done to some kind of unjust persons 5. That it saveth ex opere operato for temporall punishment 6. And is beneficiall to the defunct as well as to the living 7. That it depelleth all evil both of punishment fault and misery 8. Or is availeable as the Sacrifice of Christs body to procure plenty of the fruits of the earth and to be a remedy against Pestilence inundation tempest scare-fire c. 9. And the administration thereof in an unknowne tongue together with invocation of Saints and Prayer for Soules departed with reference to purgatory But because this point is exactly handled by learned Casaubon in his answer given to Cardinall Perouns Epistle by speciall direction of King IAMES of blessed memory I will set it downe at large that the minde of our Church from the late Governour of our Church may more fully appeare and therein I will rest Veteres â—cclesia Patres sacrificium in religione Christiana unum agnovisse quod in locum successit omnium legis Moâ—aicae sacrificiorum neque ignorat Rex neque negat Sed hoc sacrifieiâ—m nihil esse aliud contendit nisi commemorationem ejus quod semel in cruce Christus Patri suo obtulit Quare beatus Chrysostomus quo frequentius nemo hujus sacrifici meminit in nonum caput Epistolae ad Hebraos postquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nomiâ—asses continuo subjungit sive explicationis sive correctionis loco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illa locutio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam vim habeat scis ipse omnium optimè Saepe autem Ecclesia Anglicana professa est de verbo nullam se litem moturam si modo impetrari à vobis posset ut pristina fide in integrum restituta quae contra usum veteris ecclesiae à vobis usurpantur tollerentur Nam Eucharisâ—iae celebrationem sine communicantibus universam illam privaâ—arum missarum nundinationem multis etiam vâ—strorum theologis damnatam cerium est à perversa doctrina de hoc sacrificio originem habuisse Quod autem ad extrahendas defunctorum animas è flammis purgatorii sacrificia missarum exiguntur quidem saepe repetita â—tloâ—orum hominum simplicitate populoruÌ„ ad quaestum suum impiè abutentium delirium esse Rex non dubitat Tollantur hi similes his alii crassi foedique abusus qui apud vos obtinent ab ecclesia Anglicana quae in sua Liturgia expressam sacrificii mentionem habeâ— facile impetraveris ut in veteris ecclesiae usu acquiescat Quamobrem serenissimus Rex quum nuper ei essent narrata quae paulo ante in celeberrimo conventu Dominicanorum docte fuerant à te disputata de duplici Sacrificio expiationis nempe commemorationis sive religionis sibi quoque idem probari multis audientibus pronunciavit nunc etiam hoc ipsum tibi confirmâ—rè me ejus Majestas jussit It appeareth then by the resolution of this learned man that the things which the Kings Majesty and our Church condemnes are the celebration of the Eucharist without Communicants the selling of private Masses making a gaine of the simplicity of ignorant people and causing them to pay more than once or twice for fetching of soules out of Purgatory by vertue of the sacrifices of their Masses This practise the King accounteth the dotage of men idlely and wickedly disposed and rejecteth as grosse and vile abuses and such sacrifices of Masses as these our Church condemneth as blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits To which purpose we have a very godly Caveat given in the Homily We must take heed left of a memory it be made a Sacrifice lest of a Communion it be made a private eating lest applying it for the dead we lose the fruit that be alive CAP. XX. The necessity of admitting Christian Altars The standing of the Lords Table Altarwâ—se or the having of Altaâ—s is not forbidden in the 31. Article under the name of blasphemous figments Abuses of Altars and Sacrifices condemned not the things themselves What is the faith of Protestants and Papists In what respect the Masse is not to be allowed The outrage of the people committed in breaking downe of Altars punishable by law The duty of well-minded men concerning Altars IT appeareth by that which hath beene said what Altars and Sacrifices the ancient Fathers allowed and what the most learned of our owne Church condemneth in the 31. Article Wherefore in my poore opinion it is not well done for an understanding and well meaning man and a son of the Church to turne and wrest the Canon of our Church from the face of her enemies and against her minde God knowes to levell it at the heart of her dearest children and best friends Priests Sacrifices Oblations Altar the Sacrament of the Altar is not abolished He that will cast out these out of the Christian Church must with them cast out Edward the sixth with diverse of Mr. Foxes Martyrs and some acts of Parliament in force He must cast out the most learned holy and blessed Martyrs of the Primitive Churchâ— nay he must cast out Priesthood and the very Church it selfe or have a Church without a Priesthood about which Cartwright and his apprentises have beene hammering their heads more than a good while For if there be no Christian Altar there is no Christian sacrifice if no Christian Sacrifice there is no Christian Priest if there be no Christian Priest away with the Book of Ordination of Priests and Deacons away with the Rubrick and the Book of Common Prayer that directeth the Priest how to officiate away with the authority of the Prince or Acts of Parliament that confirme this Booke And doubtlesse this and no other must be the scope of him that sayes the name of Altar is abolished that will goe about to deter him that is earnest for an Altar at the upper end of the Quire that the Table ought to stand Altarwise that the fixing thereof in the Quire is Canonicall that it ought not to be removed into the body of the Church by saying that he which should erect any such Altar his discretion will prove the only holocaust to be sacrificed thereon that such doings are against the 31. Article To what purpose else is this confused blending and jumbling of these things which the Vicar innocently desired with that other Oblation which the Papists were wont to offer upon their Altars but to make the simple deluded people believe that all these are alike blasphemous figments and pernicious impostures And that the Church that now is is become an utter enemy to that it was in 62. and altogether departed from the Faith and Articles of Religion then held therefore such Priests and Priesthood ought to be cast out and their Altars or Tables set Altarwise and their Oblations to be had in like abomination with that other Oblation which the Papists were wont to offer on their Altars all which are blasphemous figments and pernicious impostures This
pernicious purpose must in reason be in the heart of this Scribe otherwise it was utterly impertinent to scare the poore Vicar with such terrible and astounding words And better had it beene to have kept such mortall bolts as these in store and not to discharge them so soone before discretion had brought him within eye-reach of the right marke Had this man beene so wise as the Vicar was to president himselfe by what he sees done in the Kings or Bishops Houses or Chappels he would have kept these shafts in his Qâ—iver and bestowed them as he sees M. Casaubon and our learned Bishops by the Kings direction doe upon grosse and impious abuses cleerely discovered as well in Altars as in Sacrifices and not therewith to strike through Oblations sacrifices and Altars themselves together with the holy and reverend use and users thereof from whom he hath his Priesthood Orders Faith and Religion too if he have any at all In shooting after this blinde heedlesse fashion not the judgement only and learning but the discretion and piety of the Archer to his Mother the Church and to all reverend antiquity stands in greater hazzard of the shot than the unremarkable actions of a simple Vicar They are not Altars which still stand in the Churches of sound Protestants and may remaine in some of ours or to make use of their Covers and Ornaments Tables may bee placed in their roomes of the same length and fashion the Altars were of as this Author tels us with which practise he also concurreth in opinion they are not Altars I say or Sacrifices or Oblations that true Christians and good Protestants have in execration but the grosse and vile abuses of these Against abuses onely good Christians protested and from thence received they their names This the most learned Bishop in his Apologie for King Iames of happy memory putteth the Cardinall in minde of Salva protestatione hac haud ulla est fides Nostra nisi quae Vestra est vel esse debet vetus 〈◊〉 illa Catholica The Protestant holds the same Catholicke faith which is or ought to bee the same in Rome and over all the Christian world The Protestant hath the abuses and Novelties only which are crept into the Romane Church in detestation not the things themselves no not the name of the very Masse it selfe For as the same Reverend Bishop telleth the Cardinall in the Kings name In missa si missa fiunt quae sum 〈◊〉 antiatione vestra ibi submissa â—unt bono fi loco res essent non valde de nomine litigaret Rex The King would like well enough of the Masse if her Priests would â—hrive her of Transubstantiation the name should beget no reall difference Those therefore were not well advised nor throughly informed of the doctrine of our Church and of pious antiquity that by their violent and unlearned clamours incited the people unto that horrible out-rage committed in breaking downe of Altars and caused them to boggle and spie umbrages and scandals at the things themselves where none at all could have beene found if these Arietes gregis had partaken as much of the mild temper of the sheep as they did of the Rams horne But where simplicity and ignorance is