come to the Holy Table of the Lord to shew forth his Death with a thankfull Commemoration what else is this but to stand laughing under our Saviour's Crosse as it were to make ourselves merry with his Agonies and to triumph prophanely in his bitter sufferings with the wicked Souldiers it is to crucifie him afresh and to put him again to an open shame In stead of an honourable and gratefull shewing forth of his death This were to make ourselves guiltie of his death Guiltie of the bodie and blood of our Lord as the Apostle speaks Wherefore that wee may shew forth the Lord's Death as wee ought Let us first set up the Crosse of Christ in our owne hearts Let us fasten ourselves to it and conforme ourselves there to the sufferings of our Head Let us willingly suffer shame and ignominie in the due acknowledgment of our sins Let us suffer pain in a true sorrrw and Compunction of soule for them Let the Remembrance of them be as Thorns in our Temples and as a Spear at our very hearts Let us so subdue and chasten our Flesh and Revenge our selves upon Our selves as the Scripture * 2 Cor. 7.11 speaks by severe and strict Mortification that the Old Man may languish and die daily in us And let us so Compose and settle our Desires and Affections even as men that are hanging upon the Crosse with our Blessed Saviour and ready to depart this World Let us make our peace with God and all the World Let us wean our selves from the Earth which wee are leaving and set our Affections on Heaven and the things above whither wee are going Let us no longer make provision for the Flesh to fulfill it in the Lusts thereof * 13. Rom. 14 But let us put on the Lord Iesus Christ and thus shew forth the Lords Death till hee come And at his Comming wee shall by his Infinite Mercie Live and Raigne with Him for ever in the Kingdome of his Glorie Thus you have the Orthodox interpretation of these words the true and onely way of shewing forth Christ's Death in this Sacrament according to the Doctrine of the Church of England and of approv'd Antiquitie But the Church of Rome not content with this way doth in the Councell of Trent * Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 3. denounce an Anathema against all those that will acknowledge no other sacrifice in the Eucharist then by way of Remembrance and Commemoration of that one onely true and proper Sacrifice of Christ's Bodie and Bloud offer'd upon the the Altar of his Crosse once for all And therfore if you wil believe her she wil tel you of a more excellent way of shewing forth Christ's Death in the Sacrament to wit by way of Iteration or a new and daily Oblation of the very Same naturall Bodie and Blood which was offer'd unto Death upon the Crosse onely with this Difference in the Manner of the Offering That Christ's Bodie upon the Crosse was offer'd after a bloodie but here upon their Altars after an unbloody Manner And from this Fountaine of Corrupt Doctrine there flow divers streames of very dangerous Errours I 'le instance but in two for our present purpose First upon this Ground they define this Sacrisice in the Eucharist to be a true proper and propitiatorie Sacrifice to be every way equall with the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Crosse and their Altars to be as true and proper Altars which doubtlesse is a very high derogation from Christ and his Sacrifice let them mince and excuse it the best they can Secondly From hence they teach most perilously that the same Adoration which is due to Christ is due to this Sacrament And certainly to give that Adoration which is due to Christ to any of the Creatures can amount to no lesse then Idolatry Neither will Bellarmine's evasion which hee uses * Lib. 4 de Euchar cap 29. §. Sed haec mera calumnia est c. acquit the Papists of Idolatrie herein though hee pleads not Guiltie because they hold not the Consecrated Bread and Wine to be any longer Bread and Wine but to be transubstantiated into the very naturall bodie and blood of Christ so he pleads they worship not the bread but Christ alone But a false perswasion as we have proved this to be in the former part of the Sermon hath not the power either to nullifie a sin or to alter the species of it either to make a sin no sin or to be any other then it is in the kind of it The most charitable Construction that can be made in this Case is That perhaps to Men so perswaded as some of the Romanists are their Adoration of the Sacrament is not in them wilfull Idolatrie yet in it self Idolatrie still for all their perswasion However for our selves that by the infinite blessing of God to us are better taught and perswaded for us I say not to renounce and detest this Abomination of the Popish Adoration of the Sacrament would be most wilfull Idolatrie without the least cloak for our sin For mine owne part therefore as becomes a true Protestant of the Reformed Church of England I doe here solemnly protest against all Popish Errours and in speciall against the manifold and