Mysteries of State how this question of Ceremonies doth relate unto the King and that the Statute of 1º Elis. cap. 2. which by long search and study he found in the very first leaf of his Common prayer Book was not a power personall to the Queen onely but to be continued unto her Successours and that the Kings most excellent Majesty may safely and without any danger at all command the Table to stand as the Doctour would have it and to be rayl'd about These are high matters indeed if they be well proved That they shall be to a hair For this old Lawyer and new-created Judge doth tell us that if a Fee-simple be vested in me and I passe it unto the King the Fee-simple doth passe without these words SUCCESSOURS and HEYRES as it doth to a Major a Bishop or any other meaner Corporation as you have it there at large Well said Doctour His Majesty is much beholding unto you and those about him to take speciall care of your speedy preferment You have not in most of your scribble given a Bishop any more prerogative then to the Vicar nor the King in this Allegation then to the Alderman of Grantham Peradventure not so much For by perusall of your Authour I finde the Alderman ranged in the third place but the King and the Bishop jumbled up together as in a bagge after Chesse-play and so thrown into the fourth place But I pray you good Doctour where upon earth was this power of ordering matters ecclesiasticall vested before it pass'd away as a piece of land held in Fee-simple unto his Majestie by the Statute of Imo Elis. cap. 2 Quis est tam potens cum tanto munere hoc Was it in the Pope in the people in the Clergie in the Convocation in the Parliament or peradventure was it in Abeyance Away Animal I tell thee The Power in matters ecclesiasticall is such a Fee-simple as was vested in none but God himselfe before it came by his and his onely donation to be vested in the King And being vested in the King it cannot by any power whatsoever no not by his own be devested from him The donour in this Feoffment is God and God onely the Deed a Prescription time out of mind in the Law of nature declared more especially and at large by that Statute-law which we call the Word of GOD. So that Doctour you deserve but a very simple Fee for your impertinent example of this Fee-simple But what do you merit for your next prank where you say most ignorantly and most derogatorily to his Majesties right and just prerogative that that Statute of 1º Elis c. 2. was a Confirmative of the old Law What and was it not good until it had pass'd the upper and lower house of Parliament was not God able enough the King his bright Image upon earth capable enough the Deed of Nature and Scripture strong enough but that like a Bishops Concurrent Lease it must receive a Confirmation in that great Chapter Your Authour a deep learned man in his faculty hath it otherwise and rightly It was resolved by the Judges that the said Act of the first yeare of the late Queen concerning Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction was not a statute introductory of a New Law but declaratory of the Old Parliaments are not called to confirm but to affirm and declare the Laws of God Weak and doubtfull Titles are to be confirmed such cleare and indubitate Rights as his Majestie hath to the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction are onely averred and declared by Acts of Parliament And all declarations of this kind are as the stuffe whereof they are made to last forever and no Jonas Gourds to serve a turn or two and so expire as those Probationers did which peradventure some Justice his Clerk might tell you of Yea but your meaning is that this Jurisdiction was intruth or of right ought to be by the ancient Laws of the Realme parcell of the Kings Jurisdiction and united to the Crowne Imperiall Still you are short and write nothing like a Divine I tell you man It is the Kings right by the ancient Law of God and a main parcell of the Kings jurisdiction although the Laws of the Realm had never touched upon it Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester in his Oration of true Obedience saith that by the Parliaments calling of King Henry the Eighth Head of the Church there is no new invented matter wrought onely their will was to have the power pertayning to a Prince by Gods Law to be the more clearely expressed with this sounding and Emphaticall Compellation So likewise in that Book set forth by the King and Convocation called The Institution of a Christian man in the Chapter of the Sacrament of Orders it is thus written Vnto Christian Kings and Princes of right and by Gods Commandment belongeth specially and principally to conserve and maintain the true doctrine of Christ and all such as be true Preachers and setters forth thereof and to abolish all abuses heresies and Idolatries c. And John Beckinsan speaking of these particulars in hand to wit Ceremonies and Traditions not commanded by God but recommended by Clergy-men to stirre up the people to pietie and devotion saith That however they mayor ought to be maintained by the Bishops yet can they not be established as a Law otherwise then by the Authority of the supreme Magistrate And these are all Papists not Protestants who may be suspected to collogue with their Princes Nor is this Right united to the Crown of England onely as this Scribbler seems to conceive but to all other Christian Crowns and challenged by all Christian Princes accordingly For the Romane Empire one of the former Authours doth instance in Justinian that with the approbation of all the world he set forth those Laws of the most blessed Trinity the Catholick Faith of Bishops Clergie-men hereâ—icks and the like For the most ancient Kingdomes of Castile Leon Toledo and others of Spaine famous is that great work of the seven Partidas or Sections of Laws advanced by Ferdinando the third otherwise called the Saint in whose long reign of 35 yeares there was no touch of hunger or contagion but finished and compleated by his Sonne Alfonso the tenth in the first Partida or Section whereof he speaks wholy of matters pertaining to the Catholick faith which directs a man to know God by way of credence or beliefe Nor were those Volumes so composed and collected in those seven yeares imployed in that service to be afterward disputed of in Schools and Vniversities onely but for the decision of Causes and the doing of justice in all those Kingdomes and Dominions And how many Kings before this had made Laws to the same effect in those Countreys God knoweth For these Partidas were for the most part but a Collection of the ancient Laws And no otherwise have these matters been carried in the Kingdome of
