and reserued each is safe both the participation of the Sacrifice and the performance of that obseruance viz. of standing in prayer If station take the name from the patterne of souldiers for wee are Gods souldiery verily neither joy or sorrow happening to the campe dissolues the stations of Souldiers for joy obserues discipline more cheerefully sorrow more carefully The place is darke and must bee opened before wee can make vse of that Testimony wherefore first we must know what the dayes of station doe meane * De la Cerda the Iesuite vpon this place num 143. and 151.152 Bell lib. 2. de bon oper cap. 22. aliique Some take them to be their set dayes of Fasting But that cannot be For Tertullian himselfe doth difference them one from another lib. 2. c. 4. ad vxorem where shewing the mischiefe and hindrances which a woman shall haue by taking an Infidell to bee her husband as some then did in their second mariages he saith Vt si statio facienda sit Maritus de die conducat ad Balneas Si ieiunia obseruanda sunt Maritus eadem die conuiuiun exerceat c. Where Ieiunia is not put as an explication of Statio as if they signified one and the same thing nor is statio put for the Vigils in the times of their fastings as de la Cerda on that place and Bell. lib. 2. de bon operib cap. 22. would haue it for those Vigils as the same Cerda and Bellarmine there confesse were only de nocte of the night not of the day wheras Tertullian speakes expresly of station as an act proper to the day time saying if a station be to be performed the husband may that same day leade her to the Bathes if fastings be to be obserued the husband may the same day hold a feast That Glosse therefore of the Iesuites is but a dreame It remaines then that Station is vsed in a proper not figuratiue sense to note some solemne act performed in the day time and that Statio and Jeiunia are put for different things and the station is letted by carying her that day to the Bathes Fasts by her husbands appointing of a Feast that day Besides fasting could not bee absolutely hindred by going to the Bathes nor Vigils at all by holding a feast in the day if the Vigils were held onely in the nights Stationum dies therefore were those dayes wherein by a Tradition vniuersally receiued they stood in prayer and at all the solemne worship of God of which Tertullian saith Tertull de Coron Milit cap. 3. Edit Paris â—an 1674. Diebus dominicis iciunare nefas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare wee hold it an heynous thing to fast on the Lords dayes or to adore on our knees Eadem immunitate a die Paschae ad Pentechostem vsque gaudemus This immunity wee enjoy from Easter vntill Pentecost This Ceremony of standing on those dayes and of not fasting on those dayes serued to expresse their beleefe and joyfull remembrance of our Lords Resurrection from the dead This is that which Tertullian calleth deuotum Deo obsequium a devout dutie or seruice vnto God And that Tertull. in this place by Station where hee saith quod statio soluenda sit meaneth the very posture or gesture of standing in the place alleadged appeareth yet further in the words themselues when hee saith Nonne statio tua solennior crit si ad aram Dei steteris shall not thy station bee the more solemne if thou stand at the Altar The Communion-table then is after the phrase of that time called the Altar The Sacraments of Christs body and blood the Sacrifices The prayers vsed in that action about the blessing or consecration of Bread and Wine to that vse the prayers of the Sacrifices All which by the word Eucharistia there vsed as it were expositiuely are manifest Wherefore there can bee no other meaning of Tertullians words alleadged but this That on those dayes on which the solemne worship of God was by a Tradition called Apostolicall performed standing and not kneeling Many men or most men plerique withdrew themselues when they came to the celebration of the Supper because the body of our Lord that is the Sacramentall bread being taken of the Ministers hand The station i. e. standing must bee dissolued or left And because standing on those dayes might not be left as they thought therefore they rather left the Sacrament on those dayes then they would breake the rule of standing on those dayes Therefore they forbore which can haue no reason but this that taking the holy things at the Table standing yet they vsed not to partake them i. e. eat the bread or drinke the wine in any other gesture then what was on the station dayes then forbidden Kneeling And it is to bee marked that hee doth not say Anno 200. accepto corpore Domini statio solvitur but soluenda sit i. e. when after the taking of it a Tertul. de corona Milit. c. 3. Nec de alioruÌ„ manu quam praesidentium sumimus Edit Par. 1624. In Tertull. adorare is Orare lib. de Oratione and the 1. Councell of Nice restraineth it onely to prayer Canon 20. iuxta Binii Edit 1618. as was then the manner of the Ministers hands they came to receiue it into their bodies If the gesture then vsed had beene standing this scruple could not haue come into their minds no nor if it had beene sitting for that was not forbidden in all the solemne seruice of God on those dayes but vsed as appeareth in Iustin Martyr in hearing the word of God read and preached Onely kneeling was then restrayned and that say some not onely in prayer but in all the diuine seruice Tertullian saith not de geniculis orate pray kneeling but Adorate adore as Altare Damascenum obserues The people therfore not daring to kneele on those standing dayes and not liking to receiue the mysteries in any other gesture then that of Kneeling whereby they might better shew their discerning of the Lords body in the most humble gesture when they partaked the mysteries chose on these dayes on which they might not Kneele to forbeare the Sacrament and to take it on other dayes when they might kneele in receiuing it That it was thus the Remedies which Tertullian propoundeth doe make yet more cleare For hee to perswade them not to absent themselues from the Sacrifice prayers made at the Altar i e. the Communion-table because of that First telleth them that their standing shall not bee taken away but made solennior more remarkeable if they shal stand at the Altar therfore they might come to those prayers as well as to others and stand in them at the Altar yea and take the Lords body i.e. as hee b Tertull adversus Marci lib. 4. cap. 40. elsewhere expoundeth himselfe the figure of his body the bread and not assumere not eat it at that time but
conseruationem charitatis vt memores illius facti semper hoc in figura facerent quod pro ijs acturus erat non obliuiscerentur Hoc est corpus meum i. e. in Sacramento post Sicut denique si aliquis peregre proficiscens dilectoribus suis quoddam vinculum dilectionis relinquit eo tenore vt omni die hoc agant vt illius non obliuiscantur Ita Deus praecipit agi a nobis transferens spiritualiter corpus in panem vt in margine panem in corpus vinum in sanguinem vt per haec Deo memoremus quae fecit pro nobis de corpore sanguine suo non simus ingrati tam amantissimae charitati And hee gaue it to his disciples saying take eate this is my body Hee gaue to his disciples the Sacrament of his body for remission of sinnes and conseruation of charity that so they being mindfull of his act might alwayes doe this in a figure which hee was about to doe and should not forget it This is my body that is in a Sacrament or mysterie And after lastly as if one going a journey should leaue some bond of loue among his friends on condition that euery day they should doe such a thing that they might not bee vnmindfull of him So God hath charged vs to doe spiritually changing the body into bread for so the margent hath it bread into his body and wine into his blood that by these wee might remember what Christ hath done for vs of his body and blood and not bee vngratefull to a most louing charity Florus Magister who liued An. 860 as Coccius wrote an Exposition of the Masse wherein hee hath these words Bibl. Pat. Tom. â— part 2 pag. 300. colum 1. Cum panis vini creatura in Sacramentum carnis sanguinis eius ineffabili spiritus sanctificatione transfertur manducatur Christus Propterea manducatur in Sacramento manet integer totus in coelo manet integer totus in corde tuo When the creature of bread and wine is changed into the flesh and blood of Christ by the ineffable sanctification of the spirit Christ is eaten hee is eaten by parts in the Sacrament and whole Christ remaines whole in heauen whole Christ remaines whole in thy heart Whereby is manifest that he beleeued not either Consubstantiation or Transubstantiation but a Sacramentall eating of Christ in the mysteries apart and a spirituall Communication of whole Christ to the heart euen as wee doe Hence he there also saith Totum hoc quod in hac oblatione corporis sanguinis Domini agitur mysterium est aliud videtur aliud intelligitur quod videtur speeiem habet corporalem quod intelligitur hee saith not quod inest fructum habet spiritualem All that is done in this