who perish with ours fas est ab Hoste doceri Let us be awakened by the industry of those that have taken so much pains to seduce to error and let not any do more against God than we shall be ready to do for him Shall any false light those ignes fatui outshine the fixed stars whom God holds in his right hand our peoples necessities are great that we should ply them with Cordials after such plentifull vials of poyson exhausted and so long floting in their veins their expectations are great from us that at such a general Resurrection from the dead as this is they should hear the Angels every where sounding their Trumpets That our sound should go forth into all lands and our lines even unto the utmost parts of the earth Prudence and justice to our selves calls for something more than ordinary sedulity that may undo the hard fate of 20. years prejudice that has seized upon us and by undeniable testimonies be able to confront their false prescriptions the securest men among us and that are resolved to sleep love to hear that their dogs are abroad and barking 4. Let us be meek and peaceable not litigious brawlers or going to the extremities of the lines of strict justice let us not vex the people lest for gaining our fleece we lose our Lambs Let this high Charity extend it self even to the gainsayer 2 Tim. 2.25 As a fierce Mister oft drives that out of a Boyes head by fear which he would drive in by anger so may our case be Ministers must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ketftv riged in judgment either as to Spirituals or Temporals sayes Policarpus though many love to fish in troubled waters yet few do to drink them Let us therefore who are of the Ministry labour to dispence this water of life as cleer and limpid as we can free from the dregs of our own passions and perturbations T was observed that some of the Fathers were so fierce against sceming Hereticks that before they had done they left them real ones But meek St. Austin was of another spirit more sweet and domitable when writing against his most surious Antagonists the Manichees yet sayes Let those rail against you who know not the hardness to find out truth and the easiness to fall into errour Not but that the obstinate and leaders of those may and are to be rebuk't with all authority and shiarpness but it may be sharp and meek nay t is then sharpest for it cuts deepest when urg'd meekly it makes the Iron in a good sence enter even into their soul As the blunt knife may grate and bruis e so may the blunt man but it is the fine edg which is sharp and whilest for its fineness it is least seen for its acuteness it is most felt Thus our children which have been long striving with us will willingly throw us the stick when they see we yield it to them our reputation estates love will be regained by the same means by which they were first gained Namely by Humility Piety Charity and Industry God will bless us for doing our duties and we shall bless God for restoring us to our Liberties and his sacred Majesty for setling and defending us in them and our most Reverend Father the Lord Primate his grace for his effectual contributions toward them who like another Zerubbabel or Prince of our Captivity made it his care in England to feek out all this poor Churches exiles and has led them with him into the land of their Nativity or Possessions Thus the Land and Church may have outward Peace our Minds and Consciences inward peace and our Souls and Consciences everlasting peace which blessing that we now so much know to value by the want may he help us to improve to his glory when we possess it The God of Peace for the sake of his Son who is the Prince of Peace to whom be Praise and Dominion both now and for ever and to move in a circle ending as we begin Whilest we thus bless with the Spirit let the people who occupy the Room of the Unlearned say Amen At this our giving of thanks Amen Amen FINIS Introduct Vilc Drus 14. obs l 4 c 6. Full. Misc l. 3. c. 7. Lemper Not ad Bert. Rep. Heby Chrysost in 1 Cor. 12. Division Else S Chrysos t in 1 Cor 12. Theodor. Aguilor Opl. Lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num 586. Observ 2 Chrisost 1 Cor. 12. Euset Eccles Hist â—co Epist 4. Policarp Epad Philippe Soc. Hist Eccles 7.32 Ambrose in 1 Cor. 14. Drus Pral Tertullian de animâ Mr. Selden on Husih Scrarius in Josh Scal. Elench Tribaer Hormisd Pont. c. 1. de cler Alexand. ab Alex. Calvin in Is Maimonpraf in Misd Acts 6.13 Pirk Ave. 1. R. Elics in Avc 3. Concil Load c. 32 34. Salmas appâ—â— Constit Ap. 2.47 Bles Occumon Apol 2. ad Ant. Constit. Apost Tertul. de Oraâ—ion 6.14 Socrates Corcil Lat. Gregor Buxtorf of Cher. Causab exerc 9 tra Baron Julin firm Observ Basil R. Kimchi in 2 Kings 22. Chrys. Hom. 6. in March St Chrys in 1 Cor. 12. Concil Laod. 18. Conc. Milevi 〈…〉 Council Carthag 3. Give thanks Inat ad Magnes Just Mart. Apol. 2. Just Mart. Apol. 2. Damas 9â— Irencus 1.3.34 Epist. ad Smyp Cassander de Liturg. Gaegor Isidore The Unlearned Lucian Dial R. Lipp Numb 128. Hacks R Lipp Jalket in lib. reg Talm Mas The Room D Camius in Esay Igaet Teroul Apost can 6 Theophil St. Austin Philo. in vit Moyses Eusib Eccles Hist August contr Manich. Epist ad phil
is great need of searching after this that wandring brains may not homilize in their own sence for if the fountains be poysoned what will become of those that drink There is a spiritual circulation of blood as well as bodily what is in the head of the Minister will not be long absent from the heart of the people especially if it be bad for that like venome is easiest imbibed Therefore all the Jewish ProPhets first brought their speculations and nailed them on the gates of the Temple that they might be pryed into by every eye before they past Canonical But the Authentick Iustration was by the great court of 72. that had their rules prick'd down to examine by excellently described by Maimonides And they counted a false Prophet such a Wolf that they thought it pious to way lay him with any toils and traps and therefore that was not an envious insidiation which they laid for our Saviour in summoning false witness against him but a peculiar Stratagem they had for the discovery of any supposed by them grand Iinpostor to tell a lye as the law sayes to