armed nothing can be expected but a violent confusion and the like disorder This disorder committed de facto as the Author speakes the supreme Magistrate thought meet to punish not by a kind of law but by a law yet in force to punish the same de jure in case it should be committed The law was made by Queen Mary and is this If any shall unlawfully contemptuously or maliciously of their owne power or authority pull downe deface spoile or break downe any Altar or Altars c. such person or persons are to be punished as in the law is expressed Queene Mary who made this law did repeale the law made by King Edward for the authorizing of the Book of Common Prayer Queene Elizabeth who did establish King Edwards law for authorizing the Book of Common Prayer did repeale Queene Maries repeale thereof but that part of the Statute which concerneth the punishing of such disorderly people that of their own authority riotously pull down Altars c. the said Queene Elizabeth of famous memory repealeth not but it is still in force that the Magistrate whom it concernes may proceed against delinquents that violate the Lords Table standing Altar-wise or break or deface the pictures of Christ or of Saints in Church-windowes or crosses or the like upon that Statute if any should so offend which God foâ—bid if Sergeant Rastales hand and starre point and lead me not into an errour CAP. XXI Altars crept not into the Church Altars Consecrated with more ceremony and regarded with more reverence than any part of the Church appeareth out of Bishop Iewell On the Altar stood the Crosse of CHRIST in the Primitive Church and in Saint Chrysostomes time and remained there in Queene Elizabeths Raigne sometime steps unto the Altar drawne with Curtaines Archbishops and Bishops and all sorts of people doe reverence towards the Altar Barbarous Souldiers kisse them Penitents prostrate before them Saint Ambrose willing to be made a Sacrifice for them THe drift of the Author in this Epistle is the disgrace of Altars To this purpose he hath framed these words to serve his turne two wayes 1. By the manner of their comming in and that was creeping 2. By the meanes of their creeping in and that was by Complying with the Iewes For as much as the most ancient and holy Fathers of the Primitive Church and the most learned and pious Fathers of our own Church have Christian Altars and Sacrifices in due honourable and reverend estimation there is no cause at all why a man not bigge with selfe love nor made to kindle a faction quae jam plus satis calescit should picke a quarrell first with them then with their name then with their comming in by phrasing it so contemptuously in that terme of creeping whereby is implyed their comming into the Church in some base secret undue and unobservable manner I dare be bold to say that no man of judgement and learning though hee look over Antiquity as the Devill lookt over Lincolne will say and meane to justifie what hee saies by sound proofes out of good antiquity that Altars crept into the Church It were not amisse if this Pen-man would looke the face of his actions in the envious mans tares these he shall finde crept up among the Wheat no man knowing how when the honest Husband-man and his servants thought no hurt but were at rest and asleepe The case is not so with Altars the Husband-men themselves that labour faithfully in the Lords Vineyard the Governours of Christs Church and the true and only successors of the Apostles brought them in by the speciall direction of Gods holy Spirit I shall not need to spend much time in proofe hereof
Altâ—â—â— Christianum or The dead Vicars Plea Wherein the Vicar of Gr. being dead yet speaketh and pleadeth out of Antiquity against him that hath broken downe his Altar Presented and humbly submitted to the consideration of his Superiours the Governours of our CHURCH By IOHN POCâ—â—â—â—GTON D. D. Inâ—edige primò priùs coepisse populum Christianum quà m populum Iudâ—â—â—â—â— S. Ambros. de Sacr. l. 4. c. 3. 〈…〉 hoc Alâ—are subrâ—er◠〈◊〉 illum lapidibus obrueretis Chrysost. Hom. 53. ad Populum Antioch LONDON Printed by Richard Badger 1637. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER Good Christian Reader THere is lately come forth a Coale from the Altar and behinde it a Letter to the Vicar of Grantham The Author of either of these is to me utterly unknowne My speech therefore must needs be innocent and my personall reflections none at all Mr. Cotton is marked by the Coale to bee the Father of that Epistle This man I knew well in Cambridge to have humanity-learning of his owne And if I may know him by this Letter then I am sure hee hath taken his Divinity upon trust Hereby he hath made a double forfeiture of the Merchants faith and of his owne and laboured to his owne losse and theirs that beleeve in him if he make not both good It is twenty yeares and upward since he was translated from the body of Emanuel Colledge to be made a member of a new body severed from the ancient Clergy of England as King Iames of famous memory in his Directions speakes to become neither Parson Vicar nor Curat but Lecturer of Boston It is therfore hard to determine which of his Diocesans he doth personate in that Letter Wherefore this Quaere we must leave as the servants did the inquirie after him that had sowen tares and was stept aside to their Masters detection Their Master told them it was the envious man that had done it but named him not whereby they perceived that the apprehension of the malefactor concerned not them so much as the plucking up of the tares The case is ours The tares which the pen-man hath brought out of his treasures of late writers misunderstood the Authour of the Coale hath pluckt up What he hath fetcht from their Elders my endeavour by Gods assistance may in some part weede out Thus having brought you acquainted with my scope I betake my selfe and you both to God and the working of his grace farewell Syllabus Capitum OF Christian charity Of verity Which of the twaine is most to be regarded Which Pilate preferred Which obtaineth the prime place with the Pen-man of this Letter Of the Antiquity of Christians Altar in Scripture in the Decretals Of Altars mentioned in S. Martialis S. Irenaeus Tertullian Origen S. Cyprian Who first objected against Christians that they had neither Temples nor Altars nor Gods What those Temples Altars and Gods were which Christians had not Of Churches in the Primitive Church Of the favour which Christians had with the Emperours out of Eusebius and Tertullian Of the succession of Bishops in their severall Sees S. Ambrose his art to save his Church and Altar standing Of their manifold Synods Exercise of the power of the Keyes Wealth of the Church of Rome The multitude of Christians in Cities and Castles a terrour to the Heathen Sundry Parish Churches or Churches in Villages in the Primitive times Some built Anno 47.97.110.117.150.160.182.193 Churches in Britanny in 183. and in 55. Churches frequented Parish Priests Bookes of Canons sent to be read in Churches Situation of Churches on an Hill Looked toward the East Five distinct places in Churches Church porch a place for Penitents Penance in Sackcloth imposed on delinquents Want of discipline among Hereticks taxed by Tertullian Where the Pulpit stood in S. Cyprians time Places for the Laity and Clergy were distinct at the Communion Where the Communion was celebrated Inthronization of Bishops S. Iames Chaire in Ierusalem S. Peters Chaire in Rome What kept S. Austin in the bosome of the Church Hereticks had no Churches Succession of Bishops from the Apostles necessary in a true Church How S. Irenaeus S. Augustine Tertullian confounded Hereticks A true succession of Bishops in the Church of England Dedication and consecration of Churches by godly Bishops taxed by the Centurists for the mystery of iniquity What penance was performed by Hereticks and Apostates before their admittance into the Church Of Confession and Exomologesis Dayes of penance and absolution Citizens penance Of Schooles of Religion Catechists Degrees in the Church Educati Audientes Catechumeni Intincti Neophyti Hereticks neglected these Orders Libraries Treasuries Offerings at the Eucharist Disposed of by Bishops Corruption among Deacons Timothy directed to take part of Oblations The Emperours brother a Bishop The Altar stood in Sacrario Mysteries of the Eucharist not permitted to be seene of all Chancels how divided Communio Laicorum Priests only stood about the Altar What things were done and consecrated at the Altar Hereticks could not consecrate because they had no Altars Priests not allowed to be Executors nor to be drawne from their daily service at the Altar The Rubrick concerning the standing of the Table in the body of the Church Of the Rubrick concerning Chancels Who hath the appointing of bookes to be read by Priests Peter Lombard and the ancient Fathers appointed to be read Bishop Iewel and others directed to be read Communion Tables according to Bishop Iewel stood in tâ—â— Presbytery The Presbytery is not the body of the Church The an 〈…〉 Communion Tables Eusebius's authority examined for the standing of Altars in the body of the Church Church of Tyre built by Paulinus Paulinus adjudged an Arrian by the Centurists Illyricus hereticall The Altar in Tyre how it stood in the midst of the Presbytery Church in Tyre built conformable to the Temple Foure distinct places in Solomons Temple How the Altar there stood in the midst Gods dwelling in the midst of his people How David and Solomon praised the Lord in medio Ecclesiae The people did not see the Priest at Solomons Altar S. Augustines testimony concerning the standing of the Lords Table in the midst of the Church Five orders of persons distinct 1. Audientes 2. Catechumeni 3. Competentes 4. Neophyti 5. Fideles All these invited but the faithfull only allowed to come to the Lords Table God walked in the midst of the Campe when he went either before or behinde it Audientes and the rest that were invited did all participate of Christs flesh and also of Christs bloud when their severall duties were performed The testimony of the fifth Councell of Constantinople examined touching the standing of the Altar in the body of the Church The people of Constantinople violent to have the Diptychs read forget their duty to the Patriarch and to the Emperour The Archbishop and people adore the holy Altar How David did compasse the Altar How people
