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A26752 A discourse on my Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's and my Lord Bishop of London's letters to the clergy touching catechising, and the sacrament of the Supper with what is required of churchwardens and ministers in reference to obstinate recusants : also a defence of excommunication, as used by the Church of England against such : preached March the 9th and 16th in the parish church of St. Swithins / by William Basset ... Basset, William, 1644-1695. 1684 (1684) Wing B1052; ESTC R9117 26,279 41

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c. which seems a confining 'em to those very words as well as to that matter Indeed those Men must think very highly of themselves that look upon that Prayer which was composed by Christ himself and given to the Twelve whom he had chosen and was training up for the Discipleing all Nations to be fit only for Children if for any but to stand much below their own improvements We do not read that ever our Saviour made use of any other Prayer himself unless some short Ejaculation or particular Petition suited to a present exigence as when in his Agony and bloody Sweat If it be possible let this cup pass from me And though there may be many Reasons given why Publick Service ought to be much longer yet our Church uses this very form in every distinct Part of her Service Here then Youth is taught a Prayer short plain comprehensive and suited to the Divine Will being given us by the Son of God and Captain of our Salvation who best knew how and what we ought to pray for a Prayer suited to all Persons Times and Places and therefore given for the use of all Posterities which none but gifted Men and Pharisaical Spirits who love much babling ever yet despised And this our Catechism doth explain in a few words and to the Capacities of every Learner in the Answer to this Question What desirest thou of God in this Prayer 5. We have the Explication of the Nature of a Sacrament that it is an outward and visible sign of an inward and Spiritual Grace given to us c. Whence it descends to the two Sacraments severally And tells you that the outward and Visible sign or form in Baptism is Water wherein the Person is baptiz'd in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and that the inward and Spiritual grace is a death unto Sin and a new birth unto Righteousness c. Hence it descends to the Sacrament of the Supper and tells you that the outward part or sign is Bread and Wine c. And that the inward part or thing signified is the Body and Blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper By which the Child is led from the conceits both of Transubstantiation and Consubstantiation at once For 1. It tells you that in the Sacrament and therefore after Consecration or Blessing for till then it is not a Sacrament there are two distinct Parts viz. the sign which is Bread and Wine and the thing signified which is the Body and Blood of Christ therefore the one is not changed into the other but remain distinct still because the sign and thing signified while such cannot be the same 2. It saith that this Body and Blood of Christ is taken and received by the faithful which is spoke exclusively of all others but if the Bread and Wine was really changed into the Body and Blood of Christ or if they did consist together and remain in and under the outward Elements although still distinct yet this Body and Blood of Christ would then be verily and indeed taken and received by every Communicant and not by the faithful only Ergo according to our Catechism there is neither Transubstantiation nor Consubstantiation in this Sacrament And in the last Answer you have a full and most excellent account of what is required of a worthy Communicant and that is to examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former Sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively faith in God's Mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all men Here then are Homer's Iliads in a Nutshel a little Body and System of Divinity that comprises the Substance of mighty Volumes Here the deepest Points and most mysterious parts of our Faith are by easie and familiar Expressions brought down to puerile Capacities Whereas the Assemblies Catechism is longer and runs upon second Notions which do themselves suppose some preceding Knowledges and therefore Children need an Explication of 'em and is burthened with numerous Quotations which are apt to confound and tire a young beginner This then ought to be prefer'd for its own sake and excellency which lyes both in the Matter it contains and it 's suitableness and sufficiency to it's end if it had not been injoyn'd by any Ordinance of Man But since it is so we have a double Obligation first from it self and then from the Authority that Commands it Therefore if we refuse we sin against both at once and in one Act we are doubly guilty And certainly Men have the less reason to do so because this very injunction doth yet leave room for every one to teach another at home 2. It is required of you that you receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Persons under obligation are all above Sixteen and both the Canon and Rubrick say that they shall receive at least three times in the year whereof Easter shall be one There are several Statutes that oblige the Subject to this Duty which Laws the People have made themselves in and by their Representatives therefore they can no more complain of the thing than they can that they have had Parliaments or at least such that have brought 'em under this Obligation Nor is this founded merely on Humane Laws but on a Divine Institution and Command of Heaven it being the last Precept our Saviour gave his Disciples before he was made an offering for Sin Do this in remembrance of me Therefore the observance of it must be a means to Salvation else he lays a needless burthen upon us and if Nature doth nothing in vain we cannot imagine that the God of Nature should give us Laws to no purpose If men may be safe under the customary neglect of this Sacrament why not of the other And if of these why not of any other Rules and Precepts of the Gospel since they all come with a Divine Authority impress'd upon ' em They are his Laws one as well as another But some may plead from the Nature of the things themselves that the Matter of some Commands is intrinsecally good and necessary and therefore was a Duty even antecedent to a Divine Precept but this is a pure Positive that hath no goodness in it self and therefore had not been a Duty unless injoyn'd and consequently though they are all Commanded yet they are not all alike obliging because the one hath a double Obligation viz. both from it's own Nature and Precept too the other from Precept only We answer that some will not allow the two Sacraments to be purely Positive but that they are founded partly on Nature and Reason But suppose 'em such and I cannot see the advantage they can make of it For pure Positives under the Law such as was Circumcision were as severely punished as Transgressions in things morally Good and Evil. For
