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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69491	Gestus Eucharisticvs, or, A discourse concerning the gesture at the receiving of the Holy Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lords Supper by George Ashwell ...	Ashwell, George, 1612-1695.	1663 (1663)	Wing A3998; ESTC R16232	72,577	195

and overcome Temptations for the time to come Peace of Conscience arising from Both and a certain Pledge of our Resurrection to a Life Eternal Do not all these do not any of these require as much Humility as Thankfulness And is it not fit to express that Humility especially in the Publick Service where God is most honoured and requires us to honour him in the eyes of men by the lowliest demeanour thereby to shew and testifie our inward Devotion If we were to receive a Pardon or any considerable favour from an earthly Prince we would not make the least scruple to receive it kneeling but rather condemn any one of unsufferable Pride and Arrogancy Folly and Ingratitude who should think much to use that humble Gesture Nay if we were but admitted to kiss the Kings Hand we would readily kneel to receive so easie so ordinary a Favour Children use the like Gesture when they aske their Parents Blessing and when a Subject doth Homage to his Prince he performes it with the same Reverence Shall we then doubt or deny to perform the same when we receive a Pardon from the Great King of Heaven and Earth the King of Kings sealed unto us in this Sacrament When we receive the Gift of Eternal Life conveyed unto us by Christ of whom we are therein made Partakers When also we do solemn homage unto our Lord and Saviour by devoting our selves wholly to his Service who once devoted himself a Sacrifice to God for our Salvation Sure there is strength in this Argument if either Reason or Religion may be judge For thus God himself argues with his People by the Prophet Malachi A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine honour and if I be a Master where is my fear Ye say the Table of the Lord is contemptible And if ye offer the Blind for Sacrifice is it not evil And if ye offer the lame and the sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Governor Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hosts Ye brought that which was torne and the lame and the sick Thus ye brought an Offering Should I accept this of your Hand saith the Lord I am a Great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my name is dreadful among the Heathen Mal. 1. 6 7 8 13 14. And if we look upon Scripture-Patternes we shall find that the most eminent Saints and Servants of God have used the lowliest Gestures on any of these Occasions and that not only unto God in Person but to his Deputies also who represented him to his Princes Preists and Prophets When Abigail came to aske pardon of David for her husband Nabal she bowed her selfe to the Ground and fell at his feet 1 Sam. 25. 23. So did Joseph's Brethren to him when they were caught in a supposed Theft Gen. 44. 14. Yea so did Absalom as wicked and proud as he was upon his returne to his Father 1 Sam. 14. 33 when the same Abigail would express her thanks to David for signifying by his Messengers his intention of marrying her she used the same Gesture 1 Sam. 25. 41. The like used Abraham to the Hittites when they granted him the Sepulchre he petitioned for Gen. 23. 12. So did Jacob Gen. 47. 31. Jehosaphat also and his People on good Newes 2 Chron. 20. 18. When Joseph brought his Sons to be blest he thus exprest his Desire Gen. 48. 12. Bathsheba and the Prophet Nathan did the like when they petitioned David in behalfe of Solomon 1 King 1. 16. 23. Jacob thus exprest his respect to his Elder Brother Esau Gen. 33. 3. Salomon his Duty to his mother Bathshebah 1. King 2. 19. Araunah his homage to King David 2. Sam. 24. 20. How much more Reverence is due when all these meet together as they doe in the Sacrament wherein we receive a Pardon and a Blessing and have our Interests in the Kingdome of Heaven renewed and confirmed to us wherein we offer up thanks-giving for the greatest of Favours petition the great God for Grace and Glory in behalfe of our Selves and others and performe Solemne Homage to our Soveraigne Lord and Master But more especially we find these lowly Gestures used at the Sacrifices So the Israelites when they blessed God thereat by King David's command 1. Chron. 29. 20. The like they did at the firing of the Sacrifice whereby God's acceptance was signified 2 Chron 7. 3 and 1 King 18. 