do run about the Priest What the Diptychs were Whether the Quire may be found in the body of the Church out of Durandus and Platina Boniface the second divided the Quire from the people how to be understood How long this was done before â—he fifth Councell of Constantinople The Priest turning about at the Altar doth not argue that he stood among the people no more than the Bishops blessing them argues the standing of the Throne in the body of the Church The consent and Testimony of Fathers ought to be reverenced What office at the Altar was performed by none but Priests Of Sacrifices mentioned in the holy Fathers of the purest times In S. Iustin S. Irenaeas Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Chrysostome S. Ambrose S. Augustine The meaning of the 31. Article delivered What Sacrifices are blasphemous Fables and dangerous deceits The Doctrine of the Church herein delivered by Bishop Mountague Bishop Andrewes Bishop White M. Casaubon Homily of Sacraments The necessity of admitting Christian Altars The standing of the Lords Table Altarwise or having of Altars is not forbidden in the 31. Article under the name of blasphemous figments Abuses of Altars and Sacrifices are condemned by our Church not the things themselves What is the faith of Protestants and Papists In what respect the Masse is not to be allowed The outrage of the people committed in breaking downe of Altars punishable by law The duty of well minded men concerning Altars Altars crept not into the Church Altars consecrated with more ceremony and regarded with more reverence than any part of the Church appeareth out of Bishop Iewel On the Altar stood the Crosse of Christ in the Primitive Church and in S. Chrysostomes time and for some time in Q. Elizabeths raine Steps unto the Altar Altar drawne with Curtaines Archbishops Bishops and all sorts of people do reverence towards them Penitents humble themselves before them Barbarous Souldiers humbly kisse them S. Ambrose willing to be made a sacrifice for them Complying with the Iewes doth not argue the creeping in of Altars The enemies of the Church have long since pickt a quarrell at her Altars and her Priests The Councell of Aquisgrane defendeth them At what houre of the day Christian Altars came in Christian Altars came in at Noahs floud and have continued in Gods Church ever since Danger to meddle with holy and consecrate things K. IAMES washed his hands of them The whole of the Christian Church was framed by the patterne of the Iewish Church Son of the Church an honourable name The conceit of a Dresser unworthy a Divine or morall man Suting Psychicus in Tertullian The Patriarch and Bishops in the fifth Councell of Constantinople expresse a different apprehension of the Altar Christs first institution of the Sacrament no rule to us in matters circumstantiall Those that have Altars may call them Altars The Author confesseth we have an Altar S. Paul did and the Church may order things otherwise than Christ used S. Augustines determination herein The Eucharist is to be received fasting Of the Table whereupon our Saviour did institute his last Supper The posture of the partakers lying or leaning Iudith and Hesters banquet M. Beza describeth how they leaned one upon another The name Table how used in Scripture not such a Table as the Church wardens provide Of that Logick axiom Sublato relativo formali manet materiale tantum ill applied to consecrate things No relation can alter the nature of things dedicated to God though they be not not used or abused Canons of the Church need no private mans confirmation Rationibus cogentibus Persons ill affected will take liberty to disturbe Church and Commonwealth and renounce all obedience if they may require proofe of what is commanded rationibus cogentibus The edicts of Princes Articles of our Creed petitions of the Lords Prayer Bookes of holy Scripture our baptisme Eucharist will be questionable and unsetled if men may require to have these maintained rationibus cogentibus Authority Ecclesiasticall and Temporall cannot receive so much prejudice by the railing and malicious writing of her professed enemies as by her seeming friends that will allow to have it disputed and proved rationibus cogentibus The distresse the Vicar is in being put to maintaine the Canon touching bowing at the Name of IESVS rationibus cogentibus The Author ill advised to make a jeere of the first and second Service The first and second Service have continued in the Church 1636. yeares Perlegi Tractatum hunc Theologicum cui Titulus est Altare Christianum c. in quo nihil reperio sanae doctrinae aut bonis moribus contrarium quò minùs summâ cum utilitate imprimatur ita tamen ut si non intra quinque menses proximè sequentes Typis mandetur haec licentia sit omninò irrita Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Feb. 21. 1636. GUIL BRAY Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Domino D. Arch. Cant. Sacellanus Domesticus ALTARE CHRISTIANVM CAP. I. Of Christian charity Of verity Which of the twaine is most to be regarded What Pilate preferred Which obtaineth the prime place with the Pen-man of this Letter HE that made the poore Vicars plea I dare say look'd for no fee in this world And he that makes the dead Vicars plea must stay for his till the world to come But Truth is a Centurion of great command whom that bids go he goes and if that bid speak who can hold his peace Having therefore my knowne imperfections and disabilities thus over-mastered something I will say by his assistance who is Truth it selfe in zeal to the Truth whose I am and whom I serve As the fort of Iebus was manned with the lame and the blind so is this mans letter maintained to keep his owne phrase rationibus non cogentibus I will not therefore be affraid to assaile it and the rise of my speech I take from the close of that Letter And conceive that if that be true that there is no such ceremony as Christian charity it is as true that there is no such substantiall way for sound Christians to walke in as Divine verity If two walk hand in hand together out of this path their kind complying in errour is nothing lesse than trechery Their mutuall love I may not call piety for he who is love and truth hath intituled sanctification to this and not to that Sanctifica eos in veritate Ioh. 17.17 Love sheweth to all men who are his Disciples In hoc cognoscent omnes c. Ioh. 13.34 but Truth it is that first makes them so Whilest men roave in their opinions though good and reverend some saying Thou art the Baptist some Elias c. Yet quem dicum homines they shew themselves by their errours to be but men But those that he hath chosen to be his Disciples avouch this Truth which their fore-man sayes for them Tu es Christus c. sayes St. Peter
feare run into Woods and Dens and Caves of the earth to administer the holy Sacraments where were neither Baptisteria nor Altaria for so to do was forbidden The Canon is expressed De his qui ad Haereticorum speluncas causa orationis accedunt Hereticks would consecrate and administer the Sacrament in any place in Woods or Dens but Christians only in the Churches and upon Altars even in the heat of persecution under Valens Moreover within the space of 200. yeares after Christ there were made many Assemblies and Synods of Bishops as namely one in Asia at which was present S. Iohn himselfe with the Archbishop and other Bishops Anno 99. There was also a Synode at Ancyra in Galatia against Montanus Anno 163. wherein his opinion was adjudged prophane and the defenders excommunicated Therefore they had Churches But if we take a view of the Canons of that Councell we shall perceive the severall and distinct places appointed in their Churches both for Fideles Catechumeni Audientes Poenitentes And that these Churches had Goods and Lands belonging to them In the yeare 254. there met a very great Synode at Rome under Cornelâ—us when Novatus was cast out of the Church In the yeare 273. a farre greater Synode met at Antioch wherein Samosatenus was condemned and by the Edict of the Emperour Aurelian was cast both out of the Church and out of his house Some of these Churches had so great meanes belonging to them and particularly to the Church of Rome that even in the times of persecution and when their Bishops suffered martyrdome yet the Church as appeares by Cornelius his Epistle to Fabius Bishop of Antioch maintained one Bishop forty six Priests seven Deacons seven Subdeacons forty two Acolythits Exorcists Readers and Porters fifty two Widowes and other poore one thousand five hundred This was the estate of the Church of Rome when Cornelius was made Pope Anno 254. under Decius when the eighth persecution began If Christians had liberty to meet at Synods they might with more liberty meet at Churches And if they duly exercised the power of the Keyes casting out some and receiving others into the Church and if they had such a great number of Priests and Deacons in some one Church it is to be thought that innumerable multitude of Christians resorted to their service all which being put together it cannot be denied with reason but that they had Churches to assemble in Trajan feared more the multitude than the religion of the Christians For as Seneca sayes the superstition