having made confession of thehir faith according as we saw before from the Constitutions they were thrice dipped into the water in memory of our Saviours lying in the grace three days the formal words of Baptism being therewithal pronounced though not here expressed Which done the party is again anointed on the forehead nostrils Id. Catech. 3. ears and breasts upon the reasons there declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cloathed in white garments Id. Catech. 4. which concludes the action But here it is to be observed that this last anointing was in the way of confirmation it being the custom of those times in the baptizing of all such as were Adulti or of riper years to minister both Baptism and Confirmation at the same time as our incomparable Hooke rightly noteth And note withal that in the anointing of the forehead in his later Unction Hooker Eccles Politic. l. 5. § 66. Cyril Catech. mystagog 4. Tertull. de resurrect carnis the party baptized was signed with the sign of the Cross 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father there Which is no more than that so celebrated passage of Tertullian Caro signatur ut anims muniatur declares to be the antient and unquestionable practice of the Church of CHRIST Next for the celebration of the Eucharist he describes it thus Things being in readiness the Deacon bringeth water for the hands to the chief Minister Cyril Catechis mystagog 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to the Priests that stand about the Altar and then saith aloud Complectimini osculemini vos invicem embrace and kiss ye one another which is done accordingly and this in token of that Vnion both of hearts and souls which is and ought to be between them Then saith the Priests Sursum corda or Lift up your hearts the people answer We lift them up unto the Lord The Priest again Let us give thanks unto the Lord the people say Dignum justum est or It is meet and right so to do And by this place I note this only by the way we make up the breach in S. James his Liturgy being the antient Liturgy of the Church of Hierusalem as before was said which breach we shewed and touched at obiter in the former Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Then saith he we make mention of Heaven Earth and Sea and all the Creatures reasonable and unreasonable and also of the Angels and Archangels and the Powers of Heaven praising God and saying Sanctus sanctus sanctus Dominus Deus Sabbati By which celestial Hymns we do not only sanctifie our selves but beseech our good and gracious God that he would send his holy Spirit on the gifts presented that is to say the Bread and Wine that so the Bread may be made the Body of Christ and the Wine his Blood Then do we call upon the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the general peace of all the Churches the tranquillity of all the World for Princes and their Armies for our Friends and Brethren for all that be in need sickness or any other adversity and in a word for every one that wanteth help from the hands of God The rest that followeth as a part of this general Prayer upon the alteration of the Form and Person viz. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We call upon the Lord in the third person unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second person is most judiciously concluded by Dr. Rivet Rivet Critici sacri l. 3. c. 10. to be the fraud and forgery of some Impostor whose judgment in the same I heartily both applaud and follow But to proceed with that which is received for true and genuine and of unquestionble credit This general Prayer being thus concluded followe tht at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Cateches mystagog 5. which Christ our Saviour gave unto his Disciples the Lords Prayer he means and meaning so shews plainly that the Church conceived how the Lords Prayer was given to be said and used not to be imitated only Then saith the Priest thus Sancta Sanctis unto the holy all things are holy or holy things are for holy persons the people answering Unus sanctus unus Dominus JESUS CHRISTUS That is to say there is but one Holy one Lord JESVS CHRIST Then sangt the Priest the divine Hymns exhorting you to the communion of the holy Mysteries and saying Gustate videte quam fuavis est Dominus O taste and see how good the Lord is This said they came to the Communion not with their hands spread out nor disjoyned singers but with the left hand placed under the right receiving the Lord's body in the palms of their hands lest any of the consecrated Bread should fall to the ground and therewith viz. to the Priests prayer when he gave the same each one said AMEN After they had received the Communion of the Body of CHRIST they received the Cup also of his Blood where still we have the whole Communion sub utraque specie what ever new Doctrines have been coyned at Rome not stretching out the hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but falling down as when Men are in the Act of Worship or Adoration they said AMEN as formerly at the receiving of the Bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Last of all tarrying for the parting or concluding Prayers they gave thanks to God who had vouchsafed to make them worthy of his holy Mysteries This was the course and these the footsteps of the Forms observed of old times in the Mother Church the holy City of Hierusalem And if we may conjecture ex pede Herculem what the dimensions were of the body of Hercules by the proportion of his foot we may be well conjecture by these evident footsteps what the whole bodies were of the antient Liturgies From Cyril on unto St. Basil another famous Bishop of the Eastern Churches Who having made some Rules for the better order of those who did intend to lead a Monastick life and being accused that in the singing of the Psalms and regulating the manner of that Melody he had somewhat innovated contrary to the received custom of the Church was forced to make his own Apology and send it to the Clergy of Neo-Caesarea * Basil Ep. 63. Thus then saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Rites saith he which we observe amongst us are such as are agreeable and consonant to all the Churches of God Our people rising in the night do before day repair unto the Chappel or house of Prayer and having made confession of their sins to God in sorrow tears and great compunction of the Soul they rise at last from Prayer and take themselves unto the Psalms Being divided into two parts they sing as it were in turns one second another or Quire-wise as is used in our Cathedrals so taking time to meditate on the words of God and therewithal making our hearts and minds more attent thereto Then