oblation of the body and blood of the Lord is a Mysterie one thing is seene another is vnderstood that which is seene hath a bodily shape that which is vnderstood hee saith not which is in or vnder the bread hath a spirituall fruit Yea that then the Church of Rome did not beleeue any such Reall-presence as after it did may appeare by these Arguments 1. That they did not vnderstand the Bread to bee made the very body of Christ by vertue of any words of consecration vsed by the Priest but by the ineffable working of the Holy Ghost as Florus saith And secondly not the body of Christ in it selfe but to the faithfull Receiuer to whom the Holy Ghost doth communicate the true body and blood of Christ spiritually vnto life Therefore was the prayer in the Romane order at the consecration when a Michrol de Missa rite celebranda c. 14. none were present but Communicaturi such as were to communicate vt oblatio fiat nobis corpus sanguis Domini that the oblation may bee made to vs the body and blood of the Lord not vt fiat simply that it may bee made but nobis to vs i. e. as is after expressed nobis accipientibus to vs the Receiuers They did not then thinke the Bread to bee made the Body of Christ in it selfe and to gazers on but to the faithfull Receiuers Vt efficiatur fidelibus corpus sanguis Christi that it may be made so to beleeuers saith b Florus ibid. quo supra Florus Indeed the Romane Missall remaineth still the word nobis and the words quod sumpsimus and vse them when the Priest alone communicates making a solecisme betwixt the old words and the new practise Thirdly they did not thinke that which they saw to bee the Species of Bread and Wine and to haue vnder that shew the body of Christ but that which they saw to be the body of Christ i.e. In a mysterie Quo supra cap. 18. Cuius corpus ibi confringi videmus credimus whose body wee see and beleeue to be there broken saith Micrologus So it was the body of Christ as they saw it and saw it broken which could not bee said of his naturall body but onely of the mysterie or Sacrament of his body 4. They did not beleeue whole Christ to bee in either Species as must needs haue beene beleeued if they had conceited that his very naturall body had beene in or with the Bread or Cup or existent vnder the shewes of them For Florus expresly saith wee receiue him in the Sacrament per partes by parts And therefore to teach the people that howeuer in the Sacrament they receiue the body and blood of Christ apart as communicating with him in his death yet whole and liuing Christ is spiritually communicated to their soules to giue them life The Romane Church obserued this Ceremony Ordo Rom. quo supra pa. 401. that at Pax tecum when the Bishop after the consecration came to receiue sitting in his Seate he breaking a piece of the Bread and putting it into the Cup then held before him said Fiat commixtio corporis sanguinis Christi nobis accipientibus in vitam aeternam let there bee a commixtion of the body and blood of Christ to vs receiuing it vnto eternall life meaning thereby to signifie the vniting of Christs body and blood in his c Microl. de Miss c. c. 14. Amalar. de offic Missae l. 3. c 31. Expositio Missae Edit per CocciuÌ„ pa. 142. Resurrection and to pray that by vertue of partaking of Christ raised from the dead to dye no more they which partaked his body and blood apart in the mysteries might liue for euer The words Et Consecratio are now found in the Romane Order aforesaid but were not so as it seemeth in that coâ—ie which Amalarius then followed For he out of that Ordo-Romanus reporteth onely these words Fiat commixtio corporis sanguinis Christi nobis accipentibus in vitaÌ„ aeternam but no word of Consecration Nor doth it fit the matter intended For the Bishop did not meane to consecrate a Sacrament of Christs Resurrection And
both the Bread and Cup were consecrated before The present Roman Missall observeth the Ceremony of putting a parcell of the Hoast into the Cup at that time of Pax tecum but hath without any great shew of change altered the words and to another meaning For whereas it was onely said Fiat commixtio corporis Christi c. which is in plaine termes Let the Resurrection of Christ profit vs to eternall life who receiue the Eucharist They haue now made it Haec commistio consecratio corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi fiat nobis c. as meaning to teach that there is in the very Sacramentall signes or vnder them a mixture of Christs Body and Blood made and so a presence of whole Christ in every drop of wine and crumme of the bread by Concomitancie Haec Commistio fiat Lastly that the Romane Church did not then beleeue any Reall presence of Christ as brought vnder the Species by the Priests and formall words of Consecration appeareth by this that when the Bishop did consecrate there was but one Chalice or cup of wine before him of which a little was after powred into other vessels of wine to consecrate that for the Communicants Quia vinum etiam non consecratum sed sanguine Domini commixtum sanctificatur per omnem modum because the Wine that yet was not consecrated but onely mixed with the Blood of our Lord is sanctified by euery way by them vsed whereas now the Consecration is limited to certaine formall words and to onely so much as the Priest intendeth to consecrate because forsooth no more can be made the Body or Blood of Christ then is at that instant turned thereunto Wherefore I now assume as manifest that the Romane Church was not as yet nor before the 900 yeere of our Lord possessed of the dotages either of Consubstantiation or Transubstantiation And yet euen then obserued vpon the Station dayes when they might not kneele in publike prayer yet at the Celebration of the Sacramens to bow downe themselues in those prayers wherein they might not kneele in token of their humble and reuerend acknowledgement of the speciall grace of God signed sealed and exhibited to them thereby And that they likewise had care in the act of receiuing to discerne the Lords Body reverentiâ singulariter debitâ with reuerence then specially due to it Rhemig vixit An. 590. habetur in Bibl. Patr. Tom. 5. part 3 pag. 887 Colum. 2. A. as Augustine speaketh no man can doubt For therefore Rhemigius the Bishop of Rhemes in 1. Cor. 11.24 c. coupleth the consecration and participation in that respect saying Quotiescunque accedimus ad consecrandum vel percipiendum Sacramentum muneris aeterni quod nobis Dominus pijssimus in memoriam sui dimisit tenendum cum timore compunctione cordis omnique reuerentia debemus accedere So often as wee come to consecrate or partake the Sacrament c. we ought to come thereto with feare and compunction of heart Treat of kneeling pag. 195. and with all reuerence So also before him Caesarius Arelatensis hom 12. alleadged by the Bishop of Rochester sheweth that during that Action the people were required to abide in the Church Humiliato corpore compuncto corde with humbled bodies and compunction of heart Wall Strabo de rebus Ecclesiasticis cap. 19 This reuerend carriage Wall Strabo sheweth to belong to Decencie and to Order required of Paul 1. Cor. 14. which Decorum or Decencie being requisite In singulis sanctorum operibus tamen etiam atque etiam in sanctissimi sanguinis corporis veneratione seruari debet c. in all workes of the Saints much more ought it to bee obserued with all veneration of the most holy body and blood of Christ c and after Secundum ordinem autem vt sanctificationem eorum ae cibis caeteris longe distare sciamus It is according to Order that wee may know that the sactification of those doe differ farre from other meates There hee treateth of the receiuing of the Communion fasting and proueth the fitnesse of it from the respect of that Decencie and Order in which it ought to bee receiued and which requireth sober men This man was so far from the thought of Table gesture as he taketh it to belong to Order that the great distance betwixt this and common food should be shewed in the bodily receiuing Yea hee calleth the very Act of receiuing veneration because it was receiued with veneration Ephes 3.14 like as Paul vnderstandeth Prayer by bowing of the knee because that was the common gesture For this cause doe I bow the knee to God c. So Strabo saith in the veneration of the blood and body of Christ in stead of in the receiuing because it was not receiued but with veneration that is Externall Adoration of Bowing or Kneeling CAP. 28. The second Observation in the practise of the Ancient Churches MY second Obseruation is that to take it of the Ministers hands and to partake or receiue into their mouthes was not alwayes the same nor alwayes done at the same time or in the same place For they did for a long time take it at the Church carry it home and there receiue it And after the Councels of Toledo and the Caesar-Augustan Councell had tyed them to assumere in Ecclesia receiue it in the Church they did yet in the Greeke Church come vp to the Table or Chancell to take the Bread standing but stayed not to eat it there but carried it to their owne places and there after priuate prayer for themselues did eat it kneeling as out of Sozomen hath beene shewed As for the Cup because they could not take that away with them as they did the Bread they did receiue that Adoring as hath beene shewed out of Cyrill Ordo Rom. quo supra Tom 8 Bibl. Patr. pag. â—0â— And in the Roman Church the Priests and Deacons called Ministers of the Altar came to the Bishop then sitting in his Seat kissed him tooke the bread of his hand and then went away in sinistra parte Altaris communicaturi to the left side of the Altar to partake it where there can bee no doubt whether they did kneele or no if we remember what hath been alleadged out of Micrologus And as for the Sub-Deacons that were not allowed to goe to the Altar to Communicate they came to the Bishops seat Lib. Sacrar Ceremon 2. pag. 181. kissed his hand and tooke it in theiâ— mouthes but not in their hands which any man must conceiue to be kneeling as the Booke of Ceremonies expresly affirmeth The Bishop and others at his appointment carried vnto the people in their owne places and put it into their mouthes which I know not how they should well doe Disput against Kneeling and Alâ—are Damasc without that the Receiuers kneeled So then the Testimonies brought by some men to proue that they did of older times
