and expresse testimonies In the 1 Chron. 25. it is expresly said of Ieduthuâ— and his soâ—â—es that their office was to prophesie with a Harpe to give thanks and to praise the Lord. In the second of Chron. 30. 21. wee read that the Levites and Priests praised the Lord day by day singing with loud Instruments unto the Lord. And as ye heard even now out of 1 Chron. 16. that David at the time when he brought up the Ark unto Jerusalem then first delivered the 105. and 95 Psalms into the hands of Aâ—… and his sonnes to confesse or give thanks unto the Lord. And lastly to leave no place for farther doubt wee read Ezra 3. 11. That the Levites the sonnes of Asaph were set with Cymbals to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David King of Israel And that they sung together by course in praising giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever For this reason the foure and twenty Courses or Quires into which the singers of the Temple were divided by King David to serve in their turnes consisted each of them of twelve according to the number of the tribes of Israel that so every Tribe might have a mouth and voyce to praise and to give thanks unto God for him in the Temple Thus we have seene what warrant to pray and call upon God in a set forme hath from the practice of the Church of God in the old Testament And if reason may have place in the publike service of God where one is the mouth of many there is none so proper and convenient For how can the Minister be said properly to be the mouth of the Congregation in prayer unto God when the Congregation is not first made acquainted and privy to what he is to render unto God in their names which in a voluntary and extemporary Prayer they are not nor well can be I am sure neither so properly nor conveniently as in a set forme which both they and the whole Church have agreed upon and offer unto God at the same time though in severall places in the self-same forme and words And this may be a second reason I meane from Vniformity For how can the Church being a mysticall Body better testifie her unity before God then in her uniformity in calling upon him especially our Saviour telling us that if but two or three shall agree together on earth as touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done unto them of his Father which is in heaven So prevailable with Allmighty God is the power of consent in prayer Let us now in the last place see what reasons they bring who contend altogether for voluntary prayer and would have no set formes used First they say it is the ordinance of God that the Church should be edified by the gifts of her Ministers as well in praying as preaching Ergo their prayers should be extemporary or voluntary because in reading a set forme this gift cannot be shewn To this I answer First that there is not in this point the same reason for Prayer and for Preaching for in prayer I meane Publique the Minister is the mouth of the Church unto God and therefore it were convenient they should know what he puts up to God in their names but in preaching he is not so Secondly Why should not the Pastours and Ministers of the Church edify the Church by their gift of prayer as well in composing a set forme of prayer for her use by generall agreement as in uttering a voluntary or extemporary prayer in a particular Congregation Thirdly Are not the members of the Church to be edified as well by the Spirit of the Church as the Church or some part thereof by the Spirit of a member But how can the Church edifie her members by her gift of prayer otherwise then by a set form agreed upon by her consent Fourthly Ostentation of gifts is one thing but edification by them another Ostentation of the gift of prayer is indeed best shewn in a voluntary or extemporary prayer but the Church may be edified as well by a set forme Yea such a forme in the publique service of God is more edificative then a voluntary And that both because the Congregation is first made acquainted therewith and secondly because they are better secured from being ingaged in ought that might be unfit to speak unto God either for matter or manner or such as they would not have given their consent to if they had been aware of it For now that extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost which was in the Primitive and Apostolicall times is long since ceased And all men to whom that office belongeth to speake to God for others are not at all times discreet and well advised when they speake to him at will and extempore but subject to miscariage Lastly I answer That the Church is to be edified by the gift of her Ministers in voluntary prayer loco tempore in fit place and upon fit occasions not in all places and upon all occasions And thus much to this objection But they object secondly that the Spirit ought to be free and unlimited and that therefore a Book or set forme of prayer which limits the spirit in praying is not to be tolerated or used To this I answer it is false that the acting of the Spirit in one Christan may not be limited or regulated by the Spirit of another especially the spirit of a particular man in the publike worship by the spirit of the Church whereof he is a member For doth not the Apostle tell us 1 Cor. 14. that even that extraordinary spirit of Prophecy usuall in his time might be limited by the spirit of another Prophet Let the Prophets saith he speak two or three and let the other judg If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace Is not this a limiting He gives a reason For the spirits of the Prophets saith he are subject to the Prophets Besides are not the spirits of the people as well limited and determined by a voluntary prayer when they joyne therein with their Minister as they are by a set forme True the spirit of the Minister is then free but theirs is not so but tied and led by the spirit of the Minister as much as if he used a set forme But to elude this they tell us that the Question is not of limiting the spirit of the people but of the Minister onely For as for the people no more is required of them but to join with their Minister and to testifie it by saying Amen but the spirit of the Minister ought to be left free and not to be limited But where is this written that the one may not be limited as well as the other We heard the Apostle say even now The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets If in prophecying why not in praying And