dangerous errours in the Doctrine and Practice of the Popish Masse against their pretended Oblation of the very naturall bodie and bloud of Christ against their Propitiatorie sacrifice in that intended Oblation and theirs or any other sort of men their true proper Altars and against their Idolatrous Adoration of the Sacrament and acknowledge onely one true and proper Sacrifice and Altar that is the Sacrifice of Christ himself offer'd uppon the Altar of the Crosse once for all And give me leave here also solemnly to professe my Opinion concerning the Lord's day and the sanctification of it I hold that according to God's holy will and pleasure the Lord's day ought to be celebrated both in Publike and in Private in the Church and out of the Church in the Forenoon and in the Afternoon by hearing the Word of God read and taught by Publike Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments by holy Meditations Private Prayer Reading and calling to Mind what we have read or heard by work 's of Charitie to our Neighbour and the like And I hold it to be our Dutie in speciall that are God's Ministers to teach exhort and incourage the People by all means to such a sanctification of the Lord's day And for mine owne part I heartily honour a conscientious man who hath a Carefull Regard to yield Obedience to all Gods Commandements as far as humane frailtie will permit I honour such a man the more the more strict hee is in a Religious Observation of the Lord's day And further I hold that this great Holyday which we Christians now celebrate upon the first day of the Week though the Scripture and so the Proper name of it be the Lord's Day yet
and Drinking of this Cup. First we must Eate this Bread There is a fourefold benefit which wee receive by our bodily Eating Nourishment Society Delight and Physicke You know there is a Meale for Nourishment a Feast for Society a Banquet for Delight and a Medicine for Physicke This fourefold benefit wee receive to our soules in a farre more eminent manner by this Sacramentall Eating and for this fourefold benefits sake we must taste and eate this Sacrament and we shall find it if we prepare our selves aright before we eate it to be through the Grace of Christ First Coelestis Refectio an Heavenly Repast to nourish us up to eternall Life Secondly Sacrum Convivium a holy Feast to mainetaine the mysticall society betwixt Christ and his members and to be a bond of Love and Vnity amongst Christians Thirdly Spirituale Epulum * Cal. lib. 4. Instit c. 17. sect 1. a spirituall Banquet for inward and unspeakeable Delight Fourthly and lastly to be Medicina animae as * Medicina enim spiritualis est quae cum reverentia degustata purificat sibi devotum Ambr. tom 5. Oper. in Epist ad Cor. cap. 11. Saint Ambrose calls it i. e. to them that are rightly prepared and through the grace of Christ Soveraigne Physicke for the Soule Secondly wee must Drinke the Sacramentall Cup as well as Eate the Bread For as oft as ye eate this Bread and drinke this Cup too saith the Text. They are joyned together in the Text and they may not be severed in our Practice And that for these three reasons First propter Perfectionem Repraesentationis that in this Sacrament there may be a perfect resemblance and representation of Christs Passion on the Crosse for there the Blood was severed from the Body and therefore here to keepe the resemblance perfect the Wine which resembles the Blood must bee taken severally from the Bread which resembles the Body Secondly propter Perfectionem Refectionis That the Lords Supper may bee perfect Nourishment to us For as in bodily sustenance Meate doth not nourish well without Drinke a Meale cannot be perfect without Meate and Drinke So is it likewise in this spirituall Refection wee must Eate and Drinke too else no perfect nourishment to the Soule Vtrumque enim est de perfectione hujus Sacramenti For both Eating and Drinking too are required to the perfection of this Sacrament So much Aquinas * Aquin. Com. in 1 Cor. 11.26 himselfe a prime Schooleman amongst the Papists acknowledges in his Comment on my Text and hee gives these two forenamed reasons for his acknowledgement So that by his owne confession the Church of Rome however she may be more indulgent to her Clergy yet shee is very scanty to the People and halfes out to them but an imperfect Sacrament Thirdly I will adde a third and maine reason for this Sacramentall Action and that is propter perfectionem Obedientiae that our Obedience may be perfect for you see we have Christs Command for both drinking the Cup as well as eating the Bread not onely his Practice as in administring it after Supper but we have his practice and command too for sub utraque specie for the Communion in both Kindes which makes this obligatory to us though not the other according to that excellent rule of Saint Cyprian * S. Cypr. lib. 2 ep 3. quae Christus fecit docuit sunt perpetuae observationis what Christ both did and also taught or commanded must