it is not meant thereby that any Adoration is done or ought to bee done either vnto the sacramentall Bread and Wine there bodily received or vnto any reall and essentiall presence there being of Christs naturall flesh and blood For as concerning the Sacramentall Bread and Wine they remaine still in their very naturall substances and therefore may not bee adored for that were Idolatry to bee abhorred of all faithfull Christians and as concerning the naturall body and blood of our Saviour Christ they are in heaven and not here for it is against the truth of Christs naturall Body to bee in moe places then one at one time 3. To which I adde that to take away all appearance of tendring any Adoration to the outward signes then brought to the Communicants the Church thought good afterwards * 1 Eliz◠to haue that short Prayer The Body of our Lord c. then to bee made for each Communicant before he receiue which in King Edwards Booke was not appointed to the end that the Kneeling might not so much as seeme to be vndertaken vpon the sight and respect of the Sacramentall signes and in reference to them Thus carefull haue our Fathers bin to shew vs their minds and to take away all appearance of evill and ground of suspicion 4. And it is worth the marking that this gesture is at that time onely appoynted as a signification of our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of the benefits of Christ which if it be not by our owne fault we then receiue and not at any other time when it might be supposed to bee intended to the Sacramentall signes or to Christ in and by them For as that learned Author of the Treatise called Dialecticon Eucharistia printed at Geneva and set out with the second Tome of Beza his Works in his life time saith The Bread is to vs the Body of Christ when we adore and receiue it not as they doe in Poperie at the Elevation when they onely looke on or Circumgestation when it is carried in the streets and they that Adore receiue nothing And for this cause Mr. Calvin in answering that objection of the Papists Inst 4.17.37 that they adore Christ in the Sacrament saith Si in Coena c. If this were done in the Supper I would say Eam demum Adorationem esse legitimā quae non in signo residet sed ad Christum in coelo sedentem refertur that were yet a lawfull adoration which resteth not in the outward signe but is referred to Christ himselfe sitting in heauen And hee giveth after this reason that they haue no promise of Christs presence in the Sacrament not as signatum in signo as the thing signified in the signe when it is consecrated to bee honoured and carried about as a pompous spectacle and invocated but when it is received For our Lord that said This is my body sayd Take eat this is my body The Sacraments consist in their vse and are not Sacraments out of their vse The water in the Font is no Sacrament of Baptisme but in the vse of it 5. Our Church therefore by appoynting this gesture at that time when we receiue bodily the outward things spiritually the inward grace annexed not by corporeall presence but by institute Relation to the same hath not referred this Ceremony to the outward things received of the Ministers hands no nor simply to the benefits received of by and with Christ as a signe of our partaking them but onely to our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of those benefits received from Christ as the Declaration sheweth So that vnlesse humble and gratefull acknowledgement of those benefits agree not to that very hint of time when by vertue of Gods Ordinance we receiue them the signification thereof by the gesture cannot bee vnlawfull or vncomely though it bee not simply necessary but a matter of Order not of proper worship in it selfe 6. They therefore which spend their wits and time to prooue either that wee ought not to giue Adoration to any sanctified creature or by adoring it to transferre our adoration to God or Christ or to perswade men that this gesture is vsed of vs at least for Veneration of the consecrated creatures had in my opinion too much time to spare and not either Iudgment or Charitie enough For it is not done in relation to the Signes or simply to the things signified but only as an expression of our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of what we receiue and is to the honouring of God and Christ by Consequent and reduction onely belonging and that but as an outward and free Rite or formalitie 7. But if in the Supper it selfe wee had respect vnto the sanctified creatures as the ordinances of our Lord and by bowing our selues not to them but vpon occasion of them then brought to vs to bee received not resting the honour or adoration in the elements themselues though sanctified but onely referring it to God and Christ the Son of God not as carnally present in them but sitting in heaven and by his Spirit wonderfully communicating his body and blood to vs you see wee should haue had M. Calvins approbation as well as the ancient Fathers S. Augustine and others which I could name and not heerein deserue to bee matched with such of the learned Papists as would haue no Adoration to determine in the Images themselues but to be referred vnto and rest vpon the Prototype or first Sampler 8. For the Lords Sacraments and Word are as Calvin saith the liuely images of God and of his owne making not ours And therefore we may lawfully and must haue such a respect vnto them as we may not haue to any thing devised by man and wee may by them as obiectum à quo by an object from whence and medium per quod a meanes by which tender our adoration to God which by an Image of our own heads made we cannot doe without either breach of the 1 Commandement if the adoration determine in the image or prototype thereof being a meere creature or breach of the 2 Commandment though the adoration were referred only to God For he hath said Thou shalt not make to thy selfe c. but neuer meant to restraine himselfe from such representation of himselfe as he should like to giue or vs from worshipping him serving him in the vse of them See Cap. 9. And hence it is that the people of God before and after the Law haue taken notice of Gods presence or grace manifested by message as Exod. 4. or signes ordinary or extraordinary given them of God and haue with free consciences thereupon kneeled or bowed downe themselues to God vpon at or before those representations of Gods speciall presence or grace Wherein if any man shall match them with Durand Occham and others that worship Images made at the will of men onely in relation to that which is worshipped he shall be injurious to the Saints and giue