suggested in extraordinary manner by the Holy Spirit as Prophecy was given of old according to that of S. Peter Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost So because many in the beginning of the Gospel were guided by a like instinct in the interpretation and application of Scripture they were said to Prophecy Thus the Apostle useth it in the fourteenth Chapter of this Epistle where he discourses of spirituall Gifts and before all prefers this of Prophecy because he that prophecieth saith he speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort But neither of these kinds of Prophecy sute with the person in my Text which is a woman For it is certain the Apostle speaks here of prophecying in the Church or Congregation but in the Church a woman might not speak no not so much as ask a question for her better instruction much lesse teach and instruct others This the Apostle teacheth us in this very Epistle Chapter the fourteenth even there where he discourseth so largely of those kinds of Prophecy Let your women saith he keep silence in the Churches For it is not permitted unto them to speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to be subject And if they will learn let them ask their husbands at home Again in the first of Timothy the second and the eleventh Let the women learn in silence with all subjection 12. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence Note here that to speak in a Church Assembly by way of teaching or instructing others is an act of superiority which therefore a woman might not do because her sex was to be in subjection and so to appear before God in that Garb and Posture which consisted therewith that is they might not speak to instruct men in the Church but to God she might To avoid this difficulty some would have the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text to be taken passively namely to hear or be present at Prophecy which is an acception without example either in Scripture or any where else It is true the Congregation is said to pray when the Priest only speaks but that they should be said to preach who are present only at the hearing of a Sermon is a Trope without example For the reason is not alike In prayer the Priest is the mouth of the Congregation and does what he does in their names and they assent to it by saying A men But he that preaches or prophecies is not the mouth of the Church to speak ought in their names that so they might be said to speak too but he is the mouth of God speaking to them It is not likely therefore that those who only hear another speaking or prophecying to them should be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more as I said then that all they should be said to preach who were at the hearing of a Sermon What shall we do then Is there any other acception of the word prophecying left us which may fit our turn Yes there is a fourth acception which if it can be made good will sute our Text better I think then any of the former to wit that prophecying here should be taken for praising God in Hymnes and Psalms For so it is fitly coupled with praying Praying and praising being the parts of the Christian Liturgy Besides our Apostle also in the fourteenth Chapter of this Epistle joyns them both together I will pray saith he with the spirit and will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing that is prophecy with understanding also For because Prophets of old did three things First foretell things to come Secondly notifie the will of God unto the people And thirdly uttered themselves in musicall wise and as I may so speak in a poeticall strain and composure Hence it comes to passe that to prophecy in Scripture signifies the doing of any of these three things and amongst the rest to praise God in verse or musicall composure This to be so as I say I shall prove unto you out of two places of Scripture and first out of the first of Chronicles ch 25. where the word Prophecy is three severall times thus used I will alledge the words of the Text at large because I cannot well abbreviate them These they are v. 1. Moreover David and the Captains of the Host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Ieduthun who should prophecy with Harps with Psalteries and with Cymbals and the number of the men of Office according to their service was 2. Of the sons of Asaph Zaccur and Ioseph and Nathaniah and Asarelah the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph which prophecied according to the order of the King 3. Of Ieduthun the sons of Ieduthun Gedaliah and Zeri and Ieshaiah Hashabiah and Mattithiah and Schimei six under the hands of their Father Ieduthun who prophecied with a Harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. Lo here to prophecy and to give thanks or confesse and to praise the Lord with spirituall songs made all one Nor needs such a notion seem strange when as even among the Latins the word vates signifieth both him that foretels things to come and a Poet for that the Gentile Oracles were given likewise in verse And S. Paul to Titus cals the Cretian Poet Epimenides a Prophet as one saith he of their own Prophets said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Arabians whose language comes the nearest both in words and notions to the Hebrew call a chief Poet of theirs Princeps omnium Poetarum saith â—rpenius quos unquam vidit mundus Muttenabbi that is Prophetizans or Propheta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now then if Asaph Ieduthun and Heman prophecied when they praised God in such Psalms as are entituled unto their severall Quires as we find them in the psalm-Psalm-Book for know that all the Psalms entituled to the sons of Korah belonged to the Quire of Heman who descended from Korah why may not we when we sing the same Psalms be said to prophecy likewise namely as he that useth a prayer composed by another prayeth and that according to the spirit of him that composed it So he that praiseth God with these spirituall and propheticall composures may be said to prophecy according to that spirit which speaketh in them And that Almighty God is well pleased with such service as this may appear by that one story of King Iehoshaphat in the second of Chronicles who when he marched forth against that great confederate Army of the children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir the Text there tels us that having consulted with his people He appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise the Beauty of holinesse as they went out before the Army and to say Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth
same prayer is again delivered in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whē you pray say Our Father which art in heaven that is doe it in haec Verba For what other phrase is there to express such a meaning if this be not Besides in this of S. Luke the occasion would be considered It came to passe saith he as Iesus was praying in a certain place that when he ceased one of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as Iohn also taught his Disciples From whence it may not improbably be gathered that this was the custome of the Doctors of Israel to deliver some certain form of Prayer unto their Disciples to use as it were a Badge and Symbolum of their Discipleship at least Iohn Baptist had done so unto his Disciples and thereupon our Saviours Disciples besought him that he also would give them in like manner some forme of his making that they might also pray with their Masters spirit as Iohns Disciples did with theirs For that either our Saviours or Iohns Disciples knew not how to pray till now were ridiculous to imagine they being both of them Jews who had their certaine set houres of prayer which they constantly observed as the third sixt and ninth It was therefore a forme of prayer of their Masters making which both Iohn is said to have given his Disciples and our Saviours Disciples besought him to give them For the fuller understanding whereof I must tell you something more and the rather because it is not commonly taken notice of and that is That this delivery of the Lords prayer in S. Luke is not the same with that related by S. Matthew but another at another time and upon another occasion That of S. Matthew in that famous Sermon of Christ upon the Mount whereof it is a part that of S. Luke upon a speciall motion of the Disciples at a time when himselfe had done praying That of S. Matthew in the second that of S. Luke in the third yeare after his Baptisme Consider the Text of both and you shall finde it impossible to bring them into one and the same whence it follows that the Disciples when it was first uttered understood not that their Master intended it for a forme of prayer unto them but for a pattern or example onely or it may be to instruct them in speciall in what manner to ask forgiveness of sins For if they had thought he had given them a forme of prayer then they would never have asked him for one now wherefore our Saviour this second time utters himselfe more expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven Thus their inadvertency becomes our confirmation For as Ioseph said to Pharaoh The dreame is doubled unto Pharaoh because the thing is established by God so may wee say here The delivery of this prayer was doubled unto the Disciples that they and we might thereby know the more certainly that our Saviour intended and commended it for a set form of prayer unto his Church Thus much of that set forme of prayer which our Saviour gave unto his Disciples as a precedent and warrant to his Church to give the like forms to her Disciples or members a thing which from her infancy she used to doe But because her practice is called in question as not warranted by Scripture let us see what was the practice of the Church of the old Testament then whose example and use wee can have no better rule to follow in the New First therefore wee find two set forms of prayer or invocation appointed by God himself in the Law of Moses One the form wherewith the Priests were to blesse the people Num. 6. 23. On this wise saith he shall Aaron and his sons blesse the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord blesse thee and keepe thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace Is not this a set forme of Prayer For what is to blesse but to pray over or invocate God for another The second is the forme of profession and prayer to be used by him who had paid his Tithes every third yeare Deut. 26. 13. O Lord God I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger to the Fatherlesse and unto the widow according to all thy commandements which thou hast commanded me I have not transgressed thy Commandements neither have I forgotten them 14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning neither have I taken away ought thereof for any uncleane use c. 15. Look downe from thy holy habitation from heaven and blesse thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest to our Fathers a Land that floweth with Milke and honey But what need we seek thus for scattered Formes when wee have a whole booke of them together The Booke of Psalmes was the Jewish Liturgie or the chiefe part of the vocall service wherewith they worshipped God in the Temple This is evident by the Titles of the Psalms themselves which shew them to have beene commended to the severall Quires in the same to Asaph to the sonnes of Korah to Ieduthun and almost forty of them to the Magister Symphoniae in generall The like wee are to conceive of those which have no titles as for example of the 105 and 96 Psalmes which though they have no such Inscription in the Psalme-booke yet wee finde 1 Chron. 16. 7. That they were delivered by David into the hands of Asaph and his Brethren for formes to thanke the Lord. This a man would think were sufficient to take away all scruple in this point especially when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solve◠and all the reformed Churches use to sing the same Psalmes not onely as set formes but set in Meeter that is after a humane composure Are not the Psalmes set formes of Confession of Prayer and of Praising God And in case there had been no prayers amongst them yet what reason could be given why it should not bee as lawfull to pray unto God in a set forme as to praise him in such a one What therefore doe they say to this Why they tell us that the Psalmes are not sung in the Church unto God but so rehearsed for instruction of the people onely namely as the Chapters and Lessons are there read and no otherwise But if either wee doe ought or may sing the Psalmes in the Church with the same end and purpose that the Church of the old Testament did and it were absurd to say wee might not this exception will not subsist for what is more certaine then that the Church of Israel used the Psalmes for Formes of praising and invocating God What mean else those formes Cantemus Domino Psallite Domino and the like so frequent in them But there are more direct
