pernicious purpose must in reason be in the heart of this Scribe otherwise it was utterly impertinent to scare the poore Vicar with such terrible and astounding words And better had it beene to have kept such mortall bolts as these in store and not to discharge them so soone before discretion had brought him within eye-reach of the right marke Had this man beene so wise as the Vicar was to president himselfe by what he sees done in the Kings or Bishops Houses or Chappels he would have kept these shafts in his Qâ—iver and bestowed them as he sees M. Casaubon and our learned Bishops by the Kings direction doe upon grosse and impious abuses cleerely discovered as well in Altars as in Sacrifices and not therewith to strike through Oblations sacrifices and Altars themselves together with the holy and reverend use and users thereof from whom he hath his Priesthood Orders Faith and Religion too if he have any at all In shooting after this blinde heedlesse fashion not the judgement only and learning but the discretion and piety of the Archer to his Mother the Church and to all reverend antiquity stands in greater hazzard of the shot than the unremarkable actions of a simple Vicar They are not Altars which still stand in the Churches of sound Protestants and may remaine in some of ours or to make use of their Covers and Ornaments Tables may bee placed in their roomes of the same length and fashion the Altars were of as this Author tels us with which practise he also concurreth in opinion they are not Altars I say or Sacrifices or Oblations that true Christians and good Protestants have in execration but the grosse and vile abuses of these Against abuses onely good Christians protested and from thence received they their names This the most learned Bishop in his Apologie for King Iames of happy memory putteth the Cardinall in minde of Salva protestatione hac haud ulla est fides Nostra nisi quae Vestra est vel esse debet vetus 〈◊〉 illa Catholica The Protestant holds the same Catholicke faith which is or ought to bee the same in Rome and over all the Christian world The Protestant hath the abuses and Novelties only which are crept into the Romane Church in detestation not the things themselves no not the name of the very Masse it selfe For as the same Reverend Bishop telleth the Cardinall in the Kings name In missa si missa fiunt quae sum 〈◊〉 antiatione vestra ibi submissa â—unt bono fi loco res essent non valde de nomine litigaret Rex The King would like well enough of the Masse if her Priests would â—hrive her of Transubstantiation the name should beget no reall difference Those therefore were not well advised nor throughly informed of the doctrine of our Church and of pious antiquity that by their violent and unlearned clamours incited the people unto that horrible out-rage committed in breaking downe of Altars and caused them to boggle and spie umbrages and scandals at the things themselves where none at all could have beene found if these Arietes gregis had partaken as much of the mild temper of the sheep as they did of the Rams horne But where simplicity and ignorance is armed nothing can be expected but a violent confusion and the like disorder This disorder committed de facto as the Author speakes the supreme Magistrate thought meet to punish not by a kind of law but by a law yet in force to punish the same de jure in case it should be committed The law was made by Queen Mary and is this If any shall unlawfully contemptuously or maliciously of their owne power or authority pull downe deface spoile or break downe any Altar or Altars c. such person or persons are to be punished as in the law is expressed Queene Mary who made this law did repeale the law made by King Edward for the authorizing of the Book of Common Prayer Queene Elizabeth who did establish King Edwards law for authorizing the Book of Common Prayer did repeale Queene Maries repeale thereof but that part of the Statute which concerneth the punishing of such disorderly people that of their own authority riotously pull down Altars c. the said Queene Elizabeth of famous memory repealeth not but it is still in force that the Magistrate whom it concernes may proceed against delinquents that violate the Lords Table standing Altar-wise or break or deface the pictures of Christ or of Saints in Church-windowes or crosses or the like upon that Statute if any should so offend which God foâ—bid if Sergeant Rastales hand and starre point and lead me not into an errour CAP. XXI Altars crept not into the Church Altars Consecrated with more ceremony and regarded with more reverence than any part of the Church appeareth out of Bishop Iewell On the Altar stood the Crosse of CHRIST in the Primitive