incouragement to that Popish conceit without reason The Author of Altare Damasc yeeldeth that the Iewes at or before the Arke which was Gods instituted signe of his presence or Temple in respect of the Arke and so before the burning bush Ex. 3. or armed man Iosh 5. or cloud Ex. 33.9 or other signe given of God as a signe of his speciall presence might lawfully vpon sight or respect of such a signe Adore God But saith he the Sacraments are not signes of Gods speciall presence but grace and before or respectiuely to such signes of grace Adoration is not lawfull though onely referred to God But this man opposeth without reason presence and grace which both did often coincidere fall both into one as in the Arke and cloud and armed man which were so signes of his presence as they also were signes of his fauour and grace That Armed man in Ioshua professeth to come as a Captaine of the Lords hoast Paul saith our Fathers were baptized vnder the cloud The Arke is called the Arke of the Couenant therefore Presence and Grace in these signes are not opposite but conjunct 2. Hee erreth when hee supposeth the Iewes to haue vsed this Adoration only at or before the signe of speciall presence and not of Grace For they did it to God vpon occasion of his signes of fauour as well as those of his speciall presence See Pet. Mart. on 1 King For when the fire came downe from heauen to burne and as it were to shew Gods acceptance of their Sacrifices which was not simply a signall of his Presence but of his speciall fauour the people fell downe and worshipped God as well as at his foot stoole the Arke or Cloud Levit 9. 24. and 2. Chron. 7.3 Ezra 9.5 and 10 1. with 5.17 and 3.11 3. Hee mistaketh in saying they bowed and adored God at or before the Tabernacle or Temple in respect of the Arke only so hee meaneth which was therein Ezra kneeled and cast downe himselfe before the very place of the Temple as the house God though there was neither Arke any more after the captiuity nor Temple then standing but only the place which God had chosen for his name to dwell in and a foundation of the Lords house Chemnit in exam part 2. pag 91. edit 1578. It is much more sound which Chemnitius obserueth that the people of God vpon any occasion representing Gods speciall Presence or fauour to them whether it were only by a Gracious message as in Ex. 4. and 12. or Action as in Gen. 24.26 48. or signe thereof giuen from God they Adored and cast downe themselues of which wee haue spoken much already Cap. 10. 4. But if it were lawfull to Adore God onely at or before his owne Signall of his speciall Presence the Arke why not at the Sacrament referring all the Adoration to God in Christ For was the Arke any better signe of Gods presence then the Bread and Wine are of the body and blood of Christ whose names hee himselfe hath honoured them withall as the Arke was honoured with the title of Iehouah i. e. for the representation and Sacramentall Relation sake Doth any man diuide Christ himselfe from the Graces of Christ verely wee in the Sacrament haue no hope of partaking the Grace of Christ but by partaking himselfe his very body and blood though not carnally or bodily yet really and in truth not in at our mouthes but into our soules as spirituall food The conclusion of all is that if our Church intended that wee in receiuing the Communion should looke vpon the Bread and Wine not simply as creatures but as Sacraments of our Lords institution and so beholding them Non quâ sunt sed quâ significant not as they are in their owne nature but as what they there signifie should tender a knee-worship or Adoration not at all to them but only to God or Christ his sonne by occasion of them we should therein doe no more then the ancient godly Fathers did before Poperie as that learned tract Dialecticon Eucharistiae sheweth I am sure no more then the godly Iewes did as hath beene shewed And yet euen this Ceremony so vsed should bee no proper worship of God or worship of and by it selfe because it is not then and so commanded of the Lord but only Improper and Reductiue worship and though not commanded yet allowed of Gods word And therefore but a matter of meere Order in the sense aforesaid 5. But I haue already giuen in our Churches publicke Declaration by which appeareth that shee goeth not so far but vnderstandeth this gesture to bee only for Signification of our humble and gratefull acknowledgement of those benefits bestowed of Christ in this his Ordinance vpon not all men but the worthy Receiuers And therefore they which condemne this Church of a Will-worship yea of flat Idolatry for this and teach the poore people to forbeare the Communion rather then to receiue it kneeling haue more to answer for to God and his Church then perhaps they thinke of 6. For while they piously intending to sayle from as I may say the North-pole of the Popish Idolatry not heeding the Aequator haue sayled though not home to the South-Pole yet too neere it into another extreame of Superstition and Disworship of God Disworship in turning their backes vpon the Lords table for a gesture not forbidden of God and Superstition in placing such a necessity in sitting or standing which are neither of them commanded of the Lord as is confessed that they thinke themselues highly to honour and please God in the choyse of those gestures or else not to communicate This is to worship God after the traditions of men Or else the Iewes were not guilty of it by forbearing out of conscience and for feare of pollution to eate their meate with vnwashen hands Only this is so much the worse as the spirituall food which they dare not touch nor taste vnlesse they may take it sitting or standing is better then the bodily from which the Iewes abstained The Lord who hath given many of them godly desires vouchsafe in mercy to cleare their judgements and not to lay this errour to their charge CAP. 15. The first part of the fourth Argument Answered Arg. 4. THe Law i. e. the 2. Commandement forbiddeth two things 1. The devising any new wayes of worship 2. The vsing of prescribed worship otherwise then they are directed But some of our Ceremonies are devised new wayes of worship or vsage of the prescribed worships otherwise then they are directed Ergo the Law forbiddeth them Answ What things the Law of the second Commandement doth forbid I haue said and graunt the same or with it the third Commandement to forbid these two things you mention But I will consider these two apart and so make two Arguments of one for perspicuities sake The Law forbiddeth the diuising of new wayes of worship But our Ceremonies are deuised new wayes
in celebrating those mysteries And in his time and after before the Transubstantiation they did Adore Christ as coexistent with the bread which perhaps gaue occasion to Auerrois who liued eightie yeares before Honorius to say that Christians did adore their God and then eate him For at that time the errour of Consubstantiation had gotten strength and they did as it were confine the locall presence of Christ to the bread once sanctified at least in the Sacramentall vse of it and did performe diuine honour to the Sonne of God as being therin Not yet intending to adore that which was seene but that which was taken to bee therein vt contentum in continente ineffably there yet ibi there The difference betwixt these and the former ages was in this That the former Ages did in receiuing the Sacrament c Adoring as Aug. said not that which is seene and perisheth but that which is beleeved c. adore Christ as therin mystically as the signified thing is in the Signe without any opinion of Christs bodily presence in the creatures themselues or of alteration made in the substance nature or forme of the creatures whereas that Age dreamed of a Consubstantiation The following did embrace that monster of Transubstantiation and then when all the substance of the visible creature was held to be gone they did easily turne and entend the Adoration to the visible things as if there had beene now no substance of any creature left therein but only the appearances of familiar creatures vnder which Christ himselfe was substantially but inuisible That there was this difference the writings of the seuerall Ages will manifest to any diligent Reader and among other things this cause which is kept I confesse still though stripped of the sense it had that in celebrating or consecrating the prayer was not made that the Bread and Wine might bee made the body and blood of Christ in themselues as is now fansied but Vt nobis accipientibus fiant corpus sanguis Domini to vs receiuing of them they may become the body and blood of the Lord. Intimating that the Reall presence of Christ in a spirituall manner is not effected in the visible signes but in and vnto the faithfull Receiuer of them And that all the conuersion and changing of the Bread and Wine was only in their vse in that they were mystically and in type the body and blood of Christ as the Arke was Iehouah as the Rocke was Christ 1. Corinthians 10. The Adoration therfore of Christ in the vse of the Sacrament hath alwayes beene in the Christian Church First without any reference of diuine honour to the visible things themselues as being really turned into Christ or containing him within themselues Afterwards from the preuailing of Guilmund and other against Berengarine and the truth for a reall presence of Christs conioyned with the bread they directed their Adoration to the creatures but not for the creatures or Elements sakes but for Christs sake At last came in the Adoration of the Sacrament or visible element of bread it selfe as hauing no substance or materiall subsistence but onely the naturall Body of Christ by vertue of Consecration by Concomitance wholly Christ who is God to be adored for euer In the first times and second the adoration was onely in the vse For out of the Sacramentall vse they did not beleeue such a Reall presence but after the abomination of Transubstantiation once got the field because there was then nothing of the creature supposed to be left but the Accidents and those as Bellar. himselfe speaketh vnited to the person of the Sonne of