also but that statio signifieth only standing in Tertullians phrase when he saith Solennior statio or solvere stationem I have insisted the longer upon this testimonie because Doctour Burges doth so confidently gather out of it which never man did before that the Christians then did and before had used to take the sacrament kneeling This raw but too confident antiquarie his collection may be refuted by other testimonies witnessing that sâ—metimes they saâ—e of which we have alledged some before or at other timâ—s stood Pionysius Alexandrinus writing to Xystus bishop of Rome concerning one that was in sorrow because hee was baptised by hereticks saith he duâ—st not baptise him over againe because he had a long time stood at the table and reached forth his hand to receave the holy food and had beene for a long time partaker of the body and bloud of Christ. Iustinus telleth us That the people rose and the deacons gave to every one to partake of the bread and the wine Is it likely that they kneeled when the deacons gave the elements In the homily which goeth under the name of Chrysostome Stemus trementes timidi demissis ocutis Let us stand trembling with fear aâ—d our eyes casten downe So yee see both before and after Tertullians time testimonies for standing There was an ancient custome in the Church which Bellarmine saith was left off but about 500. yeare before his time to stand upon the Lords day even in time of prayer Zovaras in synod 6. can 90. sâ—ith That no wayes might they kneel betwixt the evening service on satterday and the Lords day at evening Die dominico de geniculis ad orarenesaâ— saith Tertullian And such like betwixt easter and pentecost not only upon the Lords day but no day of the weeke might they kneele Yea by the decree of Alexandâ—r the third they might not kneel upon the Lords day in publike but only at the consecration of Bishops and giving of orders he that did consecrate and he that wâ—s consecrated might kneel and this was decreed about the yeare 1159. at which 〈◊〉 it seemeth this one exception entred in Now will any man affirme That they never communicated upon the Lords day for a thousand yeare or 1159. or imagine as Doctour Burges doth that because they might not kneel that all this time they tooke the sacrament standing in the Church and went home to their houses where they eated kneeling or to their seats in the Church where they might not kneel L. page 52. confesseth That the communicanâ—s in the primitive Church stood at the table when they receaved the sacrament on the Lords day Well say they seeing they prayed standing they used that gesture in the receaving of the eucharist which they thought fittest for prayer I answer they thought not that gesture fittest for prayer The authour of the questions extant in Iustinus saith Genuâ—m inclinatio in precatione magis peccatores Deo commendat quâ—m sistantes orent He preferreth yee see kneeling in prayer before standing But both are indifferent They stood to signifie their joy for Christs resurrection and not because they though it the fittest gesture for prayer It was a conceat they tooke up which entred not in the Apostle Pauls minde for wee finde Acts 20. that he kneeled betweene Easter and Pentecost Alwise by that custome ye may see they communicated standing The testimonies above cited have not relation to any day and the custome observed yet to this day in the orientall Churches to communicate standing notwithstanding that other custome hath ceased declareth that they intended never geniculation in the act of receaving Ephraim Placit in his Christianographie descriving the manner of the administration of the Lords supper in the Greek Church in the Churches of the Mengrellians Circassians Georgians Muscovits Melchits or Syrians Armenian Iacobits the Christians falsly called Nestorians the Cophti or Egyptian Christians the Abyssinos or Ethiopian Christians produceth no instance for kneeling in the act of receaving eating drinking which he would not have pretermined being conforme and dedicating his booke to the bishop of Elie. Cassander in his Liturgicks descriving the order observed in the Churches of the Armâ—nâ—ans Muscovits and in the kingdome of preste Iohn maketh no mention of kneeling but of standing Ilâ—ssie in his 4. boâ—ke of the Masse trusseth up all in few words Quarè orientales ecclesiae adorationem sacramenti admiserunt nusquâ—m non quae patriarchae Consta tinopolitano obsequuntur nâ—n quae Antiocheno Et in Abyssnis etiam ipsis hodie stâ—ntes sacramenta participant nec â—â—minus reverenter The orientall Churches no where admitted edoration of the sacrament not those which are obedient to the patriâ—rch of Constantinople or yet the patriarâ—h of Antioch And the Abyssins themselfes participate of the sacrament standing and yet not without reverence Where by adoration he meaneth kneeling whereunto be opposeth standing If ever kneeling in the act of receaving had beene in use among them it had not beene left off considering mans pronnesse to idolatrie and superstition and delight to stick in the mire when he is wallowing in it It resteth then that kneeling is only found in the Churches subject to the Pope of old or at the present Other Churches howbeit they followed not the paterne using another forme and gesture not was sutable to this first yet they degenerated not so 〈◊〉 as the Roman Church did The Muscovite Graecians 〈◊〉 Lâ—tine Priest chance to say Masse upon one of their altars they forthwith breake them downe as defiled and polluted And they â—old the priests of the Latine Church to be no letter then hereticks and vouchsafe not to salute them Willets out of Sacranus We have not yet heard of any authentick testimonie for kneeling which is adoration in proper and strict sense for the space of a thousand year after Christ which is the date we set downe Nor yet till after the dayes of Pope Honorius the third who lived â—bout the yeare 1220. And he decreed nothing 〈◊〉 â—owing not of the knee but of the head or superiour bulk of the body at the elevation in â—he masse The bowing of the knee at the elevation entred not till afterward yea prevailed not universally even in our dayes For I finde in Bochellus a decree made in a popish synod at Rhems anno 1583. Quoriam apud omnes sere catholicos usus modo obtinuit ut procumbentes adorent divinâ—â— eucharistiam Because the use 〈…〉 prevailed almost among all catholicks that falling 〈◊〉 they aâ—ore the divine eucharist the holy synod exhorteth that if there be any Church useth another custome aâ—d 〈◊〉 the body of Christ in this sacrifice standing that they fâ—ll downe herâ—after while the holy mysteries are set forth to be adored Sancta synodus hortatur ut si quae ecclesia altero more adhuc utatur stando Christi corpus iâ— hoc sacrificio adoreâ— proeumbat 〈…〉 sancta
feast decked his table with all kinde of provision sâ— that there lacketh nothing but the guests to sit downe and yet these who be called without any cause most unthankefully refuse to come The exhortation seemeth to â—ee drâ—wâ—e out of that place of Chrysostome but they omit the 〈◊〉 words Sit downe and participat For all the 〈…〉 the first part of the comparison they bid not the Communicants sit downe But they must kneel and receave that which is reached to them So that there is no more use of the table then if it were a cupbord or altar Fourthly if we should kneel because we are receaving a gift by this reason wee should kneel when wee receave any benefite or gift of God as for example when we are taking eating drinking our ordinarie meat and drinke If yee will say the sacramentall is holy bread the other common then yee confesse ye kneel because of the holinesse that is the setting a part of it to a holy use and that is idolatrie If ye will say ye receave a greater gift then when yee receave your ordinarie food that is no more but then there is a greater motive Yet if because a gift then whensoever or whatsoever gift ye receave ye ought to kneel God deserveth thankes for the least of his benefits and is to bee adored for whatsoever benefite spirituall or temporall receaved in the time of divine service or out of it For this is the common doctrine of the school men Eundem honorem adorationis atque eodem modo Deo esse deferendum etiamsi varia sunt ipsius beneficia attributa That is That the same honour of adoration is to be given to God and after the same manner howbeit his benefites and attributes are divers For the reason upon Gods part that moveth us to adore him is the excellenie of his dignity All his attributes concurre to make up this excellencie whatsoever benefite move us never so meane hee deserveth honour because bestowed by so great a Lord who is the fountaine primum principium When the Israelites were to be cured miraculously by looking up to the brazen serpent a type of Christ they kneeled not It is a frivolous objection and scarce worthie the answering when they say what wee may crave upon our knees wee may receave upon our knees They should conclude we must receaue upon our knees But neither the one nor the other doth follow For wee crave our daily food upon our knees and rayment therefore by their reasoning wee should kneel with reverence when we receave our food in at our mouth or put on our doublet Yet say they what wee crave of God upon our knees in publike worship wee may receave upon our knees But this is yet as frivolous For wee may crave in time of publike worship upon our knees things necessarie for this temporall life and so wee doe when in the Lords prayer we say Give us this day our daily bread Further the diffâ—rence of place and time is but a difference in circumstances and altereth not the nature of worship and so I may receave upon my knees whatsoever I may crave of God in privat worship upon my knees if this kinde of reasoning were good But it is not the diversitie of the time or place where wee receave the benefite more then the diversity of the benefite it selfe that is the ground of adoration but Gods excellencie as we said before Next they consider not that these three things are to bee clearly distinguished a blessing or sanctifying of the creature or meane God hath appointed either for our temporall or spirituall life of which some are reckoned by L. pag. 85. 86. before the use the use it selfe and thanksgiving after the use Blessing before meat the use of the meat in enjoying it be receaving eating drinking and thanksgiving after blessing before the reading preaching or hearing of the word the act it selfe of reading hearing preaching and thanksgiving to God after blessing before the receaving of the sacramentâ—ll elements the receaving and participation it selfe and thanksgiving after They aske if humility and reverence be not requisite in the act of receaving the sacramentall elements I answer Yes in all religious exercises at the hearing of the word reading of the word c. But it followeth not that there should be humiliation upon our knees because humility of minde is required nor adoration because reverence is required Is there no reverence nor humility but in kneeling before dead and senslesse creatures There is a damnable humility plausible to will-worshippers and idolaters condemned Coloss. 2. 23. Peter was censured when hee refused that Christ should wash his feet It is Christs honour to command obedience upon our part is true humility Humility is an habit adoration is an act The act of humility is immanent whereby a man resteth content and well pleased with his owne estate and ranke and doth not conceat greater worth in himself then there is specially in comparison with God But adoration is a transient act whereby a man goeth out of himselfe as it were to direct some homage and worship to God Such like reverence is a common adjunct to all sorts of worship preaching praying praising adoring but is not a distinct kinde of worship as is adoration The pretence of reverence cannot be a sufficient reason for altering the ordinance of Christ and the opinion of reverence hath often beene the dame and nourâ—e of manifold superstitions saith Doctour Mortoâ—nâ—â— To concludes that because wee must use reverent gesture in receaving the holy communion therefore wee must kneel in the act of receaving is to condemne our owne Church and other reformed Churches of want of reverence Vnlesse yee will say sitting is reverent for some to take in passing for others but kneeling for Scotland So may the Monkes conclude saith Doctourâ— Ames wee must have garments therefore wee must in one order have blacke in another white in a third gray and so forth If any judicious Reader will review all their reasons or pretences for kneeling hee shall finde they inferre a duty to kneel and consequently an indirect taxing of Christ and his Apostles and all others in ancient time or in reformed Churches who have not kneeled And if there were no more this alone may let them see the weaknesse of their reasoning Seeing kneeling in the act of receaving the sacramentall element is idolatry and cannot be used but idolatrously it followeth that kneeling in the act of receaving brought not in aâ—tolatrie or bread worship as some divines construing charitably some old Writers or mistaking counterfeit workes for genuing have imagined We may observe other ushers to have prepared the way for bread worship by kneeling After that the virgine times of the first age or prime primitive that is the apostolicall times were past changes entered They were not content to sit but at some time and more frequently stood They left off distribution