39. Hezekiah also and his People at the solemne Sacrifice 2 Chron. 29. 29 30. Now in the Sacrament there is not only a lively representation and a grateful Commemoration of that great Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Cross for our Redemption whereof all these were but imperfect Types and Shadowes but also an effectual Application of all the Benefits thereof unto every worthy Communicant Therein also we offer up unto God all that we have or are the Sacrifices of Praise and Almes as the Apostle cals them Heb. 13. 15 16. Our Bodies also and our Soules And have we not reason to use the same lowly Gestures at the time when so manifold a Sacrifice is offered up unto God Especially when we find several Prophecies of these Gestures to be used towards our Saviour which sure we cannot present him with at a fitter Time than when so solemne a Service is performed to him I have sworne by my selfe that unto me every knee shall bow Isa 45. 23 which the Apostle applies unto our Saviour Rom. 14. 11. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him Yea all Kings shall fall down before him Psal 72. 9 11. Every knee must bow none excepted Not the vilest and most barbarous those in the Wilderness not the highest amongst men to whom all others bow Kings are not exempted All then are comprehended and obliged to this Service except we intend by refractory Irreverence to contadict those Prophecies and nullifie them as far as lies in us 10. The most proper Gesture for Prayer is kneeling as that which is the most humble and devout And this Gesture is recommended to our imitation by the most eminent persons and the most exemplary Patterns in both Testaments By King Solomon a great Prince by Daniel a great Prophet and by Ezra a famous Priest under the Law by Saint Peter and Saint Paul the two great Apostles by Saint Stephen the first Martyr and by Christ himself the great Pattern of Perfection under the Gospel Neither is this denied by the Non-Conformists who allow of kneeling at Prayers both by their Judgment and Practice at other times For though there be too many at this day who are so wretchedly careless and irreverent as to fit at them yet I hope there is scarce any of them so strangely impudent as to plead for sitting at Prayers as the most fitting Gesture or to condemn kneeling Now it is most clear that in our Church of

Armenian Christians 4. The Abyssine Christians demeane themselves most reverently in their Churches No man may laugh walke or talke therein They suffer not Dogges to come into their Churches or Church-yards They suffer no man to sit in their Churches The Aged and weake are permitted Crutches to ease themselves withall Godignus de rebus Abassynorum lib. 1. c. 21. At the celebration of the Sacrament after it is given in both kinds to the Priests and others of the Clergy who stand at or near unto the Altar Postea datur Secularibus qui stant juxta portam principalem tam viris quam mulieribus Dum datur communio aut aliud quippiam officii fit omnes stant erecti That is Afterwards it is given to the Laity who stand by the Chancel-door both men and women Whilst the Communion is given or any other Service is done they all stand upright So we read in the Ethiopick Liturgy set down by Franc. Alvarez in the Portugal Tongue and translated by Cassander into Latine viz. cap. 1. p. 28. But if we come nearer home and look into the Practice of those Neighbour Churches in the North and West which have reformed themselves from the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome we shall find them somwhat varying indeed in this circumstance of worship yet so that they generally observe that Posture which the Scriptures tell us was used anciently in Prayer viz. kneeling or standing Most of those Churches which hold to the Augustane Confession being the first Protestants and most properly so called thought not fit to alter the Gesture which they found so generally and so anciently practised in the Western Church which they judged very agreeable to the Action in hand but retained kneeling at the receiving of the Eucharist which they generally practice at this day and those few who use standing adore at the receiving by the bowing of their heads or bodies Now these Churches are the most considerable for number Quality amongst those of the Reformation as being spread through the two large Kingdomes of Denmarke and Sweden the great Dukedome of Saxony and Marquisate of Brandenburg through the most part of the Principalities and free Cities of Germany which imbrace the Reformation together