Church and in Saint Chrysostomes time and remained there in Queene Elizabeths Raigne sometime steps unto the Altar drawne with Curtaines Archbishops and Bishops and all sorts of people doe reverence towards the Altar Barbarous Souldiers kisse them Penitents prostrate before them Saint Ambrose willing to be made a Sacrifice for them THe drift of the Author in this Epistle is the disgrace of Altars To this purpose he hath framed these words to serve his turne two wayes 1. By the manner of their comming in and that was creeping 2. By the meanes of their creeping in and that was by Complying with the Iewes For as much as the most ancient and holy Fathers of the Primitive Church and the most learned and pious Fathers of our own Church have Christian Altars and Sacrifices in due honourable and reverend estimation there is no cause at all why a man not bigge with selfe love nor made to kindle a faction quae jam plus satis calescit should picke a quarrell first with them then with their name then with their comming in by phrasing it so contemptuously in that terme of creeping whereby is implyed their comming into the Church in some base secret undue and unobservable manner I dare be bold to say that no man of judgement and learning though hee look over Antiquity as the Devill lookt over Lincolne will say and meane to justifie what hee saies by sound proofes out of good antiquity that Altars crept into the Church It were not amisse if this Pen-man would looke the face of his actions in the envious mans tares these he shall finde crept up among the Wheat no man knowing how when the honest Husband-man and his servants thought no hurt but were at rest and asleepe The case is not so with Altars the Husband-men themselves that labour faithfully in the Lords Vineyard the Governours of Christs Church and the true and only successors of the Apostles brought them in by the speciall direction of Gods holy Spirit I shall not need to spend much time in proofe hereof
humbly and piously according to the godly and holesome Canons and constitutions of their Mother the Church that so from her and her Governours and from the Kings most sacred Majesty they may to their comfort and commendation receive the commendation of modest and discreet men and such as are farre from any humour of Innovation and let this subtile Innovator with his popular devices goe by who with Iudas of Galile and boasting Theudas seekes with faigned words and deceitfull speeches to beguile simple and well meaning soules and to draw much people after him But by reading of the holy Scriptures which now GOD be praised for it almost every one with Timothy knowes of a childe they understand what befell such seducers and their followers and therefore they have no list either in piety or reason to follow them for they as many as obeyed them were dispersed and brought to nought To conclude I desire to make any sober man and indued with common reason my judge whether he would thinke that the Lords Archbishops and Bishops and the whole Convocation house men of singular wisedome piety and learning as their yeares breeding and education gives them should bee at so much trouble and charge to sit so long together to consider of the state of the Church and to consult with the Kings Majesty about the same as by the words in his Majesties Writ may appeare and then to devise and frame Canons and lawes usefull and necessary for the good pious and peaceable Government thereof and that the Kings Majesty also according to his supreme power in all causes Ecclesiasticall as well as temporall should give his royall assent under the broad seale of his kingdom for confirmation of them as all Princes and Monarchs have done in the first sixe generall Councels if after all this is done all such their Lawes and Canons so made and established should be turned into Tennis Balls for Vicars Parsons and Parishioners to tosse and bandy up and down and question at their pleasure and not to have them executed nor allowed before they be maintained rationibus cogentibus I believe otherwise but that I leave to whom it concernes There is one thing more which I cannot choose but touch upon this Author for For mee thinkes that modesty and discretion which he commended in the Alderman of Grantham he hath not reserved for our commendation in himselfe For thus he twitteth the Vicar The Communion you out of the Booke of fast 1. of the King are pleased to call Second Service In my poore opinion modesty and discretion might have taught him to have forborne such petulant language Surely the man could not but know but that the booke of Fast was not compiled nor ordered to be read publikely in every Congregation without the appointment