God Then followed that wheresoeuer that appeared Diuine honour was held fit to bee done thereto as vnto the very Son of God incarnate and certainely existent vnder those Species of Bread and Wine as euer he was on the Crosse or in the wombe of his mother onely for feare of frighting vs hee is pleased to bee there invisible and as after the manner of a Spirit but yet in his very true naturall body the same that was crucified say they This most abominable Idolatrie followed indeed the Transubstantiation But the two other sorts of Adoration of Christ in the vse of the Sacrament went before this The middle also was Idolatrous not in obiecto in the object as the last but interpretatiue because they conceiued very Christ to be coexistent then with the sanctified Creatures and as so adored him but not the visible creatures The first Adoring was vndoubtedly lawfull when the sanctified creatures were vnderstood to bee the Body and Blood of Christ not in rei veritate as being changed the one into the other or one coexistent with the other but in significante mysterio in a signifying mysterie as August spake made the Body and Blood of Christ not by any alteration of their substance forme and nature as Theodoret but onely by their Institution and Deputation to that vse and therefore were not the very Body and Blood of Christ nor did exhibit the same as was after dreamed to the mouth and bodie of euery Receiuer of them but onely to the soule of the true beleeuers who receiued spiritually and by faith rem sacramenti the thing signified by the outward elements For all that while the adoration or diuine worship was directed only to Christ as sitting at the right hand of God in heauen and that in the act of Communicating Hence the 1. Nicene Councell exhorteth that men should not bee humiliter intenti humbly intent to the things before them but looke vp higher Hence came into the Lyturgie Sursum corda lift vp your hearts Hence many plaine speeches of Saint August Chrysost and others that the Receivers must as Eagles mount vp to heauen and take hold of Chirst there Prepare mentem non ventrem fidem non dentes their heart not their stomacke faith not their teeth to receiue Christ himselfe and feed vpon him That Adoration preceded Transubstantiation Ann. 1130. lib de Canonii observantia proposit 23. prope finem Tom 11. Bibl. Pat. Colon pag. 460. D. Col. 1. which was defined at the fourth Lateran Councell Ann. 1215 I shew In the 11 Centurie we haue in Radulpho Decano Tungrensi the maner of receiuing the Sacrament set forth in these words Inclinatus autem dicit antequam communicet Domine Iesu Christe qui voluntate patris cooperante Spiritu sancto per mortem propriam mundum viuificasti libera me per hoc sacro-sanctum corpus sanguinē tuum ab omnibus iniquitatibus malis meis c. Cum distribuit dicit Corpus Domini nostri Iesu Christi proficiet tibi in vitam aeteruam Amen The Priest bowing himselfe before hee communicates saith thus O Lord Iesus Christ who by the will of the Father and the consecration of the holy Ghost hast quickned the world through thine owne death deliver mee by this thy most holy body and blood from all mine iniquities and
any change to be made by Consecration either in the substance for me or species nor Consubstantiation for he saith not that in or with those mysticall signes is that which is beleeued and adored but that the signes themselues arâ— vnderstood to bee that which is beleeued and adored id est to be that in a Mysteâ—ie â—or else how said our Lord This is my body How Paul The rocke was Christ And yet Theodoret plainely sheweth that these not Elements but signes i. e. Sacraments of Bread and Wine sanctified by the will of Christ to that vse are beleeued and adored not meaning that the adoration should at all rest in the visible things in which no reall change was made but was referred to what they are in their signification and vse the body and blood of Christ inseparably knit to the person of the Sonne of God or Deitie in that Person 〈◊〉 adversus â—â—â—â—um â—ialecticon â—â—thar Thus was God worshipped in the Bush as Lyra saith and in the Arke as that learned man forenamed and it appeareth Psal 95.6 to bee so Thus Dauids dauncing before the Arke was before the Lord 2. Sam. 6. â—â—g de Cateâ—hisanâ—â—s ruâ—ibus cap. 3. The signes saith Augustine are visible things but invisble things are adored in them He saith that invisible things which are in them are adored not as if hee had once dreamed of Christs being ibi there contained in or vnder the species for he often professeth that Christs naturall body where it is is visible and occupieth a place or else could not be a body and is now and shall be onely in heaven till he come to Iudgement but that the Adoration is intended not at all to the Signes themselues as they are visible things but to Christ himsâ—lfe which is not seene who is in the Signes onely ut signatum in signe by vertue of a Sacramentall Relation not by any Locall inexsistence The same Theodoret in Dialog 3. reasoneth from the Adoration done outwardly to the Sacrament though in Relation to Christ thereby to proue that the flesh of Christ it selfe being the flesh of the Sonne of God is to bee Adored saying How is the Architype it selfe base or contemptible whose type is to be Adored and reuerenced Where first it is manifest that hee esteemeth and calleth the Sacrament but a type of the body and blood of Christ which is the Archtype and therefore fauoureth not any reall Carnall presence but excludeth that And yet seeing from the Adoration done to the type in reference to Christ the Archtype hee so disputeth hee plainely sheweth that it was vsuall and knowne to all men then that such externall Adoration or veneration was performed in the celebration of the mysteries vnto them as types to bee passed ouer as Iewell speaketh to the Archtype and not to rest in them And hee that will interpret this Adoration to haue beene onely internall or mentall must conclude that to the very person of Christ no externall Adoration must bee giuen For how else will Theodorets Argument stand good That this was not alone in some places Anno 400. or in the Easterne Churches but in many or all and in the West also take we the Testimonies of Saint Ambrose and S. Augustine They both led with the Latine Translation Psal 94 6. Adorate scabellum eius in stead of ad scabellum reading worship his foot-stoole for worship at his foot-state are troubled to thinke how that speech could bee right when it was not lawfull to Adore any creature And thinke you these meaâ—t to Adore the consecrated Elements as if they were no creatures verely no for Ambrose saith that they remaine the same that they were and yet are turned to another thing that is in vse and mysterie an other thing but in their substance still the same creatures Vpon this Ambrose first and Aug. after him and many others after them enquire what that same foot-stoole in the Psalme may bee which men must Adore They find in Isay 61. That the earth is called the Lords foot-stoole Well then men must worship the earth But this they also abhorre lest they should offend him that is Lord of heauen and earth They then remember that Christs humane body was earth of the earth and that the same as taken into the vnity of the person of the Sonne of God was to be Adored for the Deities sake to which it is inseperably vnited Here is the ground But then how shall wee Adore that flesh which is not present with vs Hence Augustine And because he hath walked in that flesh and hath giuen vs that flesh to bee eaten vnto Saluation and no man eateth that flesh vnlesse he hath first adored it It is found how such a foot-stoole of the Lord is adored and we not only shall not sinne in Adoring it but shall sinne in not Adoring But doth the flesh quicken or giue life Our Lord himselfe hath told commending to vs the same earth It is the spirit that quickeneth but the flesh profiteth nothing And Ideo ad terram quamlibet cum tu inclinas prosternis non quasi terram intuearis therefore when thou bowest or prostratest thy selfe to any earth thou oughtest to behold it not as earth but looke at that Holy one whose foot-stoole that is which thou dost adore for thou adorest for his sake wherefore hee hath added here Quia sanctum est c. In this large passage of Saint Augustine it is manifest that his devise is to forefend all Adoration of any meere creature and to acknowledge the humanity of Christ only though a creature to bee capable of diuine Adoration in respect of the Deity to which it is personally vnited Therefore Augustine was no Papist nor will his Testimony at all serue their turne which worship any thing that is not also God as the Man Christ is Beza therfore saith that in Aug. time they did receiue Adorantes hee meanes kneeling adversus Hâ—sâ—usâ—uÌ„ p. 311 But withall the Text of August doth manifestly shew that Christ God and Man was adored of euery Communicant before hee receiued the Sacramentall flesh of Christ in the Eucharist And that this was in Augustines iudgement so farre from being a sinne that it was a sinne not to doe it But to this is b Repâ—y to Bishop Morrow part 2. cap. 22. to the testimonies of Aug. and Chrysost Beza saith it ought to bee receiued both with internall and externall Adoration Quest Resp lib. Quest 243. answered that euery true Communicant must adore Christ before he partake him in the Sacraments but that is internally by faith and loue c. This is true I confesse but is so far from excluding the outward expression by some bodily signe of Godly reuerence that it rather doth require it that God may be worshipped in body and soule together But this must not bee pleaded to void the Testimony of Aug. alleadged to proue externall Adoration before
