was one hundred in the total Out of the residue being 5900 bushels the first Tithe payable to the Levites which lived dispersed and intermingled in the rest of the Tribes came to 590 bushels and of the residue being 5310 bushels 531 were paid for the second Tithe unto the Priests which ministred before the Lord in his holy Temple yet so that such as would decline the trouble of carrying it in kind unto Hierusalem might pay the price thereof in money according to the estimate which the Priests made of it To which a fift part being added as in other cases did so improve this Tithe to the Priests advantage as that which being paid in kind was but ten in the hundred being thus altered into money made no less than twelve Now lay these several sums together and of 6000 bushels as before was said there will accrew 1121 to the Priest and Levite and but 4779 to the Lord or Tenant By which accompt the Priests and Levites in the tithing of 6000 bushels received twice as much within a little as is possessed or claimed by the English Clergy even where the Tithes are best paid without any exemptions which are so frequent in this Kingdom But then perhaps it will be said that the Levites made up one of the twelve Tribes of Israel and having no inheritance amongst the rest but the Tithes and Offerings besides the 48 Cities before mentioned were to be settled in way of maintenance correspondent unto that proportion But so they say it is not in the case of the English Clergy who are so far from being one of twelve or thirteen at most that they are hardly one for an hundred or as a late Pamphlet doth infer not one for five hundred Who on this supposition Tithe-gatherers no Gospel-Ministers that there are 500 Men and Women in a Country Parish the Lands whereof are worth 2000 l. per annum and that the Minister goeth away with 400 l. a year of the said two thousand concludeth that he hath as much for his own particular as any Sixscore of the Parish supposing them to be all poor or all rich alike and then cries out against it as the greatest Cheat and Robbery that was ever practised But the answer unto this is easie I would there were no greater difficulties to perplex the Church First for the Tribe of Levi it is plain and evident that though it pass commonly by the name of a Tribe yet was it none of the twelve Tribes of Israel the House of Joseph being sub-divided into two whole Tribes those namely of Ephraim and Manasses which made up the Twelve And secondly it is as evident that it fell so short of the proportion of the other Tribes as not to make a Sixtieth part of the House of Jacob. For in the general muster which was made of the other Tribes of men of 20 years and upwards such only as were fit for arms and such publick services the number of them came unto 635500 fighting men to which if we should add all those which were under 20 years and unfit for service the number would at least be doubled But the Levites being all reckoned from a month old and above their number was but 22000 in all of which see Numb 1.46 3.39 which came not to so many by 273. as the only First-born of the other Tribes And therefore when the Lord took the Levites for the First-born of Israel the odd 273 were redeemed according to the Law at five Shekels a man and the money which amounted to 1365 Shekels was given to Aaron and his Sons Numb 7.47 48. Which ground so laid according to the holy Scriptures let us next take a view of the English Clergy and allowing but one for every Parish there must be 9725. according to the number of the parish Churches or say ten thousand in the total the residue being made up of Curates officiating in the Chappels of Ease throughout the Kingdom and reckoning in all their Male-children from a month old and upwards the number must be more than trebled For although many of the dignified and beneficed Clergy do lead single lives yet that defect is liberally supplied by such Married Curates as do officiate under them in their several Churches And then as to the disproportion which is said to be between the Clergy and the rest of the people one to five hundred at the least the computation is ill grounded the collection worse For first the computation ought not to be made between the Minister and all the rest of the Parish Men Women and Children Masters and Dames Men-servants and Maid-servants and the Stranger which is within the gates but between him and such whose Estates are Titheable and they in most Parishes are the smallest number For setting by all Children which live under their Parents Servants Apprentices Artificers Day-labourers and Poor indigent people none of all which have any interest in the Tithable Lands The number of the residue will be found so small that probably the Minister may make one of the ten and so possess no more than his own share comes to And then how miserably weak is the Collection which is made from thence that this one man should have as much as any Sixscore of the rest of the Parish supposing that the Parish did contain 500 persons or that his having of so much were a Cheat and Robbery And as for that objection which I find much stood on that the Levites had no