of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury nor without his Majesties gracious directions and royall Confirmation thereof and if the Vicar having such authority for his warrant doe call the Communion the second Service me thinkes in common discretion and ordinary civility he ought not to have a Ieere cast upon him by a bettter man than this Secretary can bee for the reflection of the jest and scorne you are pleased transcends the Vicars head quite and cleane and strikes hie and aloft upon the toppes of hills and mountaines from whom hee may bee taught to learne to keepe better distance Well the Vicar is pleased having so good authority to call it the Second Service but this man is not pleased Truly I cannot but pitty the Vicar that has met with a man so hard to please When the poore man did president himselfe in his actions and setting the Lords Table Altarwise by the Kings Chappell and Quires in Cathedralls the man is not pleased hee will upon Vmbrages have it ordered otherwise if this feigned Letter deserved any credite when the Vicar performes the reverence appointed by Canon to that blessed Name of Iesus he is pleased So it bee done So and So with such limitations and hedgings and inclosures as the canon never allowed or thought on except it meant to build with one hand and pull down with another otherwise he is not pleased Now he does but conforme his speech to such language as he heares used by the chiefest and most eminent personage in all our Cathedrall Churches and by the Kings Majesty our supreme Governours in all things belonging or in any wise appertaining to matters of the Church whether they bee Rites or Ceremonies words or actions and yet he is not pleased He wil have his Vicar neither doe nor so much as speak as they doe but he will be displeased and lend him a smart jerke for so doing What trow you has put the mans mouth so out of taste that he can in no sort rellish what was done by the Archbishop that then was and what he did by his Majesties authority that now is whom God of his infinite mercy long preserve I hope he hath more learning than to conceive the Second Service to be a new thing and so to be ashamed of the name For besides the Liturgies of Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostome and others used in the Greeke Church and those that have beene used at all times in the Westerne Churches wherein he sees with his eyes both the First and Second Service distinct one from another He may also observe the use hereof in the Primitive Church if he please to consult with Saint Iustin Martyr Tertullian Origen Saint Cyprian Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine or read a Councell which hee will not deny but hee is bound to read the Nicene Councell and hee shall perceive there the first and second service distinguished one from another Hee shall finde one service wherein there was sola Oratio he shall finde a Second service wherein â—â— And I looked and there was none to helpe and I wondred that there was none to vphold Esa. 63.1 But those mine enemies which would not I should raigne over them bring them hither and slay them before me Luc. 19.27 Vnum vos poscimus omnes Cap I. pag. 1.2 3 Cap. II. 3. ad 7. Cap. III. p 7. ad 9. Cap. IV. p 9. ad 15. Cap. V. p. 15. ad 18. Cap. VI. p. 18. ad 22. Cap. VII p. 22. ad 25. Cap. VIII p. 25. ad 29. Cap. IX p. 29. ad 36. Cap. X p. 36. ad 43 Cap. XI p. â—3 ad 60. Cap. XII p. 60 ad 66. Cap. XIII p. 66. ad 71. Cap XIV p. 71 Cap. XV. p 79. ad 84. Cap XVI p. 84. ad 93. Cap. XVII p. 93. ad 97. Cap. XVIII p. 97. ad 104. Cap. XIX p. 104. ad 110 Cap. XX p. 110. ad 115. Cap. XXI p. 115. ad 121. Cap. XXII p. 121. ad 130. Cap. XXIII p. 130. ad 137. Cap. XXIV p. 137. ad 147. Cap XXV p 147. usque ad finem The Letter By that time that you have gained some more experience in the cure of soules you shall
Altar nec apud Altare consistere nor to stand neere it Nec ulteriùs sancta contrectare nor to handle holy things any more That this distinction of places was kept within 200. yeares after Christ is manifest by the Stations which the Priests kept at the Altar on Fasting-dayes and not on Sundayes in those times as Rhenanus thinketh Tertullian is cleere for it Nonne solennior erit statio tua si ad aram Dei steteris Solemne stations were made at the Altar and so continued to be there made on Wednesdayes and Fridayes from the Apostles times this holy place was also appointed for those prayers which the Priests daily made for the sacred persons of Kings and Bishops And we do not find that high service was performed at that holy Altar by any Deacon or Levite Not only the Liturgies of the Church but the Constitution of the Apostles from whom they had their direction doth order