upon him was to be made King 1 Kings 1. 33 34. In the Book of Esther Chap. 6. v. 8. of the Horse that King Ahasuerus used to ride upon put in the same rank with the Crown and royall apparell which none but the King might weare And of individuall Utensils thus appropriated and as it were dedicated to the alone use of persons of eminency our own times want not examples Whence naturall instinct may seem to prompt unto us that such appropriation is a testimony of honour and respect Sure I am that Almighty God hath revealed it to be a part of that honour we owe unto him Thus all the Utensils of the Tabernacle and Temple were sacred and set apart to that use and not the Utensils of the Altar onely but even the instruments of musick which David ordained to praise the Lord with in the Temple were not common but consecrated unto God for that end whence they are called 1 Chron. 16. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instrumenta musica Dei The musicall instruments of God that is sacred ones And 2 Chron. 7. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The musicall Instruments of the LORD Agreeably whereunto those who sung the fore-alledged song of victory over the Beast are said to have had in their hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The harps of God that is not prophane or common but sacred Harps the Harps of the Temple for there they sung this their Antheme standing upon the great Laver or Sea of glasse which was therein Nay our blessed Saviour Mark 11. would not suffer a profane or common vessell to be so much as carried through his Fathers House accounting it as great a profanation as to buy and sell there And yet was not this abuse which is a thing well to be marked within those Septs of the Temple which the Jewâ— accounted sacred but in the outmost Court called Atrium gentium immandorum the place in which together with such as were unclean the Gentiles and uncircumcised were admitted to pray as that of the Prophet cited by our Saviour rightly rendred intimates My house shall be called a house of prayer to or for ALL NATIONS Consider Esay 56. 6 7. This Court therefore the Jews made no other account of then as of a prophane place but our Saviour proved by Scripture that this Gentiles Oratory was also part of his Fathers house and accordingly not to be prophaned with common use Lastly there was never any age of the Christian Church till of late wherein it was not commonly beleeved that God was to bee honoured by such appropriation or consecration as we speak of that is that Gods Name was in this manner to be sanctified But are there any will you say now that deny it Yes there are some in our age so far carried away into a contrary extreme to that they flie from that they hold that no oblation or consecration of things unto God by the devotion of men in the New Testament whether of Utensils goods times or places ought to be esteemed lawfull but that all distinction between sacred and prophane in externall things by vertue of such consecration excepting only the Sacraments is flat superstition Yet to him that seriously considers it it cannot chuse me thinks but seem strange and absurd to affirm as this assertion doth that men now in the time of the Gospel are exempted and freed from agnizing God to be Lord of the creature by giving some part thereof unto him then which no part of Divine Worship is more naturall and which hath been used by mankinde ever since the beginning of the world Yea in the state of Paradise among all the trees in the Garden which God gave man freely to enjoy one tree was Noli me tangere and reserved to God as holy in token he was Lord of the Garden So that the first sin of Mankinde for the species of the fact was Sacriledge in prophaning that which God had made holy They say It is true that in the Old Testament this way of honouring and acknowledging God was warranted by the Divine Law but in the New wee finde no precept given concerning it nor confirmation of that which was before Now God is not to bee worshipped with any worship but what he hath himself prescribed in his Word I answer What though there be no particular prâ—cept in the New Testament for this no more then for divers other duties which a Christian is bound to yet if a generall warrant be the particular needs not But our Saviour saith in his Gospel in that Euangelicall Sermon hee preached upon the Mount That hee came not to dissolve the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill or perfect them Think not saith he that I am come to dissolve the Law and the Prophets that is to take away the obligation of that rule of the duty of man to God and his neighbour given first by Moses in the Law and afterwards repeated and inculcated by the Prophets for so Prophets are here to be understood and not of predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to fulfill them that is to supply accomplish or perfect those rules and doctrines of just and unjust contained in them by a more ample interpretation and other improvement befitting the state of the Gospel For surely this must be the meaning of this speech of our Saviour if we be more willing as we should to take a sense from Scripture then to bring one to it Doth not the whole context following evince it Indeed the Law that is the Legall Covenant or Covenant of works as Law is oft taken in the New Testament together with all the rites depending thereon is dissolved by the comming of Christ and a better Covenant with new rites established in stead thereof But the Law that is the Doctrine and Rule of life given by God contradistinct from those ordinances which were onely appendages of that Covenant though these were also in some sense perfected by bringing the truth and substance in stead of the figure and shadow thereof is not disannulled but confirmed and perfected by him in such manner as became the condition of the Covenant of the Gospel For that this confirmation is not to bee restrained to the Decalogue onely is manifest because our Savior in the following words insists upon other precepts besides it If it be said they are reducible thereto this will not serve the turn for so are all the rest of Gods Commandements Unlesse therefore it can be shewn that to honour God by an oblation of his creature is no part of the Law here confirmed by our Saviour Let no man be so daringly bold as to exempt himself and others from the obligation thereof unlesse he means to be one of them of whom our Saviour speaks immediately saying Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandements and shall teach men so to do mark it he shall be called i. he shall be the least