of Christians had run through both Cities and Villages and open fields Omnia complevimus sayes Tertullian urbes insulas castella municipia c. And the meaning is not that Christians were clapt up prisoners in these places For the complaint of the Heathen was this obsessam vocâ—ferantur civitatem that they had in effect besieged their Cities in agris in castellis in insulis Christianos omnem sexum aetatem conditionem etiam dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen quasi detrimento moerent And Plinius 29. ipsa multitudine was troubled at their number whereupon Trajan made a law full of confusion sayes Tertullian hoc genus inquirendos non esse oblatos verò punire oportere Christians therefore being so many so potent so zealous would not runne out of the Cities whereof they were Masters to pray with Hereticks in Dens and Caves contrary to their discipline and leave their Altars on which only they consecrated the Eucharist CAP. VII Sundry parish-Parish-Churches or Churches in Villages in the Primitive times Some built Annis 47.97.110.117.150.160.182.193 Churches in Britanie 183. and in 55. Churches frequented Parish Priests Bookes of Canons appointed to bee read in Churches BVT to put this matter out of all Peradventure and to make their errour cleerely to appeare that say there were no Churches built till 200. yeares after Christ It is manifest that within lesse than 200. yeares after Christ Christians had some distinction of Parishes though without Parochiall rites which they now have these Parishes had Consecrate ground or Church-yards belonging to them in these Church-yards stood materiall Churches these Churches were distinguished into severall parts and roomes And if all this prove so to be then there were Churches built within 200. yeares after Christ and it is an errour to defend the contrary About the yeere of Christ 47. Eusebius proveth out of Philo who lived under Claudius and had conference with S. Peter at Rome that in every Village there was then a religious House which the Christians called Semnion wherein it was unlawfull to eat or drink but all the time they were present in these houses was spent in reading the Lawes and Oracles of the Prophets and in singing of Psalmes Before this time Theophilus his house in Antioch was consecrated into a Church And there S. Peter set his Chaire About the yeere 97. S. Iohn and diverse other Bishops kept their Synod in a Church This Church stood over against the Hill where the Young-man robbed whom S. Iohn converted Anno 110. Ignatius reprooved Trajan in a Church Anno 160. Polycarpus received the Sacrament in the Church of Rome About the yeare 182. under Commodus Narcissus was Bishop of Ierusalem who absented himselfe so long from his Church that three one after another were created Bishops in his See So long stood the Church of Ierusalem Gajus Anno 121 succeeded Zepherinus and maketh mention of Churches built by the Apostles and of the Tombes of the Apostles there to be seene as Men went to the Vatican Anno 193. Severus allowed the Christians a Church or publike house ad pium usum and before him Anno 117. Adrian had done the like But it is strange that English Men of all other against the Records of English Chronicles and to the disgrace of our English Nation should deny that any Churches were built till 200. yeares after Christ. For Anno 183. Lucius struck with admiration with the Miracle wrought in Germany his neighbour Countrey by the prayer of Christians made sute to Eleutherius ut per ejus mandatum fieret Christianus hoping doubtlesse that the God of Christians being his God he and his Realme should be preserved from all dangerous enemies Hereupon he caused the Temples of the Heathen gods to be dedicated to the worship of the true God and erected 28. Bishops and Archbishops Sees and liberally endowed them and by his Charter confirmed both Churches and Churchyards for Sanctuaries But above a hundred yeeres before Lucius Ioseph of Arimathea in the raigne of Nero and Arviragus had built a Church at Glastonbury Anno 55. Erat haec ecclesia ab ipsis discipulis Domini aedificata witnesseth Hen. 2. in his Charter Anno 66. S. Paul sent Crescens into Galatia who built a Church at Vienna But all this labour might have beene saved for Eusebius alone maketh it
Gloria eos obligent quia veritate non possunt that vanity may make a side when Verity cannot do it Nusquam faciliùs perficitur quà m in Castris rebellium Souldiers never rise to promotion so fast as when they serve under Rebels ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est where their presence is worth sufficient Itaque alius hodie Episcopus cras alius hence it is that they take their Superintendency by turns he that is Head to day is Tayle to morrow hodiè Diaconus qui cras Lector He that is a Deacon to day must come downe a pinne to morrow and bee glad to bee an Elder Hodiè presbyter qui cras Laicus He that is a learned Lecture-man to day will cry ha' you any Bowles or Trayes to mend to morrow Nihil interest illis licèt diversa tractantibus dum ad unius veritatis expugnationem conspirent Though they agree like Harpe and Harrow among themselves 't is all one so the conspiracy hold good against the Truth Ipsae mulieres haereticae quà m procaces It is a world to see what pert Gynny Birds their Gossips are quae audeant docere contendere exorcismos agere curationes repromittere forsitan tingere preach and dispute they will so earnestly and outragiously well that their husbands Talent will shew ordinary and his faculty but reasonable But when they set themselves to exorcising and taking Devils to taske they make Darrels hayre stand upright Thus amongst Schismaticks libera sunt omnia soluta every one does what he list For ubi Deus non est nec veritas ulla est where God is not there is no Truth and where there is no Truth merito talis disciplina est such a discipline suteth right well And now I pray you tell mee if Mr. Cotton or his Vmbra here have not spun a faire thread There were no Churches within 200. yeares of Christ then certainly there were no Schooles in all that time and if no Schooles then none of all these degrees and distinction of places names no Educati Audientes Catechumeni Competentes no not Fideles neither and least of all Diaconi and Sacerdotes For Deacons and Priests after long tryall were chosen out of the ranke of Fideles and these must first of all be Neophyti and these Competentes and Competentes must first be Catechumeni and these must be Audientes and Educati And if there were no Deacons nor Priests for 200. yeares after Christ to continue and derive power of Ordination and Consecration from the Apostles to their successors I am sure there are none now Then may Mr. Cotton by vertue of an extraordinary spirit set up a Church of his owne Then have some of our Lecturers rose of their right sides for these may speak as long as their Lungs last and never care for comming into Orders as Origen did I have often beene thinking why the chiefe of this new Corporation have beene so loath to take Benefices to read the Prayers of the Church and to Administer Sacraments as Deacons and Priests should doe and my wit would never serve me to dive into the mystery till this lucky man came with his open Letter in his hand as Sanballat did to disturbe the Church of the Iewes And from him I understand the cause For he saith like Ananias the High Priest You understand nothing know you not that wee conforme our selves to the Primitive Church And in the Primitive Church and for 200. yeares after Christ there were no Churches Why this is full and satisfactory For then every Child can conclude if there were no Churches there were neither Diocesse nor Parish belonging to them nor Priests nor degrees out of which those Priests and Deacons should be taken I believe that in those times some did stand and some did speak and some did Lecture and to doe these no orders are required and hereunto these men conforme themselves Secondly as they had Schooles and degrees so likewise had they publike Libraries furnished with usefull and necessary books to fit such as were in the place of Auditors and others in time to be serviceable in the Church Eusebius tels us that Philo his bookes were chained up in the publike Library at Rome Anno 39. The bookes also of Origen were placed in a publike Library in Caesarea after that of a Lecturer he took holy Orders Alexander Patriarch of Ierusalem built a famous Library there from whence Eusebius had his helpes for compiling of his History Anno 197. And if they had publike Libraries to preserve bookes and Schooles for Professors to read them and Scholers to be trained up under them to do the Church service and for no other end at all can we imagine they were without Churches for those to serve God in whom they had fitted and inabled for that purpose This were to imagine Mariners Calkers and Pilots 200. yeares before there were any Ships It were weaknesse to think that their Persecutors would give leave to building of Schooles and Libraries but not of Churches for they hated all alike As appeareth by Dioclesian who spared their bookes and Libraries no more than he did their Churches but burnt and destroyed all Thirdly they had publike Treasuries to keepe the goods of the Church that came unto them by Oblations and other revenues whereby the members of the Church that aâ—tended the service of God were maintained and the poore and such Christians as lived in exile or in prison were relieved This is cleere out of the Canons of the Apostles and Iustin Martyr and Tertullian Arcae genus est whereunto he that is disposed stipem apponit Haec quasi deposita pâ—etatis sunt This stock qui praesidet the Bishop bestowed in pious uses S. Iustin tels us the very same The richer sort every Sunday when the Eucharist is administred offer what they think good and what is then so gathered in communi aerario apud praepositum deponitur thereby to relieve Orphans Widowes Prisoners and Strangers No Communion then in the Primitive Church was without Obons for the use not only of the Priest who was to live of the Altar but also of the poore And S. Ambrose gives the reason why they relieved the poore with almes to be this that the poore might relieve them with their prayers Defensionem requiro saith he defensionem habeo I crave defence against the Goths that intended violently to possesse the Arrians of the Churches of Catholicks and a defence I have sed in orationibus pauperum Coeci illi Claudi robust is bellatoribus fortiores sunt The blinde and the lame are the thundring and victorious Legion Munera pauperum Deum obligant what is given to the poore is lent to the Lord and we have him fast bound for the Loane and the principall This I am perswaded in my conscience hath preserved all our Cathedrall Churches from the rapine of sacrilegious hands and hearts as impure whatsoever