commandments as did that of the Iewes yet because it is contrary to the Law which forbiddeth all addition to it selfe that is as Chamier saith to bind the Conscience per se by and of it selfe we might not suffer that impietie to passe without contradiction nor by our Conformity countenance such a superstition And as this is true on that hand so is it on the other that if any man how holy learned or good soeuer shall deliuer this tradition to men not hauing any word of God for himselfe You may not weare a Surplice in Gods Seruice nor make the signe of the Crosse at Baptisme on the childs forehead nor kneele in receiuing the Lords Supper for if you doe you shall sin against God and dishonour him and it will one day lye on your Conscience as a sinne I may not suffer such a superstition without reproofe not yeeld any practise to the command or direction of this humane Tradition for the very same reason For as it is superstition de rebus medijs in vtramque parteÌ„ statuere in things indifferent to make peremptory lawes on either hand either that it must of necessitie be so done in obedience to God or it must not bee so done for direct obedience to God as the onely Lord of the Conscience So it is my dutie without partialitie on either hand to shew my dislike of their contrary superstitions Nor can it bee said that the one side doth vrge Conformitie more eagerly then the other doth Inconformitie For they vrge Inconformitie directly for Conscience sake to God and affirme that it is Ignorance or an ill Conscience in any man to vse them or both whereas the other vrge them not at all to be vsed for any Conscience sake or necessitie in themselues but onely for Conscience sake because they are determined and imposed as matters of Order and externall government by lawfull authoritie Indeed the Church-Officers inflict more grievous penalties vpon the refusall of these as hauing authoritie of Law But the other at least some of them inflict deeper wounds by casting all men which conforme out of the hearts good opinion of all they can as time-seruers belly-gods and what you will else that naught is Nor is the Suspension of a Minister in my conceit a smarter stroake then the suspension of the Lords Sacrament from being received vnlesse the gesture of sitting or standing may be yeelded to them I lament the pressure of either side if it could be holpen with all my heart and yet must remember this proverbe Crudelem Medicum intemperans aeger facit the intemperance of the Patient puts the Physician vpon an harsh course of cure The Lord God of Peace and Mercy guide our hearts and minds in the way and study of truth and peace CAP. 19. The Objection from Christs example answered Opp. THe Arguments against Kneeling taken from Christs Example Table-gesture Idolatrous introduction prohibition to fall downe before a consecrated creature I confesse haue not mooued me much That which I desire to be satisfied in concerning this gesture is First c. Answ If you had said these Arguments had not moved you at all I would of them haue said nothing But lest they might at all sollicite your thoughts I will say something of each of them in order As for Christs Example Vid. Raynold in Censura de lib. Apochr praelect 79. which Altare Da. alloweth to be so p. 74â— and appeareth true ex Ioan. 13.23 25. if it binde to that gesture which he vsed then it bindeth to lying along For what ever is to be done by paterne must be cut iust to the paterne or else it is not done so For that Christ did so eate the Passeouer with his Disciples and the Disciples so partake the Communion in that gesture which our Lord non tam instituit quam retinuit in Coena not which hee instituted but rather continued is by all the learned on that side confessed Altare Damasc p. 745. Mr. Ainsw Annot. in Exod. 12. Amongst whom this is a rule that such things as our Lord then did occasionally are Altar Damasc p. 741. no examples to vs to binde vs to the like and therefore say they wee are not tyed to the night or to after supper or to vnleavened bread or to washing of feet or to the sex or number of Communicants which is well sayd But say I Vid. Tremel in Math. 26 ex libro Talmudico-Scaliger in Emendat temporum lib. 6. pag. 534. that gesture was as occasionall as the rest for it was the custome and Ecclesiasticall Ordinance of the Iewes to eat the Paschall-Feast so lying along on beds in token of the rest which God had now given them in their owne land which being a profitable Ceremony our Lord himselfe observed it and continued the vse of it in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood though it was a gesture vsed in the Passeouer that he might teach vs by his Example not to bee scrupulous about gestures but to conforme our selues to the lawfull customes of the people of God where we are So Christs Example is for vs. CAP. 20. The objection from a Table-gesture answered 2. THe Table-gesture vrged doth crie downe the Argument from Christs Example For if the thing required a Table-gesture by nature of it selfe then must we not ground it vpon any examples but refer the examples to the Table gesture as the ground thereof Nor was that gesture of discubitus lying along with the Iewes a common table-gesture but vsed onely at the Sacrifice or Sacred Feasts saith Altare Damasc which is much for vs Altare Dam. pag. 743. as intimating that it is comely and convenient in our feasting before the Lord euen in the gesture of the body or manner of vsing it to shew and witnesse that wee are not at a common Table for the Iewes vsed this gesture freely at their Sacrifice-Feasts not at their common supper or meales and tyed themselues to it strictly onely in the Paschall Supper that no other might then bee vsed without breach of their Constitutions This our Lord followed Altare Dam. pâ—g 7â—6 They which vrge this Argument most confesse that it is not fit or lawfull to vse all other Formalities of a common table at the Lords Table And therefore the vse of a common table-gesture vrged by some of them so far as to say to Receiue kneeling is not to receiue the Lords Supper is a most vnreasonable straine full of Faction not free of Superstition For any gesture in case of necessitie any comely gesture accompanied with manifest signes of Reverence is no doubt lawfull in publike and no one by any divine Law necessary therefore determinable by the Churches of God as an indifferent Rite Epist lib. fol. 177. Doth Christ heed vs whether wee take it sitting standing or kneeling saith Oecolampadius CAP. 21. The Objection from Idolatrous introduction answered THe third Argument from Idolatrous Introduction is a poore
euills whatsoeuer c And when hee distributeth the Eucharist vnto others he saith The body and blood of our Lord Iesus Christ bee available to thee vnto eternall life Anno 1090. Extat in Bibl Pat. To 11. pag. 383. lit B. col 1. about the yeere of our Lord 1090 In Micrologo de Ecclesiasticis obseruationibus cap. XVIII these words Orationem quam inclinati dicimus antequam communicemus non ex ordine sed ex religiosorum traditione habemus scil hanc Domine Iesu Christe qui ex voluntate patris Item illud Corpus sanguis Domini Iesu Christi quod dicimus cum alijs Eucharistiam distribuimus Sunt aliae multae precationes quas quidem ad pacem communionem priuatam frequentant sed diligentiores antiquarum traditionum obseruatores nos in huiusmodi priuatis orationibus breuitati stucere docuerunt potiusque publicis precibus in officio Missae occupaeri That prayer which bowing our selues we vse to say before wee communicate wee haue not by any order but by tradition of religious men to wit this O Lord Iesus Christ who by the will of the Father And this also The body and blood of the Lord Iesus Christ which wee say when wee distribute the Eucharist There are also many other prayers which indeed men vse at giuing the Pax and priuate communion but such as are more diligent obseruers of the more ancient traditions haue taught vs to study breuity in such priuate prayers and to bee rather busied in the publicke prayers in the office of the Masse These two witnesses and especially the elder of them Micrologus who dyed aboue a hundred yeares before Transubstantiation was defined tell vs these things First that beside the publicke solemne prayers they had sundry priuate Secondly that they had a prayer which the Minister vsed to say