masse having none to beare him companie but the clerke to say Amen Christ speaketh not there as Master Cartwright hath already answered of the publicke administring of the word and sacraments but of the proceeding in the Church discipline against offences and of that part which was done privatly by two or three and promiseth that not onely the proceeding of the Church should be ratified but also that the admonition given by two or three whereof hee spake before with invocation of the name of God should not be in vaine but have the owne effect either for the conversion of the offender or to make him inexcusable Or by two or three is meant only a few number where a greater number cannot be had to make up a senat with power to execute the censures of the Church or a few but sufficient number where a greater may not be had to make a visible Church But where a sufficient number may be had and of these a Church already constituted two or three apart cannot binde and loose And what they may doe other two or three may undoe or doe the like whereupon would follow great confusion Wee reason against two or three conveening in a privat place to minister the holy things of God where there is already constituted a Church and a number consociate to that end of which societie these two or three are but members We meane not that the sacraments may not be administrated at no time in a privat place but onely in a privat meeting of some few for the congregation is not tyed to and some time hath not the libertie of materiall Churches but is forced to retire to woods caves privat houses but their the administration is publike because in sight and presence of the congregation Baptisme is that initiatorie sacrament wherâ—by wee enter into the bosome of some visible congregation or is Calvine saith it is a sacred or solemne introduction into the Church of God a testimonie of our heavenly burgesship into which these are written whom he hath adopted to himselfe By baptisme we became members of some societie joyned together to make up one visible Church as it were one bodie Baptisme therefore should bee celebrated in the presence of that visible Church whereof we are to be members The minister then and the parents have not the onely interest in this businesse but the congregation also and principally because of their right to receave or refuse their concurrence to assist the minister in prayer to God for the infant their testimonie of his entrie and receaving and the benefite they may reap to themselves by remembring their owne baptisme and the promises made to God when they were baptized The baptized must have communion with them in the holy things of God afterward And therefore good reason they enter in with their approbation and acceptance If a member may not be cut off by excommunication without their consent 1 Corin. 5. none ought to bee receaved without their consent and after this manner of entrie Nature teacheth men saith Bucer that when any socieitie or corporation is to accept of one to be of their number Id sacere cum collegae frequentiores convenerint ut ita quasi ab omnibus illi in collegium recipiantur singuli offic a collegarum eis deferant ad eaque seâ—â—ita publicè astringant to doe it when the fellowes have conveened in a frequent number that so they may bee receaved as it were of all into the companie and every one may shew the duty of fellowes unto them and binde themselves to the same after the same manner publickly This promiscuous meeting of sundrie out of sundrie quarters and parishes to the morning and evening prayers in Edinburgh is not that body or societie whereof the baptiâ—ed is to be a member nor yâ—t are these times appointed for the meeting of that societie to that end Was it not then a superstitious or foolish conceat in many of the ancients who delayed baptisme to the end of their life or till they were overtaken with dangerous diseases that being purged from all the sinnes of their former life they might flie straightway to heaven These were called Cliniei q. d. lecticularii When we maintaine baptisme in publicke assemblies wee meane where there is a visible Church constituted and an order established Therefore the exemples of the Eunuch the jaylour Cornelius c. make nothing for baptisme in privat and apart where there is a visible Church constituted The defence and practice of baptisme in privat hath bred an opinion of an absolute necessitie of baptisme as if the infant could not be saved without it and doth â—ill foster the fame damnable opinion Neither cast any other necessitie bee pâ—tended For there is no precept requiring baptisme when it cannot be had orderly It is not the neglect but the contempt which maketh not the infants but the parents guilty It is not contempt or neglect when the ordinarie times of publicke meetings appointed for such ends are not neglected and coâ—â—â—ned In the ancient Church Easter and Pentecost eves were appointed to bee the solemne times of baptisme Whereby it came to passe that many died without baptisme as Socrates reporteth But that order which was not commendable is worne out of use many hundred yeares since We have now weekly ordinarie assemblies for the purpose and yet these are neglected and contemned specially by the wealthier sort and the times of evening prayers are preferred before the times appointed for preaching in the morning or upon the Lords day whereunto they were restrained by the first booke of discipline Whereas the sacraments should bee celebrated with reverence and we see how solemne the baptisme of Iohn was and of Christ at Jordan this baptisme in privat is irreligiously and unreverently ministred and the publicke scarce attended unto for upon the opinion of the necessitie of baptisme in privat hath followed the defence of baptisme by women baptisme by a pagan baptisme with pudle water baptisme by supposition For if the infant recover health they baptisme againe in publicke if they doubt it was baptized after the right manner in privat saying It thou bee not baptized N. I baptise thee in the name of the Father c. But what if the childe was already baptized after the right manner is not this publicke baptising rebaptization I know our Formalists doe not defend baptisme by laymen or women to be lawfully ministred by such persons yet they esteeme it valide and effectuall if the right forme and manner was in substance observed as yee may see in our Doctours grounds That which our worthie divines have condemned as nullin it selfe they account as valide which no man would doe that were not infected with the opinion of absolute necessitie of baptisme to the salvation of the infant For necessitas precepti the precept to baptise cannot drive them to this absurditie seeing none are commanded
import this gesture because I will have occasion to treat of them in the second part Only let it be observed that the occasionall circumstances of the first supper were not followed as the gesture was but upon speciall occasion By the practise of the Apostles wee see the time was indifferent Act. 2. and 20. Neque Apostoli ad tempus vespertixum sese adstrinxerunt sedipro oâ— asione coenam administraruâ—t alià s dâ—urno tempore 〈◊〉 legeâ—e est Act. 2. 46. alià s intempesta nocte ut Act. 20. quo pacto satis ostenderunt tempus câ—enae esse indiâ—â—eâ—ens As for the denomination of supper it doth not import that we should celebrat ever at night It is true in our language this word Supper signifieth only the evening meal but the originall word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth indefinitly the repast that a man takeâ—h any time of the day The proper Greek word for a supper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I referre the Reader for further clearing of this point to Câ—saubon his exercitations The like may be said of the number the sex the parlour the manner of sitting c. They were not continued by the Apostolical Churches as sitting was which was also continued at some times and in some places in the ages following CHAP. III. That sitting in the act of receaving hath continued to our times HOwbeit the supper of the Lord soone after the Apostles dayes began to bee stained with some rust as M. Calvine observeth yet was this gesture of sitting continued at some times namely upon the Thursday which is now called Maundie thursday the day of the Lords supper because upon that day the Lords supper was fâ—rst celebrate and institute Mornaeus reporteth that in the monasteries of S. Bennet they have no other forme of Masse for three dayes before Easter but this following The Abbot sanctifieth the bread and the wine and the Monks do communicate sitting receaving the elements out of the Abbots hand and this forme is by them called Mandatum the commandement But Bullinger more plainlie that not only in the monasteries of the Benedictines but also in the cathedrall kirks upon this day the tables are set in order they sit downe break bread and reach the cup every one to other every man following the footsteps of the ancient supper Vnde nimirum ritus ille ad nos dâ—manavit quo vel hodie incathedralibus ecclestis in Monasteriis Benedict â—orum â—n die coenae Domini ante parasceuen Coeâ—â—a Doâ—iâ—â— palam splendidius celebratur Nam Evangelium Iohannis à diacono publice praelegitun dulcissima câ—llo â—uia Christ 〈◊〉 abiturus cum discipulis habuit recitaâ—â—ur iâ—terim or 〈◊〉 disposi is mensis convivae assident panem azymum frangen es calioem invicem propinantes in toâ—um veteris coenae vestigium praeferentes Now it was the custome of old not onlie for the Monks but also other Christians to communicate upon this day except offenders as appeareth evidently in Gratians decree And therefore the glosse both old and new upon that place hath these words Sic olim modo non sic est sed Monachi faciunt that is It was so of old that the faithfull did communicate but it is not so now only the Monks doe it Augustine epist. 18. ad Ianuarium reporteth that in his time the custome was in many kirks to communicate after supper upon Thursday And whereas there is sundrie Canons for communicating fasting yet that anniversarie Thursday was excepted as yee may see in Concâ—l Carthag 3. can 31. Ne Sacramenta altaris nâ—si a jejunis hominibus celebrentur excepto uno die annâ—versario quo coena Domini celebratur What the Monks of S. Bennets order retained wee may verie well judge it to have beene the auncient forme of celebration upon that day For no doubt in that other Christians celebrated after meat which they needed not they neglected not sitting and distributing The two thousand souldiers who were reconciled to the Emperour Mauritius about the year 590. by the travell of Gregorius Bishop of Antioch receaved the Sacrament sitting upon the ground as Euagrius reporteth Doctor Lindsay alledgeth the like done to the Scottish armie at Bannockburn in the dayes of King Robert Bruce But beside this day which was called Coena Domini that all the faithfull did communicate wee finde that at other times also the people communicated in sundrie places immediatly after meat as Socrates reporteth of the Aegyptâ—ans who dwelt neere to Alâ—xandrâ—a and the inhabitants of Thebais Nam ubiepulati sunt varâ—is cibariis se saturâ—runt sub vesperam oblatione fact a mysteriis communicant Niâ—ephorus reporteth the same Balsamo upon the 90 〈◊〉 of Concilium Trullanum saith the devoter sort upon Saturday at midnight fate in the kirk and communicate Alexander de Holes in the second part of his tractat concerning the Masse sayeth The Pope communicateth sitting in remembrance that the Apostles at the last supper communicated sitting Si quaeratur quare Dominus Papa sed endo communicat Potest dici quod hoc fit in recordationâ—m quod â—eatus Petrus alii Apostoli sedendo corpus Domini in coena ultima acceperunt The Waldensâ—s who are justly called the pure seed of the auncient kirk and have continued since the dayes of Pope Silvester some think from the dayes of the Apostles saith Rainerius the Inquisitor and their enemie celebrated the Communion sitting Concernâ—ng the supper of the Lord their faith was that it was ordaâ—nâ—d to be eaten and not to bee shewed or worshipped for a memoriall not for a sacrifice to serve for the present ministration and not for reservation to be received at table and not to be carried out of doores according to the use of the primitive Church when they used to communicat sitting and this they prove by an old Chronicle called Chronica gestorum saith Master Fox in his acts and monuments His warrant I finde in their apologie against one Doctour Augustine which is extant in Lydii Waldensia Existo manifestum est quod primitiva ecclesia hane fidem habuit illam confessa est non fecit reverentiam huâ—c sacramento quia illo tempore exemplo Christi sedentes statim acceperunt nihil retinuerunt nec extra domum extulerunt haec institutio diâ—stetit sicut Chronica gestorum estendunt The like they have in the confession of their faith sent to Vladiflaus king of Hungarie Namque discipulis Christus discumbentibus dedie utendum Luther expounding the epistle upon Saint Stephens day saith Christ so instituted the sacrament that in it wee should sit at the sacrament But all things are changed and the idle ordinances of men are come in place of divine ordinances Zwinglius setting downe the forme of câ—lebration used at Berne Zurick Basile and other neighbour townes saith Sedentes tacite auscultantes
already treated The representation and forme of a feast or banquet is not observed It is rather Sportula which is opposite to coena then coena that is rather like a dole of meat then a supper For Sportula was a dole of meat distributed by the princes to the people which was called Sportula from the panier or basket in which it was brought This giving of the elements to every one severally whither the communicants sit stand or kneel bringeth in also confusion of actions and private communions in the publike assembly For while the ministers are giving the elements to every one the people is in the meane time exercised in hearing the word read or psalmes sung and heare not what they say to the communicants nor do the communicants understand what is read or sung in publike Yea sometimes two ministers will be speaking at once to sundrie communicants So the communicants communicate a part and might as well go aside or to an I le of the Church to communicate yea and farre better For the minister can scarce know his owne voice when he speaketh to the commucant being troubled with the exercise of the whole congregation as one of the ministers of Edinburgh confessed publikely in pulpit The exercise is dead and cold when the minister giveth to every one severally Therefore they are forced to reading and singing in the mean time to drive away tediousnesse and so bring in confusion of actions But if they would speake in the plurâ—ll number to the communicants as Christ did saying Take ye eat ye and not to every one Take thou eat thou the action should bee more comfortable For the phrase of speach in the plurall number â—fittest saith Fenner in the doctrine of the sacraments to note â—ut the fellowship and communion of the Church in this worke the person of Christ by the minister bidding all his guests with one love as from him to be merrie and eat with faith one spirituall meat togeither It setteth an edge upon us when with one heare as it were and together we apply every one of us to our selfes that which is uttered by the minister But when the action is prolonged with speaking to every one the mindes of men languish and wander Our Doctour saith they utter the words in the plurall number at the consecrating of the elements he meaneth at the rehearsall of the words of the institution at or before the thanksgiving but Christ uttered them at the deliverie of the elements which they do not Next saith he they apply the generall command to every one in particular as if the Apostles or other communicants to whom the words were uttered in the plurall number did not apply to themselfes particularly when every one did take eat and drinke And the Doctour himselfe confesseth that every worthy receaver ought to apply the words to himselfe in particular If Christ spake in the plurall number when the communicants were so few what would he have done if there had been a great multitude present Another profound Doctour imagineth that Christ spake first to all generally in the 〈◊〉 Number and after in the singular delivering to every one particularly But this imagination is without any ground of appearance in the text And Swarâ—z rejecteth this fancie because it changeth the order of the text set downe with so full consent of the Apostle Paul and the Evangelists no reason forcing them so to doe 〈◊〉 rullairatio cogit non oprte ordinem textus mutare praefertim cum ab Evangelistis Paulo tanta consensione obiervatus sit This rate of fraction or breaking of bread after thanksgiving either for representation or distributation is not injoyned by the English service book Paraeus reporteth That the Lutheran Churches have it not but have the bread cut in small pieces before it be brought to the hand of the minister which is not the sacramentall breaking The Doctour saith That in the ancient Church the sacrament was delivered by the pastour or the deacon who helped him and supplied his place but not by any of the people If so were wee ought to take hâ—ed saith Cyprian not what any before us hath done but what Christ before all hath done we must not follow the custome of men but the truth of God Calvin saith That the ancients went nerer to a judaicall manner of sacrificing then the ordinance of Christ and course of the Gospel could suffer They carried