Altar nec apud Altare consistere nor to stand neere it Nec ulteriùs sancta contrectare nor to handle holy things any more That this distinction of places was kept within 200. yeares after Christ is manifest by the Stations which the Priests kept at the Altar on Fasting-dayes and not on Sundayes in those times as Rhenanus thinketh Tertullian is cleere for it Nonne solennior erit statio tua si ad aram Dei steteris Solemne stations were made at the Altar and so continued to be there made on Wednesdayes and Fridayes from the Apostles times this holy place was also appointed for those prayers which the Priests daily made for the sacred persons of Kings and Bishops And we do not find that high service was performed at that holy Altar by any Deacon or Levite Not only the Liturgies of the Church but the Constitution of the Apostles from whom they had their direction doth order that Priests at the Altar doe pray pro omni Episcopatu for all Bishops and particularly pro Episcopo nostro Iacobo pro regibus and for Kings that they may leade a quiet and peaceable life c. S. Austin distinguisheth inter precationes orationes precationes were called such prayers as were made before that which is on the Lord's board incipiat benedici but Orationes Orizons were made cùm benedicitur sanctificatur when it is blessed and sanctified which kinde of prayer all the Church almost concludeth oratione Dominica with the Lords Prayer Here are those Prayers made which the Priest useth for Kings even for those Kings à quibus persecutionem patiâ—batur Ecclesia that did persecute the Church Prayer for Kings for Bishops for the whole and the Lords Prayer was then oâ—ly said at the Altar by the Priest in the Holy of Holyes At the Altar also were Commemorations made in Saint Cyprians time If a Priest at his death make a Priest his Executor and so cause him to leave the Altar where he ought to serve continually the Canon was that for such an one non offerretur nec Sacrificium pro dormitione ejus celebraretur Neque enim ad Altare Dei meretur nominari in Sacerdotum prece qui ab Altare Dei Sacerdotes ministros Levitas avocare voluit He deserves not to be named in the Priests Prayer at the Altar that is an occasion to withdraw Priests from the Altar Lastly on the Altar were made oblations of first fruits Grapes and Oile as hath bin noted out of Origen and may appeare plainly in the Canons of the Apostles I will not dispute the Authority of these Canons Some doe reject them but the sixth generall Councell approveth 85. of them and saith they were received by their Predecessors tanquam à Deo traditi as delivered of God Howsoever Saint Irenaeus witnesseth that for the point now to bee declared Oblations were made daily and hourely on the Altar God saith hee would have us munus offerre ad Altare frequenter sine intermissione By this that hath beene said it appeareth sufficiently as I suppose that the Altar or Lords Table stood not in the body of the Church but in the Holy place separated and inclosed for Priests only to serve who did there consecrate the Eucharist receive oblations offer up prayers for the sacred persons of Kings and of Bishops and the whole Church and did there and no where else conclude their Prayers and Orizons commonly with the Lords Prayer For none of all these holy Offices belonging only to Priests were performed in the body of the Church where every one might be present and see what was done Therfore the Altar did not in those times stand in the body of the Church and so farre the Vicar is not mistaken The Altar then did stand in the Primitive Church at the upper end of the Qâ—ire and not in the body of the Church and by that Precedent the Vicar might suppose that it ought to stand except the Canons of our Church have otherwise ordered it And this is the next point to be inquired after CAP. XIII The Rubricke touching the standing of the Communion Table in the body of the Church Of the Rubricke concerning Chancels Who hath the appointing of Books to be read by Priests Peter-Lombard and the Ancient Fathers appointed to be read Bishop Iewel and others directed to be read Communion Tables according to Bishop Iewel stood in the Presbytery The Presbytery is not the body of the Church I Will speake first to the Rubricke which all men acknowledge for a Canon then to the booke which the Vicar is bound to read and commanded so to do Touching the Rubricke It is fit we expound one Rubricke by another and what is briefly and obscurely set downe in one to supply and expound out of another The Table shall stand in the body of the Church or Chancell c. saith the Rubrick before the Communion But the Rubrick before Morning Prayer seemes to put in a double exception or Caution 1. Except it shall be otherwise determined by the Ordinary of the place 2. And the Chancels shall remaine as they have done in times past The place of reading of Prayers in the first part of the Rubricke is left to the determination of the Ordinary of the place and upon good reason because some part of those prayers as namely the First Service is to be read in Auditorio or body of the Church And some part againe namely the Second Service ought to be read only in Sacrario if the ancient practise of holy Church be enquired after But the later part of the Rubrick which concernes Chancels themselves and so by necessary consequence the essential parts of the Chancell as in Cathedral Churches the Priests Stals the Bishops Throne and the Lords Table or holy Altar with the railes wherby it is environed to keep it from all manner of prophanation and to preserve it entire and apart for the Priests to officiate in these shall remaine as in times past The ordering of these things otherwise than they were in times past is not referred be it spoken under correction to the determination of the Ordinary of the place much lesse to any Vicar or Parson to make a Daedalus engine of the Lords Table and so to set the Church upon Wheeles and so to run it out of the pious and Reverend practice of holy and unreproved Antiquity The Rubricke allowes no such liberty Let no man therefore invade the Churches right or goe about to remove the ancient bounds in this particular that hee bring not a curse upon himselfe The Church I confesse is indulgent enough to these fancifull and popular men yet it is to be hoped she will not suffer her ancient Land-markes to bee pluckt up and throwne by to please new fangled people withall For hoc ratum fixum Chancels shall remaine as they have done in times past which is not to bee understood of
walls and windowes only but of the fixing of the Lords Table which is the maine part of the Chancell considerable in the service of God the ordering whereof is determined in the Rubricke when it is said Chancels should remaine as in times past Now if the Vicar will know from the Author how Chancels have remained in times past and how Communion Tables have stood in the midst of the Church he must read a booke which he is bound to read Iewell against Harding and hee shall be satisfied And so I am fallen upon the second point which I have bound my selfe to speake unto namely to the booke which the Vicar is commanded to read and told that he is bound to read it For the Injunction or command laid upon the Vicar I thinke I may say thus much that for any man to appoint a Priest that is not under his Iurisdiction what book to read is a Prerogative and authority that sideth with Archiepiscopall or Regall rather King Iames of happy memory I wot well sent us his directions to Cambridge Doctor Cary being then Vicechancelor for the reading of Peter Lombard Thom. Aquinas and the Ancient Fathers as may appeare in the Register of that Vniversity Now if the Royall command of his Majesty of happy memory had beene as well observed by all Students of Divinity there as it is doubtlesse safely preserved in the Office the Vicar needed not to bee sent to Schoole and bidden to read a booke of this mans appointment to see how Communion Tables have stood in the body of the Church for he had beene able enough to send his carefull instructer from the River to the Fountaine But he biddeth him read no other book than what he is bound to read and that swelleth not up to the height of a command but is confined within the precincts of a friendly advice to have an eye to what hee is bound to read Such Evangelicall Councell I confesse becommeth Mr. Cotton much better than to arrogate a command and execute his superintendency in that kind For his advice then So farre forth as Bishop Iewel Bullinger Erasmus and the like doe explaine unto us the true and Orthodoxe doctrine of our Church we are bound in reason as occasion serveth not only to have them but to read them The like may be said for the reading of God and the King And if some men read such bookes more and