other Inheritance but the Tithes and Offerings Numb 18.23 whereas the English Clergy are permitted to purchase Lands and to Inherit such as descend unto them the Answer is so easie it will make it self For let the Tithes enjoyed by the English Clergy descend from them to their Posterity from one Generation to another as did the Tithes and Offerings on the Tribe of Levi And I persuade my self that none of them will be busied about Purchasing Lands or be an eye-sore to the people in having more to live on than their Tithes and Offerings Till that be done excuse them if they do provide for their Wives and Children according to the Laws both of God and Nature And so much for the Parallel in point of maintenance between the Clergy of this Church and the Tribe of Levi. Proceed we next unto the Ministers of the Gospel at the first Plantation during the lives of the Apostles and the times next following and we shall find that though they did not actually receive Tithes of the people yet they still kept on foot their right and in the mean time till they could enjoy them in a peaceable way were so provided for of all kind of necessaries that there was nothing wanting to their contentation First that they kept on foot their Right and thought that Tithes belonged as properly to the Evangelical Priesthood as unto the Legal seems evident unto me by S. Pauls discourse who proves Melchisedechs Priesthood by
the Lord Commissioners the Right of Sitting there 1. The Prebends Original Right 2. Their Derivative Right and lastly their Possessory Right Upon hearing the proofs on both sides it was ordered by general consent of the Lord Commissioners That the Prebends should be restored to their old Seat and that none should sit there with them but Lords of the Parliament and Earls eldest Sons according to the ancient custom After this there was no Bishop of Lincoln to be seen at any Morning-Prayer and seldom at Evening At this time came out the Doctor 's History of the Sabbath the Argumentative or Scholastick part of which subject was referred to White Bishop of Eli the Historical part to the Doctor And no sooner had the Doctor perfected his Book of the Sabbath but the Dean of Peterborough engages him to answer the Bishop of Lincoln's Letter to the Vicar of Grantham He received it upon good Friday and by the Thursday following discovered the sophistry mistakes and falshoods of it It was approved by the King and by him given to the Bishop of London to be Licens'd and Publish'd under the title of a Coal from the Altar In less than a twelve-month the Bishop of Lincoln writ an Answer to it Entituled The Holy Table Name and Thing but pretended that it was writ long ago by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Cole a Divine in the days of Queen Mary Dr. Heylyn receiv'd a Message from the King to return a reply to it and not in the least to spare him And he did it in the space of seven weeks presenting it ready Printed to his Majesty and called it Antidotum Lincolniense But before this he answered Mr. Burtons Seditious Sermon being thereunto also appointed by the King In July 1637. the Bishop of Lincoln was censured in the Star-Chamber for tampering with Witnesses in the Kings Cause suspended à Beneficio officio and sent to the Tower where he continued three years and did not in all that space of time hear either Sermon or publick Prayers The College of Westminster about this time presented the Doctor to the Parsonage of Islip now void by the death of Dr. King By reason of its great distance from Alresford the Doctor exchanged it for South-warnborough that was more near and convenient At which time recovering from an ill fit of Sickness he studiously set on writing the History of the Church of England since the Reformation in order to which he obtained the freedom of Sir Robert Cottons Library and by Arch-bishop Laud's commendation had liberty granted him to carry home some of the Books leaving 200 l. as a Pawn behind him The Commotions in Scotland now began and the Arch Bishop of Canterbury intending to set out an Apology for vindicating the Liturgy which he had commended to that Kirk desired the Doctor to translate the Scottish Liturgy into Latin that being Published with the Apology all the World might be satisfied in his Majesties piety as well as the Arch-Bishops care as also that the perverse and rebellious temper of the Scots might be apparent to all who would raise such troubles upon the Recommendation of a book that was so Venerable and Orthodox Dr. Heylyn undertook and went through with it but the distemper and trouble of those times put a period to the undertaking and the Book went no farther than the hands of that Learned Martyr In Feb. 1639. the Doctor was put into Commission of Peace for the County of Hampshire residing then upon this Living into which place he was no sooner admitted but he occasioned the discovery of a horrid Murther that had been committed many years before in that Countrey In the April following he was chosen Clerk of the Convocation for the College of Westminster at which time the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury sending a Canon to them