breach of the Institution made by kneeling is the change and restraint of the commandement giuen to many in the plurall number Eate yee drinke yee to one in the singular number Eate thou drinke thou ANS This is a calumny we neither change the command nor so much as a iot contained in the institution For first wee consecrate the Elements vsing the words of Saint Paul and the Euangelists without altering a sillable Thereafter when we giue the Elements seuerally to euery person wee apply the generall command to euery one in particular which if we did not euery worthy receiuer ought to apply vnto himselfe else he cannot communicate in faith for he that esteemes not that command to belong to himselfe in particular hath no warrant for his taking eating and drinking This application therefore made by the Pastor to euery communicant is not a breach but a meane seruing to the right and precise obseruation of the Institution PP The fift breach of the institution made by kneeling is the altering of the enunciatiue words of Christ This is my body which is broken for you This is my bloud which is shed for you in a prayer To blesse our body and soule saying The body of our Lord Iesus Christ c. ANS This also is a calumny for these words wee vse not in stead of the sacramentall words because then there should be no Sacrament at all for by the sacramentall word This is my body the bread is made the Sacrament of Christs body and by this word This Cuppe is the New Testament in my bloud the Cuppe is made the Sacrament of his Bloud and without this word whereby the will of our Sauiour is declared which makes the Sacrament all our prayers and wishes should serue to no vse It is true after the Sacrament is made by the sacramentall word these or the like words are vttered by the Pastor at the deliuery of the Elements whereby the generall prayer and blessing wherewith the action beginnes is applyed particularly to euery Communicant and they admonished and instructed to apply it to themselues This is the dutie both of the Pastor and of the people for as in the prayer it is our duetie to wish in generall that all who are to participate the bodie and bloud of Iesus may be preserued thereby to euerlasting life so it is our duetie to wish the same to each one seuerally at the instant when he is receiuing And as it is the Peoples dutie when the prayer is conceiued for all to wish that Christs body and bloud may preserue all the receiuers thereof so when they receiue seuerally to wish that themselues in particular may be preserued thereby For if this be one of the principall ends wherefore they come to receiue can they receiue worthily without this or the like wish No man without blasphemie can call this an idle battologie PP The sixth breach of the Institution made by kneeling is the taking away of the distribution that ought to be amongst the Communicants When Christ sayd Take yee eate yee he insinuates that they should take and diuide amongst themselues A little after In the first Booke of Discipline penned Anno. 1560. it is ordained that the Minister break the bread and distribute the same to those that bee next him commanding the rest euery one with reuerence and sobrietie to breake with other because it is neerest to Christs action further we haue a plaine precept Luke 22.17 Diuide it amongst you c. ANS If yee stand to that which yee alleadge out of Scaliger was the custome of the Iewes and vsed by our Sauiour in the Institution yee haue no cause to quarrell the distribution of the bread for the Master of the feast vfed to breake the berad in so many peeces as the number of the Feasters were giuing to euery one a peece neither did each person measure his owne portion giuing the rest to his neighbour according to our custome But leauing this if we shall consider by the Institution what part is proper to the Pastor and what to the People wee will finde that as it is the Pastors part to take bread to blesse and giue thanks so is it his part first to breake the bread then to giue it with this precept Take eate and so that it is the Peoples part not to breake it but to take it broken for as it was the part of Christ first to giue his flesh for the life of the World when he did offer himselfe in a sacrifice for our sinnes which he will haue represented in the Sacrament by the Pastor in breaking the bread so it was his part to giue his flesh to the faithfull not to be broken and sacrificed by them but to bee eaten after it was once broken sacrificed by himselfe If therefore it be not the part of the people either to represent the oblation of Christs body or the donation thereof to vs but the part of the Pastor properly who in these actions represents Christ it cannot be the part of the people to breake the bread nor to giue the bread one to another For this cause in the ancient Church it was euer giuen either by the Pastor himselfe or by his Deacon who supplied his place and helped him in the action but neuer by any of the people to others And Clemens Alexandrmus in the place which your selfe quotes saith not that the people diuided the bread but that it was permitted to euery one of the people to take a part of the Eucharist after that some doubtlesse the Masters of the Church had diuided it in peeces as their custome was The learned Musculus in his common places De coena Domini pag. 444. speaking of this purpose saith Fregit dedit Discipulis suis fregit ipse manusuapanem ac fractum à se dedit Discipulis non dedit integrum ab ipsis frangendum fed à se fractum panem Non dedit vt ipsi distribuerent fed vt à se distributum acciperent ederent Erant Apostoli in ca coena Domini non vt dispensatores mysteriorum Dei sed vt conuinae vt fideles vt Discipuli vt Communicantes Christus verò vt Conuiuator vt Dominus eadem opera instituens ac suiipsius manibus dispensans gratiae suae sacramentum That is to say Christ Iesus brake and gaue to his Disciples hee brake the bread with his owne hand and when it was broken he gaue it to his Disciples he gaue it not whole vnto them to be broken by them but he gaue them that which he had broken he gaue it not to them to be distributed by them but that they should take it being distributed by him and eate it The Apostles were in that Supper not as dispensers of the mysteries of God but as Guests as the faithfull as Disciples and as Communicants but Christ was as the maker of the Feast as the Master at one time both instituting and
all the parts of this holy ministration are actions of thanksgiuing ANS Although the name were taken as Causabone saith from one part of the action yet it is giuen to the whole action not by reason of this part onely but because it declares the nature and chiefe end of the action and albeit all the parts of this holy ministration seuerally considered are not actions of thanksgiuing yet the whole action which consists of these parts being performed Gratitudinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Paraus saith that is with a purpose of thankfulnesse to celebrate the death of Christ is Eucharisticke or an action of thankesgiuing The hand or foot being seuerally considered is not the bodie yet the whole which consisteth of all the parts is the body So it is true to take the bread is not an action of thankesgiuing nor to breake it nor to giue it being seuerally considered but to take breake blesse and giue with intention by these actions to represent the death of Christ and the application thereof to the faithfull for the praise of his glorious grace is an action of thankesgiuing Therefore to conclude as wee come to the Sacrament to bee made partakers of Christs death by faith vnto saluation so wee come to the Sacrament to celebrate the remembrance of his death to his glory In respect of the first end it is The Communion of his body and bloud in respect of the last it is a reall predication and celebration of his death till his comming againe which should bee often performed because as Paraeus speaketh Mors Domini perpetuis laudibus celebranda est that is The death of Christ is to be celebrated with perpetuall praises these are specially offered at the celebration of the holy Sacrament and in this respect it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing PP Obiect What we may craue of God vpon our knees we may receiue on our knees Answ It is false I may pray vpon my knees Giue vs this day our daily bread but I may not receiue it on my knees The people of Israel prayed for food yet they were not esteemed vnthankful for not kneeling when they receiued the Manna ANS I neuer heard this obiection vsed by any man but by you in this place therefore if it bee false your selfe that forged it is author of the falsehood The Bishop of Galloway who is now at rest hath this obiection in his Treatise which is not yet answered as he alledgeth Whatsoeuer spirituall benefit I may lawfully aske on my knees the same I may lawfully receiue vpon my knees with thankesgiuing But I may lawfully with supplication aske saluation by Iesus Christ on my knees Therefore I may lawfully receiue it on my knees Another argument was propounded in the Assembly at Perth which neither at that time nor since hath been answered and it is this Whatsoeuer spirituall benefit we should receiue in a solemne act of diuine worship with thankesgiuing and prayer that wee may receiue on our knees The body and blood of Iesus Christ in the Sacrament is a spirituall benefit which in a solemne act of diuine worship wee ought to receiue with thankesgiuing and prayer Therefore we may receiue the body and blood of the Lord Iesus Christ in the Sacrament vpon our knees The proposition of this argument at that time denied was proued thus Whatsoeuer benefit we ought to receiue with thankesgiuing and prayer that we ought receiue with the gesture that is most agreeable to thankesgiuing and prayer Kneeling is such a gesture c. Ergo c. In the Assumption it is affirmed that Christs body and blood in the Sacrament should be receiued with prayer and thankesgiuing This we proue by this reason Whatsoeuer spirituall benefit we should receiue with a spirituall hunger and thirst and with a spirituall appetite and desire after the grace and vertue that is therein to saluation the same we should receiue with prayer which is nothing else but such an appetite and desire But the body and blood of Christ is such a benefit c. Next that it should be receiued with thankesgiuing I proue Whatsoeuer benefit we should receiue by extolling and preaching and magnifying and praysing the inestimable worth and excellence thereof the same we ought to receiue with thankâ—sgiuing But in the Sacrament we should receiue the body and the blood of Christ with extolling and preaching c. Ergo c. The Assumption is confirmed by the words of our Sauiour Doe this in remembrance of me and by the words of Saint Paul So oft as yee eate this bread and drinke this Cup yee shall declare that is extoll magnifie and praise The Lords death till hee come againe Because I finde you fighting against your owne shadow I thought good to set downe the very obiections which were vsed in the Assembly at Perth that as yet are not nor I hope shall euer be answered PP It is againe obiected That in the act of receiuing we receiue from Christ an inestimable benefite ought not a Subiect kneele when he receiueth a benefite from a Prince to testifie his thankfulnesse Answ This relation from Christ to the Sacrament as betweene the Giuer and the gift is common to all the Sacraments both of the old and new Law ordinarie and extraordinarie ANS The relation betweene the Giuer and the gift in the old Testament is not so euident because they wanted a cleare and expresse Word to expound the mysterie Where haue yee such a Word concerning Circumcision This is the putting off of the bodie of sinne by the vertue of Christs Death and Resurrection COLOS. 