some such as the other lesse I doubt not but they did read such bookes as they are bound to read as well as any of these Well in the Vicars behalfe I have read the booke appointed and therein have satisfied the Authors desire Now I make bold to call upon him reciprocally to make good his ingagement that undertaketh that the Reader shall bee satisfied out of Bishop Iewell how Communion Tables stood in the body of the Church How Communion Tables have stood in the body of the Church I doe not finde in Bishop Iewell But what I finde I will tell you and then tell you me if Bishop Iewell doe not say or prove at least that the Communion Table or Altar did not stand in the body of the Church According to Bishop Iewell the Communion Table or Altar for he useth both words stood in the Quire The Quire was divided with rayles from the rest of the Church This Quire so rayled in was commonly called of the Greeke Presbyterium This Presbyterium was especially appointed for Priests It was shut up from all others for disturbing the holy Ministery This appeareth notably in the story of Ambrose who willed the Emperour Theodosius himselfe to depart forth And by Nazianzenus in the life of S. Basil And for further proofe how the Altâ—r stood Bishop Iewel referreth the Reader to the Councell of Laodicea Can. 19. where it is thus determined That the Catechumeni doe pray apart and that they be dismissed before the Penitents be admitted into the Church by imposition of hands Tunc Fideles orare debent When all these are dismissed then the Faithfull are to performe their devotions Solis autem ministris Altaris liceat ingredi ad Altare ibidem communicare The Ministers of the Altar may only enter within the lists of the Altar and there communicate Lastly saith Bishop Iewel it may be gathered by S. Chrysostome that at certaine times of the Service that place was drawne with Curtaines Now let all this be put together and then resolve whether the Vicar may see out of Bishop Iewel how Communion Tables have stood in the body of the Church 1. The Presbytery was neither in the Greek nor Latine Church taken for the body of the Church no more than Presbyter was taken for a Layman 2. No Laiman neither Catechumenê° nec Poenitens neither Iew nor Gentile Heathen man or Heretick much lesse any Christian Emperour was shut out of the body of the Church 3. The body of the Church was never called SacrariuÌ„ into which none but Priests might enter and there Communicate 4. The body of the Church was never the place set apart for Oblations to be made in 5. The body of the Church was at no time of the Service drawne with Curtaines Therefore the holy Altar that stood in a place that was sometimes drawne with Curtaines that was at all times railed in from the rest that was set a part only for Priests that was ordained for Oblations that was fixed in the Presbytery cannot acccording to Bishop Iewell be set in the body of the Church If then the Vicar stand bound to read this book of Bishop Iewels he is bound to believe the authorities which Bishop Iewell bringeth and not to mistake them as this Penman does but to understand them aright and then he shall see how Communion Tables have not stood in the midst of the Church but in the higher part of the Church wherein the Vicar hath the Authors assent already in opinion though he settle it otherwise for the Men of Granthams sake CAP. XIV The antiquity of Communion Tables Eusebius's authority examined for the standing of Altars in the body of the Church Church of Tyre built by Paulinus Paulinus adjudged to be an Arrian by the Centurists Illyricus hereticall The Altar in Tyre how it stood in the midst of the Presbytery Church in Tyre built conformable to the Temple Foure distinct places in Solomons Temple How the Altar there stood in the middest Gods dwelling in the midst of the people How David and Solomon praysed the Lord in medio ecclesiae The peole did not see the Priest at the Altar in the Temple IN the next place I will examine the Authors out of which he saith the Vicar may know how Communion Tables stood in the body of the Church And he shall give me leave to say that whatsoever he can know out of any of these Authors he shall never know how Communion Tables stood at all much lesse how they stood in the body of the Church
The word used in those Authors is Mensa Domini or Altare not Communionis mensa the Communion Table For though the word Communion Table be a fit and convenient word yet it came not in so soone but it came in I will not impeach the comming in thereof nor speak so unreverently as he doth of Altars and say it crept in but it came in long after the youngest of these Authors went out of the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant Therefore it will be hard to know out of them how Communion Tables stood which he shall never finde in any of them at all nor in any before them nor in the holy Scripture nor in any after them till Anno 1552. For in King Edwards Liturgie saith the Author of 1549. it is every where but in that of 1552. it is no where called an Altar but the Lord's board From whence then we may gesse when Communion Tables came in But if out of these Authors he can make the Vicar know how the Lord's board or holy Altar stood in the body of the Church the Vicar will not stand upon the name of Communion Table any longer Wherefore to take his Authors in their order I begin with Eusebius his words are these Absoluâ—â— Templo ac sedibus excelsissimis ad honorem praesidentium subselliis ordine collocatis ornatâ— post omnia Sancto Sanctorum viz. Altari in medio constituto Out of these words the Vicar must know how the Altar stood not at the upper end of the Quire but in the middest of the Church among the people This Church whereof Eusebius speakes was the Church of Tyre built by Paulinus the Bishop there And to this place I can give a speedy answer by sending the Author as he doth the Vicar to a book which he may take himselfe bound to read and believe as some willing to be deceived do and he shal be satisfied the Centurists In this place Illyricus tels us that Eustathius who was Prolocutor in the Councell of Nice and Patriarch of Antioch was deposed in a Conventicle there onely because hee approved the Councell of Nice and opposed and publikely reproved Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia and this Paulinus Bishop of Tyre and others tanquam Arrianos for Arrians With this tale of the Centurists I suppose the Author rests satisfied that it is no good argument to say the Altar stood in the midst of Arrian and Hereticall Churches therefore it ought so to stand in Catholike or Orthodox and Christian Churches But I will deale more favourably and not cut him off so short nor resolve Paulinus for an Arrian upon their information I wish the Author could say as much to quit some of the Centurists of Arrianisme as may be said in the behalfe of Paulinus in that respect If Paulinus before the decree of the Councel of Nice did leane to Arrius which appeares not but by the report of Arrius who may lie yet after the Councell had determined against him neither Arrius nor any of his friends embarke Paulinus in that frantick ship but the Prolocutor himselfe and Athanasius affirme that all the Bishops Theonas and Secundus excepted assented to the determination of that Councell and condemned Arrius whether in truth and sincerity of heart or otherwise it is hard to say But of Paulinus we may be fully assured that he gave his vote sincerely for the Preacher who made the Sermon at the Dedication of that Church acknowledged our Saviour Iesus Christ to be the naturall and only Son of God and God Himselfe and to be the Creator and not a Creature as the Arrian Councell at Ariminum resolved and made him equall in honour with God the Father This truth tending altogether to the confutation of Arrius the Preacher might have forborne to deliver in that presence if it had not sorted well enough with his Lord Paulinê° But if we may give as much credit to Staphylus a privat man speaking of Illyricus a private man as some yeeld Illyricus against the testimony and doctrine of all ancient Fathers in more things than one then was Illyricus in his opinion no better than a Arrian For hunc inter alia renovasse Arrii doctrinam talemque eum esse ab Academia Whittenbergensi damnatum testatur Staphylus saith Prateolus Hereticall also is that doctrine of his That originall sin is a substance for which cause his brethren and those of his fathers house threw stones at him Wherefore I will make no use of the testimony of a man so branded but take Paulinus for a good Catholik and yeeld that the Altar in his Church stood as it ought to do all things considered But how will it appeare that the Sanctum Sanctorum as the Preacher in Eusebius cals it or the holy Altar stood not at the upper end of the Quire but in the middest of the Church among the people For this is the point which the Author informes the Vicar he shall know out of Eâ—sebius But certainly the Author never read or never weighed the testimony borrowed of Eusebius but came lightly by it and presumed he might play it away and passe it upon the Vicar as it came to him All that the Preacher in Eusebius sayes is this that when all the parts of the Church were finished then the Sanctum Sanctorum or holy Altar was set in the midst not in the middest of the body of the Church among the people that crosseth all antiquity and is supplyed by a friendly hand to the Author but as Bishop Iewell points us very truly to the Presbytery and in the midst that is in the midst of the Presbytery it was set And in reference to the Presbytery it may well be said to stand in the midst though not in the very Centre of the Presbytery but removed a good distance from it and placed at the upper end of the Quire Thus Ioshuah sayes of the Gibeonites In medio nostri est is you are in the middest of us when indeed they were three dayes journey from them Wherefore out of Eusebius the Vicar cannot know how the Altar stood in the body of the Church among the people But were this granted that the Altar stood in the midst of the Church of Tyre yet shall the Author get nothing by the hand for his purpose The Church of Tyre as appeares by the Preachers Sermon was contrived after the patterne of the Temple built by Solomon and after by Zorobabel And Paulinus in his structure endeavoured as much as lay in him to conforme his building to that modell and not to come behinde Besaleel himselfe in expressing the like art and cunning in his workmanship that the Iewes their neighbours might happily take the better liking thereof and be sooner wonne to Christiany Now the City Ierusalem as appears in Iosephus was thought to stand in the midst of the earth and the Psalmist favoureth that situation Deus operatus est salutem in medio