France For they ever held their Kings if not for the Head of their Church yet surely for the principall and most sound member thereof Which is the reason that the opening or Overture of their most ancient Councels under the first and second that is the Merovingian and Caroline line was ever by the power and authority and sometimes the presidencie of their Kings and Princes And my Authour quarrels very much the Monk Gratian for attributing to Isidore of Spain rather then to a Nationall Councell of France held in the yeare 829 that brave and excellent saying Principes seculi nonnunquam intra Ecclesiam potestatis adeptae culmina tenent ut per eandem potestatem disciplinam ecclesiasticam muniant God sometimes imparts secular power to Princes that live in the bosome of the Church that they might imploy this power in preserving ecclesiasticall discipline Saepe per regnum terrenum coeleste regnum proficit The Kingdome of Heaven doth many times take growth and encrease from these Kingdomes upon Earth Cognoscant principes seculi se Deo debere rationem propter Ecclesiam quam à Deo tuendam accipiunt And therefore the Great ones of the world must know that God will one day call them to an account for his Church so tenderly recommended unto them It is true indeed that these words are found in the sixth Councell of Paris lib. 2. c. 2. But it is as true that in my Book Isidore is set down in the Margent as ready to own them And both these will stand well enough considering that Isidore Scholar to Gregory the Great did flourish very neare 200 yeares before the Aera of that Councell and that that Councell by incorporating of these words unto the substance of their Canons doth put a greater lustre and authority upon them as the French Antiquary well observes And according to this doctrine are all those Capitulars or mixt Laws for matters of Church and Common-wealth of Charles the Great Ludovicus Pius Lewis the Grosse Pipine and others gathered by Lindenbrogius And a world of other Capitulaâ—s of the same nature intermingled with the Canons of the French Councells in the late edition of them by Sirmond the Jesuite In a word the very pure Acts and Constitutions of the Synods themselves were in those former times no further valid and binding then as they were confirmed by the Kings of France and entered duly upon the Records of their Palais or Westminster-Hall And yet under favour all Crowns Imperiall must give place in regard of this one flower of ecclesiasticall jurisdiction to the Crown of Great Britannie For as our Prince is recorded to be the first Christian King so is he intimated to be the first that ever exercised ecclesiasticall jurisdiction being directed by Eleutherius the Pope to fetch his Laws by the advice of his Counsell from the Book of God the old and new Testament wherewith to reclaim his subjects to the Faith and Law of Christ and to the holy Church And if Father Parsons shall damne this Letter as foisted and another obscure Papist suspect it to be corrupted let the Reader content himself with these proofs in the Margent of a farre more authenticall averment and authority Sure I am that according to this advice of Eleâ—therius the British Saxon Danish and first Norman Kings have governed their Churches and Church-men by Capitulars and mixed Digests composed as it were of Common and Canon Law and promulged with the advice of the Counsell of the Kingdome as we may see in those particulars set forth by Mr. Lambard Mr Selden D. Powell and others And I do not beleeve there can be shewed any Ecclesiasticall Canons for the Government of the Church of England untill long after the Conquest which were not either originally promulged or afterwards approved and allowed by either the Monarch or some King of the Heptarchy sitting and directing in the Nationall or Provinciall Synod For all the Collections that Lindwood comments upon are as Theophrastus speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rough and rugged money of a more fresh and later coinage And yet in those usurping times I have seen a Transcript of a Record Anno 1157. 3º Henr. 2. wherein when the B. of Chichester oppos'd some late Canons against the Kings Exemption of the Abbey of Battles from the Episcopall Jurisdiction it is said that the King being angry and much moved therewith should reply Tu pro Papae authoritate ab hominibus concessa contra dignitatum Regalium authoritates mihi à Deo concessas calliditate argutâ niti praecogitas Do you Sr goe about by subtilties of wit to oppose the Popes authority which is but the favour or connivence of men against the authority of my Regall dignities being the Charters and donations of God himselfe And thereupon requires reason and justice against the Bishop for this foul insolencie And it hath been alwayes as the practice so the doctrine of this Kingdome that both in every part and in the whole Laws do not make Kings but Kings Laws which they alter and change from time to time as they see occasion for the good of themselves and their Subjects And to maintain that Kings have any part of their Authority by any positive Law of Nations as this Scribbler speaks of a Jurisdiction which either is or ought to be in the Crown by the ancient Laws of the Realm and is confirmed by 1º Elis. c. 1. is accounted by that great personage an assertion of a treasonable nature But when Sr Edward Coke or any other of our reverend Sages of the Law do speak of the ancient Laws of the Realm by which this Right in ecclesiasticall causes becomes a parcell of the Kings jurisdiction and united to his Imperiall Crown they do not mean any positive or Statute-law which creates him such a Right as if a man should bestow a new Fee-simple upon the Crown as this Scribbler instanceth or any Law which declares any such Right created by any former Law but the continuall practice Judgements Sentences or as this very Report calls it Exercise of the ancient Laws of the Realm which declareth and demonstrateth by the effect that the Kings of England have had these severall flowers of ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction stuck in their Imperiall Garlands by the finger of Almighty God from the very beginning of the Christian Monarchy within this Island For so our Sententiae Iudicum and Responsa prudentum have been termed time out of mind a main and principall part of the Common Law of England And therefore having cleared this point at large I shall easily yeeld to Dr Coal that the Kings Majesty may command a greater matter of this nature then that the holy Table should be placed where the Altar stood and be railed about for the greater decencie and that although the Statute of 1º Elis. c. 1.