2.11 or concerning the Passeouer This is the body of Christ that is broken for you this is his blood that is shed for you The Law had but the shaddow the Gospell hath the expresse Image of good things to come In the Law they had the shadow of the Giuer and the gift but in the Gospell we see him with open face Now although to the shadow of the Prince men fall not downe nor doe reuerence they are to be excused but he must bee reputed a contemner who will not doe homage at the presence of his Prince Further as I said before the externall actions of their Sacrament could not bee commodiously performed with such a gesture as is kneeling but the action of our Sacrament may PP Next we receiue the mysticall pledges not out of the hands of God himselfe or his Sonne Christ immediately but out of the hand of the Minister The person who receiues the gift from the King is supposed to receiue it immediately and suppose mediatly yet ceremonies of Court and mediate ciuill worships are not rules of religious adoration which should euer be immediate ANS Wee kneele not to receiue the mysticall pledges but to receiue the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ which the mysticall pledges signifie and are deliuered immediately by the hand of the Lord Iesus
meditation an Hypocrite and Reprobate may haue at the Table therefore it cannot be the principall worke of the minde which distinguisheth the worthie from the vnworthie Receiuer When we heare and reade the Word the principall work of our mind should not be a meditation vpon the forme of the characters the sound of the letters the coniunction of them their sounds in the syllables the syllables in the words or the force and vertue of the words to signifie the matters but the chiefe work of our mind should be to conceiue vnderstand and consider rightly what is spoken So when we come to the Sacrament the chiese employment of our minde should not be to consider the proportion that is betweene the naturall vse of the Elements and the spirituall vse of Christs body and blood but a meditation and spirituall action correspondent and analogicke to the externall sacramentall actions As therefore the principall externall sacramental actions are to take eate and drink reuerently the symbolick Elements the bread and wine so the principall worke of the soule correspondent by analogie thereto is to remember the sacrifice of Christ the breaking of his body and shedding of his blood to consider the benefit that we haue thereby to put our confidence therein and for all to praise and magnifie his name with thankfulnesse This worke and meditation is proper to the worthy Receiuers and stirreth vp in the soule that most reuerent estimation and affection towards our Sauiour with an humble submission of our minds vnto him which we call adoration whereof the outward testimonie and figne is the humble and reuerent gesture of the body prescribed in the act which is also a gesture most conuenient for prayer So this gesture prescribed in the act doth not only attend the prayer vttered by the pastor and conceiued by the people in the act of receiuing but is proper to that which is indeed the chiefe and principal exercise work of the mind in al worthy receiuers PP The soule may send forth in the meane time some short eiaculations and darts of prayer to heauen to strengthen her owne weakenesse and returne to her principall worke of meditation and application of the benefits represented These short eiaculations of the minde are onely occasionall as a Christian feeleth his owne present estate and are incident to all our actions both ciuill and religious in the act of receiuing our earthly food in going on the way in hearing the Word If a man bee moued inwardly when he heareth that the Word was made flesh shall he kneele as they doe in the Romane Church If a man should kneele at euery inward motion of the minde when hee heareth the Word what confusion would there be in the Congregation ANS The verball prayer vttered by the Pastor and the mentall conceiued by the people in the act of receiuing is not an eiaculation but necessary to be vsed in the action by the worthy Receiuers for no man can receiue the body and the blood of Christ worthily without a spirituall hunger and thirst after the righteousnesse and life that is in him which spirituall appetite and desire being declared by the Pastor in these or the like words when he deliuereth the bread Grant Lord that by the vertue of thy body which wereceiue we may haue life eternall and be raised vp at the last day And when hee deliuereth the Cup Grant Lord that by the vertue of thy blood which we receiue we may be purged from our sinnes and filled with thy Spirit And the Receiuers conceiuing and confirming the same by saying with their mouthes as the custome was in the ancient Church or in their hearts Amen They send not vp occasional eiaculations but necessary and ordinary prayers such as the nature of the action requires Therefore as I said before although occasionall secret prayers may be offered to God without any externall gesture or with such as the worshipper thinks meetest for the time yet these which are purposely conceiued in the ordinary and solemne act of diuine worshippe should be presented to God with such a gesture as is conforme to the order prescribed and receiued in the Church PP A man looking occasionally to a Crucifixe may remember Christ and send vp some ejaculations shall hee therefore kneele The three children prayed mentally no doubt when they were brought before the golden Image but lawfully they might not kneele before it ANS Here yee affirme againe that which yee falsely alledged before namely that the Sacrament or any other creature differs not in the case of adoration from the Papists Images and therefore as it is vnlawfull to kneele before the Crucifixe or Nebuchadnezzars golden Image albeit wee may pray mentally before them so is it vnlawfull to kneele and pray at the Sacrament that is hauing the sacramentall elements before vs or obiect to our senses This comparison is odious false for there is no worship more lawfull then the prayers blessings vttered by the Pastor hauing the Elements disposed on the Table before him at the consecration for this agrees both with the Institution hath our Sauiours example as we said before These comparisons serue to no other vse but to extenuate idolatry and discredite the Sacrament PP Perkins distinguisheth notably betweene publike priuate and secret worship The secret and mentall worship must bee yeelded vnto God and the signes thereof concealed from the eyes and hearing of men as Nehemiah when he prayed in presence of the King Nehem. 2.4 In a word the Institution and the second Commandement hinder kneeling at this time suppose mentall praier were the principall exercise of the soule ANS Perkins speakes rightly for if the worship be secret and mentall it must be concealed from the eyes of men but if it be mentall and publike such as are the prayers of the people in time of diuine Seruice who mentally follow the prayer publikely vttered by the Pastor these mentall prayers must be offered with such external signes of adoration as are vsed in the Congregation But in the act of receiuing say yee that cannot bee because it is a breach of the second Commandement and of the Institution I answere That reason of yours is the caption called Petitio principy to take that for granted which is in question and I may truely say already confuted So that there remaines now no more question but that wee may both pray and kneele in the act of receiuing without breach of the second Commandement and most agreeably to the Institution PP I heare there is alledged a third sort of prayer to wit that the very act of receiuing is of it selfe a reall prayer Is not this as much as to say That crauing and receiuing is all one Bellarmine saith that prayer of it selfe and of the owne proper office doth impetrate and that a sacrifice hath the force and power of obtaining and impetrating because it is quaedam oratio realis non verbalis a certaine reall
potuit cum fructu vsurpari That is to say kneeling at the Sacrament hath a shew of holy and Christian worshippe and therefore of old might haue been fruitfully vsed Whereby yee see he condemneth not simply the ceremonie but witnesseth that there was a time when the same did edifie and profite Caluine before him called it Cultum legitimum that is a Lawfull adoration being vsed in the action of the Supper and directed to Christ Petrus Martyr saith Multi piè genua flectunt adorant that is Many in receiuing the Sacrament doe bow their knees religiously and adore Christs flesh Paraeus speaking of the same gesture esteemes it an indifferent ceremonie And that which so great and learned Diuines iudged to bee lawfull what are we to condemne Next I answere That the credite of the Pastours should not be maintained with the discredit of the Prince amongst his Subiects for if they who should be patternes of reuerence and obedience to others shall in their owne persons withstand the lawfull desires godly intention of a Christian Prince the same cannot but breed disobedience and a hard conceit of the Prince amongst his people which we haue already found and perceiued As for the inconueniences feared they are friuolous and should neuer fall out if Pastors were peaceable and prudent But when they are all put together that can bee alledged if they shall bee laid in a ballance there is one commoditie which the alteration imports that shall preponder them all to wit Our vnitie and conformitie with the Primitiue Church and with the greatest number and best Reformed Churches in Europe in points of policie that most assuredly tend to farre greater deuotion piety and edification then our formes vsed in former times This being his Maiesties principall designe in vrging these Articles giueth to the world an euident testimony of his Princely zeale to procure the peace