therein are against the scope of the second Commandement But the Crosse and other our Ceremonies are devised by men or added and applyed by men to those Acts of worship which God hath prescribed as meanes to carry our thoughts vnto God and the duties which wee tender to him as the Declaration aforesaid sheweth Therefore these our Ceremonies as wee intend and vse them are against the scope of the second Commandement Answ Before Answer to this Argument some Phrases must be explained 1. Added to those which God hath prescribed is a doubtfull speech For it may signifie addition of them as actes of worship euen as the other and made parts of it and not onely adiuncts to it And in that meaning the Maior Proposition is true but the Assumption of our Ceremonies is false 2. Againe to bee meanes of carrying vs vp to God or minding vs of God and our duties c. are ambiguous phrases and may bee vnderstood two wayes 1. So as these meanes are vsed and vnderstood as efficient and operatiue meanes which worke by some vertue supposed to bee in them as the Papists fancie of their hallowed trinkets or else as meanes onely occasionall and obiectum à quo objectiuely which worketh at all nothing vpon vs but presents vnto the senses an occasion whereby the mind worketh vpon it selfe as was the case of
confessed in generall words by all men that oppose our Ceremonies howeuer they pare this graunt afterwards of purpose to exclude our Ceremonies from all releefe thereby But if by otherwise you meane so otherwise as that wee disioyne what God hath vnited the outward worship from the Internall i. e. the body from the soule or that wee alter that which God hath Ordered as in the halfe-Communion of the Papists c. Or that the manner and externall fashion bee not framed to the generall rules of Gods direction Order Decency and Edification Then the Maior is true that such things are forbidden by the Law i. e. either by the second or third Commandement But then the Minor touching our Ceremonies must be denyed to bee true till it shall bee proued which will not bee by this Argument but must be if at all by some particular and iust exception against them CAP. 17. The defence of the Answers given to this fourth Argument THis Answer will not seeme to satisfie the Argument till wee haue discouered and removed sundry petty engines which haue been planted against it and seeme to some men to batter it to the ground and to make nothing of it which I will so farre as I can set forth Ab ovo When the day of Mercy shined on the Church of God and gaue men strength and spirit to withdraw themselues from that leprous Church of Rome nothing was more necessary then to make the people know that the vaine pompe and Stage-playes of human Rites which went then currant for an high seruice of God while in the meane time his owne prescribed seruice was either obscured and defaced or annihilated and neglected was no true seruice of God Hence you shall find the Diuines of that time labouring mainely vpon this point That nothing may bee esteemed or vsed as a worship of God such as hee would reward and men might not omit without sinne which was and is the rate of all the Popish Ceremonies in their accounts from the greatest to the least of them saue onely what God himselfe hath in his word prescribed In the meane time they denyed not a liberty to the Church for ordaining of things for Order Decency and Edification and such and so many as the necessity of the Church should at any time require But not for a worship vnderstanding worship as their aduersaries did for such an act as in it selfe was pleasing to God and so as he would bee offended if it were not so done to him Hereupon sundry well minded people began to thinke of all that in Popery was made part of the diuine worship and vrged as necessary for conscience sake to bee so obserued to the honour of God And not considering warily whether things were at all in themselues too blame or only in respect of the superstitious vse and opinion of them they concluded that all was vnlawfull to bee vsed in any Act of religious seruice which was not commanded which of seruice properly so to bee called is true and thereupon resolued no Temples Bels Fonts Gossips c. And because they found not a plaine command for an Oath in cases of Iudicature no swearing and for the like reason no Baptizing of Infants No set formes of prayer or Order of reading Scripture since it is not in the Bible no habits no gestures but such as were necessary in common vse nothing at all obserued which might haue any particular reference to any thing Diuine or Ecclesiasticall not so much as a Cloake or Gowne for a Minister as a distinctiue garment nor ought else which might bee called Ecclesiasticall And as men went with more or fewer sayles caried along with this conceite so haue they fallen short or gone further in their misapplication of the true ground of Diuinity which our great Diuines had deliuered ex hypothesi conditionally and in a strict sense of the termes Worship of God From hence in the first Admonition to the Parliament they quarrelled at the frame and forme of our Church-orders and set downe this rule whatsoeuer is not commanded of God in his word may not bee recieued in the Church This when Master Cartwright vndertooke to defend against the late Arch-bishop Doctor Whirgife hee as hee was a man of a great wit and parts found how that speech might bee mainetainable and yet some liberty left vnto the Church in constituting matters of Order namely that in as much as the things left vnto the Churches determination were limited to certaine generall rules of the word which are Commandements therefore the partioulâ—rs which according to these rules were appointed might bee said to bee commanded iust as wee heard out of Doctor Ames praecipiuntur in genere suo they are commanded vnder their generall which was but a meere shift of his wit For though those generall rules bee Precepts yet the various specialties which fall vnder them are not thereby commanded not those specially but onely allowed But when this Answer was found too short to smite downe our Ceremonies for which this was pleaded that they were not contrary but agreeable to the statutes of Gods word and as such intended and to bee vsed and that if they would disproue any thing they must insist vpon that particular and not thinke to condemne it by a generall Sentence as Master Hooker told them Then they sought out a new way i. e. That things left to the Churches dispose are only Circumstances of time and place and such things of Decorum as were as well receiued and practised for like ends in common vse as in Ecclesiasticall And by this rare deuise which I take to bee Master Iacobs they haue made a shift to rescue Churches Bels Fonts a Communion-table and Cloath and Cup and if need bee a Church yard to bury in and some few other matters from the sentence of the Rigid Anabaptists But haue left all other things which are as they speake stated in i. e. appropriated to any actions of Gods externall seruice to bee executed as guilty of some treachery against god in his worship Therefore saith Master Iacob God hath not left vnto the Churches liberty or determination so much as our Ecclesiasticall Ceremonies Which a better man then hee and one that from my heart I both loue and honour Doctor Ames hath taken as vpon trust from him or other such Author as his words before alleadged may witnesse in part and some others of like alleadgement as namely Partis 2. disp 15. Sec. 25. where hee boundeth and restraineth all that is left of God vnto the choyse and disposition of men in this manner Illa igitur qua pertinent ad ordinem Decorum non ita relinquuntur hominum arbitrio vt possint quod ipsis libet sub illo nomine Ecclesiis obtrudere sed partim determinantur generalibus Dei praeceptis partim natura ipsarum rerum partim circumstantijs illis quae ex occasione sese offerunt These things therefore which pertaine
to order and decency are not so left to the pleasure of men that they may vnder that name and pretext obtrude what they list vpon the Churches but are determined partly vnder Gods generall precepts partly by the nature of the very things themselues and partly by those circumstances which occasionally offer themselues Of which sentence the former halfe is most true the later not so sound For then nothing at all beyond meere necessity as a time and place which are his owne instances Thes 24. or such as the very nature of the things necessarily vrgeth or casualties as for example to meet in a wood in time of persecution or when there is no helpe to set the bread and wine vpon the bare ground Nothing I say more then these are left vnto the Churches ordering nothing that may by any signification helpe to remember vs Nothing that may serue to breed reuerence towards Gods ordinances and put some speciall outward markes of difference betwixt common or sacred Ciuill or Religious affaires nothing of gestures habits memoratiue dayes of Christs Incarnation or Resurrection No prescript forme of prayers to bee vsed otherwise then as a Plat-forme as Altare Damascenum vnlesse perhaps sitting at the Communion in token of Co heireship with Christ because in Ciuill vse it is a table gesture and fashion of familiarity I will alleadge some few of our great Divines and see whether they by Rites and Ceremonies left vnto the libertie of the Church meane nothing but the same which our men vnderstand by Circumstances of time and place common as well in Civill as Religious vse though I grant not few to be such And because they are wont to name time and place putting thereto a blind c. or et simitia we will see whether about Time and Place the learned Divines and they bee of one minde A speciall place destinated Zanch. Tom. 4. pag. 764. and in respect of the vse sanctified and called Sacred which vnlesse in case of extreme necessitie should not be imployed to any other then the destined vses Zanchie alloweth and requireth as a thing comely Will Altare Damascenum trow you permit this to the Churches libertie An Altar of Stone or a Table of wood pag. 485 Zanchie and others leaue to the Churches determination as in se media indifferent in themselues though a Table bee fitter Will our men say so That the Communion Table should not but in case of extreame necessitie be put to common vse Zanchie requireth Ibid. Is this their rule That Table and Vessels for the Communion pag. 785. hee calleth holy Vessels as dedicated to holy vse Is this all one with Civill vse That one lawfull End of building Temples is Significancie Repl. to Bish Morton part 1 cap. 3. sect 32. to remind vs of our Communion with God and his in heauen Zanchie affirmeth Then saith the Replier Away with all mysticall Churches As touching Times of worship besides the Lords dayes Calvin Inst 4.10.31 Calvin putteth that vnder the Churches hand and determination as not determined in the World Sect. 29. and on what dayes the Lords Supper should be administred And Zanchie saith of the Solemnities of Easter Pentecost Quo supra p. 676. the Ascension and Nativitie of our Lord sanctified as of the Ancients or kept holy it could not bee disliked Nay that laudabile est honestum atque vtile it is laudable honest or seemely and profitable and proues it too So in effect Iunius cont lib. 4. pag 283. Will ours allow these Feasts in memoriall of the mercies on such dayes bestowed as a Circumstance of time necessary as well in Civill as Religious vses Doe they not condemne the Feast of Dedication as rashly instituted by the Maccabees And of their owne heads tell vs that the Feast of Purins was either only a merry meeting of friends as Mr. Iacob and Altare Damasc Or that Mordecei was a Prophet as the Replyer onely because they would not have it thought that the Church may by her authoritie separate a whole day to the solemne worship of God vnlesse for Fasting perhaps Not that the Church can make an hallowing Holy-day as is the Lords day the Sabbath but hallowed dayes for the vse to be observed with free Consciences But beside Time and Place the Divines referre to the Churches determination whether the Publike Prayers shall bee all said or sung as Zanchie what Psalmes on what dayes Calvin quo supra Sect. 31. What habit shall be worne inadministring the Lords Supper whether their common or a peculiar garment woollen or linnen And Zanch for the signification preferres the linnen though in other respects hee saith rectius reijcitur it is better rejected of some Churches a Chem. exam part 2. pag. 36. Chemnitius alloweth some of the old significant Rites vsed anciently in Baptisme while only so vsed Iunius professeth that if we were agreed in Doctrine and the superstition remoued we should not disagree with the Papists for the Rite or Ceremonie of Exorcisme The like he saith of the vse of the b Iunius cont 2. pag. 1726. an 23. pag. 1743. Crosse in sacris But what doe I mention these or other particular persons such as Bucer Melancthon against whom and Lavater Zanchie and some others there is a praemunire Caveat added to the Replyers first part That forsooth some of them wrote in the dawsing of the day others lived in England as Martyr Chemnitius was a Lutheran Zanchie was of a timorous disposition they were not well informed when they gaue approbation to our Church Rites and such other geare by which all men may know that the judgements of those graue Divines sute not with theirs in this matter And furthermore that they had rather sinke the reputation of all the Lords Worthies then yeeld themselues to haue mistaken any thing If any particular man be of waight with them it is Mr. Calvin who in truth deserveth the first honourable chaire of them all When the Bishop Morton had produced a Testimonie of his ex Instit 4.10.30 as full and direct as could bee to shew what hee judgeth to be left vnto the determination of the Church in matters of Discipline Ceremonies not determined in the Word The Replyer not reciting the text of Caluin â—elleth the Bishop that there is nothing which without the aequivocation of the word Ceremonie will serue his turne Calvin meant nothing but necessary Circumstances of Order as time and place c. but no significant Ceremonies Caluin saith God hath giuen certaine generall Rules vnto which must bee squared whatsoever the necessitie of the Church shall require of time and place c. for there is no necessitie of our significant Ceremonies Wherein he maketh a pretty shift of escape vnder the shadow of that word necessitiâ— But in following the same matter Caluin faith what the vtilitie of the Church shall require counting that necessary to the Church which is