Inclinatus bowing himselfe immediately before hee receiued and another for each Communicant the same which wee haue Thirdly that those prayers were not ab aliquo ordine by any appointment but of the Tradition of deuout men These testimonies doe proue that they receiued with Adoration whether Inclinati bowing themselues in their bodies or on their knees For men neuer knew till now if any bee so blind to beleeue it that kneeling is any more a gesture of Adoration then bowing Inclinate capita Deo bow your heads to God in Chrysostomes Leiturgy was taken to bee a posture of Diuine Adoration and not onely Kneeling Vasquez de Adoratione lib. cap. 4. num 36. Well-fare Vasquez yet The externall tokens of Adoration are bowing downe of the body bending the knee prostration knocking of the brest folding of the hands baring the head censing kissing setting vp lights c. But Inclinatus may agree to Kneeling or to bowing downe Vide Synod Turon Can. 37. And like enough that on the Station dayes Lords dayes and Pentecost they did rather bow then kneele I meane the publicke Ministers and kneeled on all other dayes when they were by Canon bound to pray Kneeling In which dayes they also did communicate and therefore must needs bee vnderstood to receiue it Kneeling for when it was deliuered that prayer was said The body of our Lord c. Yea it is said by Amalarius Anno. 800. Amalar. de Ordine Antiphonarii cap. 52. apud Bibl. Patr. Colon. Tom. 9. part 1. pag. 411. who liued eight hundred yeare before Berengarius his time and therefore before the decree for Consubstantiation or Reall presence in or with the Bread That according to the Order of the Romane Church in the end of the Psalmes they vsed to say a versicle before the prayer Quam solemus facere genu flectendo siuè vultum declinando in terram which wee are vsed to make kneeling or casting down our face towards the earth whereby is manifest that at some prayers euen in Easter weeke for of that hee speaketh they did vse indifferently bowing downe of the head or kneeling and therefore did vnderstand the bowing to bee as much a signe of Adoration as kneeling and that wee may as reasonably say Inclinati kneeling as it may bee said bowing or bowed downe The story of Plegilis reported by Rabanus Maurus which is botchingly peeced to Paschasius his booke Anno. 830. de corp sang Domini cap. 41. Though the thing reported bee like to be a fable or else was a delusion of Sathan to helpe on the doctrine of the Reall presence which was then in brewing yet so much of it as serues our turne may bee well alleadged Namely when it is said that when hee was in celebrating the Communion hee pro more procumbebat according to custome felt on his knees which sheweth plainely that after the consecration and before the receiuing the manner was that the Priest fell on his knees For else would not Rabanus haue said pro more procumbebat These witnesses may I thinke serue to assure vs that at that time when the Reall presence was come into dispute and after that till the way of Transubstantiation was defined They did vse to communicate with Adoration And yet it cannot bee shewed that any Bishop of Rome did appoint it so to bee CAP. XXII That in the most ancient times before corruption of the doctrine of the Sacrament began the Sacrament was receiued with adoring Gesture NOw for the more ancient times in which the doctrine of the Sacrament was the same which ours now is as Orthodoxus Consensus most largely and Duplessis de Missa and others doe manifest I say with that learned Treatise Dialacticon Eucharistiae confidently that the Fathers did receiue the Sacrament Adoring Adoring not the Sacrament but Christ and to shew this I will begin as high as I can and come downe-wards Tertullian de oratione * Cap. 14. after Reproofe of other abuses about prayer cometh at length to say Similiter de stationum diebus non putant plerique sacrificiorum orationibus interueniendum quod statio soluendo sit accepto corpore Domini Ergo deuotum Deo obsequium Eucharistia resoluit an magis Deo obligat nonne solennior erit statio tua si ad aram Dei steteris Accepto corpore Domini reseruato vtrumque salvum est participatio sacrificij executio officij Si statio de militari exemplo nomen accipit nam militia dei sumus vtique nulla laetitia siue not as it is printed sine tristitia obueniens castris stationes militum rescindit Nam laetitia libentius tristitia solicitius administrat disciplinam Likewise on the dayes of Station most men thinke they should not be present at the prayers of the Sacrifice because the body of our Lord being taken the Station is to be dissolued Doth then the Eucharist dissolue the obseruance deuoted to God or rather more oblige vnto God Shall not thy station bee more solemne if thou shalt stand even at the Altar of God The body of our Lord being taken
reserue it and carry it away with them and eat it at home in priuate where they might receiue it Kneeling which in the publicke assembly they might not then doe in the Station dayes This hee saith accepto igitur corpore Domini reseruato vtrumque saluum est participatio sacrificij executio officij both are by this deuise prouided for both the partaking of the Sacrifice i.e. the Sacrament of Christs sacrifice and the performance of that duty of not kneeling in the publicke worship of God on those dayes of Station And that they might see hee had no meaning to dissolue the station or standing he addeth that if the name bee taken from Military fashion as wee are Christs Souldiers then the standing must bee obserued because Souldiers never left their stations for any joy of good or sorrow of ill successe but still they kept their station more chearefully if things went well and more carefully if ill Nam laetitia libentius tristitia solicitiùs administrabit disciplinum In summe the people would not come to take the Sacrament when they might not kneele in the Act of receiving or pertaking it and therefore forbore to come vnto the Communion-Table and prayer on those Station dayes Tertullian wishes them to come though they might not then kneele and to take the Bread in publike standing at the Table and reserue and carry it away with them and receiue it at their owne houses as they desired kneeling Thus should the Eucharist bee receiued and the tradition of standing on those dayes in the publike worship of God be also obserued I allow not the deuise but onely relate it and out of it doe in my conscience obserue that the Christians then did and before had vsed assumere adorantes to take it adoring Anno 230. Origen Hom. on Diversos Vide Euseb Emissen Hom. in 2. Domin post Epiphan alleadged in the Tract of kneeling p. 195. by Roâ—hester in reuerence not to the visible signes but the internall grace And this agreeth well with that aduise of Origen giuen to euery man that when the Lord commeth to him in the Sacrament hee humbling himselfe should say as did the Centurion Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter into my mouth which words haue if not since that time as Durantus affirmes yet for many ages been vsed by the Communicants immediatly before the receiuing or some other such like prayer to which the Communicant said Amen Now that from that time of Tertullian it was a common fashion to take i.e. accipere the holy mysteries in the publike assembles on the Lords dayes and Pentecost and to cary them away and vse them privately in their owne houses or elsewhere euery day ante omnem cibum fasting as Tertullian speaketh or when they would is manifest if Tertul. ad vxorem Cyprian Heironym any thing in Tertullian Cyprian Hierome and others And that they did in priuate receiue the same kneeling or prostrate and that with the approbation of the then Pastors appeareth in the example of Gorgonia and the applause of that famous Bishop who reporteth it Greg. Nazian who telleth Anno 380. Greg. Nazian Orat. in laudeÌ„ Gorgoniae Edit Paris 1609. how for recovery from her sicknes and paine after all other helpes in vaine vsed shee went to the Church and Altar in the night and there prostate with faith before the Altar c. And hauing layd her head to the Altar with like that is as is before expressed with a great crie and teares wherewith shee abounded like to that woman who of olde washed the feet of Christ and professed that shee would not part thence till shee had obtained cure and afterwards had with this her medicine that is of her teares as Elias Cretensis expounds it rinsed her whole body and that if her hand had any where hid or layd up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the signes of Christs precious body and blood shee had mingled it with her tears O admirable thing shee presently felt her selfe cured of her disease c. Which place I vrge not conceauing that at that time shee did receiue those holy mysteries from the hand of any Minister then administring the same vnto her it being in the night season when shee is said thus to haue done but that shee in case shee had any where reserued any part of the mysteries formerly administred to her and intended