the â—read of the sacrament home to their houses in Tertullians time that is about 200 yeares 〈◊〉 Christ. The custome of giving the communion to infants continued for 600 yeares Yet wee have already produced some instances in the contrary as of the Waldenses and some footsteps of the ancient Church howbeit declining yet remaining among the Monks of Saint Bennets order when they celebrated lebrated according to the paterne The deacon as I have said represented not Christs person and therefore should not have ministred or delivered the elements if that were true that none should deliver them immediatlie but the pastour because he representeth Christs person It is like at the first that deacons ministring at tables in time of love-feasts served likewise at the communion which was conjoyned with them and carried only the platters and cuppes out of which the communicants them selfes tooke the elements and distributed Olim ex patinâ— suis quisque maâ—ibus suam sumpsit particulam ut morisfait ad sextam usque synodum nempè Caesar angustanam saith Salmeron Thereafter they gave the elements themselfes both the bread and the wine and did not help the minister going along In processe of time indeed the minister went along with the bread and the deacon delivered the cuppe And words were put in their mouth to be uttered at the deliverie as Sauguis Christi calix vitae At last they were made halfe priests Clemens Alexandrinus saith That the communicants tooke the eucharist themselfes Cum eucharistiam quidam ut mos est diviserint permittitur unicui que è populo partem sumere In Tertullians time it seemeth that in Africk they tooke the elements out of the hands of their rulers or presidents that is the bishop elder or deacon when he saith Eucharisti â—m non aliorum quâ—m de prâ—esâ— dentium in mâ—nu suminâ—us For so not only Juâ—â—us but also â—â—mel us in his annotations expone that place All these formes were aberrations from the right forme and opened a doreto let in many corruptions For if the distribution of the communicants had beene at all times continued as it was at some times in the yeare kneeling had not entred the words uttered by Christ at the deliverie of the elements had not beene changed confusion of actions and a privat forme of communicating had not taken place the forme of a feast which is now changed into the manner of distributing a dole had beene preserved Therefore suppose the distributing of the communicants
if he so doe the bread shall be a pledge of his body and the wine of his bloud Christ said not This is my body take eat but Take eat this is my body or actu continuo bad them both take and eat The promise is annexed to the commandment as conditionall and hath no effect otherwise but if the condition be performed It is a receaved action among the Divines Elementa extrausum non sunt sacramenta The elements out of the use are no sacraments And sacramenta perficiuntur usu If the elements after the blessing be not delivered shal they be sacramentally Christs body and bloud or if delivered and not eaten It fareth with the sacramentall elements as with pawnes and pledges in contracts and bargans A ring may bee set a part to bee a pledge in matrimonie yet it is not actuallie a pledge without consent of the other partie but only a meere sing A stone chosen out from among many to bee a signe of a march is not actuallie a march stone but in the use when it is set with consent of parties in the march to that end There was never a sign without the use wherefore it was appointed to be a sign Never a march but that which divided land nor a banquet but in eating and drinking saith Chamier So the elements are sanctified and set a part by prayer and rhanksgiving to this use but are not Christs bodie and bloud actuallie till they be receaved and used Panis nunquam est signum corporis Christi nisi in edendo nun quam vinum sanguinis nisi in potando And therefore this holie ordinance is properly defined a sacred actâ—on consisting of so many rites By a figurative kinde of speach it is true the bread may bee called the sacrament of Christs bodie because it is appointed to that end as when Isaac said to Abraham Where is the sacrifice that is the lamb or the ramme appointed for the sacrifice but not properly Now the Formalist presupponeth that the sacrament is made alreadie before hee come to deliver the elements and therefore hee sayth hee uttereth other words at the deliverie So yee see they place such vertue in uttering these words This is my bodie in the rehearsall of the institution as the papist doth that they thinke the read alreadie Christs bodie and therefore absurd to utter these words againe at the deliverie to the Communicants for then they should seeme to consecrate again So grosse poperie is the ground of omitting the comfortable word of promise at the delivering and snbstituting a prayâ—r or ministeriall blessing as P. calleth it in the rowme of it and such a prayer as presupposeth the bread already to bee Christs bodie and therefore they say The bodie of the Lord prâ—serve thy bodie and soule Heere also is a wil-worship for howbeit prayer bee of it selfe a pure of Gods worship instituted and allowed by God yet to pray unseasonablie and out of time at the will and device of man when you should bee serving God in another forme it is wil-worship neither is there necessitie of this a prayer alreadie preceeding And surely this their prayer is a senselesse one like that old prayer Anima Christi sanctificaine which is directed to Christs soule whereas wee should direct our prayers to his person not to his humanitie by it self Let it bee observed by the way that the words of the institution are rehearshed in the English service book and among the rest these ords This is my bodie to God in a continuall tenor with the prayer begun before just according to the order observed in the Canon of the masse when the priest offereth his sacrifice which is an horrible abuse of the words of the institution which Christ uttered to the Communicants and not unto God I dare bee bold to affirme the sacrifice of the masse had never enâ—red in the Church if the word of promise had beene uttered at the deliverie of the elements to the Communicants in an enunciative forme or demonstratively as Christ did Thirdly if in regard of prayer then if Christs sacramentall speach be uttered without addition of a prayer the Communicants must not kneel Christs forme of speach then must be thrust out that prayer and with it kneeling may enter in Fourthly suppose the prayer might be substituted in the roome of the word of promise kneeling should not be enjoyned nor urged more precisely at that bit of prayer then at other prayers Yea it is superstition to urge kneeling at one prayer more strictly then at another and absurd in my judgement to enjoyne it at all in any They may as well enjoyne any man to lift up his eyes to knock on his breast to bow the head or crouch as to kneel as they doe in the popish service which hath made it the more ridiculous for kneeling lifting up of the hands or eyes knocking on the breast are naturall expressions and adumbrations of the inward motions of the soule and proceed ex abundantia interni affectu as saith Chamier and therefore ought not to be extorted by injunctions for that were to command men to play the hypocrits and like comedians to counterfite outward signes of such inward motions as perhaps are not in them so vehement as to stir them up voluntarily to such expressions Yea some of them may serve for ejaculations as the lifting up of the eyes to knock on the breast and to bow the head which bowing is finished in one instant saith L. All undecent and unseemly gesture in prayer ought to bee forbidden but no gesture ought to bee commanded in speciall but left free Fiftly that prayer above mentioned is but a short ejaculation and sooner ended then the Communicant can addresse himself to his knees Sixtly that prayer or short wish is ended before the Minister offer the bread to the Communicant and bid him take it and yet the Communicant is enjoined to continue still upon his knees Nor is kneeling enjoined to them by statute or their service book in regard of mentall prayer for none such is enjoined what suppose kneeling were enjoined in respect of prayer also for if also or principallie for reverence of the Sacrament it is sufficient for our purpose for to adore any other thing but God or with God are both idolatrous Master Paybodie saith Concerning prayer I do freely confesse that in as much as it is but an occasion and not the principall exercise of the soule whither it be mentall or vocall in the sacrament all busiâ—esse I do neither deeme it the principall respect of lawfull kneeling neither have I reason to deeme it the principall respect upon which the Church enjoyneth it And againe Suppose there bee no prayer used in the time of receaving I think never the worse of the gesture of kneeling No wonder hee say so for hee layeth down a ground that any of the gestures may be used in any part of Gods worship
bound to see it performed reverently and religiously which they cannot see done when it is administred in privat Nor can the privat administration bee performed with such reverence as is requisite Wee read not that at any time it was the custome in the ancient church to celebrate at the bedside of the sick but onely to carrie the eucharist to him which notwithstanding was superstitious The synod holden at Laodicea cap. 58. ordained Ne fierent in domibus oblationes ab episcopis aut presbyteris And Justinian Novell constit 57. hath the like Not that I thinke the place of it selfe disgraceth the action but the paucitie of the communicants If the congregation were assembled in a barne or any like capacious place through want of a church the action might bee celebrated with no lesse grace The sicke mans chamber is not a fit meeting place for the congregation saith Riveâ—is Suppose it were such assemblies could not but breed or foster the opinion of necessitie Beside the paucitie the paines of the patient might enforce sundrie disorders Bellarmine alledgeth in defence of depriving the communicants of the cup howbeit more comfort might bee had by participating both the bread and the wine that there is lesse ill that men want some good thing not necessarie then that the sacrament be exposed to the hazard of irreverence For it could not be but the bloud of Christ would bee often split That which hee alledgeth against the Lords institution wee may farre more justly alledge against this privat communion which the Lord never ordained that the reverent usage of the sacrament is to bee preferred before the good or rather preposterous pleasing of the sick and feeding their ignorance and superstition FINIS Errata BLot out p. 11. last line not p. 12 l. 15. when 81. l. 27. that 99. l. 11. not 122. l. lest p. 56 lin l. the fourth part read p. 14. l. 4. canon 17. 22. more l. 23. meere 20. 28. Pauli 23. l. 24. that thursday 27. l. 25. Hospinian 29. l. 26. then 30. last line notable 3. l. l. 29. Encrarits 39. l. 2 sic l. 25. eat ve all of this 45. l. 14 great l. 25. Montanus l. 26. members 47. l. 4. l. 8. sic 54. l. 30. simpliciâ—er 57 l. last Israelitarum 60. l. 18. decree l. 19. successates 6. l. 18 popuâ—â— 6. â— l. 13. of 65. l. 18. excuses 67. l. 24. Cracouieni 6â— l. al 's 68. l. 4. al 's 69. l. 15. apertae 74. l. 19. to stand 76. l. 13. stantes commorantes 77. l. 30. Zonaras 79. l. 14. praetermitted 80. l. 24. quod â— 9. l. 12 to these words 98. l. 1. causes l. 13 whither 99. l. 11 if ye will bear 122. l. 3. bewray 128. l. 30. Christ. Desire stort ejaculations 135. d. l. 19. genuine 154 l. 7. commenting 157. l. 20. kindling fire 158 l. 1. mutabilitie 159 l. 7. rationem 160. l. 27. were not bidden fast 164. l. 26. 〈◊〉 10. logicall 165. lin 2. apolo l. 19. whereon 168. l. 5. makein 190. l. 29. â—â—gatorum 202. l. 20 salve 205. l. 23. ye observe 217. l. 22. concredite 220 lin 30. questions 22â— lin 12 suffraganes 226 l. 4. become Lesser escapes I remit to the correction of the understanding reader A PASSAGE OF MASTER WILLIAM Cowper peetended bishop of Gallaway his sermon delivered before the states anno 1606. at which time he was minister at Perth On 2 Corin. 6. 3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle wrote this epistle in his owne name and in the name of Timothie his brother as yee may penceave by the first verse of this epistle And now in both their names hee directeth the exhortation Preachers are workers together brethren and fellow-labourers Here a worthie Apostle claimeth no superiour stile to Timothie an Evangelist albâ—it justly hee might hâ—e bâ—ing an Apostle the other an Evangelist both which were temporarie and extraordinarie callings in the Church of God but the one namely the office of an Apostle more excellent then the other office of an Evangelist This may serve to make these men ashamed who being partakers of one office of pastorship with the rest of their brethren will bee separated from them by slately sitles Order is good I grant but away with such order as hath bred that I omane Hierarchie the tyrannie of the Antichrist Alwayes here our chiefe lesson is that ministers should work together They should not worke one against another We are the servants of one Lord wee have all one citie to build we are fortifiers of the wall of one Jerusalem what part of the wall wee stand and into that is no matter the worke and the waze is one to us all Vnion among brethren is ay the forerunnâ—r of blessing division againe bringeth on the fall for a kingdome devided against it selfe cannot stand In the primitive church S. Luke saith The multitude of beleevers were of one heart There upon followed a flourishing estate of the church notwithstanding the powers of the world were enemies to them Great things are alwayes performed by union yea suppese of mean instruments There is non saith Job can restraine the influence of the Pleiades it is but a constellation of the seven starres which we commonly call the seven sisters yet do they bring with them the spring of the year Thus a nature her self advanceth her greatest workes by unin A materiall building is made up by the uniting of stones and timbâ—r bâ—fore disjoyned and and the fall thereof is procured againe by their renting and sundring one from another I exhort you therefore brethren in the name of the Lord that as one man our hearts may bee joyned together to doe the worke of the Lord and this devision threatning a fearfull decay of Christ his kingdome in the midst of us may be eshewed Where if it be objected to me where is the blame or cause of division For I know that as Salomon saith every mans way seemeth good in his owne eyes I answer I have not a deligh to make a sport of the nakednesse of my father and I desire not to be cursed with Chaent If the division were not so evident that the most simpley perveaveth it I could willingly also misknow it but since the evill is manifest the cause of the evil is also easily espied for looke what part of the wall is gagged from the oâ—â—â—ation where upen the building stands and from that policie we receaved from our fathers let thâ—â— be drawne in to the rest againe then shall arise a happie union that may assure us of a continuance and increase of Gods work in the midst of us FINIS Admonition pag. 35. Sitting warrantable Scaliger de emendat temporum lib. 6. Barradas in concor evangelist Tom. 4. lib. 3. cap. 2 Baronaâ—â—al â—om 2. an 34. num 14. Chrys. hom de prodit Iud. And Pope Leo serm 7. de passione Domini That Christ and his Apostles kneeled not Athenaens lib. 4. Luk.