for suppressing the farther growth of Popery and reducing Papists to the Church our Doctor moved his Grace that the Canon might be enlarged for the Peoples farther satisfaction as well as the Churches benefit what was done therein and many other notable things by that Convocation may be seen at large in the History of the Arch-Bishops Life Friday being May the 29th the Canons were formally subscribed unto by the Bishops and Clergy no one dissenting except the Bishop of Glocester who afterward turn'd Papist and died in the Communion of the Romish Church and was all that time of his Life in which he revolted from the Church of England a very great Servant of Oliver Cromwel unto whom he dedicated some of his Books But for his Contumacy in refusing to subscribe the Articles he was voted worthy of Suspension in the Convocation and was actually Suspended by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury which being done the Convocation was ended In Novemb. 3. A.D. 1640. began the Session of the long Parliament At the opening of which a general Rumor was spread abroad that Dr. Heylyn was run away for fear of an approaching storm that was like to fall upon his head as well as on his Grace the Arch-Bishop of Cauterbury but he who was ever of an undaunted spirit would not pusillanimously desert the Cause of the King and Church then in question but speedily hastned up to London from Alresford to confute the common calumny and false report raised on him by the Puritan faction that he appeared the next day in his Gown and Tippet at Westminster-Hall and in the Church with the accustomed formalities of his Cap Hood and Surplice employed then his Pen boldly in defence of the Bishops Rights when the Lords began to shake the Hierarchy in passing a Vote That no Bishop should be of the Committe for Examination of the Earl of Strafford being Causa sanguinis upon which the Doctor drew up a brief and excellent Discourse entituled De jure paritatis Episcopum wherein he asserted all the Bishops Rights of Peerage and principally of this as well as the rest That they ought to sit in that Committee with other Priviledges and Rights maintained by him which either by Law or ancient custom did belong unto them A rare Commendation at this juncture of time for which the Doctor is to be admired that he could command his Parts and Pen of a sudden to write on this subject or any other if there was need that did conduce to the publick good and above all make a quick dispatch in accomplishing what he had once undertaken and begun But for those quick dispatches the Doctor afterward endured many tedious waitings at the backs of Committe-men in that Parliament especially in the business of Mr. Pryn about his Histriomastix for which he was kept four days under examination because he had furnished the Lords of the Privy Council with matters out of that Book which Mr. Pryn alledged was the cause of all his sufferings Great hopes had the Committee by his often dancing attendance after them to sift the Doctor if they could gather any thing by his speeches
is in respect that the Lord passed over the Houses of our Fathers in Egypt Then holdeth be up the bitter herbs in his hand and saith These bitter herbs which we eat are in respect that the Egyptians made the lives of our Fathers bitter in Egypt Then he holdeth up the unleavened bread in his hand and saith This unleavened bread which we eat is in respect that the dough of our Fathers had not time to be leavened when the Lord appeared unto them and redeemed them out of the hand of the Enemy and they baked unleavened Cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt Then be saith Therefore are we bound to Confess to Praise to Laud to Celebrate to Glorifie to Honour to Extol to Magnifie and to Ascribe Victory unto him that did unfreedom from sorrow to joy from darkness to great light and we say before him Hallelujah Hallelujab Praise O ye Servants of the Lord c. unto the end of the cxiv Psalm Then they bless the Lord which redeemed them and their Fathers out of Egypt and hath brought them unto that night to eat unleavened bread therein and bitter herbs And he blesseth God who Created the fruit of the Vine and drinketh the second Cup. After this he blesseth for the washing of hands and washeth his hands the second time and taketh two Cakes parteth one of them c. and blesseth God that bringeth bread out of the Earth Because it is said the Bread of Affliction or of Poverty Deut. xvi 3. As it is the manner of the Poor to have broken meat so here is a broken part Afterwards he wrappeth up of the unleavened bread and of the bitter herbs together and dippeth them in the sawce and blesseth God which commanded to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs and they eat Then he blesseth God which commanded the eating of the Sacrifice and he eateth the flesh of the Feast-offering and again blesseth God which commanded the eating of the Passeover and then he eateth of the body of the Passeover After this they sit long at Supper and eat every one so much as he will and drink as much as they will drink Afterward he eateth of the flesh of the Passeover though it be