prayer not a verball Wee may forgiue him to say this of the sacrifice of the Masse where there is an offering of a sacrifice to God but Bellarmine was neuer so absurd as to call the act of receiuing from God a reall prayer to God ANS No man I thinke will alledge that the act of receiuing is praying or crauing although these two may agree well together But it is true that the celebration of this Sacrament is a reall thanksgiuing to God for the benefite of our redemption and although it be not a propitiatorie or impetratorie sacrifice as Bellarmine saith yet it is eucharisticke and a commemoration of the propitiatory and impetratory sacrifice of Christ And in the very act of receiuing and by the act of receiuing wee doe openly acknowledge and confesse before the world that our confidence of saluation is onely in the sacrifice of the Lord Iesus Christ which is a reall praysing magnifying extolling and preaching of his death vntill his comming againe Now to conclude yee haue made many long answeres to a short obiection and notwithstanding the argument remaines in force Your obiection proponed was this Wee may pray in the act of receiuing therefore wee may kneele Your first answere to this obiection was That kneeling is not the onely proper and commendable gesture of prayer and thereupon concluded we might not kneele This as we haue shewed is not a good consequence Next yee answered that to pray in the act of deliuery is against the Institution This we haue confuted Thirdly you answered that wee ought not to pray before a creature and therefore might not pray in the act of receiuing The antecedent of this is false as wee haue shewed at least as it is conceiued and the conclusion holds not Fourthly yee sayd that we are not commanded by the act of Perth to pray and therefore that we may not pray This followes not Fifthly because the prayer of the people in the act of receiuing is mentall yee inferred that they might not kneele and this is no good consequence Lastly yee sayd wee may not kneele before the Crucifixe and before Nebuchadnezzars Image and therefore we may not kneele in the act of receiuing the Sacrament And this is most absurd the Sacrament being a part of Gods worship instituted by himselfe but the vse of Idols and Images in his worship he hath expressely forbidden So all your answeres are meere sophisticall captions and abductions from the purpose yet yee proceede to answere some others that yee frame against your selfe PP Their other obiection that we may praise God in the act of receiuing therefore wee may kneele may bee answered after the same manner There is no publike thanksgiuing ordained to be made at the deliuery of the Elements mentall praise therefore must be meant Mentall praise is no more the principall worke of the soule then mentall prayer what was sayd of the ejaculations of the one let it bee applyed to the short ejaculations of the other ANS If yee answere this obiection as yee did the former then let the reply vsed by me be here repeated But I say further that by the words of the Institution Doe this in remembrance of me we are ordayned not onely mentally to giue praise but also really and publikely by the very action and celebration of the Sacrament it selfe in respect whereof the learned Pareus calleth this remembrance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fiduciae gratitudinis that is a remembrance of faith because by it our faith is confirmed and a remembrance of thanksgiuing because by it we should praise and magnifie as he saith the clemencie of the Father who gaue the Sonne and the benignitie of the Sonne who offered himselfe a sacrifice for vs. PP The name of the Eucharist giuen to this Sacrament helpes them nothing for it is a name giuen by the Ancients and not by the Scripture ANS The Trinitie is a name giuen by the Ancients and not by the Scripture to the three Persons subsisting in the vnitie of the diuine nature yet the truth of that which the word signifies being found in Scripture it helpes to conuince Heretikes that deny the same so the name of the Eucharist giuen to the Sacrament to declare the thankfull commemoration of our Sauiours death which thereby we performe according to the Scripture helpes vs much against you and your followers that spoile the Sacrament of the most principal end for which it was instituted that is to the praise and honor of our Sauiour in respect whereof it is called Sacrificium Eucharisticum a Sacrifice of thankesgiuing This Sacrifice the Pastor really acts in taking blessing breaking and giuing of the externall Elements for thereby the death of Christ and the application thereof to the faithfull is represented and it is acted by the people in their taking eating and drinking for thereby they declare and testifie the hunger thirst and desire of their soules after the righteousnesse and life of Christ and the ioy they haue in the meditation thereof with that assured confidence wherwith they rest and repose themselues therupon And this representation and application of Christs