is not adoration Praise and thanksgiving differ Augustine sayth Homil. 26. Tom. 10. Christum praedicari per linguam per epistolam per sacramentum corporis sanguinis ejus Having examined all the reasons of the Act according to Maister Lindsayes owne interpretation A question to discover the nakednesse of the Act. that the Reader may the better conceiue how rude they are I propone this question Seeing vvee receiue the same benefite invvardlie and severallie vvee eate the flesh and drinke the blood of Christ as oft as wee beleeue the promises of the Gospell read exponed or in any part of the sermon rehearsed and may haue the heart then lifted up yea sometimes more fervent motions then when we receiue the sacramentall elements of bread and wine Why are we enioyned to kneele at the one time more then at the other if it be not in regard of the outward signes and rites which is idolatry Nay I should urge further Seeing there was onely a voyce at the delivery of the word and here is a visible obiect set before the eye howbeit it were urged there wherefore should it bee urged here Yee heard the voyce of the words but saw no similitude onely yee heard a voyce Deut. 4.12 According to his private interpretation I forme another act mutatis mutandis like the act of Perth that it may be the better understood Another act fâ—rmed to discover the mystery and meaning of thâ—â—ct of Perth SInce we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him we fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receiving of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becommeth well so divine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding our Church hath used since the reformation of religion here to heare the promises of the Gospell read exponed or in any part of the sermon rehearsed sitting by reason of some great abuse in former times yet now seeing all memory of by-past abuse is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God in reverence of God and in due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as wee are made partakers of thereby the Assembly thinketh good that the promises of the Gospell being read exponed or rehearsed in any part of the Sermon that the people hearken reverently kneeling upon their knees Is there any reason in the act of Perth which may not sort with this Three or foure phrases in the Act signifying one thing May not the reader here perceiue that by receiving of the body and bloud of Christ in the narratiue is meant a mysticall receiving of the sacrament and relatiue to this phrase in the conclusion are these three following the holy communion divine mysterie blessed sacrament so that al the foure signifie one thing and without correspondencie to other they cannot cohere in any tollerable construction of words Let the act then bee formed as it should runne in right construction in maner following SInce we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him The Act rightly formed we fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receiving of the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becommeth well so divine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding our Church hath used since the reformation of religion here to receiue the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ sitting by reason of the great abuse used in the idolatrous worship of Papists yet now since all memory of by-past superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God in reverence of God and due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as wee are made partakers of thereby the Assembly thinketh good that the people receiue the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ humbly and reverently kneeling upon their knees By the word Mysterie is meant the sacrament or sacramentall receiving May not any man here see evidently that by Divine Mystery is meant the receiving of the body and blood of Christ in the mysterie of the Supper or the mysticall and sacramentall receiving which standeth in signes rites wherein it differeth from the spirituall By the word Mystery in the singular number as well as by the word Mysteries in the plurall number is meant the sacrament very frequently among the ancient Writers Dionysius Areopagita entituleth the chapter of the Lords Supper De eccles Hierarch The mystery of the Synaxis or holy communion Ambrose sayth Indignus est Dominâ— qui aliter mysterium celebrat quà m ab eo traditum est that he is unworthy in the Lords account who celebrateth the mystery otherwise then hee hath delivered it In 1 Cor. 11 Oecamenius saith that the Apostle Paul calleth the mystery of our master the Lords Supper Hieron in Psal 47.7 Ierome sayth Licet in mysterio possit intelligi tamen veriùs corpus Christi sanguis eius sermo scripturarum est that howbeit it may be understood of the mystery that yet more truly the words of the Scripture may bee called the body and blood