the English Liturgie he opposed stoutly to it And when the contention was like to grow to some hight hee and his Collegue Master Wittingham with some others drew forth of the English booke a plat in Latine and sent it to Master Calvin Howbeit the description of the corruptions was favourably set downe yet kneeling at the receaving of the elements is noted up among the rest in that extract Among his letters which are extant in writ we finde one dated the yeare 1559 at Deep and directed to Mastresse Anna Lock where he calleth the crosse in Baptisme and kneeling at the Lords table Diabolicall inventions After his return to his native country he ministred the Communion according to the order of the English church at Geneva where he had been last Minister This order was observed in all the reformed congregations before the reformed religion was established by authority of Parliament and is yet extant before the Psalmes in meeter with addition of the treatises of fasting and excommunication some prayers the forme and manner of the election and admission of Superintendents In the conâ—ession of faith prefixed and approved by our Church we have these words Neither must wee in the administration of the Sacraments follow mans phantâ—sâ—â—s but as Christ him selfe hath ordained so must they be ministred In the order of celebrating the Lords supper wee have these words The exhortation being ended the Minister commeth downe from the pulpit and sitteth at the table every man and woman likewise taking their place as occasion best serveth And againe The Minister breaketh the bread and delivereth it to the people who distribute and devide the same among themselfes according to our Saviours commandment And likewise giveth the cuppe In the second head of the first bâ—oke of discipline drawne up in the first yeare of publike and universall reformation wee have these words The table of the Lord is then rightly minâ—stred when it approacheth neâ—rest unto Christs owne action But plaine it is that at Supper Christ Jesus sate with his disciples and therefore doe we â—udge that sitting at a table is most convenient to that holy action And againe That the Mâ—nister break the bread and distribute the same to these that be next to him commanding the rest every one with sobrietie and reverence to break 〈◊〉 other we think it nearest to Christs action and to the perfite pracâ—ice Yee see our first Reformers preferred 〈…〉 kneeling but also to standing and 〈…〉 none of them approached so 〈…〉 When they rejected standing 〈…〉 man judge what they thought of kneeling 〈◊〉 ye may perceive that they rested upon 〈◊〉 â—o only for a time because of the abuse of kneeling 〈…〉 because most agreeable to the paterne It was ordained in the generall assembly holden the year 1562 That the order of Geneva be of served 〈…〉 ministration of the Sacraments By the order of Geneva was meant the order which was observed in the English Church at Geneva where Master Knox had beene of late Minister which order is called in the first booke of discipline The order of Geneva and The book of Common order This order as I have already said is set downe before the Psalmes in meeter In the assembly holden anno 1564 Ministers are referred to the order set do 〈◊〉 before the Psalmes which is a renewing of the former act In the Parliament holden the yeare 1567 it was declared that whosoever refused to participate of the Sacraments as they were then publikely administred in this reformed Church were not to be reputed members of this Church An act was likewise made concerning the Kings oath to be given at his coronation to maintain the religion then professed and in speciall the due and right administration of the Sacraments then receaved This act concerning the Kings oath was ratified again by acts of Parliament in the yeare 1581 and againe in the yeare 1592. In the yeare 1572 it was ordained by act of Parliament that such as did not communicate and partake of the Sacraments as they were then truly ministred in the Church of Scotland if they continue obstinate and disobedient shall be reputed infamous and unable to sit or stand in judgement persue bear office c. When in the second confession of faith which is commonly called the Kings confession we professe that we detest the ceremonies of the Roman Antichrist added to the ministration of the Sacraments we professe we detest kneeling in the act of receaving the sacramentall elements of bread and wine The order of celebrating the Lords supper which hath beene receaved and observed since the beginning of reformation and acknowledged both by generall assemblies and Parliaments to be the due and right order was perverted by a number of noble men Barons Ministers and pretended Bishops conveened at Perth in the yeare 1618 either having no lawfull commission or terrified with threats or corrupted one way or other They in their full and pretended assembly to please King James made this act following as it is extant among the acts of Parliament Since we are commanded by God himself that when we come to worship him wee fall downe and kneel before the Lord our Maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receaving of the blessed body and bloud of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the bâ—dy in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts best becometh so divine and sacred an action therefore notwithstanding that our Church hath used since the reformatioâ— of religion to celebrate the holy Communion to the people sitting by reason of the great abuse of kneeling used in the idolatrous worship of the Sacrament by the Papists yet now seeing all memorie of by-past superstâ—tion is past in revâ—rence of God and in due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as we are made partakers of the assembly thinketh good that that blessed Sacrament be celebrated hereafter meekly and reverently upon their knees This act if the lying parenthesis were culled out which is insert onely to deceave may passe among Papists and Lutherans It is untrue that all memory of by-past superstition is past and untrue that the abuse of kneeling among the papists was the onely occasion that moved our first reformers to make choice of sitting but the paterne of the first supper at the institution was the chiefe cause And therefore they not only rejected kneeling but also standing and taking in passing by as wee have shewed before We shall first defend the communicants sitting and next impugne their kneeling in the act of receiving the sacramentall elements of bread and 〈…〉 we shall prove it first to be warrantable next 〈…〉 downe our reasons whereupon wee 〈…〉 instituted THE FIRST PART CONCERneth the defence of sitting CHAP. I. That the Communicants sitting in the act of receaving eating and drinking is lawfull
were only occasionall and accidentarie falling out by reason of the paschall supper which might not lawfully or conveniently bee changed yea at whatsoever time it had beene celebrate some circumstances might occurre which belong not to the action as at every action there occurre individuall circumstances as time and place nothing belonging to that action except it be so appointed The Rhemâ—sts sayeth M. Cartwright assigne things done in the Lords supper some impossible to bee done by us some inconvenient to bee done in our sacrament which were necessarlie done in that action of our Saviour Christ. Their sitting might easily have beene changed in kneeling and verie commodiously seing they sate upon beds leaning on their elbowes yet Christ would retaine the same gesture at the evangelicall supper which they used at the paschall But at the institution of the first passeover the Jews stood and yet afterward they sate as ye see here Christ and his Apostles sate As they changed their standing at the first supper which was their paterne why may not we likewise change sitting into kneeling I answer when standing is changed in sitting it is not changed into a gesture of adoration as when sitting is changed into kneeling which is no gesture for a feast Next it cannot be proved that the people of God stood at the first passeover in the judgement of sundrie of the learned let be at the rest following as P. acknowledgeth pag. 57. Howbeit L. pag. 68. affirmeth that they stood There is neither expresse mention made of their standing howbeit every ceremonie be set downe punctuallie nor can it be collected by necessarie consequence saith Barradius But let it passe as undoubted yet it was extraordinarie and for that night only to signifie their hastie departure out of Egypt All the Hebrew Doctours both ancient and moderne with full consent deliver that the commandement of sprinkling the doore posts with bloud putting on shoes girdâ—ng up the loins takâ—ng staves in their hands and eating the lambe with hâ—ste was not to be extended to the following ages but belonged only to that night that they were to depart out of Egypt If standing had beene commanded and that for times to come as well as for that night the Jewes had transgressed in sitting and Christ would not have applied himself unto their custome Next it appeareth that sitting was the ordinarie gesture used at all religious feasts The Gentiles no doubt borrowing their custome from the people of God sate at their feasts made of the remainder of the sacrifices offered to their idols Amos 2. 1 Corin. 8. 10. to professe their communion and society with their idol or fellowship with devils as the Apostle calleth it 1 Corin. 10. 20. The Ethnikes sate not at the altars of their Gods but at tables in the idol chappel Ethnicos insuis altaribus bibisse ne quidem fando auditum est Alstedius in supplemento tom 4. Paustratâ—e cap. 10. The Lord instituting his supper to be the only religious feast to be used in the Christian Church observed the same gesture which was used at the paschall supper and other religious feasts So that the using of this gesture at the first supper was as it were a ratification that the common and ordinarie gesture of religious feasts should not be altered at this feast Further seeing this supper was in forme of a banquet and represented another spirituall banquet as sitting is the usuall gesture at banquets or feasts even when men are invited by kings in token of that familiar societie wherewith they are honoured so it represents that which is answerable the familiarity of the soule with Christ at the spirituall banquet Christ intended not only to represent unto us our spirituall nouritour for then it had sufficed he had given the signes any way without a table without dividing and distributing among themselfes without sitting but in celebrating after this manner in speciem convivii as Piscator termeth it he intended further then to represent spirituall nourishment to wit societie and fellowship with him and that he was to sup and feast with us as it is said Revel 3. 20. Coenam Domini esse convivium vâ—lepulum liquet exeo quod dâ—scipuli de pane illo ederunt de poâ—ulo illo biberunt accâ—mbentes simul ad mensam Piscator in Matth. 26. in observat in vers 26. seqq Kneeling obscureth that familiarity and rejoycing which the Lordwould have signified and sealed at that time The Polonian Baron Johannes Alasco maintaineth further That our sitting eating and drinking at the communion table is a figure and representation of our sitting at the heavenly Musculus saith That this supper is a type of the supper to come Aquâ—nas saith it is not only a signe commemorative of Christs passion which is past and demonstrative of a present benefite but also 〈◊〉 futurae gloriae A foreshewing signe of our glorie to come Christ himselfe expresseth our peaceable fruition of the joyes of heaven by sitting with Abraham Isâ—ac and Jacob in the kingdome of heaven Matth. 8. 11. Alluding to feasts where the feasters feasted at one table sitting leaning on beds as here at Christs supper In another place he bringeth in Lazarus resting in Abrahams bosome Luke 16. that is sitting at the heavenly table and leaning upon Abrahams bosome after the same manner that Iohn lay on Christs bosome when he sate at this table Iohn 16 And Christ himself while hee was at table promised to his Apostles that they should eat and drink at his table in his kingdome and sit upon twelve throns Luke 22. 30. Hee hath slender affection to the glory of Christ or persuasion of his eternall felicitie that would abolish out of the kirk that image of our eternall felicitie in the celestiall glory to co â—e which is so much recommended unto us by Christ himself our Lord by the symbole of sitting at a banquet to the unspeakable comfort of all the faithfull saith Alasco It followeth that Christ precept Hoc facite do this comprehendeth sitting as if Christ should have said Celebrate this holy ordinance after the same manner as yee have now seen the patern set before your eyes that is as a feast or banquet with the formes yee have now seene sitting eating drinking distributing c. Time and place were not comprehended because they were more circumstances or occasionall But gestures are meere then meere circumstances as M. P. pag. 34. confesseth and a a sutable gesture for a feast was chosen by Christ whereunto he was not forced through necessitie Iohn Alasco presseth this precept for sitting in speciall both in the former work and in book de â—acramentis Hoc faciâ—e Ad totam illam actionem hoc referendum est ut qued tum Christus cum discipulis fecit itidem nos in sacris coetibus factitemas quemadmodum discipulâ— in illa ipsa vespera dispositi ab ipso Christo
hoc acceperunt sacramentum ita nunc dâ—sponam is saith Marlorat in 1. Cor. 11. It appeareth thirdly by the practise of the Apostolicall kirks observing still this gesture howbeit other circumstances of time and place and other things which fell out occasionally at the first supper are not regarded Their practise may be a commentarie to the precept Do this that wee may take up what is comprehended under it Howbeit Christ had not said Hoc facite Do this his example in setting down the patern and put in practise by the Apostles afterwards is equivalent to a precept Christi Apostolorum exempla sunt nâ—strum exemplaâ—â—exemplar autem rei faciendae probat rem esse praeceptam necessariam Christ himself after hee was sitting at table in Emâ—us with the two disciples Luke 24. 30. hee took bread blessed it brake it and gave to them This place is interpreted by sundrie ancients and moderne of the breaking of the sacramentall bread which may be granted without any vantage to the Papists for communicating in one kinde because the example is extraordinarie and by the Hebrew phrase of breaking of bread synecdochically may bee meant the whole supper M. P. thinketh likewise that it is like this breaking of bread was sacramentall but saith hee the sitting was onlie occasionall But there was no occasion to hinder him to use another gesture when hee come to that action Yee see then in the judgemeut of all the interpreters who expound this place of the sacrament of the supper that Christ celebrate this sacrament while he and his disciples were sitting and used no other gesture but that which they had used at their ordinary eating before It is obiected that the Apostle in the rehearsall of the words of the institution 1 Cor. 11. maketh no mention of sitting I answer that the Apostle rehearseth not all that was requisite for the celebration of the supper His chief purpose was to correct the abuse of the Corinthians that is their not staying upon other For the Lord that night he was betrayed said to all his disciples conveened together Take ye eat ye drinke ye all of this Illa coena Christi omnes commun ver accumbentes habuit That supper had all sitting in common together saith Chrysostome rebuking such as neglected to communicat with the poore Oâ—â—umenius hath the like This is not to eat the Lords supper he meaneth that supper whâ—ch Christ delivered when all his disciples were present For in that supper the Lord and all his servants sate together Hierom in 1 Cor. 11. The Lords supper ought to be common to all because he deliverâ—d the sacraments equally to all his disciples that were present It was not the Corinthians fault that they sate â—t table but that neither at their common meats nor at the Lords table would they sit together but sorted themselfes in factions and companies saith D. â—ilson in his book of obedience And again Saint Paul as Chrysistome thinketh brought the table and supper where the Lord himself was and â—t which his dâ—scâ—ples sate for an example to shew them that that is rightly judged to be the Lords supper quae omnâ—bus simul convocatis concordiâ—er communâ—ter sumitur which is received in common and with one consent of all assembled together The Apostle saith not I deliver to you here all that I receaved of the Lord but I have received of the Lord that which I have delivered unto you The Apostle presupposeth a lawfull minister a table and sitting at the table and rehearseth only Christs actions and his words uttered to communicants sitting at that table together bidding them all eat drink c. conveened together Not yet all his actions and words as giving of the bread blessing of the cup either severally or conjunctly with the bread and the precept to drink all of it Ipsi et am Evangel stae mutuo inter se supplevâ—sse leguntur quae ab eâ—rum aliquo vel aliquibus sunt omâ— ssa The Evangelâ—sts themselses supply mutually what is omitted by any of the rest saith Innocentius 3 in the Decretals There was but one action saith Casaubon which consisted of the holy and common banquet and from the nobler paâ—t was called the supper of the Lord. Totam illam Corinth orum actionem quae sacro communi convivio constabat a potiori parte vocat coenam dominicam The love-feast then and the Lords supper went together the love-feasts in these times preceeding and the Lords supper immediately following For as Estius a professour in Doway reasoneth It is likely that in imitation of Christs example at the first supper they celebrat after the love-feast Next they stayed not upon other at the commoun supper which could not have beene if they had communicated together before as the Greek fathers conceave who are of the other opinion Thirdly the Apostle putteth them in minde of triall before and good behaviour If these abuses had fallen forth after the Apostles exhortation had not beene so pertinent Fourthly this opinion is confirmed by the custome which was observed after in many Churches even till Augustinus dayes Willâ—ts in his synopsis pag. 677. In the end of those feasts they used to râ—ceave the sacrament Cornelius a Lapide a Professour in Lovane affirmeth likewise that the love-feast preceeded the holy supper Agape haec tempore Paule fiebat ante non post sacram synaxin Druthmarus who wrote about the yeare 800. saith that the Apostles celebrated after meat as Christ did Feâ—â—runt autem Apostoli multo tempore similiter post alium elbum dominicum fumentos D. Bilson saith likewise by Saint Pauls words it should appear the communion was distributed to them after meals but saith he to us it is all one whether before or after at their banquets and feasts it was ministred and even served at theâ—r tâ—bles â—s Augustine noteth epist. 