death with the testification of our faith therein and thankfulnesse therefore by the celebration of the Sacrament is a reall extolling preaching magnifying and praising of the Lords death from which mentall praise cannot be separated without hypocrisie Therefore to praise God in the act of receiuing is a chiefe part of the principall work of the soule and not your me ditation vpon the analogie betweene the signe and the thing signified which is only a catechetick preparation that should precede the principall worke If yee had remembred the Confession of Falth which ye professe your selfe to haue sworne and subscribed I am assured yee could not haue denyed this for in the 13. Sect. thereof about the end yee haue these words The end and cause of Christs Institution and why the selfe-same should bee vsed is expressed in these words Doe this in remembrance of mee as oft as yee eate of this bread and drinke of this Cuppe yee shall shew foorth that is extoll preach magnifie and praise the Lords death till he come If this be the principall end as yee see our Confession speakes of Christs Institution then not onely may wee praise him in the act of receiuing but we ought to praise him In respect of this the Sacrament is called the Eucharist and not in respect of the thanksgiuing wherewith we begin the action as yee would haue it to be in your words following PP Next as it is called Eucharistia so it is called Eulogia for the words He gaue thanks and He blessed are indifferently vsed by the Euangelists Some parts of this holy celebration stand in thanksgiuing as the beginning and the end and therefore is the whole action denominated from a part Saith Casaubone Eulogia Eucharistia vtraque vox à parte vna totam Domini actionem designat It followes not that
to vse any Image in the worship of God for a signe an occasion or a middesse to stir vp a man to worship God for they are prohibited in the second Comandement and by the Prophet they are called Teachers of lyes because by them properly and truly nothing can be brought to our remembrance for which we should adore God but on the other part it is not possible that either our mindes can be informed to know God or our affections moued to worsh ippe him except by the contemplation of the creatures the meditation of the Word and the consideration of the holy Sacraments take these occasions middesse and signes away yee abolish Religion and all the worship of God out of the Word I hope the Reader by this shall see the difference to bee as great in this case as is betweene a lawfull meane of Gods worship commanded by himselfe and the inuention of man prohibited by God Next the Papists will haue these middesse occasions signes not onely obiects of diuine worship actiue that is seruing to stir vp and moue men to worship which is the first degree of their idolatry but they will haue them likewise passiue obiects such as are to be worshipped either in stead of the principall or coniunctly with him this is a higher degree of idolatry In this then they differ also from the Word Sacraments creatures that these being the ordinary obiects instruments whereby men must be stirred vp to worship God so the obiects of diuine adoration actiuely they neither are nor should they be esteemed passiue obiects of adoration that is such as should be adored either coniunctly with God or in his stead This we condemne detest yet must not run on with you to the other extremity say that howsoeuer they were ordained of God to be signes seales of his graces yet they are not in statu accōmodato ad adorādū for although by them before thē that is to make the obcurities which ye affect plaine albeit they should neither be adored in place of God his Son or coniunctly with God his Son as the Papists professe to adore their Images yet certaine it is that there is nothing in nature or religion fit apt to stirre men vp to worship God if the Sacraments be not meet Shall our corporall food when it is presented on table before vs bee in such state as is proper to stir vs vp to worship God with thanksgiuing praier Shall the consideration of the benefit which we haue by the light of the day by our rest sleepe in the night be esteemed motiues of such moment that he who is not thereby moued in the morning when he riseth and at night when he goeth to bed to pray and giue thanks is esteemed a slothfull and ingratefull Christian Shall a seasonable seede time shall the first and latter raine and a faire haruest bee pregnant occasions to remember vs both in priuate and publike to giue thanks and praise God for his goodnesse And shall the blessed Sacrament of the body and bloud of Iesus Christ in the very act when it is in giuing and receiuing not be esteemed to be in proper state to moue vs and stirre vp our hearts to pray and giue thanks for that inestimable benefite euen when our Sauiour hath cōmanded that we should do this in remembrance of him It is an absurd opinion Then to conclude If yee hold these two points which ye haue propounded to wit that the Sacrament and creatures