Scripture there is no question made amongst Learned men but they were Obligatory to the Church for succeeding Ages The blessing of the Bread the breaking of it and the distributing thereof unto his Apostles the blessing of the Cup and the communicating of the same to all the Company those formal Energetical words Take eat this is my Body and drink ye all of this this is the Cup c. and all this to be done in remembrance of me Are rites and actions so determined words so prescribed and so precisely to be used that it is not in the Churches power unless she mean to set up a Religion of her own devising for to change the same And this I take it is agreed on by all Learned Protestants Certain I am it was so in the Churches practice from the first beginning as may appear to any one who will take the pains to compare the Rites and Form of administration used by S. Paul and his Associates in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 11.24.25 with that which was both done and prescribed by Christ according as it is related in the holy Gospel A further proof hereof we shall e're long Nor find I any difference considerable amongst moderate men touching the Priest or Minister ordained by Christ for the perpetuating of this Sacrament for the commemoratingof his death and passion until his coming unto judgement The publick exercises of Religion would be but ill performed without a Priesthood and that would soon be brought to nothing at least reduced unto contempt and scorn if every one that listeth might invade the Office Our Saviour therefore when he did institute this Sacrament or as the Fathers called it without offence in those pious times the Sacrifice of the blessed Eucharist Cum novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem Prenaeus cont hares l. 4. c. 32. to use the words of Irenaeus give an hoc facite unto his Apostles a faculty to them and their successors in the Evangelical Priesthood to do as he had done before that is to take the Bread to bless to break it and to distribute it amongst the Faithful to sanctifie the Cup and then to give it to the Congregation Men of on Orders in the Church may edere bibere as the Lord appointed and happy 't is they are permitted to enjoy such sweet refection But for hoc facere that 's the Priests peculiar And take they heed who do usurp upon the Office lest the Lord strike them with a fouler Leprosie than he did Vzzah 2 Chron. 26.20 when he usurped upon the Priesthood and would needs offer Incense in the House of God These points are little controverted amongst sober men The matter most in question which concerns this business is whether our Redeemer used any other either Prayers or Blessings when he did institute this blessed Sacrament than what were formerly in use amongst the Jews when they did celebrate their Passeover and if he did then whether he commended them unto his Apostles or left them to themselves to compose such Prayers as the necessities of the Church required and might seem best to them and the Holy Ghost This we shall best discover by the following practice in which it will appear on a careful search that the Apostles in their times and the Church afterwards by their example did use and institute such Forms of Prayer and Praise and Benedictions in the Solemnities of the blessed Sacrament of which there is no constat in the Book of God that they were used at that time by our Saviour Christ And if they kept themselves to a prescript Form in celebration of the Eucharist as we shall shortly see they did then we may easily believe it was not long before they did the like in all the acts of publick Worship according as the Church increased and the Believers were disposed of into Congregations And first beginning with the Apostles it is delivered by the Ancients that in the Consecration of the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood they used to say the Lords Prayer Hierom. adv Pelagium l. 3. There is a place in Hierome which may seem to intimate that this was done by Christs appointment Sic docuit Apostolos suos saith that Reverend Father ut quotidie in corporis illius sacrificio credentes audeant loqui Pater noster c. Whether his words will bear that meaning I can hardly say Certain I am they are alledged to this purpose by a late Learned writer Steph. Durantes de ritibus Ecelesiae Cathol l. 2. c. 46. who saying first Eam i. e. orationem Dominicam in Missae sacro dicendam Christus ipse Apostolos docuit that Christ instructed his Apostles to say the Lords Prayer in the Celebration of that Sacrament or in the Sacrifice of the Mass as he calls it there doth for the proof thereof vouch these words of Hierome But whether it were so or not most sure it is that the Apostles are reported to have used that Prayer as often as they Celebrated the Communion Mos fuit Apostolorum saith S. Gregory ut ad ipsam solummodo orationem Dominicam oblationis hostiam consecrarent It was Gregor M. Epist l. 7. Ep. 54. V. Bellarm. de Missa l. 2. c. 19. Durand Ration divinorum l. 4. saith he the use or custom of the Apostles to Consecrate the Host or Sacrament with reciting only the Lords Prayer Which passage if he took from that of Hierome as some think he did the one may not unfitly serve to explain the other The like saith Durand in his Rationale The Lord saith he did institute the Sacrament with no other words than those of Consecration only Quibus Apostoli adjecerunt orationem Dominicam to which the Apostles added the Lords Prayer And in this wise did Peter first say Mass you must understand him of the Sacrament in the Eastern parts Platina in vita Sixti Platina saith the like as to S. PETER Eum ubi consecraverit oratione Pater noster usum esse That in the Consecration of the Sacrament he used to say the Lords Prayer or the Pater noster See to this purpose Antonius tit 5. cap. 2. § 1. Martinus Polonus in his Chronicon and some later Writers By which as it is clear and evident that the Apostles used the Lords Prayer in the Celebration of the holy Mysteries which is a most strong argument that it was given them to be used or said not to be imitated only So it may seem by Gregories solummodo that they used the Lords Prayer and nothing else And therefore that of Gregory must be understood either that they used no other Prayer in the very act of Consecration or that they closed the Form of Consecration with that Prayer of Christs which may well be without excluding of the words of Consecration which our Saviour used or such preparatory Prayers as were devised by the Apostles for that great solemnity For certainly
Articles had been concluded and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of the Realm in their Convocation as appeareth in the very words of the Injunction For which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1247. I find not any thing in Parliament which relates to this either to countenance the work or to require obedience and conformity from the hand of the people And to say truth neither the King nor Clergy did account it necessary but thought their own Authority sufficient to go through with it though certainly it was more necessary at that time than in any since The power and reputation of the Clergy being under foot the King scarce setled in the Supremacy so lately recognized unto him and therefore the Authority of the Parliament of more Use than afterward in Times well ballanced and established 'T is true that in some other year of that Princes Reign we find some Use and mention of an Act of Parliament in matters which concerned Religion but it was only in such Times when the hopes of Reformation were in the Wane and the Work went retrogade For in the year 1539. being the 31. H. 8. When the Lord Comwels power began to decline and the King was in a necessity of compliance with His Neighbouring Princes there passed an Act of Parliament commonly called the Statute of the six Articles or the Whip with six strings In which it was Enacted That whosoever by word or writing should Preach Teach or publish