118. And againe Because these brotherly repasts did either end or begin with the Lords supper they could not devide themselfes each from other and disdaine the poore at theâ—r common meat but they must offâ—r the same abuse at the Lords supper which was mâ—nistred to them as they sate at theâ—r tablâ—s immediatly before or afâ—er their usuall and corporall refreshings M. P. a la â—e champion for kneeling thinking it likely that Christ ministred the sacrament at Emaus hath this observation Hereupon I thinke together with the institution it selfe after supper were grounded the love-feasts by continued occasion whereof the disciples might possiblie for a time use sitting in the very act of receiving D. Downame Bishop of Derrie confesseth sitting to receave the sacrament to have beene used in the Churches in the Apostles times I passe by the names of Table and Supper and breaking of bread and the opposition made by the Apostle betwixt communicating at the Lords table and sitting at the tables of Idols which may
mutuall duties and tokens of love and friendship another It is one thing to the guests to participate of the same dainties which are to be united to their bodies another to interchange and communicate with other tokens of love Justly may the communion cup for this cause be called Philotesia saith Stuckius To divide the bread also and to eat together in token of love and bene volence was a custome observed in all the orientall countries and is yet observed in maâ—y countries of the west say Lyra and Arias Montanas as Serrarius the Jesuit relateth Facit ad amicitiam conciliandam reparandam conservandam quòd de uno pane participamus quòd panem offerimus fratribus quodque de manu fratrum poculum accipientes bibimus Non enim aliam ob causam videntur veteres coenam appellasse synaxin saith Bullinger That is It serveth for the procuâ—â—ng reparing and keeping of friendship that we participate of one bread that we offer bread to our brethren and that we drinke taking the cup out of the hands of our brethren It seemeth for no other cause the ancients called the Lords supper Synaxis And in the 9. sermon of the same decade Quondam arctissima faed ra fractione panis consecrabantur Of old Leagues or covenants were confirmed by breaking of bread Gualter saith Panem peculum pii inter se distribuunt quod illis charitatis officium commendat de conjunctione mutua eos admonet ut se unum iu Christo corpus esse intelligant sibi invicem officiis mutuis inserviant quemadmodum in corporibus nostris membra facere videmus The godly distribut the bread and wine among themselfes which recommendeth to them the duty of chariti and putteth them in minde of mutuall conjunction that they may understand that they are one body in Christ and serve one another with mutuall duties as we see the members to do in our owne bodies Zwinglius in his exposition of the Christian faith setteth downe a notable proofe of this How that some sitting together casually and participating after this manner were reconciled who before had beene at variance and that this fell forth often Deprehensum est saepenumerò quòd quidam qui temâ—re consederant quì tamen simultates odiapriùs inter se exercuissent ex hac participatione sive panis sive potus animi impotentiam deposuerunt The ancients had the kisse which was a familiar kinde of salutation among the Orientals as the striking of hands with us they joyned hands also and embraced another at the communion Seeing so many signes and protestations of love were thought requisit at this banket of love ought we not to be the more carefull to retaine that signe which was practised in the patterne I end this section with a passage out of Lauaterus descriving the forme of celebration used in the Church of Zurich to wit with sitting and the communicants distributing posthac per totam ecclesiam ministri that is those that serve az mumpanem in â—â—tinis circumserunt at accipit quisque particulam de exhibito pane posteà reliquam partem dat proxime assidenti Deinde sequuntur alii ministri cum poculis cantharis ac praebet alius alii poculum Dominicum atque sit omnes de uxo pane participant If none must give the sacramentall bread but the minister because he acts the person of Christ who gave his owne body by the same reason they may not reach the cup to other as the Apostles did at the first supper where they represented the faithfull and communicate not as pastours but as disciples as guests as faithfull as all our divines do hold and among the rest Musculus himselfe cited by L. pag. 59. All that was done in prison Joseph was the doer of it because he was direct our and commander of every thing that was to be done Gen. 39. 22. â— confesseth the cup may be reached from one communicant to another For saith he he in whose name the commandement is uttered is properly the giver and propiner because by his authoritie it is given and by the warrant of his word it is ceaved When the King drinketh to any of his servants and sends it by the hands of his servant the servant is not properly the giver and propiner but the deliverer of the gift and propine He granteth likewise that the Communicants may deliver the cuppe to other the minister still acting Christs person in his owne place pag. 61. 62. So may we say that Christ at the first supper or the minister representing Christs person is properly the giver of the bread because by his commandement or direction it is given When I brake the five loaves among five thousand that is brake and gave to the disciples to set before them to be further broken The disciples in setting the bread before five thousand Mark 6. 41. gave the bread to five thousand Matth. 14. 19. Christ gave the cup to his Apostles say the Evangelists because at his direction they reached one to another Swarez saith It is one thing to distribute as a dispenser or as of power another to touch carrie or applie this sacrament to the mouth of the receaver Aliud est dispensative seu ex potestate distribuere hoc sacramentum aliud verò illud tangore deferre aut ad os sumentis applicare Let them make of the word dispense what they will we say the Communicant may carrie the bread and apply it to the hand of another Communicant Againe if none but the minister might doe it because hee represents Christs person then might not the deacon in the ancient Church do it because he represented not Christs person yet his giving was called dispensing Vazquez confesseth That it is not forbidden by divine law that the sacrament be ministred or carried by a layman but by humane lawes Non quia jure divino vetitum sit hoc sacramentum per laicum ministrari aut deferri But humane lawes forbad laymen to touch it with their hands I would aske when the minister commeth from his owne place and goeth along to deliver the elements how doth he act the person of Christ the master of the feast There can be no other reason of this guise but to nourish a superstitious conceat that it is holier to receave out of the hâ—nd of the minister who perhaps is a Judas then out of the hand of a faithfull brother as if his hands profaned or polluted it Are not the peoples hands as holy as the ministers saith P. pag. 313. Nay superstition encreasing at last they might not take the sacrament in their owne hand to put it in their mouth but it behoved the priest to put it in their mouth Such superstitious conceats condemne Christ and his Apostles and the faithfull in their time who distributed to other and deprive us of the profitable uses of fraction or breaking of bread whereof we have
that chapter be brought in some instances of their wicked and impious deeds for he opposeth to that generall the judgements and ordinances of the Lord in generall on the other side And some instances we have already brought of facts in themselfes not abominal le Although rounding or cutting the haire was in it selfe indifferent yet God would not have it indifferent to his people but will have them to be altogether unlike to the aliens and uncircumcised specially in those rites wherein religion was shewed Lyra on Lev. 18. â— Intendit excludere e filiis Israelitum omnem Gentilem ritum He intended to exclude from the children of Israâ—l every rite of the Gentiles The Gentiles worshipped their Gods in and by images God would not be so worshipped but expresly forbad it in the second commandment And therefore saith Zanchius That the summe of the second precept is that we must not devise of our owne heads any thing in ceremonies or the worship of God nor borrow from the rites of idolatrous nations but to be content with these rites and ceremonies which God hath prescrived Tertullian saith That Christians might not wash their hands meaning for a ceremonie or lay aside their cloaks before prayer Sic enim adeunt ad idola nationes because the Gentiles go after that manner to their idols And such like that they might not sit upon beds after prayer meaning for a ceremonie Porâ—ò cum perinde faciunt nationâ—s adoratis sigillaribus suis residendo vel prepterea in nobis reprehendi meretur quod apud idola câ—â—e bretur because the Gentiles do sit after they hâ—ve â—dored their small imagâ—s it deserveth to be reproved in us which is obsâ—â—ved beside idoâ—s When he hath rebuked Christians for observing some of the Ethnicks dayes he cryeth out That the nations have a greater regard to their owne sect who will claime to no solemnitie of the Christians not the Lords day nor pentecost and if they know them they will not communicate with them in that observation timerent enim ne Christiani viderentur for they wouâ—d be asrayâ—d last they should seeme to be Christian. He standeth mâ—ch upon this that a Christian man ought not to goe wich a lawrell garlâ—nd upon his head because the Heathen used so to go August ne saith his mother Menica leâ—t bringing of wine and cakes to the church for that shee was warâ—ed it was a resemblance of the superstition of the Heathen Quòd superstitioni Gen ilium essent simillima In the second councell of Bracara it was decreed that Christians deck not their houses with laurell and greene boughes upon the first day of the moneth quia tota haec observatio paganismi est because all this custome is heathnish The ancients having the like reason carried themselfes after the same manner toward Jewes and Hereticks Thâ—y would not keepe Easter on that day that the Jewes did If they had carried themselfes so constantly both toward Jewes and Gentiles so much superstition had not entred into the Church as wee heare of this day Because the Manichees fasted on the Lords day they forbore fasting on that day saith Augustine The fourth councell of Tolledo decreed That once dipping in baptisme only be used not three nâ— videantur apud nos qui tertio mâ—rgunt haereticorum approbare assertionem dum sequuntur morem least these who dippe thrice seeme to approve the assertion of heretick while they follow their custome The first councell of Bracara forbad clergie men â—bstinence from eating of flesh to cut off all suspition of the Priscillâ—an heresie To come to our owne times Even Suarez the Jesuit saith The Church shunneth all fellowship or appearant conformitie with Iewes or other infidels in ceâ—emonies and observances as may be gathered out of Augustine epist. 119. and Epiphanius 3. booke against heresies about the end I said That conformity is to be avoided not only in things impious but even in things indifferent when they are abused to idolatrie or superstition except they have some necessarie uses howbeit their first use or institution hath beene lawfull Zanchius hath this ground writing upon the second precept Rivetus likewise writing upon the fourth precept of the dâ—â—logue It is a rule that things indifferent not being necessarie if they be polluted with idolatrie are to be abolished Adiaphora non necessaria horrenda idolomania polluta esse adolenda Nay the light of nature hath taught even a Pope to acknowledge this much howbeit it hath not beene put in practise as oft as occasion required Si non nulli ex praedecessoribus nostris fecerunt aliqua quae illo tempere potuerunt esse sine culpâ— postea vertâ—ntur in enrorem superstitiâ—nem sine tanditate aliqua magna cum authoritate destruantur saith Pope Stephen That is If some of our ancestours have done some things which in the meane time might be without blame and after are turned to eâ—rour or superstition let them be abolished without delay for thâ—y have a good warrant to wit the exemple of Ezâ—kias who brake the braâ—en serpent in pieces This is registred in Gratians detree And the glosse upon this place saith Successories debere mutare facta instituta 〈◊〉 â—essorum etiam bona si vid rint ea ess pern ciâ—sa exemplâ— Successours should change the deeds and ordinaries of the â—ancestours howbeit good if they see they become pernitious by ill exemple I added that clause unlesse they be of necessâ—rie use to answer to such as object the abuse of Gods creatures and things profitable for the use of man For the sunne moone starres and other creatures have been abused and adored but they are Gods creatures and of necessarie use Gold silver temples are profitable helps unto the necessities of mans life as Tertullian speaketh Certa subsidia necessiâ—atibus vite humanae procurâ—nt The gold brasse and iron of Jericho taken into the Lords treasurie were the civill goods of idolaters and had no state in their idolatrous worship as kneeling hath Wee should shun conformitie with Papists in special because the Pope their head is the great Antichrist and wee are more troubled with rites abused and polluted by him then by any other wee dwell neerer to papists then to any other idolaters and they dwell or converse amongst us For this câ—use perhaps saith Bâ—llarmine priests were not shaven in Hierome and Ambrose time for yet in their time the priests of Isis were shaven Is it not very frivolous which our Doctor answereth that by this reason wee should not pray kneeling nor rest upon the Lords day because the papists pray kneeling to Saints and rest on the Lords day seeing the one is allowed by God to himself and the other commanded Such-like the burning of incense howbeit abused to the worship of the brasen serpent our question is of humane inventions If ye would know
