solemnely performed and done openly before all Israel and before this Sunne But if the Altar had crept in then the Bishop had crept in much more for no Bishop was enthronized before his Altar was Consecrated and if the Bishop crept in then I am sure hee himselfe crept in and if he crept in the Sextons might doe well to shew him the way out For without the Church militant and triumphant in earth and in heaven shall bee dogges and whosoever maketh or telleth lyes And with untruth this saying that Altars crept into the Church hath more affinity than I could wish and more than all the water in his Well can wash off if hee make not ignorance his refuge and save himselfe under the shadow of her wings And thus much of the manner of creeping in of Altars CAP. XXII Complying with the Iewes doth not argue the creeping in of Altars The enemies of the Church have long pickt a quarrell at her Altars and her Priests The Councell of Aquisgrane defendeth them At what houre of the day Altars came in Christian Altars came in at Noahs floud and have so continued in the Christian Church ever since Danger to meddle with holy and consecrate things King Iames of blessed memory washed his hands of medling with them The polity of the Christian Church was framed by the patterne of the Iewish Church Sonne of the Church an honourable name The complying of Sabbatarians with the Iewes IN the next place the Author shewes the means wherby Altars crept into the Church and that is By a certaine complying in phrase with the people of the Iewes Now see what a froward or blinde destiny haunted and led the Secretary of this Letter For that very reason which he brings to prove the creeping in of Altars doth cleerly demonstrate that they did not creepe in He tels us what he has read in Kemnitius Gerardus and other sound Protestants yet such as suffer Altars still to stand It appeares he sailed not farre for his gold And the Commodities which he brings are common upon every petty Chapmans stall and such as will be his utter undoing when they come to be rifled into The complying in phrase with the people of the Iewes is the meanes whereby Altars crept in say you But I say and I hope to produce those that will make it good that this complying both in phrase and in other respects is the only assurance that we have that Altars did not creepe in but were brought in or rather continued in the Christian Church of the Gentiles from the Christian Church of the Iewes and were alwayes in both these in honourable and reverend estimation and ought not to be turned off by any Christian so disgracefully There is not any one ancient Father that ever I see who doth not derive the polity of the Christian Church and take their patterne in laying downe the platforme thereof from Gods Church among the Iewes as well before Moses as after as well in externall Rites and Ceremonies as in the internall spirituall and essentiall parts of Gods service I shall take as little paines for this rich and sure commodity as the Author did for the ruine of his cause The Councell of Aquisgrave jâ—st 800. yeares agoe hath furnish me abundantly that I need look no further There were in those times some Factors for the Synagogue of Satan that would not be pleased neither with Priests Altars Oblations Sacrifices nor with the very Churches and Houses of God themselves or any consecrated things but kindly perswaded themselves that some of these they might pull downe and cast out and make the rest their prey These things were made common Table-talke and the food of Conventicles and in the end it was commonly given out Haec non ex authoritate divina constare that all these and the like had but slender or no ground in holy Scripture Sed potius arbitrario cordis nostri say the Bishops imò cupiditate quadam inventione commenta esse but by some slye device of our owne were brought in or as this man speakes crept into the Church These things being by the carefull Spyes and witty Agents at times buzd into the Kings eares The godly and learned Fathers of that Councell think fit to present an humble declaration of the truth concerning these matters and give his Highnesse to understand that if these Objectors and Surmisers would diligently read and seriously weigh what in that writing was contained they would be brought to acknowledge Nos quae Dei sunt ad vestram salvationem ad regni stabilimentum that the things which are established in the Church and which we have delivered are the things of God and such as make for your Majesties eternall salvation and for the establishing of your Kingdomes and Dominions Se verò but those that say that these things crept into the Church Ea quae sunt mundi Dei voluntati usque quaque contraria existunt ad animarum interitum pertinent absque dubio loqui To come home then to the very point whether Altars crept into the Christian Church by a kinde of complying in phrase with the Iewes let the authority of S. Ambrose commend one ground of Christianity to those that hold by that Title Accipe quae dico anteriora