either of it selfe or by accident necessary for the Churches Peace and building vp as he hath before in that Chapter said and doth after The necessitie of the Church required that old Decree of Abstaining from blood and strangled which in it selfe was not necessary nor as Mr. Sprint hath shewed simply conuendent Which for our vse of the Ceremonies instituted is argument enough vnlesse there bee no need of our Ministery in the Church or of the Churches quiet on of obedience to our Prince in things not evill in themselues But there is yet no necessary vse of our significant humane Ceremonies in the Church Simple necessitie there is none But necessitie of vtilitie Caluin acknowledgeth when of Symbolicall Rites he professeth himselfe to thinke some such to bee a profitable helpe to the weaker sort Sect. 28. Which likewise in his Treatise of The Right way of Reforming the Church he doth also professe Denying himselfe at all to striue against Ceremonies which are either for Order or yet for Decencie Vel etiam symbola sunt incitamenta eius quam Deo debemus reverentiae or such as are signes of and incitements to that reverence which wee owe vnto God And in his 78 Epistle to the Lord Protector Ceremonias ad vsum captumque populi esse accomodandas Ceremonies must bee accomodated to the vse and capacitie of the people which must be vnderstood in part of some significant Ceremonies else why ad captum populi must the peoples capacitie bee so much respected Indeed Caluin requireth that such significant Ceremonies be but few and such as may not obscure Christ But that hee alloweth some such to be instituted of the Church euen for the helpe of signification is as cleare as the Sunne at Noone-day And he that will marke how the Replyer laboureth to hide the light of his Testimonies shall finde that his Reply thereto borrowed much from his wit without asking leaue of his Conscience But why doe I detaine you in the Survay of particular men The Harmony of Confessions set out with thâ— Notes of the French and Dutch Churches will best shew how much the Churches of Christ haue judged to be left vnto the determination of men And how short of that allowance all those men come who will not permit her to constitute so much as one meerely Ecclesiasticall Ceremony but to containe her in the constitution of such things as all men of themselues are bound to obserue euen without any Constitution and which no power of man can forbid You aske me Where any such power is giuen to the Church I answere out of Mr. Caluin and Dr. Ames too viz. where shee is enjoyned to doe all things of Gods prescribed worship according to Order Decencie and to Edification For what doth necessarily serue vnto those rules shee is rather commanded then simply allowed to consider and take care of And sure I am that though Order strictly taken belongeth but to Vbi quando to place and time c. yet the determination of that belonging to each Church requireth many things Now as Order and Decencie in the outward manner of handling all and the severall parts of Gods instituted service is required of the Churches so is it that all bee done to Edification which is not that all that men lust to impose vnder the name of Order Decency and Edification is commaunded or allowed by that charge of the Holy Ghost but that all which shee is to dispose of be such indeed so farre as she can judge Whence will follow that in Rites serving to Order or Decencie there should bee what helpe wee can to Edification by the significancie of those Rites For seeing the outward ordering should be such as may most edifie as Dr. Ames saith how can it bee but such a Rite as is Comely for the matter in hand and agreeable to the vse and intent therof shall be vnto men the more helpefull if it carry some manifest signification in the forehead For this reason Zanchius preferreth and so doth M. Perkins the ceremony of Immersion vnder the water before that of sprinkling or laying on the water as holding more Analogy to that of Paul Rom. 6. that we are buried with Christ in Baptisme And the same * Zanch. To. 4.601 Edit 1613. Zanch speaking of the Ceremonies vsed in taking a solemne oath laying the hand vpon the Altar or as the Iewes and we vpon the Booke of the Covenant or lifting vp the hand to heaven saith That none of these Ceremonies are to be disliked because they all haue their and those weighty significations And in sadnes when it is to vs so familiar a thing in all solemne actions to haue something signified to vs by Ceremony how can it bee blameable in a Ceremonie of the Church that it is significant I meane simply eo nomine in that very respect For if there be a surfet made of them or any operatiue vertue supposed to bee in them or any necessitie or opinion of worshipping God by them ex se as of and in themselues such vse doth pollute them and all that so vse them In gestures it will bee acknowledged readily that they may be fitted to the severall kinds of Gods prescribed Service euen for signification as M. Cartwright and M. Fennor shew But saith Altare Damasc wee must not bee tyed to them In which if hee meant not tyed by the conscience as if it were a sinne euen in it selfe not to vse them in the publike service of God I am fully with him But either I foulely mistake him or else his meaning is that what wee will doe freely of our selues this way is good but if once the Magistrate or Church require it to bee done then all is marred Thinke of this and thinke withall whether the same men which refuse kneeling in receiving the Communion all or most of them doe not also forbeare to kneele when the Commandements are read to euery whereof a prayer for pardon and for grace to keepe that law is subjoyned Yea and when Publike profession of the Faith is made to stand vp which is a most comely gesture and without all exception And tell me in Conscience what can bee the reason of such refusall but because it is so appoynted by the Law and Authoritie both of State and Church otherwise they would like well enough then to stand Ob. But gestures say they signifie Naturally or as it were Naturally but our exception is against such things as signifie only by appoyntment of men as the Ring in Marriage Surplice and Crosse and these we condemne I answer 1. That they question our kneeling though it signifie giving of honour never so naturally not onely as misapplied but as a significant ceremony 2. For the Surplice that it is but a distinctiue garment as the addition of Hoods to be put on after mens Degrees may shew But let it signifie the purenesse that ought to be in the Minister of God in Gods
THE LAWFVLNES OF KNEELING IN THE ACT OF RECEIVING THE LORDS SVPPER Wherein by the way also somewhat of the CROSSE in Baptisme First Written for satisfaction of a Friend and now published for Common Benefit By Dr. IOHN BVRGES Pastor of Sutton Coldfield LONDON Printed by Augustine Matthewes for Robert Milbourne and are to bee sold at his Shop in Pauls Church-yard at the Signe of the Grayhound 1631. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THOMAS LORD COVENTRY Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England c. RIGHT HONOVRABLE TO a Rejoynder made by me in Answere of a Reply given to Bishop MORTON his Defence of our Church Ceremonies and now by his Maiesties Command published I have beene perswaded to adde by way of Supplement another little Treatise of like subiect first written in Answere of a Private Letter because some hope is conceived that it may doe some good for the stay of such as are yet but inclyning or satisfaction of others inclined already to a contrary opinion but not yet fixed in the same I know the hazards that I shall runne in this Worke expecting various Censures and some perhaps bitter My comfort shall be the sincerity of my heart before God for whose Truth I have spoken To your good Lordship whom God and the King have honoured with the highest place of Iudicature under His Maiestie in this Land who have honored God the King and your Place by matchlesse Diligence spotles Integrity of which my poore selfe among others have tasted in the discharge thereof and unto whom my selfe my praiers and all the service I can doe are obliged I have presumed to Dedicate this small Peece in testimony of that thankfulnesse which mine heart yeildeth as a Tribute due to your Honour Accept I humbly beseech you this Mite pardon my boldnes in this Dedication and be pleased to thinke that of the many thousands who truly honour your Lordship and heartily pray for Your present and eternall happinesse there bee not many more seriously Devoted thereto then is Your Lordships humble Servant IOHN BVRGES A Table declaring the Contents of this Treatise in the severall Chapters of it CHAP. I. THe Definition of a Ceremonie pag. 1. CHAP. II. The meaning of that phrase In the worship of God p. 2. CHAP. III. How our Ceremonies may bee called Worship of God and how not pag. 2. CHAP. IV. The same exemplified by Instances in diuers particulars pag. 4. CHAP. V. What is meant by matters of meere Order pag. 8. CHAP. VI. The scope of the second Commandement pag. 10. CHAP. VII Of the termes of Seruice Worship Adoration and Veneration pag. 12. CHAP. VIII That Adoration and Veneration differ not but by mens wills pag. 14. CHAP. IX Of Divine and Civill Adoration pag. 14. CHAP. X. Whether Kneeling bee any Divine Adoration by divine Institution or Application of it to true Divine Worship pag. 15. CHAP. XI The first Argum. against our Ceremonies answered p. 18. CHAP. XII The second Argument answered pag. 23. CHAP. XIII The third Argument answered pag. 25. CHAP. XIV An Objection vsed to strengthen the former Argument answered pag. 29. CHAP. XV. The first part of the fourth Argument answered p. 36. CHAP. XVI The second part of the Fourth Argum. answered pag. 42. CHAP. XVII The Defence of the Answers given to the fourth Argument pag. 43. CHAP. XVIII Sixe Questions about Kneeling answered pag. 55. CHAP XIX The Obiection from Christs example answered p. 63. CHAP. XX. The Obiection from Table-gesture answered p. 64. CHAP. XXI The Obiection from Idolatrous Introduction answered pag. 64. CHAP. XXII That in the most ancient times before the Corruption of the Doctrine of the Sacrament began the Sacrament was received with adoring gesture pag. 76. CHAP. XXIII The same shewed to bee the practise of the Church in the time of Theodoret. S. Augustine and Cyril pag. 84 CHAP. XXIV A Vindication of Dr. Morton now Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield quarrelled by a namelesse Replyer falsely charging Dr. Morton with abusing of Cyril Augustine and Chrysostome in this poynt pag. 91. CHAP. XXV More Instances shewing the Antiquitie of this gesture of Adoring or Kneeling pag. 98. CHAP. XXVI Instances of the practise of the Church about the eight hundred yeeres after Christ pag. 99. CHAP. XXVII The former Instances were of times preceding those wherein the Doctrine of the Real presence was hatched p. 100. CHAP. XXVIII The second Observation in the practise of the Ancient Churches pag. 106. CHAP. XXIX The third Observation in the practise â—f the Ancient Churches pag. 107. CHAP. XXX The fourth Observation touching the same pag. 109. CHAP. XXXI The fifth Observation pag. 109. CHAP. XXXII The last Observation together with Answers to the objections made against Kneeling pag. 110. CHAP. XXXIII The Conclusion of the whole pag. 118. Faults escaped in the Printing to bee thus corrected PAge 4. line 4. 