tales epulas to such a banquet Per istos Dies at this time Christ feedeth us daily Mensa illius est illa in medio constituta his Table is that whith is set in the midst What is the cause then that you that are in the ranke of Audientes and see this Table doe not come to the banquet It may bee you thought within your selves when the Gospell was read what should be the meaning of this my flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Si volueris erit revelatum if you will it shall bee made knowne unto you Accede ad professionem solvisti quaestionem doe but make profession of your faith and the doubt will bee thereupon cleered Tu autem Catechumenus diceris Audiens surdus es Thou who remainest in the ranke of Catechumeni art called a Hearer but art indeed starke deafe Well what must this Hearer and Catechumenus doe that hee may understand how the bread is flesh indeed and his bloud is drinke indeed Why this doe Ecce Pascha est da nomen ad Baptismam Now the time is Easter give in your name that you may bee Baptized Si non te excitat Festivitas ducat ipsa Curiositas If the solemnity of the time excite you not thereunto let curiosity make you doe it that so you may understand my Text He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in me and I in him Now let us take a view of what can be extracted out of S. Augustines speech Mensa illius est illa in medio posita his Table is set in the midst The Author would make a Novice of the Vicar and make him believe that the Lords Table was set in the midst of the people that all that would might come unto it and that hee doth invite all his Hearers hand over head to come unto it and reproveth them for their slacknesse in not comming wheâ— they were bidden And that Audientes had no other signification or distinction in those times then now it hath viz. that all sort of people that heare Gods Word are allowed to come and receive the Eucharist But the case is cleane otherwise as may appeare by that which hath beene said For 1. Had these Hearers beene never so willing to come to the Lords Table yet they could not have beene admitted because as yet they were no members of the Church being not Baptized 2. Hee doth invite them to come to that Table set before them but exhorts them to take the benefit of that Feast of Easter which was the appointed time for Baptisme and give up their names to the Bishop that so performing the duty belonging to Competentes they might after the Scrutinie taken be Baptized And being by Baptisme made Neophyti new plants and true members of the Church they might draw neere as it is in our Liturgy and take that holy Sacrament to their comfort 3. It is manifest by that which hath been said Cap. 11. and 12. that the Lords Table did not stand where every one of what ranke soever might see it and be partaker thereof before they were Baptized Now let any man that readeth Saint Augustine and understandeth what hee readeth say whether the Vicar could know out of St. Augustine that Communion Tables stood in the midst of the Church among the people whereunto Audientes all sort of Hearers might resort or rather whether the cleane contrary doth not appeare out of him that neither Audientes before they were made Catechumeni not Catechumeni before they were Competentes nor Competentes before they were Neophyti and Fideles were allowed to approach neere unto the place where the holy Altar stood or so much as see the mysteries belonging to that holy Sacrament Hence it was that none of these but Fideles did understand Saint Augustines Text but let them come and bee Baptized then they might For the Table was set in the midst for all that were Fideles to be partakers thereof Ob. But Saint Augustine saies plainely in mediâ— Constituta it was set in the midst and in the midst it could not stand if all as well one as other might not come equally to it Sol. This phrase implyes no more but that the Altar was so fixed that all those might take the benefit thereof to whom in right it belonged As all know that understand Latine or English Take the warrant of holy Scripture for it God is said to walke in the midst of the Campe of the Israelites yet wee know hee did not walke in the midst of them as this man calls the midst i. Neiâ—ther in the Front Wing or Rere but just in the very midst For hee went before them by day in a Pillar of a cloud and by night in a Pillar of fire Yet hee is as truly said to walke in the midst as hee is said to stand in the midst when the cloud stood over the Tabernacle which was properly in the midst In like manner the Altar may be said to stand in the midst of the Presbytery though it stand at the upper end of the Quire as the Lord was in the midst of the people when he went before them or behinde them Wherfore if the Author desire to know how the Table did not stand in the midst of the Church among the People let him read a booke which he is in reason bound to read before he cite him St. Augustine in the place alledged and he shall be satisfied that S. Augustine makes utterly against his purpose But if hee had lookt well upon Saint Augustine and observed how he invites both Audientes Catechumeni Competentes and Neophyti which we are sure could be neither Priests nor Deacons to give up their names that they might bee Baptized and so bee made partakers as well of CHRISTS bloud as of his body for all these are invited to eate CHRISTS flesh and drinke his bloud and no barre is put in against them though they were Lay-men and could be no other but Lay-men but only that they did as yet remaine in those inferiour orders he might from hence have drawne a necessary conclusion in defence of the practice of our Church that Lay-men in Saint Augustines time did receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in both kindes and so were all alike able to understand his Text touching the eating of Christs flesh and drinking of his bloud By framing this Argument out of Saint Augustine hee might have done the Church true and acceptable service whereas by wresting Saint Augustines words to maintaine a conceit of his owne to humour fancifull people hee doth crosse and confound the practise of Antiquity and disturbeth the holy endeavours of the Governours of our Church that seeke only to conforme the same to the Primitive times and by that meanes brings both his Learning and Piety into question And so I come to his next authority CAP. XVI The Testimony of the Councell of Constantinople examined
sixth houre Those that are drunken are drunken in the night and those that creepe into houses creepe into them in the night Abraham whose sons we are not by nature but by grace at this very houre in the cleere light of faith built two Altars in one Chaper one in Moreh and another in Bethel And now under Abraham and Melchisedech was the Christian Church in the prime For the Church of the Iewes sayes S. Ambrose began not before Abrahams Nephew son was growne up to mans estate Now it is to be observed say these holy Fathers Quantae fidei quantaeque devotionis how faithfull and devout this blessed Patriarch was who because Deo credidit Deoque altaria erexit cultumque ejus venerando dilexit he believed in God and erected Altars to him God therefore blessed him and caused Semen ejus multiplicari eique amplissimaregna terrasque dari de hostibus triumphari nec non in suo semine quod est Christus gentes quae nos sumus benedici Abrahams seed was multiplyed and upon him were large Kingdomes and Territories bestowed All his enemies subdued and in him were the Gentiles that is our selves eternally blessed because he erected Altars to God and honoured his service And againe say the same Fathers if Abraham for these causes was blessed Dubium non est quin Altarium sanctorum eversores sacrarum rerum quibus in iisdem Altaribus Deo famulandum est surreptores damnentur there is no doubt but they put their salvation in great hazzard that undermine Altars and put their hands to the taking away of holy things that belong to Altars by their consecration as Tythes and offerings doe and the like From which impiety King Iames of blessed memory washed his hands Populari enim res sacras ad usus nescio quos certe parum sacros addicere bonis omnibus Regi autem ante omnes displicet quo nemo à sacris alienandis alienior maleque illum habuit quod quae devota Deo erant propter voventium mentes abalienata erant as testifieth famous Elie. And so we see and all posterities doubtlesse shall see how God hath blessed his seed and propagated his Kingdomes and subdued his enemies as was affirmed of King Pepin by these holy Fathers to whom I returne and with them to Abraham For so zealous was the Father of the faithfull that he not only built an Altar but was ready to sacrifice his son upon it Isaac also aedificavit Altare and therefore the Lord promised a blessing to him and his seed But Religion and