of Christ What need many testimonies Exercit. pag. 550. Casaubone sayth of this sacrament Dicitur etiam antonomasticè to mysterion aut numero multitudinis ta mysteria In the English confession the bread and wine are called The holie and heavenlie mysteries of the bodie and blood of Christ In the service booke the word Mysterie is vsed in the singular number Master Lindsay himself vseth some time the word Mysterie and sometime the word Mysteries in his Resolutions The word Mysterie is often vsed in the singular number because both the signes and the rites employed about them are referred to one Christ signified This act may passe among both Papists and Lutherans The act of Perth may passe among Lutherans Papists this clause Notwithstanding our Church hath vsed since the Reformation here to celebrate the holie communion to the people sitting by reason of the great abuse vsed in the Idolatrous worship of Papists yet now since all memorie of by-past superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God being blotted out as justlie it ought for it is false as I have alreadie said It is superfluous For the act is whole and entire without it the conclusion answering to the narrative And it is insert for a mocke For immediatlie after and before they
an idoll of him if we apprehend him otherwise then he is The sacrament cannot be the robe of that body which is in the heavens and not in the bread and therefore the bread cannot be worshipped concomitanter with the body of Christ upon a meere apprehension There is no adoration of any created thing with the Godhead but onely of the manhead of Christ united personally to the Godhead Therefore Nestorius an old heretick conceiving the manhead of Christ to be a distinct person from the Godhead and notwithstanding averring that the manhead should be adored with the Godhead was condemned in the Councell of Ephesus The body it selfe of Christ were not to be adored if it were not personally united to his Godhead I know the understanding Formalist denieth in words both the improper and coniunct adoration But we are now examining the private intent of the communicants and who doubteth but many apprehend Christs body to bee either present in apprehension or represented as absent or really present in the bread when they kneele Did not one of our Barons protest that he kneeled not for reverence of the bread but because it was a signe of Christs body What was that to say but that he would not adore the simple bread but that hee would adore the sacramentall bread but after what manner whether improperly or coniunctly or respectiuely I thinke he could scarce tell himselfe What may we then iudge of many in the land The formalist kneeling according to the intent of the act in regard of the divine mysterie that is of the sacramentall receiving of Christs body and blood adoreth either the body of Christ and the signes coniunctly as obiectum quod totale adaequatum or els disiunctly the signes as the material obiect obiectum quod and the body of Christ onely by consequence as obiestum quo the reason wherefore he adoreth the signes properly and directly in recto as they speake and the samplar but indirectly in obliquo There is no other regard either of praier or any other like thing expressed in the act which may lead us to thinke that improper adoration was intended And of the two last I cannot see how the proper respectiue can be intended seeing they are then using the signes to the end whereunto they were appointed and consider them in actu exercito as they are then representing Christs body Whereas the proper respectiue is given to the signes as to things sacred As when the Papist passing by the Image uncovereth his head considering it only generaly and confusedly as a thing sacred But when he considereth the Image as it is an Image actu exercito representing the thing signified and intendeth to adore in it or before it the samplar or person represented then hee kneeleth for their proper respectiue adoration they call veneration such honour as they giue to the book of the Gospell or sacred vessels sayth Swarez who calleth it adoratio veneraria Howsoever it is with them kneeling is ever a gesture of adoration and never to bee used but to God directly in absolute adoration Absolute adoration we call that which is given to persons or intellectuall creatures for some intrinsick excellencie in them Respectiue we call that which is determined in senslesse and dead creatures resteth in them and is properly given them which are honoured per se by themselues howbeit propter aliud for some extrinsick excelencie out of theÌ„selues inherent in the samplar or thing represented and consequently honour redoundeth to the samplar by consequence The pretence of Obiectum a quo significative answered Put the case the Formalist were free of the former two intentions that is to adore signes either coniunctly or respectiuely and that it were