but so much as an Olive and tasteth nothing at all after it that it may be the end of his supper and that the taste of the flesh of the Passeover may remain in his mouth After this he lifteth up his bands and blesseth for the third cup of Wine and drinketh it Then filleth he the fourth cup and accomplisheth for it the Praise or hymn and saith for it the blessing of the song which is All thy works praise thee O Lord c. Psal cxlv 10. and blesseth God that Created the fruit of the Vine and tasteth nothing at all after it all the night except water And he may fill the fifth cup saying for it is the great Hymn viz. Confess ye to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Psal cxxxvi unto the end of that Psalm But he is not bound they say to that cup as to the four farmer cups For this he citeth Rabbi Maymoni and after addeth from the said Author but from another work of his That at the breaking and delivering of the unleavened bread they do use these words This is the Bread of Affliction which our Fathers did eat in the Land of Egypt Whosoever is hungry let him come and eat whosoever hath need let him come and keep the Passeover c. Compare the words which follow after viz. These observations of the Jews whilst their Common-wealth stood c. with those of Beza formerly remembred à primo in Chananitidem ingressu and then we have an Answer to the doubt which might be raised from the first words of Aynsworth in these observations which seem to intimate that this Order was not used by the Jews till the Ages following The Prayers the Praises and the Benedictions which are the points which Beza speaks of might be and were used by them at their first entrance on the Land of Canaan their frequent washings and reiterating of the Cup so often might not be introduced till the Ages following Here then we have set forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction used at the Celebrating of the Jewish Sacrifices the Song of Moses made a part of the Jewish Liturgy the several rites and prescribed duties observed in the solemnity of the Jewish Passover and all of very great Antiquity even from the time of Moses saith the old Samaritan Chronicle à primo in Chananitidemingressu from their first entrance into the Promised Land as it is in Beza And for the instituting of these forms besides the power that God hath given unto his Church on the like occasions they had the president and example of the Lord himself who had prescribed in one kind binding the Priests unto a certain form of Benediction when he blessed the people and in a second place of Moses who had tied himself unto a certain form of words as often as he setled or removed the Ark. For we are told in holy Scripture that whensoever the Ark set forwards Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies he scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Numb 10.35 And for the blessing of the people we find the form thereof prescribed by the Lord himself saying unto Aaron and his Sons On this wise shall ye bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee peace Numb 10.23 24 25 26. And to this form the Priests were so precifely tied that they durst not vary from the same the Hebrew Doctors understanding the word thus or in this wise to imply both the matter and the manner as viz. Thus shall ye bless i.e. standing thus with the lifting up of hands thus in the holy tongue thus with your faces towards the faces of the people thus with an high voice thus by Gods expressed Name JEHOVAH if ye bless in the Sanctuary So that it was not lawful to the Priest in any place to add any blessing unto these three verses as to say like that of Deut. 1.11 The Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are or any the like Maymoni cited by Aynsw in Numb 6. Now for the manner wherewithal the Priests performed this office it was briefly thus The Priests went up unto the bank or stage after that they had finished the daily morning Service and lifted up their hands on high above their heads and their fingers spread abroad except the High-Priest who might not lift his hands higher than the Plate whereof see Exod. xxviii 36. and
regam juxta morem qui colunt honorant regunt uxores fideliter Do autem tibi dotem virginitatis tuae ducentos aureos i.e. 50 siclos quin etiam alimentum tuum vestitum atque sufficientem necessitatem tuam Cornel. Bertram item cognitionem tui juxta consuetudinem universae terrae That is to say Be thou a Wife to me according to the Law of Moses and Israel and I shall worship and honour thee according to the Word of God I shall seed and govern thee according to the custom of those who worship honour and govern their Wives faithfully I give thee for the Dowry of thy Virginity two hundred pence i. e. 50 Shekels as also thy food cloathing and all sufficient necessaries and knowledge of thee according to the custom of the whole earth A Shekel was a piece of money among the Jews amounting in our coyn to 1 s. 3 d. Judg. 14.11 1 Sam. 18.25 Ruth 4.2 Much of which form as to the main and substance of it is exceeding Ancient For in the Marriage of Sampson we find the Children of the Bride-Chamber being the thirty