and good of the Church so farre as is possible and therefore none will charge his Maiesty with the vniust imputation of tyranny but malicious and seditious spirits whom by this pestilent Pamphlet ye trauell to perswade for feare of periury to periure themselues as is manifest in the words yee subioyne PP Our assertory Oath is already past and wee become periured if we come in the contrary This is an high degree of periury when not onely we contrauene our oath by practise but make lawes in the contrary therafter inueigh against our oath as Puritanisme If sincere and constant professors shal be still pursued for their constancie in their Profession and the conscience they make of the Oath doe we not expone the whole Nation to a wofull vengeance and perpetuall ignominy ANS Our assertory Oath touching the Articles controuerted condemneth those onely in the guilt of periury who hold that policy and order in ceremonies may not be altered when necessity requireth and being altered ought not to bee obeyed And indeede it is a profound point of infernall policy not only by an exemplary practise of disobedience against the lawes of Ecclesiasticall Discipline to contrauene the Oath in your owne Person but also vnder pretext of constancy of Profession and conscience of the Oath to perswade others for feare of periury to periure themselues Whereby yee both expose your selues to the fearefull iudgement of Gods vengeance and drawe others with you to the same perdition Your sophisticke cauillations whereby yee intend seditiously to proue the vnlawfulnesse of the Articles concluded at Perth shall now bee answered and the truth cleared to the satisfaction of all men who are not contentious An answere to the arguments brought against kneeling in the act of receiuing of the holy Communion PP IT hath been the vniforme and constant order of this Church since the Reformation that the Communicants should receiue the Sacramentall elements of Bread and Wine sitting at the Table In the second head of the first booke of Discipline are set downe these words The Table of the Lord is then rightly ministred when it approacheth most neere to Christs owne action But plaine it is that at that Supper Christ Iesus sate with his Disciples and therefore we doe iudge that sitting at that Table is most conuenient to that holy action In the generall Assembly holden in Decemb. 1562 it was ordained That one vniforme order should be obserued in the ministration of the Sacraments according to the order of Geneua And in December 1564 It was ordained That Ministers in ministration of the Sacraments shall vse the order set downe in the Psalme bookes In the Assembly holden anno 1591 It was ordained that an Article should bee formed and presented to his Maiesty and the Estates crauing order to be taken with them who giue or receiue the Sacrament after the Papisticall manner In the Kings Confession of Faith subscribed and sworne by persons of all estates are contained these words We detest all the ceremonies of the Romane Antichrist added to the ministration of the Sacraments we detest all his Rites Signes and Traditions This laudable order was altered at the pretended Assembly holden last at Perth in August anno 1618. The tenor of the Act followeth as it was formed by some of the Bishops and their Followers a The Libeller cites the Acte of Perth most corruptly which the Reader shall mend by the notes in the margine Since wee are commanded by God himselfe that when wee come to worship him we fall downe and kneele before the Lordour Maker and considering withall that there is no part of Diuine worship more heauenly and spirituall then is the holy receiuing of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Sauiour lesus Christ like as the most humble and reuerend gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting vp of our hearts best becommeth so diuine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding that our Church hath vsed since thereformation of Religion to celebrate the holy Communion to the people sitting by reason of the great abuse of kneeling b The Acte saith Vsed in the Idolatrous worship at the worshipping of the Sacrament by the Papists yet now seeing all memory of by-past superstition is past c These words yee haue added of your owne head to the Acte and no perill of the same againe is feared in reuerence d These words are to be read thus In reuerence of God and in due regard of so Diuine c. of so diuine a mystery and in remembrance of so mysticall an vnion as wee are made partakers of e The words in the Acte are not such but thus it is The Assembly thinkes good that that blessed Sacrament c. thereby doe ordaine that that blessed Sacrament be celebrated hereafter weekely and reuerently vpon their knees This alteration is to vs vnlawfull for that which hath bin established by so many lawes Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall by so long custome and prescription of time confirmed by our oathes and subscriptions we may not lawfully alter But
it is not certaine that they sate at the Receiuing If yee reply it is not written that they did alter the gesture of sitting to that I answere before and it is the Papists argument against the giuing of the Cup to the Layickes it is not written say they that the Cup was giuen in this place Therefore c. Also yee know that the time of Christ his sitting heere with his Disciples at Emmaus was the night season the place a priuate Inne that the breaking and giuing of that bread was before or after another ordinary supper and that onely men were there present and not women all which points being certaine according to your first reason whereby yee intended to proue sitting to haue been instituted it will follow that all these circumstances and things were instituted to be obserued as well as sitting because our Sauiour retained all these things hauing no necessity at this time to celebrate the Sacrament Thirdly I say if the Sacrament was here ministred we haue an expresse warrant for priuate Communion which yee impugue for Iesus heere ministred vnto two onely and yee will not content to haue it ministred to three Lastly it is the iudgement of the learned Caluine That there was no celebration of the Sacrament at that time and that Christ was knowne to these Disclples by an ordinary prayer which he vsed in blessing of the Table and not by the celebration of the Sacrament which opinion he saith although it seeme plausible is no more then a coniecture which leanes to no probable reason Then yee see that it is vncertaine whether Christ gaue this Sacrament at Emmaus and if he did that there sitting at the Receiuing is also vncertaine And therby your argument is nought and serueth only to establish priuate Communion Thus haue you gained nothing by this testimony but lost much PP Last of all after his Ascension and glorification in the heauens the Apostolike Church sate at Table The manner of the partaking of the table of Diuels was by formall sitting at table in the house of the Idoll Ionathan the Chaldee Paraphrast Amos 2.8 interpreteth the garments whereon the Vsurer sate beside euery Altar to haue been beds prepared in the houses of their gods to sit on when they feasted vpon things sacrificed to Idols The people of Israel sate downe to eate and drink at the jdolatrous feast of the golden Calfe The Apostle compareth the partaking of the Lords Table and the table of Diūels 1. Cor. 10.21 Next they sate at the Loue feasts we cannot thinke that they rose from the Tables to receiue the Sacrament ANS To proue that the Apostolike Church sate at Table you bring the comparison that the Apostle makes betweene the partaking of the Lords Table and the table of Diuels and the partaking of the table of Diuels you say was by a formall sitting at table in the house of the Idoll for which yee alledge Ionathan the Chaldee Paraphrast vpon the eight verse of the second chapter of Amos but neither the Text nor his interpretation proues the formall sitting yee speake of for the text saith they laid themselues downe vpon clothes by euery Altar and not that they sate And the Paraphrast as Mercerus expounds him saith That those clothes were Parapetasmata that is couerings or mattes whereupon they laid themselues downe and not sate by euery Altar and not in the Idols house And for the place of the Apostle Yee cannot be partakers of the Table of the Lord and of the table of Diuels there is no materiall or artificiall table vnderstood either by the one Table or the other and by participation formall sitting is not meant This is manifest by these words Yee cannot be partakers for certaine it is that they might haue sitten formally at table in the house of the Idoll and eaten of their sacrifices and might also haue sitten at the Lords Table formally and receiued the external elements But the Apostle saith That these two Tables and the participation of them are so opposed as they could not be partakers of both Therfore by the table of Diuels in that place we vnderstand the sacrifices offered to Diuels and by participation we vnderstand the eating of these sacrifices with a conscience toward the Idoll where euer it was done whether in the Idols Temple as 1. Cor. 8.10 or in the priuate houses of Idolaters as 1. Cor. 10.27.28 And by the Table of the Lord we vnderstand the body and blood of our Sauiour in the Sacrament and by the partaking of the Lords Table the spirituall eating and drinking of his flesh and bloud in the Sacrament by a true and liuely faith These two Tables and partakings could not stand together And so by the Table of the Lord the Apostle meanes not a material table at which the Communicants sate but the body of Christ in the Sacrament According to this Causabone in his Exercitations against Baronius 16.36 citing these words Non potestis mensae Dominiparticipes esse c. saith Hîc mensa Domini est ipsa Eucharistia quam exemplo Pauli Patresita saepè nominant That is The Table of the Lord in this place is the Eucharist it selfe which the Fathers often call by this name of the table following Saint Pauls example Now where yee adde that the people of Israel sate downe to eate and drinke at the feast of the golden Calfe I am assured yee thinke not that the Israelites had a materiall table at which they sate in that feast so as their sitting will make nothing for the formall sitting which yee would conclude And for that which yee tell vs of the Loue feasts that people sate at them and that yee cannot thinke they rose from the table to receiue the Sacrament yee must know that your thoughts are no probation and whatsoeuer yee thinke it is the Apostles expresse minde that they who discerne not the body of the Lord from that and all other carnall feasts are guilty of his body And if yee thinke these holy mysteries were worthily receiued if after the same manner and at the same time and table they receiued without making discretion between the one feast and the other yee thinke not according to the truth Nam hîc coena à mysterijs toto genere diuersa erat as Causabone speakes in the same booke of his Exercitations 16.31 Then to conclude neither haue yee proued that the Apostles or Apostolike Church receiued the Sacrament sitting formally at a table nor if they sate that their sitting was exemplary for Whatsoeuer is exemplary in Christ his actions or in the Apostles or in the Apostolike Churches is either morall and commanded in the Decalogue generally or then it is some action or circumstantiall ceremony of Religion enioyned by precept in the Gospell But sitting at the Sacrament is neither morall and so commanded in the Decalogue or is it an action or circumst antiall ceremony of Religion enioyned by precept in the Gospell Therefore sitting