And if any Reformation of the name the situation or use of the Communion-Table were seriously in hand what man of the least discretion but would take the Magistrate along with him The bounden dutie of Subjects is to be content to follow Authoritie and not enterprising to run before it For if you let every Minister do what he list speak what he list alter what he list as oft as him list upon a general pretense of a Good work in hand or the Pietie of the times you shall have as many kinds of Religion as there be Parishes as many Sects as Ministers and a Church miserably torn in pieces with mutability and diversity of opinions But there is much you say to be said in defence thereof out of the Acts Monuments some Acts of ParliameÌ„ts Much good do it you with that Much so as you eat cleanly and do not slubber slabber your Quotations of those Books in which all sorts of men are thorowly versed First Jo. Frith calls it The Sacrament of the Altar Doth he so Then surely it was long before the Reformation and when every man call'd it so For he was burned 4º Julii 1533. But where doth he so call it Yes he saith in his Letter They examined me touching the Sacrament of the Altar Why man they cal'd it so not he Those words are the words of the Article objected against him They are their words not his He doth not once call it so in all his long discourse Turn but the leaf and you shall heare him interpret himselfe I added moreover that their Church as they call it Their Church as they call it Their Sacrament of the Altar as they call it If you will know how he cals it in that dawning of the Reformation look upon the Books pen'd by himself not the Interrogatories ministed by Sr Tho. More or some others He calls it every where The Sacrament of Christs body Nay he is not there content but desires that all the Church had call'd it otherwise I would it had been call'd as it is indeed and as it was commanded to be Christs Memoriall And to call it a Sacrifice is saith he just as if I should set a Copon before you to break-fast when you are new come home and say This is your Welcome-home whereas it is indeed a Capon and not a Welcome-home And if you will beleeve his Adversary Sr Thomas More None spoke so homely of this Sacrament as Jo. Frith no not Friar Barnes himself Making this Bridegrooms ring of gold but even a proper ring of a rush So that vouz avez Jo. Frith Let him in Gods name come up to the Barre The next man is Jo. Lambert And he saith I make you the same Answer to the other six Sacraments as I have done unto the Sacrament of the Altar But tell me in my eare I pray you How doth he begin that Answer to the Sacrament of the Altar It is but 14 lines before in your own Book Whereas in your sixth Demand you do enquire Whether the Sacrament of the Altar c. All these words of enquiâ—y are theirs man not his What is his Answer I neither can nor will answer one word And so Jo. Lambeâ—t answers there not one word for you Yea but he doth in another place That Christ is said to be offered up no 〈◊〉 every year at Easter but also everyday in the celebraâ—â— on of the Sacrament because his oblation once 〈…〉 made is therby represented This likewise is 〈…〉 to be spoken long before any Reformatâ—â—◠〈◊〉 hand For Lambert was also martyred 〈…〉 But are you sure these words are his I am sure you know the contrary if you have read the next words following Even so saith S. Augustine The words are the words of an honest man but your dealing in this kind is scarce honest John Lambert doth qualifie them afterward that S. Augustines meaning was That Christ was all this in a certain manner or wise He was an Oblation as he was a Lion a Lambe and a doore that is as we said before a Metaphoricall and improper Oblation which never relates unto an Altar Vouz avez an honest man John Lambert But stand you by for a Mountebank John Coal The next is the most Reverend and learned Archbishop who notwithstanding his opposition to the Statute of the 6 Articles yet useth the phrase or term of Sacrament of the Altar as formerly without taking thereat any offence Pag. 443. And are you sure he doth so in that page Are you sure of any thing I am now sure he names not that Sacrament at all either in that page or in any other near unto it The Treatise there set down is of Jâ—hn Fox his composition and set forth in his own name It mentioneth indeed in the Confutation of the first Article the Sacrament of the Altar but with such a peal after it as none but a mad man would cite him for this purpose This monstrous Article of theirs in that form of words as it standeth c. And so the Lord Archbishop saith as much as John Lambert that is not one word for him The next in order is John Philpot whose speach this cruell man hath sore pinch't upon the rack to get him to give some evidence on his side He wriggles and wrests all his words and syllables that the Quotation is very near as true a Martyr as the man himselfe I am sure he hath lop't off the Head that had a shrewd tale to tell and the feet of his Discourse which walk a quite contrary way to Dr Coals purpose leaving the Relation like Philopoemenes his Army all Belly The Head is this I must needs ask a Question of Dr Chedsey concerning a word or twain of your supposition yours not his owne that is of the Sacrament of the Altar What he meaneth thereby and Whether he taketh it as some of the Ancient Writers do terming the Lords Supper the Sacrament of the Altar for the Reasons there set down and mentioned by Dr Coal or Whether you take it otherwise for the Sacrament of the Altar which is made of Lime and Stone over the which the Sacrament â—hangeth And hearing they meant it this later way he declares himself Then I will speak plain English That the Sacrament of the Altar is no Sacrament at all How like you John Philpot You shall have more of him St Austinwith other ancient Writers do call the holy Communion or the Supper of the Lord The Sacrament of the Altar in respect it is the Sacrament of the Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Altar of the Crosse The which Sacrifice all the Altars and Sacrifices upon the Altars in the old Law did prefigure and shadow The which pertaineth nothing to your Sacrament hanging upon your Altars of Lime and stone Christoph. No doth I pray you what signifieth Altar Philip. Not
good reason as these Tables be termed Altars Of his place above all indeed of Hebr. 13. 10. wee have spoken indeed but too much already Lastly I have perused reverend B. Jewell Artic. 13. Divis. 