young men his Companions as they are there called in that of David unto Michael the Daughter of Saul the bringing in of an hundred Foreskins of the Philistins in loco dotis as the Dowry-money in that of Ruth the presence of ten men to bear witness to it Nor was this done being a business of such moment without a special Benediction For at the Marriage of Boaz to Ruth the People and the Elders said The Lord make the Woman which is come into thine House like Rachel and like Leah which two did build the House of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlehem and let thy House be like the House of Pharez of the Seed which the Lord will give thee of this young Woman Ruth 4.11 12. Upon this ground it was that Marriage was not solemnized amonst them without Prayers and Blessings the form whereof in the ensuing times was this as followeth Benedictus sis Domine Deus noster Rex universi c. Blessed be the Lord our God the King of the World who hath Created Man after his own Image according to the Image of his own likeness and hath thereby prepared unto himself an everlasting building Blessed be thou O Lord God who hast Created him Moses Aaron l. 6. cap. 4. Then followeth again Blessed be thou O Lord our God who hast Created joy and gladness the Bridegroom and the Bride Charity and Brotherly love Rejoycing and Pleasure Peace and Society I beseech thee O Lord let there be suddenly heard in the Cities of Judah and the Streets of Hierusalem the voice of joy and gladness the voice of the Bridegroom and the Bride the voice of exaltation in the Bride-Chamber is sweeter than any Feast and Children sweeter than the sweetness of a song Which Prayer thus ended one of the Bride-men or Companions took a cup having before been blessed in the wonted form and drinks unto the Married-couple As for the form and rites of Burial not to say any thing either of the washing or embalming of the Corps which was common unto them with other Nations Chiristan Synagogue l. 1. cap. 6. sict 8. Paraph. 15. Diat 1. their custom was after the body was interred to speak something of the justice of God and of mans sin which meriteth death and they prayed God in justice to remember mercy This said they gave a Cup of Consolation to the sad-hearted Finally on the grave or Tombstone they caused these words ensuing to be written Sit anima ejus in fasciculo vitae cum caeteris justis Amen Amen Selah That is to say let his soul be in the bundle of life with the rest of the just Amen Amen So be it These as they were the ancient forms and ceremonies used in their Marriages and Burials so after when they had erected Synagogues in convenient places they solemnized their Marriages in a Tent Maymon cited in Fishter's defence cap. 17. set upon four Pillars near their Synagogue which shews that there was something in it wherewith the Priest or Prophet was to intermeddle and that they did esteem it of a nature not so meerly civil but that the blessing of the Minister was required unto it But it is time I now go forward to the Ages following CHAP. III. Of the condition and estate of the Jewish Liturgy from the time of David unto Christ 1. Several hours of prayer used amongst the Jews and that the prayers then used were of prescribed forms 2. The great improvement of the Jewish Liturgie in the time of David by the addition of Psalms and Instruments of Musick 3. The form of Celebrating Gods publick Service according unto Davids Institutions described by the Jewish Rabbins 4. The solemn form used in the dedicating of the first and second Temples 5. The Temple principally built for an House of Prayer 6. The several and accustomed gestures used among the Jews in the performance of Gods publick worship 7. The weekly reading of the Law on the Sabbath days not used until the time of Ezra 8. The reading of the Law prescribed and regulated according to the number of the Sections by the care of Ezra and of the 18 Benedictions by him composed 9. The Exposition of the Law prescribed and ordered by the Authority of the Church 10. The first foundation of Synagogues and Oratories and for what employments 11. The Church of Jewry ordained Holy-days and prescribed forms of prayer to be used thereon 12. Set days for publick annual Feasts appointed by the Jewish Church with a set form of prayer agreeable to the occasion 13. The form of Celebrating Gods publick Service according as it is described by Jesus the Son of Syrac 14. Jesus the Son of God conforms himself unto the forms established in the Jewish Church 15. A transition from the forms received in the Jewish Church to those in Vse amongst the Gentiles THE Nation of the Jews being thus setled into an established Church by the hand of Moses and several forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction prescribed unto them either immediately by the Lord himself or by the Church directed by the wisdom of Almighty God it was not long before that divers other points were added by the like Authority until the Liturgy thereof became full and absolute Of these the first in course of time was the deputing of certain and determinate hours in every day for the performance of those moral duties of Prayer and Praises in which Gods publick worship did consist especially which were the third the sixth and the ninth For clearer knowledge of the which we shall add thus much that the Jews did usually divide their day into four great parts hours of the Temple they were called that is to say the third hour which began at six of the Clock in the Morning and held on