of his grace and glory in the one and other this religious worship no man wil deny to be lawfully performed as well by the worthy receiuer of the Sacrament as by the reuerent hearer of the Word for as we bow not to the letters and syllables and sounds of the words of the Gospell but to him whose minde and will is declared therein So doe wee not bow to the elements of bread and wine in the Sacrament but to him whose body and bloud we receiue thereby But you to make the world beleeue that the Churches of Scotland and England kneele to the elements of bread and wine in the Sacrament at least haue ordained so to be done you alledge against the Church of England the Ministers of Lincolne their defence in the third part thereof referring the Reader to their proofes touching which part I only reply this that there be sufficient answeres made to these proofes by learned and reuerend men in that Church whereto also I remit the Reader Against our Church you lay a false imputation and frame thereupon all your discourse against kneeling as it is a breach of the second Commandement which we will now examine PP In the late act wee are ordained to kneele for reuerence of the diuine mysteries I see not wherein this differs from the Bishop of Rochesters argument that great and reuerend dreadfull mysteries must be receiued with great and dreadfull humilitie of soule and humiliation of body therfore in the act of receiuing we must kneele if this argument were good then the Sacraments and sacrifices of the old Law should haue been thus worshipped and if we will measure by the sight the Sacraments and sacrifices of the old Law were more dreadfull then are the Sacraments of the new for the slaughter of beasts and shedding of blood was more dreadful then the powring out of wine The Ancients held the sight of this Sacrament not only from Pagans but also from the Catechumenists this doing was not commendable it made the mysterie of this Sacrament both darke and dreadfull Augustine saith they may bee honoured as matters religious but wondered at as matters of maruell they cannot But to returne to the purpose to kneele for reuerence of the mysteries is nothing else but to worship the mysteries ANS Heere you set your selfe against three parties the Bishop of Rochester the Ancients and the Assembly at Perth For the Bishop of Rochester I answere shortly That he takes the mysteries with Chrysostome for the body and blood of Christ represented in the Sacrament by the elements of bread and wine In which sense they are truly called great and dreadfull and ought to bee receiued with great humility of soule and humiliation of body Non enim peccatur adorando carnem Christi sed peccatur non adorando We sinne not saith Saint Augustine in adoring Christs flesh but we sinne if wee adore it not in the Sacrament That which you blame in the Ancients of withholding the sight of the Sacraments not only from Pagans but also frō the Catechumenists Chrysostome iustifies with great reason Hom. 7. 1. Cor. on these words We speak the wisdome of God which is hid Alia videmus saith he alia credimus aliter afficior ego aliter infidelis Infidelis si lauacrum audiat aquam simpliciter cogitat c. ideo fidei arcana non sunt temerè apud indignos evulgāda We see one thing saith Chrysostom we beleeue another I who beleeue am otherwise affected then an Infidel is if an Infidel heare of washing in Baptisme he thinkes there is nothing there but water c. For this cause the mysteries of our faith ought not rashly to be divulgate to the vnworthy This iudgment of Chrysostomes is not crossed by S. Augustines testimony but confirmed rather for if the Sacraments should be honoured as matters religious then as Chrysostom saith Pretiosae margarita est à contemptu vindicanda that is a pretious jewel ought to be preserued from contempt Where you alledge against the Assembly at Perth that in the late act therof we are ordained to kneele for reuerence of the diuine mysteries you are guilty of manifest falshood for in reciting the words of the act you blot our some change others and thereby corrupt purposely the whole sense and meaning of the act You blot out these words of God and in due regard you change the word mystery in mysteries these you interpret to be the elements whereas in the act the word mystery signifies not the elements but the receiuing of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ But that your deceit may be manifested I will set downe the act as it is extracted forth of the Register of the Assembly vnder the hand of the Clerke thereof Since we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him we fall downe and kneele before the Lord our Maker and considering withall that there is no part of diuine worship more heauenly and spirituall then is the holy receiuing of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ like as the most humble and reuerent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting vp of our hearts becommeth well so diuine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding our Church hath vsed since the reformation of Religion heere to celebrate the holy Communion to the people sitting by reason of the great abuse vsed in the idolatrous worship of Papists yet now since all memory of by-past superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God in reuerence of God and in due regard of so diuine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an vnion as wee are made partakers of thereby the Assembly thinkes good that that blessed Sacrament bee celebrated hereafter to the people humbly and reuerently kneeling vpon their knees This is the true copie of the act differing in many things from that which you sette downe Pag. 34. in the narratiue thereof the reasons are set downe wherefore the people should kneele when they receiue the Sacrament which are repeated orderly in the conclusion as the causes of the same The first reason is Since we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him wee fall downe and kneele before the Lord our Maker Relatiue vnto this we haue in the conclusion Therefore in reuerence of God the Assembly thinkes good that the Sacrament be giuen to the people kneeling The second reason in the narratiue is And considering withall that there is no part of diuine worship more heauenly and spirituall then is the holy receiuing of the blessed bodie and blood of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Relatiue to this wee haue these words And in due recard of so diuine a mysterie Wee say not in regard of the diuine mysteries which you interpret the elements but Mysterie that is the holy receiuing of the body and blood of Iesus Christ mentioned
in the narratiue Our third reason is the correspondence which ought to be betweene the outward gesture of our body and the meditation and lifting vp of our hearts when we remember and consider the mysticall vnion betweene Christ and vs and amongst our selues whereof we are made partakers by receiuing of Christs blessed body and bloud This is expressed in these words Like as the most humble and reuerent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting vp of our hearts becomes so diuine and sacred an action Relatiue to this in the conclusion we haue these words And in remembrance of so mysticall an vnion as we are made partakers of thereby for this remembrance is a part of our meditation So to conclude we come to worship at the Sacrament the Lord our Maker who hath not onely made vs by creation but who by redemption hath made vs his people and the sheepe of his pasture Psal 95.7 Psalme 100.3 that is God manifested in the flesh We come to receiue his flesh and bloud and in reuerence of him wee are commanded by the act to kneele As yee then inferre vpon your forgery and falshood that to kneele for reuerence of the mysteries is nothing else but to worship the mysteries so I inferre vpon the very words wherein the act is conceiued That to kneele for reuerence of God in due regard of the diuine mysterie that is the receiuing of Christs body and bloud in remembrance of the mysticall vnion whereof thereby we are made partakers first with our Head and Sauiour and next through him with God and amongst our selues to kneele I say at the Sacrament for the reuerence and respects aforesayd is to worship God rightly and that is the due obseruation of his commandement PP Wheresoeuer the publike intent of a Church is to worshippe the Sacrament euery priuate man following that intent is formally an idolater If his priuate intent be diuerse from the publike yet he is still materially and interpretatiuè an Idolater c. ANS Yee begin now to manifest your selfe yee peruerted the words of the act to draw vpon our Church the vile imputation of idolatry and now yee seeke to diuide the Church and perswade people to disobedience vnder that colour But the publike intent of our Church was neuer to worship the Sacrament but was and is to worship the Lord Iesus of whose flesh and bloud wee are made partakers in the Sacrament And they who follow the Church in this are neither formally nor materially idolaters but true and sincere worshippers of God PP Kneeling directed to the bread and wine in the hands of the Minister is idolatry howbeit the inward motion of the minde and affection of the heart be directed onely to God or his Sonne Christ as the onely obiect of adoration ANS Still you build vpon the false ground you haue layd that kneeling is direct to the bread and wine in the hands of the Minister which is a manifest calumny for the act doth appoint no such thing To direct our knees to the signes and the affection of our heart to the thing signified is not onely idolatry but a kinde of hypocrisie and mixture of worship which God abhorres Neither did our Church euer allow it in our doctrine prayers and exhortations which are vsed at the Ministration this is condemned and the very act ordayning that we should kneele before the Lord our Maker forbids the same PP This immediate conuoy of worship to the principall obiect is nothing else but that finer sort