he that was not Circumcised was to be cut off from his People And what reason can be given why the neglect of Positives under the Gospel should not be severely punished as well as under the Law Why the neglect or contempt of Baptism should not be a Sin now as well as that of Circumcision was then And this of the Sacrament as well as that of the Passover The Author to the Hebrews doth argue it to our advantage Chap 2. 2 3. If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which was spoken to us by the Lord As the Son of God is greater than a Created Spirit so the Transgression of the Law given by him is a greater Sin than a Transgression of the Law given by the other and if it be so as to the whole it must be so as to the like parts of each Dispensation Therefore a man hath but little cause to hope he may safely neglect a Positive institution of Christ when a like neglect was so severely punished under the Law There is a contempt of Divine Authority in the neglect of a Positive as well as there is of a Moral Duty and every Contempt and Disobedience must have a due recompence of reward This is the nearest Communion we have with God in this World therefore the neglect of it is the greatest neglect of God himself It is a means of conveighing Grace and Life to the Soul which is strengthned and refreshed by the Body and Blood of Christ as the Body is by the Bread and Wine and a contempt of the means is a contempt of the thing it self For which reasons as well as others the Duty is great and indispensable But I presume few of us here are against the Duty it self so much as against the Modus of it according to the Use of the Church of England Therefore I shall answer the most Common and material Objections I have met with that by giving reasonable and satisfactory answers to them I may leave every wilful neglect without excuse And some object 1. Against the Posture we receive it in which is Kneeling against which they plead 1. That it is not agreeable to that Posture which the Disciples received it in To which we answer That no Pretenders to Christianity in these Parts of the World do receive it in that Posture that the Disciples did which was not sitting but rather lying The same men plead that they received it in a Table gesture which to them was such but to us is sitting therefore say they we agree with 'em in a Table gesture though not in the same Posture of Body which is nearer to 'em than the Church of England goes We argue 1. That no reason can be given why a Table gesture which is different according to different places should be obliging and not the very Posture it was then given in There is no Precept nor Example for choosing the one rather than the other Therefore this is merely Election and not done upon any sufficient warrant 2. Here were many Circumstances considerable as the gesture lying the Persons to whom which were Men only the number but twelve the time at Night and that after Supper Now if we must observe one Circumstance why not the rest It is perfectly humoursom to make one obliging and not another when the Scripture leaves all alike 2. It is pleaded that Kneeling seems an Adoration either of the Table we kneel before or of the Bread and Wine 1. Adoration of the Table was a thing never used in the Christian Church There are some indeed that have bowed toward the East and therefore toward the Table because it stands in the East end of the Church but the reason of this was not because the Table stood there but because they expected our Saviour should at the last day appear first in that part of Heaven from that saying Mat. 24. 27. As the lightning comes out of the East and shines even to the West so shall the coming of the Son of man be For the same reason they turn'd toward the East at the rehearsal of the Creed and from thence we bury our Dead with their Faces that way 2. Others have bowed this way because as the Jewish Temple had it's Holy of Holies so they reckon a Divine Presence in this above what there is in other parts of the Church For though every part hath the same Consecration and the whole is the House of God yet this say they is as the highest Room and the Presence Chamber here the Christian Sacrifice is offered here the King comes down to see his Guests and is graciously present with every Communicant above what he is in other places in regard of the intimate and extraordinary Communications of himself Those that have made it motivum cultûs have ever denyed that they make it terminativum All Christian Professors would ever have look'd upon it to be as vile and unjust an imputation as those did who were accused to worship an Asses Head or to kill a Child and eat his Flesh and drink his Blood We are all Commanded to a Publick Worship and are here determin'd to such and such parts of the Church and Kneeling is the very Posture of Prayer which therefore all without lawful impediment ought to use whence it may as well be said that they worship the part of the Seat they Kneel before as that they Worship the Table who Kneel about it at the Sacrament This is such a surprizing Objection that the Church which hath been careful to remove every scruple never speaks to as not dreaming any would be so vain in their Imaginations as to make such an Objection And indeed I must look upon it not so much a real scruple as a malicious slander of the Order of our Church 2. Some think Kneeling an adoration of the Sacrament of Bread or Wine Indeed the worshipping the Bread is practised in the Church of Rome therefore our Church expecting some scruple this way doth declare at the end of the Communion That Kneeling is injoyn'd for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgments of the Benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers no adoration is intended or ought to be done either to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or to any corporal presence of Christ's Natural Flesh and Blood For the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their Natural Substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhor'd of all faithful Christians and the Natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven and not here it being against the truth of Christ's Natural Body to be at one time in more places than one This is so plain and rational that where it cannot please certainly nothing can I am confident few that make this Objection know of this