of God should not be vsed as occasions middesses and signes to moue vs by the fight and meditation of them to list vp our hearts to the spirituall obiect of our saith that is to God in Iesus Christ because Suarce saith that their Images haue that vse then certainely you must hold that God should not bee knowne nor worshipped in the World for without this vse of the Word Sacraments and Creatures God cannot bee knowne nor worshipped So whilst yee flye idolatry yee fall into Atheisme Next if yee hold that the Sacraments in the very act of the administration are not in statu accommodato adadorandum you must take away the chiefe and principall ende of the Sacrament commended to vs by the Lord himselfe in these words Doe this in remembrance of me Saiut Paul interprets these words thus So often as yee eate this bread and drinke of this Cuppe yee shall declare the Lords death till he come againe that is as the Confession of our faith which yee haue sworne and subscribed explaines it Yet shall extoll magnifie and prayse his death Now this is a reall act of adoration which both the Lord himselfe and his holy Apostle would haue vs moued vnto by this Sacrament So by these your positions and assertions yee mutilate the Sacrament of one of the most principall ends for the which it was instituted And generally yee take from the Creatures of God and the holy Sacraments the most excellent vse for which they were appointed namely to be meanes and motiues to stirre vs vp vnto the worship of our Creator and Redeomer PP If this kinde of relatiue worship were to be allowed then the holy signes both in the olde and new Testament should haue serued to the same vse then they who are farre distant from the Table should kneele for the Elements are to them obiectum à quo significatiuè then at the sight of the Sunne or any beautifull Creature we should kneele seeing they put vs in minde of Gods incomprehensible beautie and seeing many of them allow the historicall vse of Images we may fall downe before the Crucifixe prouiding the action of the minde be abstracted from the Image ANS We allow no worship whether it be relatiue or absolute that is either giuen to Sacrament or Creature But it is a grosse error to thinke that the worship which is onely giuen to God immediately or directly is relatiue because it is motioned and occasioned by the consideration of Gods Creatures and blessed Sacraments for so all the worship of God must be relatiue because it is all occasioned either by the Word the Sacraments or the Creatures whereas indeede there is no worship relatiue but that which is giuen to some mediate thing for the relation it hath to the principall and as for vs wee neyther giue to the Word the Sacrament or any Creature diuine worship but onely to God whom by the Word the Sacrament and the Creatures wee are taught and admonished to worship The relatiue worship is onely that which Papists giue to their Idols for the relation they haue to the principall which we detest and condemne as much as your selfe Where you say that the signes of the olde and new Testament and the sacramentall Elements when they are onely seene as likewise the Sunne or any beautifull creature might then moue vs to adore I answere that although they be potentially obiectū à quo obiects
all the parts of this holy ministration are actions of thanksgiuing ANS Although the name were taken as Causabone saith from one part of the action yet it is giuen to the whole action not by reason of this part onely but because it declares the nature and chiefe end of the action and albeit all the parts of this holy ministration seuerally considered are not actions of thanksgiuing yet the whole action which consists of these parts being performed Gratitudinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Paraus saith that is with a purpose of thankfulnesse to celebrate the death of Christ is Eucharisticke or an action of thankesgiuing The hand or foot being seuerally considered is not the bodie yet the whole which consisteth of all the parts is the body So it is true to take the bread is not an action of thankesgiuing nor to breake it nor to giue it being seuerally considered but to take breake blesse and giue with intention by these actions to represent the death of Christ and the application thereof to the faithfull for the praise of his glorious grace is an action of thankesgiuing Therefore to conclude as wee come to the Sacrament to bee made partakers of Christs death by faith vnto saluation so wee come to the Sacrament to celebrate the remembrance of his death to his glory In respect of the first end it is The Communion of his body and bloud in respect of the last it is a reall predication and celebration of his death till his comming againe which should bee often performed because as Paraeus speaketh Mors Domini perpetuis laudibus celebranda est that is The death of Christ is to be celebrated with perpetuall praises these are specially offered at the celebration of the holy Sacrament and in this respect