5. reade and this belongs to lin 14 r. and in respect p. 8.28 for and not r is not 11 17. for in generall r in particular 13.8 r. ldpan 20. vlt. r. to reverence 22.25 for in all r. in old times p. 25. l. 28. r. or so reputed 31.12 r. Dialacticon and so elsewhere 38.17 dele or that l. 18. for ita r. illa 45.36 for our r. one 37. r. ceremonie p. 52. 36. r. Sacramentalls 54.36 r. of which 68.18 for if meaning r if meant 70.30 dele it 72.7 r. Guitmund and Bereng arius l. 14. r. whole Christ 75.14 r. who liud in the yeere 800.79.17 orare to pray 18. r. adorare to adore In Marg. pag. 37. r. Chamier to 3. lib. 19. cap 1. â— 10. where not the words but the mâ—â—ter is more fully p. 91. l 12. reade 21. Where D. Ames is quoted with reference to the number of Disputations not of Chapters the Authour followed the first Impression of his Disputations and not those latter Editions distinguished by Chapters The Lawfulnesse of Kneeling in the Act of receiving the Lords Supper first written for the satisfaction of a Friend and now published for common Benefit CAP. 1. The definition of a Ceremonie SIR BEfore I meddle with any your objections or questions concerning our Church Ceremonies I hold it needfull to set downe certaine Heads to which I may referre in answering beginning with the Definition of a Ceremonie A Ceremonie is an outward action purposely done in reference to some other thing of the substance whereof it is no cause or part 1. Thus the recitall of the Creed at Baptisme is a Ceremonie serving to shew vnto what Faith every one is bound by the stipulation of Baptisme whereas the recitall of it as a profession of our Faith to the honouring of God is not a Ceremony but an act of religâ—ous worship and service to God in it selfe for the substance of it 2. The terme of Circumstance is not so fit for our vse as that of Ceremonie 1. Because it is more large for though every Ceremony be a Circumstance of
it is not meant thereby that any Adoration is done or ought to bee done either vnto the sacramentall Bread and Wine there bodily received or vnto any reall and essentiall presence there being of Christs naturall flesh and blood For as concerning the Sacramentall Bread and Wine they remaine still in their very naturall substances and therefore may not bee adored for that were Idolatry to bee abhorred of all faithfull Christians and as concerning the naturall body and blood of our Saviour Christ they are in heaven and not here for it is against the truth of Christs naturall Body to bee in moe places then one at one time 3. To which I adde that to take away all appearance of tendring any Adoration to the outward signes then brought to the Communicants the Church thought good afterwards * 1 Eliz◠to haue that short Prayer The Body of our Lord c. then to bee made for each Communicant before he receiue which in King Edwards Booke was not appointed to the end that the Kneeling might not so much as seeme to be vndertaken vpon the sight and respect of the Sacramentall signes and in reference to them Thus carefull haue our Fathers bin to shew vs their minds and to take away all appearance of evill and ground of suspicion 4. And it is worth the marking that this gesture is at that time onely appoynted as a signification of our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of the benefits of Christ which if it be not by our owne fault we then receiue and not at any other time when it might be supposed to bee intended to the Sacramentall signes or to Christ in and by them For as that learned Author of the Treatise called Dialecticon Eucharistia printed at Geneva and set out with the second Tome of Beza his Works in his life time saith The Bread is to vs the Body of Christ when we adore and receiue it not as they doe in Poperie at the Elevation when they onely looke on or Circumgestation when it is carried in the streets and they that Adore receiue nothing And for this cause Mr. Calvin in answering that objection of the Papists Inst 4.17.37 that they adore Christ in the Sacrament saith Si in Coena c. If this were done in the Supper I would say Eam demum Adorationem esse legitimā quae non in signo residet sed ad Christum in coelo sedentem refertur that were yet a lawfull adoration which resteth not in the outward signe but is referred to Christ himselfe sitting in heauen And hee giveth after this reason that they haue no promise of Christs presence in the Sacrament not as signatum in signo as the thing signified in the signe when it is consecrated to bee honoured and carried about as a pompous spectacle and invocated but when it is received For our Lord that said This is my body sayd Take eat this is my body The Sacraments consist in their vse and are not Sacraments out of their vse The water in the Font is no Sacrament of Baptisme but in the vse of it 5. Our Church therefore by appoynting this gesture at that time when we receiue bodily the outward things spiritually the inward grace annexed not by corporeall presence but by institute Relation to the same hath not referred this Ceremony to the outward things received of the Ministers hands no nor simply to the benefits received of by and with Christ as a signe of our partaking them but onely to our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of those benefits received from Christ as the Declaration sheweth So that vnlesse humble and gratefull acknowledgement of those benefits agree not to that very hint of time when by vertue of Gods Ordinance we receiue them the signification thereof by the gesture cannot bee vnlawfull or vncomely though it bee not simply necessary but a matter of Order not of proper worship in it selfe 6. They therefore which spend their wits and time to prooue either that wee ought not to giue Adoration to any sanctified creature or by adoring it to transferre our adoration to God or Christ or to perswade men that this gesture is vsed of vs at least for Veneration of the consecrated creatures had in my opinion too much time to spare and not either Iudgment or Charitie enough For it is not done in relation to the Signes or simply to the things signified but only as an expression of our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of what we receiue and is to the honouring of God and Christ by Consequent and reduction onely belonging and that but as an outward and free Rite or formalitie 7. But if in the Supper it selfe wee had respect vnto the sanctified creatures as the ordinances of our Lord and by bowing our selues not to them but vpon occasion of them then brought to vs to bee received not resting the honour or adoration in the elements themselues though sanctified but onely referring it to God and Christ the Son of God not as carnally present in them but sitting in heaven and by his Spirit wonderfully communicating his body and blood to vs you see wee should haue had M. Calvins approbation as well as the ancient Fathers S. Augustine and others which I could name and not heerein deserue to bee matched with such of the learned Papists as would haue no Adoration to determine in the Images themselues but to be referred vnto and rest vpon the Prototype or first Sampler 8. For the Lords Sacraments and Word are as Calvin saith the liuely images of God and of his owne making not ours And therefore we may lawfully and must haue such a respect vnto them as we may not haue to any thing devised by man and wee may by them as obiectum à quo by an object from whence and medium per quod a meanes by which tender our adoration to God which by an Image of our own heads made we cannot doe without either breach of the 1 Commandement if the adoration determine in the image or prototype thereof being a meere creature or breach of the 2 Commandment though the adoration were referred only to God For he hath said Thou shalt not make to thy selfe c. but neuer meant to restraine himselfe from such representation of himselfe as he should like to giue or vs from worshipping him serving him in the vse of them See Cap. 9. And hence it is that the people of God before and after the Law haue taken notice of Gods presence or grace manifested by message as Exod. 4. or signes ordinary or extraordinary given them of God and haue with free consciences thereupon kneeled or bowed downe themselues to God vpon at or before those representations of Gods speciall presence or grace Wherein if any man shall match them with Durand Occham and others that worship Images made at the will of men onely in relation to that which is worshipped he shall be injurious to the Saints and giue
sight and service The Ring is meerely a civill signe of the Matrimoniall Contract as is Ioyning of hands The Crosse indeed would not signifie what it doth of it selfe but by Institution But as I haue shewed the very bodily gestures doe not of themselues signifie but by the Intention and Customes of men which is as by second Nature And so doth putting off of the hat signifie a respect also which when they allow though appoynted by men at the Sacrament the signification notwithstanding this is but a made quarrell that our Ceremonies signifie not but by Institution and long Custome of men And I pray you what difference vpon the matter whether by naturall light or generall notice of the meaning the Ceremonie bee significant And why not Forsooth this is to giue them part of the nature of Sacraments Indeed some in their heat call them Sacraments as Master Parker in his Treatise of the Crosse But Doctor Ames checketh that over-shoot and saith they are but Sacramentalia Sacramentals not well vnderstanding that Ceremonies were called Sacraments scil not from this that they signified for so did almost all Popish Rites witnesse Durandus but because they were appertinent to some of their Sacraments non ad esse but ad ornatum not to their being but to their comely being Take away saith Saint Augustine the Element and there is no Sacrament and take away the thing signified saith Zanchie and there is no Sacrament neither Sacraments therefore are not simple signes but Significantia obsignantia instrumentaliter exhibentia quod significant signes signifying sealing and instrumentally exhibiting that which they signifie The symbolicall Rites in Poperie vsed to effect some supernaturall grace by their vse were indeed presumptuous and sawcy counterfeits of diuine Sacraments But that meere signification of a morall duty should more then participate the proper nature of a Sacrament I shall then beleeue when I shall perceiue the signe of the sunne in a shop-window to partake the nature of the same or of Baals Image made to represent the same The nature of the Sacraments consisteth not simply in that they doe signifie which is common to all signes but in that they signifie the Couenant of grace by diuine institution and seale it to vs. Nor doe I beleeue that Ioshua pitched a Sacramentall signe in Shechem though it was to reminde them of the Couenant of God of which Circumcision was the Sacramentall signe I will now content my selfe onely to oppose this that this Imagination that significancy maketh a Ceremony to bee evill doth not appeare to mee to haue entred the heart of any learned man Iew or Christian till it was of late taken vp against our Ceremonies for a Couert for this I am sure of * See in the Archb. Def. pag. 120. his words that the Iewes had of their owne deuising aboue as Master Cartwright saith twentie for one more then wee haue of Ecclesiasticall significant Ceremonies Of the ancient Christian Churches it is rather to bee lamented as Augustine in his time did that they ouerdid in hauing so many then needfull to bee proued that all Churches had some such significant Rites And as for the later Churches of our Religion some haue more some as many some fewer then wee but all some And that the judgement of the Churches in their Confessions and of the prime men which haue written is for the allowance of some significant Ceremonies meerely Ecclesiasticall though they thinke as I doe the fewer the better is manifest Epist 8. pag. 211. Tom. 3. opuscul 2.14.82 Onely Mr. Beza hath a passage which seemeth to contrary this which I haue said namely That all symbolicall Rites ought to be abolished Contrary to what we had of Mr. Calvin that some such are to bee allowed as a profitable helpe to the ruder sorte of men But these two learned men differ not saue in shew for Calvin by symbolicall Rites meaneth such onely as are vsed to signifie some dutie to bee done And Beza meaneth such symbolicall Rites as were vsed not meerely for signification but as hauing some operatiue vertue in them either ex opere operato vpon the very doing of them as the Crosse or by meanes of their Consecration by prayers This to bee so I proue by Beza himselfe in his 8. and 12. Epistle from one whereof this Obiection is taken For Beza confesseth the a Aduersus fratrem BaldwinuÌ„ in opuscul vol. 3. p. 324. Epist 12. Crossing to haue beene sometimes of at least tolerable vse yea and now the Superstition being remoued Kneeling sometimes a profitable signe b Epist 12. Opusc Tom. 3. p. 220. of Godly reuerence in receiuing the Sacrament The vse of the c Epist 12. pa. 219. Epist. 