find out the truth Heretical Teachers they punished with excision nay their censures persecuted them even unto the confines of another life for thus bitterly they prognosticate their Doom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who explains the Law against its mind And reason although he have in always in his hand and perform many good works yet he has no share in the world to come Therefore the Pillars of the Gospel Church do so much labour to uphold the faith command to keep the form of found word and the first Church so meek and unpersecuting did not think her self too tetrical when she pronounced those sentences against pertinaciously heretical Doctors that their blessings might not be received by the people nor their tombs visited though they should die Martyrs for other Articles of Christianity c. Use 2. Yet another lesson may be attained by us before we part with this from the persons exercising this government as the last was from those over whom it was exercised The Apostle holds the reins in his own hand in this Chapter and ver 29. Let the Prophes judg and 32. They are subject to the Prophets Then sure the lay-mans claim to Church Government is usurpation and those Criticks delude us with a false scheme of the first times who in their Horoscopes say such was the figure and that the Lay-man was ascendent in the Nativity of the Church I demand did they rule the Apostles or not if they did not then they can have no Scripture for ruling now since all Scripture was written during the Regimen of the Apostles And for the Records that next succeeded I shall quote but one from an ancient Role 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. On the Monday Consistories let the Deacons and Presbyters be present and judg This is an account of the first word of the Text with its reflections on the faces of what anteceded and followed Now the service or office at the Sacrament follows next Else when thou shalt Bless Bless i.e. Pray at the receiving the Communion so Iinterpret it now for although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not so streightned in signification but as long as the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which it answers and so in Scripture signifies either to praise wish well or do good to a person yet by a Jewish custom and accepâ—ilation it come to be narrowed in application thus before their meals they used a Grace which began thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art blessed and praised O Lord and this Prayer they called by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sanctifying it from whom in their Rituals this word was traducd to thire holy things which came to be eaten as 1 Sam. 9.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to praise God or give him thanks for the Sacrifice from them t is borrowed by the Apostle St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.16 for the Eucharist The cup of blessing which we bless and by Ecclesiastical writers almost appopriated to the Holy Communion so this word to a holy use and in Justin Martyr and Clemens Romanus is expouned by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beside this will be made more conspicuous in expounding the next word of the text till when I desire may not be vext with any scrupulous sollicitation but on the presum'd verity of it rather to entertain your selves with this practical note That in the first purest times receiving of the Sacrament was the frequent companion of Church Prayers For our fore-fathers thinking the blood of Christ to be the best Rhetorick could be used to God and that he was like Admetus held up his son to him in the offertories of their prayers especially their solemn general prayers for all the great necessities of mankind as we still have these prayers as the handmaids on our Communion they mounted their prayers on the wheels as I may speak of Crist blood and of prayers were used in the presence of the Cateachment exorcises c. but the Communion prayers was onely the service of the fideles the Eucharist the chief ingredent of this office and therefore in the Dialect of the fathers Orationes Sacrisiciorum and the Eucharist are but coincident terms to signifie one thing Use If Church prayers and the Eucharist were by God thus hand-fasted togather why should they by any man be afterwards put a sunder if prayers must be frequent then why the Sacrament so great a stranger to most of our Assemblies Would to God we might by this argument be sollicited to confederate them again for from the beginning it was so Every day was the Virgin Churches practise Acts 2.46 which the the Syriaque interprets of the Eucharist And why joyed with religious duties there if not meant of one In St. Basills time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 four times a week we communicate besides on Martyrs dayes at A exandria twice then once every Lords day afterward it descended to thrice a year in a latter Councel to once and now in our unhappy times not once in twenty years in many places thus a great flame by succession was reduced into a spark and afterwards vanished into pale ashes But God be thanked that your zeal has promised life again to this grand piece of devotion this dayes practise is our Matriculation again into our old duty what is done in the mount this day I hope is but the pattern of what is to be set up in your little dispersed Rural tabernacles Since you thus aim on high give me leave to imp a few feathers to help mount your flight Innocent Adams was said to possess a symbole of this Sacrament and therefore needed it And lapsed Adam expulsed from it is made by Jews to mourn for his excommunication 300. years on the mountains of India The Jewes contempt of their Passeover was