of idolatry and relatiue worship which Durandus Holcot Mirandula Alphonsus Petrus Cluniacensis and others giue to their Images ANS If wee did kneele to the Sacrament that by it our worship might bee conueyed to God our kneeling were such a relatiue worship as yee affirme but we kneele at the Sacrament and not to the Sacrament as wee kneele at â—…yer and not to the words and oration of the prayer but to God to whom wee direct our prayer When God spake Abraham fell on his face not to the sound of words which he heard but to the Speaker When the fire came downe at Elias prayer the people fell on their faces not to the fire which they saw but to God who wrought the myracle This kneeling and falling on the face before God in the act of prayer in the act of seeing in the act of hearing is a worship done to God immediately and so it is in the act of receiuing the Sacrament PP They say Images are not otherwise adored then that before and about them are exhibited the externall signes of honour The inward affection is directed onely to the principall obiect as the seruices done at a Funerall shew to an empty Coffin as if the corps were present ANS To make it appeare that there is no difference betweene our kneeling at the Sacrament and the kneeling of the Papists to their Idols the Pamphleter such is his malice trauels so farre as lyes in him to extenuate the idolatry of Papists and to obscure their opinion and doctrine of kneeling to Images which I will therefore set downe distinctly and shortly out of their owne Writers The Doctrine of Papists touching the honour of Images THe Papists professe that they giue to their Images two kindes of honour The one they call Proper the other Accidentall and improper The proper they say is due to the Image as it is an holy thing such as the honour which is giuen to the Euangell to holy Vessels and Vestures and it is proper because it rests in the Image as in the proper obiect and is not conueyed by the Image immediately to the principall and archetype albeit it be giuen to the Image for the respect and reuerence which is carryed to the principall and so by consequence redounds to the principall This honour they affirme to differ not in specie but in degree onely from the honor which is properly due to the principall Bellar. lib. 2. de Imag. cap. 21. 25. Before wee proceede to the improper and accidentall adoration of Images we haue here to consider that albeit no honour but contempt and destruction onely be due to Papisticall Images because they are not holy things but detestable abominations yet therefore we must not thinke that to such things as are truely holy and applyed to religious vses reuerent and religious respect is not due as to the holy Sacraments and to the Euangell which honor rests in them and is giuen to them in respect of him whose word and Sacraments they are and so redounds to him consequently such an honour I meane as is the hearing of the Word reuerently and the handling of the Sacraments with the preseruing and vsing of them decently It is true this honour is not properly a spece of adoration but a religious reuerence onely which we must not reiect because the Papists giue the same or the like to their Idols for they giue to things which are not
met together is not our Sauiour in the middest of them Further when he saith of the bread This is my Body and of the Cup This is my Blood doth it not import a coniunction betweene his Body and the Elements and a spirituall presence of his Body in the Sacrament And should not his body and blood be as present to the eyes of thy minde thy knowledge and vnderstanding and to the hand of thy heart thy faith and confidence as are the Elements to thy externall senses and bodily hand Haue we not taught our people to this day and yet should teach them that in this action there is an internall and externall receiuer the hand and the heart that there is an earthly and spiritual gift the Elements of the Sacrament and the body and blood of Christ And should we not beleeue that Christ God and Man is as really present in the Sacrament according to his Diuinity as we beleeue him to bee bodily present in heauen giuing and applying the selfe-same bodie which is in heauen as really to the inward man as the Pastor is giuing the Elements to the outward How dare you then affirme that the Sacrament hath not such a presence of Christ as the Arke the Propitiatory and the Cherubins had O but he said that he would dwell betweene the Cherubins That dwelling was typicall but Christ hath promised to dwel spiritually and really in the hearts of the worthy receiuers The bread which we breake is it not the communion of the body of Christ The cup which we blesse is it not the communion of the blood of Christ And saith he not of this communion Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood remaineth in me and I in him God called the Arke his foot-stoole but Christ calleth the sacramentall Elements his body and blood Sometime hee called the Arke his face and glory because it was a type of his face and glory but the Sacrament is not a bare type but a powerfull instrument whereby Christ is communicate vnto vs that wee may bee made partakers heere of his grace and hereafter of his glory Finally when we are commanded to doe this in remembrance of him we are commanded to adore him for according to the interpretation made in the Confession of Faith confirmed by act of Parliament which yee professe your selfe to haue sworne To doe this in remembrance of Christ is to magnifie declare extoll and praise his death till his comming againe And this is a reall act of adoration PP Worship is tyed no longer to any certaine thing or or place on earth ANS That is true yet worship stands in certaine actions which must bee performed in some conuenient place as Prayers Supplications Intercessions Thankesging and Praises whersoeuer these actions are performed in these places God must bee worshipped and if the blessed Sacrament bee an action of that kinde in it God must bee worshipped and in the place where it is celebrated PP Adoration is tyed in the new Testament to the Manhood of Christ the true Arke and Propitiatory and is carried to that place in which wee certainly know the said Manhood to exist substantially saith Perkins and therefore it is that wee lift vp our eyes to the heauens where hee is and direct our very externall worship to him ANS We doe fully agree with Perkins in all this for wee neither direct our internall nor externall adoration to the sacramentall Elements nor to the place where they are but to the Manhood of Iesus which wee acknowledge and beleeue to be locally only in heauen Therfore in the ancient Church when the people came to the Sacrament the Deacon cried Sursum corda Lift vp your hearts and the people answered Habemus ad Dominum Wee haue our hearts lifted vp to the Lord. But what is this to the purpose in hand For the question is not in whom God should bee worshipped or in what place Christs Manhood is wherin God should be worshipped but the question is whether at the Sacrament in the act of receiuing the sacramentall Elements externally and the body and blood of Iesus Christ internally we may bow our knees and lift vp our hearts and adore that Manhood by reason of the personall vnion that it hath with the Godhead and the Godhead dwelling in the Manhood corporally This is the only true relatiue worship acceptable to God in the Humanitie to worship the Diuinitie and the Humanitie with the Diuinitie in one Person the inuisible God in his owne essentiall and incarnate Image the Lord Iesus That such worship may and should bee performed in receiuing the blessed Sacrament neuer any Diuine ancient or moderne hath doubted to this day except Anabaptists and Arrians who deny Christs Diuinity and will neither adore him in the Sacrament nor any other action of Diuine worship PP It is obiected and said that we may pray in the act of receiuing Therefore we may kneele in the act of receiuing Ans This Obiection insinuateth that kneeling is the proper and only commendable gesture of prayer and therefore the Bishop of Rochester expounds the standing of the Publican Luk. 18.11.13 to haue been kneeling because saith hee the Iewish custome was to pray kneeling But if he had remembred the Lords owne saying Ier. 15. Though MOSES and SAMVEL stood before me c. he might haue vnderstood that they prayed standing as well as kneeling c. ANS The obiection yee bring concludeth that wee may kneele not that we ought to kneele therefore no man will thinke that the obiection insinuateth kneeling to be the proper and only commendable gesture of praying but that it is a very commendable gesture such as may be vsed that which you ay me at in answering this obiection is to confute the Bishop of Rochester his opinion that by standing kneeling Luk. 18.11 13. is meant But the Bishops opinion is not so absurde as you would haue men to thinke for by standing in the Scripture any diuine seruice is signified Therefore the Lords Prophets Priests and Angels are said to stand before him that is to serue him In the first of the Kings 8.22 it is written that Salomon stood before the Altar of the Lord and prayed but in the second of the Chronicles 6.13 It is said he kneeled downe and prayed vpon his knees So standing in the booke of the Kings is taken for kneeling But leauing this I come to your next words PP The prayer meant of is either some publike prayer vttered by the Minister or the mentall prayer of the Communicant ANS This is a needlesse distinction for the mentall prayer of the Receluer should not bee different from the prayer vttered by the Minister at the deliuery of the Elements and ought only to bee an Amen to the Ministers prayer The ancient custome of the Church was such for in the dayes of Cornelius Bishop of Rome anno 251. as Eusebius records l. 2. c. 32. when Nouatus gaue the Sacramēt to