6. and do finde that there he cites many Fathers that mention but one Altar in one Church and that placed in the midst of the Congregation which this Doctour doth not observe and that he thinks this unitie of Altar was kept in the Church of God untill the Councell of Antiâ—iâ—dâ—rum But I cannot finde with all my perusall one word in him why it should not be properly call'd a Table and not an Altar But perusing withall the third Article and 26. Division I finde he declares himself in those words with which I will conclude this Chapter and withall if it please the Doctour the whole Controversiâ— And notwithstanding it were a Table yet was it also called an Altar not for that it was so indeed but onely by allusion to the Altars of the old Law And so Irenaeus calleth Christ and Origen our Heart our Altar Not that either Christ or our Hearts be Altars indeed but onely by a metaphor or a manner of speach Such were the Altars which were used by the old Fathers immediately after the Apostles time And this is all that the Letter desires the Vicar to know and obserue CHAP. VI. Of Extravagancies Misquotation Book of Fast. Chappell 's and Cathedrals The Fact of taking down Altars Altars in the old Liturgie Children of this Church and Common-Weal The name of the Lords Table Ovall Table Pleasing the people THe last Chapter contained the Sixth as the Canonists term it this the Extravagants or Wild-goos-chase of this second Section Wherein the Doctour diverts his fury from the King the Counsell the Parliament and B. Iewell upon the Writer of the Letter again but all upon high-Germane or pickt Quarells not worth two rushes apiece First he chargeth the Writer with lending lame Giles a pair of Crutches to walk upon and some Arrows to shoot at the Altars and the Bowing to the blessed Name of JESUS Who this Claudius Gellius or Lame Giles should be I cannot guesse nor is this Cripple known by any in our Neighbourhood He may be much older them the Letter but now sought after And this Doctour may halt before his Cripple when he talks of Canons 1471 and again outrunne a Constable when he denies the Canons of 1571 pag. 18. to require joyned Tables for the Communion Pag. 15. you say because you saw it in Latine Pag. 18. they say because they saw it in English And you may see it when you please the easier because printed by Iohn Day In the mean time the world may see your wisdome to trouble the Presse with such impertinent Follies Secondly he taxeth the Writer with seeming to cast a scorn on them by â—hose direction the Book of the Fast in 1º of the King was drawn up and published as if it were a Novelty or singular device of theirs to call the Later part of divine Service by the name of Second Service Which the Discourser slighteth Surely this is a fierce hunting-Dog In somnis leporis vestigia latrat He hath dream't of some Hare and now barks after herâ— Unlesse peradventure all this noise be but to get a bit from his Masters ex consuetudine magìs quà m ex ferocitate of a Custome he hath got to be rewarded in this kinde not that he is any way provoked by the Writer of the Letter For the Writer speaks not one word against this Partition of the Service in the Book of Fast. But the Vicar applying the same in his discourse as it seems to the Book of Common Prayer and some of his Neighbours boggling thereat the Writer excuseth it as done in imitation of that grave and pious Book which never intended to give Rubricks to the publick Liturgie and not as might be conceived of the two Masses used of old that of the Catechumeni and that of the Faithfull a Partition deserted long ago by the Church of Rome it self as of no further use in these parts of the world wholly converted to Christianity But D. Coal being conjured into the Circle of this Parenthesis knowes not how to get out againe but about he goes and about he goes from one absurditie to another For first the Order of Morning Prayer is not as this man supposeth nor ever was the whole Morning Prayer but a little fragment thereof call'd the order of Mattins in the Primar of Sarum as also in K. Henry the Eighths Primar which was in use under K. Edward for a long time as also in the first Liturgie set forth by K. Edward himself Besides these Mattius or Order of Morning Prayer there were of old Lauds Primes Houres Collects Letanies Suffrages and sometimes Dirges and Commendations Some whereof are still retained in our Morning Service So that if we should make one Service of the Mattins we must make another of the Collects a third of the Letary and our Communion shal be at the soonest our fourth and by no means our Second Service Besides that according to this new Reckoning we shall have that which I will be hold to say no Liturgie Greek or Latine can shew this day an entire Service without a Prayer for the King or Bishop which in our own Liturgie come in after Thus endeth the Order of Morning Prayer Thirdly The Act of Parliament calls it Service not Services and the Contents of our Liturgie which is our Rubrick confirmed followeth the old distinction in K. Henry's Prime 9 Order for Morning Prayer 10 the Letanie 11 the Collects Epistles and Gospells and 12 the holy Communion And therefore it was a bold part in a Countrey Vicar to make thereof any other Partition And the Writer of the Letter shewed in my Opinion more good will then good skill in excusing his Neâ—fanglednesse Lastly the true and legall division of our Service into the Common Prayer and the Communion or Administration of the Sacrament the one to be officiated in the Reading-pew and the other at the holy Table conveniently disposed for that purpose as it is the more justifiable so is it indeed the ancient Appellation I will not undertake to make good the Antiquitie of S. Peters Liturgie but I do finde that this part of Divine Service is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and translated by S. Andreas Communion And in S. Ambrose his Liturgie which all the world knows to be very ancient it is call'd â—ommunicatio the Administring of the Communion and by other names in other Liturgies but nowhere by that of Second Service And for our own Divines Archbishop Whitgift being put unto it by a fierce and a learned adversary reckons â—p all the parts and parcells of our Liturgie and call's this last of all the Administration of the Sacrament And M. Hooker
a Mouse to perform without a good minde prepared before-hand for the fitter accomplishment of that service And these Authours may suffice for a Question that admits of no more difficulty In the Precedents I will begin with Rome it self And first with the famous place called Catacombe a word of a mongrell composition half Greek half Latin and signifying as much as near the Tombs a kind of vaulted Church under the earth in a manner of a semicircular form seated not unhandsomly round about wherein the ancient Bishops of Rome were wont to repose themselves in time of persecution In the very midst whereof there stands a most ancient Altar of Marble under the which lay for a time the Bodies of S. Peter and S. Paul and upon the which it was not lawfull heretofore for any to officiate beside the Pope himself untill Paulus Quintus in our◠memory licensed by a speciall Bull all other approved Priests to do the like That 's for the time past For the present S. Peters Body being removed by Constantine unto S. Peters Church in the Vatican and the great Altar called Altare Maggiore consecrated by Pope Sylvester over the same which is recorded in a Book kept in that Church called Codex S. Petri preserved to this day the posture of this high Altar was in the midst of the Quire and such from the beginning that Clemens Octavus had room enough to erect a new Altar sopra di esso above this former Altar which he consecrated assisted with 38 Cardinals 26. of June 1594. And this very Pope Vrbane the eighth reedifying and enhansing the old Altar did not offer to change the position or situation of the same So that the Pope himself is more tractable in this point then this heady Authour From Rome I must lead you as my Books lead me to Millain and let you see that untill Cardinall Borromaeus made a Saint it seems for this service did demolish them the Altars had an indifferent situation in any part of the Church as under the Pulpit where Gods Word was preached under the Organ-loft whence God was praysed and under the Reading-desk where the Gospell was delivered And this continued thus untill within these threescore yeares And yet in this severe Reformation which that Cardinall made in all the Churches of the State of Millain he doth require that there be left a space of eight Cubits at the least between the high Altar and the Wall to admit the assistance of more Priests and Deacons at Feasts of