esse mysteria Christianorum quam Iudaeorum Christians are more ancient than Iewes so are the mysteries of their Religon their Sacraments Sacrifices Altars more ancient than any of these among the Iewes Therefore the dreame of complying must needs be idle There are twelve houres of the day and in one of these Altars came into the Christian Church They crept not in by complying And the Councell of Aquisgrave will tell us plainly at what houre of the day they came in The Morning of the World was from Adam to Noah saith S. Gregory the third houre from Noah to Abraham the sixth houre from Abraham to Moses the ninth houre from Moses to Christ the twelfth houre from Christ to the worlds end At what houre of the day now did Altars come in Heare these holy Fathers speake True it is say they Religio primum coepit â—ine Altare ab Abel justo Religion at first was without an Altar Altars came not in at Sun rise This man would then have said they crept in under some cloud Well the third houre was from Noah to Abraham And now Arrige aures Pamphile for we are upon the very houre of the comming in of Altars Noah being preserved from the great danger of the floud Non extra Altare sedjam supra Altare holocausta Deo obtulit he offered holocausts upon an Altar And if the Vicar had erected such an Altar the only holocaust needed not to have beene his discretion except he would have beene as prodigall with his discretion as this Author for there were sacrifices of thanks and praise which Noah taught him to offer on an Altar Come we to the
the mystery of iniquity But let the authority of these Decretals be what it will here is some thing to be alledged for the antiquity of Altars but no mention of the name of Communion-Tables in any writing true or forged within 180. years of Christ. Therefore as yet it appeareth not that the name of Table is two hundred yeares more ancient than the name of Altar CAP. III. Of Altars in S. Martialis in S. Irenaeus in Tertullian in Origen in S. Cyprian BVt if the Decretals be of no value the like I hope will not be said of S. Martialis who lived eighty yeares before Pius and maketh mention of Altars Coena Domini offertur in Ara. Now I come to an Authour whom I conceive to be without all exception viz. Irenaeus a Martyr and Scholer unto Polycarpus the Martyr brought up under S. Iohn and therefore knew well what the practice was of holy Martyrs and godly Fathers both in the Greek and Latine Church and was able to speak his mind being chosen Ambassadour to the Bishop of Rome by the Church of France though the Centurists jerk him for his negligent and improper manner of speech This Martyr lived within twenty two yeares of Pius viz. 180. who both mentioneth and alloweth of Altars in Churches and oblations upon them not because Pius and his predecessors so decreed but because it is the will of God to have it so Deus nos vult offerre munus ad Altare frequenter sine intermissione The name of Table then cannot be two hundred yeares more ancient in the Christian Church than the name of Altar For that were to place a table in the Christian Church twenty years before there was a Christian Church Tertullian lived Anno. 203. within twenty three yeares of Irenaeus This learned Writer speaking of confession made by Penitents in the Primitive Church unto Priests saith further that the manner was according to Rhenanus Aris Dei adgeniculari to kneele down before Gods Altar Here is mention made of Altars and of reverence done before them So Origen who lived within twenty three yeares of Tertullian viz. Anno. 226. maketh often mention of Altars and reproveth those that brought not their oblations to the Altar And saith that it was the Lords owne Ordinance that the Priests of the Gospell should participate of the Altar He also mentioneth the contributions that were made ad ornatum Altaris for the decking of Altars The blessed Martyr Saint Cyprian who lived within 14. yeares of Origen viz. An. 240. maketh often mention of Altars and of the use of them in the Christian Church long before his time and the Priests Ab Altari non recedant ought not to be withdrawne from their service at the Altar nor to be otherwise imployed Nisi Altari sacrificiis deserviendo To descend lower to prove the Antiquity of Altars were against reason By this that hath beene said it appeareth that the name of Table is not 200. yeares more ancient than the name of Altar But that the name of Altars and the reverend use of them have beene in the Christian Church long before the name or use of Table and have continued in the Christian Church in honourable repute from the very beginning thereof without interruption for 3943. yeares therefore the name of Table cannot be 200. yeares more ancient in the Christian Church than the name of Altar CAP. IV. Who first objected against Christians that they had neither Temples Altars nor Gods What those Temples Altars and Gods were that Christians had not Of Churches in the Primitive Church WHereas it is said that Christians could have no Altars within