his people he held their hāds insteed of the blessing which he should haue vsed at the deliuery of the Elemēts he cōceiued an oath made the people sweare by that which was in their hands insteed of Amen which they should haue answered the blessing with he made the people say That they should not returne to CORNELIVS Whereby it is manifest that the blessing vsed by the Pastor at the deliuery of the Elements differed not at that time from the mentall prayer of the Communicant neither ought it now to differ but be the same in substance PP As for the prayer of the Minister in the act of distribution it is flat against the Institution as I haue already said The Minister is ordained by the Institution to act the person of Christ and pronounce the words of promise This is my body and not change the promise into a prayer Fenner in his Principles of Religion layeth this downe for a ground that in the second Commandement we are forbidden the practise and vse of any other rite or outward means vsed in the worship or seruice of God then he hath ordained Ioh. 4.22 2. King 18.4 And that by the contrary we are commanded to practise all these parts of his worship which hee in his word hath commanded and to acknowledge only the proper vse of euery rite and outward meanes which the Lord hath ordained Dent. 12.32 2. King 17.26 ANS It is false that yee say we change the promise into a prayer for at the Consecration wee obserue precisely the words of the Institution In the deliuery of the elements we vse a prayer that is not contrary but most agreeable to the Institution for directing the hearts of the people in the receiuing that they may worthily communicate So doe the Pastors in France at the deliuery vse a short speech and it was the custome of late in our Church to vse some exhortations before the distribution at euery Table wherein neither we nor they did or doe practise any rite or vse any means which God hath not ordained to bee vsed in his worship For although the particular forme of speech vsed in the French Church and the exhortations and prayers vsed by vs bee not expressely set downe yet being agreeable to the Word and the nature of the action in hand they haue sufficient warrant by these generall precepts Let all things be done to edification Let all things bee done decently and in order And with these precepts Fenners grounds doe agree Otherwise by what warrant is it appointed in the forme set downe before our Psalme bookes touching the celebration of the Lords Supper that during the time of the distribution some place of Scripture should bee read which doth liuely set forth the death of Christ to the intent that our eyes and senses may not onely be occupied in these outward signes of bread and wine which are called the visible word but that our minds and hearts also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lords death which is by this holy Sacrament represented This ordinance is not contained in the Institution yet I hope yee will not say that it is flat contrary thereto but that it hath sufficient warrant by the generall Apostolike precepts before expressed and so hath the prayer vsed by vs in the acte of distribution But yee subioyne another reason to prooue the prayer vsed at this time vnlawfull PP Further wee are forbidden by the second Commandement to pray by direction before any creature ANS Why do yee then pray at the table when your meate is set before you and at the Consecration hauing the sacramentall Elements before you And when you visite the Sicke why direct yee your face and senses towards the person and the place where he lyes while yee are praying to God for him PP This publike prayer is but a pretended cause of kneeling as the Ministers of Lincolne make manifest in their Abridgement c. ANS To the Abridgement of these Ministers sufficient answeres are made by the learned Diuines of that Church and the Canons and Customes thereof defended against their calumnies Therefore let vs come to our owne touching which yee say PP As for our Church no such prayer is ordained to bee vttered by the minister Therefore no such prayer can be pretended Iu the late Canon it is said That the most reuerend and humble gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting vp of our hearts best becommeth so diuine an action Meditation is no prayer and the heart may be lifted vp by the act of faith and contemplation aswell as the action of prayer So that neither publike nor mentall prayer is expressed in our Act. ANS Albeit neither mentall nor publike prayer be expressed in the Act yet prayer thankesgiuing and praise are all insiuuated for albeit all meditation bee not prayer yet euery prayer is a meditation and although in the act of faith and contemplation the heart may bee lifted vp yet that eleuation of the heart requireth not the most humble and reuerent gesture of the bodie as kneeling In the ancient Church they were not accustomed to kneele when they made confession of their faith but to stand as Christian souldiers Our act insinuateth such a meditation and lifting vp of the heart as is vsed in actions of deuotion such as prayer and thankesgiuing which are practised by all who giue obedience to the act or doe worthily communicate But put the case that by the act no such thing were ordained expresly yet vpon this antecedent which yee vse namely wee are not ordained by any act of our Church to pray at the receiuing this conclusion will not follow Therefore we may not pray at the receiuing For wee are not ordained by any act of our Church expressely to discouer our heads in the act of receiuing May wee not therefore discouer our heads But any shew of reason is good enough to deceiue simple people PP But let the words be interpreted of mentall prayer euen mentall prayer is not the principall exercise of the soule in the act of receiuing the sacramentall Elements the minde attending on the audible words the visible Elements the mysticall actions and making present vse of them men should not be diuerted from their principall worke and meditation vpon the analogie betweene the signes and the things signified ANS The meditation vpon the analogie betweene the signe and the thing signified cannot be the principall worke of the soule it being nothing else but the consideration of the similitude that is betweene the natuall vse of the signes and the spirituall vse of the thing signified Namely that as the Elements serue to nourish the outward man so the body and the bloud of Christ hath a vertue to nourish the inward man and by eating and drinking the Elements are applied to feede the body So by faith the body and the blood of Christ are applied to feed the soule Such a
himselfe PP Thirdly the manner of deliuery of the gift and the will of the Giuer are to be considered If the Prince call his Nobles to a banquet it is his will that they sitte at table with him as Ionathan and Dauid sate at King Sauls table Christ hath declared by the Institution after what manner he would haue vs to receiue these mysticall pledges Kneeling cannot agree with the actions and precepts of the Institution ANS If we consider the manner of deliuery of the gift and the will of the Giuer it fauoureth kneeling rather then sitting for although we be inuited to a banquet yet it is not a bodily repast such as Ionathan and Dauid receiued at Sauls table That required leisure and time and such a site and position of bodie as is most commodious for ease but by the Institution it it manifest that the banquet whereunto wee are called is the body and blood of Iesus giuen externally in a little quantitie of bread and one Cuppe diuided amongst many and ministred internally with Christs owne hand Neyther come wee to this banquet to feede our bodies but to feede our soules and to extoll and praise his death as I haue ofte said before Whereupon the Apostle inferreth that wee should receiue worthily that is with such a reuerence both externall and internall as is worthie the Giuer and the gift and is most meete to set foorth the praise of the Giuer and the worth of the gift In this respect kneeling is most agreeable both to the actions and precepts of the Institution PP The second breach of the second Commandement made by kneeling is the shew of conformitie with the Papists The Lord forbade his people to bee like the Gentiles Leuit 18.3 and 19.27 and Deut. 12. The Christians were forbidden to decore their houses with Bay-leaues and greene bonghes because the Pagans vsed so to doe or to rest from their labours vpon the dayes that the Pagans did If conformitie in things not hauing state in idolatrous seruice but onely glauncing at the honour of the Idoll bee condemned farre more is conformitie in the grossest act wherein the life and soule of their idolatrie standeth Such is the gesture of kneeling amongst the Papists this outward conformitie tickleth the Papists and offendeth the godly ANS A shew of conformitie with the Papists in Idolatrie is a breach of the second Commandement But to kneele at the Sacrament our hearts being freed of the opinion of Transubstantiation and our mouthes confessing and professing that we doe onely kneele to God and our Sauiour Iesus Christ is no more conformitie with them in idolatrie then in the action of prayer to kneele when we direct our prayers to God and not to Angels or Saints or other creatures For example To kneele and say the Lords Prayer in honour of the Saints and to offer it as a libell of request to be presented and commended by their prayers to God which Papists professe themselues to doe Costeri Enchiridion de veneratione Sanctorum is idolatrie yet to kneele and offer that prayer to God only as wee doe is not idolatrie although both in the gesture of kneeling and in the substance of the prayer there bee a conformitie our Faith and profession being contrarie to theirs freeth vs of all shew of conformity with them in superstition and idolatry But the Lord forbade his people yee say to be like the Gentiles yet did he neuer forbid them to knele and lift vp their hands to him in their prayers although the Gentiles kneeled and lifted vp hands vnto their gods when they prayed The things wherein God forbade his people a conformity were vncleannesse idolatry superstition witcheraft c. and not such ceremonies of diuine worship as are by himselfe commanded yet abused by Idolaters And where yee say that Christians were prohibited to rest those dayes on which the Pagans rested I hope yee will not haue vs to worke on the Lords day because the Papists rest that day Finally when yee say that the life of Popish idolatrie consisteth in kneeling yee speake falsely for the life of their idolatrie consisteth in a professed adoration of the bread with opinion of Transubstantiation and not in the outward gesture of kneeling which being lawfull and religious in it selfe is onely abused by them to idolatrie And doe not all they who sitte at the Sacrament keepe an outward conformitie with the Arrians who will needs sitte to declare that they esteeme Christ Iesus to bee onely a meere man By your argument all they are transgressours of the first Commandement that communicate with them in sitting Now to that which yee adde in the end that this outward conformitie tickles the Papist and offends the godly yee are greatly mistaken it is your contentious opposition against the truth and disobedience of the lawfull ordinances of the Church which tickles the Papist and grieues all good men and not our conformitie in a lawfull and religious ceremonie PP The third breach of the second Commandement made by kneeling is the retaining the monument of vile idolatrie all human inuentions polluted with idolatrie except they be of necessarie vse ought to bee remoued from Gods seruice This gesture had a spot of prophanation from the beginning being at the first birth in this act dedicated to idolatrie The brasen Serpent set vp at Gods owne command was not spared when it was abused Wee detest the very garment of a theefe or a whoore though it bee innocent BEZA saith many things may bee tollerated for the weake which may not bee restored after they are taken away he commendeth them who abolished kneeling amongst other things Tanquam apertas idolomanias ANS You make the third breach of the second Commandement by kneeling the retaining of a monument of vile idolatrie and in this yee erre for kneeling is a religious ceremony appointed by God himselfe to bee vsed in all actions of adoration and was not of humane inuention therefore cannot be a monument of idolatrie in this or any other act If it be abused to idolatry although abuse the thereof should bee abhorred yet the religious gesture it selfe is not to be detested Let the theefe bee hanged and the whoore drowned yet the religious ceremony must bee restored to the right owner to whom all knees should bow The burning of Incense was a part of the ceremoniall worship vnder the Law and abused to idolatrie when it was offered to the brazen Serpent yet that part of worship was not abolished but the Idoll it selfe destroyed and the ceremony restored to God vnto whom of right it belonged Neither hath your comparison of the brazen Serpent and kneeling any force in it for the brazen Serpent in the time it was abolished had no vse that ceased with the vertue of the cure that the Israelites receiued by looking vpon it the act of kneeling continueth alwayes in a necessary vse for the better expressing of our thankfulnesse to God And where you say