Dedications and other Appointments of solemne Masses And this is more liberty yet then our Doctour will afford Howbeit this Cardinall was so severe a Prelate that he was once shot at with a Pistoll by some of his Clergie whereas God forbid that any man should discharge ought at D. Coal unlesse it be a Shot of Jests or a Peal of Laughter From Italy my Books transport me to Germany where I heare Witikind the ancient Saxon telling Charles the Great who much endeavoured and at last effected his Conversion to Christianity that be observed a great deal of cheerfulnesse and alacrity in the Emperours face cast down before when he began to approach that Table which was in the midst of the Church And Hospinian tells us that in the Reformation which the Helvetians made at Tigure 1527 they found that of old time the Font had been situated in that very place where the Popish high Altar was then demolished And looking for more I find that Chemnitius notes that Altar in the Vatican we spake of before to be placed ante Chorum before the very Quire which my former Authour had not observed And that Beatus Rhenanus makes a generall observation that these Wall-altars in Europe are nothing so ancient as the Churches but of a much fresher and later Erection Which D. Fulk proves both of our Altars and Chancells here in England by many pregnant conjectures and probabilities In France they do not fasten as I am informed the high Altars to the Wall but the lesser or Requiem-Altars onely In my Books I find a most rich Table in the Abbey-church of S. Denys all of beaten gold encha'st round about with rich and curious precious stones to the beautifying whereof as the Children of Israel to the enriching of the Sanctuary the Kings Princes Prelates and Nobles of that Kingdom parted with the Stones of their chiefest Rings as Sugerius an ancient Abbar who hath recorded all the Curiosities of that religious house doth report at large This Table is not laid along the Wall but stands Table-wise and by the Inscription must needs have been used heretofore for a Communion-table It being this Da pro praesenti Coeli mensâ satiari Significata magìs significante placent That is Let this food us for Heavenly food enable The signifying for signified Table I do reade likewise that the holy Altar in the same Church placed before the Tomb of Charles the Bald stands in a manner in the midst of that Room But these postures are no strangers in that Countrey Now having led you a long round to visit the sites of the Altars in Rome Italy France and Germany I will bring you home again unto your own Countrey and desire you to mark well how Austin the Apostle of the Saxons plac'd his first Altar in the Cathedrall Church at Dover dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul This Church hath in medio sui penè almost in the very midst thereof an Altar dedicated to the honour of S. Gregory the Pope Vpon the which the Priest of the place doth every Sabbath-day perform the Agends of this Austin and S. Gregory And shall we believe that no Church of all the English Nation did imitate herein her first Metropolis It is impossible it should be so But we may the more reasonably presume the Conjecture for I dare not otherwise propound it of D. Fulk to be worthy of further consideration That if you mark the most part of the old Churches in England you shall plainly see that the Chancells are but additions builded since the Churches Also that some Churches are builded round as one in Cambridge and the Temple in London to which may be added the old Pantheon in Rome call'd by the Moderns Santa Maria Rotunda And many Churches if you mark it which are of the Gothick building have their steeples at the East-end Lastly a number of our old Churches have their Iles of such a perfect Crosse that they cannot possibly see either high Altar or so much as the Chancell A shrewd Argument that the holy Tables in England were not fixed as the Piety of the Times would now have them when these Churches were first erected I will conclude all this discourse with a couple of rich and curious Tables presented unto the two great Mother-Churches of the World Rome Constantinople and leave it to your considerations whether
in Syria might possibly place the Altar in the middle of the Church to comply with and allude unto the Iewish Altars And was not both the Temple at Hierusalem and the Altar there builded toward the West This Doctour may have a good wit because he hath a very bad memory Fifthly the man surely hath not seen the Greek nor observed well Musculus his Translation For neither Socrates nor Nicephorus do say that the Altars were placed to the West-ward or did stand West-ward All these are mistakings Socrates doth not speak at all of any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or position of these Altars but of the Churches onely Nicephorus who copied him out addes besides his Authour the posture of the Altars but presently corrects himself in Socratâ—s his word that his meaning was the same with Socrates that the Altars there did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not stand but look and carry an aspect West-ward where ever they were sited and fixed And this is the true point in Question not where the Altars stood but to what part of the heavens he that officiaâ—ed upon the Altar did bend his looks as Walafridus Strabo though pauper hebésque a poore and heavie Authour did better state it then this Doctour It is true indeed that as these Historians write the Churches Altars must be built 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as the Priest may turn a contrary way to that they do that pray onely to the East And this B. Iewell observes to be used at this day in all the great Churches of Millain Naples Lions Mentz and Rome and in the Church of S. Laurence in Florence the Priest in his service standing towards the West with his face still upon the People howsoever their Altars be standing or placed Sixthly This is utterly against what the man labours for all this while He desires to stand at the North-end of a Table laid Altar-wise all along the Wall looking as that posture requires towards the South and to bring this project to passe he makes or would fain make these two Historians to say that the generall practice of the Church besides a few places in Antioch was to make their Altars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes to looke towards the East Howbeit properly the Altars cannot be said to look at all but those onely that officiate or pray upon these Altars Lastly the Coal being now quite spent that he might be sure to go out with a stench especially in the sense of those Readers that have any Noses doth fain a Tenet to be maintained which is opposed in all the Letter That Communion tables should not stand or be placed towards the East Who ever said so man The Writer of the Letter is but too much for it not allowing the ordinary exceptions of Bellarmine Suarez or Walafridus Strabo before them that it might be otherwise when the Conveniency of the building doth require it It may stand to the East in the body of the Church much more in the body of the Chancell unlesse the man would have it planted in Eden where God planted his Orchard to be sure it stood farre enough in the East I will conclude this Brangle with a better reason then any this doughty scribbler could think of why all the Churches in those parts had their Altars and postures in the same manner that the Temple and Synogogues of the Iews were formerly contrived Because upon every occasion of their Conversion to Christianity the entire Synagâ—gues of the Iews