true whereunto he fleeth as unto his last refuge that the bread and wine are obiectum à quo significativè that is an actiue obiect moving us to worship the thing signified which diffreth not from the adoration which Durandus Holcot and Picâ—s Mirandula giue to Images for they adore not images the obiect of their adoration but only in their presence or before them worship the samplar Their adoratioÌ„ is as abstract from the image as theirs can be from the elements neither can Doctor Morton shew any difference The outward action is exercised materially before the image the intention of worship is directed to the samplar in their understanding So the image was only obiectum a quo significative to them in regard of the inward affâ—ction And yet we condemne them for exercising the natural action of outward adoration before the image or at the presence of the image Resolut pag. 161. M. Lindsay sayeth that there is a difference between images the invention of men the works of God the word of God and the sacraments But manie of the English formalists approue images as lawfull obiects to stirre up the memorie as the Replyer to Morton doth testifie And they haue reason for if they condemned images as signes invented by men unfit and unlawfull for wakening up of the memorie and putting them in minde of some pious dutie they must also condemne the signe of the crosse the surplice and other significant rites invented by man Now if they may be lawful obiects to stirr up the memorie what can hinder adoration before them more then before other moving obiects Si exemplaria ipsa per se sint digna adoratione quid obstare potest praesentia imaginis Tom. 3. pag. 798. quo minus adorari possint saith Swarez So in the case of adoration there is no difference In the case of estimation or veneration instructioÌ„ they differ We esteem more of Gods works then the workmaÌ„ship of men We owe veneration a decent comly usage to Gods word sacraments which we ought not to images They are also ordayned by God for our instruction and so are not images But to adore God in them by them or before them by direction is forbidden as well as adoration before images Otherwise we should fall downe before everie green tree before an asse or a toade or any other vile creature when they worke as objects upon our minds and moue us to consider Gods goodnes wisdome and power We haue to consider that when a man is considering the invisible things of God in the workmanship of an asse tree toade or any other creature he is not then praying or praysing except by ejaculations which may occurre in al our actions but he is meditating and contemplating For if I should adore that is pray or praise God upon my knees in the meane time when I am poring with the eyes both of body minde upon a tree or a toade I should coÌ„found two exercises or be thought to adore the asse the toade or the tree or God in De adoratione lib. 3 disp 1. cap. 2. 3. or by the asse toade or tree Vasques the Iesuite doubteth not to averre that not an image onely or an
after the Popish or English maner For they confesse they utter them not demonstratiuely to the communicant If consecration be taken for sanctification then it is placed in the prayer or blessing For by prayer or thanksgiving the elements are sanctâ—fied and consecrated to this use If you will distinguish betwixt sanctification consecration as Popish Divines doe then say we that the blessing and sanctifying is but a part and that consecration that is the making of them a sacrament consisteth in the whole action as our Divines doe well obserue For except there be receiving eating drinking they are not seales of Christs body and blood Sacramenta perficiuntur usu By the way I obserue that as the formalists utter not Christs words demonstratiuely so agree they not upon a prescript form of words but frame them as they please whether in form of praier or otherwise as they thinke good The communicant is accessorie to this innovation because hee receiveth from him who changeth the words and giveth the seale without the word of promise CHAP. V. Of kneeling in the act of receiving the sacramentall elements THE fourth innovation is the kneeling of some ministers and some communicants in the act of receiving First we are to prove the kneeler guilty Next the sitter communicating with him although not in the same degree Suppose kneeling were indifferent Kneeling in the act of receiuing is idolatrous yet the kneeler is guiltie of scandall for it is a shew of conformitie with the Papists in a ceremony which hath been abused by them to the vilest idolatry that ever was in the world the worship of the bready God yea invented by the Antichrist to that end The formalist can not produce one authentick testimony for kneeling for a thousand yeares The Papist is hardened in his superstition and idolatry for he thinketh that we are drawing toward him and that our religion cannot be graced without