Devotion increased much more with Iacob who did not only erect Altars and consecrate them and powre Oile on them but made further promise of devoting his Tythes to the Lord. Now marke what inference these holy Fathers make from hence and then judge whether Altars crept into the Church or whether the complying of Christians with these Fathers of the Iewes doe not argue that Altars did not creepe into the Church but were received with publike honour and devotion Vnde hodie Christiana religio exemplum sumens ex antiqua patrum traditione domos in honorem Dei aedificat ac dedicat Altaria erigit eisque oleum superfundit Whereupon Christian Religion taking their example from hence doe build and dedicate houses to God and erect Altars and do receive many precious gifts and oblations of Gods people for the honour of his House and service and for the use and benefit of his Priests and of the poore And we advise him that goeth about to impropriate these things to his owne use and to withdraw them from the uses which the Dedicators and Donors intended to remember Cujus sit discriminis damnationis into what danger of damnation he putteth himselfe The ninth houre is from Moses to Christ. And how Altars were in an open and honorable manner brought from the Church of the Christians into the Church of the Iewes at this houre of the day the same holy Fathers shew out of the bookes of Moses Ioshuah Iudges and from the deeds of David Solomon and the Machabees even to Christs time and conclude thus Haec idcirce posuimus ut animadvertatur quantum apud divinam majestatem valeat veneratio divini cultus erectio Altarium And from hence the same Fathers inferre which saves me a great deale of labour ex Sanctorum patrum explanationibus out of the expositions of the holy Fathers in the best and ancient times that Christian Churches tooke their president in erecting Altars so that their complying herein with the people of the Iewes is a cleere argument that Altars did not creep into the Christian Church For that the Tabernacle typum gerebat futurae Christi Ecclesiae and that the Temple likewise typum gesserit Sanctae dei Ecclesiae nullus sanum sapiens ignorat no man that has not his understanding tackt and the eye thereof turned after the humour of the men of Grantham as the Marigold turnes with the Sun wil impeach the setting of Altars or the Lords Table Altarwise in any Christian Church by terming their comming in to be creeping and to bee the worse thought of for their complying with the people of the Iewes For is it not fit there should be a complying and correspondencie betweene the type or figure and the substance which Christian Altars are in regard of the Altars among the people of the Iewes Wherefore since Altars in the Christian Church comply so fitly with the Altars in the Iewish Church it is an argument that the Church wherein they are is a true Christian Church and that the honour done them is no other then in truth belongs to them For if their types were had in singular honour among the Iewes then the Substance ought to be had in much more honour among Christians And it is not the part of a good Christian Sanum intelligens that is sound at heart to speake so unlike the Servant of Christ good Christian so like a Pensioner to the men of Grantham as to say that Altars Crept into the Church by a kinde of complying with the people of the Iewes The twelfth houre is from the death of Christ to the end of the world and how the Church of God set it selfe to comply with the Church of the Iewes in erecting dedicating and consecrating Churches and Altars ordaining of Priests and Levites apointing and receiving of oblations offering Sacrifices and confirming Christs Church to the true patterne thereof shewed to Moses in the Mount and lively presented in the Tabernacle and Temple the same holy Fathers take upon to demonstrate ex Sanctorum Patrum eloquiis out of the doctrine of holy Fathers Can any man say then that Altars crept into the Church as the Tables of mony-changers came into the Temple and were set where they ought not to the defiling thereof which this pure man plainly intendeth that the next word must be have these
l. 1. c. 4. S. Aug. Ep. 59. Paulin. q. 5. S. Ambros. de Sacram. l. 4. c. 4. S. Cypr. lib. 1. Ep 9. Canon Apost 4 5. Concil Constantinop 6. Can. 2. S. Irenaeus l. 4. c. 34. The Letteâ— The Rubricke saith the Table shall stand in the body of the Church or of the Chancell where Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer be appoinâ—ed to be read And if you desire to know how Communion Tables have stood Reade a booke which you are bound to read Iewel against Hâ—rding and you shall be satisfied Of private Masse Artic 11. p. 14â— Concil Laod. ca. 19. The Letter And if you desire to know out of Eusebius Augustine Durandus and the fifth generall Couâ—cell of Constantinople how the Communion Tables have stood in the midst of the Church Read a book c. and you shall be satisfied Euseb. l. 10. c. 4 Cent. 4. c. 9. fol. 688. S. Amb. l. 5. Ep. 32. Pratcol l 9. c. 11. Iosh. 9.22 Ioseph de bel Iudaico l. 3. c. 2 Exod. 19.9 S. Aug. de verb. Dom. Seâ— 46. Deut. 25.14 Exod. 13.21 Deut. 14.14 Syricus ep 1. ad Hemeâ—ium 3. ad Orthodox Concil Con. 6. Act. 1â— Niceph. l. 17. ca. 9. Niceph. l. 17. c. 9. Concil Anâ—â—â—â—odor c. 14. S. Greg in lib. Capitul Cap. 7 Innocent 1. ca. 2. The Letter Durandus examining the cause why the Priest turneth himselfe about at the Altar yeeldeth this Reason for the same In medidio Eccleâ—iâ— aperui os meâ—e and Platina noteth that Boniface was the fiâ—st that in the time of ministraâ—ion divided the Priest from the people We may see by these few that the Quire was then iâ— the body of the Church The Letter If you should erect such an Altar that iâ—â— an Altar at the upper end of the Quire or set the Table Altarwise or fix it in the Quire or not remove it into the body of the Church your discretion will prove the only holocaust For you subscribed when you came to your place That the other Oblation which the Papists were wont to offer upon their Altars is a blasphemouâ—â—â—igment and pernicious imposture in the I. Article and also that we in the Church of England ought to take heed 〈◊〉 our Communion of a memory be made a Sacrifice In the first Humily of the Sacrament Kemnit fol. 775. Can. 22 de concionat 1571. S. Iustin Dialog cuÌ„ Triph. S. Iren. l 4. c 32 S. Iren. l. 4. c. 34. Tert. l. 3. cont Marc. lib. de orat S. Cyp. l. 2. ep 3 S. Cyp. l. 1. ep 9 S. Câ—â— l. 3. ep 6 S. Cyp. l. 4â— ep â—â— S. Châ—â—soâ—t l. â— de Saceâ—dot lib. â—â— S. Chrysost. Hom. 11. â—d pop Antioch hom 79. S. Ambros. precâ—t 1. ad missim S. Ambr. in Pâ—al 38. S. Ambr. l. 5. ep 33. S. Aug. l. 9. Confes. ca. 13. S. Aug in lib. 3. 〈◊〉 Levit. â— 57. S. Aug. in Psal. 33. S. Aug. in Orat. Psal. 39. S. Aug de Civ l. 17. c. 20 li. 10. ca. 20. S Aug. Enchir. cap. 120. S. Aug. de Civ l. 2â— ca. 8. S. Aug de sp lit câ— 11. de Civ l. â— ca. 27. S. Aug. de Civ l. 22. ca. 10. S. Aug. de Civ l. 8. c. 27. S. Aug. de Civ l. 22. c. 10. S. Aug. de haeres c. 53. S. Epiph. haeres 75. Concil Nâ—c ca. 24. Concil Carth. 3. ca. 24. 4.79 Concil Bracar ca. 34. 39. Can. 22. Anno. 1571. Appeal ca. 2â— Gag Cho. 36. pag. 263. L. Eliens ad Card. Bellar. Apol. Resp. ca. 8. p. 184. White Orthodoxe faith untruth 26. p. 340 Casaub. ad Ep. Card. Pero Resp. ad 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Sacrificio in Ecclesia Christiano pag. 5â— Homil. p. 1. Concerning the Sacrament Eliens Apol. ca. 1. pa. 20. Service Sacraments Anno 1. Mar. Anno. 1. Eliz. ca. 3. The letter VVâ—ether this name of Altar crept into the Church in a kind of complying in phrase with the people of the Ievves as I have read in Chemnitius Gerardus and other sound Protestants yet such as suffer Altars still to stand or that it proceed from the oblations made upon the Communion Table for the use of the Prâ—est and the poore c. the name bâ—ing so many yeares abolished it is fitter in my judgement that the Altar shold stand Table-wise than the Table Altar-wise c. S. Athanas. Apolog. ad Constantium Concil Bracar 2. ca. 6. S. Ambros. offic lib. 1. ca. 56. Concil Agath ca. 14. S. Aug. de temp Ser. 253.255 Euseb. l. 10. c. â— Liturg. Basil Chrysost. Liturg. Chrysost S. Nyssen de Baptism Concil Constantinop â— S. Ambros. l. 5. E. 33. S. Chrysost. hom 3. in ep S. Chrysost. in Orat an Christus sit Deus B. Rhenan in Apolog. Tertâ—l pag. 834. P. D. M. Concil Aquisgrave sub Pipino filio Ludovici pâ—â— Imp. 1. lib. 1. Anno â—36 S. Ambr. lib. 4. cap. 3. de Sacram S. Greg. Hom. 19. in Mat. Conc. Aquisg Gen. 12.7.8 Eliens Apol. ca. 6. p. 137. Gen. 22 9. Gen. 26.25 Optat. Mas. l. 6. cont Parme. S. Amb. lib. 4 to 32 The Letter If the Table should stand along close to the Wall so as yâ—u be forced to officiaâ—e at the one end therof the Country people would suppose them Dâ—esseâ—s rather than Tableâ— Besides that Christ Himselfe instâ—â—uâ—ed this Sacrament upon a Table and not upon an Altar as Archbishop â—â—raâ—mer obâ—â—â—ves c. Tertul. de Iejunio adversus Psychicos pag. 781. Aug. Epâ—â—8 â—â—p 6 〈…〉 S. Cyâ—r l 2. Ep. 2. S Chrys. 〈◊〉 â—â— in 1 â—o 1. Ep. â— ad â—â—â— â—cum â—onâ—â—l Caâ—â—la ◠〈◊〉 29. S. Aug. Tract in Iob. 5.9 Iob. 13.18 Psal. 41.9 Concil Agath ca. 35. Episcopis Presbyteris aut Diaconis canes ad venandum aut accipitres aut hujusmodi res habere non liâ—cat c. The Letter That you do the reverence appointed by the Canon to that blessed name of IESVS so it be done humbly and not affectedly to procure the devotion not the derision of the Parishioners and that you do not maintaine it rationibus non cogentibus and so spoile a good cause with bad arguments These things I doe allow and practise Rom. 13. S. Theoph. in Rom. 13. Ioseph Antiq. l. 18. ca. 1. S. Basil de Spir. Sanct. ca. 27. Tertul. de Coro ca. 2. Iude 9. Acts 5.36 Concil Nicen. Can. 11.