that Priests at the Altar doe pray pro omni Episcopatu for all Bishops and particularly pro Episcopo nostro Iacobo pro regibus and for Kings that they may leade a quiet and peaceable life c. S. Austin distinguisheth inter precationes orationes precationes were called such prayers as were made before that which is on the Lord's board incipiat benedici but Orationes Orizons were made cùm benedicitur sanctificatur when it is blessed and sanctified which kinde of prayer all the Church almost concludeth oratione Dominica with the Lords Prayer Here are those Prayers made which the Priest useth for Kings even for those Kings à quibus persecutionem patiâ—batur Ecclesia that did persecute the Church Prayer for Kings for Bishops for the whole and the Lords Prayer was then oâ—ly said at the Altar by the Priest in the Holy of Holyes At the Altar also were Commemorations made in Saint Cyprians time If a Priest at his death make a Priest his Executor and so cause him to leave the Altar where he ought to serve continually the Canon was that for such an one non offerretur nec Sacrificium pro dormitione ejus celebraretur Neque enim ad Altare Dei meretur nominari in Sacerdotum prece qui ab Altare Dei Sacerdotes ministros Levitas avocare voluit He deserves not to be named in the Priests Prayer at the Altar that is an occasion to withdraw Priests from the Altar Lastly on the Altar were made oblations of first fruits Grapes and Oile as hath bin noted out of Origen and may appeare plainly in the Canons of the Apostles I will not dispute the Authority of these Canons Some doe reject them but the sixth generall Councell approveth 85. of them and saith they were received by their Predecessors tanquam à Deo traditi as delivered of God Howsoever Saint Irenaeus witnesseth that for the point now to bee declared Oblations were made daily and hourely on the Altar God saith hee would have us munus offerre ad Altare frequenter sine intermissione By this that hath beene said it appeareth sufficiently as I suppose that the Altar or Lords Table stood not in the body of the Church but in the Holy place separated and inclosed for Priests only to serve who did there consecrate the Eucharist receive oblations offer up prayers for the sacred persons of Kings and of Bishops and the whole Church and did there and no where else conclude their Prayers and Orizons commonly with the Lords Prayer For none of all these holy Offices belonging only to Priests were performed in the body of the Church where every one might be present and see what was done Therfore the Altar did not in those times stand in the body of the Church and so farre the Vicar is not mistaken The Altar then did stand in the Primitive Church at the upper end of the Qâ—ire and not in the body of the Church and by that Precedent the Vicar might suppose that it ought to stand except the Canons of our Church have otherwise ordered it And this is the next point to be inquired after CAP. XIII The Rubricke touching the standing of the Communion Table in the body of the Church Of the Rubricke concerning Chancels Who hath the appointing of Books to be read by Priests Peter-Lombard and the Ancient Fathers appointed to be read Bishop Iewel and others directed to be read Communion Tables according to Bishop Iewel stood in the Presbytery The Presbytery is not the body of the Church I Will speake first to the Rubricke which all men acknowledge for a Canon then to the booke which the Vicar is bound to read and commanded so to do Touching the Rubricke It is fit we expound one Rubricke by another and what is briefly and obscurely set downe in one to supply and expound out of another The Table shall stand in the body of the Church or Chancell c. saith the Rubrick before the Communion But the Rubrick before Morning Prayer seemes to put in a double exception or Caution 1. Except it shall be otherwise determined by the Ordinary of the place 2. And the Chancels shall remaine as they have done in times past The place of reading of Prayers in the first part of the Rubricke is left to the determination of the Ordinary of the place and upon good reason because some part of those prayers as namely the First Service is to be read in Auditorio or body of the Church And some part againe namely the Second Service ought to be read only in Sacrario if the ancient practise of holy Church be enquired after But the later part of the Rubrick which concernes Chancels themselves and so by necessary consequence the essential parts of the Chancell as in Cathedral Churches the Priests Stals the Bishops Throne and the Lords Table or holy Altar with the railes wherby it is environed to keep it from all manner of prophanation and to preserve it entire and apart