that in the blessed Sacraments of the Altar under form of Bread and Wine there is not really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or affirm otherwise thereof than was maintained and taught in the Church of Rome should be adjudged an Heretick and suffer death by burning and forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of High Treason Secondly That whosoever should Teach or Preach that the Communion of the blessed Sacrament in both kinds is necessary for the health of mans soul and ought to be maintained Thirdly Or that any man ofter the Order of Priesthood received might Marry or contract Matrimony Fourthly Or that any Woman which had vowed and professed Chastity might contract Marriage Fifthly Or that private Masses were not lawful and laudable or agreable to the Word of God Or sixthly That auricular Confession was not necessary and expedient to be used in the Church of God should suffer death and forfeit Lands and Goods as a Felon 31 H. 8. c. 14. The rigour of which terrible Statute was shortly after mitigated in the said King's Reign 32 H. 8. c. 10. and 35 H. 8. c. 5. and the whole Statute absolutely repealed by Act of Parliament 1 E. 6. c. 12. But then it is to be observed first that this Parliament of K. H. 8. did not determine any thing in those six points of Doctrine which are therein recited but only took upon them to devise a course for the suppressing of the contrary Opinions by adding by the secular Power the punishment of Death and forfeiture of Lands and Goods unto the censures of the Church which were grown weak if not unvalid and consequently by degrees became neglected ever since the said K. Henry took the Headship on Him and exercised the same by a Lay Vicar General And secondly you must observe that it appeareth evidently by the Act it self that at the same time the King had called a Synod and Convocation of all the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy that the Articles were first deliberately and advisedly debated argued and reasoned by the said Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy and their opinions in the same declared and made known before the matter came in Parliament And finally That being brought into the Parliament there was not any thing declared and passed as doctrinal but by the assent of the Lords Spiritual and other Learned men of the Clergy as by the Act it self doth at large appear Finally Whatsoever may be drawn from thence can be only this That K. Hen. did make use of his Court of Parliament for the establishing and confirming of some points of Popery which seemed to be in danger of a Reformation And this compared with the Statute of the 34. and 35. prohibiting the reading of the Bible by most sorts of people doth clearly shew that the Parliaments of those times did rather hinder and retard the work of Reformation in some especial parts thereof than give any furtherance to the same But to proceed There was another point of Reformation begun in the Lord Cromwels time but not produced nor brought to perfection till after his decease and then too not without the Midwifery of an Act of Parliament For in the year 1537. the Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Convocation had composed a Book entituled The Institution of a Christian Man which being subscribed by all their hands was by them presented to the King by His most excellent judgment to be allowed of or condemned This Book containing the chief Heads of Christian Religion was forthwith Printed and exposed to publick view But some things not being clearly explicated or otherwise subject to exception he caused it to be reviewed and to that end as Supream Head on Earth of the Church of Engl. I speak the very words of the Act of Parl. 32. H. 8. c. 26. appointed the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of the Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgment and good disposition to be called together to the intent that according to the very Gospel and Law of God without any partial respect or affection to the Papistical sort or any other Sect or Sects whatsoever they should declare by writing and publish as well the principal Articles and points of our Faith and Belief with the Declaration true understanding and observation of such other expedient points as by them with his Graces advice counsel and consent shall be thought needful and expedient as also for the lawful Rights Ceremonies and observation of Gods Service within this Realm This was in the year 1540. at what time the Parliament was also sitting of which the King was pleased to make this special use That whereas the work which was in hand I use again the words of the Statute required ripe and mature deliberation and was not rashly to be defined and set forth and so not fit to be restrained to the present Session an Act was passed to this effect That all Determinations Declarations Decrees Definitions and Ordinances as according to God's Word and Christ's Gospel should at any time hereafter be set forth by the said Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Doctors in Divinity now appointed or hereafter to be appointed by his Royal Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the matter of Christ's Religion and the Christian Faith
drank The form of Blessing which he used was this Benedictus es Domine Deus noster Rex seculi qui sanctificasti nos mandatis tuis praeceptum dedisti super hoc pane Azymo Blessed art thou O Lord our God King of all the world which hast sanctified us with thy holy precepts and given us this Commandement about the eating of unleavened bread And at the giving of the bread this form Iste est panis aerumnae quem comederunt patres nostri in terra Aegypti Quisquis esurit accedat paschatizet This is the bread of sorrow which our Fathers eat when they were in Egypt Whosoever is an hungred let him come and eat this Passeover The formal words used at the blessing of the Cup were these Benedictus es Domine qui fructum vitis creasti Blessed art thou O Lord which hast Created the fruit of the Vine And this is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cup of Praise because whilst it was passing round about the Table they sung an Hymn of Praise to the Lord their God Finally Supper being done and all the Ceremonies ended they sung the cxiii Psalm and so dismissed the Assembly So far the great and famous Scaliger This last affirmed also by Paulus Brugensis who addeth that this Psalm being the cxii in his accompt with the five that follow are by the Hebrews made into one Hymn and called Allelujah magnum Paulus Brugens in Psal 112. and that they use to sing the same not only at the conclusion of the Passeover as it is observed by Joseph Scaliger but also in the New Moons and the three great Feasts in tribus praecipuis festis in neomeniis those viz. of Pentecost the Trumpets and the feasts of Tabernacles and finally that Christ our Saviour conforming to the forms established Post comestionem agni Paschalis hymnum praedictum cum Apostolis recitavit did after the eating of the Paschal Lamb sing the said Hymn with his Apostles This though it make it clear and evident that at the Celebrating of the Passeover the Jews had their prescribed forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction yet for the more validity thereof we will relate the same out of Beza also whose words