it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacrifice of praise and thankesgiuing PP Obiect What we may craue of God vpon our knees we may receiue on our knees Answ It is false I may pray vpon my knees Giue vs this day our daily bread but I may not receiue it on my knees The people of Israel prayed for food yet they were not esteemed vnthankful for not kneeling when they receiued the Manna ANS I neuer heard this obiection vsed by any man but by you in this place therefore if it bee false your selfe that forged it is author of the falsehood The Bishop of Galloway who is now at rest hath this obiection in his Treatise which is not yet answered as he alledgeth Whatsoeuer spirituall benefit I may lawfully aske on my knees the same I may lawfully receiue vpon my knees with thankesgiuing But I may lawfully with supplication aske saluation by Iesus Christ on my knees Therefore I may lawfully receiue it on my knees Another argument was propounded in the Assembly at Perth which neither at that time nor since hath been answered and it is this Whatsoeuer spirituall benefit we should receiue in a solemne act of diuine worship with thankesgiuing and prayer that wee may receiue on our knees The body and blood of Iesus Christ in the Sacrament is a spirituall benefit which in a solemne act of diuine worship wee ought to receiue with thankesgiuing and prayer Therefore we may receiue the body and blood of the Lord Iesus Christ in the Sacrament vpon our knees The proposition of this argument at that time denied was proued thus Whatsoeuer benefit we ought to receiue with thankesgiuing and prayer that we ought receiue with the gesture that is most agreeable to thankesgiuing and prayer Kneeling is such a gesture c. Ergo c. In the Assumption it is affirmed that Christs body and blood in the Sacrament should be receiued with prayer and thankesgiuing This we proue by this reason Whatsoeuer spirituall benefit we should receiue with a spirituall hunger and thirst and with a spirituall appetite and desire after the grace and vertue that is therein to saluation the same we should receiue with prayer which is nothing else but such an appetite and desire But the body and blood of Christ is such a benefit c. Next that it should be receiued with thankesgiuing I proue Whatsoeuer benefit we should receiue by extolling and preaching and magnifying and praysing the inestimable worth and excellence thereof the same we ought to receiue with thankâ—sgiuing But in the Sacrament we should receiue the body and the blood of Christ with extolling and preaching c. Ergo c. The Assumption is confirmed by the words of our Sauiour Doe this in remembrance of me and by the words of Saint Paul So oft as yee eate this bread and drinke this Cup yee shall declare that is extoll magnifie and praise The Lords death till hee come againe Because I finde you fighting against your owne shadow I thought good to set downe the very obiections which were vsed in the Assembly at Perth that as yet are not nor I hope shall euer be answered PP It is againe obiected That in the act of receiuing we receiue from Christ an inestimable benefite ought not a Subiect kneele when he receiueth a benefite from a Prince to testifie his thankfulnesse Answ This relation from Christ to the Sacrament as betweene the Giuer and the gift is common to all the Sacraments both of the old and new Law ordinarie and extraordinarie ANS The relation betweene the Giuer and the gift in the old Testament is not so euident because they wanted a cleare and expresse Word to expound the mysterie Where haue yee such a Word concerning Circumcision This is the putting off of the bodie of sinne by the vertue of Christs Death and Resurrection COLOS. 2.11 or concerning the Passeouer This is the body of Christ that is broken for you this is his blood that is shed for you The Law had but the shaddow the Gospell hath the expresse Image of good things to come In the Law they had the shadow of the Giuer and the gift but in the Gospell we see him with open face Now although to the shadow of the Prince men fall not downe nor doe reuerence they are to be excused but he must bee reputed a contemner who will not doe homage at the presence of his Prince Further as I said before the externall actions of their Sacrament could not bee commodiously performed with such a gesture as is kneeling but the action of our Sacrament may PP Next we receiue the mysticall pledges not out of the hands of God himselfe or his Sonne Christ immediately but out of the hand of the Minister The person who receiues the gift from the King is supposed to receiue it immediately and suppose mediatly yet ceremonies of Court and mediate ciuill worships are not rules of religious adoration which should euer be immediate ANS Wee kneele not to receiue the mysticall pledges but to receiue the bodie and blood of Iesus Christ which the mysticall pledges signifie and are deliuered immediately by the hand of the Lord Iesus