mysteria proponantur adorari Where by the way observe that when ye finde the word adore in the ancients it followeth not that ye must interpret iâ— kneeling For yee see they that stood are said to adore which is not to adore in strict and proper sense Whither kneeling at the receaving come in with that decree of Honorius or after which is more likely and that no other gesture was used at the one which was not used at the other I cannot determine Howsoever it entred under Antichrist raigning and is the receaved gesture of all such as are witâ—â—â— the bounds of his jurisdiction where he is Patâ—â—â—ch The Churches under the Patriarches of Constantinople or Antioch hath not receaved it as ye have heird If the priests and others of the elergic be directed to the Romane riâ—all to kneel in receaving the eucharist can wee thinke any of the people had liberty not to kneel Howbeit this idolatrous gesture prevailed under the raigne of Antichrist yet there wanted nor faithfull witnesses to stand out against it Of the Waldenâ—â—â— yee heard before Iohannes Slechta a Bohemian writing to Erasâ—â— in the veare 1519 telleth him that there was among them a sect of such as were called Pyghardi because their first ring-leader who came to these parts in the dayes of Zisca about four score and seventeene years before that came out of Picardie that they maintained these committed idolatrie who kneeled before the bread in the sacrament of the eucharist or bowed before it or adored it In sacramento eucharistie nihil esse divinitatis credunt sed solum panem 〈◊〉 consecratum signis quibusdam occultis mortem Christi 〈…〉 affirmantes propterea in idololaâ—riam cadere omnes quot quot coram illo genua flectunt incuâ—vant vel illud adorant All the Sacramentaries call it idolatrie to kneel before the eucharist saith Bellarmine And yet so impudent is our Doctour that he is not ashamed to affirme that never any divine ancient or moderne to this day except Arrians and Anabaptists hath doubted but Christ may and should be adored externally in the act of receaving Seeing therefore this gesture entred in under Antichrist and is maintained by him with fire and faggot ought we not to reject it and retaine the exemplarie sitting of Christ and his Apostles If at any time wee should not seeme to have communion with Antichrist we should most of all at this holy supper which setteth forth our communion with Christ and his Church But put the case this gesture in the act of receaving had beene devised by others then the great Antichrist or might have beene used without blame which is not possible yet seeing it was not commanded by Christ or his Apostles but is the invention of man hath beene so horribly abused and remâ—ineth still in the owne nature indifferent as they alledge and not necessarie by their owne confession it ought to be abandoned for the danger of many thousand weake souls which may bee brought on to bread worship Wee may scandalize sometimes even when the fact is neither evill in it selfe nor hath appearance of evil Etiamsi factum non fit se cundum se malum neque secundum se habeas speciâ—m mali tamen toterit esse aliquando scandalum infiâ—niorum quia secundâ—m illorum opinioneâ—â— habet speciem mals Domine â—s Bannes in 2. 2. 〈◊〉 43. in art â—â— We might 〈◊〉 a score here and proceed no further For what we have said is sufficient to restraine every man from kneeling To offend one of Christs little ones is a hainous sinne CHAP. V. Kneeling in the act of receaving the sacramentall elements of the supper is idolatrie WE prove it to be idolatrie first considering it as it is enjoyned by the act of that pretended assembly holden at Perth next as the action is considered simply in it selfe We are directed by the act of Perth to kneel in reverence of the sacrament which is idolatriâ— as L. confesseth if we do so But we are directed to kneel in due regard of so divine a mysterie to witâ— as is the sacrament or as is the receaving of the body and bloud of Christ to wit in the sacramentall manner Wee will examine the act by parts according to L. his analysis howbeit wee acknowledge him not for the authentike interpreter of it The first reason for kneeling in the narrative is set downe in these words Since wee are commanded by God himselfe that when wee come to worship him we fall downe and kneel before the Lord our maker Relative to this reason we have in the conclusion this inference Therefore in reverenâ—e of God the assembly thinketh good that the sacrament be celebrated to the people meekly and reverently â—â—â—â—ling upon their kneeâ— For the confirmation of this reason is alledged Psal. 35. vers 7. out of which verse the words are taken By this reason Christ and his Apostles and all that have communicated sitting or standing or passing since the dayes of Christ have sinned For if wee be commended by God to kneel wee sinne if we kneel not Next the word translated worship Psal. 95. 7. is taken not generally for any action or service divine or religious expressed by the word Culâ—us in Latine as it is taken here in the act for then wee should sinne if we kneel not when we bear the word read or preached but it is taken more strictly for a speciall kinde of worshipping of God to wit adoring God by the gesture of prostration And so wee shall bee commanded to prostrat our body with our hands and feet spread upon the ground and not to kneel only For the people of God under the law used foure kindes of gestures in signe of honour First a bending or bowing downe of the head or face only which was the least degree and is expressed by the word Cadad next a bending or bowing of the superiour â—uk of the bodie expressed by the word Carang the third kneeling expressed by the word Barach the fourth prostrating the bodie with hands and feet spread as I have said expressed by the word Histachaveh The last three are all mentioned in the verse alledged Thirdly we have not here a commandement from God but David his exhortation or invitation to the godly not to kneel or fall downe before the Lord when they come to worship him or as the word beareth to prostrate themselfes for that were as much as to desire them to fall downe and kneel when they come to fall downe and kneel but he exhorteth and inviteth them to come and prostrate themselfes bow and kneel before the Lord their maker in token of thanksgiving that is in the temples where the arke was and where the Lord was present in a wonderfull manner sitting betweene the cherubims It is grosse ignorance to inferre hereupon that wee should or are commanded to kneel at the receaving of the sacrament more then at the hearing
communion Your honourâ— arâ— not â—gnor an t how superstitâ—ously the people run to that action it Pasche even as if the time gave vertue to the sacrament and 〈◊〉 the rest of the wholâ— yeare they are carelesse and negligent as if it â—ppertained not to them but at that time onely And for this reason other times were appointed by that booke for that holy action In the generall assembly holden anno 1590. King James praised God that he was bâ—rne to be a king in the sincerest Church of the world sincerer then the Church of England for their â—ervice was an 〈◊〉 â—asse in English sincerer â—hen Geneva it selfe 〈◊〉 they observed Pasch and Yoo le and what wâ—rrant 〈…〉 for that In the assembly holden anno 15â—6 when the covenant wâ—s renewed superstâ—tâ—on and idolatrie breâ—â—ing forth in keeping of festivall dayes setting out of bâ—nefires and singing of carrols are reckoned among the corruptions which were to bee amended In the parliament holden anno 1592. wee have acts to this purpose The pulpits have founded from time to time against all show of observing these dayes But in the pretended and null-assembly holden at Perth anno 1618. it was concluded by a number not having power of voice or broken with threats or allurements that every minister shall make commemoration of the birth passion resurrection ascension of Christ and sending downe of the holy Ghost upon the dayes appointed for that use that they make choise of severall and pertinent texts of scriptures and fraime their doctrin and exhortations accordingly This their conclusion was â—â—tified by act of counsell and proclamation was 〈…〉 upon the 26. of October following commaâ—ding cessation from all kinde of labour or 〈…〉 these five dayes appointed to be dedicate 〈…〉 to the effect the subjects may the better at end the exercises which are to be keeped in the Churches at these times REASONS AGAINST THE FESTIVALL DAYES WE shall consider these dayes first as they are called holy next as they are called festivall Our first reason GOd only hath power to sanctifie a day and 〈◊〉 it holy that is to separate it from a common â—se â—o holy exercises Zanchius affirmeth that it is proper to God to choose any person or any thing to consecrate and sanctifie it to himselfe Willets that it belongeth only to the Creatour to sanctifie the creature Perkinse Kuchlinus and others say the like Master Cowper pretended bishop of Galloway confessed no King no church could make an holy day The like was acknowledged by Master Galloway in one of his Christmas sermons But so it is that God hath permitted six dayes to man for the worke of his calling and selected the seventh to himselfe to be spent in his service Seeing therefore God hath given libertie to man to worke six dayes and counteth them common and prophane no man ought to be compelled to keep them holy but when God himselfe maketh exception as hee did by the yoke of some anniversarie dayes under the law or calleth us to a present humiliation or thanksgiving The civill magistrat may command cessation from worke for a politick end as weapon-showing exercise of armes defence of a city or sort of the countrey but that is not to enjoyne a holy day nor yet a meere idle day but that oeconomicall and privat worke give place to publike and politick Paraeus in epist ad Romano cap. 14. dub 4. Tametsi rectè quidem sacra quotidiana concionum precum publicè instituuntur tamen omnes ad ea adstringere durum esset The Doctour saith some dayes were made holy not onely because they were dedicated to the worship of God but because a speciall worship was appointed by God and appropriated to them as the feast of the passeover or whiâ—sunday Other times were holy onely by reason of the use or divine worship performed on them and not for mysterie or solemne worship appropriated to them He saith our divines meane only that it is only proper to God to make dayes holy after the first manner but not after the second which is false as may appear by their description of sanctifying a day which is generally to set it apart to an holy use and not to a mysticall only Next by such an answer men make holy dayes like the Lords day His comparison with the temple of Jerusalem and the synagogues and Christian churches will not helpe him unlesse the synagogues and Christian churches answer in holinesse to the sabbath and the Lords day as hee saith the temple did to the anniversarie feasts which I trust hee will not maintaine And this same comprison of time and place shall cleare and confirme our argument For as no man can sanctifie a place or make it holy but God that is set it so apart from all worldly uses that it shall bee a prophaning of it to entertaine any worldly purpose or â—riste in it or carrie a vessell through it and to be bound to holy exercises in it otherwise it cannot bee said to be sanctified and set apart to God if it stand up like an idol so no man can sanctifie a day that is set it so apart to God that when it recurreth weekly monethly or yearly we must not use worldly but must use holy exercises But the first is true none but God can appoint such a place and under the new testament he hath appointed no such place Christian churches or houses are builded for the commoditie of Gods people to defend them from the injurie of the weather to serve them to sit in commodiously when they are conveened to serve God which use is civill and is common to houses builded for civill meetings The congregation may permit the use of their church to a civill meeting without prejudice to their owne libertie to meet when they have occasion Nexâ— the congregation is not bound to meet in that house but may forsake it and take them to another But if it were sanctified and set apart to God they should be bound to use it Our churches then are dedicate to the communalty of the faithfully wâ—thin such a precinct for the uses foresaid as a statehâ—â—â—e or judgement hall may bee dedicate to a citie but they are not sanctified and made holy to God Our prayers are not more holy or better heard in this or that temple then at home saith Whittaker in his answer to Durâ—us but that God is more moved when the faithfull meet together to pray Impertinently doth the Doctour alledge the houres appointed for preaching in the weeke or prayers morning and evening For these are not houres sanctified or consecrated to Gods service but the most convenient times men finde in their wisedome when most may resort to hearing of sermons and prayers which mâ—y and ought to be changed when occasions offer a more convenient time So time is designed occasionally not dedicat or sanctified Time is made to serve Gods people and not Gods people made to serve
divine positive that he must have one whole day of seven Fourthly Christ or the Apostles would not varie from this circle when they changed the seventh day from the last to the first day of the weeke but keeped themselves within that circle which they might and would have done if the fourth precept had beene given onely to the Jewes or the circuit had been ceremoniall and had relation onely to the Iewish sabbath And this is an argument by the way that this systeme of seven or circuit of the weeke was set from the beginning The reason of the institution of the Lords day saith Bellarmine was that it might succeed to the sabbath for divine law required that one day in the weeke should bee dedicated to divine worship Nam jus divinum requirebat ut unus dies hebdomadae dedicaretur cultui divino And seeing it was not convenient that the old sabbath should bee still observed it was changed into the Lords day For the perpetuity of one of seven the testimonies of many divines may bee alledged Chrysestome Jam hinc ab â—nitio doctrinam hanc nobis insinuat Deus erudiens in câ— culo hebdomadae diem unum integrum segregandum seponendum in spiritualem operaâ—ionem Theodoretus Septem d ebus circulum omnem dierum conclusit Beza in Apocal. 1. 10. Quartum praeceptum de septimo quoque die sanctificando quo ad cultum Deâ— aâ—â—â—net esse legâ—â— moralâ— immotae P. Martyr in his common places that it is stable and firme that one day in the weeke bee dedicated to God Zanchius upon the fourth precept that it is morall so farre as it commandeth us to consecrate one day of seven to Gods externall worship Junius saith it is natural that the seventh day bee consecrated to God Praelecti in Genes cap. 2. Suarez acknowledgeth that the dedication of the seventh day howbeit hee calleth it an ecclesiasticall precept cannot be changed by the ordinarie or ordinat as he calleth it power of the Church Because some ecclesiasticall precepts are so neare and like to divine institutions so conforme to the law of nature fenced with so many reasons of honestie and religion so ancient and strengthened by universall custome that simplie or by the ordinate power of the Church they cannot be abrogated Among which precepts he ranketh that of the dedication of the seventh day And therefore he inferreth that by the absolute power of the Church and the Popes it may be abrogated tamen practice moralitâ—â— dici posse aliquo modo immutabile licet ecclesiasticum sit that is it may be said in some sort to be morally and for practice unchangeable Which is as much as to say with little honestie or credit can it bee put in practice Such shifts are sophists driven unto when they would advance the authority of the Church too high as if the Church onely in imitation of God had dedicated one of seven and had not direction from God Alwayes yee see hee acknowledgeth that to observe holy one of the seven dayes is conforme to the law of nature This seventh day to wit the Lords day cannot â—e changed as the old seventh day which was the last of the weeke It is not onely unfit and unconvenient but it cannot bee changed Not because of the nature of the day for it differeth not in nature from another day more then the former sabbath If the former sabbath had beene holier in nature then other dayes it could not have beene changed But the reason of the immutabilitie of the Lords day is that it was set downe by divine authority and therefore cannot bee abrogated by humane authoritie of princes pastours or prelates Wee must not looke for Christ till his comming againe nor for any to arise hereafter equall in power and authority to the Apostles Next the consideration taken in making choise of this day cannot serye for another day Christ is not to suffer death and rise againe at any other time A weightier consideration to make a new change will never fall forth then the resurrection of Christ. And therefore nowbeit the Church had instituted it it cannot be changed At verò ecclesiasticum praeceptum â—ititur mysterio resurrectionis Chrâ—sti â—am faâ— lo quod ut sic immutabile est Nec enim potest Câ—ristus non resurrexisse nec potest non vivere glories postquam resurrexit saith Suarez Seeing Christs resurrection fell forth that day it can never be true that Christ rose not that day Therefore for the dedication of such day to wit the Lords day Suarez saith the reasons are perpetuall and unchangeable which have so fixed the determination that this precept of the Church cannot reasonably be abrogated and that the holy Ghost which governeth the Church will not suffer such a change to bee made against reason and the utilitie of the Church But if it bee of divine institution and not the Churches it cannot bee changed but by the like divine institution For what ever be the considerations in making choise of the day the determination or as they call it taxatio diei dependeth chiefly upon the will of the institutour Of the divine institution I have treated a little before I referre the Reader for more to Willets his Synopsis Perkins cases of conscience Fulke against the Rhemist Apoc. 1. 10. and other worthie Divines The places alledged Rom. 14. and Galat. 4. maketh not against all difference of dayes but the ceremoniall or dead judaicall The weaker Jewes Rom. 14. thought the holy dayes commanded by God in the old law were still holier then other dayes The Apostle willeth such to be borne with till they come to the fuller knowledge of their Christian libertie The Galathians had beene converted from paganisme had begun in the spirit but were now by the persuasion of the false apostles like to end in the flesh beginning to observe the dayes moneths and yeares which the Jewes observed of old Dayes that is their weekly sabbaths Moneths that is their new moones Yeares that is their yearly dayes or anniversarie feasts or tymes and yeares that is Statuta tempora annorum the appointed times of the yeares For by the same reason that moneths may be taken for new moones yeares may be taken for yearly dayes I see no likelihood that they observed the seventh or fifty yeare This exposition agreeth with the division of the Iewish solemnities whereof I made mention before The observation of such dayes is taxed here as were in some respect of the quality of the new moones and yearly feasts Now these were the sabbaths This ceremoniall difference was abrogated but the morall use of a set holy day was not taken away For 〈◊〉 the same time the Lords day was observed and by the Galathians in particular as yee may see 1 Corin. 16. 1. where the Apostle maketh mention of the Churches of Galatia Now to set a day is not a shadowing ceremonie more
