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A27392 An answer to the dissenters pleas for separation, or, An abridgment of the London cases wherein the substance of those books is digested into one short and plain discourse. Bennet, Thomas, 1673-1728. 1700 (1700) Wing B1888; ESTC R16887 202,270 335

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To bring their own Rule to the case in hand how do they know but our Lord was mov'd to Sit at the Sacrament by Special Reasons drawn from that Time and Place or the Feast of the Passover to which that Gesture was peculiar How do they know but that our Lord might have us'd another Gesture if the Sacrament had been Instituted apart from the Passover The necessity of the time made the Jews eat the Passover after one fashion in Egypt which afterward ceasing gave occasion to alter it in Canaan and how do we know but that our Lord comply'd with the present necessity and that his Example if he did Sit was only temporary and not design'd for a Standing Law perpetually obliging to a like Practice If Christ acted upon special Reasons then we are not obliged by their own Rule and if he did not let them produce the Reasons if they can which make this Example of Christ of general and perpetual use and to oblige all Christians to follow it 4. 'T is absurd to talk of Christ's Example apart from all Law and Rule and to make that alone a principle of duty distinct from the Precepts of the Gospel because Christ himself alwaies govern'd his actions by a Law For if we consider him as a Man he was obliged by the Natural Law as a Jew by the Mosaic Law as the Messias by the Gospel-Law He came to fulfil all Righteousness and to Teach and Practise the whole Will of God If therefore we look only to his Example without considering the various capacities and relations he bare both towards God and towards us and the several Laws by which he stood bound which were the Measures of his Actions we shall miserably mistake our way and act like Fools when we do such things as he did pursuant to infinite Wisdom Thus if we shou'd subject our selves to the Law of Moses as he did we shou'd thereby frustrate the great design of the Gospel and yet even this we are obliged to do if his Example alone be a sufficient warrant for our actions Thus it appears that Christ's bare Example do's not oblige us to do any thing that is not commanded I shall only add that they who urge the Example of Christ against Kneeling at the Sacrament do not follow it themselves For our Saviour probably us'd a Leaning Gesture and by what Authority do they change it to Sitting Certainly our changing the Gesture is as warrantable as theirs Nor is it enough to say that Sitting comes nearer our Saviour's Gesture than Kneeling for if they keep to their own Rule they must not vary at all The Presbyterians if one may argue from their Practices to their Principles lay very little stress on this Argument taken from the Example of Christ For tho' they generally chuse to Sit yet they do not condemn Standing as Sinful or Unlawful in it self and several are willing to receive it in that posture in our Churches which surely is every whit as wide from the Pattern our Lord is suppos'd to have set us whether he lay along or sate upright as that which is injoin'd and practis'd by the Church of England There is too a Confessed variation allow'd of and practis'd by the generality of Dissenters both Presbyterians and Independents from the Institution and Practice of Christ and his Apostles in the other Sacrament of Baptism For they have chang'd dipping into sprinkling and 't is strange that those who scruple kneeling at the Lord's Supper can allow of this greater change in Baptism Why shou'd not the Peace and unity of the Church and Charity to the Public prevail with them to kneel at the Lord's Supper as much as mercy and tenderness to the Infant 's Body to sprinkle or pour water on the Face contrary to the first Institution Thirdly kneeling is not therefore repugnant to the nature of the Lord's Supper because 't is no Table-Gesture The Sacrament is a Supper and therefore say they the Gesture at the Lord's Table ought to be the same which we use and observe at our ordinary Tables according to the custom and fashion of our Native Country and by consequence we ought to Sit and not to Kneel because sitting is the ordinary Table-gesture according to the mode and fashion of England Here by the way we may observe that this Argument overthrows the two others drawn from the Command and Example of Christ For 1. Different Table-gestures are us'd in different Countries and therefore tho' Christ did Sit yet we are not oblig'd to Sit after his Example unless sitting be in our Country the common Table-gesture 2. If the Nature of the Sacrament require a Table-gesture and that gesture in particular which is customary then God has not Commanded any particular gesture because different Countries have different Table-gestures However I shall fu●ly Answer this Argument drawn from the Nature of the Sacrament by shewing 1. What is the Nature of it 2. That it do's not absolutely require a common Table-gesture 3. That Kneeling is very agreeable to the nature of the Lord's Supper tho' 't is no Table-gesture 1. Then the Nature of the Sacrament is easily understood if we consider that the Scripture calls it the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper The Greek Fathers call it a Feast and a Banquet because of that Provision and Entertainment which our Lord has made for all worthy Receivers 'T is styl'd a Supper and a Feast either because 't was Instituted by Christ at Supper-time or because it represents a Supper and a Feast and so it is not of the same nature with a civil and ordinary Supper or Feast tho' it bear the same name Three things are essential to a Feast Plenty Good Company and Mirth but the Plenty of the Lord's Supper is a Plenty of Spiritual Dainties and the Company consists of the Three Persons of the Trinity and good Christians and the Mirth is wholly Spiritual So that the Lord's Supper differs in its nature from civil Banquets as much as Heaven and Earth Body and Spirit differ in theirs Farther the Lord's Supper is a Feast upon a Sacrifice for Sin wherein we are particularly to commemorate the Death of Christ 'T was also instituted in honour of our Lord and to preserve an Eternal Memory of his wondrous Works and to Bless and Praise our Great Benefactour 'T is also a Covenanting Rite between God and all worthy Communicants and signifies that we are in a state of Peace and Friendship with him that we own him to be our God and swear Fidelity to him we take the Sacrament upon it as we ordinarily say that we will not henceforth live unto our selves but to him alone that died for us 'T is also a means to convey to us the Merits of Christ's Death and a Pledge to assure us thereof Lastly 't was instituted to be a Bond of Union between Christians to engage and dispose us to love one another as our Lord loved us who thought