8. p. 212. Surplice to bee ex se res media of it selfe a matter indifferent yea and so the other two Wherefore hee did not judge meere Signification to haue defiled or tainted them for then their vse had neuer beene allowable or indifferent Therefore this exception against our Ceremonies that they are significant was not verely the cause of the quarrell but the quarrell of this exception And now I returne that the Church hath Commission to determine of Ecclesiasticall Rites which in truth shall appeare to her vpon due consideration to be of necessary vse whether per se or per accidens of themselues or by accident vnto the edification of it selfe by Rites vsed for Order and Decency and when need is significant And thus much the very definition of a Ceremony Vâ—sin Catech. impres Ann. 1621. p. 772. which Paraeus hath may witnesse when of Church Ceremonies he saith That they are externall and solemne Actions instituted in the ecclesiasticall Ministery Ordinis vel Significationis gratia for order or significations sake which he maketh after two sorts Diuine and Humane Now I come to your Questions which I will answer to in short CAP. XVIII Six Questions about Kneeling answered Quest 1. WHether you allow kneeling to bee worship Answ Worship is either Cultus Seruice or Adoration or Veneration kneeling is a part of externall Adoration per se in it selfe as is the being bare-headed but not Cultus ex se seruice or worship of it selfe but per aliud with reference to another thing as it is a signe of true internall reuerence acknowledged to God and a part of that comelinesse which becometh men in partaking the seales of the Couenant of grace done to his honour It is in it selfe no more then a Circumstance of worship like as Fasting is of Humiliation and Prayer in a word Cultus reductiue non proprie dictus worship reductiuely not properly so called lawfull not commanded as before hath beene shewed Object But if this bee not worship there is no worship of the body I Answer yes for the very bodily Action of Eating and Drinking in the Supper is on the Receiuers part Cultus dei externus externall worship of God because commanded
one yea if it were granted that Antichrist euen in his height had brought in this Rite of kneeling when we receiue for adoration of the Sacrament For his misapplying of that gesture to the honour of a creature as if it were God cannot make the vse of the like gesture vnlawfull to vs in the worshipping of the true God who condemning all bowing before an Idoll hath required it to himselfe in his externall seruice though not with determination with what kinde of bowing And if the Popes abuse of kneeling haue made kneeling vnlawfull then the Arrians abuse of sitting at the Lords Supper in neglect of Christ and to shew themselues as it were his companions should make sitting not being instituted of Christ to bee also vnlawfull Yet the Councels of Cracovia Vdislauia Peterborne and Seadan cited in the Altar of Damasc Latinè pag. 751. did not condemne sitting for this abuse of the Arrians as vnlawfull to be vsed in the Lords Supper but onely disswade all of their societie to vse it leauing to them as indifferent standing or kneeling And till of very late those which spake most against our vse of kneeling were not so rash as to count it vnlawfull but onely for the abuse or perill which might possibly ensue Inconvenient So Beza so M. Cartwright 2. But I deny that the gesture of kneeling when wee doe receiue the Communion was brought into the Church by Antichrist i. e. the Bishop of Rome as is pretended or had any Idolatrous introduction whatsoever may since the introduction haue befallen it The Adoration of the Sacrament wee know to haue beene brought into the Romane Church Lib. 3. Decret tit de Celebratione Missae cap. Sanct. i. e Tit. 41. cap. â— after the determination of Transubstantiation For that Decree was at the Councel of Lateran 1215. vnder Innocent 3. But Adoration about the yeare of our Lord 1226. But Honorius did not appoint the Adoration to be vsed in the act of receiuing but at the Eleuation when say they Christ is offered vp as an heaue-offering by the Priest or when it was carried through the streetes to the sicke And to encrease the beliefe of Christs reall presence vnder the Species of the Bread the Feast of Corpus-Christi-day and Indulgences were after graunted by two other Antichrists succeding Honorius But none of these made any Decree for Adoration of the Sacrament at and in the very time of receiuing it but when it was Eleuated or caried abroad to the sicke or in Pompe 2. Neither was the Decree of Honorius for Kneeling to it or before it but onely for bowing of the body to it reuerently As the Disputer against Kneeling and Altare Damascenum doe rightly obserue Alt. Damasc p. 783. But that Altare Damascenum saith this bowing to it was in signe onely of veneration such as to Images not of diuine Adoration that is without reason said and conceiued onely in fauour of his fancied difference of Veneration Adoration made by the very outward signes or gestures For the reason of decreeing bowing and not of kneeling to the Sacrament could not bee because they would not giue diuine honour to that which they beleeued to bee God but because the ancient Decree of not Adoring openly and solemnely on their knees no not in prayer on the Lords dayes and the Pentecost would not permit the gesture of kneeling openly and solemnely to bee obserued in the Churches for Adoration of the Sacrament So that so long as that Decree for standing in their publicke seruice kept any life in it there was no decree for Adoration of the Sacrament by kneeling to or before it Indeed since that time the Church of Rome hath changed the gesture of bowing to that of kneeling The Priest when hee hath consecrated each Species and set them downe vpon the Altar must now by the Canon of the Masse adore the Sacrament Kneeling And so all the people must now doe at the Eleuation c. Thus wee confesse Kneeling before and to the Hoaste to haue come in by Antichrist when midnight was vpon the face of the world and Antichrist in his height But wee waite for some euidence to proue first that Antichrist brought in the Rite or Ceremony of Kneeling in the Act of receiuing the Sacrament And secondly that Kneeling so brought in was intended as any signe of Adoration of the Sacrament or Christ as existent vnder the formes of bread and wine Pag. 788. Altare Damascenum boldly telleth vs that with vs Idem ritus eodem momento eadem forma eodem actu vsurpatur quo apud Pontificios adeo vt externa specie ne hilum quidem differunt the same rite in the same moment of time in the same forme in the same act is vsed as is among the Pontificians so that in respect of outward species or forme they differ not at all He forgetteth himselfe somewhat for with vs the Bps. or Ministers communicate Kneeling See Ordo Rom. apud Bibl. Pat. Col. To. 8. pag. 390. colum 1. liter B. Edic Colon. 1618. as well as the people But with them the Pope when himselfe performeth the office receiueth sitting as being a type of Christ the Masse-priests receiue standing reuerently by the Canon of the Masse The people indeed receiue it Kneeling as wee doe But before the gesture of Kneeling can be proued to bee of Idolatrous introduction by Antichrist after the Transubstantiation as is vrged three things must bee shewed First that the Rite and gesture of Kneeling in the Act of receiuing is and hath beene in the Church of Rome it selfe alwayes Idolatrous i.e. done or to bee done in Adoration of the visible Sacrament it selfe Secondly that some Pope did bring it in And thirdly that since the Transubstantiation in all which hee will be to seeke For graunting that the people doe Kneele in receiuing as did also the Priest till such time as the doctrine of Transubstantiation begot the Canon of his standing for feare of shedding ought I deny that Kneeling in the very time of Receiuing was euer in the Church of Rome any Rite of or for Adoration of the Sacrament it selfe or any creature and therefore not Idolatrous I deny not the errour of their mindes concerning that they receiued into their mouthes But I deny that they euer intended Adoration of the Species at that moment of time when they tooke it in their mouthes But then turned themselues to God rather to giue him thankes which was not vncomely My reasons are first because it was neuer yet enjoyned by any Pope that they should then Kneele Nor is this gesture of Kneeling any of the Romane Rites nor so mentioned by Bellar. de Missa lib. 2. c. 15. Nor in the Rubricke of the Masse-booke which telleth vs of standing sitting knocking bowing and kneeling and when they must bee Nor euer mentiâ—ned by Durandus or Duranius who write of all the Rites and Ceremonies which are of vse by any institution in that Church
or haue beene Secondly because so often as in the Masse Adoration to the Sacrament is to bee performed by Priest or people it is in plaine termes said let him or them then adore the Sacrament But it is not said so at the time and moment of receiuing but on the contrary when it is carried to bee giuen to the sicke the direction is to let him haue a sight of it that hee may first adore it if hee will which sheweth that they doe not esteeme any signe of reuerence to bee giuen for Adoration of the Sacrament when it is receiued but only when it is on purpose looked vpon Thirdly for that it is an incongruous thing in their superstition to Adore a thing which is not higher then their polles when they adore it because they cannot bee said to humble themselues to that which is lower then they can cast themselues And hence Master Morison telleth of one in Sauoy â—â—prauataÌ„ Religionis Oâ—igo et incrementuÌ„ Edenburgs 1594. pag. 75. brought in daunger of punishment for doeing his reuerence to the Hoast caried by out at a window when hee was higher then it for this was despicere Sacramenium to disregard or despise the Sacrament I conclude therefore that it is impossible to proue that the gesture of Kneeling at that moment of receiuing the Sacrament was in the very Church of Rome idolatrously intended to the Sacrament And as touching the Introduction thereof by any Pope I also deny that to bee proued or probable if meaning of kneeling with respect to the Sacrament in the very moment of receiuing it For there is not to this day any decree of any Pope or Councell so much as that it should bee taken Kneeling of all the Communicants much lesse for Adoration of the Sacrament it selfe Pag. 723. Altare Damascenum alleadgeth out of the Romish Rituall Postea ad communionem accedit incipiens ab ijs qui sunt ad partem Epistolae sed primo si sacerdotibs vel alijs ex clero danda est communio ijs ad gradus Altaris genu flexis tribuatur vet si commode fieri potest intra sepimentum Altaris sint a laicis distincti sacerdotes vero tum soli communicent Then hee goes to the Communion beginning from those who are on the Epistlers side but first if the Communion bee to bee giuen to the Priests or others of the Clergy let it bee administred to them kneeling at the steps of the Altar or if it may conueniently be done let the Priests bee distinguished from the Laicks by being within the railes of the Altar but then let the Priests communicate alone Such another I find alleadged by M. Morison * Quo supra pag 69. And a third I remember in the Order of Salamanca for the Fryers But all these concerne onely the Clergy who comming to receiue so neere the Altar are appointed to doe it kneeling on the greeces or steps of the Altar which is done in veneration of the Altar or of that which standeth thereupon and not for Adoration to the Hoast when it is put into their mouthes and is not giuen as a rule to all the people whereuer they communicate or when it is communicated to them But it will bee perhaps objected That the people of all sorts doe receiue kneeling in their Churches I graunt it but I deny that euer it was by any Pope since the Transubstantiation deuised or imposed vpon them as a Rite or Ceremony to bee obserued in receiuing For then wee should surely either find when and by whom or at least that it was done or had not beene so before which I doe not beleeue that any man can shew And the reason