for the Priests to officiate in these shall remaine as in times past The ordering of these things otherwise than they were in times past is not referred be it spoken under correction to the determination of the Ordinary of the place much lesse to any Vicar or Parson to make a Daedalus engine of the Lords Table and so to set the Church upon Wheeles and so to run it out of the pious and Reverend practice of holy and unreproved Antiquity The Rubricke allowes no such liberty Let no man therefore invade the Churches right or goe about to remove the ancient bounds in this particular that hee bring not a curse upon himselfe The Church I confesse is indulgent enough to these fancifull and popular men yet it is to be hoped she will not suffer her ancient Land-markes to bee pluckt up and throwne by to please new fangled people withall For hoc ratum fixum Chancels shall remaine as they have done in times past which is not to bee understood of
walls and windowes only but of the fixing of the Lords Table which is the maine part of the Chancell considerable in the service of God the ordering whereof is determined in the Rubricke when it is said Chancels should remaine as in times past Now if the Vicar will know from the Author how Chancels have remained in times past and how Communion Tables have stood in the midst of the Church he must read a booke which he is bound to read Iewell against Harding and hee shall be satisfied And so I am fallen upon the second point which I have bound my selfe to speake unto namely to the booke which the Vicar is commanded to read and told that he is bound to read it For the Injunction or command laid upon the Vicar I thinke I may say thus much that for any man to appoint a Priest that is not under his Iurisdiction what book to read is a Prerogative and authority that sideth with Archiepiscopall or Regall rather King Iames of happy memory I wot well sent us his directions to Cambridge Doctor Cary being then Vicechancelor for the reading of Peter Lombard Thom. Aquinas and the Ancient Fathers as may appeare in the Register of that Vniversity Now if the Royall command of his Majesty of happy memory had beene as well observed by all Students of Divinity there as it is doubtlesse safely preserved in the Office the Vicar needed not to bee sent to Schoole and bidden to read a booke of this mans appointment to see how Communion Tables have stood in the body of the Church for he had beene able enough to send his carefull instructer from the River to the Fountaine But he biddeth him read no other book than what he is bound to read and that swelleth not up to the height of a command but is confined within the precincts of a friendly advice to have an eye to what hee is bound to read Such Evangelicall Councell I confesse becommeth Mr. Cotton much better than to arrogate a command and execute his superintendency in that kind For his advice then So farre forth as Bishop Iewel Bullinger Erasmus and the like doe explaine unto us the true and Orthodoxe doctrine of our Church we are bound in reason as occasion serveth not only to have them but to read them The like may be said for the reading of God and the King And if some men read such bookes more and some such as the other lesse I doubt not but they did read such bookes as they are bound to read as well as any of these Well in the Vicars behalfe I have read the booke appointed and therein have satisfied the Authors desire Now I make bold to call upon him reciprocally to make good his ingagement that undertaketh that the Reader shall bee satisfied out of Bishop Iewell how Communion Tables stood in the body of the Church How Communion Tables have stood in the body of the Church I doe not finde in Bishop Iewell But what I finde I will tell you and then tell you me if Bishop Iewell doe not say or prove at least that the Communion Table or Altar did not stand in the body of the Church According to Bishop Iewell the Communion Table or Altar for he useth both words stood in the Quire The Quire was divided with rayles from the rest of the Church This Quire so rayled in was commonly called of the Greeke Presbyterium This Presbyterium was especially appointed for Priests It was shut up from all others for disturbing the holy Ministery This appeareth notably in the story of Ambrose who willed the Emperour Theodosius himselfe to depart forth And by Nazianzenus in the life of S. Basil And for further proofe how the Altâ—r stood Bishop Iewel referreth the Reader to the Councell of Laodicea Can. 19. where it is thus determined That the Catechumeni doe pray apart and that they be dismissed before the Penitents be admitted into the Church by imposition of hands Tunc Fideles orare debent When all these