be perpetually observed in the Church The boldnesse therefore of the Councell of Constance was very great in declaring the administring of the Communion in both Kindes to the People to be no more obligatory to us then the administring of it after Supper but their presumption is much more intolerable in establishing the Romish halfe communion with a non obstante in terminis to the Institution of Christ as you may read in the 13. Session of that Councell * Tom. 7. concil edit per Bin. I have done with the Sacramentall actions The third and last particular in the first generall concernes the circumstances of these actions And the first circumstance is of Time As oft Semel nascimur saepius vero alimur we are borne but once into the world and so we receive Baptisme but once which is the Sacrament of our New-birth But we stand in need of often Nourishment and therefore wee are often to receive the Lords Supper which is the Sacrament of our spirituall Nourishment and growth in Christ Accordingly if wee looke into Church story wee shall finde that the first and best ages of the Church and as many of the after ages as desired to conforme to those first and best were all of them for frequent Communions In the times of the Apostles * Acts 20.7 we read of a Communion once every weeke upon the first Day of the weeke which is the Lords Day In the times next to the Apostles Saint Cyprian * Eucheristiam quotidie ad cibumsalutis accipimuâ— S. Cyp. de Orat. Dominica tells us of an every-dayes Communion Every day the Christians lookt for Death in those times of violent persecution and therfore every day they would be provided of this Viaticum In Saint Augustines time which was 400 yeares after Christ some Churches communicated every day some onely upon the Saturday and the Lords day others onely upon the Lords day as we read in his 118. Epistle After that Devotion decaying the Communion was administred generally onely thrice in the yeare at the three great Feasts of Easter Whitsontide and Christ mas and of later yeares under Pope Innocent the Third in the Lateran Councell propter iniquitatis abundantiam refrigescente charitate multorum so * Aquin. Sum. par 3. q. 80. Art 10. ad quintum Aquinas himselfe renders the reason of it By reason of the abounding of Iniquity the Charity and Devotion of many waxing cold in the Roman Church the people were upon this bound onely to receive once in the yeare to wit at Easter But the Liturgy of the Church of England to reforme us neerer to the Piety of the Ancient Church of Christ though it sets not downe a generall Rule to bind every particular Person to Communicate more then Thrice in the yeare which was done no doubt upon most prudent Considerations Because the variety of Cases in regard of the different understandings and imployments of particular persons in regard of the different Capaciousnesse and Receipt of Places and Parishes and divers other Circumstances considerable make the prescribing of a certaine Rule for Particulars in this kinde fittest for private advice and resolution upon due preparation of every Communicant Yet in the Rubricke after the Communion a Communion is enjoyned every Sunday at the least in Cathedrall and Collegiate Churches except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary And in the first Exhortation before the Communion all the People are most pathetically moved and exhorted
in regard of the due sanctification of it in that it ought no lesse to be kept holy for the Exercise of the works of Pietie and Charitie in it then the Iewish Sabbath in this regard by way of Allusion it is and may be fitly call'd a Sabbath and the Christian Sabbath And now to come to the End of my Comming hither at this time The Right Honourable the Lords Spirituall and Temporall in the high and Honourable Court of Parliament now assembled by an Order bearing date the twelfth of March last have injoyn'd mee to make a Sermon in this Place upon this day and in my Sermon to make a confession of my errour in Licensing and approving of two Books made by Doctor Pocklington the one called Altare Christianum the other Sunday no Sabbath which Books by their Lordships Censure are justly commanded to bee burn'd And here that I may give the fuller satisfaction I have receiv'd from my Lord Bishop of Lincolne a Copy of some mayn erroneous and offensive passages in the said two Books and the places pointed out in the Margin upon most whereof their Lordships proceeded in their just Censure and Condemnation of those Books and all which I am by order from their Lordships here to disapprove as I willingly doe all these passages following The Assertions of ALTARE CHRISTIANVM disapproved by Doctor Bray the Licencer of that Book ⧠At Saint Margarets in Westminster the eleventh of Aprill 1641. 