now priuately to haue eaten and drunke the same in the night could not but haue mingled them with her teares and thence to shew as Billius also notes vpon the place the ancient custome of those times to haue been this viz. to reserue the Sacrament and to eat it priuately as saith the same Billius Tertull. lib. 2. ad vxorem testifieth For would Greg. Nazianzen haue supposed her to haue lyd vp any of those signes or Christs body and blood to haue made vse of them at such a time when shee was priuately prostrate and praying with teares at the Altar if such a thing had not then been in vse This reseruation might possibly bee begun before by reason of persecution or for that reason the rather continued But I conceiue the either first or most prevailing occasion was this that on the Lords dayes they might not receiue it kneeling and their deuotion ignorance together was such that they held it not fit assumere to take it but kneeling or prostrate not adoring that which was seene as Augustine saith and therefore not the Bread or species of Bread but that which was not seene This abuse of Reseruation was after marked in the church and thereupon all men condemned as accursed who should accipere and not sumere take it in the Church but not at all partake it 1. Councell of Toledo And by the Caesar Augustan Councell all men denounced accursed that should take it and not receiue assumere it in Ecclesia in their Church or place of their holy meetings The ancient Rite of not kneeling in their solemne or publike prayers or worship on the Lords dayes or betwixt Easter and Whitsuntide still continued often renewed by sundry Synods and was in a manner vnniuersally obserued The people therefore that might not still carry the holy things out of the Church as they had vsed but must partake them there were permitted rather then appoynted to kneele when they did sumere and vse some priuate prayers onely at the publike prayers they stood And the Ministers though on those dayes they might not kneele at the consecration Prayers I mean about the SacrameÌ„t yet they performed them inclinati bowing their faces towards the ground And the coÌ„mon people after they had taken the sacred things at the Altar or Communion Table or otherwise standing betooke themselues to their priuate deuotions first on their knees and so receiued the Sacrament kneeling in their owne places till that afterwards it was carried to them where they were
dayes Then say I that on the Lords dayes also they did receiue it kneeling And on the weeke dayes were bound so to doe by that Decree which required them to kneele in all their prayers consequently That there is not to bee found any Decree for the gesture of kneeling in the Act of receiuing no not in the Romane-Church before or after the Reall presence nor yet in the Greeke Church where yet they vsed to kneele doth manifest both the Antiquity and vniuersality of this Ceremony which out of a common notion of all Christians that in partaking of the body and blood of the Sonne of God it was comely for them to expresse reuerentiam singulariter debitam did make it selfe a Law vnto them without any Decree as out of Tertullian I have shewed before And therefore against Altare Damasc I say with Master Beza that this gesture of Adoration in receiving was in vse and state long before the Reall presence was hatched and was taken vp by the brewers of the Dreame and pleaded as an Argument for the Reall presence as if the worship intended to the person of Christ sitting in Heauen had beene alwayes meant to him as contained in the Bread and Wine or shewes thereof which is so professedly manifest in Algerus Bibl. Patr. Colon Tom. 12. part 1. pag. 435 colum 2. Vel de Sacramento lib. 2. c. 2 who liued anno 1060 as nothing can bee more Cassa enim videtur tot hominum huic Sacramento ministrantium vel adorantium veneranda sedulitas nisi ipsius Sacramenti longe maior crederetur quam videretur veritas et vtilitas Cum ergo exterius quasi nulla sint quibus tanta impenduntur venerationis obsequia aut insensati sumus aut ad intima mittimus magna salutis mysteria the venerable diligence of so many both administring and adoring this Sacrament seemes vaine vnlesse the truth and profit of the Sacrament were not beleeued to bee farre greater then can bee seene with the eye Seeing therefore those things which appeare outwardly are almost nothing either wee are senselesse in bestowing so much adoration vpon it or else wee doe looke vpon some internall mysteries of great saluation in it which though it was no good argument yet it was an Argument for defect of a better I therefore conclude that Kneeling in the act of receiuing was not brought into the Church by Antichrist nor euer was yet strengthened with any Papall Decree but hath been made a foot-banke vnto that Antichristian monster of Transubstantiation onely by mis-interpretation of it by such as sought out all meanes and laid hold on any colourable thing that might suckle the monster of their braine when it was once borne Beza therefore and other Churches which liue pell-mell with the Popish where Idolatry is openly in the streetes committed in bowing to a piece of Bread as if it were nothing else but Christ himselfe shifted into a new suit of apparell had reason enough to forbeare this gesture in their Churches and to disswade it as a thing which had beene and therefore may bee dangerous Beza Epist 12 adversus Heshusium in Opusculis pag. 311. quest respons Quest 243. Edit 1570. And therefore Beza doth no where condemne the vse of it as in it selfe vnlawfull but onely defend the Churches which in respect of the perill that might ensue or out of a desire to roote the Bread-worship out of the mindes of men doe decline the vse of this Ceremony And this what euer that fiery though learned man which compiled Altare Damascenum say to the contrary was the judgement of all those Diuines who in the name of the French and Dutch Churches made certaine obseruations vpon the Harmony of confessions set out at Geneua in Beza his time An. 1581. for in their fourth Obseruation vpon the confession of Bohemia in Sect. 14. Confess de Caena and on these words Herm Confess 〈◊〉 â—â—nea 〈◊〉 Sect 14. pag. 120. Populus autem fidelium vsitatissime in genua procumbeus hoc accipit the faithfull most vsually receiue it kneeling on their knees say thus In hoc etiam ritu suam cuique Ecclesiae libertatem saluam relinquendam arbitramur non quod per se hunc morem damnamus cum hac cautione de qua modo diximus obseruatione quarta sed quoniam ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex animis euellendam prestitit plerisque locis eâ—m ceremoniam aboleri in ipsorum signorum sumptione de qua vid. supra obseruat 1. ad Heluetiam priorem In this rite also we leaue each Church to her owne liberty not that wee condemne it simply as euill in it selfe vsed with caution giuen in our fourth Obseruation but for the rooting of Bâ—ead-worship our of mens minds it is better that in most places it were casherred c. Where is manifest that they judge this Ceremony in it selfe lawfull and therefore leaue all Churches to their owne liberty only with caution that it bee not vsed as any meanes to cherish the Bread-worship For which both the Articles of our Religion and the Declaration related before haue put in good caution As for the rest they doe rather make a good defence for such Churches as do forbeare it then at all condemne any that vse it And Dialection Eucharistiae printed and published with the second volume of Beza his Workes and in his life time at Geneua Ann. 1570. saith Veteres Eucharistiam cum summareuerentia magno honore tutos tamen ab Jdololatria fuisse quod nobis etiam antiquâ disciplinâ reuocatâ catechismi formâ restitutâ contingeret The Ancients receiued the Eucharist with all reuerence and great honour that is as hee saith on the next page adorantes adoring it and yet were free from all Idolatry which also wee might doe by recalling the ancient discipline and restoring the forme of catechisme The Bread-worship was brought in by Antichrist indeed and was as Cofter though to another purpose saith the greatest idolatry that euer was in the world if the Bread bee not turned into the true and naturall body of Christ as vpon my soule it is not This Ceremony was not brought in by him but turned from the Creator by an horrible blindnesse to the creature from which if wee returne it to the true owners of all religious Adoration shall this bee our sinne or theirs that will needs condemne vs I lament to see the transport of Passion of such as say the Formalists seeme to beleeue the Reall presence in the Elements which if it bee true God will judge vs if not hee that accuseth falsely is guilty of that which he objecteth as a slander and by the law of God to beare the same punishment Object There remaineth the last Objection viz. That it is not lawfull to kneele before a consecrated creature Ergo not to kneele in receiuing the Communion Answ The Antecedent is not simply true The consequence will not hold if the Antecedent were