between the Altar and the Table as no more doth kneeling or any other gesture But to come to the ground whereupon yee build this reason yee say the people of God had an Altar for the Sacrifice and a table for the feast So Christians haue Christ for the Altar and the Sacrifice and a Communion Table for the Sacrament which is their feast This your comparison hath some shew but no solidity There is a correspondence I grant betweene the Iewish Altar and Christ who was the Altar that did sacrifice himselfe to be a Sacrifice for the sinnes of the world for the Iewish Altar was the type and Christ the verity But what correspondence is there betweene the tables whereon the Iewes did eate their sacrifices and the Communion Table The tables whereon they did eate their sacrifices were not holy instruments which appertained to the Tabernacle and Temple but such as they had in their owne priuate houses and therefore were not types which did eyther signifie our Communion Tables or whereunto our Communion Tables doe answere as anti-types for it is to be obserued that in Christian Religion there is nothing which hath any necessary correspondence or relation to the Legall ceremonies but that which is either the verity of some type or the antitype of some type As for example betweene Christ and the Leuitical Priest the Altar and the Sacrifice there is relation as betweene the type and the verity so betweene Circumcision and Baptisme the Passeouer and the Lords Supper there is relation as betweene the type and the antitype for our Sacraments haue succeeded these and are in their stead But as to the Table whereon the Passeouer and other sacrifices were eaten the same not being a sacred instrument or type appointed by God as hath been said there is nothing in Christian Religion answering thereto either as the verity it selfe or as an antitype succeeding thereto As therefore their tables were not necessary for eating of their sacrifices for it is certaine the Iewes were not astricted by any diuine ordinance to sitte at Table when they did eate the Passeouer and their other Sacrifices but were only commodious receptacles deuised by themselues which they might haue altered and interchanged as they thought meet Euen so a materiall artificiall table for celebration of this Sacrament is not an instrument appointed by our Sauiour as the Altars and Tables of Shew-bread but the same is appointed by the Church according to that power which shee hath to determine circumstances for the actions of diuine worship To the disposing of the elements some such receptacle and subiect is necessary as a table and decency requires it when and where the same may be had but it is not of such a necessary vse as the Altar vnder the Law for without an Altar a sacrifice could not be offered but without any such table the Sacrament hath often been ministred Euagrius lib. 6. hist cap. 13. records That Gregorius Pastor of Antiochia did minister the Sacrament to the Souldiers on the grasse before the 600. yeare of our Lord at Bannock-burne in the dayes of King Robert Bruce the like was done to the Scottish army on the fields and so at many other times when a table commodiously could not be had Finally where yee adde That for disposing of the elements a dresser or cupboord may serue these speeches smell of profanity as if to hold and sustaine the elements were such a base employment that the instrument wheron the Church thought meet they should be placed should neither be a table nor named a table And yet all these religious Epithets which yee alledge the Fathers gaue to the Communion as when they called it the Lords Table the heauenly Table the sacred Table c. were giuen to it not because the Communicants did sitte thereat or for any other gesture of body vsed by them but because the Lords body the bread of heauen the sacred mysticall and spirituall food of our soules were presented thereon in the holy Sacrament Causabone Exercit. 16.36 saith That by these appellations the Eucharist it selfe was vnderstood But heere it is manifest that the Epithets interiected in your discourse are not only impertinent but repugnant to the opinion yee hold For when yee aske why is it called a table if men sit not at it they answer you Because vpon that table the heauenly sacred and spirituall mysteries are set In respect thereof it is called a heauenly spirituall sacred and mysticall table In the dayes of Chrysostome and Theodoret by whom these Epithets were most frequently giuen to the Sacrament there was not a table in the Churches at which men did sitte but one onely on which the elements were placed and consecrate but yee neuer fall vpon the name of a Table sooner then yee imagine it was appointed for sitting And what then thinke yee of the Table of Shew-bread at which no man did sit Shall it not be called a Table because it lacked your employment of sitting or table gesture In all Reformed Churches of Europe our Church and very few excepted the Communion Tables haue no employment but only to hold and sustaine the elements This is to be seen in the Churches of France Germany Hungary Pole and England And in the Greeke Church