then to designe a place for the congregation to meet in but a matter belonging to order But there was more required to this day For it was not instituted only for order and policie that the people might know what dayes to conveene to publike exercises howbeit it was one respect Times may bee appointed for preaching and prayer on the weeke dayes by any particular Church But there is more required here a day to be obseved holy by the universall Church not only for publike worship but also for privat not onely for externall but also for internall which could not be done but by divine authoritie which is supreme and onely able to binde the conscience to internall as well as externall to privat as well as to publick worship as I have said before The last point which I am to touch is concerning the strictnesse of the observation Whither we be bound to as strict observation of the Lords day as the Jewes were of their sabbath The superstitious observation of the Iewes wee are not bound unto For they observed that day more precisely then God required They found fault with Christ healing of the sicke man upon the sabbath and the sicke mans carrying home of his bed They have had and have many foolish observations as not to pull to an herb on the sabbath nor to eat an aple which they pluck upon that day nor claw with their nailes in publike nor catch a flea unlesse it bite Let us then see what God hath forbidden them They were bidden â—ake that which they had to bake upon the sixt day and seeth that they had to seeth Exod. 16. 23. and forbidden to kindle a fire upon the seventh day But that which was baken and seethed upon the sixt day a part of it was not reserved to the seventh day but that which remained over unbaken and unsodden The text importeth no further for if it had beene baken or sodden they would perhaps have attributed the not putrifying upon the seventh day to the baking or seething It was food that might bee eaten without baking like comfites or fruit It seemeth then this injunction was given onely during the time the manna rained If this direction had beene to bee observed afterward they might not have eaten any thing which was baken two dayes before Is it likely that Christ and others bidden to the Pharisees house upon the sabbath-day had no meat dressed for them by baking of seething The kindling of fire was forbidden not simply but for baking or seething the manna as some thinke and therefore endured onely so long as the manna lasted howbeit the most superstitious sort of the Jewes in later times observed it It is noted of the Essens a strict sect of the Jewes as singular in them that they kindled no fire upon the sabbath-day They were commanded Exod. 16. 29. to abide every man in his place and not to goe out of their tents at lest out of the campe This was but temporarie Afterward they might take journey upon the sabbath to the Prophets or synagogues 2 King 4. 23. Levit 23. 3. Yea if they were not to journey for that the Scribes prescrived to them 2000 cubits that is a mile or thereabouts out of a towne or citie which was called the sabbath-dayes-journey But afterward they became more superstitious not taking up the Lords intent in that place of Exodus as the Jew that would not be drawne out of the jackes wherein he had fallen upon the sabbath-day So howbeit the Iewes should be superstitious now in not kindling fire that is no warrant that the direction was not â—â—â—oratie Some thinke this prohibition served onely during the workmanship of the tabernacle But let it bee granted that both the one direction and the other were to endure during the policie of the Iewes I denie that they were forbidden by vertue of the fourth precept of the decalogue They would and might have kindled fire notwithstanding of the fourth precept Their rest upon the sabbath was ceremoniall and figurative And because ceremoniall and figurative therefore saith Bellarmine and Dow after him with others it behoved to be more strict exact and rigid For the more exact the figure is the better it representeth and signifieth So granting that dressing and preparing of meat by fire were not a temporarie precept during the manna yet it depended upon the ceremoniall rest and typicall state of Gods people under the law They abstained from the buriall of the dead upon the sabbath-day 2 Maccab. 12. 39. because if any touched the dead or entred into the house where the dead lay or touched a grave was uncleane seven dayes Numb 19. 14. 16. and consequently they might not enter into the tabernacle Here a duty forbidden for legall uncleannesse which bindeth not us The prophanation of the sabbath was a capitall crime Exod. 31. 14. but this law bindeth not us The workes depending upon the ceremoniall rest or any particular ceremonie bindeth not us but only the workes inhibited in the fourth precept wherein the ceremoniall and iudicall precepts are not included but onely annexed to them as peculiar unto that people which was under the tutorie and paedagogie of the law Aquinas saith that the ceremoniall and judiciall precepts are not contained in the decalogue Ad secundum dicendum quod judicialia praecepta sunt determinationes moralium praeceptorum prout ordinantur ad proximum sicut ceremonialia sunt quaedam determinationes praceptorum moralium prout ordinatur ad Deum unde neutra praecepta continentur in daecalogo If then these workes were not forbidden by vertue of the fourth precept we are not bound to for beare them If our observation of the Lords day praefigure that blessed and glorious life which we expect as some doe hold then our rest should be also as exact and rigid because figurative Dominicus dies qui Christi resurrectione sâ—â—xatâ—â—e â— â—e ernam requiem spiritus corporis praefigurat saith Augustine But wee will not build strictnesse of rest upon such a weake ground It may bee fill drawne to resemble heavenly and spirituall things but that is not any end of the institution It is not â—â—puâ—destinatuâ— instituted for any shadow or signification though â—t may befitly applied unto such an use saith Willet Our rest upon the Christian sabbath is only subservient to the sanctifying of the day The strictnesse required of old by the vertue of the fourth precept is required of us As Whit maketh sunday an holy day only by the ordinance of the Church pag. 109. 150. so the particular forme and circumstances of resting are prescribed unto us saith hee by the Church pag. 135. meaning the Church governours the prelates So doth Bellarmine allow such workes as shall be permitted by the prelats or have beene used by long custome Tertiopera concessa à pralatis Quartò opera quae ex consuetudine sunt licita Our holy fathers the prelats paternes
that purpose which is called the feast of the resurrection Sâ—â—rez having reckoned the many prerogatives of the Lords day as that Christ rose that day the holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles c. hee willeth us to observe that howbeit all these prerogatives might have beene considered in the determination of the day yet the day of it selfe and directly was not instituted for the peculiar commemoration of these â—â—rkes of God but to worship God for himselfe and his owne exellencie Nihilominus per se ac directè non referri vel istitui hunc diem ad peculiaerem commemorationem illorum operum Dei sed ad Deumipsum propter se colendum propter suam excellentiam majestatem It wee had no dayes but festivall for some particular benefits we should have no day for the worship of God in generall The Lords day therefore may justly bee called the schoole-day of Christians as Petrus Ramus calleth it Thirdly as the sabbath of old was distinguished from the yearly feast which were called good that is merrie dayes so is the Lords day from the yearly feasts invented afterwards by men Vpon the anniversarie feasts called good dayes they might not fast as yee have heard before Mirth and mourning could not stand together But upon the sabbath they might lawfully fast Ne quando sanctificaâ—it De is diem septimum quia in illo requievit ab omnibus operibus suis aliquid de jejunio vel prandio expressit nec cum postea populo Hebraâ— de ipsius dici observatione mandavit aliquid de alimentis sumendis vel non sumendis locutus saith Augustâ—ne that is God enjoyned nothing concerning fasting or eating either the first time that he sanctified the seventh day or afterward when he gave the manna The Lords day succeeding in the roome of the old sabbath as it standeth in the decalogue is of the same qualitie Wee may lawfully fast upon the Lords day which were absurd to d ee upon our anniversarie feast dayes It is true that in the ancient Church it was thought a hainous thing to fast upon the Lords day So did they also forbid to pray kneeling that day to signifie their joy for Christs resurrection This use of signification or testification was the fountaine of much superstition and brought in a heap of ceremonies some of which the Papists themselves were â—shamed of long since The same ceremonie of not kneeling in time of prayer upon the Lords day is worne out of use nigh 500 yeares since saiâ—h Bellarmine If the reason of the institution had beene solide it should become us no lesse then them to pray standing upon the Lords day But the ground was naught The like may bee said of not fasting upon the Lords day Some reason they had indeed not to fast upon this day when the Manichees and Priscillianists fasted for the Manichees fasted ordinarily upon the Lords day lest they should seeme to rejoyce for the resurrection of Christ which they beâ—eeved not The Priscillianists fasted likewise ordinarily upon the Lords day and the nativitie day But when there are no knowne Manichees nor Priscillianists there is not the like reason for not fasting But the extremities should be avoided To thinke it unlawfull to fast that day or unlawfull to dine and breake our fast are both without warrant and superstitious But to fast upon occasion or in time of any imminent judgement is lawfull When Paul continued preaching upon the sabbath till midnight at Troas before the tasted any thing or the rest were refreshed with meat this conceat of not fasting upon the Lords day had not entred in the Church Was Paul a Manichaean saith Hierome because hee and those who were with him fasted on the Lords day His words are extant in Gratians decree Atqui utinam omni tempore jejunare possimus quod in Actibus Apostolorum diebus Pentecostes die dominico Apostolum Paictum cum eo credentes fecisse legimus Non tamen Manicheae haereseos accusandit sunt If any had resolved to fast seven dayes or moe he might have fasted upon the Lords day included as ye may see in Balsamo and Zonaras upon the constitutions falsly called apostolicall and Augustine epist. 86. ad Casulanum Whitaker defending the occasionall fasâ—s of our Church telleth Duraeus that the respects the ancients had concerne not us Etsi illîs temporibus die dominica jejunare nefas fuit propter haerelices Judaeos qui Christi resurrectionem impugnabant jam dudum tamen illa offensio nullum in ecclesia locum habet ut planè nugatorum sit quod tu de nostris in Anglia Scotia◠〈◊〉 calumniaris quasi eò spectent ut his cuniculis resurâ—â—ctiâ—â—â— fidem evertamus In a pronounciall synod holden at Dort anno 1574 it was ordained that there bee three sermons on the Lords day when a fast is to be keeped on â— It is to observe a day to say the morne is the Loâ—ds day therefore it is unlawfull to fast saith Chamter Alstedius Jejunandum etiam die dominica si necessitas flagitet What need I multiply testimonies that is sufficient which Augustine saith What dayes wee ought to fast and what not I finde it not defined by any precept given by our Lord or any of the Apostles Quibus diebus non oporteat jejunare quibus oporteat praecepto Domini vel Apostolorum non havenio definitum epist. 86. But if the Lords day were a festivall day it should follow that we should not not fast on it at all Now we proceed in our reasons against festivall dayes THE II. REASON NOne appointed holy festivities under the laws when the times were more ceremonious but God himselfe The dayes of Purim were called simply the dayes of Purim not the holy dayes of Purim They were not called Chaggimâ— No peculiar sacrifice was appointed nor any holy convocation of the people enjoyned The ordinance required but feasting and joy and sending of portions to other The rest mentioned Esther 9. was onely from their enemies So much worke as might stand with a feasting day was not forbidden Suppose they had rested altogether from worke that would only prove an idle day but not an holy day Our Doctour therefore hath no warrant to say that they were made holy dayes by Mordecay Afterward it 〈◊〉 true whâ—n the Jews become more superstitious they read the book of Estheâ— after the reading whereof they spâ—nt the rest of the day in revelling and riotousnesse Next these dayes were instituted by Mordecai and therefore were called Mordecai's dayes 2 Maccahab last chap. vers 37. Sixtus Senensis saith he is thought to be the penman of the booke of Esther he was one of the 120. of which the great synagogue consisted of which number were Zacharie Daniel Ezra and Malachie Whitaker thinketh Mordecai did this God inspiring him or perhaps by the advice or warrant of some Prophet and doubteth not