we will lay down at large without alteration Sciendum saith he agitata fuisse haec convivia in privatis aedibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza Annot. in Mat. 26. i.e. per contubernia non paucorum quam denum virorum interdum etiam vicenum qui nisi pedibus de more lotis totos etiam nonnulli corporibus non sedebant sed discumbebant Agno illo solido cum panibus Azymis vescentes Hac autem coena peracta consurgentes altera pedum ablutione facta rursum discumbentes ad secundas mensas sese comparabant In has vero secundas mensas pro bellariis inferebantur in triblio Acetarium ex intybis lactucis agrestibus quarum amaritudinem adhibito quodam embammate temperabant Tum vero Paterfamilias panem Azymum integrum in duas partes dividens sic uni benedicebat Benedictus es Domine Deus noster Rex universi in esu panis Azymi Alteram autem partem sub mappa reconditam ad finem convivii servabat quo peracto idem Paterfamilias alteram illam partem depremens in tot frusta fractam quot erant in illo contubernio convivatores primus ipse sumebat reliqua vero frusta sigillatim ordine discumbentibus caeteris porrigebat cum his verbis Iste est panis aerumnae quem comederunt majores nostri in terra Aegypti Quisquis esurit accedat paschatizet cuicunque opus est accedat paschatizet Denique poculum acceptum degustatum praeeunte hac benedictione Benedictus es Domine qui fructum vitis creasti idem Paterfamilias proxime tradebat ille secundo donec poculum per totum convivium circumferretur His autem omnibus absolutis Psalmus cxiii cum quinque aliis proxime sequentibus canebatur quem solennem hymnum adhuc hodie magnum Hallelujah vocant neque post hoc poculum quod propterea poculum hymni five laudationis dicebatur comedere quicquam illa nocte fas erat The English of this Latine as to the sum and substance of it we have seen before in that of Scaliger and shall see more at large in that which followeth In the mean time without all peradventure we have found a Liturgy an order of Celebrating that holy Sacrament consisting both of Rules and Rubricks for the performing of the service as also of those forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction wherewith that service was performed And lest perhaps it may be said that these were some of the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees devised in the declining and corrupted Ages of the Jewish Church Beza assures us it is no such matter but that these rites and forms had been used amongst them à primo in Chananitidem ingressu from their first entrance into the Land of Canaan which was assoon directly Id. Ibid. as they were a Church To make the matter surer yet we will observe the form and order of the Jewish Passeover according as it is described at large by Aynsworth out of the writings of the Rabbins I will here shew saith he the order which the Jews in the Ages following Aynsworth Annot. in Exod. 12. kept at the Passeover as themselves have recorded it First a cup of Wine is filled for every one and he blesseth for it him that Created the fruit of the Vine c. and drinketh it After that he blesseth for the washing of hands and washeth his hands Then is brought in a Table furnished and upon it bitter herbs and unleavened bread and the sawce and the body of the Paschal Lamb and the flesh of the Chagigah or Feast-offering which is for the fourteenth day of the moneth Then he beginneth to bless God which Created the fruit of the earth and takes an herb and dippeth it in the sawce and eateth it he and all that lie at the Table every one none eateth less than the quantity of an Olive Afterward the Table is taken away from before him only that maketh the declaration of their deliverance out of Egypt as is commanded Exod. xiii xii 17. Then they fill the second Cup and the Son asketh what is meant by this service according to Exod. xii 26. and he that maketh the declaration saith How different is this night from all other nights For all other nights we wash but once but this night twice All other nights we eat leavened bread or unleavened but this night unleavened bread only All other nights we eat flesh roasted baked or boiled but this night roasted only all other nights we eat of any other herbs but this night bitter herbs All other nights we eat either sitting or lying but this night lying only Then the Table is brought again before him and be saith This Passeover which we eat
is in respect that the Lord passed over the Houses of our Fathers in Egypt Then holdeth be up the bitter herbs in his hand and saith These bitter herbs which we eat are in respect that the Egyptians made the lives of our Fathers bitter in Egypt Then he holdeth up the unleavened bread in his hand and saith This unleavened bread which we eat is in respect that the dough of our Fathers had not time to be leavened when the Lord appeared unto them and redeemed them out of the hand of the Enemy and they baked unleavened Cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt Then be saith Therefore are we bound to Confess to Praise to Laud to Celebrate to Glorifie to Honour to Extol to Magnifie and to Ascribe Victory unto him that did unfreedom from sorrow to joy from darkness to great light and we say before him Hallelujah Hallelujab Praise O ye Servants of the Lord c. unto the end of the cxiv Psalm Then they bless the Lord which redeemed them and their Fathers out of Egypt and hath brought them unto that night to eat unleavened bread therein and bitter herbs And he blesseth God who Created the fruit of the Vine and drinketh the second Cup. After this he blesseth for the washing of hands and washeth his hands the second time and taketh two Cakes parteth one of them c. and blesseth God that bringeth bread out of the Earth Because it is said the Bread of Affliction or of Poverty Deut. xvi 3. As it is the manner of the Poor to have broken meat so here is a broken part Afterwards he wrappeth up of the unleavened bread and of the bitter herbs together and dippeth them in the sawce and blesseth God which commanded to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs and they eat Then he blesseth God which commanded the eating of the Sacrifice and he eateth the flesh of the Feast-offering and again blesseth God which commanded the eating of the Passeover and then he eateth of the body of the Passeover After this they sit long at Supper and eat every one so much as he will and drink as much as they will drink Afterward he eateth of the flesh of the Passeover though it be but so much as an Olive and tasteth nothing at all after it that it may be the end of his supper and that the taste of the flesh of the Passeover may remain in his mouth After this he lifteth up his bands and blesseth for the third cup of Wine and drinketh it Then filleth he the fourth cup and accomplisheth for it the Praise or hymn and saith for it the blessing of the song which is All thy works praise thee O Lord c. Psal cxlv 10. and blesseth God that Created the fruit of the Vine and tasteth nothing at all after it all the night except water And he may fill the fifth cup saying for it is the great Hymn viz. Confess ye to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Psal cxxxvi unto the end of that Psalm But he is not bound they say to that cup as to the four farmer cups For this he citeth Rabbi Maymoni and after addeth from the said Author but from another