Causabone obserues that there are two Tables one whereupon the elements are set before the Consecration and another wherupon they are Consecrate Thus haue I sufficiently declared that the only or chiefe vse at least of the Communion Table is for the setting and disposing of the elements and the consecration of them with the distribution of the same Now that by kneeling in the act of receiuing the vse of the Communion table is not taken away I proue by this reason Whatsoeuer gesture taketh not away the comely placing and decent consecration of the sacramentall elements on the Communion Table from which they may bee giuen and receiued that taketh not away the vse of the Communion Table But kneeling is a gesture that taketh not away the comely placing and decent consecration of the sacramentall elements on the Communion Table from which they may be giuen and receiued Therefore kneeling taketh not away the vse of the Communion Table PP The third breach of the Institution made by kneeling is the taking away of that mysticall rite representing Christs Passion to wit the breaking of the bread c. ANS If your meaning be that the Pastor breaketh not the bread before he giue it yee bely vs. Wee know that it is the Pastors part in the action to represent Christ the breaking of his body on the Crosse with the sorrowes of death for our sinnes therefore we obserue that rite religiously But if your meaning be that the people breakes not euery one with another in reuerence and sobrietie as is prescribed in the second Chapter of the first Booke of Discipline set foorth 1560 that shall be discussed in the answere to the sixth breach PP The fourth
his people he held their hāds insteed of the blessing which he should haue vsed at the deliuery of the Elemēts he cōceiued an oath made the people sweare by that which was in their hands insteed of Amen which they should haue answered the blessing with he made the people say That they should not returne to CORNELIVS Whereby it is manifest that the blessing vsed by the Pastor at the deliuery of the Elements differed not at that time from the mentall prayer of the Communicant neither ought it now to differ but be the same in substance PP As for the prayer of the Minister in the act of distribution it is flat against the Institution as I haue already said The Minister is ordained by the Institution to act the person of Christ and pronounce the words of promise This is my body and not change the promise into a prayer Fenner in his Principles of Religion layeth this downe for a ground that in the second Commandement we are forbidden the practise and vse of any other rite or outward means vsed in the worship or seruice of God then he hath ordained Ioh. 4.22 2. King 18.4 And that by the contrary we are commanded to practise all these parts of his worship which hee in his word hath commanded and to acknowledge only the proper vse of euery rite and outward meanes which the Lord hath ordained Dent. 12.32 2. King 17.26 ANS It is false that yee say we change the promise into a prayer for at the Consecration wee obserue precisely the words of the Institution In the deliuery of the elements we vse a prayer that is not contrary but most agreeable to the Institution for directing the hearts of the people in the receiuing that they may worthily communicate So doe the Pastors in France at the deliuery vse a short speech and it was the custome of late in our Church to vse some exhortations before the distribution at euery Table wherein neither we nor they did or doe practise any rite or vse any means which God hath not ordained to bee vsed in his worship For although the particular forme of speech vsed in the French Church and the exhortations and prayers vsed by vs bee not expressely set downe yet being agreeable to the Word and the nature of the action in hand they haue sufficient warrant by these generall precepts Let all things be done to edification Let all things bee done decently and in order And with these precepts Fenners grounds doe agree Otherwise by what warrant is it appointed in the forme set downe before our Psalme bookes touching the celebration of the Lords Supper that during the time of the distribution some place of Scripture should bee read which doth liuely set forth the death of Christ to the intent that our eyes and senses may not onely be occupied in these outward signes of bread and wine which are called the visible word but that our minds and hearts also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lords death which is by this holy Sacrament represented This ordinance is not contained in the Institution yet I hope yee will not say that it is flat contrary thereto but that it hath sufficient warrant by the generall Apostolike precepts before expressed and so hath the prayer vsed by vs in the acte of distribution But yee subioyne another reason to prooue the prayer vsed at this time vnlawfull PP Further wee are forbidden by the second Commandement to pray by direction before any creature ANS Why do yee then pray at the