why there neuer was any constitution made in the Romane Church for this gesture was as I conceiue three fold 1. Because if they had made til of later ages such a Law they had openly crossed the ancient Rite and Canons made against Kneeling on the Lords-dayes and Pentecost in any their solemne worship of God Therefore they rather liked to winke at the closer breach of that Canon by such as out of priuate deuotion should kneele when their turne came to receiue on those dayes of Station then to crosse that by another Canon expresly Secondly because they found all men but of a generall deuotion and desire of honouring God in that Action of themselues to kneele they did not find any need to require that to bee done which was vniuersally done of the people by an ancient Custome And thirdly because this which had beene obserued of old times before their new conceit of a Reall presence seemed to giue better testimony to that conceit then if the Ceremony had been by themselues instituted And indeed this we find that when the doctrine of Reall-presence by Consubstantiation began to get head which was aboue 100 yeares before the Transubstantiation the Patrons of that errour did plead the Adoration which had beene generally obserued in the vse of the Supper before that but with intendment of the same to Christ the Sonne of God as sitting in heauen and not as existent in or with the bread to proue the Reall presence thereby For a In tertiam partem Thomae Tom. 3. pag. 781. Suarez saith as the Reall presence proueth the Adoration a priori so the Adoration proueth the reall presence a posteriori Thus b Alger de Sacram. Altaris lib. 2. c 3. Algerus who liued aboue a hundred yeares before the Transubstantiation or voydance of the substance of bread was resolued of but yet when a Reall presence of Christs body in and with the bread was apprehended vrgeth his matter saying Cassa est veneranda sedulitas Adorantium venerantium c. the venerable sedulity of such as adore and worship is in vaine if Christ bee not there And after wee Adore the Sacrament it selfe Sacramentum ipsum adoramus tanquam diuinum quiddam as a diuine thing and speake to it as to a liuing and intelligent thing O lambe of God that takest away the sinnes of the world c. Quia non quod videtur sed quod vere est Christum ibi esse credimus because wee beleeue Christ to bee there not in shew but in truth Wherein howeuer hee doe peruert the customary fashion of the Church in receiuing this Sacrament Adorantes adoring it referring it to the Sacrament it selfe and misinterpret those words of the Canon O lambe of God c. which were intended to Christ himselfe in heauen W. Strabo in Bibl. patr Colon To. 9. p 961. i. e. cap. 23. de rebus Ecclesiasticis c. Florus a Minister who liued ann 860. in his Exposition of the Masse Bibl. Colon. To. 9. pag. 304. and not as locally in the Sacrament as Strabo sheweth vsed in the time of the breaking of the bread for the Communicants yet thus much is manifest that before his time the Church as hee speaketh generally did vse Adoration of Christ himselfe
as in the Church of Rome was the manner at least Ann. 800. See Ordo Rom. That this is true Sozomen Hist lib. 8. cap. 5. who liued Ann. 430. appeareth in Sozomens Historie of that woman who being tainted with the errour of Macedonius yet to giue her husband content who threatned to leaue her if she would not receiue the Sacrament in Chrysostomes the orthodox Church went thither hauing prouided her selfe of some other bread from home This woman therefore taketh the sacramentall Bread of the Pastors hand and then kneeling downe as if it had been to prayer saith Sozomen convayed that away and put her own bread into her mouth which when shee would haue chewed was turned into a stone By astonishment whereof shee discouered to Chrysostome all the matter Let him that will and dare censure the matter namely that there was no such miracle done yet that Sozomen hath so related it no man can denie And thence must needs appeare that the manner of Communicants was so to doe seeing shee that desired to bee thought to Communicate did so no doubt as others vsed to doe outwardly in Communicating Chrysost Hom. 61. ad popul Antioch And this agreeth with Chrysostomes words Adora Communica Adore and Communicate Nor can this of Chrysostome bee put off by the ambiguous and different meaning of the word Adore as if it might perhaps onely meane internall adoration which all men confesse to be necessary in that action For Chrysostome sheweth of what kinde of Adoration hee speaketh vsually in this matter namely of Externall For in his seuenth Homily on Mathew Anno. 400. he exhorteth by the example of the Magi or Wise men which came out of their owne countrey to Adore i.e. externally to come to the house of Bread But to adore and honour the Sonne of God warneth men that they counterfet not as Herod who said hee would come to adore but meant to kill and saith that such like are they which hauing Mammon in their hearts doe abuse vnworthily the Communion of the mystery who seeme to adore but as much as in them is kill him whom they feigne themselues to adore He concludeth * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Timeamus igitur Let vs feare therefore lest when wee carry the shew of suppliants and adorers we be indeed enemies Let vs then when wee are about to adore cast all things from vs c. In which passage he plâ—inâ—ly requireth so the outward adoration as it should not bee separated from the inward and shewes that adoration which euen Hypocrites might performe must needs bee onely externall and in the fashion as he saith of Suppliants The same Chrysost Hom. 24. in 1. Cor. 10. exhorting as he doth in his seventh Hom. on Math. by the example of the Magi to come humbly to worship Christ pleadeth that they haue more reason to honour his Body which is set before them on the Altar For that which is worthy of highest honour saith he I will shew thee on earth For as in the Court of Kings not the walls nor the golden roofe but the Body of the King sitting in his throne is the chiefest of all So in the heauens is that kingly body which now on earth is set before thee to bee seene c. In which passage it is plaine that hee calleth for such Adoration as the Magi performed to Christ lying in the cratch not because hee thought the very natural body of Christ to bee locally there vpon the Altar which hee euen there affirmes to bee enthronized in the highest Heauens But because the Bread is the very body of Christ in a mystery onely for he could not else say It is to bee seene on the Altar-table Nor was this Adoration which he calleth for intended terminatiue to determine in the Sacramentall bread or the species which appeared or in Christ as contained therein but onely before the same and by occasion thereof vnto Christ himselfe sitting in glory as M. Perkins well saith Perk Workes Ann. 1609. Vol. â— p. 642. Aug. de Doctr. Christ l. 3. c. 9. For as Augustine saith He that adoreth a profitable signe which God hath commanded marke well that this makes no roome for Images which God hath not commanded and vnderstandeth the signification doth not adore that which is seene and perisheth The baptized that were of â—eeres did adore wheÌ„ they were baptiz'd not Baptisme but Christ but rather that vnto which all such things are to be referred of which hee after giueth instance in Baptisme and the Lords Supper This will not hold in images nor profit them who adore Christ as contained and existent in the place where had beene the substance of Bread and Wine as they say indeed is still * Iewel Artic. * Defence pa. â—â—9 Edit prâ—â—â— any more then for adoration of water in Baptisme The Sacraments saith Bishop Jewell in that sort i. e. in respect of that which they signifie and not in respect of that which they are in themselues are the flesh of Christ and are so vnderstanded and beleeved and adored but the whole honour resteth not in them but is passed over from them to the things which be signified His meaning is that no more is or may be done respectiuely to the Sacrament then that which we call Veneration that which in strict sense wee call Adoration or diuine worship reserued to God of which two the difference as I haue shewed cannot alwayes nor needeth to be shewed in or by the outward gesture but is onely in the distinction and intention of the minde 1 Chro. 29.20 The people worshipped saith the Text God and the King Where the outward adoration was one as the word by which it is expressed is but one but the Religious and Civill were distinct in the minde intention and reason of either Well saith Doctor Ames D. Ames Antibell Tom. 3. disp 37. art 23. That veneration or reuerence is due to the Sacrament it selfe as Gods Ordinance And that Christ is to be adored in the vse of it though not as inclosed in the Bread and Wine or existent in the place of their substance This digression is to cleare Chrysostomes and the other Ancient Fathers meanings Now returne we to the History CAP. 23. The same shewed to bee the practise of the Church in the time of Theodoret Saint Augustine and Cyril THeodoret Dial. 2. hath this passage Anno 430 2â— Coccius Neque enim c. For neither after the Consecration doe these mysticall signes depart from their proper nature for they remaine in their former substance figure and kind or species and therefore are they both seene and felt as before And yet are they vnderstood to bee that which they are made and are beleeued and adored as being the very things which they are beleeued to bee This testimony sheweth plainely that Theodoret beleeued neither Transubstantiation nor Consubstantiation Not Transubstantiation for he denieth
late in temperate and scoffing Libell called a Reply to Doctor Mortons defence c. part 2. cap. 3. Sect. 21. setting downe his words The learned Bishop of Chester to proue that the Sacrament was receiued with some adoration by bowing of the body before the time of Honorius hath alleadged Cyrill Augustine and Chrysostome Let vs heare the Repliers Answer Repl. 1. I answer that the Question is here of Kneeling not of other gestures Answ To which I reply that the Question is of Kneeling onely as a gesture of adoration and therefore the proofe of bowing for adoration cometh home to the cause though not to the word And if bowing to the Sacrament bee not adoration as well as kneeling why doth himselfe cite and allowe Bale Duplessis Iewell Hospinian and Zâ—pper affirming with one consent that Honorius the third was the Author of adoration of the Sacrament who onely appointed the people reuerent bowing of themselues to it at the Eleuation c. As is in this Section alleadged by himselfe Repl. 2. Answer It is not now either enquired what was voluntarily either spoken or practised by particular men but what was inioyned vnto Churches Answ I reioyne The Question is whether the Sacrament was commonly receiued with adoration before Transubstantiation was knowen or thought off This when wee proue by Records to haue beene so Is it not a meere shift to tell vs that they enquire for a Decree not voluntarie practise onely As for that hee addeth of some few it is a blind For the Testimonies alleadged shew the ordinary custome of the Christian Churches then And if nothing will serue for proofe but a Decree then can they not proue Kneeling of the people in the act of receiuing euer to haue beene in the Church of Rome For they themselues namely Costerus * Coster Enâ—â—â—r pag 353. Ediâ— 1590. maintaineth it not as a Decree but as an ancient custome continued saith hee from the Apostles time Let vs haue our measure and then will appeare that either wee proue Kneeling or in stead of it adoration by bowing to haue beene in the Primitiue Church though not to the Sacrament it selfe as since Or else that they can not proue any Adoration by kneeling in the act of receiuing the Eucharist no not in the Church of Rome For neither of vs can shew a Decree but onely a Custome For as for that which is alleadged out of the Romane Rituall that to the Clergie-men kneeling vpon the stayres of the Altar the Eucharist should bee deliuered it doth not at all belong to the common people who might not kneele there at the Communion and the kneeling in that case required See before in Cap. 10. was respectiuely to the Altar or things thereon not to the Sacrament as then receiued That this kneeling respecteth the place the Altar Crucifix or hoast thereon and not the partaking of the Sacrament may appeare by this that the Priest himselfe is tyed by the Masse-booke to receiue reuerentèr stans reuerently standing Repl. 3. Answer These very places Cyrill Augustine and Chrysostome are vsually vrged by Papists for their Idolatry the Defendant therefore doth not well in borrowing their Weapons to fight against vs withall for the Borrower is a seruant to the Lender But the Ceremonies themselues