undemolished and unaltered were turned in a trice to Christian Churches as you may read at large in two severall Greek Copies lately printed of a Book written by S. Athanasius under this title De passione Imaginis Domini nostri c. But how indifferent they were in the midst of Rome it self in those primitive times how their Churches should stand the very Titles of the Cardinals preserv'd to this day do clearly witnesse being all of them in a manner converted to sacred use from the habitations of private men Especially that of our Countrey-woman if we may believe our Popish Heralds the Lady Claudia who suffering this part of her patrimony the first lodging of S. Peter in that City to descend upon her daughter by Pudens gave an opportunity to have it converted to a Title and a Church call'd at this day Sancta Pudentiana A blushing Saint to whom this Doctour when his Altar is up and conveniently beautified should do very well to addresse more speciall and peculiar devotions And here I could make an end if the Doctours ignorance would give me leave Which I cannot endure should abuse so mild and patient a Reader as hath held out so long a Discourse of no more use or consequence unto him in the reiglement of his Soule or advantage of his Civill conversation And that is in his foolish definition of the Diptychs in the primitive Church which is this The Diptychs i.e. The Commemoration of those famous Prelates and other persons of chief note which had departed in the Faith A description that no man who could with the help of a Lexicon have but known the meaning of the Greek word would ever have offered in this learned age to have imposed upon his Readers I have seen a naughty boy that having but two leaves of his ABC left being graveld in the one would tear it out and go very pertly to be pos'd of his Master in the other No otherwise doth our Iudicious Divine Sic parvis componere magna solemus behave himself in this place The Diptychs in the primitive Church were two Leaves Tables or Boards bound like an oblong Book in the one Column whereof were written the Names of such worthy Popes Princes Prelates and other men of noted Piety that remained yet alive and in the other a like Catalogue of such famous men as were already departed in their sleep as the Greek or in their pause as the Mozarabick Liturgy terms it This man having heard by some body that there was heretofore out of these Tables a Commemoration of the dead at the time of high Masse or Communion was willing to let the world understand so much and therefore made hast to put it in print But being unskill'd in the other leaf he tore it quite out of his ABC as not bound by any law of God or man to write any more then he knew himself Now the Greek word in generall signifies any thing that is two-fold in the form of a pair of Tables And in this particular was without all Question borrowed for this sacred use from the first Book of Homers Iliads where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signify their laying of a fold or lining of tallow on the one side and another fold of fat or tallow on the other side of the flesh which was to be offered in the Heathen Sacrifice to make it burn the clearer and sooner in
from a rich and plenteous Table this Altar was somtimes figuratively and improperly called a Table For otherwise if we speak properly tell us where it was ever know that any Altar was ordained for eating and drinking saith a reverend Prelate And for this Altar you aime at This is the way to correct the Sonne of God who said not Take this and offer it as upon an Altar but Take this and eat it as from a Table saith another of our Prelates Christ was given for us in the Sacrifice to us in the Sacrament There per modum Victimae by way of Offering Here per modum Epuli by way of Banqueting saith a third And to Banqueting a Table relates more literally and properly then an Altar The Fathers Altar of Oblations which you finde in the Letter is but an Altar of Allusion as the Levits likewise are which in the ancient Fathers are made to attend the foresaid Altar That Altar of Praise and Thanks-giving which the Act of Councell approves of is a Metaphoricall Altar all made of Notions as the Sacrifices also are that fume on that Altar All these are but airy Altars built up of the Metaphors and Figurative speaches of the ancient Fathers resembling in composition that Altar of Dosiades all made of words or poeticall feet or that of Aeneas Terrigena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made neither of Gold nor Silver nor any other solid matter but of the sublime Conceptions of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Grand-children of the heaven the nine Muses Lastly such another Altar for the Materialities thereof as that of Publicius Optatianus which thus describes it self Non caute durâ me polivit artifex Excisa non sum rupe montis albidi Me metra pangunt de Camoenarum modis That is No Mason hew'd me out of Rocky vein Nor put I Carpenter to sweat or pain But made I stand of Muses gentle strain And therefore gentle Doctour you have for all your boasting found no Altar of Stone no Altar of Timber no Altar that can lie along the Wall and consequently no proof in the Letter for the situation of your Altar I but another and a worse Conclusion would soon follow upon this doctrine That Communion is an Action most proper for a Table which is That men would think it necessary to sit at the Communion It is I perceive the Act of Counsell that still you are offended at For so it speaks indeed If we come to feed upon him spiritually and to eat his body and spiritually to drink his bloud which is the use of the Lords Supper then no man can deny but the form of a Table is more meet for the Lords Boord then the form of an Altar If you were a Scholar you would have been asham'd to write this Divinitie There can be no question made but that for a certaine time the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Lords Supper were eaten at the same Table and for ought appeares in any Antiquitie in the same posture And yet was it a pious and religious Celebration Our Church and State are more cautious in their expressions then this poore Doctour And in our doings we condemn no other Nation nor prescribe any thing but to our own people onely For we think it convenient that every Countrey should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best For to sit stand kneel or walk be not of the substance of the Sacrament Nor doth the Church of Rome absolutely condemn this Ceremony of Sitting Or else it would recall that Mandate or Maundie of the Benedictines which testifies that they at the least one day in the yeere do receive the Sacrament sitting And this custome mounts higher then S. Benedict even to S. Austins time Who affirms nonnullos probabilem quandam rationem delectâ—ssse that not Monks onely but some other kinde of men were pleas'd with a specious reason upon that peculiar day of the yeare wherein our Saviour administred the Supper to receive the body and bloud of Christ presently upon their ordinarie repast as a more notable commemoration of that first Supper Which must be in their private houses mensa communi upon their ordinary Table as Mornay observes Although it be true what the Cardinall Peron coldly replies that S. Austin in those words doth not deny but this might be done in the Church and upon an Altar and inclines as to the better opinion to have this Sacrament received by all men Fasting But the Cardinall there doth clearly affirm that the Apostles omitted no due reverence or as he calls it adoration of Christ although they sate with him at the Table and brings a passage out of Tertullian to prove that some of the ancient Christians did adore Sitting and maintained their Ceremony with a place out of the book of Hermes call'd the Pastor Which position of theirs although as the Cardinall notes Tertullian doth not blame for being an imitation of the Pagans yet surely he doth not there commend those Ancients no more then I do this Ceremony in our modern and Neighbour Christians but spare to censure them as I hope they will do us in matters of this nature And sure it is that as the Cardinall there observes all the old Romans by an expresse Law of Numa Pompilius were required to worship their gods sitting He proves the same to be the custome of the Greeks also by an old Quatrain of the Sieur de Pibrac Which I will not set down in French as the Cardinall hath it but as I finde it translated into Greek by Florence Christian 1584. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Worship God sitting as the Greeks have used Running Devotion he cannot endure But will be serv'd with a Heart firm and sure Which Heart is onely by himself infused Now although as Mounsieur Moulin returns it well upon the Cardinall the Apostles of Christ were not to learn Ceremonies out of the Laws of Numa or the Quatrains of Pibrac yet may we herein learn some modesty out of Papists themselves Not to conclude the Ceremonies of so many Neighbouring Protestants as altogether unchristian which this Doctour for want of learning or charity or both endeavours to do in this place But for own Kneeling in the Church of England at our receiving of this blessed Sacrament it is appointed either for a signification of the humble and gratefull acknowledgement of the Benefits of Christ given to the worthy receiver or rather because it is administred in our Church with a most effectuall Prayer and Thanksgiving The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which is given for thee preserve thy body and soul c. The bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ c. preserve thy body and soul to everlasting life Drink this in remembrance that Christs
is but your foolish Inference but to eat from the holy Table And that all the faithfull may do in verity what David and the Priests did before in a representation I have shewed already out of the ancient Fathers Nor are we so unreasonably tyed to one Table but if the woman were driven to the desert we could be content with the green Grasse But in that case the Grasse should be unto us in stead of a Table it should not be in stead of an Altar I do not love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gregory Nazianzen calls it to break jests in these high Mysteries Otherwise I could tell you that unhappy Inferences may be made out of your Tenets as well as out of those of the Arians That no place will serve your turn to eat upon but Altars appropriated by all Learning humane and divine to God alone Well if you will needs be snapping at the Meats of the Gods Menippus will tell you that you must be content to fare as they do upon Bloud Vapours and Frankincense This Menippus saith For mine own part I shall onely desire to know of you a judicious Divine what may be the meaning of an odde word used by Aristotle in his Ethicks to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because I was told it signifieth two things a scurrilous Railer at men in place and a Snatcher of Meats from the holy Altars Yea but he doth set down at large out of the Act of Counsell with what indifferency these names of Table Boord and Altar have been used before and may be used for the present He doth indeed and with a great deal of ingenuitie if you mark it For the Question being made by some of his humour that would have the Altars stand because the Book of Common Prayer meaning the Book before it was reformed did mention an Altar the Lords amongst whom Archbishop Cranmer was a chief were put to this Apologie That the Book intended no Table or Altar formally but a certain Thing as they there call it whereupon the Lords Supper was administred This Thing had no figuration at all prescribed unto it in that Book But so far forth as the Lords Supper is there ministred though it be upon an Altar it calleth the said Altar a Table and The Lords Boord but so far as the holy Communion is distributed with the Sacrifice of Lands and Thanksgiving though it be a Table it calleth the said Table an Altar And therefore in so much as the distribution of the Lords Supper in both kindes is a reall and sensible Action it is a reall and sensible Table But because the Laudes and Thanksgivings are by all Divines acknowledged to be a Metaphoricall and improper Sacrifice it is but a Metaphoricall and improper Altar And to call it an Altar in that sense you know the Letter doth every where allow But heark you Sir it makes no matter for the Letter I pray you tell me in my eare What Book is it that calls it an Altar and for what Book do the Lords apologize in this place If it be for the Book of 1549 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's vanisht and we have nothing to do with it And you are a very Coal that is a thing that cannot blush to say that that Book or any thing spoken of that Book alloweth you to call the holy Table an Altar for the present Your tongue for the present ought to speak as the present Book and Law speaks it unto you and that is as you your self confesse The Lords boord onely And when men in their nominations of things do vary from the Law which is the Quintessence of Reason they do it in a humour which is the Quintessence of Fansy Nor is there any way possible of peace and quietnesse unlesse the probable voice of every entire Societie or Body politick over-rule all private of like nature in that Body saith M. Hooker But we have been all this while mistaken in the Cause of this Change of Liturgies which the Letter so much stands upon For the Letter supposeth as the Act of Counsell and K. Edâ—ards Mandate do that the Altars themselves were put out of our Churches and their names out of our Liturgie to comply with the godly considerations of some that had taken them down already and to root out superstitious Opinions more holden in the mindes of the simple and ignorant by the form of an Altar And men did the rather believe it so because a Divine very neare as judicious as D. Coal seemes to be of that Opinion when he saith that our Churches were purged of things which indeed â—ere burdensome to the people or to the simple offensive and scandalous But the matter is Kim Kam to all that we have conceipted For it was indeed an offence against our Liturgie conceived by Iohn Calvin a poore Minister at the foot of the Alpes who died in Books and all worth very neare 40 â— ' sterling that caused the King of England the Convocation the Lords spirituall and temporall and all the Commonaltie to make that Change in the Book of Common Prayer And is it even so Why then gentle Readers Assem parate et accipietis auream fabulam make ready your Bread and Cheese for my life on it you shall heare a Winter-Tale It seems that Bucer had informed Calvin of the Condition of this Church and the publick Liturgie thereof and thereupon he wrote to the Duke of Somerset who was then Protectour Epistola ad Bucerum And is this to look unto the Story of those Times It seems unto me that this Epistle to Bucer hath no Date at all and if we give it a Date from the Printers placing of the Letter which is your childish and erroneous Criticisme you shall finde it between November 19 1548 and Ianuary 16 1549 and consequently before the publishing of the first Liturgie which was March 7 1549. And so it must needs be For Calvin saith in that Letter that there was Cessation of Armes between France and England and wish't that some course might be taken for a solid Peace Now the Commissioners were met to conclude that Peace 24 of March 1549. And therefore the Letter was written before that And to strike this seeming of yours dead in the nest Peter Alexander writes his Letter to Bucer as yet at Strasburgh to invite him to England of the very same Date with the Commission of the French Treaty 24 of March 1549 and tells him for news that in the Parliament then sitting Missae Papisticae missae sunt ad novos Monachos Germaniae the Popish Missal was dismiss'd to the new Monks in Germanie by the first approbation of our first Liturgie in that Parliament See then how well you look't into the stories of the time You make Bucer before ever he came hither to enform Calvin of the condition of this Church and