are dismissed then the Faithfull are to performe their devotions Solis autem ministris Altaris liceat ingredi ad Altare ibidem communicare The Ministers of the Altar may only enter within the lists of the Altar and there communicate Lastly saith Bishop Iewel it may be gathered by S. Chrysostome that at certaine times of the Service that place was drawne with Curtaines Now let all this be put together and then resolve whether the Vicar may see out of Bishop Iewel how Communion Tables have stood in the body of the Church 1. The Presbytery was neither in the Greek nor Latine Church taken for the body of the Church no more than Presbyter was taken for a Layman 2. No Laiman neither Catechumenê° nec Poenitens neither Iew nor Gentile Heathen man or Heretick much lesse any Christian Emperour was shut out of the body of the Church 3. The body of the Church was never called SacrariuÌ„ into which none but Priests might enter and there Communicate 4. The body of the Church was never the place set apart for Oblations to be made in 5. The body of the Church was at no time of the Service drawne with Curtaines Therefore the holy Altar that stood in a place that was sometimes drawne with Curtaines that was at all times railed in from the rest that was set a part only for Priests that was ordained for Oblations that was fixed in the Presbytery cannot acccording to Bishop Iewell be set in the body of the Church If then the Vicar stand bound to read this book of Bishop Iewels he is bound to believe the authorities which Bishop Iewell bringeth and not to mistake them as this Penman does but to understand them aright and then he shall see how Communion Tables have not stood in the midst of the Church but in the higher part of the Church wherein the Vicar hath the Authors assent already in opinion though he settle it otherwise for the Men of Granthams sake CAP. XIV The antiquity of Communion Tables Eusebius's authority examined for the standing of Altars in the body of the Church Church of Tyre built by Paulinus Paulinus adjudged to be an Arrian by the Centurists Illyricus hereticall The Altar in Tyre how it stood in the midst of the Presbytery Church in Tyre built conformable to the Temple Foure distinct places in Solomons Temple How the Altar there stood in the middest Gods dwelling in the midst of the people How David and Solomon praysed the Lord in medio ecclesiae The peole did not see the Priest at the Altar in the Temple IN the next place I will examine the Authors out of which he saith the Vicar may know how Communion Tables stood in the body of the Church And he shall give me leave to say that whatsoever he can know out of any of these Authors he shall never know how Communion Tables stood at all much lesse how they stood in the body of the Church
say the people ran round about the Altar where it stood and where the Diptychs were read and that is not only in the Presbytery but in sacrario in the most holy place of all the Chancell and not in the body of the Church among the people which he would make us believe by englishing Diptychs by Lessons and Chapters This I am sure is not true for lessons and Chapters were taken out of the word of God But Diptychs contained the Catalogue of Generall Councells or of such holy and Catholicke Bishops who had derived themselves their Faith and Religion from the Apostles or Apostolicke men that faithfull men who desired as they in the Councell of Chalcedon make profession iter ambulare Regium to keep the King of Heavens hiâ—-way might daily see what guides to follow and what paths to shunne This was the holy and profitable use of these Diptychs much unlike that List of persons censured by holy Church called with some reproach of truth and Christian Religion Catalogus testium veritatis and as unlike a Calendar that I have seene wherein the Holy Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus Christ who not onely had place sometime in these Diptychs but whose names are written in heaven are rased out and Traitors Murderers Rebels and Hereticks set in their roomes that if Penry Hâ—cket or Legate had come in time they might have challenged as Orient and Scarlet coloâ—â—ed a Die as some of them These Calendars were as unluckily made as these Diptychs were alledged by the Author for his purpose to make the people and marre the Altar and â—eâ—ace the ancient forme of Gods true Service which is by naming of them utterly made voyde and frustrated For it appeareth hereby and by the fifth Councell of Constantinople that the Altar did stand in the Presbytery and not in the midst of the Church among the people And so I come to his next authority CAP. XVII Whether the Quire may be found in the body of the Church out of Durandus