being borrowed of the Papists it is no marvell if our Prelates bee beholding to the Papists for proofes to maintaine them by Answ To this I rejoyne 1. That the same testimonies are alleadged by the Papists wrongfully to proue their Idolatry For that Adoration which the Fathers professedly referred to Christ as sitting in heauen the Papists transferre to the Sacrament it selfe as being in the substance nothing but Christ and whole Christ 2. The Defendant borrowed not those Testimonies from the Papists who were not the Owners but Abusers of them but of the Fathers themselues to whom it is not vncomely to say wee are debtors and to God for them 3. There is by vs nothing here said for maintenance of our Ceremonies which wee suppose to bee maintainable so far as not to be vnlawfull by the Scriptures The poynt herein hand was onely matter of fact viz. Whether the ancient Churches receiued the Communion adoring yea or no The salt-biting of the Bishop as borrowing proofs from the Papists maintenance of Popish ceremonies maketh nothing to the Answer of the evidence produced but turneth the Readers mind by a brackish gybe from off the cause to the persons of the Bishops which is not plaine dealing Repl. 4. Answ As for Cyril 1 Doctor Fulke saith of one precept of Cyrils about the Sacrament extant in the same page one of which the Defendant citeth his Verely I tooke it for a meere superstious precept may not this bee also superstitious which the Defendant citeth Sure I am that about the Sacraments and about the Crosse and Chrisme there is much superstition taught in the Catechisines which goe vnder the name of Cyrill Answ I reply Something in Cyrill was superstitious Ergo this is such an inference as the Replyer durst not affirme and therefore onely asketh if it may not bee which is answered with another May it not bee no superstition But superstition or not is nothing now to the question which onely is Whether the thing was done or no But this is the Replyers ordinary course to let the cause alone and fasten vpon something else as if to say any thing after a man were to answere him But the Replyer hath more to say about Cyrill Repl. 3. J say Cyrill is corrupted both by the Defendant and by the Bishop of Rochester p. 183. For 1. the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rochester translateth it â—alling on thy face ana the Defendant bowing of thy selfe whereas though the word be many times vsed in such a sense yet as Stephen in his great Treasurie sheweth it signifieth properly a gesture of the eyes which appeareth plainely by the words compounded of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answ This Answer looks toward the matter But what had the Replyer to doe with the Bishop Rochester Surely nothing by the taske of his Reply to Bishop Morton but that he had a desire to giue him something of his good will The Bishop of Rochester alleadgeth not the Greeke text of Cyril which perhaps he saw not but the Latine translation of him which is Sed pronus adorationis venerationis in modure dicas Amen If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not well rendred pronus in Latine as it is yet pronuâ— may be turned falling on the face without corruption For so Martial lib. 1.88 Fe bibis iâ—â—â—â—dam 〈◊〉 â—ane pronus aquam At least it doth signifie a bonding of the â—aâ—e downewards as Roberâ— Stephen obserues in his Latine Treasury as contrary to supine And this was enough to the Bishop of Rochesters turne Vivorum cadauera supina fluttare faeminarum prona Plin. l. 7. c. 17. But the Bishop then of Chester turneth it bowing
Testimony wee see hath put the Replyer to many shifts and will not bee shifted off As for his Answer to those alleadged out of Augustine and Chrysostome viz. that they speake onely of Internall Adoration though it haue some countenance from some men of excellent learning yet it cannot stand with their expresse words as I haue shewed before Wherefore I may now goe on with some other witnesses of this point That the Communion was receiued with outward Adoration before the Transubstantiation or Reall-presence as they call it was knowne CAP. 25. More Instances shewing the Antiquity of this gesture of Adoring or Kneeling Ann. 530. In Authentica de priuilegus dotis haereâ—â—cis mulieribus non praestanuis ABout the yeare of our Lord 530. Justinian the Emperour made a Decree that hereticall women should haue no downe In this hee describeth such as shall bee held meet Iudges of this matter among other things by this that they doe in the Catholicke Orthodox Church receiue sacrâ—-sanctum Adorabilem communionem which very terme of Adorable i.e. venerable was no doubt giuen vnto it because of their reuerend esteeme and manner of receiuing it with outward Adoration not simply as often is said to it but to Christ in and by his ordinance Ann. 580. aâ— Coccius but possevine sets him higher at 340. Bibl. Patrum Tom. â— part 3. pa 887 888. Anno 595. Ioannes Climacus grad 23. thus Nam simea sunt turpia illa sceleratae verba quid est quod dorum coeleste suscipiens Adoro quomodo possmâ—â—nâ— benedicere c. Which sheweth in mine apprehension that the manner was to take the Communion adoring Remigius Rhemensiâ— who liued in the end of the fifth Century An â—89 as Earonius saith in his Commentaries on 1. Cor. 11.29 Câ—m timore tremore debemus accedere ad illud terribile Sacramentum vt sciat mens reuerentiam se debere praestare eâ— ad cuius corpus sumendum accedit Where though wee haue not the name of adoration yet the reason of it that by the very comportment of the body in comming to that dreadfull Sacrament the mind might vnderstand what is the internall reuerence due to him that giueth his body the Sonne of God whether kneeling or Bowing comes to one CAP. 26. Instances of the practise of the Church about the eight hundred yeares after Christ I will adde no more saue onely these obseruations that how euer in those dayes the publicke prayers were generally performed on the Lords-dayes and Pentecost according to the twentith Canon of 1. Nicene councell S. Germanus Arch ConstaÌ„t Rerum Ecclesiasticarum theoria Bibl. patrum Colon. Tom. 8. pag. 61. colum 1. lib. C. standing and standing vpright Yet when they came to the prayers about or at the consecration the Ceremony was that the Ministers did pray inclinantes se or bowing downe-wards with their heads and faces Etenim quod pronus Sacerdos mystagogiam faciat id declarat eum cum solo Deo colloqui vnde diuinam lucis apparitionem cernit ad splendorem conspectus filij Dei exhilarescit se subtrahit timore verecundia quemadmodum Moses quum Deum vidit in monte ignis specie perterrefactus recessit eccultauit faciem suam reuerebatur enim percipere a glorâ—a Dei faciem For in that the Priest performes the mysteries bowing of himselfe that shewes him to conuerse onely with God whence hee sees a diuine apparition of light and both cheeres vp himselfe at the splendor of the sight of Christ beholding him and also withdrawes himselfe out of feare and modesty Euen as Moses when hee saw God in the Mount in the forme of fire being afraid retyred and hid his face because his modesty feared to looke vpon the glory of God face to face In the Romane Church as appeareth in the Booke set out first about or before the yeare 800. mentioned by a Amalar. de Offiâ—â—is Eccles lib. 31. cap. 31. Amalarius who liued An 830 called b Ordo Rom. in Bibl Patr. Colon Tom. 8. pa. 397. 401. Ordo Romanus direction is giuen to the Bishop when hee must inclinare se bow himselfe downe in some part of the Canon as it was called of the Masse and when the Deacons and Subdeacons must stare inclinati stand bowing themselues downe when se erigere erect or raise themselues vpright c Amalar. de Ordine Antiphonaris lib. cap. 52. in Bib. Pat. Colon. Tâ—m 9. part 1 â—â—g 4.1 Amalarius de glorioso officio quod fit in Romana Ecclesia in Paschali hebdomada in which the Canon was that they should pray standing mentioneth a prayer Quam solemus dicere genua flectendo siue vultum declinando in terram which saith hee wee vse to say kneeling or bowing our faces to the earth as hath beene shewed CAP. 27. The former Instances were of times preceding those wherein the Doctrine of the Reall-presence was hatched 1. IT may not bee truely objected that at this time the doctrine of the Reall-presence was setled in the Church of Rome and that therefore they now began to vse this bowing at the Consecration For this Booke doth not shew what was then made but what was also before that time the receiued fashion of the Romane Church 2. Neither was the Doctrine of Christs Reall-presence in his naturall body then receiued of that Church howeuer Amalarius himselfe muttereth something of it whose error was then opposed and censured by a Synod held at Carisiacum as is shewed by that most reuerend and learned a Answer to a Challenge p. 73 and â—4 Archbishop of Armach Doctor Vsher Yea and Paschasius Radbertus who liued somewhat later then Amalarius viz. An. 880. and did indeed teach the Reall presence of Christs naturall body in and with the Bread which is Consubstantiation For of the Bread it selfe he saith that the body digesteth it Etsi b Paschas Radbertus in Mat. l. 12. Tom. â— Bib pat Colin part 2 pag. 1202. colum 1. corpus digerit quod extra est which bee calleth still Bread as well after as before Consecration and affirmeth that alone to profit nothing yet this man confesseth c Ibid p. 1201. Audiui quosdam me reprehendere c. that his opinion was reproued of others as excessiue and beyond the truth c. Whereby is manifest that as yet it was but an errour creeping into the Church as appeareth by the confessed oppositions of Bertram alias Ratranus Rabanus and others mentioned in the learned Answer of that Reuerend Bishop quo supra To which I will adde the Testimony of d Tom 9. Bibl. pat Colon part 1. pag 934. colum 1. D. Floruit vixit Ann. 870. Christianus Gramaticus alias Druthmarus in his exposition on Math. 16.26 Deditque discipulis suis aiit accipite comedite hoc est corpus meum Dedit discipulis suis Sacramentum corporis sui in remissionem peccatorum
both the Bread and Cup were consecrated before The present Roman Missall observeth the Ceremony of putting a parcell of the Hoast into the Cup at that time of Pax tecum but hath without any great shew of change altered the words and to another meaning For whereas it was onely said Fiat commixtio corporis Christi c. which is in plaine termes Let the Resurrection of Christ profit vs to eternall life who receiue the Eucharist They haue now made it Haec commistio consecratio corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi fiat nobis c. as meaning to teach that there is in the very Sacramentall signes or vnder them a mixture of Christs Body and Blood made and so a presence of whole Christ in every drop of wine and crumme of the bread by Concomitancie Haec Commistio fiat Lastly that the Romane Church did not then beleeue any Reall presence of Christ as brought vnder the Species by the Priests and formall words of Consecration appeareth by this that when the Bishop did consecrate there was but one Chalice or cup of wine before him of which a little was after powred into other vessels of wine to consecrate that for the Communicants Quia vinum etiam non consecratum sed sanguine Domini commixtum sanctificatur per omnem modum because the Wine that yet was not consecrated but onely mixed with the Blood of our Lord is sanctified by euery way by them vsed whereas now the Consecration is limited to certaine formall words and to onely so much as the Priest intendeth to consecrate because forsooth no more can be made the Body or Blood of Christ then is at that instant turned thereunto Wherefore I now assume as manifest that the Romane Church was not as yet nor before the 900 yeere of our Lord possessed of the dotages either of Consubstantiation or Transubstantiation And yet euen then obserued vpon the Station dayes when they might not kneele in publike prayer yet at the Celebration of the Sacramens to bow downe themselues in those prayers wherein they might not kneele in token of their humble and reuerend acknowledgement of the speciall grace of God signed sealed and exhibited to them thereby And that they likewise had care in the act of receiuing to discerne the Lords Body reverentiâ singulariter debitâ with reuerence then specially due to it Rhemig vixit An. 590. habetur in Bibl. Patr. Tom. 5. part 3 pag. 887 Colum. 