two hundred yeares of Christ because they had no Churches in all that space This maketh as much for the overthrowing of Tables as for the removing of Altars For if there were no Churches in all that time then there was no Table Then is not the name of Table two hundred yeares more ancient in the Christian Church than the name of Altar by that reason 2. Those that first made this objection were Heathens whose malicious speeches Christians should not make use of to the prejudice of their owne religion Not Origen but Celsus in Origen nor Minutius Foelix but Caecilius in him do object against Christians Quod tanquam athei nulla haberent Templa nec Deos nec Altaria 3. Those Heathens that say we had no Altars do not say we had Communion-Tables two hundred years before there were Altars in the Christian Church Wherefore this authority borrowed from Heathens will not furnish this man with a Table two hundred yeares before there were Altars 4. It is true Christians in the Primitive Church had no Temples that is such magnificent Temples as were dedicated to Heathen gods but they had Churches from the beginning of Christianity Neither had they Altars to sacrifice beasts on but they had Altars for the offering up of their Christian Sacrifices Neither did they worship Heathen gods but a God that made Heaven and Earth Deos vestros saith Tertullian colere desâ—imus ex quo illos non esse cognoscimus yet are we not Atheists for all that but quod colimus Deus unus est c. verbo quo jussit ratione qua disposuit virtute qua potuit ex nihilo expressit in ornamentum majestatis suae The like answer is given in sundry places to Celsus by Origen The Heathen therefore did them wrong to charge them with Atheisme because they departed from their Idolatry and renounced their Temples Altars and gods For God they worshipped and Altars they had as both Origen and Tertullian before him and Irenaeus before them both do plainly witnesse Now that Christians had Churches and Altars for Christian Sacrifices from S. Pauls time till the time of Constantine the Great notwithstanding the many and bloudy persecutions raised against them is so cleere a truth that I wonder any man of learning should deliver the contrary For what service they can doe the Church in maintaining an untruth I cannot imagine True it is some Christians in the Apostles times and after till Constantines raigne and when he was gone also were forced first for feare of Heathens and after for feare of Hereticks were constrained sometime to meet in private houses and vacant places and as the Apostle saith wandred in Desarts and Mountaines and Dens and Caves of the Earth yet for all that the greatest part of Christians had both Churches and Altars all this time And their Churches were distinct from private houses Have yee not houses to eate and to drink despise ye the Church of God These Churches were common houses of great receipt Here Men and Women unbelievers as well as believers learned and unlearned Here much people assembled and were taught In these Churches Women were not permitted to speake but in their owne houses they might speake and ask their Husbands questions Here men might not be covered
they pretend and subtilly malicious as the Goths were violently barbarous As the poore and strangers were relieved and entertained with these stocks of money so likewise were their Priests and Deacons thereby maintained which S. Cyprian cals stâ—pes sportulae And it seemes the meanes belonging to some of their Churches was very great For the Church of Rome in those Pâ—imitive times maintained above two hundred persons members of that Church And as Dionystus Bishop of Corinth witnesseth it was the pious custome of that Church also even from the very beginning to send reliefe far and neere upon all occasions And it seemes that the Church of Rome besides their Oblations had revenues in Land belonging to them whereof mention is made in the Decretals These common Treasuries were found in all Churches and continued even from the Apostles times For as S. Ambrose collecteth the Apostle S. Paul wisheth Timothy to make use thereof and not to war at his owne charges Timothy it seemes abstained à participatione Gazophylacii but the Apostle instructs him otherwise saying that those That preach the Gospell ought to live of the Gospell Whereupon Priùs hunc sumere praecâ—pit qui primus est sic caeteris distribuere The Bishop was the prime man to whom the custody of the treasure was committed who was to make use thereof for keeping hospitality in his owne house and to cause the Deacons to dispense the rest as occasion served who dealt not alwayes so faithfully as they ought to have done for they became sometimes Nummularii and to have pecuniarum mensas such tables and banks of money quas evertet Deus which God would overthrow as Origen sayes The Churches therefore being thus rich it is no marvell if Demetrius brother to Probus the Emperour was content to be Bishop of Byzantium afterward called Constantinople and made his son Probus the