and Platina That Boniface the second divided the Quire from the people how to be understood How long this was done before the fifth Councell of Constantinople Of the Priests turning about at the Altar IF Durandus examined the cause why the Priest turneth himselfe about at the Altar and found Scripture for it medio Ecclesiae c. he did more than the Author of this Epistle did in examining Durandus or Platina either For if from Durandus and his reason hâ—e can inferre the Quire was then in the body of the Church from examining Platina and his testimony he shall finde that the Quire did not stand in the body of the Church Platina saith that Boniface the 2d. though the Author tell us not so divisit populum à Clero cum celebraretur hee divided the people from the Clergy in the administration of the Eucharist He saith not he was the first that so divided them This is put in by the Author and is not true For 300. yeares and upward before Boniface was borne even in Saint Cyprians Tertullians and Irenaeus his time they were so divided And if in 300. yeares a disorder crept into the Church he did no more than his duty in dividing the people from the Clergy when the Sacrament was Celebrated In the same manner it may bee said in time to come that our Diocesane divided the people from the Clergy by setting a rayle to enclose the Lords Table yet is not he the first in these latter times that began to conforme his Diocesse to the practice of the Primitive Church in that respect Neither can ages to come reason in this sort as this man doth that therefore the Quire was in his time in the body of the Church For we know this is not so Secondly That which Platina reporteth of Boniface the 2d. was about Anno. 525. The people then were divided from the Clergy and this was about 800. yeares before Durandus could examine causes of the Priests turning about So that if the Author allow what Platina saies he must disallow what himselfe saies that the Quire was in Durands time in the body of the Church For wee are sure out of Platina that neere 800. yeares before Durandus was borne the people were divided from the Clergy at the Celebration of the Sacrament Therefore in all that time the Quire was not in the body of the Church Thirdly Boniface the 2d. was foure yeares before the particular Synod of Constantinople under Menna and Agapetus and almost twenty yeares before the fifth Generall Councell of Constantinople under Iohn the Patriarch and Vigilius which Councell this Author bringeth here to prove that the Altar stood in the body of the Church among the people because cucurrit omnis populus circum circa Altare Now this Author assures us out of Platina that Boniface had divided the people from the Clergy Anno. 525. Therefore hee must needs confute himselfe and tell us that in the fift Councell of Constantinople Anno. 545. the Altar did not then nor 20. yeares before stand in the body of the Church among the people for Boniface made a separation twenty yeares before Haud commodè haec divisa sunt temporibus Wherefore if this man will examine his owne Authors as Durandus did the cause of the Priests turning about hee must say that the Quire was not then in the body of the Church when Durandus lived nor for 800. yeares before that and when he is come so high S. Cyprian and others will lift him up so much higher that he may looke 300. yeares further and never finde the Altar in the body of the Church among the people but alwayes inclosed at the upper end of the Chancell and the people ever divided from the Clergy cum celebraretur as himselfe tells us out Platina Fourthly Let it be granted that the Priest turnâ—th himselfe about at the Altar and that this reason is yeelded for the same In medio Ecclesiae aperui os meum doth it therefore follow that the Priest and the Altar stood in the body of the Church among the people Could not the Priest turne himselfe about at the Altar and say I opened my mouth in the midst of the Congregation but the Altar must needs thereupon stand in the midst of the Church When supplication intercession consecration and giving of thanks unto God the Father were finished by the Priest with his face unto the East and the next office to be performed being to blesse the people is it not fit he turne him after reverence done towards the holy Altar and with his face into the West blesse the Congregation of the Lord and doe it upon this ground aperui os in medio Ecclesiae but this Author will conclude that therefore the Quire stood in the body of the Church among the people David praised God In medio ecclesiae yet no man can from thence inferre that he stood in the Sanctum Sanctorum where the Lord
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