2. A. as Augustine speaketh no man can doubt For therefore Rhemigius the Bishop of Rhemes in 1. Cor. 11.24 c. coupleth the consecration and participation in that respect saying Quotiescunque accedimus ad consecrandum vel percipiendum Sacramentum muneris aeterni quod nobis Dominus pijssimus in memoriam sui dimisit tenendum cum timore compunctione cordis omnique reuerentia debemus accedere So often as wee come to consecrate or partake the Sacrament c. we ought to come thereto with feare and compunction of heart Treat of kneeling pag. 195. and with all reuerence So also before him Caesarius Arelatensis hom 12. alleadged by the Bishop of Rochester sheweth that during that Action the people were required to abide in the Church Humiliato corpore compuncto corde with humbled bodies and compunction of heart Wall Strabo de rebus Ecclesiasticis cap. 19 This reuerend carriage Wall Strabo sheweth to belong to Decencie and to Order required of Paul 1. Cor. 14. which Decorum or Decencie being requisite In singulis sanctorum operibus tamen etiam atque etiam in sanctissimi sanguinis corporis veneratione seruari debet c. in all workes of the Saints much more ought it to bee obserued with all veneration of the most holy body and blood of Christ c and after Secundum ordinem autem vt sanctificationem eorum ae cibis caeteris longe distare sciamus It is according to Order that wee may know that the sactification of those doe differ farre from other meates There hee treateth of the receiuing of the Communion fasting and proueth the fitnesse of it from the respect of that Decencie and Order in which it ought to bee receiued and which requireth sober men This man was so far from the thought of Table gesture as he taketh it to belong to Order that the great distance betwixt this and common food should be shewed in the bodily receiuing Yea hee calleth the very Act of receiuing veneration because it was receiued with veneration Ephes 3.14 like as Paul vnderstandeth Prayer by bowing of the knee because that was the common gesture For this cause doe I bow the knee to God c. So Strabo saith in the veneration of the blood and body of Christ in stead of in the receiuing because it was not receiued but with veneration that is Externall Adoration of Bowing or Kneeling CAP. 28. The second Observation in the practise of the Ancient Churches MY second Obseruation is that to take it of the Ministers hands and to partake or receiue into their mouthes was not alwayes the same nor alwayes done at the same time or in the same place For they did for a long time take it at the Church carry it home and there receiue it And after the Councels of Toledo and the Caesar-Augustan Councell had tyed them to assumere in Ecclesia receiue it in the Church they did yet in the Greeke Church come vp to the Table or Chancell to take the Bread standing but stayed not to eat it there but carried it to their owne places and there after priuate prayer for themselues did eat it kneeling as out of Sozomen hath beene shewed As for the Cup because they could not take that away with them as they did the Bread they did receiue that Adoring as hath beene shewed out of Cyrill Ordo Rom. quo supra Tom 8 Bibl. Patr. pag. â—0â— And in the Roman Church the Priests and Deacons called Ministers of the Altar came to the Bishop then sitting in his Seat kissed him tooke the bread of his hand and then went away in sinistra parte Altaris communicaturi to the left side of the Altar to partake it where there can bee no doubt whether they did kneele or no if we remember what hath been alleadged out of Micrologus And as for the Sub-Deacons that were not allowed to goe to the Altar to Communicate they came to the Bishops seat Lib. Sacrar Ceremon 2. pag. 181. kissed his hand and tooke it in theiâ— mouthes but not in their hands which any man must conceiue to be kneeling as the Booke of Ceremonies expresly affirmeth The Bishop and others at his appointment carried vnto the people in their owne places and put it into their mouthes which I know not how they should well doe Disput against Kneeling and Alâ—are Damasc without that the Receiuers kneeled So then the Testimonies brought by some men to proue that they did of older times
dayes Then say I that on the Lords dayes also they did receiue it kneeling And on the weeke dayes were bound so to doe by that Decree which required them to kneele in all their prayers consequently That there is not to bee found any Decree for the gesture of kneeling in the Act of receiuing no not in the Romane-Church before or after the Reall presence nor yet in the Greeke Church where yet they vsed to kneele doth manifest both the Antiquity and vniuersality of this Ceremony which out of a common notion of all Christians that in partaking of the body and blood of the Sonne of God it was comely for them to expresse reuerentiam singulariter debitam did make it selfe a Law vnto them without any Decree as out of Tertullian I have shewed before And therefore against Altare Damasc I say with Master Beza that this gesture of Adoration in receiving was in vse and state long before the Reall presence was hatched and was taken vp by the brewers of the Dreame and pleaded as an Argument for the Reall presence as if the worship intended to the person of Christ sitting in Heauen had beene alwayes meant to him as contained in the Bread and Wine or shewes thereof which is so professedly manifest in Algerus Bibl. Patr. Colon Tom. 12. part 1. pag. 435 colum 2. Vel de Sacramento lib. 2. c. 2 who liued anno 1060 as nothing can bee more Cassa enim videtur tot hominum huic Sacramento ministrantium vel adorantium veneranda sedulitas nisi ipsius Sacramenti longe maior crederetur quam videretur veritas et vtilitas Cum ergo exterius quasi nulla sint quibus tanta impenduntur venerationis obsequia aut insensati sumus aut ad intima mittimus magna salutis mysteria the venerable diligence of so many both administring and adoring this Sacrament seemes vaine vnlesse the truth and profit of the Sacrament were not beleeued to bee farre greater then can bee seene with the eye Seeing therefore those things which appeare outwardly are almost nothing either wee are senselesse in bestowing so much adoration vpon it or else wee doe looke vpon some internall mysteries of great saluation in it which though it was no good argument yet it was an Argument for defect of a better I therefore conclude that Kneeling in the act of receiuing was not brought into the Church by Antichrist nor euer was yet strengthened with any Papall Decree but hath been made a foot-banke vnto that Antichristian monster of Transubstantiation onely by mis-interpretation of it by such as sought out all meanes and laid hold on any colourable thing that might suckle the monster of their braine when it was once borne Beza therefore and other Churches which liue pell-mell with the Popish where Idolatry is openly in the streetes committed in bowing to a piece of Bread as if it were nothing else but Christ himselfe shifted into a new suit of apparell had reason enough to forbeare this gesture in their Churches and to disswade it as a thing which had beene and therefore may bee dangerous Beza Epist 12 adversus Heshusium in Opusculis pag. 311. quest respons Quest 243. Edit 1570. And therefore Beza doth no where condemne the vse of it as in it selfe vnlawfull but onely defend the Churches which in respect of the perill that might ensue or out of a desire to roote the Bread-worship out of the mindes of men doe decline the vse of this Ceremony And this what euer that fiery though learned man which compiled Altare Damascenum say to the contrary was the judgement of all those Diuines who in the name of the French and Dutch Churches made certaine obseruations vpon the Harmony of confessions set out at Geneua in Beza his time An. 1581. for in their fourth Obseruation vpon the confession of Bohemia in Sect. 14. Confess de Caena and on these words Herm Confess 〈◊〉 â—â—nea 〈◊〉 Sect 14. pag. 120. Populus autem fidelium vsitatissime in genua procumbeus hoc accipit the faithfull most vsually receiue it kneeling on their knees say thus In hoc etiam ritu suam cuique Ecclesiae libertatem saluam relinquendam arbitramur non quod per se hunc morem damnamus cum hac cautione de qua modo diximus obseruatione quarta sed quoniam ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex animis euellendam prestitit plerisque locis eâ—m ceremoniam aboleri in ipsorum signorum sumptione de qua vid. supra obseruat 1. ad Heluetiam priorem In this rite also we leaue each Church to her owne liberty not that wee condemne it simply as euill in it selfe vsed with caution giuen in our fourth Obseruation but for the rooting of Bâ—ead-worship our of mens minds it is better that in most places it were casherred c. Where is manifest that they judge this Ceremony in it selfe lawfull and therefore leaue all Churches to their owne liberty only with caution that it bee not vsed as any meanes to cherish the Bread-worship For which both the Articles of our Religion and the Declaration related before haue put in good caution As for the rest they doe rather make a good defence for such Churches as do forbeare it then at all condemne any that vse it And Dialection Eucharistiae printed and published with the second volume of Beza his Workes and in his life time at Geneua Ann. 1570. saith Veteres Eucharistiam cum summareuerentia magno honore tutos tamen ab Jdololatria fuisse quod nobis etiam antiquâ disciplinâ reuocatâ catechismi formâ restitutâ contingeret The Ancients receiued the Eucharist with all reuerence and great honour that is as hee saith on the next page adorantes adoring it and yet were free from all Idolatry which also wee might doe by recalling the ancient discipline and restoring the forme of catechisme The Bread-worship was brought in by Antichrist indeed and was as Cofter though to another purpose saith the greatest idolatry that euer was in the world if the Bread bee not turned into the true and naturall body of Christ as vpon my soule it is not This Ceremony was not brought in by him but turned from the Creator by an horrible blindnesse to the creature from which if wee returne it to the true owners of all religious Adoration shall this bee our sinne or theirs that will needs condemne vs I lament to see the transport of Passion of such as say the Formalists seeme to beleeue the Reall presence in the Elements which if it bee true God will judge vs if not hee that accuseth falsely is guilty of that which he objecteth as a slander and by the law of God to beare the same punishment Object There remaineth the last Objection viz. That it is not lawfull to kneele before a consecrated creature Ergo not to kneele in receiuing the Communion Answ The Antecedent is not simply true The consequence will not hold if the Antecedent were
Elements which are sanctified cannot bee said to be appointed to bee Adâ—red vnlesse wee shall Adore our action of eating the Bread and drinking of the Cup of our Lord which is so a part of the Sacrament that without them it were no Sacrament to vs. That Christ hath not appointed vs to Adore him in the receiuing of them both Internally and Externally is an hereticall doctrine though the expression Externall bee not determined of him Oâ—ject But Veneration of the Sacraments saith Altare Damascenum wee allow but not Adoration Answ See now that all the strife shall bee about words which haue as I haue shewed no formall difference of signification but onely by the designement of men in their vse nor in the particular outward gestures which by diuine institution shall difference the one from the other Object But kneeling is onely lawfull in actions of Adoration i.e. Diuine Answ This is not true for it is confessed to bee lawfull in Ciuill vse And I pray you what action of Gods publicke seruice is there which is not an Action of Adoration how euer the expression thereof bee not in euery action of his worship necessarily or conueniently one the same Zanch de cultu Dei externo l. 1. Thes 2. in fine p. 421. Edit 619. Visibilis externaque venetatio Adoratio ad omnes ferme actiones diuini cultus concurrit visible and externall veneration and Adoration concurres to almost all actions of diuine worship saith Zanchius Thus wee kneele while the ten Commandements are read party to expresse our respect of that Law giuen by the voice of God himselfe on Mount Sinai with great state and terror a Law fit to cast vs downe and humble vs partly for the prayer then subjoyned to euery precept for Grace to obserue it and pardon for our failings Object Geniculando excipere verba ex ore Lectoris aut Concionatoris proflata ratione sanctitatis esset idololatria Alt. Damasc pag. 797. to receiue the word kneeling as coming from the mouth of a Reader or Preacher in respect of holinesse were idolatry Answ This case commeth not home to that of receiuing the Sacraments which in that Action wee doe not looke at as creatures but as diuina symbola signifying and sealing the Couenant of Grace to vs. But yet the Opponent durst not say it is idolatrie to heare the word kneeling but Externa reuerentia est vt post actionem sacram viz. of preaching coram ministro versium inclinantes deum adorent Ex 4.24 12 28. Neh 8. Apoc. 3.9 Fenner Theol Edit 1589. p. 88. when