with a great part of Prussia and Poland 2. The Bohemick-Churches which have spread themselves not only through the large Kingdom of Bohemia some neighbouring parts of Germany but even into Poland also retaine the same Gesture of kneeling as appears by the 13. Article of their Confession Entituled De Coena Domini Of the Supper of the Lord. The words are these Ministri Dominicae Coenae verba referentes plebem ipsam ad hanc fidem hortantur ut corporis Christi praesentiā adesse credant procumbentibus interim in genua distribuunt Plebs autem ipsa cum gratiarum actione sumit in hymnis canticis spiritualibus beneficia Dei recolens totam se in hoc impendit exerit ut juxta Christi verbū hoc faciat in ejus commemorationē That is The Ministers rehearsing the words of the Lords Supper exhort the people to this Faith that they believe the presence of Christs Body and then distribute it unto them as they kneel down upon their knees The people receive it with Thanksgiveing rehearsing the Benefits of God in Hymnes Spiritual Songs wholly imploy themselves in this that they may celebrate it according to Christs command in remembrance of him And these Churches deserve to be well regarded as being much ancienter then Luther for planted they were by John Husse and Jerome of Prague who suffered Martyrdom at Constance Yea the Members of these Churches were so considerable many years ago that the Council of Brasil thought fit to allow them the use of the Cup in the Sacrament whence they got the name of Calixtini 3. The Reformed Churches of Poland meetng by their Delegates in several Synods of theirs earnestly endeavoured to agree upon some uniform Gesture at the receiving of the Sacrament but foreseeing that some of the ignoranter sort of People would be hardly weaned from that whereto they had been so long accustomed they left it free from them to receive kneeling or standing but absolutely rejected and forbad sitting as very unfitting and very scandalous because they observed it to have been affected and used by those who turned Apostates to Arianisme and other blasphemous Sects which denied the God-head of our Saviour This was unanimously agreed on by the three sorts of Churches which were setled in that large Kingdom viz. Those of the Helvetick Augustane and Bohemick Confessions who as they tell us in the Preface to their Synodical Acts after many sharp and tedious Conflicts with the Tritheites Ebionites Anabaptists and other Sectaries which at last with much ado they rid their Hands of and after some unhappy Bickerings among themselves whereby they had given advantage to the Adversary and hindred the progress of the Reformation thought fit to meet together and then upon an amicable Conference of several other particulars chiefly relating to the Eucharist which had been the main Subject of their difference The Title prefixt to their Acts agreed on in their first meeting at Sendomire A. D. 1570. is this Consensus mutuus in Religionis Christianae capitibus inter Ecclesias majoris minoris Poloniae Russiae Lithuaniae Samogitiae quae juxta confessionem Augustanam Fratrum Bohemorum Helveticam aliquo modo à se dissentire videbantur That is The mutual agreement in the points of Christian Religion between the Churches of the Greater and Lesser Polonia Russia Lithuania and Samogitia who in their several Confessions viz. the Augustane the Bohemick and Helvetick seemed to dissent from each other They met afterwards at Cracow A. D. 1573. on Michaelmas day when and where it was thus decreed Conclusum est ut secundum morem Primitivae Ecclesiae libertati Christianae Ceremoniae inter nos permittantur monitis tamen Fratribuss ut siqui Sessione in Sacra Coena utuntur eam Ceremoniam Arianabaptistis propriam relinquant That is It is concluded that according to the custom of the Primitive Church Ceremonies amongst us may be left to Christian Liberty yet so as to admonish the Brethren that if any use sitting at the Lords Supper they leave that Ceremony as proper to the Arianizing Anabaptists Another general Synod of theirs assembled at Petricow A. D. 1578. inculcates the same Exoptandum optimum quidem esset ut per totum Poloniae regnum in omnibus Evangelicis Ecclesiis iisdem ritibus sacra Synaxis celebraretur Et certe non esset ea res adeo difficilis quod ad ipsos Ministros prudentiores homines Illico in unam certam formam consentiremus Sed quia vulgus homines simpliciores mutatione rituum offenderentur Proinde Ceremonias libertati Christianae donamus ac permittimus ut stantes vel genua flectentes Pii Sacramentum corporis