his rites or manner of worship The weak brother is offended stumbleth upon one sort of idolatry or other We see the outward gesture of an idolater and who knoweth but their intentions may be bad enough Yee will say the offence is taken not given But if it be a thing indifferent as yee say and not necessarie but may be omitted then the offence is given For you are not ignorant into what evils it may induce the simple and ignorant You say the command of the Magistrate taketh away the scandall and that it is better to offend a brother then to offend a Magistrate The word Offend is ambiguous Better it is to offend that is to displease the Magistrate for then I edifie him vvhereas otherwise I should harden him in his course then to offend that is lay a stumbling block before the poorest soule in the kirk and so destroy him for whom Christ died Rom. 14.15 We are commanded to abstaine from things in their own nature indifferent if the vveake brother shall offend vvith the use of them Rom. 14.15.21 The Magistrate hath not power to abolish this law Obedience to the magistrate ought not to be the rule of my loue to Gods glory or salvation of my brother vvhich when it is neglected Gods glory is trampled under foot You will say that we are bound to obey the Magistrate It is true we are bound in conscience to be subject to the magistrat but not to obey him but in the Lord that is we are bound to passiue obedience but not to actiue except in things lawful A scandal is not lawful Further know you not that the magistrate may abuse a thing indiffâ—rent as well as a private man and make all Israell to stumble for he is a sinfull man Know yee not that it often falleth out according to the old saying Quo volunt Reges vadun leges the lawes must sing as will the King Know yee not that the Magistrate may hauâ— his owne private respects and under colour oâ— things indifferent bring in a corrupt religion I need not insist upon this point it is sensiblâ— enough to men of meane iudgment Say no therefore with Cain Am I my brothers keeper The Lord wil say to thee Thy life for his life if he be missing 1. King 20.39 How careles alas are many although thousands fall at their right hand and ten thousand at their left so that they can either win or retaine the favour of their superiours But looke how vile the soule of thy brother was in thine eyes thine shall be in the eyes of God except thou repent and amend I am now to proue it idolatrous Kneeling in the act of receiving is Idolatrous first in respect of the publick intent of our superiours Next simply whaâ—soever intent men can pretend That we may know what is the publick intent we are to consider the intent of the English Church for conformitie with that Church is intended Next the act of Perth Assembly which is urged The kirke of England intendeth kneeling for reverence of the sacrament The publick intent of the English Kirk is idolatrous for in the booke of common prayer whereunto they are bound by the statute 1 Elizab. kneeling is enioyned upon this ground That the sacrament might not be prophaned but held in a reverent and holy estimation D. Morton answereth Are yee then of opinion either that the sacrament cannot be prophaned or that the Church had not reason to prevent or avoid the prophanation of this sacrament of the Eucharist And again to stop the mouths of blasphemous papists vilifying our sacrament with the ignominious names of Bakers bread Vintners wine profane elements Ale-cakes and such like reprochfull termes did hold it fit that wee by our outward reverence in the manner of receiving the Eucharist might testifie our due estimation of such holy rites which are consecrated to so blessed an use as is the communion of the body and blood of Christ and that thereby we might repell the staine and ignominie which such virulent and unhallowed tongues did cast upon them The Replyer to Doctor Morton refelleth this allegeance of stopping the mouthes of Papists Reâ—ly 2. part pag. 50. and telleth us that some close dissembling adversaries did hinder the worke of reformation so much as they could and that they haue done so ever since and doe so still to this day Howsoever it is yee see they kneele to testifie their due estimation of the holy rites Mr. Hatton saith they kneele to put a difference between the ordinarie bread and wine and these sacramental to which they giue the more reverence because it is more then ordinary bread and wine Book 2. agâ—â—nst the â—inisters of Cornwall Devonshire What can be sayd more plainly Master Rogers in his second Dialogue hath some words to the same effect Now to kneele for reverence of the elements because they are more then ordinarie bread and wine or to testifie our due estimation of the holy rites which are imployed about the elements