the Acts of the Apostles nor in S. Paul and S. Peters writings yet this proves not they were not used in the Apostles times no more then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not whose case in this point is the same with the other But to confine the Apostles Age within the limits of Saint Pauls and S. Peters lines is a generall mistake For the Apostles Aage ended not till S. Iohns death Anno Christi 99. and so lasted as long within a year or thereabouts after S. Paul and S. Peters suffering as it was from our Saviours Ascension to their Deaths that is one and thirty years And this too for the most part was after the Excidium of Ierusalem in which time it is likely the Church received no little improvement in Ecclesiasticall Rites and Expressions both because it was the time of her greatest increase and because whilest the Iews Polity stood her Polity for its full establishment stood in some sort suspended This appears by S. Iohns writings which are the onely Scripture written after that time and in which we finde two Ecclesiastick terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Deitie of Christ and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the first day of the week neither of both seeming to have been in use in S. Paul and S. Peters time and why may we not beleeve the like happened in others and by name in these now questioned Which that I may not seem onely to guesse I think I can prove by two witnesses which then lived the one Clemens he whose name S. Paul says was written in the Book of life and the other Ignatius Clemens in his undoubted Epistle ad Corinthios a long time missing but now of late come again to light In this Epistle the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is three times used of the Christian service pag. 52. Debemus omnia saith he rite ordine facere quae Dominus nos per agere jussit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praestitutis temporibus Oblationes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obire And a little after Qui igitur praefinitis temporibus oblationes suas faciunt accepti beati sunt Domini enim mandata sequentes non aberrant The other Ignatius in his Epistle Ad Smyrnenses hath both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non licet saith he absque Episcopo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he cals in a stricter sense the first part of this sacred and mysticall Service to wit the Thanksgiving wherein the Bread and the Wine as I told you were offered unto God to agnize his Dominion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he cals the mysticall Commemoration of Christs Body and Blood and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the receiving and participation of the same For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are sometimes used for the whole Action and sometimes thus distinguished Of this Epistle the learned doubt not but if any one do I suppose they will grant that Theodoret had his genuine Epistles Let them hear then a passage which he in his third Dialogue cites out of the Epistles of Ignatius against some Hereticks Eucharistias oblationes non admittunt quod non confiteantur Eucharistiam esse carnem Servatoris nostri Iesu Christi quae passa est pro peccatis nostris Here you see oblationes Eucharistias exegetically join together And so I think I have proved these terms of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have been in use in the Church in the latter part of the Apostles Age. But what if one of them namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were used sooner even in S. Pauls and S. Peters time In the first Epistle of Peter 2. 5. You are saith he speaking to the Body of the Church a holy Priesthood to offer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to God by Iesus Christ. In the Epistle to the Heb. 13. 15. By him that is through Christ our Altar let us offer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacrifice of praise to God continually Why should I not think S. Paul and S. Peter speak here of the solemn and publick Service of Christians wherein the Passion of Christ was commemorated I am sure the Fathers frequently call this sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in some ancient Liturgies immediately before the Consecration the Church gives thanks unto God for choosing them to be an holy Priesthood to offer sacrifices unto him as it were alluding to S. Peter Thus you see first or last or both the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were no strangers to the Apostles Age. I will now make but one Quaere and answer it and so conclude this point Whether these words were used seeing they were used properly or improperly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the subject we speak of I answer briefly This Christian service as we have defined it is an Oblation properly for wheresoever any thing is tendred or pretended unto God there is truly and properly an Oblation be it spirituall or visible it matters not For oblatio is the Genus And Irenaeus tels me here Non Genus oblationum reprobatum est oblationes enim illic oblationes autem hîc sacrificia in populo sacrificia in Ecclesia sed species immutata est tantùm But as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sacrifice according to its prime signification it signifies a slaughter-offering as in the Hebrew so in Greek of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 macto As the Angel in the Acts sayes to S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peter kill and eat Now we in our Christian sacrifice slay no offering but commemorate him onely that was slain and offered upon the Crosse. Therefore our Service is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 improperly and metaphorically But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be synecdochically taken for an offering in generall as it is both in the New Testament and elsewhere then the Christian sacrifice is as truely called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SECT II. NOw I come to the second particular contained in my Definition to prove that the Christian sacrifice according to the meaning of the ancient Church is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer My first Author shall be Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew where to the evasion of the Jews labouring to bereave the Christians of this Text by saying it was meant of the Prayers which the dispersed Jews at that time offered unto God in all places where they lived among the Gentiles which Sacrifices though they wanted the materiall Rite yet were more acceptable unto God in regard of their sincerity then those prophaned ones at Jerusalem and not that here was meant any Sacrifice which the Gentiles should offer to the God of Israel to this evasion Iustin replies Supplicationes gratiarum actiones quae à dignis peraguntur