the Law Levitical was given to Moses and all the Rites and ceremonies of the same prescribed and limited which plainly shews that Instrumental Musick in the celebrating of Gods publick worship is not derived at any hand from the Law of Moses or to be reckoned as a part of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Levitical Sacrifices And lest this intermixture of Songs and Musick in the officiating of the Moral worship of God might either be conceived to have been introduced by the Jews in the declining times of their zeal and piety or else ordained by David without good Authority and never practised in the purer times of the Jewish Church we will look into the Acts of Solomon Hezekiah Ezra Of Solomon and Ezra more anon Of Hezekiah this at present of whom it is recorded in the Book of Chronicles that in the restauration of Gods worship being much corrupted When the Burnt-offering began the Song of the Lord began also with Trumpets and with the Instruments ordained by David king of Israel And all the Congregation worshipped and the Singers sang and the Trumpeters sounded 2 Chron. 29.27 28. and all this continued till the Burnt-offering was finished Where note that this was some appointed and determinate song which had been formerly set out for the like occasions that which is here entituled the Song of the Lord or canticum Traditum as the word is rendred by Tremelius as also that the intermixture of Musical Instruments in Gods holy Service is referred to David And so 't is also in the Book of Nehemiah Neh. 12.46 where both the Singers and the songs are referred to him For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the Singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God saith the holy Scripture Of Solomon and Ezra next the greatest and most memorable action of whose times was the building of the first and second Temples immensae opulentiae Templum Tacit. hist l. 5. as the last is called by the Historian For that of Solomon as soon as it was fitted and prepared for the Service of God that godly and religious Prince to whom the Lord had given a large and understanding heart as the Scripture tells us did not think fit to put it unto publick Use till he had dedicated the same to the Lord his God by Prayer and Sacrifice The pomp and order of the Dedication we may see at large 1 King viii To which add this considerable passage from the Book of Chronicles where it is said 2 Chron. 5.12 13. with reverence unto Davids Institution that the Levites which were the Singers all of them of Asaph of Heman of Jeduthun with their Sons and their Brethren being arayed in white linen having Cymbals and Psalteries and Harps stood at the East end of the Altar and with them an hundred and twenty Priests sounding with Trumpets And that it came to pass as the Trumpeters and Singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord that they lift vp their voice with the Trumpets and Cymbals and Instruments of Musick and praised the Lord saying For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever In which we may observe two things first that in Celebrating Gods publick worship and in that part thereof which was meerly moral the Levites were arayed in a white linnen Rayment such as the Surplice now in Use in the Church of England And secondly that they were prescribed what song or Psalm they were to sing being the 136. of Davids Psalms beginning with Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus quoniam in aeternum misericordia ejus And this we may the rather think to be a certain and prescribed Hymn not taken up at the discretion of the Priests and Levites because we find the same expresly in laying the foundation of the second Temple For we are told in the book of Ezra Ezr. 3.10 11. that when the Builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord they set the Priests in their Apparel with Trumpets and the Levites the Sons of Asaph with Cymbals to praise the Lord after the Ordinance of David the King of Israel where not that still this Institution is referred to David And they sung together by course Quire-wise in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel Lyra observes upon the place that the Psalm here sung ab ipso Davide factum ad hoc ordinatum was made by David for this very purpose Lyr. in Ezr. cap. 3. v. 1. 1 Chron. 