work of his That at the breaking and delivering of the unleavened bread they do use these words This is the Bread of Affliction which our Fathers did eat in the Land of Egypt Whosoever is hungry let him come and eat whosoever hath need let him come and keep the Passeover c. Compare the words which follow after viz. These observations of the Jews whilst their Common-wealth stood c. with those of Beza formerly remembred à primo in Chananitidem ingressu and then we have an Answer to the doubt which might be raised from the first words of Aynsworth in these observations which seem to intimate that this Order was not used by the Jews till the Ages following The Prayers the Praises and the Benedictions which are the points which Beza speaks of might be and were used by them at their first entrance on the Land of Canaan their frequent washings and reiterating of the Cup so often might not be introduced till the Ages following Here then we have set forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction used at the Celebrating of the Jewish Sacrifices the Song of Moses made a part of the Jewish Liturgy the several rites and prescribed duties observed in the solemnity of the Jewish Passover and all of very great Antiquity even from the time of Moses saith the old Samaritan Chronicle à primo in Chananitidemingressu from their first entrance into the Promised Land as it is in Beza And for the instituting of these forms besides the power that God hath given unto his Church on the like occasions they had the president and example of the Lord himself who had prescribed in one kind binding the Priests unto a certain form of Benediction when he blessed the people and in a second place of Moses who had tied himself unto a certain form of words as often as he setled or removed the Ark. For we are told in holy Scripture that whensoever the Ark set forwards Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies he scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Numb 10.35 And for the blessing of the people we find the form thereof prescribed by the Lord himself saying unto Aaron and his Sons On this wise shall ye bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee peace Numb 10.23 24 25 26. And to this form the Priests were so precifely tied that they durst not vary from the same the Hebrew Doctors understanding the word thus or in this wise to imply both the matter and the manner as viz. Thus shall ye bless i.e. standing thus with the lifting up of hands thus in the holy tongue thus with your faces towards the faces of the people thus with an high voice thus by Gods expressed Name JEHOVAH if ye bless in the Sanctuary So that it was not lawful to the Priest in any place to add any blessing unto these three verses as to say like that of Deut. 1.11 The Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are or any the like Maymoni cited by Aynsw in Numb 6. Now for the manner wherewithal the Priests performed this office it was briefly thus The Priests went up unto the bank or stage after that they had finished the daily morning Service and lifted up their hands on high above their heads and their fingers spread abroad except the High-Priest who might not lift his hands higher than the Plate whereof see Exod. xxviii 36. and
regam juxta morem qui colunt honorant regunt uxores fideliter Do autem tibi dotem virginitatis tuae ducentos aureos i.e. 50 siclos quin etiam alimentum tuum vestitum atque sufficientem necessitatem tuam Cornel. Bertram item cognitionem tui juxta consuetudinem universae terrae That is to say Be thou a Wife to me according to the Law of Moses and Israel and I shall worship and honour thee according to the Word of God I shall seed and govern thee according to the custom of those who worship honour and govern their Wives faithfully I give thee for the Dowry of thy Virginity two hundred pence i. e. 50 Shekels as also thy food cloathing and all sufficient necessaries and knowledge of thee according to the custom of the whole earth A Shekel was a piece of money among the Jews amounting in our coyn to 1 s. 3 d. Judg. 14.11 1 Sam. 18.25 Ruth 4.2 Much of which form as to the main and substance of it is exceeding Ancient For in the Marriage of Sampson we find the Children of the Bride-Chamber being the thirty young men his Companions as they are there called in that of David unto Michael the Daughter of Saul the bringing in of an hundred Foreskins of the Philistins in loco dotis as the Dowry-money in that of Ruth the presence of ten men to bear witness to it Nor was this done being a business of such moment without a special Benediction For at the Marriage of Boaz to Ruth the People and the Elders said The Lord make the Woman which is come into thine House like Rachel and like Leah which two did build the House of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlehem and let thy House be like the House of Pharez of the Seed which the Lord will give thee of this young Woman Ruth 4.11 12. Upon this ground it was that Marriage was not solemnized amonst them without Prayers and Blessings the form whereof in the ensuing times was this as followeth Benedictus sis Domine Deus noster Rex universi c. Blessed be the Lord our God the King of the World who hath Created Man after his own Image according to the Image of his own likeness and hath thereby prepared unto himself an everlasting building Blessed be thou O Lord God who hast Created him Moses Aaron l. 6. cap. 4. Then followeth again Blessed be thou O Lord our God who hast Created joy and gladness the Bridegroom and the Bride Charity and Brotherly love Rejoycing and Pleasure Peace and Society I beseech thee O Lord let there be suddenly heard in the Cities of Judah and the Streets of Hierusalem the voice of joy and gladness the voice of the Bridegroom and the Bride the voice of exaltation in the Bride-Chamber is sweeter than any Feast and Children sweeter than the sweetness of a song Which Prayer thus ended one of the Bride-men or Companions took a cup having before been blessed in the wonted form and drinks unto the Married-couple As for the form and rites of Burial not to say any thing either of the washing or embalming of the Corps which was common unto them with other Nations Chiristan Synagogue l. 1. cap. 6. sict 8. Paraph. 