are there indifferent But not so heere This confusion of gestures at the Lords table now is permitted onlie for a snare to bring thy feete within the grin For when all are brought in then wil the formalists crie out Confusion of gestures is intollerable vniformitie and conformitie is necessarie as Doctor Sparke doeth in his perswasion to vniformitie The act of Perth and act of Parliament no warrant for the communicant Yee will pretend the act of Perth and the act of Parliament ratifieng the same But know yee not that the decrees of councels or assemblies are not Gospell or determinations Evangelicall as the Papists doe esteeme them who build their faith and worship vpon the authoritie of the church Is it not also well known what were the proceedings of that assemblie how the sounder part was born down by the corrupter If we ought to receave whatsoever assemblies should determin be the proceedings never so vnjust then wer we to be blamed who rejected the councell of Trent not onlie for their wicked decrees but also for the nullities and informalities in their proceeding The Father of lies himself is not able to justifie that assemblie and it cannot be defended but with calumnies and lies which manie eye ear witnesses can testifie Though we sitt not formallie and judiciallie in a consistorie as Iudges over wicked and vnlawfull assemblies Yet if we have anie judgement we may and ought to judge of assemblies both of their procerdings and determinations least vnder colour of Councels we suffet our selves to be ledde like a calfe by the nose Patientia asinina est non curare quid ei imponatur aurum an lutum sayeth Peraldus Farther I have cōcurring with me the bodie of the church of Scotland at least three parts of the whole number of the particular congregations within the realme standing out against the decrees of that assemblie and adhering to their former practise which is according to the paterne and to the confession of faith wherin this church professeth the right vse of Ministration of the Sacraments and a detestation of all rites and ceremonies brought in by Antichrist or not warranted by the word of God The bodie of the Kirk is of greater authoritie then an assemblie athough lawful it being onlie a representative bodie not the collective or coaugmentatiue body Lex vigorem habet cum moribus utentium approbatur As for the act of Parliament it is onely a ratification of the Act of Perth in favours of the kirk as all ratifications of church acts are pretended to be If the assemblie of Perth it self be not acknowledged by the kirk of Scotland for one of her lawfull assemblies nor the decrees and ordinances thereof iudged agreeable to the word of God then the act of ratification is no benefit or favour to the kirk The kirk of Scotland refuseth such a benefit Invito beneficium non datur What freedom and libertie was in that Parliament and how matters were caryed I doubt not but ye haue sufficiently painted forth in that booke which is intituled The course of conformitie Esay pronounceth a woe upon them that make heavie lawes cha 10.1 Seing Councels and parliaments may be corrupt either in their proceedings or decrees let us stick to the word Enarrat 2. in Psal 31. which must be the rule of our fayth and worship Stet regula quod pravum est corrigatur ad regulam sayth Augustine M. Knox cōdemned kneeling as diabolical which is now commended by his successors as cōmendable M. Knox that worthy instrument of reformation in our Church in a letter written to Matresse Anna Lock dated at Deepe the sixt of April 1559 calleth the crosse in baptisme and kneeling at the Lords table Diabolical inventions In his admonition directed to England and printed Anno 1554 he ranketh kneeling at the Lords table among the superstitions Pag. 31. which prophane Christs true religion When light did striue with darknes in this realme yet the Lord enlightened that worthie man for our benefit beyond his fellowes Now we are turning light in darknes commending that as most comely commendable which he condemned as diabolicall There are yet some of his successors in his station aliue M. R. Bruce that faithful servant of God who foretold that the time would come when the least kitchin lasse or ladd in Edinburgh would be tryed and that by their own teachers which we see come to passe this day As his successors haue forewarned us of these times of tryall so haue they of iudgments Heare what that meeke man of God M. Robert Rollock said Rollocke on the Passion printed in English pag. 345. WOe to them whom hee forbiddeth his servants goe vnto Woe to us if we say once goe not to Edinburgh Woe is them and woe to that town where the Lord forbiddeth his messengers to goe Beware of this that the Lord say not to his messenger goe to the north or south but goe not to Edinburgh For then shall wrath and distruction light on it Cyprianus lib. 2. Epist 3. QVod si nec minima de mandatis Dominicis licet soluere quanto magis tam magna tam grandia tam ad ipsum Dominicae passionis nostrae redemptionis Sacramentum pertinentia fas non est infringere FINIS