Selected quad for the lemma: body_n
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A52823
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Old popery as good as new, or, The unreasonableness of the Church of England in some of her doctrines and practices and the reasonableness of liberty of conscience : in a letter from a private gentleman in the country to his friend a clergy-man in the city.
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N. N.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing N47; ESTC R42186
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9,235
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20
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Unintelligible and makes some Pious Ejaculations thereupon And what need there is to make or think this Sacrament so Unintelligible I protest I know not Most certainly our Saviour in his Institution of it nere meant it so When he said Eat this is my Body and Drink this it my Blood He little thought that the Pronoun my should occasion these Doctrines of Transubstantiation and the Real Presence if he had he surely would not have given those other Directions viz That as oft as we do it we should do it in Remembrance of Him Remembrance being only of Persons and Things absent and not present He surely did intend it a plain and easie thing both to be done and understood As if he had said I for your sakes have left those heavenly Mansions where my Father dwells and where I sate at his Right Hand enjoying equally Eternal Bliss in Vnity with him and am from thence come down to put on Human Nature here and to become Obnoxious to all the Frailties and Infirmities thereof even to Death it self This Body of mine must be Bruised for your Iniquities and my Blood spilt for your Sins Nay I must Dye the Death too even the accursed Death of the Cross a Death more due to you that I may rescue you from Death Eternal And therefore when I am Dead and Gone I would have you Meet and Eat and Drink sometimes together and remember me When you break Bread remember this Body of mine that was Wounded for your sakes and when you Drink remember also my Blood that was for your sakes Shed Remember that bitter Cup that I drank of those horrid Agonies that I endured to satisfie the Divine Vengeance due to you And when you do this repent of and for sake your Sins that brought me to it and believe in me and rely upon this Satisfaction and Attonement thus made for you So shall you Eat and Drink Worthily So shall you Grow and Encrease in Grace So shall your Souls be Nourish'd and Preserv'd to Everlasting Life and so shall my Flesh be to you Meat indeed and my Blood Drink indeed This seems to me to be the sole and whole intent and meaning of our Saviour when he instituted this holy Festival of the Lords Supper viz. Thankfully to commemorate his Death and Passion and to believe in him How the Immortal God could become Man and Dye for us is the great Mystery to be Admired and Believed That God was made Man and did Dye for us is the great Mercy to be Remembred and Ador'd Now by these Notions of Transubstantiation and the Real Presence we make our Commemoration as Mysterious as the thing Commemorated and consequently the practical part of our Res … ion which should be plain and easie does become difficult and unintelligible 'T is good Craft in the Priesthood to make it so who thereby make themselves so much the more Necessary by how much the more Mysterious they make our Religion And if they would set to it and make the best use of all those Figurative and Metaphorical and other Rhetorical Expressions that are in the Scriptures and take them Litterally they may furnish us with Mysteries good store But enough of this matter Now for the Kneeling at the Lords Prayer at the end of other Prayers which are said Standing What may this mean I trow Do we vary the object of our Devotion when we use the Lords Prayer Do we not in our other Prayers before it pray to the same God Why not then the same Reverent Posture at one Prayer as at another Nay methinks if any difference ought to be the most Reverent Posture should be used when we do our Devotions in our own imperfect Words and Forms and when we use that absolute Form our Saviour taught us one would think we rather might approach the Throne of Grace more boldly And when we put off our Hats in the Church when there is no Divine Service there to what purpose is it and to whom do we do that Respect If to the Deity why do we walk and talk and transact other matters there at the same time as Parish Business c. If not to the Deity to whom or what else I doubt there can no good account be given of it Yet I am told of a tantivy Country Parson in Northamtonshire who being lately very angry with an honest Neighbour of his for keeping on his Hat at a Parish Meeting in the Church and being restrained from his usual and proper course of Revenge by the Kings late gracious Declaration of Indulgence he prevailed with a young Baronet his Patron and his Neighbours Landlord to turn his Neighbour out of his Farm where he had Lived long and paid his Rent well to his no small Damage A wise Landlord and a precious Parson in the mean time I 'll warrant You. Another Objection I have against our Church of England Is the Singing their Prayers in their Cathedral Service We blame the Papists for Praying in an unknown Tongue and what is this less It is Intelligible to none but those whose Business it so much is that I doubt it is but little their Devotion And yet we tell the Papists that all publick Devotion ought to be Intelligible to all and therefore not in Latine and therefore say I too not in this noisie confused manner that can't be understood Then there 's the business of the Cross in Baptism very lyable to Exception I Sign thee with the Sign of the Cross says the Church of England in token that thou shalt become Christs Souldier and Servant and manfully Fight under his Banner c. I Sign my self with the Sign of the Cross says the Papists when in Danger and upon such like Occasions in token that my Faith and Trust is in my Blessed Saviour that he that hath set me free from the Bondage and Slavery of Sin and Satan can and will preserve me from all outward Dangers Pray where 's the difference Another thing I object against the Church of England which I find in the Exposition of the Church Catechism that I mentioned before page 28. where he tells us of the Saints Praying for us in Heaven whilst we are Celebrating their Memorials here If they can pray for us and do us kindness sure we may pray to them to do it And so in that point I think we are very good Catholicks One thing more I must not omit to mention which methinks is very scandalous in our Church of England and that is the slight regard we have to the Sabath-Day or Sunday With what industry we have endeavoured to suppress the Observation of that Day the Book of Sports heretofore published and publickly read in Churches and the several Books written against the Sunday-Sabath by Eminent Church-Men may sufficiently shew And at this Day it is enough to brand any Man for a Fanatick or Whig if the be for the strict Observation of that Day or for twice