15. Diat 1. their custom was after the body was interred to speak something of the justice of God and of mans sin which meriteth death and they prayed God in justice to remember mercy This said they gave a Cup of Consolation to the sad-hearted Finally on the grave or Tombstone they caused these words ensuing to be written Sit anima ejus in fasciculo vitae cum caeteris justis Amen Amen Selah That is to say let his soul be in the bundle of life with the rest of the just Amen Amen So be it These as they were the ancient forms and ceremonies used in their Marriages and Burials so after when they had erected Synagogues in convenient places they solemnized their Marriages in a Tent Maymon cited in Fishter's defence cap. 17. set upon four Pillars near their Synagogue which shews that there was something in it wherewith the Priest or Prophet was to intermeddle and that they did esteem it of a nature not so meerly civil but that the blessing of the Minister was required unto it But it is time I now go forward to the Ages following CHAP. III. Of the condition and estate of the Jewish Liturgy from the time of David unto Christ 1. Several hours of prayer used amongst the Jews and that the prayers then used were of prescribed forms 2. The great improvement of the Jewish Liturgie in the time of David by the addition of Psalms and Instruments of Musick 3. The form of Celebrating Gods publick Service according unto Davids Institutions described by the Jewish Rabbins 4. The solemn form used in the dedicating of the first and second Temples 5. The Temple principally built for an House of Prayer 6. The several and accustomed gestures used among the Jews in the performance of Gods publick worship 7. The weekly reading of the Law on the Sabbath days not used until the time of Ezra 8. The reading of the Law prescribed and regulated according to the number of the Sections by the care of Ezra and of the 18 Benedictions by him composed 9. The Exposition of the Law prescribed and ordered by the Authority of the Church 10. The first foundation of Synagogues and Oratories and for what employments 11. The Church of Jewry ordained Holy-days and prescribed forms of prayer to be used thereon 12. Set days for publick annual Feasts appointed by the Jewish Church with a set form of prayer agreeable to the occasion 13. The form of Celebrating Gods publick Service according as it is described by Jesus the Son of Syrac 14. Jesus the Son of God conforms himself unto the forms established in the Jewish Church 15. A transition from the forms received in the Jewish Church to those in Vse amongst the Gentiles THE Nation of the Jews being thus setled into an established Church by the hand of Moses and several forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction prescribed unto them either immediately by the Lord himself or by the Church directed by the wisdom of Almighty God it was not long before that divers other points were added by the like Authority until the Liturgy thereof became full and absolute Of these the first in course of time was the deputing of certain and determinate hours in every day for the performance of those moral duties of Prayer and Praises in which Gods publick worship did consist especially which were the third the sixth and the ninth For clearer knowledge of the which we shall add thus much that the Jews did usually divide their day into four great parts hours of the Temple they were called that is to say the third hour which began at six of the Clock in the Morning and held on
one to whom that charge or Office appertained began some other Psalm or Hymn and all sung together after him by which variety of singing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Prayers being interserted or mingled with it they past over the night and on the dawning of the day all of them joyned together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had but one heart and one mouth amongst them and sung unto God a Psalm of Confession most likely one of the seven penitential Psalms and after every one made in his own words a profession of his penitence and so all returned Where note that howsoever this Form of Service was fitted only for a company of private Men who had embraced the Monastick life and to be used only by them in their private Oratories yet the most part thereof was borrowed from the publick Forms at that time extant in the Church Of the which Rites or Forms retained amongst them were the beginning of their service with a confession of their sins then p rayers to God and then the singing of the Psalms That which was singular herein and needed the Apology was that they met together before day and spent more time upon the Psalmody than in reading or preaching of the Word or in Common-prayer or any of the other parts of publick Worship Basil could tell as well as any wherein the Form of Service used amongst his Monks agreed with that which was received and used in publick Churches and wherein it differed as having took the pains to compose a Liturgie or rather to compleat and polish and fit unto the publick use such as had formerly been extant And though that Copy of it which occurs in the Bibliotheca and in the writings of Cassander have some things in it which are found to be of a latter date yet we shall clear that doubt anon when we come to Chrysostom against whose Liturgy I find the like Objections Mean time take this of Basil for a pregnant Argument that in his time and long before it the Service of the Chruch was not only ordered by Rules and Rubricks but put into set Forms of Worship which we have noted in his Books De spiritu sancto and is this that followeth For speaking there touching those publick Usages which came into the Church from the tradition of the Apostles Easil de sancto spiritu c. 27. he instanceth in these particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The signing with the sign of the Cross all those who place their hopes in Christ what writing teacheth that in our prayers we should turn towards the East where is it taught us in the Scripture And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those words of invocation wherewithal in the holy Eucharist we consecrate the Bread and Cup of Benediction which of those blessed Saints have left in writing For not content with those things which the Apostles or the Gospel have committed to us many things have been added since both in the way of preface and of conclusion which are derived from unwritten Tradition And not long after thus of Baptism having first spoke of consecrating the Water of the Chrism or Oyl and the three Dippings then in use Those other things saith he which are done in Baptism viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Abrenuntiation which is made to Satan and to all his Angels out of what Scripture is it brought Next for S. Cyrsostom the evidence we have from him is beyond exception 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost in 2. ad Corinth hom 18. It is no now saith he as in the old Testament wherein the Priests eat this and the people that it being unlawful for the people to eat those things which were permitted to the Priest It is now otherwise with us For unto all is the same Body and the same Cup presented And in our very prayers it is easily seen how much we attribute unto the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For both those who are possessed with the devil the Energumeni and those who yet are under penance both by the People and Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common Prayers are made and we say all one and the self same Prayer even that which is so full of mercy Where by the way though in the Greek it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they say all one Prayer yet in the Latin it runs thus omnes unam eandemque precem concipiunt which would make well for unpremeditated and extemporary Prayers if it were possible that all the Congregation both Priest and people should fall upon the same conception But to go on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Again saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when we repell all such from the holy Rayls which cannot be partakers of the holy Table there is another Prayer to be said and we all lie alike upon the ground and all rise together Then when the Peace or sign of peace is mutually to be given and taken we do all equally salute or kiss each other Thus also in the