table when your meate is set before you and at the Consecration hauing the sacramentall Elements before you And when you visite the Sicke why direct yee your face and senses towards the person and the place where he lyes while yee are praying to God for him PP This publike prayer is but a pretended cause of kneeling as the Ministers of Lincolne make manifest in their Abridgement c. ANS To the Abridgement of these Ministers sufficient answeres are made by the learned Diuines of that Church and the Canons and Customes thereof defended against their calumnies Therefore let vs come to our owne touching which yee say PP As for our Church no such prayer is ordained to bee vttered by the minister Therefore no such prayer can be pretended Iu the late Canon it is said That the most reuerend and humble gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting vp of our hearts best becommeth so diuine an action Meditation is no prayer and the heart may be lifted vp by the act of faith and contemplation aswell as the action of prayer So that neither publike nor mentall prayer is expressed in our Act. ANS Albeit neither mentall nor publike prayer be expressed in the Act yet prayer thankesgiuing and praise are all insiuuated for albeit all meditation bee not prayer yet euery prayer is a meditation and although in the act of faith and contemplation the heart may bee lifted vp yet that eleuation of the heart requireth not the most humble and reuerent gesture of the bodie as kneeling In the ancient Church they were not accustomed to kneele when they made confession of their faith but to stand as Christian souldiers Our act insinuateth such a meditation and lifting vp of the heart as is vsed in actions of deuotion such as prayer and thankesgiuing which are practised by all who giue obedience to the act or doe worthily communicate But put the case that by the act no such thing were ordained expresly yet vpon this antecedent which yee vse namely wee are not ordained by any act of our Church to pray at the receiuing this conclusion will not follow Therefore we may not pray at the receiuing For wee are not ordained by any act of our Church expressely to discouer our heads in the act of receiuing May wee not therefore discouer our heads But any shew of reason is good enough to deceiue simple people PP But let the words be interpreted of mentall prayer euen mentall prayer is not the principall exercise of the soule in the act of receiuing the sacramentall Elements the minde attending on the audible words the visible Elements the mysticall actions and making present vse of them men should not be diuerted from their principall worke and meditation vpon the analogie betweene the signes and the things signified ANS The meditation vpon the analogie betweene the signe and the thing signified cannot be the principall worke of the soule it being nothing else but the consideration of the similitude that is betweene the natuall vse of the signes and the spirituall vse of the thing signified Namely that as the Elements serue to nourish the outward man so the body and the bloud of Christ hath a vertue to nourish the inward man and by eating and drinking the Elements are applied to feede the body So by faith the body and the blood of Christ are applied to feed the soule Such a
himselfe PP Thirdly the manner of deliuery of the gift and the will of the Giuer are to be considered If the Prince call his Nobles to a banquet it is his will that they sitte at table with him as Ionathan and Dauid sate at King Sauls table Christ hath declared by the Institution after what manner he would haue vs to receiue these mysticall pledges Kneeling cannot agree with the actions and precepts of the Institution ANS If we consider the manner of deliuery of the gift and the will of the Giuer it fauoureth kneeling rather then sitting for although we be inuited to a banquet yet it is not a bodily repast such as Ionathan and Dauid receiued at Sauls table That required leisure and time and such a site and position of bodie as is most commodious for ease but by the Institution it it manifest that the banquet whereunto wee are called is the body and blood of Iesus giuen externally in a little quantitie of bread and one Cuppe diuided amongst many and ministred internally with Christs owne hand Neyther come wee to this banquet to feede our bodies but to feede our soules and to extoll and praise his death as I haue ofte said before Whereupon the Apostle inferreth that wee should receiue worthily that is with such a reuerence both externall and internall as is worthie the Giuer and the gift and is most meete to set foorth the praise of the Giuer and the worth of the gift In this respect kneeling is most agreeable both to the actions and precepts of the Institution PP The second breach of the second Commandement made by kneeling is the shew of conformitie with the Papists The Lord forbade his people to bee like the Gentiles Leuit 18.3 and 19.27 and Deut. 12. The Christians were forbidden to decore their houses with Bay-leaues