Emperours Nephew Bishop after him Though happily it was not the wealth but the holinesse of Bishops that made Princes desire their places for vulgò dici the old saying was by Saint Ambrose his report Imperatores sacerdoâ—ium magis optaverant quà m Sacerdotes imperium If then they were carefull to have and build Treasure houses and were permitted to enjoy their wealth and riches and likewise had houses to give entertainement to Pilgrims and were not molested by their persecutors herein shall we imagine that they would not be much more zealous to build Churches and houses for Gods service wherein as appeares by their Vigiles and continuall Prayers and receiving the holy Eucharist they imployed themselves both night and Day or will wee thinke that their enemies were more malicious against their Religion than covetous of their wealth and therfore they would suffer them to enjoy their Treasure houses and dwelling houses in their prime Cities but would demolish their Churches and drive them into Forrests and dennes and holes of the earth to exercise their Religion in But I take it by that which hath been said that it is more manifest that Christians had Churches within 200. yeares after Christ than either Schooles or Libraries or Treasure houses or dwelling houses of their own though all this be as cleere as the day And this is one note wherby Tertul. distinguisheth Catholicks and true Christians from Schismaticks and Hereticks those had Churches and places of abode but these had none but were straglers and had their Communions in corners You have seene how the Catholicke Church is accommodated with Churches and other useful houses Now cast your eye upon the condition of Hereticks and behold the modell therof in three words out of Tertulliar Plerique nec Ecclesias habent sine matre sine sede orba fide extorres sibi late vagantur Hereticks sayes hee have neither Churches nor houses of their owne to settle in but like unto Caine were Vagabonds and Runnagars over the face of the earth and so the case was with them even to Saint Cyprians time and therefore that blessed Martyr saies plainely The Eucharist cannot be received among Hereticks for the elements must be consâ—rated before they become parts of that Eucharist This Hereticks could not then doe quia nec Altare â—ec Ecclesiam because they had neither Altar nor Church For of necessity sayes Saint Cyprian Eucharistia in Altâ—ri Sanctificatur the Eucharist is Consecrated upon the Altar If then this were true which this unadvised man would make the Vicar believe that there were no Altars nor Churches neither within 200. yeares after Christ it must needs follow that the holy Eucharist was not received by any of the Holy Martyrs and blessed Saints of God in all the Primitive Church or else that they did receive some kinde of Sacrament that was not Consecrated For Eucharistia in Altari Sanctificatur is a ground on which he sets his rest as the Fathers before him and his successours ever did I must needs therefore conclude that if Schismaticks doe not build Altars in the honour of this man for the good service hee hath done them they are very ungratefull For by outing Christians and driving them out of their Churches into Woods and solitary places to Administer the holy Sacraments in hee hath set the very true Character of Schismaticks and Hereticks upon the face of the holy Catholicke Church that now you shall not know the one from the other And what is lawfull for the one to doe shall bee as lawfull for others Neither can derive their Succession nor Ordination nor power of Consecration from Christ and his Apostles Therefore both Sacraments and Sacramentalls may bee administred by all that list and when they list and where they list and as they list and they can shew as good evidence and authority for their so doing as the best of them all that shall controle them And if any shall censure them they must looke to have as good as they bring censure for censure and excommunication for excommunication For in the Primitive Church for 200. yeares together there was haile fellow well-met all equalls no Audientes no Catechumeni no Competentes no Neophyti no Deacons no Priests or if there were Deacons or such Anti-christian names as Priests there were no Sacraments for them to administer no Eucharist to deliver or if they delivered it they gave it before it was Consecrated for they had no Church nor Altar to Consecrate the same upon and Eucharistia in Altari Consecratur wee are sure out of all antiquity that the Eucharist must be consecrated on an Altar These then being the inconveniences which must necessarily follow if there were no Churches nor Altars within 200. yeares of Christ I hope the Author will repeale his assertion and yeeld unto a Truth uncontrollable that there were Churches and Altars not only within 200. yeares after Christ but all those 200. yeares together and were then and ever since in the holy Christian Church And so I have done with that point
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