these things my thoughts do concur with yours I present this Paper to you desiring you if you think fit to cause it to be Printed For my part I date not think it worth Printing nor if I did do I know how to get it done being a private Gentleman in the Country that never was in Print nor now otherwise ambitions of it then that I may tell the World how much I am Sir Your most humble Servant N. N. â—ctober 19. 1687. SIR AMongst all the Polemick Discourses that are abroad betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome I wonder that some things are not objected by the Papists against the Church of England which methinks she is very obnoxious to and which I would gladly be able to Answer if Objected And because I know you to be a Zealous Son of the Church of England and as able as any Body to defend her in her Principles and Practices I apply my self to you for satisfaction herein Nor should I have given you this trouble but that I find our Vicar who is no very mean Man neither his Parts being better in proportion then his Preferments is hard put to it to give me a satisfactory Answer We Charge the Papists with Idolatry in Worshipping Images and Pictures of our Saviour and his Cross c. But in the mean time we do not consider that we may as well be blamed our selves for Bowing at the Name of Jesus Bowing to the Altar Kneeling at the Lords Prayer at the end of other Prayers and putting off our Hats at Church when no Divine Service there c. The first of which viz. Bowing at the Name of Jesus is established by a Cannon and the rest are so much the constant Practice of the Church of England that I never knew either Bishop or dignifi'd Clergy-Man or any other thought worthy to be such but those that Practis'd them I expect you 'l tell me that there can be no hurt in these things for that when we hear the Name of Jesus it puts us in mind of our Blessed Saviour to whom we do the Reverence of Bowing For Bowing to the Altar or Communion-Table that is the place whereon the Bread and Wine are Consecrated and where the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is Administred and thereby our Saviour and his Passion particularly Commemorated and therefore surely to pay a Reference to that place can have no harm in it For Kneeling at the Lords Prayer too in conclusion of other Prayers it is the form of Prayer that Christ himself taught us and Sanctified with his own Lips and to do a Reverence to him when we pronounce those Words can have no hurt in 't one would think And for putting off our Hats in Churches when no Divine Service there sure that can be no harm neither to pay a Reverence in that place that is consecrated and set apart for the Worship of the Deity These things seem pausible and have along time pas't for Currant But for my part when I consider what difference there is betwixt our Bowing at the Name of Jesus and the Papists Bowing to the Image or Picture of Jesus I can find none but this viz. The difference of the outward sence by which the thought of our Saviour is conveyed to our Understanding For as upon sight of his Effigies the Papists Worship so upon hearing of his Name we Worship also 'T is true this Worship of ours cannot be call'd Idolatry the signification of the Word wo'nt bear it but I take the Venom of Idolatry to be a misplac't Worship and if the Papist in Bowing to that which represents our Saviour to his Sence of Seeing be guilty of it I doubt when by the sound of his Name Jesus he is represented to my Sence of Hearing and I Worship also I 'm hardly Innocent In Bowing to the Altar too because the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is there Administred and the Passion of our Saviour is there Commemorated what do I less then the Papist Bowing to the Crucifix whereby the Passion of our Saviour is to him more sensibly represented And if Bow to the Altar because that Sacrament is there Administred why not to the Font also where the other Sacrament of Baptism is also Administred Some will excuse this Bowing to the Altar by calling it Bowing to the East and pretend to give some insignificant Reasons why we should do so Others will tell you of a relative Holiness in Places and Things and excuse it that way But I would ask If Bowing to the East be the reason why no such Bowing in Churches where the Communion-Table stands in the Body of the Church If because of the relative Holiness why has not the Font as good a title to this relative Holiness and consequently to the same respect the Altar hath And what is this relative Holiness mere in any thing then its being Consecrated and set a part for Sacred Uses And must we Worship anything for this Upon the same reason the Parsons may by degrees challenge some sort of extraordinary respect to themselves being by their Ordination set apart for Sacred Services Methinks 'twere better for the Church of England to speak plain English and confess she Bow 's to the Altar for the same reason the Papists do They do it because they hold that after Consecration the Wafer and Wine are become the real Body and Blood of Christ so that the real Christ is present there And this without all doubt was the beginning of it in the Church of England We had it from Rome and in truth we keep it still upon the same reason they do though we conceal and will not own it The real Presence that we hold in the Sacrament what to make of it I can't imagine but Transubstantiation or somewhat yet more strange For what difference is there betwixt the real Christ being present by the Transubstantiating Power of the Popish-Priests Consecration Christs being really present by the as unintelligible Power of out Church of England Priests Consecration Is it not as great a Miracle for a Church of England Priest by his Words of Consecration to fetch down Christ from Heaven and to circumscribe his Omni-present Deity to the. Communion-Table as for the Popish-Priest by his Consecration to translate the Bread and Wine into Christs real Body and Blood And when we have his real Presence there how comes it that in the Sacrament we really receive his Body and his Blood It must be by Transubstantiation sure or somewhat less intelligible even then that Now that there is a real Presence in the Sacrament and that we receive the Body and Blood of Christ verily and indeed in the Opinion of the Church of England I will only cite you the last Church of England Author that I read and that is the late Published Exposition of the Church-Catechism Composed for the Diocess of Bath and Wells Page 75 and 76. He indeed there confesseth it