can produce one instance to the contrarie I shall pray you doe it or if not suffer mee to conclude against you that as on the Lords day when they stood and prayed they also stood and receiued so at that same time on the weeke dayes when they kneeled and prayed they kneeled and receiued and this is proued by all these testimonies of the Ancients wherein the people are exhorted to humble themselues externally at the Sacrament as by the most cleare testimony of Chrysostons I cited before Hereby it is manifest that the gesture of kneeling followed not the errour of Transsubstantiation but was receiued and retained in the Church on the Lords day at publike prayer and receiuing of the Sacrament as it had been vsed before on the weeke-dayes at these religious exercises Thus following your owne foot-steps and building on your owne grounds kneeling is proued to haue been in vse in all ages and with your owne hands yee haue thrust sitting to the doore for the space of 1560. yeares An answere to the last Section entituled Kneeling not practised in the Reformed Churches PP THe Lutheran Churches do acknowledge reall presence by way of Consubstantiation it is no wonder therefore that they approue kneeling The Reformed Churches as they damned bodily presence so haue they reiected the gesture of kneeling in the act of receiuing The Church of Bohemia hath retained this gesture since the dayes of Iohn Husse In their Confession exhibited to King Ferdinand anno 1535. it is thus said Ministriverò Dominicae coenae verba referentes plebem ipsam ad hanc fidem hortantur vt corporis Christi praesentiam adesse credant The Ministers are willed to stirre vp the people to beleeue that the bodie of Christ is present the purer sort amongst them as they haue reiected the errour of reall presence so depart they from this gesture In our neghbour Church some of their defenders of kneeling will not haue vs inquisitiue of the maner of Christs presence in the Sacrament And the Bishop of Rochester commends the simplicity of the Ancients which disputed not whether Christ was present con sub in or trans in this Supper Sutton in his Appendix to his Meditations on the Lords Supper condemnes likewise this diligent search of the maner of Christs presence If the maner of Christs presence be not determined there can arise no other but a confused worship of such a confused and determinate presence The Papists acknowledge that there ought to be no adoration but where there is acknowledged a bodily presence in the Sacrament Hence it is that they proue mutually the one by the other It will not follow that we may change sitting into kneeling because the ancient Church and some Reformed Churches haue changed sitting into standing because kneeling maketh so many breaches both in the Institution and in the second Commandement and is no wayes a table gesture By standing we accommodate our selues to a table to participate of the dainties set thereon standing was neuer abused to idolatrie as kneeling hath been we are not bound to imitate other Churches further then they imitate Christ Our sitting is not Scottish Geneuating but a commendable imitation of the Apostolicall Churches and obedience to Christs Institution They flee vp at last to the Church Triumphant and alledge for kneeling the foure and twenty Elders falling downe before the Lambe but how conclude they this that they that are called to the Supper of the Lamb kneele at the Supper of the Lamb And seeing the blessed soules shall not be clothed with their bodies before the Resurrection how can they conclude materiall geniculation of the blessed Saints in heauen All creatures in heauen in earth or vnder the earth are said to bow their knee at the name of Iesus that is to acknowledge his Soueraigne authority howbeit the celestial Angels blessed soules and infernall spirits haue not knees to bow with The euerlasting felicity of the children of God is the Supper of glory Doe they drinke continually of that felicity vpon their knees Thousands thousands stand before him many shall come from the East and from the West and sitte at the heauenly Table with Abraham Isaack and Iacob may we not then conclude sitting and standing as well as they do kneeling if we looke to the letter of parables visions allegories and prophecies but symbolicall theologie is not argumentatiue Lastly how will they prooue euidently that the falling of the foure and twenty Elders before the Lambe is to bee interpreted of the Church Triumphant rather then of the Church Militant ANS To proue that kneeling is not practised in the Reformed Churches yee cut off in the beginning from their number the Lutherans because they acknowledge the Reall presence by way of Consubstantiation This I grant is an error yet is it not directly fundamentall They abhorre as we doe the Bread-worship and they worship Christ in the Sacrament as we should do their errour is onely in the manner of his presence which errour should not debarre them from the Communion of the Reformed Churches with them yee reckon the Church of Bohemia because in their Confession exhibited to King Ferdinand anno 1535. they say Ministriverò coenae Dominicae c. Let the Ministers when they rehearse the words of the Lords Supper exhort the people to this faith that they may beleeue the body of Christ to be present there By this yee conclude that some of them held the errour of Reall presence in the Sacrament and yet their Confession mentioneth neither reall nor corporall nor locall presence And it is no errour to beleeue the presence of Christs body in the Sacrament after some manner as to beleeue that it is there obiectiue that is as the reall obiect whereupon we must fixe and fasten our Faith and to beleeue that it is there virtute efficacia in vertue and efficacie to nourish and strengthen vs in newnesse of life heere and raise vs vp vnto eternall life hereafter In respect whereof Christ saith That his flesh is meate indeed and his blood is drinke indeed and that he who eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath life eternall and that he shall raise him at the last day Lastly to beleeue that the body of Christ is present in the Diuine Person wherein it subsisteth albeit locally the same be in heauen is no errour for wheresoeuer the person is there both the Natures are present coniunctly The Diuinitie is euer and euery where clothed with the humanitie wherein it dwelleth bodily and ought to be considered so in all actions of diuine worship and the Humanity is euer and euery where conioyned with the Diuinitie albeit the same be not extensiuè or diffusè as the Vbiquetars hold through euery place with the Diuinitie As by example wheresoeuer a man is personally present there his head his body all his members are present albeit the foot or the hand be not in the place where the head is yet they are
coniunctly present with the head where the person is and so as Christ is personally present at the Sacrament so is his Diuinitie and Humanity coniunctly present in the Person That to conclude it is no errour according to the Confession aboue expressed to beleeue the spirituall powerfull and personall presence of Christs bodie at the Sacrament and in that respect to worship his flesh and blood there yea Saint Augustine saith That it is sinne not to worship his flesh there But you must be excused to exclude all from your Communion that beleeue any such thing because yee haue denied before that the Sacrament hath such a promise and presence of Christ as the Temple or Arke had vnder the Law pag. 51. And pag. 50. yee denied that it was a signe that should moue vs vpon the sight thereof to lift vp our hearts to the spirituall obiect of Faith I vse your own words or a meanes or occasion to stirre vp men to adore the Principall that is Christ And so yee doe acknowledge that they are ordered of God to be signes only and seales of his graces without any promise power vertue or presence of the bodie of Christ that is the opinion of the Anabaptists If these be they whom yee call the purer sort amongst the Bohemians I know not this I know that the Polonian Church esteemes them Arrians who sitte at the Sacrament whom I hope yee will not repute to be the purer sort or reckon amongst the Reformed Thirdly if yee debar from the communion of the well reformed Churches all who are of the Bishop of Rochester and Suttons minde who commend their simplicitie that beleeue Christs presence and are not inquisitiue of the maner but professe with Durandus saying modum nescimus praesentiam credimus then shall yee excommunicate from your societie all that preferre the peace of the Church to the loue of contention and curious disputes that haue disquieted the Church rent the body therof asunder and diuided the same in factions Where yee say that if the maner of Christs presence be not determined there can arise no other but a confused worship of such a confused and indetermined presence your allegation is but rash and prophane Can yee determine the maner of Christs presence in heauen particularly or the manner of God the Father his presence in heauen and earth albeit we beleeue that God is in essence and power euery where and that Christ is bodily in the heauens These determinations are but generall and confused notions yet God forbid wee should say as yee doe that the presence of the Father