one of the precisest reformers upon Mathew 2. hath these words as I finde him cited by Amesius in his fresh suit pag. 360. I would to God that evâ—ry holy day whatsoever beside the Lords day were abolished That zeal which brought them first in was without all warrant or example of the Scripture and onely followed naturall reason to drive out the holy dayes of the pagans as it were to drive out one nail with another Those holy dayes have beene defiled with so grosse superstitions that I marvell if there be any Christian who doth not shake at their very names Seeing then festivall dayes have no warrant we ought not to hear the sermons delivered on these dayes of purpose for the day for that is the chiefe element of a festivall day to use a peculiar kinde of service proper to it And without divine service it were but an idle day not a holy day The word of God is good of it selfe but may bee abused to charming and to foster superstition whereof we should keepe our selves free that wee be not guiltie of the prophanation of the name of God Our preachers went to rebuke the people when they conâ—eened more frequently to the Church npon any festivall day falling upon an ordinarie day of teaching howbeit neither time nor text was changed But how farre have both preachers and professours degenered without appearance of amendment At the beginning of the late novations they were skar but now many have digested that scruple OF CONFIRMATION OUr act it is true alledgeth that the Papists have made of the triall of young children their education and how they are catechised a sacrament of confirmation as if no such thing were aimed at but the said triall yet in respect that by that act the pretended bishop shall cause them to bee presented before him that hee may blesse them with prayer for the increase of their knowledge and continuance of his heavenly grace with every one of them and wee know that they dare and will take upon them the rest of the rites used in the English Church laying of hands c. we reason as before against confirmation as it is used in the English Church Yet two things I perceave in the act as it standeth The one is that the bishop is not â—ound to try by himselfe every one that is to be presented before him but only to try whither the minister hath beene remisse in catechising and yet he must upon the report of others blesse them with prayer for the increase of knowledge and continuance of grace Next that he must blesse who hath not a calling to blesse that hee must blesse as if hee were the pastour of all the souls within the diocie old and young which charge that null and pretended assembly could not give him seeing it hath beene acknowledged before in free assemblies to have no warrant in the word of God and hath beene suppressed by our Church as a damnable office Therefore his blessing is but a prophanation with his fingers But what language is this to say that the bishop shall blesse them with prayer for to blesse is one thing and to pray another For prayer seeketh of God good things for us but to blesse is in Gods name to assure us that the blessing of God is upon us and shall accompanie us But let us come to their paterne That which now the Papists make the sacrament of confirmation was of old a part of the solemnitie of baptisme After the person was baptized they laid on hands that is prayed for increase and continuance of grace to the baptized as we doe now but without laying on of hands because it was a rite indifferent without any use but to designe the person for whom the prayer was made and afterward abused to make up another sacrament Afterward entred a superstitious device to strike Chrisme that is oile of olives tempered with balme in manner of a crosse upon the forehead of the baptized This anointing in the forme of a crosse was called signation or consignation because of the signe of the crosse made upon the forehead This unction or consignation and imposition of hands became in the mindes of superstitious men so necessarie that without them they thought they had not gotten their perfite christendome that the signe of the oily crosse perfited baptisme and conferred the spirit of God upon the baptized Tâ—â—s consignation and imposition of hands at the closure of baptisme was called confirmation like as the giving of the cup to the communicants after they have receaved the bread was called also confirmâ—tion as Cassander hath observed but the 〈◊〉 controued onely with the first The bâ—shops arrogated to themselves the unction or consignation and imposition of hands to advance their estate They doe that part which consummateth baptisme which maketh a fall and peâ—fite Christian. But when it was found that the bishop could not bee present at every baptisme the priest was permitted after baptisme to anoint the baptized in the top of the head with holy Chrisme but he must not crosse the forehead That must bee reserved to the bishops leasure Then they were presented to the bishop to be confirmed and get their perfite Christendome by ritâ—s which were appendicles and câ—remonie of baptâ—sme before Thâ— English at their rude reformation reserved imposition of hands to the bishop and gave their priest power to make the signe of the crosse upon the forehead of the baptized but without chrisme Howbeit there bee no greater antiquitie for the crossing without it then with it they call notwithstanding the bishops imposition of hands onely confirmation and not their priests crossing of the forehead And yet when the priest crosseth he saith Wee receave this childe into the congregation of Christs flock in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confesse the faith of Christ crucified and manfully to fight under his banner against sinne the world and the devill and to continue Christs faithfull souldier unto his lifes end Which words agree according to their doctrine better with confirmation For doe they not say that in baptisme infants 〈◊〉 admitted to live in Gods family but in conf 〈◊〉 they are rabled to fight in the armie of God That in baptisme they beleeve the remission of sinne unto justification in confirmation they are emboldened to make open professon of this beleefe unto salvation And this is just the doctrine of the Papists So they have parted the rits of confirmation or els they must acknowledge that they have two-confirmations which is as absurd But let us come to the last and that which they call confirmation or laying on of hands It is true in their articles set forth anno 1562. they deny confirmation to be a sacrament and acknowledge that it flowed from a naughtie imitation of the Apostles But Doctour Rainolds in the conference holden at Hampton court alledged that that article was contradicted by
or have warrant to baptise but pastours or ministers It is necessitas medii then that driveth them to such courses The English service book permitteth in privat baptisme to omit the doctrine concerning the institution and use of baptisme and also to spare the Lords prayer if the time will not suffer That booke supposeth likewise that some things essentiall to this sacrament may bee omitted in the privat ministration through feare or haste in such extremitie Is this reuerent using of the holy things of God or is it sure worke that forceth them to flie to a conditionall baptisme The case of baptisme and circumcision is not alike for the Lord appointed a precise time for circumcision to wit the eight day which in no casâ— they might prevent suppose the infant should die in the meane time It might have beene delayed if there were some urgent occasion to hinder as in the wildernesse for many yeares because they behoved to be in readinesse to remove according to the moving of the cloudy rollar But Moses had no urgent occasion therefore the Lord chastised him and Sephora circumcised the childe Moses being sicke Her example was not imitated by the Jewes themselves after and the Church of God was yet in families When synagogues were erected and places for the publike service of God circumcision was ministred onely in publike as some thinke and so it is an this day in the synagogues where a synagogue is to bee had Others hold that the Lord committed not the act or office of circumcision to the priests or Levits but that the infants were circumcised at home the family and nighbours being conveened because present remedy was to be provided for curing of the wound Barraillus the Jesuit saith that circumcision required not either a peculiar place or a peculiar minister Suarez saith that at this day he that is called the circumciseth circumciseth indifferently in the house or the synagogue But it is not so in baptisme as it cannot be ministred but by a lawfull minister so likewise only in the publicke assembly The make of circumcision was permanent and by it the circumcised might bee easily discerned whither they were counterfite professours or not But it is not so in baptisme The paschall lambe was eaten only in families and small societies conveened in some chamber on parlour and might not be eaten in publick assemblies But who dare affirme that the Lords supper howbeit it be the sacrament answerable to it must be celebrated after the same manner Different is the case betweene the sacraments of the old law which belonged to one nation and the sacraments under the Gospel belonging to the whole Christian world The Lords supper is the sacred banket of the whole Church assembled together saith Bullinger in his Decades and therefore saith he the Apostle requireth the Corinthianâ— to assemble together to partake of this supper 1 Corin. 1â— 32. It is a finew of publicke assemblies a hadge of our profession a band of love and representation of 〈◊〉 communion and fellowship which is and ought to bee among the members of the congregation It is not a part or two or three but the whole body of the congregation which is compared to one bread when the Apostle saith We that are manie are one bread and one body for we are partakers afore bread Corin. 10. 17. Because it is not possible to us to celebrat a sacramentall union with the whole Church militant the Lord hath appointed us to keepe a sacramentall communion with some particular congregation or visible Church The Doctour borroweth an absurd answer from Bellarmine and the Rhemists that were have sacramentall communion with the whole militant Church howbeit it be not so visible as with any one particular Church and his reason is because wee are partakers of the same sacrament I reply with Master 〈◊〉 answer to the Rhemists Although all the faithfull even those that never receaved the sacrament by faith communicate with Christs body yet doe they alone communicate sacramentally which have their communion sealed by the outward action of eating of one sacramentall bread And that the Apostle meaneth of these that in one congregation or Church eat together and not of the communion of us with those that receave the sacrament in another Church it is evident for that he placeth the seal of this communion in eating all of one bread and of one table Whereas they that communicate in another congregation communicate not of one table or bread with them that are so removed no more then they that celebrated the passeover in divers houses were partakers of one lambe or kid It is the same sacrament in spece or kinde but not in number Wee communicate in one fruit or effect because we all receave the same Christ but that is a spirituall not a sacramentall communion saith Chamier For it was never heard saith he that these in Jerusalem communicate sacramentally with those in Alexandria Otherwise what needed the bishop of Rome to send the eucharist to other bishops when they come to Rome The Lords supper then should not be celebrated but in the assembly of the faith for united together in one bodie of a Church A companie conveened apart from the rest to communicate with the sicke person is not unied by themselves into the body of a Church farre lesse three of foure asttake the English service booke meaneth to be a number sufficient seeing they allow the communion to bee ministred to three or foure in the Church and in the time of plague sweat or such other like contagious sicknesses the minister may communicate with the person diseased alone Ergo coena Domini non est privata sed publica nulli privatim danda Et quoniam non est publicus vel generallis catus quandò quatuor aut quinque cum agro communicant nihil dicunt quia not apud agros coenam instrui pâ—sse si alis quoque simul coenent saith Bullinger That is Seeing it is not a publicke or generall meeting when three or foure communicate with the sicke they say nothing to purpose who say that the supper may bee celebrated beside the sicke if others also communicate Suppose a companie of the faithfull in a family be called a Church Rom. 16. 7. because the whole family consisting of Christians and frequently exercised in religious exercises resembleth in some sort a Church and may be called ecelesiola as it were a little Church Yet it is not that Church which hath the power and right to use the sacraments and censures for then every family in a Christian commonwealth might celebrate the sacraments at home So howbeit the name be communicated for the greater commendation of such a family yet the definition doth not agree And yet that place may be applied to the Church which used to conveene in Aquila and Priscilla's house In that same chapter Gaius is called the host of the whole Church See
24. 30. Mat. 14. 13. Mark 6. 〈◊〉 7. Luk. 9. Ioh. 1. 27. Pag. 39. De eucharist lib. 4. caâ— â—5 That Christ and his disciples sat Iohn 14. 31 On the Lords supper 1 part pag. 136. That their gesture was a kinde of sitting gesture Exercit. pag. 490. P. acknowledgeth sitting lawfull Christs example our direction pag. 47. Iudeorum praecept Cassaâ—dri opera pag. 737 Answere to the Rhemists Matth. 20. 20. On. 1. Cor. 11. 23 Standing at the passeover changed Tom. 4. l. 1. c. 17. Iunius Tremel in Mat. 26. 20. in Exod. 12. 11. Scaliger Sitting suteable with the supper Piscator in Matth. 26. 26. In Matth. 26 Aquin. par quest 60. 〈◊〉 forme maniere du ministre ecclsiastique fol. 84. Christs precept Do this De sacrameÌ„t fol. 95. The Apostles continued sitting Amesius in Bellarm. enervato tom 3. p. 177. pag. 86. The Corinthians saâ— 1 Cor. 11. 19. In illud oportct haereses esse Page 654. edit in 40. Ibid. Decretal l. 3. â—t 41. cap. 6. Exercit. 16. pag. 511. Estius in 1. Cor. 11. 20. â—or 11. Obek pag. 653. Pag M. P. pag. 86. and 94. Second serm pag. 61. Other circumstances not continued Paraeus de symbolis ritib. euchar pag. 152. Exercit. pag. 511. Sitting continued in ages following Calvin instit l. 4. c. 17. s. 13. Mornaeus de missa lib. 1. c. 1. 5. De origine error pag 46 Decreti part 3. de consecrat distat â— cap. 17. Euagrius l. 6. cap. 13. L. his defence pag. 53. 54. Hist. l. 5. c. 23 Nicephor l. 12. c. 34. First volum pag. 209. edit 1610. Zwingl expositio fidei Christianae edita Buâ—ling anno 1536. Standing not so convenient as sitting Kneeling not warranted by the example of Christ. Instit. lib. 4. c. 37. sect 33. Beza centra Harch vol. 3. pag. 182. Hist. sacrament lib. 4. pag. 182. Kneeling not sutable to the Suppertable L. pag. 51. L. pag. 43. 44. Tilen synt de sacrif missae sect 32. Willeâ—s synops pag. 478 edit 1614. pag. 681. Ovid. Fast. 5 The Communion celebrate in form of a feast Piscator in Matth. 26. in observationiâ—bus in versu 26. seqq Mornaeus de eucharist lib. 4. cap. 7. Forma minâ—â—ster ecclesiaâ—ster Observation upoÌ„ the form of speach On the Lords supper part 1. pag. 8. The distribution by the Communicants excludeth kneeling Christ commanded them to devide the cup. Hierom. epist. ad Hedibiam Clemens Alexan. in pâ—edagog â— c. 2. Muscul. de coena DomituÌ„ Annot. in Marc. 14. 25. Meuschii defens harm generalis cap. 4. In 3. part tom 3. quast 78. num 41. Swarez in 3. part tom 3. p. 909. L. 62. Hospin hist. sacra l. 1. c. 1. lib. 2. c. 1. p. 31. Swarez in 3. part Thomae tom 3. p. 861. Bellarm. de euchar l. 4. cap. 25. Piscator in Matth. 26. v. 26. in schoilis Antiquitaâ—um convivialium lib. 3. cap. 10. They distributed not only the cup but the bread Piscat in Matth. 26. Hosp. hist. facrâ—m lib. 2. p. 31. Estius in 1 Cor. 10. 16 Beza epist. 2. On the Lords supper 2. part pag. 97. Bellarm. de euchar lib. 4. cap. 25. The Apostles continued this distribution Raynerius in summa Bulling decâ—d 6. serm 9. fol. 364. fol. 364. fol. 360. Hom. 118. Bellar. de eu charist lib. 4. cap. 24. Estius in 1 Cor. 10. 16. R. Stephan glossa in Mat. 26. Estius in 1 Cor. 10. 16. Durand Rationaâ—â—â— c. 1. Casaub. oxercit pag. 537. Breaking of bread for representation Against the Rhenâ—ists or Mat. 26. 28. Lanfranc de euchar Alger de sacrament lib. 2. cap. 8. Chamierde cucharl 7. c. 13. num 14. Bullinger Decad. 5. serm 7. Gualt Homil 295. in Matth. Breaking of bread for distribution Seâ—rariuâ— in Iosuam 6. 9. quest 6. Bulling 〈◊〉 decad 5. serm 7. Hom. 118. in Marc. Expos. fidei Christian. ad Reg. Christian in 80. fol. 40. De riâ—ibus ecclesiae Tigurinae c. 13. Not necessary that the minister dispense the elements Proceedings at Perth asscmbly pag. 60. 61. Swarez in â— part tom 3. p. 861. Vazquez in part 3. tom 3. disp 219. num 12. 13. The inconveniences following upon the ministers dispensing L. pag. 56. Christ spake in the plurall number at the deliverie Suarez in â— part tom 3. pag. 702. Paraeus de symbolis pag. 166 Distribution continued in ages following Calvin institint l. 4. c. 13. c. s. 11. See Salmeâ—on in Morâ—on of the inâ—tution â—31 Strâ—â—at l. 1. De corona militis c. 3. Homil. 118. in Marcum Christs forme the most perfite Bulling Decad. 5. serm 9. Hospin histor sacrament lib. 1. cap. â— c. 5. Grat. de coâ—secrat dist 2. cap. 3. pag. 49. Conformitie with idolaters forbidden Becan analogia vet novi testamenti Aquiâ— 1. 2. quaest 10â— â—â—rt 6. ad 6. Bellarm. de monach cap. 40. Calvin on 〈…〉 Zanch. de redempt lâ— r. c. 14. circa initium Tertul. de oratio c. 12. De idol cap. 14. De corona militis August confess l. 6. c. 2. Brac. 2. can 73. August epist. 86. Tolled 4. can 5. Brac. 1. can 32. Sâ—areâ— in 3. part tom 3. disâ— sect 2. Last edâ—t pag. 40â— Riveâ—tus pag. 205. Distinct. 63. cap. Quia sancta Bellarm. dâ— Monach. cap. 40. pag. 116. Cap. de tradition Censura c. 4. Censura c. 9. The equitie of none conformity with idolaters Kneeling a monument of idolatrie pag. 370. pag. 118. Kneeling scandalous to papists Scandalous to the godly In 2. praecept pag. 387. Last edit de redempt pag. 541. Col. 160. Reply 2 part pag. 164. Homij specimen controy Belg. in fine pag. 123. pag. 70. Cyprian lib. 1 epist. 11. The Polonian synods mistaking pag. 200. The pretended remedie of preaching naught Epist. 121. Commandement of the magistrate no just eâ—cuse In 3 praecept col 634. 1 King 20 39. Kneeling established by the Antichrist and not by the ancient Church See Riveti specimen critici sacri lib. 2. cap. 13. Bellarm. de script pag. 84. part 2. pag. 65. Spalat de rep eccles l. 5. c. 6. num 69. Ad Eâ—roicensem epist. pag. 241. De consecratio dist 3. cap. venera â—ilis De consecratio dist 1. cap. Apostolica Tertull. advers Hermoginem D. B. of kneeling pag. 85. Fulk in 1 Cor. 11. sect 18. Tertullians testimonie vindicated Lib. de oratione c. 14. pag. 54. pag. 225. Sitting or standing practised in the ancient Church See Euseb. histor lib. 7. cap. 9. Homil. in oncoeniis Bellarminus de cultu sanctor cap. 11. Tertull. de Corona militis Decretal l. 3. tit de celebrat Missa cap. sarct Quaest. 1â—5 Synops. cuest 8. of the masse pag. 691. Bochel decret lib. 3. c. 140. Opposite to kneeling Erasm. epist. lib. 14. 〈…〉 Kneeling to be rejected because abused The act of Perth intendeth idolatry pag. 70. The first reason of the act examined The second reason of the act examined L. p. 72 73. Casaub. exercit pag. 550. Ambrose in 1