celebration of the sacred Mysteries as the Priest prayeth for the people so do they for him these usual words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And with thy Spirit importing nothing else but this And finally Et cum spirtu tuo Gratlas agamus Deo that Prayer wherein we give thanks to the Lord our God is common unto both alike the Priest not only giving thanks to God but the whole Assembly For when he hath demanded their suffrage first and they acknowledg thereupon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dignum est justum that it is meet and right so to do then he begins the holy Eucharist Nor is it strange nor should it seem so unto any that the people should thus hold conference with the Priest o Minister considering that they sing those holy Hymns together with the Cherubins and the powers of Heaven So he And all this out of question Ideo cum Angelis Archangelis must needs be understood of prescribed Forms such as the people said by heart or could read in Books that either lay before them or were brought with them such as they were so throughly versed in as to make answer to the Minister upon all occasions For what else were those common Prayers those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he speaks of what else that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that one self-same Prayer that Prayer so full of mercy in which all did joyn were they not so determinate the prescribed that all could say them with the Minister And were not those returns and Answers so prescribed and set that all the people knew their Q. and were not ignorant of their turn when they were to speak Several other passages of the antient Liturgies might here and there be gathered from this Fathers writings if one would take the pains to seek them But I shall save that pains at present and indeed well may For what
pay no Tithes unto their Ministers and in the mean time that the Tithes should be taken up towards the maintenance of the War for the common liberty But when the War was brought to so fair an issue that the Boor thought to be exempted from the payment of Tithes Answer was made that they should pay none to the Minister as they had done formerly whereby their Ministers in effect were become their Masters but that the Tithes were so considerable a Revenue that the State could not possibly subsist without them that therefore they must be content to pay them to the States Commissioners as they had done hitherto and that the State would take due care to maintain a Ministery By means whereof they do not only pay their Tithes as in former times but seeing how short the publick allowance made their Ministers doth come of that which some are pleased to call a Competency they are constrained as it were out of common charity if not compelled thereto by order to contribute over and above with the rest of the people for the improvement and increase of the Ministers pension And so it was in Scotland also after the Lords of new erection had ingrossed the Tithes I cannot say that there is any such design as to annex the Tithes to the Crown though if they be taken from the Clergy they ought of common right to return again unto the Crown from whence they came But I dare say the Landholder will conceive himself as much defrauded of his expectation as if there was And when he finds that instead of paying no Tithes at all he is to pay a valuable consideration in money for them will think himself so far from being beholden to the Undertakers of this project that he will think the old way better and more easie to him His money he accompts his own and parts as sadly from it as from so much of his blood The Tithes he looks upon as another mans which never were in his possession or to be reckoned of as a part of himself and therefore lets them go without grief or trouble And I have marked it commonly amongst my Neighbours who I believe are of the some temper with other Oceupants that the same men who took no thought for parting with their Tithes in kinds having compounded for them at a rate in money invented more delays and made more excuses to put the payment off for a week or two and so from one day to another than for the payment of their Tithes in all their life time So dear a thing is money to us Countrey people that he who shall persuade us to redeem a supposed inconvenience with a real and a constant expence of treasure will be counted but an evil Counsellor A visible evidence whereof we have now amongst us For though the quartering of Souldiers be the heaviest bondage that ever a free-born people did languish under and such as men of means and quality would buy out upon any terms Yet generally the Countrey-man had rather make himself a Slave and his Wife a Drudge and let them spend upon his Victuals than part with money to remove them to some other place My inference hereupon is this either the valuation of each several Benefice will be true and real to the worth or not If not it may redound indeed to the Ploughmans profit but then it comes accompanied with a publick fraud which I believe no Christian State will be guilty of And on the other side if the rates be made according to the full worth of the Benefice it will be little to the profit of the Husbandman who might have farmed his Tithes as cheap of the Parson or Vicar besides the hearts-grief it will be unto many of them to part with ready money for a thing of convenience without which they might live as happily as their Fathers did And if it be not to the profit of the Ploughman this way I am sure that in another way it will not be to his content or his profit either For taking it for granted as I think I may that I have hit on the design which is now on foot that is to say that the yearly profits of each Benefice in every County be brought into one common bank or treasury within the County and then disposed of by Trustees according as they judge of the deserts of the person and take into consideration his Family-charge It may so happen and will doubtless that in a Parish where the Tax or Sessement cometh to 400 l. per annum the Minister may not be allowed above an hundred The residue will be wholly in Mr. Treasurers power either to feast with his Friends or lay up for his Children or at the best to setle it on such who relate unto him or can make means and friends to enlarge their Pensions though such perhaps as were never seen nor heard of by the Parish whence the money comes And if men think it as it is an ill piece of Husbandry to have the Soil carried off their own Land and laid on anothers to the impoverishing of their own and inriching of his I cannot see but that it will be thought a worse piece of Husbandry and prove of very ill digestion to most Country stomachs to have the fat of their livings carried to another place and given unto a man whom they never saw and who is never like to feed their souls with the bread of life or their bodies with the life of bread their own poor Minister mean while from whom they have reason to expect it being so discouraged and impoverished that he can do neither For whereas those who were possessed of the richer benefices did use to keep good Hospitality to entertain their Neighbours and relieve their Poor and do many other good offices amongst them as occasion served both to the benefit and comfort of all sorts of Parishioners It may so happen and it will as before I said that the Minister may be so ill befriended by Mr. Treasurer and the rest of the Trustees for the County that instead of being either a benefit or a comfort to them in the way proposed he may prove a burden and a charge And though I doubt not but as great care will be taken as can be desired in the choice of those who are to have the disposing of the publick monies yet to suppose that men once setled in an office of such trust and power may not be subject unto partialities and corrupt affections were an imagination fitter for the Lord Chancelour Verulams new Atlantis or Sir Thomas Moore his Predecessors old Vtopia or a Platonick Common-wealth than the best tempered government in the Christian world For my part looking into the design with the best eyes I have and judging of it by the clearest light of understanding which God hath given me I am not able to discern but that the change of Tithes into Stipends in the way propounded will