solas perfectas esse Deo charas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipse quoque affirmaverim Has verò solas facere Christiani traditione acceperunt If you ask where and how he tels you Nempe in commemoratione Alimoniae suae aridae juxtà liquide in qua passionis quam per seipsum pertulit Dei filius memoria celebratur It is a description of the Eucharist wherein as I have already told you the Bread and Wine were first presented unto God as the Primitiae to agnize him the Giver of our food both dry and liquid and then consecrated to be the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ. My next Author shall be Tertullian ad Scap. in the place before alledged Sacrificamus saith he pro salute Imperatoris sed quomodo praecepit Deus purâ prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris sanguinis alicujus Haec enim Daemoniorum pabula sunt The Gentiles so thought that their Gods were refreshed and nourisht with the smell and savour of their Sacrifices Besides in his third Book contra Marcionem cap. 22. In omni loco sacrificium nomini meo offertur sacrificium mundum to wit saith he Gloriâ— relatio benedictio hymni And Lib. 4. ca 1. Sacrificium mundum scilicet simplex oratio de conscientia pura Thirdly Clemens Alexandrinus Lib. 7. Stromat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We Christians honour God by Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this we send up unto him as the best and holiest sacrifice honouring him by that most sacred Word whereby we receive knowledge that is by Christ. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sacrifice of the Church is an oration exhaled from sanctified souls He speaks not of the private Prayer of every Christian but the publick Prayer of the Church as a Body as will be evident to him that reads the place and appears by the words quoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sacrifice of the Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exhaled not from a sanctified soul but from sanctified souls For to private prayer was not given this title of the Christian Sacrifice but unto the publick which the Church offered unto God when She presented her self before him as one Body in Christ by the mysticall communion of his Body and Blood This my next Author Cyprian will make plain in his 16 Epist. ad Mosen Maximum Nos quidem saith he vestri diobus noctibus memores quando in sacrificiis precem cum pluribus facimus cum in secessu privatis precibus oramus where we see the sacrifice of prayer to be cum precem cum pluribus facimus and distinguisht from that we do cum in seâ—essu privatis precibus oramus These Authorities are all within the first three hundred years to which I will adde one of the fourth Optatus Milevitanus Lib. 6. contra Parmenianum where he thus expostulates with the Donatists for breaking and defacing the Altars of the Catholicks Quid est enim tam sacrilegum saith he quam Altaria Dei in quibus vos aliquando obtulistis frangere radere removere in quibus Vota opuli membra Christi portata sunt quo Deus omnipotâ—ns invocatus sit Gather hence what parts the Christian Sacrifice consisted of Vota populi are the Prayers of the Church Membra Christi the Body and Blood of Christ which the Prayers were offered with both of them upon the Altar For it is worthy your notice that the ancient Church had no other place whereat she offered her publick Prayers and Orizons but that whereon the memory of the Body and Blood of Christ was celebrated that as they were joyned in their Use so might they not be severed in their Place According to which use and agreeable to this passage of Optatus speaks the Councell of Rhemes commanding the Table of Christ to be reverenced and honoured Quia Corpus Domini â—bi consecratur sanguis ejus hauritur Preces quoque Vota populi in conspectu Dei à Sacerdote offeruntur Furthermore that the Christian Sacrifice was an Oblation of Prayer and consisted in Invocation is also another way to be evinc'd Namely because the Fathers when they speak thereof use the terms of Prayer Oblation and Sacrifice promiscuously and interchangeably one for the other as words importing the same thing Tertullian Exhort ad Cast. disswading a Widower from marrying again because it would be uncomely in the Sacrifice of the Church to make mention as the manner then was of more Wives then one speaks thus Etiam repete apud Deum pro cujus spiritu postules pro qua oblationes annuas reddas stabis ergo ad Deum cum tot uxoribus quot illas oratione commemoras offerres pro duabus commemorabis illas duas per Sacerdotem de monogamia ob pristinum de virginitate sancitum circundatum virginibus univiris ascendet sacrificium tuum cum libera fronte Here postulatio and oblatio oratio and offerre oratio and sacrificium are interchangeably put one for the other So also in his Book De Oratione are Oratio and Sacrificium where he speaks of the kisse of Peace and Reconcilement used at the Eucharist Quae oratio saith he cum divortio sancti osculi integra quale sacrificium à quo sine pace receditur Augustine De Civit. Dei Lib. 8. cap. 27. speaking of the honour of Martyrs Nec Martyribus saith he sacrificia constituimus quis audivit aliquando fidelem stantem ad Altare etiam super sanctum corpus Martyris ad Dei honorem cultúmque constructum dicere in Precibus Offero tibi sacrificium Petre vel Paule c. Here Sacrificium is expounded by Preces and Preces put for Sacrificium And Lib. 22. cap. 8. concerning one Hesperius a man of quality in the City whereof Austin was Bishop who by the affliction of his cattell and servants perceiving his Country-Grange liable to some malignant power of evil spirits Rogavit nostros saith S. Austin me absente Presbyteros ut aliquis corum illò pergeret cujus orationibus cederent Perrexit unus obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi orans quantum potuit ut cessaret illa vexatio Deo protinùs miserante cessavit The Priest was intreated to pray there he went and offered sacrifice and so prayed For this reason the Christian Sacrifice is among the Fathers by way of distinction called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium laudis that is of Confession and Invocation of God to difference it from those of Blood and Incense Augustine Lib. 1. contra Adversarios Legis Prophetarum cap. 20. Ecclesia immolat in corpore Christi sacrificium laudis ex quo Deus Deorum lâ—cutus vocavit terram à solis ortu usque ad occasum Again Epist. 86. Sacrificium laudis ab Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa diebus omnibus immolatur and elsewhere And amongst the Greek Fathers this term is so