and greene bonghes because the Pagans vsed so to doe or to rest from their labours vpon the dayes that the Pagans did If conformitie in things not hauing state in idolatrous seruice but onely glauncing at the honour of the Idoll bee condemned farre more is conformitie in the grossest act wherein the life and soule of their idolatrie standeth Such is the gesture of kneeling amongst the Papists this outward conformitie tickleth the Papists and offendeth the godly ANS A shew of conformitie with the Papists in Idolatrie is a breach of the second Commandement But to kneele at the Sacrament our hearts being freed of the opinion of Transubstantiation and our mouthes confessing and professing that we doe onely kneele to God and our Sauiour Iesus Christ is no more conformitie with them in idolatrie then in the action of prayer to kneele when we direct our prayers to God and not to Angels or Saints or other creatures For example To kneele and say the Lords Prayer in honour of the Saints and to offer it as a libell of request to be presented and commended by their prayers to God which Papists professe themselues to doe Costeri Enchiridion de veneratione Sanctorum is idolatrie yet to kneele and offer that prayer to God only as wee doe is not idolatrie although both in the gesture of kneeling and in the substance of the prayer there bee a conformitie our Faith and profession being contrarie to theirs freeth vs of all shew of conformity with them in superstition and idolatry But the Lord forbade his people yee say to be like the Gentiles yet did he neuer forbid them to knele and lift vp their hands to him in their prayers although the Gentiles kneeled and lifted vp hands vnto their gods when they prayed The things wherein God forbade his people a conformity were vncleannesse idolatry superstition witcheraft c. and not such ceremonies of diuine worship as are by himselfe commanded yet abused by Idolaters And where yee say that Christians were prohibited to rest those dayes on which the Pagans rested I hope yee will not haue vs to worke on the Lords day because the Papists rest that day Finally when yee say that the life of Popish idolatrie consisteth in kneeling yee speake falsely for the life of their idolatrie consisteth in a professed adoration of the bread with opinion of Transubstantiation and not in the outward gesture of kneeling which being lawfull and religious in it selfe is onely abused by them to idolatrie And doe not all they who sitte at the Sacrament keepe an outward conformitie with the Arrians who will needs sitte to declare that they esteeme Christ Iesus to bee onely a meere man By your argument all they are transgressours of the first Commandement that communicate with them in sitting Now to that which yee adde in the end that this outward conformitie tickles the Papist and offends the godly yee are greatly mistaken it is your contentious opposition against the truth and disobedience of the lawfull ordinances of the Church which tickles the Papist and grieues all good men and not our conformitie in a lawfull and religious ceremonie PP The third breach of the second Commandement made by kneeling is the retaining the monument of vile idolatrie all human inuentions polluted with idolatrie except they be of necessarie vse ought to bee remoued from Gods seruice This gesture had a spot of prophanation from the beginning being at the first birth in this act dedicated to idolatrie The brasen Serpent set vp at Gods owne command was not spared when it was abused Wee detest the very garment of a theefe or a whoore though it bee innocent BEZA saith many things may bee tollerated for the weake which may not bee restored after they are taken away he commendeth them who abolished kneeling amongst other things Tanquam apertas idolomanias ANS You make the third breach of the second Commandement by kneeling the retaining of a monument of vile idolatrie and in this yee erre for kneeling is a religious ceremony appointed by God himselfe to bee vsed in all actions of adoration and was not of humane inuention therefore cannot be a monument of idolatrie in this or any other act If it be abused to idolatry although abuse the thereof should bee abhorred yet the religious gesture it selfe is not to be detested Let the theefe bee hanged and the whoore drowned yet the religious ceremony must bee restored to the right owner to whom all knees should bow The burning of Incense was a part of the ceremoniall worship vnder the Law and abused to idolatrie when it was offered to the brazen Serpent yet that part of worship was not abolished but the Idoll it selfe destroyed and the ceremony restored to God vnto whom of right it belonged Neither hath your comparison of the brazen Serpent and kneeling any force in it for the brazen Serpent in the time it was abolished had no vse that ceased with the vertue of the cure that the Israelites receiued by looking vpon it the act of kneeling continueth alwayes in a necessary vse for the better expressing of our thankfulnesse to God And where you say