not his Life too dear nor his Blood too much to part with for our sakes This therefore being the Nature of the Sacrament it follows 2. That it do's not absolutely require a common Table-gesture For if the Nature of the Sacrament consider'd as a Feast necessarily requires a Table-gesture then the nature of the Sacrament consider'd as a Feast do's as well require all other Formalities that are essential either to all civil Feasts whatsoever or to all Feasts as they obtain among us and consequently we must carve and drink one to another c. at the Lord's Supper as we alwaies do at other Feasts But this our Dissenters will by no means allow nor do they think themselves obliged to observe all the other Formalities of a Feast tho' they are as agreeable to the Nature of a Feast as Sitting is It 's not agreeable to the Nature of a Feast that one of the Guests and the principal one too shou'd fill out the Wine and break the Bread and distribute it to the rest of the Society but this the Dissenters generally allow of and practise at the Holy Communion It 's not agreeable to the nature of a Feast to sit from the Table dispers'd up and down the Room In all public Feasts there are several Tables provided when one is not big enough to receive the Guests and yet the Dissenters generally receive in their Pews scatter'd up and down the Church and think one Table is sufficient tho' not capable of receiving the twentieth part of the Communicants in some large Parishes and numerous Assemblies And where there are so few that they may come up to and sit at the Table they generally are against it especially the Presbyterians and think they are not obliged to observe that formality tho' constantly practis'd at common and civil Entertainments It 's by no means agreeable to the nature of a Feast to be sorrowful To mourn and grieve at a Feast is as indecent and unsutable as to laugh at a Funeral But sure our Dissenters will not say that to come to the Sacrament with a penitent and broken spirit to come with a hearty sorrow for all our Sin which caus'd so much pain and torment to our dearest and greatest Friend our ever blessed Redeemer to reflect upon the Agonies of his Soul in the Garden the bitterness of his deadly Cup the Torture he endur'd on the Cross with a deep Sympathy and Trouble for the occasion they will not surely I say affirm that such a disposition of Heart and Mind is improper and unsutable to the Nature of this Feast which we solemnize in Commemoration of his Death for our sakes This Sacrament is also call'd the Lord's Supper and consequently the nature of it requires the Evening as the proper season for it and yet our Dissenters make no scruple of Communicating at Noon Again the nature of the Lord's Supper do's not necessarily require a Table-gesture because 't is not of the same nature with common and ordinary Feasts For we cannot argue from Natural and Civil things to Spiritual or conclude that because they agree in their names they are of the same nature And therefore tho' the Sacrament is a Feast yet because 't is a Spiritual Feast and not of the same nature with common and ordinary Feasts we must not think that such a gesture as is necessary to the one is also necessary to the other I must add that the nature of the Lord's Supper consider'd as a Feast do's not necessarily require a common Table-gesture in order to right and worthy receiving because the Dissenters grant that it may be worthily receiv'd Standing tho' Standing is no common Table-gesture If any shou'd yet urge that no gesture besides Sitting is agreeable to the nature of the Sacrament consider'd as a Feast and that to use any other gesture wou'd profane the Ordinance I answer that God calls the Passover a Feast Exod. 12.14 and yet he commanded the Israelites to celebrate it with their Loins girt their Shoes on their Feet and their Staff in their Hands which were all signs of haste but no Table-gestures either among the Jews or the Egyptians Now to say that God injoin'd Gestures unsutable to that Ordinance is to call his Wisdom in question and to say that the Feast of the Passover did in it's nature admit of several Gestures is to yield all that I desire for then the Sacrament consider'd as a Feast will admit of several too and consequently do's not oblige us to observe only a Feast-gesture for the due celebration of it 3. Kneeling is very agreeable to the nature of the Lord's Supper tho' 't is no Table-gesture 1. Because 't is a very fit Gesture to express Reverence Humility and Gratitude by which Holy affections are requisite to the Sacrament 2. Since Christ ought to be Ador'd at the Lord's Supper for his wonderful kindness to us therefore whatsoever is fit to express our Veneration is not unsutable to the Sacrament and consequently bowing the Knees is proper because 't is an external sign of Reverence 3. Since lifting up our Hands and Eyes and imploying our Tongues in uttering God's Praises are agreeable to the Lord's Supper why shou'd Kneeling be thought unsutable which is only Glorifying God with another part of our Body 4. The Holy Sacrament was Instituted in remembrance of Christ's Death and Sufferings and therefore I desire the Dissenters to consider his Gesture in the very extremity of his Passion and to observe that he then pray'd Kneeling Luke 22.41 And surely no sober Person will say that 't is improper to Kneel at the Sacrament where we Commemorate those Sufferings part of which he endur'd upon his bended Knees 5. If we consider the benefits of the Sacrament we cannot think Kneeling an unbecoming Gesture at it If a grateful hearty sence of God's infinite Mercy thro' the Merits and Sufferings of his Son and of the manifold Benefits which our Lord has purchas'd with his most precious Blood If a Mind deeply humbled under the sense of our own Guilt and Unworthiness to receive any Mercy at all from the Hands of our Creator and Soveraign Lord whom we have by numberless and heinous Crimes so highly provok'd and incens'd against us If such an inward temper and disposition of Soul becomes us at this Holy Feast which I think no Man will deny then surely the most humble and reverential Gesture of the Body will become us too Why shou'd not a submissive lowly deportment of body sute with this solemnity as well as an humble lowly Mind And this is that which our Church (e) See the Declaration at the end of the Communion Service in the B. of Com. Prayer declares to be the end of her Injunction in requiring all the Communicants to Kneel viz. for a signification of an humble and grateful acknowledgment of the Benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers The Commemoration of the Death and Passion of the