whereof is concerning sacrifices There God saith Gather my Saints together unto me which make covenant with me by sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And vers 16. of the sacrifices of the wicked and such as amend not their lives Vnto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction c. Statutes here are Rites and Ordinances and particularly those of Sacrifice which who so bringeth unto God and thereby supplicates and cals upon his Name is said to take the covenant of God in his mouth Forasmuch as to invocate God with this Rite was to do it by way of commemoration of his Covenant and to say Remember Lord thy Covenant and for thy Covenants sake Lord hear my prayer and supplication For what hath man to do with God to beg any favour at his hands unlesse he be in Covenant with him whereby appears the reason why mankinde from the beginning of the world used to approach their God by this Rite of sacrificing that is ritu foederali I adde in this last place for a farther confirmation That when God was to make a Covenant with Abraham Gen. 15. he commanded him to offer him a Sacrifice Offer unto me saith he so it should be turned a heifer a she-goat and aram each of three years old a turtle Dove and a young pigeon All which he offered accordingly and divided them in the midst laying each piece or moity one against the other and when the sun went down God in the likenesse of a smoaking furnace and burning lamp past between the pieces and so as the Text sayes made a Covenant with Abraham saying Vnto thy seed will I give this land c. By which Rite of passing through the parts God condescended to the manner of men And note here that the Gentiles and Jews likewise in their more solemn covenants between men and men which were made under pain of curse or execration used this Rite of Sacrifice whereby men covenanted with their God as it were to make their God both a witnesse and a party with them And here the Jews cut the Sacrifice in sunder and past between the parts thereof as God did here with Abraham which was as much as if they had said Thus let me be divided and cut in pieces if I violate the oath I have now made in the presence of my God The Gentiles besides other ceremonies used not to eat at all of these sacrifices but to fling them into the sea or bury them in the earth as if they had said If I break Covenant thus let me be excluded from all amity and favour with my God as I am now from eating of his Sacrifice Hence came those phrases secare foedus in the Hebrew of ferire percutere icere foedus in Latine of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Homer à feriendis percutiendis secandis sacrificiis in foederibus sanciendis Though this manner of speech may be also derived from their ordinary Epula foederales wherein they killed beasts which the Ancients in their ordinary diet did not Having thus seen what is the nature of a Sacrifice and wherein the ratio thereof consisteth it will not be hard to judge whether the ancient Christians did rightly in giving the Eucharist that name or not For that the Lords supper is Epulum foederale we all grant and our Saviour expresly affirms it of the Cup in the stitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Cup is the Rite of the new Covenant in my Blood which is powred out for many for the remission of sins evidently implying that the bloody sacrifices of the Law with their meat and drink-offerings were Rites of an old covenant and that this succeeded them as the rite of the new That that was contracted with the blood of beevs sheep and goats but this founded in the blood of Christ This parallel is so plain as I think none will deny it There is nothing then remains to make this sacred Epulum a full sacrifice but that the Viands thereof should be first offered unto God that he may be the Convivator we the Convivae or the guests SECT V. MY last task was to prove that the rite of the Lords Supper is indeed a Sacrifice not in a Metaphoricall but a proper sense and this if the nature of Sacrifice be truly defined is no whit repugnant to the reformed Religion To evidence which I shewed that a Sacrifice was nothing else but a Sacred-feast wherein God mystically entertained man at his own Table in token of amity and friendship with him which that he might do the Viands of that feast were first made Gods by oblation and so eaten of not as of Mans but Gods provision There is nothing then wanting to make this sacred Epulum of which we speak full out a Sacrifice but that we shew that the Viands thereof were in like manner first offered unto God that so being his he might be the Convivator man the Conviva or the guest And this the ancient Church was wont to do this they beleeved our blessed Saviour himself did when at the institution of this holy Rite he took the Bread and the Cup into his sacred hands and looking up to heaven gave thanks and blessed And after his example they first offered the Bread and Wine unto God to agnize him the Lord of the Creature and then received them from him again in a Banquet as the Symbols of the Body and Blood of his Son This is that I am now to prove out of the testimonies of Antiquity not long after but next unto the Apostles times when it is not likely the Church had altered the form they left her for the celebration of this Mystery I will begin with Irenaeus as the most full and copious in this point He in his fourth Book cap. xxxii speaks thus Dominus Discipulis suis dans consilium Primitias Deo offerre ex suis Creaturis non quasi indigenti sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint eum qui ex Creatura est panis accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est corpus meum Calicem similiter qul ex Creatura est quae est secundum nos suum sanguinem con fessus est Novo Testamento novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens offert Deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in Novo Testamento And Cap. xxxiii Igitur Ecclesiae oblatio quam Dominus docuit offerri in universo mundo purum sacrificium reputatum est apud Deum acceptum est ei non quod indigeat à nobis sacrificium sed quoniam is qui offert glorificatur ipse in eo quod offert si acceptetur munus ejus Per munus enim erga Regem honos affâ—ctio ostenditur He alludes to that in the first of Malachi I am a great King