his creation the agnizing his dominion over the creatures by this little tribute of the creatures as a chief rent we offer up to him to acknowledg our holding all the demesne of our life from him Thus Ireneus urges against the Hereticks Who denied that God created the World this acquittance of the Church under her hand and seal confessing the contrary by offering up daily to him the marrow of all the creatures and staffe of the world in bread and wine Use 2. But moreover the very throat of Transubstantiation seems to me to be cut from this denomination of this Sacrament by destroying the foundation or basis that supports it for if thanksgiving be the nature and almost the whole office of the Sacrament than it is not transmuted from what it was to become What it was not by any operative words of Institution t is true this is annexed to the office of the Sacrament but the whole viptue of that lyes in the Prayer or Thanksgivings of the Church that God would be pleased for his people to effect this this Ignatius sence The prayer wherein the Church and Bishop agree prevaileth to make the Sacrament the Bread of God The Eucharist denominates the whole action because the thanksgiving was that which consecrated And therefore in some Ancient Liturgies after the words of Institution read prayer is made that the Elements may be sanctified by the Holy Ghost for Liturg such and such effects of grace in the worthy Receivers Therefore that the Papists infist oil of its being cald a Sacrifice among the Ancients is hugely frivolous for they call it so before it was consecrated When barely presented or offered by the people to the Minister or by him to God Beside some of the them remember a very curt office of St. Peters consecrating the Lords Supper with the Lords Prayer but from the feast t is time to behold the guests which come in the fifth or last place and they are the Communicants charactered here by their names the Vnlearned and secondly their place The room of the Vnlearned 1. Their name The unlearned Idiots it is in the Greek which word by custom sounds but coursly toward the vulgars credit as blasphemy and the like but in the Original sence means onely the Unlearned or indeed the Laick the populacy in opposition to Ecclesiastiques we translate it the Unlearned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wise men call the multitude or common people Idiots sayes a good Critick in the Greek tongue The Hebrewes gave them a contemptible name by Origination which yet custome mollified into a friâ—â—dly reception from the Commons A son of the Earth as terrae filius found civilly in our Universities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Idiot cannot have the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because practise does not do well without Theory nay they made the very name Idiot turn Jewish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is read often in the Rabbins well the name of Idiot or Unlearned is a description of the Laick and a distinction of the Minister or Prophet from him c. Use And may it be so still never could I say it more opportunely than in such a learned Assembly that this distinction may be alwayes retained between the Minister and People that they may be the Unlearned not simply but in comparison of the Minister and these obtain the title of learned in contradistinction to them It is a sad thing when the Ministers are praeceptores discipulorum the Masters of Schollars before they have been discipuli praeceptorum the Schollars of able Masters Young Physitians the old saying was had need of new Church-yards and raw Preachers of a new Hell Therefore God placed the Rational upon the High Priests brest with Urim and Thummim that there should be light and perfection in those The Jewes had but a sowresaying concerning an illiterate Priest though he were the High Priest and their lowest Priests were high enough to what our Gospel Ministers are in the account of some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if a Mamzer a bastard be learned and the High Priest not he is the better man of the twain It is a vain thought of those who think it suffices him to be honest for he had need of a good skull that must knock heads with the infernal Serpent such hurt as much by their silence as they benefit by their conversation 'T were a wonder almost beyond credit to say what learning the Jewes required in any they ordeined But so did our Saviour though some are pleased to take Sanctuary under him and his blessed Apostles for their ignorance an excuse worse than the crime before he commissionated them he instructed them and therefore the Saxon Bible call them by a pat name Learning Chnitas Learning Servitours and for himself not onely all the treasures of Heavenly Wisdom were lockt up in him but he gave demonstrations of all the learned Books and Writings of his age in his Works These are feald up to the ignorant and therefore I shall point at one or two of them Mat. 5.18 Not one jot or tittle of the law shall perish 't is a perfect transcript out of the books of the Jewes c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Book of Deuteronomy ascended before God and said Solomon desired to blot Jod out of her to whom t was answered that a thousand such as Solomon should fail before her So Mat. 6.15 our Savour speaks of laying up treasures in Heaven t is a duplicate of that Talmudick saying or rather this of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mubaz answered his friends who complained that he gave too much to the poor My Ancestors said he layed up their treasure on Earth but I mine in Heaven they layed them where the hand of the thief might invade but I where the thief cannot break-through and steal Nor do I expect to be choakt with a reply that all these writings were after Christ for the sayings might be before him and so preserved by them who t is unlikely would go to filtch them out of him In short ignorance is virtually every errour and therefore let us not change names with the people to occupy the place of the Unlearned which leads me to the last head the description of the Communicants by their place Else how shall he that occupies the Room of the Vnlearned The Room may seem onely to be a paraphrase of the unlearned to unwary Readers and indeed some very learned have been imposed on by other places to misinterpret this so Buxtorf in his Rabinical Lexicon radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interprets it simply the unlearned and from him Dilherus in his Eclect because the Hebrew use this expression without Emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be with his Father but it has here its energy and weight and is another distinguishing mark of