1. THe verie Title is offensive Preface because there is no Christian Altar but the Crosse of Christ 2. He saith in scorn Pag 4. and detestation of Lectures that Master Cotton was never Parson Vicar nor Curate but Lecturer of Boston which is false for he was always Vicar of that place and no Lecturer 3. When he proves out of Saint Ambrose de Sacramentis lib. 4. cap. 3. That the Christians were more ancient then the Iews To fetch in the Antiquitie of his Christian Altar he leaves out Saint Ambrose his qualification Sed nos in praedestinatione illi in nomine That Christians were first in Gods Predestination but not in Compellation Which is not fairly done And forgets that Pag. 32. he meant to say That Christianitie began but in the Raigne of Tiberius 4. Hee falsly interprets that place of the 1 Cor. 9.13 Pag. 6. of the Priests in the new Testament which are to live by the Altar which is spoken clearly of the Leviticall Priest that cuts up and divides the Legall Sacrifices 5. He saith Pag 9. That Christians are in a miserable case that think they can offer as good and effectuall spirituall Sacrifices to God as the Priest Which is false and Popish for all true Christians are Priests in regard of most spirituall Sacrifices And he confesseth it himselfe Pag. 127. 6. He teacheth falsly Pag. 14.15 that in the Christian Church there are materiall and proper and not Metaphoricall Altars only 7. He saith Pag 28. that close and exalted Pews are prophane and were detested by the Church of God Which is but his foolish and fond conceit And expounds that place of Heb. 13.10 Wee have an Altar of the Lords Table which place is not to be so interpreted literally but of Christ himself as hee confesseth in the next Page 8. He saith we have true reall earthly Pag. 9. 72. and materiall Altars VVhich is false 9. Hee quotes a passage out of the Letter Pag 30. which is not there but in Bishop Iewels works to prove there were no materiall Churches in the Primitive times VVhich is but a base and unworthy dealing and great Arrogancie for a private man to confute a booke recommended by authoritie to all the Churches of England and to say it maintains a falshood Pag. 34. 10. He saith that we were miserable Pag. 50. if the now Archbishop of Canterbury could not derive his Succession from S. Austin meaning Austin the Monk Austin from Gregory and Gregory from S. Peter And a little before he saith that if in Cathedrall Churches there were no materiall Chaires for Bishops to be Inthronized there were no Succession in Faith and Doctrine from the Apostles Which is both false and foolish 11. He broacheth two points of Popery Pag. 65. not maintained by the Church of England First That nothing in Baptisme is rightly done unlesse we adde thereunto the signe of the Cross Secondly that men are not full Christians unlesse they be Confirmed by the Bishop VVhich is Popish and erroneous 12. He scandalizeth our Church as having Lecturers Pag 71. which never take Orders and falsly quotes the Letter for that which speaks not a word Pro or Con. in that Matter 13. Hee wrests Saint Cyprian and all Antiquitie to say Pag. 75.76 174 that where there is no Altar there is no Eucharist or Communion VVhich in it self is altogether untrue 14. Hee cals his Altar the Holy of Holyes Pag. 83. which smels of Iudaisme 15. He boldly corrects the Rubrick Pag. 86. that appoints the Communion Table to stand in the Chancell or bodie of the Church And denies a power to the Ordinary to place it in the body of the Church VVhich is a high offence against the Rubrick and the Act of Parliament that confirmes the same 16. Hee saith Pag. 89. that Bishop Iewels works against Harding differ from the Articles and Canons of our Church Which is scandalous especially when it is not shewed wherein 17. Those VVriters Pag. 114. who attest the truth of the Reformed Religion this man averres to be called by Illyricus the VVitnesses of the truth with reproach of truth and of Christian Religion VVhich is neare unto blasphemie And in the same place Iohn Fox his Calendar or an Extract thereof is said to be full of Traitours Murtherers Rebels and Hereticks And no better Saints then Penty Hacket and Legat. VVhich is a base and unworthy expression And whose Martyrs hee points at you may see Pag. 135. 18. He saith Pag. 120 121. 169. the Bishop of Lincolne did order the setting of the Lords Table Altar-wise Which that Bishop utterly denies 19. He saith untruly Pag. 136. that if there be no Christian Altar in our Church as there is none in our Liturgie or Canons wee have neither Priest nor Deacon in our Church no Liturgie nor Act of Parliament that confirmes it VVhich is a wilde and inconsequent Assertion 20. Our Saviours institution saith he of the Pag 162.163 Sacrament of the Lords Supper at a Table doth not binde us to the name of a Table VVhich is a bold Assertion thought not so bold as that which followeth That Saint Paul crossed the order in that Sacrament used by Christ Which tends to blasphemy if we remember by what Spirit Saint Paul was guided 21. He saith boldly Pag. 165.166 that howsoever our Saviour calls it a Table Luke 22.21 Yet was it rather a floore wherein he instituted the