and the Sonne in heauen and in earth are confused or that the worship is confused that is giuen thereto according to Gods Word As to the Papists who acknowledge as yee say that there ought to be no adoration but where there is a bodily presence acknowledged in the Sacrament although yee be of the same minde and thereupon condemne all adoration of Christ in the Sacrament yet we attribute no more to that their opinion then to the rest of their errours and therefore affirme with the learned and Diuine Bishop IE VVEL That it is without doubt our dutie to adore the body of Christ in the word of God in the Sacrament of Baptisme in the mysteries of the body and blood of Christ and wheresoeuer any foot-step or signe of it appeares hut chiefely in the holy mysteries in which we haue a liuing expresse I mage of all Christs peregrination in the flesh To conclude if yee except out of the number of the reformed Churches all that thinke that Christ is present in the Sacrament and in the Sacrament to be adored I feare yee draw the number of the reformed Churches to a very small count whom yee call the purer sort such as Arrians Anabaptists and their followers But if by the reformed Churches yee vnderstand those who distinguish betweene the signes and the things signified giuing to the signes the reuerence due to them and adoring onely the thing signified to wit the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament of these some I confesse do erre in esteeming Christs bodie to bee really and locally present and yet seeing they agree with vs in the chiefe and principall grounds of Religion wee must not excommunicate them from the number of the reformed But let vs lay aside these whom yee call Vbiquetars If yee hold the rest for Reformed Churches that are in Germanie Polonia Bohemia Hungaria Denmark Norway and great Britaine with the Church of Ireland for one that sitteth at the receiuing of the Sacrament in all these Churches they are an hundred that kneele I mention not the Church of France where they stand and sit not whom yee condemne by your doctrine of breaking the Institution and transgressing the Precept and precedent of our Sauiour and with them the ancient Church for the space of a thousand yeeres that stood and receiued as also others of the Reformed who follow their example for when yee maintaine sitting as necessarie by institution example and precept yee condemne all that do otherwise Yet yee could presse heere to excuse them or rather to mitigate your censure of them saying first that by standing men accommodate themselues to a table to participate of the dainties set thereon Next that standing hath neuer beene abused to idolatry as kneeling hath bin but these abuses are friuolous and nothing worth for in the Church of France where they receiue standing they doe no more accommodate themselues to a table then they who kneele for neither doe they reach their hand to the table to take any thing to themselues therefrom receiuing all from the hand of the Minister nor doe they stand socially as yee will haue sitting to be vsed for society and familiar entertainment but first one or two commeth and hauing receiued they passe to giue place to others Secondly yee forget or then are ignorant that the Priest standeth whilest hee saith Masse and receiueth adoring the Elements And therfore kneeling was neuer more abused by the people then standing is by the Priest So as by these your excuses the reformed Churches of France and others that stand at the receiuing of the Sacrament are not liberate frō the breach of the Institution second Commandement wherewith yee charge those that kneele In the end hauing condemned all for Idolaters who kneele on earth at the Sacrament yee ascend to heauen and there yee deny that we are able to conclude that they who are called to the Supper of the Lambe kneele at the Supper of the Lambe but if this be sure that all who are in heauen bow their knees to the Name of Iesus it followes necessarily that all who are called to the Supper of the Lambe kneele at the Supper of the Lambe because all the Saints in heauen that are called to the Supper of the Lambe are continually and without intermission at the Supper and so if they bow their knees at
this matter may be fully cleered it is to be obserued as we said before that times are made holy and places two manner of wayes so things are made holy either by some inherent qualitie of holynesse or by consecration of them to holy vses After the first manner Angels and men were made holy in the creation sinners are made holy by regeneration and sanctification of the holy Ghost and of this holynesse God onely is the author Next things are made holy by consecration of them to holy vses which vses are either mysticall or politicall The consecration of things to holy mysticall vses as of water in Baptisme to be a signe of the bloud and Spirit of Christ the elements of Bread and Wine in the Supper to be the Sacrament of his Bodie and Bloud the Sabbath to bee vnto the Iewes a memoriall of the Creation a type of signification and a badge of their profession the Temple the Altars the Sacrifices and Priests to bee shaddowes of things to come all these and such like are made and ordayned holy by God but the consecration of things to holy vses for policie as for maintayning religion or for order and decency to be obserued in the worship of God is not onely Gods prerogatiue but a priuiledge and liberty granted by him to the Church for example to build and consecrate places to be Temples houses to bee Hospitals to giue rent lands money and goods to the Ministry poore to appoint Vessels Vestures Instrumēts for the bublike worship as Tables Table-clothes Napkins Basens Cups and Lauers for the holy Sacraments these things and the like are made holy by the dedication and consecration of men After this last manner the Church hath power to consecrate the fiue Anniuersary dayes to the commemoration of our Sauiour his benefits to separate them from all other ordinary workes and so to make them sacred and holy dayes It was I grant a part of Idolatry to proclaime a holy day vnto the golden Calfe or to any Idol or Creature as ye affirme but it will not follow that it is Idolatry to proclaime a holy day for the honour and worship of the true God And as it was one of Ieroboams sins to despise the Festiuities appointed by God for his worship and instead of these to ordaine a Feast after the deuise of his owne heert so if we should despise the Lords Sabbath and instead thereof appoint some other as the Machomet hath done it were a presumptuous sinne But this wee are farre from acknowledging the Lords Day to bee holy by his institution and appointing the rest to bee kept only for his worship PP We come from priuiledge to fact as de iure none may The third Reason so de facto none did appoint holy dayes vnder the Law but God and that eyther by himselfe or by some extraordinary direction Therefore none can bee allowed vnder the Gospell without the like warrant Seeing the times vnder the Gospell are not so ceremonious as the times vnder the Law ANS I answered before that if holy dayes bee taken for times whereunto God did appropriate the exercise of some particular forme of worship or for times clothed with some relatiue and respectiue holinesse as to bee signes or types of things to come God only may make dayes holy but if by holy dayes wee vnderstand times dedicated to Gods worship and the commemoration of his benefits as mee to circumstances for Discipline Order and Policie such as our Diuines hold the holy dayes vnder the Gospell to bee I denie that either they might not or did not lawfully appoint such dayes vnder the Law or yet may not be appointed vnder the Gospell The answeres which you make to the dayes of Purim instituted by Queene Estther and Mordecai and the Feast of Dedication instituted by Iudas Macchabaeus are not solid First where ye say that the obseruation was ciuill because Hospinian sayes they might haue wrought vpon the dayes of Purim his opinion in that is not probable seeing these dayes were instituted to bee dayes of feasting and ioy and sending of portions one to another and gifts to the poore because on them God had giuen rest to his people from their enemies It is not probable when rich and poore did feast in remembrance of the rest that God had giuen them from their enemies that they did not rest and obserue the dayes according to the Institution for the Text sayes expresly Est. 9.17 That they rested and kept a day of feasting and gladnesse with the which seruile labour sorts not Neither will it follow that these dayes were not kept for holy Festiuities albeit in them they might haue wrought some kind of labour for on the sixe dayes of the Passeouer and on the sixe dayes of the Feast of Tabernacles seruile worke was not vtterly prohibited but on the first and eight only yet all these dayes are called Festiuall and holy Finally dayes instituted for Documents and Memorials of holy things as of their Fasting and Prayers by which they obtayned deliuerance such as yee affirme these to haue beene cannot bee called nor counted Ciuill And Willet compares them not euill with the fist dayes of August and Nouember but hee does not say this as counting them Ciuill but because they were not diuina sed Ecclesiasticae institutionis non mysterij sed politias and if ye thinke the fift of August and Nouember to be ciuill dayes in so farre as vpon them Commemoration is made of his Maiesties Deliuerances with Preaching Thankesgiuing and Prayer you are in a manifest errour for a day which is dedicated to diuine Seruice and the honour of God not to a ciuill vse cannot be esteemed ciuill but sacred and holy Againe where yee say that these dayes had more then humane warrant because it is thought that Mordecai was the Penman of the Booke of Esther and consequently a Prophet and that it appeares that these dayes might not haue beene altered by the Iewish Church which if they had bin of Ecclesiasticke Constitution might haue bin done thoughts and appearances are not sure probations to conclude a certaintie as yee doe of a more then humane warrant And if they had receiued from God any particular direction concerning them the Prophet of God would not haue omitted the same in the Historie A generall warrant they had such as the Church must haue for the determination of circumstances in the worship of God as that of the hundred and fifth Psalme Giue thankes to the Lord call on his Name make knowne his deeds amongst the people Sing vnto him sing Psalmes vnto him talke of all his wondrous workes that he hath done But to say that they had any particular warrant is to be wise aboue that which is written As to the Feast of Dedication yee answere first that if it were Anniuersary in Salomon and Zorobabels time Iudas Macchabaus followed the example of these who had Propheticall direction and if it