One of Iacob and shall fear the God of Israel The latter words shew the meaning of the former The like we have in the first Epist. of S. Peter ch 3. v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OBON 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Gentilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fear ye not their Fear nor be in dread thereof that is Fear not nor dread ye the gods of the Gentiles which persecute you but sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts that is Fear and worship him with your whole hearts For that this passage howsoever we are wont to expound it ought to be construed in the same sense with that of Esay 8. before alledged and the words to be rendred sutably I take it to bee apparent for this reason because they are verbatim taken from thence as he that shall compare the Greek words of S. Peter with the Septuagint in that place of Esay will be forced to confesse Besides this evident and expresse use of the word Sanctifie in the notion of religious and holy worship and fear of the Divine Majesty there is yet another expression sometimes used in holy Scripture which implieth the self-same thing that namely to worship God with that which wee call holy and divine worship is all one with to agnize his holiness or to sanctifie his Name Those speeches I mean wherein we are exhorted to worship the Lord because he is Holy As Psal. 99. 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his foot-stoole for he is holy Again in the end of the Psalm Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy The same meaning is yet more emphatically expressed by those that sing the song of victory over the Beast Apoc. 15. Great say they and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou King of Nations Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that I beleeve is the true reading not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thou onely art Holy therefore all the Nations shall come and worship before thee i. they shall relinquish their Idols and plurality of Gods and worship thee as God onely For this was the Doctrine both of Moses in the Old Testament and of Christ Jesus the Lamb of God in the New That one God onely that made the heaven and the earth was to be acknowledged and worshipped and with an incommunicable worship In respect whereof as I take it these Victors are there said to sing the Song of Moses the Lamb that is a gratulatory Song of the worship of one God After that his Ordinances were made manifest For otherwise the Ditty is borrowed from the 86. Psalm the 8 9 10. verses where wee reade Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name For thou art great and dost wondrous works Thou art God alone that is Thou onely art Holy Compare Ier. 10. ver 6 7. I have one thing more to adde before I finish this part of my Discourse lest I might leave unsatisfied that which may perhaps seem to some to weaken this my explication of the sanctification of Gods Name For the word to sanctifie or be sanctified is sometimes used of God in a more generall sense then that I have hitherto specified namely as signifying any way to be glorified or to glorifie as when he saith He will bee sanctified in the destruction of his enemies or in the deliverance of his people and that before the Heathen and the like that is he would purchase him glory or be glorified thereby I answer it is true that to be sanctified is in these passages to be glorified but yet always to be glorified as God and not otherwise Namely when God by the works of his power of his mercy or justice extorts from men the confession of his great and holy Godhead he is then said to sanctifie or make himself to be sanctified amongst them that is to be glorified and honoured by their conviction and acknowledgement of his power and Godhead For although men may be also said to glorifie or purchase honour unto themselves when by their noble acts they make their abilities and worth known unto the world yet for such respect to be said to be sanctified is peculiar unto him alone whose Glory is his Holinesse i. unto God THUS we have learned how the Name or Majesty of God is to be sanctified personally or in it self which is the chiefest thing we pray for and ought so to be in our endeavour namely to worship and glorifie him incommunicably according to his most eminent unparalleld Holiness and so O Lord Hallowed be thy Name But there is another sanctification or hallowing of Gods Name yet behind which must be joyned therewith which is To sanctifie him also in the things which have his Name upon them that is are separate and dedicate to his service or in a word which are His namely by a peculiar relation For otherwise it is true The whole earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof the World and those that dwell therein But there are some things his not as other things are and so as they are no longer ours such as according to the style of Scripture as I have already noted are said to be called by his Name or to have his Name called upon them These are things sacred Therefore I told you before of a twofold sanctity or Holinesse The one originall absolute and essentiall in God the other derived or relative in that which is set apart to be in a peculiar and appropriate manner His. For whatsoever belongeth unto him in this manner is divided from other things with preeminence whether they be things or persons which are so separated For in such separation we shewed the nature of sanctity in generall to consist Now as the Divine Majesty it self is separate and holy so know it is a part of that honour we owe unto his most Sacred Name that the things whereby and wherewith he is served should not be promiscuous and common but appropriate and set apart to that sacred end It is an honour which in some degree of resemblance we afford unto Kings Princes and other persons of dignity of infinite lesse eminency then God is to interdict the use of that to others which they are wont to use sometimes the whole kinde sometimes the individuall onely As we know in former times to wear purple to subscribe with the Ink called Encaustum of a purple colour and other the like which the diligent may finde were appropriate to the use of Kings and Emperours onely In the Book of the Kings we reade of the Kings Mule so appropriate to his use as to ride