it is done ratione sanctitatis in respect of holinesse which must needs carry in to the person of the Preacher and not vnto God When Moses and Aaron brought the message to the Elders of Israel Exod. 4.31 they bowed their heads no doubt before Moses and Aaron and not at their backes and worshipped not the Messengers of God for their holinesse but God for sending by them that gracious Message When wee shall professe to bow before and to the holy mysteries for respect of their holinesse let vs be branded and not spared till then it were fit that men spared to calumniate the Seruants and Churches of the liuing God CAP. 33. The Conclusion consisting of some priuate occurrents and requests of his Friend ANd thus Sir to satisfie your desire I haue too largely Answered to the objected Questions propounded in your letter and almost within the time of three weekes which you limited If you meet with needlesse repetitions and find as is like you may many defaults beare with mee For I haue written this as Ierusalem was builded in a troublous time yea verely in the most troublous time all things considered that euer yet came vpon mee the very houre of darknesse and shaddow of death In this time therefore I had cause to looke about mee and to consider what I had now in hand which I also did And if in all this time wherein I haue beene soaked and laide to steepe in so much tribulation I had found any wauering or doubtfulnesse in my mind about these matters I haue written of assure your selfe I should haue desisted But standing fully perswaded as in the sight of the Lord that I haue the truth with mee and follow it I did as by starts and fits I could His private letter contained a requests but because the first of the three concerned only some private sad affaires of his own of som of his neere friends that is here omitted as not at all belonging to the matter here debated proceed knowing that the line of diuine light ought to sway our judgements and not either the sun-shine of peace or shadowes of the euening stretched out vpon vs. Yea and in truth I tooke this taske vpon me as a Medicine to restraine what I could my troubled spirit from continuall feeding vpon that very bitter herbe which had troubled it Now I haue two Requests vnto you one for the Church of God the other for my selfe For the Church of God I beseech you by our Lord Iesus Christ that if you thinke as I doe that the Ceremonies in Question howeuer they may seeme to vs Inconuenient in some respects yet are not vnlawfull but such as men not imprisoned with prejudice may with good consciences obserue as matters of externall Order imposed on vs by lawfull authority Then sir doe your best endeauour to hold those that stand wauering vnto their colours And doe not yet make so much way to any euill affected or open enemies to our Religion nor weaken our party against the common Aduersaries of our faith by disunion of themselues Let not for these things in which the kingdome of God standeth not those things in which it doth stand bee abandoned Let no man build vpon his former perswasion which can excuse no longer then till it bee better informed Let no man walke after the Tradition of men though good and learned Nay let them consider that of graue and holy Zanchy Epist lib. p. 391. who writing one Epistle to Queene Elizabeth for Abatement of these Ceremonies withall wrote another at the same time to that Reuerend and holy Bishop Iewell to perswade the Ministers not to leaue their functions for those things if the Queene would not remoue them or slacke the vrging of them Tell them a Beza opusc in vitae Caluini ad Ann. 1538. p. 368. how Calvin though hee disliked the reducing of wafer-bread into Geneua in the time of his exile yet at his returne neuer liked to struggle for the change of it Remember them of that praise which Master Fox gaue to that worthy Bishop and Martyr b Fox Martyr p. 13â—1 Hooper how for the publicke seruice of the Church he bare and suffered patiently the priuate contumely of his Conformity And wish them to take heed that they regard not too much mans day For he that shall iudge vs is God As for you selfe I hope there will bee no need to bid you looke vpon the wonderfull blessing of God vpon you and your Ministery aboue many of vs while you haue vsed these things with a good conscience Sirre vp our brethren who haue some authority in the hearts of those godly people who are vnhappily transported to an vnutterable dislike of these things which they vnderstand not and to file off that rough edge of their not so-much opinions as detestation And doe what you can to moue all such as need it to consideration whether it shall not bee better and vpon their death-bed more cordiall to beare not being vnlawfull the vse of these things rather then to occasion the rending of the Church the displeasure of our Gouernours the stopping of our mouthes the desolation for ought wee know of our flockes the distresse of our families and withall which is not the least the confirming of an errour by our if not doctrine yet example in the hearts of all those who are or shall bee led to condemne as vntolerable that which God will justifie as lawfull in vs and so doth as I am fully perswaded by his Word Touching my selfe I haue these requests to you that you would remit this tract vnto meet againe without giuing any copy of it that I may which I now could not reuise and amend it And let me haue your free judgement of it and if you take mee to bee deciued set vp some cleere light before mee and pray that mine eyes may bee opened And I shall giue glory to God who knoweth the vprightnesse of my heart in this matter For the rest commend mee to my friends more specially to my c. Let mee yet of the little patch of life remaining haue some releefe of comfort in your loue continued And aboue all pray for mee that the Lord who chastiseth would keepe me in his loue burne out the drosse that is in mee sanctifie mee wholly to himselfe and the seruice of his Church and keepe mee as I hope hee will fast knit vnto himselfe in Christ and when the time commeth yea and till then vouchsafe to honour his owne name in my life and death Farewell FINIS
in celebrating those mysteries And in his time and after before the Transubstantiation they did Adore Christ as coexistent with the bread which perhaps gaue occasion to Auerrois who liued eightie yeares before Honorius to say that Christians did adore their God and then eate him For at that time the errour of Consubstantiation had gotten strength and they did as it were confine the locall presence of Christ to the bread once sanctified at least in the Sacramentall vse of it and did performe diuine honour to the Sonne of God as being therin Not yet intending to adore that which was seene but that which was taken to bee therein vt contentum in continente ineffably there yet ibi there The difference betwixt these and the former ages was in this That the former Ages did in receiuing the Sacrament c Adoring as Aug. said not that which is seene and perisheth but that which is beleeved c. adore Christ as therin mystically as the signified thing is in the Signe without any opinion of Christs bodily presence in the creatures themselues or of alteration made in the substance nature or forme of the creatures whereas that Age dreamed of a Consubstantiation The following did embrace that monster of Transubstantiation and then when all the substance of the visible creature was held to be gone they did easily turne and entend the Adoration to the visible things as if there had beene now no substance of any creature left therein but only the appearances of familiar creatures vnder which Christ himselfe was substantially but inuisible That there was this difference the writings of the seuerall Ages will manifest to any diligent Reader and among other things this cause which is kept I confesse still though stripped of the sense it had that in celebrating or consecrating the prayer was not made that the Bread and Wine might bee made the body and blood of Christ in themselues as is now fansied but Vt nobis accipientibus fiant corpus sanguis Domini to vs receiuing of them they may become the body and blood of the Lord. Intimating that the Reall presence of Christ in a spirituall manner is not effected in the visible signes but in and vnto the faithfull Receiuer of them And that all the conuersion and changing of the Bread and Wine was only in their vse in that they were mystically and in type the body and blood of Christ as the Arke was Iehouah as the Rocke was Christ 1. Corinthians 10. The Adoration therfore of Christ in the vse of the Sacrament hath alwayes beene in the Christian Church First without any reference of diuine honour to the visible things themselues as being really turned into Christ or containing him within themselues Afterwards from the preuailing of Guilmund and other against Berengarine and the truth for a reall presence of Christs conioyned with the bread they directed their Adoration to the creatures but not for the creatures or Elements sakes but for Christs sake At last came in the Adoration of the Sacrament or visible element of bread it selfe as hauing no substance or materiall subsistence but onely the naturall Body of Christ by vertue of Consecration by Concomitance wholly Christ who is God to be adored for euer In the first times and second the adoration was onely in the vse For out of the Sacramentall vse they did not beleeue such a Reall presence but after the abomination of Transubstantiation once got the field because there was then nothing of the creature supposed to be left but the Accidents and those as Bellar. himselfe speaketh vnited to the person of the Sonne of God Then followed that wheresoeuer that appeared Diuine honour was held fit to bee done thereto as vnto the very Son of God incarnate and certainely existent vnder those Species of Bread and Wine as euer he was on the Crosse or in the wombe of his mother onely for feare of frighting vs hee is pleased to bee there invisible and as after the manner of a Spirit but yet in his very true naturall body the same that was crucified say they This most abominable Idolatrie followed indeed the Transubstantiation But the two other sorts of Adoration of Christ in the vse of the Sacrament went before this The middle also was Idolatrous not in obiecto in the object as the last but interpretatiue because they conceiued very Christ to be coexistent then with the sanctified Creatures and as so adored him but not the visible creatures The first Adoring was vndoubtedly lawfull when the sanctified creatures were vnderstood to bee the Body and Blood of Christ not in rei veritate as being changed the one into the other or one coexistent with the other but in significante mysterio in a signifying mysterie as August spake made the Body and Blood of Christ not by any alteration of their substance forme and nature as Theodoret but onely by their Institution and Deputation to that vse and therefore were not the very Body and Blood of Christ nor did exhibit the same as was after dreamed to the mouth and bodie of euery Receiuer of them but onely to the soule of the true beleeuers who receiued spiritually and by faith rem sacramenti the thing signified by the outward elements For all that while the adoration or diuine worship was directed only to Christ as sitting at the right hand of God in heauen and that in the act of Communicating Hence the 1. Nicene Councell exhorteth that men should not bee humiliter intenti humbly intent to the things before them but looke vp higher Hence came into the Lyturgie Sursum corda lift vp your hearts Hence many plaine speeches of Saint August Chrysost and others that the Receivers must as Eagles mount vp to heauen and take hold of Chirst there Prepare mentem non ventrem fidem non dentes their heart not their stomacke faith not their teeth to receiue Christ himselfe and feed vpon him That Adoration preceded Transubstantiation Ann. 1130. lib de Canonii observantia proposit 23. prope finem Tom 11. Bibl. Pat. Colon pag. 460. D. Col. 1. which was defined at the fourth Lateran Councell Ann. 1215 I shew In the 11 Centurie we haue in Radulpho Decano Tungrensi the maner of receiuing the Sacrament set forth in these words Inclinatus autem dicit antequam communicet Domine Iesu Christe qui voluntate patris cooperante Spiritu sancto per mortem propriam mundum viuificasti libera me per hoc sacro-sanctum corpus sanguinē tuum ab omnibus iniquitatibus malis meis c. Cum distribuit dicit Corpus Domini nostri Iesu Christi proficiet tibi in vitam aeteruam Amen The Priest bowing himselfe before hee communicates saith thus O Lord Iesus Christ who by the will of the Father and the consecration of the holy Ghost hast quickned the world through thine owne death deliver mee by this thy most holy body and blood from all mine iniquities and