they all made bold with Saint Pauls Table as it had been common to them all and as it seems to me saith he Paul sitting at the Table did discourse thus with them Therefore it seems by him that as the meeting was at an ordinary supper so the Discourse there happening was no Sermon properly but an occasional Dispute Lyra affirms the same and doth gloss it thus They came together to break bread i. e. saith he Pro refectione corporali for the refection and support of their Bodies only and being there Paul preached unto them or as the Greek and Latin have it he disputed with them prius eâ—s reficiens pane verbi divini refreshing of them first with the Bread of life This also seems to be the meaning of the Church of England who in the margin of the Bible Canon 80. allowed by Canon doth refer us unto the second of the Acts verse 46. where it is said of the Disciples that they did break their bread from house to house and eat their meat together with joy and singleness of heart which plainly must be meant of ordinary and common meats Calvin not only so affirms it but censures those who take it for the holy Supper Nam quod hic fractionem panis nonnulli interpretantur sacram coenam In Acts 2. alienum mihi videtur à mente Lucae c. as he there discourseth Then for the time our English reads it upon the first day of the week agreeably unto to the exposition of most ancient Writers and the vulgar Latin which here as in the four Evangelists doth call the first day of the week una Sabbati Yet since the Greek phrase is not so perspicuous but that it may admit of a various exposition Erasmus renders it by uno die sabbatorum quodam die sabbatorum that is upon a certain Sabbath and so doth Calvin too and Pellican and Gualter all of them noted Men in their translations of that Text. Nor do they only so translate it but frame their Expositions also unto that Translation and make the day there mentioned to be the Sabbath Calvin takes notice of both readings Vel proximum sabbato diem intelligit In locum vel unum quodpiam sabbatum but approves the last Quod dies ille ad habendum conventum aptior fucrit because the Sabbath day was then most used for the like Assemblies Gualter doth so conceive it also that they assembled at this time on the Sabbath day Qui propter veterem morem haud dubie tune temperis celebrior habebatur Hom. 131. as that which questionless was then of most repute and name amongst them So that the matter is not clear as unto the day if they may judg it But take it for the first day of the week as the English reads it yet doth St. Austin put a scruple which may perhaps disturb the whole expectation though otherwise he be of opinion that the breaking of the Bread there mentioned might have some reference or resemblance to the Lords Supper Now this is that which St. Austin tells us Ep. 86. Aut post peractum diem Sabbati noctis initio fuerunt congregati quae utique nox ad diem Dominicum h. e. ad unum Sabbati pertinebat c. Either saith he they were assembled on the beginning of the night which did immediatly follow the Sabbath day and was to be accounted as a part of the Lords day or first day of the week and breaking Bread that night as it is broken in the Sacrament of the Lords Body continued his discourse till midnight Ut lucescente proficisceretur Dominico die that so he might begin his Journey with the first dawning of the Lords day which was then at hand Or if they did not meet till the day it self since it is there expressed that he preached unto them being to depart upon the morrow we have the reason why he continued his Discourse so long viz. because he was to leave them Et eos sufficienter instruere cupiebat and he desired to lesson them sufficiently before he left them So far St. Austin Chuse which of these you will and there will be but little found for sanctifying the Lords day by St. Paul at Troas For if this meeting were upon Saturday night then made S. Paul no scruple of travelling upon the Sunday or if it were on the Sunday and that the breaking Bread there mentioned were the celebration of the Sacrament which yet St. Augustine saith not in terms express but with a sicut yet neither that nor the Discourse or Sermon which was joyned unto it were otherwise than occasional only by reason of St. Pauls departure on the morrow after Therefore no Sabbath or established day of publick meeting to be hence collected This action of St. Paul at Troas is placed by our Chronologers in Anno 57. of our Saviours birth and that year also did he write his first Epistle to the Corinthians wherein amongst many other things he gives them this direction touching Collections for the poorer Brethren at Hierusalem Concerning the gathering for the Saints C. 16. v. 1. saith he as I have ordained in the Churches of Galatia so do ye also And how was that Every first day of the week let every one of you set aside by himself and lay up as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come This some have made a principal argument to prove the Institution of the Lords day to be Apostolical and Apostolical though should we grant it yet certainly it never can be proved so from this Text of Scripture For what hath this to do with a Lords day Duty or how may it appear from hence that the Lords day was ordered by the Apostles to be weekly celebrated instead of the now antiquated Jewish Sabbath being an intimation only of St. Pauls desire to the particular Churches of the Galatians and Corinthians what he would have them do in a particular and present case Agabus had signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth over all the World Acts 11.28 29. and thereupon the Antiochians purposed to send relief unto the Brethren which dwelt in Judaea It is not to be thought that they made this Collection on the Sunday only but sent their common bounties to them when and as often as they pleased Collections for the poor in themselves considered are no Lords day Duties no Duties proper to the day and therefore are not here appointed to be made in the Congregation but every man is ordered to lay up somewhat by himself as it were in store that when it came to a sull round sum it might be sent away unto Hierusalem which being but a particular case and such a case as was to end with the occasion can be no general rule for a perpetuity For might it not fall out in time that there might be no poor nay no Saints at all in all