the Papists whom the Doctour doth not a little imitate do in all these Liturgies familiarly translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy Altar in stead of The holy Table Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth ever signifie a Table but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not ever signifie an Altar For in that place of Socrates lib. 1. c. 25. in the Latin but c. 37. in the Greek cited in the same Determination it is not well translated by Musculus whom the Doctour followeth Alexander going into the Altar did fall down on his face before the holy Table For it ought to be Alexander going into the Quire or Chancell did fall down c. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie a motion to such a place as the mover may be at the last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within that place But Alexander could not be within the Altar but very properly within the Quire or Chancell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Altarium Sacrarium It signifies a Chancell aswell as an Altar saith the old Glossary And so Erasmus doth often translate the Word as I noted before But this Humiliation before the holy Table had never prevail'd against Arius as this Determinatour thinks unlesse by hook or by crook it had been eak'd out to an Adoration before the Altar However that this private Letter written to be perused and to die in the hands of Divines onely and not so much as once read to the Alderman of Grantham should be endicted to humour or perswade the People is a Calf already and may in time prove a more bellowing creature if venom and malice do not metamorphize the same to that deformed reptile that walks upon the Belly But the true Adversary this passage in the Letter reacheth at is the Church of Rome which upon the Reformation of her Masse by Pius Quintus directed by the Councell of Trent hath quite left out of her Canon this very name of the holy Table against the practice of all Antiquity and the precedent of the Liturgies of all Ages and Nations that ever I could set eye upon And I shall crave the patience of the Reader if I enlarge my self a little in this particular because it may conduce peradventure to enlighten all the Corners of this little Controversie S. Luke is stil'd by S. Paul as you know the man whose praise is in the Gospell And as some of the Greek Fathers are of opinion the Gospell of S. Luke dictated by S. Paul is call'd in one place S. Pauls own Gospell There being such a harmony of expressions between the one and the other Now look what S. Luke calls that Vtensill upon the which the Rich man did eat his meat in the 16th he calls the same which our Saviour did celebrate the Supper upon in the 22th Chapter of his Gospell and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Grammarians derive of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a foure-footed Table S. Paul likewise speaking of set purpose and in a continued discourse Neither of both as I desire you to observe well S. Paul doth in the Epistle to the Hebrews doth call that Utensill upon the which they in the Primitive Church did celebrate the Lords Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a foure-footed Table likewise And in all the new Testament there is no one place which treating purposely and literally of the Sacrament doth give the Vtensill it was celebrated upon any other name or Appellation The Syriack Translation calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 22th of Luke Which is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Table the word in S. Mathews Hebrew Gospell set forth by Munster derived of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Messe or set on from the Messes standing thereon say some or from the Mission and extension of the same as being more extended in length then in breadth as others conceive And in the Syriack and Latine Testament printed in Rome with curious pictures Christ and his Disciples are painted sitting upon such a long and foure-footed Table As Mounsieur Moulin observes to have seen them set forth in the Gallery of a French Cardinall And Bellarmine is of Opinion that the Apostles all their time called this Vtensill by no other name especially not by the name of an Altar The learned Bishop of Duresme agreeing with the Cardinall in this Opinion though not in the reason he gives of the same Some while after the Apostles age but how long that while may be we have already handled this Vtensill came to be call'd both a Table and an Altar But with this difference that as Gregory Martin tells us the Greek Fathers call it more often Table the Latine more often Altar But as our learned Bishop conceives it was more rarely call'd Altar of Greeks and Latines then Table However in S. Basil and S. Chrysostoms Liturgies it is in the Prayer before the Consecration and in all the Rubricks call'd a Table It is so in the Syriack Liturgie of the Patriarch Severus who useth the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we spake of before It is so in the Aethiopian Liturgie call'd Miraculosa Mensa a miraculous Table The word is used by S. Ambrose in his Books de Sacramentis Nay it is used in the Romane Pontificall in the very Prayer of consecrating the Altar But upon the Reformation the words began to be examined and more narrowly look't unto by both parties The Protestants because they make it a Communion or a Supper and no Sacrifice therefore they call it Table onely and abhorre from the word Altar as Papisticall saith Gregory Martin And very truly for those times he wrote in For D. Fulk when he comes to answer that passage doth no way flinch but clearly confesse that it was so here in England With us indeed it is as it is call'd in Scripture onely a Table And this Book was dedicated to Q. Elisabeth And what did the Papists on the other side Although in their writings they give us smooth words as this our Doctour doth That they do with the Fathers approve equally of the one and the other appellation yet when they come to reform their Canon of the Masse they never use in Rubrick or Prayer neither literally nor so much as by Allusion this word Table Let any indifferent Reader therefore judge if the Writer of the Letter had not then some cause and my self now much more to wish that the Lords Table may not be conceived to be a new name and that the Good work in hand may not make the unlearned sort of men ashamed of it His eighth Extravagancy is this That having conferr'd with the Joyner which wrought the Table upon the which our Saviour Christ celebrated the Supper he hath found it to be of a more curious composition then we took it for to wit of