28. who had not only left command to Solomon about the building of the Temple but gave him patterns of the work and much of the materials for the same Add finally that at the Dedication of each Temple there was a great and sumptuous Feast provided for the People of God whereof see 1 King viii 65. and Ezra vi 16. Which as it was the ground of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Feast of Dedication established after by the Maccabees so gave it no small hint unto the Christians to institute the like Feasts on the like occasions whereof more hereafter In the mean time to look a little back on Solomon if question should be made to what particular end he did erect that magnificent Structure I answer that it was most specially for an House of Prayer The legal Sacrifices were all of them performed in the outward Courts and there were all the utensils and vessels which did pertain unto the same The Priest that offered Sacrifice came not thither he had no place nor portion in it 'T is true there was an Altar in it but 't was the Altar of Incense not the Altar for Sacrifices That stood indeed within the Temple as at the first by Gods own Ordinance and appointment within the Tabernacle where it was placed before the Veil Exod. 30.6 7 8. And it was placed there to this end and purpose that Aaron might burn Incense on it every morning when he dressed the lamps and when he lighted them at even By this was figured the offering up of the Prayers of the Saints to the Lord their God We find it so expresly in the Revelation Apocal. 8.3 4. And another Angel saith the Text came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer is with the Prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar that was before the Throne and the smoak of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand And hereto David doth allude in the book of Psalms Let my prayer saith he be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hand as the Evening Sacrifice Psal 141.2 1 King 8. But that which makes the matter most clear and evident is the whole scope of Solomons
as he makes very ancient Joseph Scaliger de emendat Temp. 1.7 cujus cultus institutio vetustissima est as his own words are grounding the same upon the reading of the Law in the time of Ezra So I conceive their form of worship on the same was no less ancient than those times For whereas Ezra is confessed by those who approve not Liturgies to be the Author of those 18 Benedictions Smectymn Vindicat. p. 26. so much in Use amongst the Jews of the second Temple some of those Benedictions seem to me to be composed for the Meridian of this feast though they might elso serve at other times as occasion was Of which take this as most agreeable to the intention of the festival Cited by H. Thorndike c. 10 of his Religious Assembl Blessed art thou O Lord our God the King of the world that hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and given us command concerning the matters of the Law And sweeten O Lord the words of the Law in our mouths and in the mouth of thy people the house of Israel and make us all and our Children and our Childrens Children knowers of thy Name and learners of thy Law for it self Blessed art thou O Lord which teachest thy people Israel the Law So far the very words of the Benediction a Benediction made by the self same Author who as it is conceived by Scaliger did ordain the Festival The like Authority was exercised by the Jewish Church in Instituting set and appointed Fasts for the chastising of the body and the afflicting of the soul that so Gods worship might go forward with the greater fervour Of these we find some mentioned in the Prophecy of the Prophet Zachary as viz. the Fasts of the fifth and seventh moneth cap. vii v. 5. The Fasts of the fourth and tenth moneths cap. viii v. 19. The several occasions of the which you may see elsewhere Besides which Annual Fasts they used to fast upon the Monday and the Thursday Jejuno his in Sabbato said the Vain-glorious Pharisee in S. Lukes Gospel and many times they did impose upon themselves a seven days Fast the better to profess their sorrow and bewail their sins Luk. 18.12 For which consult 1 Sam. xxxi 13. 1 Chron. x. 12. 2 Esdras v. 13 20. And we have reason to believe that there were certain and determinate forms of publick worship for all the residue because we find them on those last What was the course observed in reading of the Law upon the second and fifth days of the week we have seen before and shall add only this at present that they Assembled in those days in their several Synagogues not only in the greater Towns but the smaller Villages Maimon in Megillah c. 1. n. 6. ap H. Thorndike as the Rabbins tell us But for the seven days Fast the form and order of the same according as it was performed by those which dwelt in Hierusalem was this as followeth When they prayed after this order in Hierusalem they went into the Mountain of the Temple against the East gate And when the Apostle of the Congregation the same who in S. Luke is called the Minister cap. iv 20. was come unto the prayer which began with this He that heard Abraham c. and ended with these words viz. Blessed be thou O Lord God our God the God of Israel from generation to generation The People answered Blessed be the name of his glorious Kingdom to all generations and for evermore Then said the Officer of the Synagogue unto the Priests which blew the Trumpets Sound ye the Sons of Aaron sound and then prayed again And though it seemeth by the Rabbin Id. in Tanaioth c. 4. n. 14. cited by Mr. Thorndike cap. of his Religious Assemblies c. that this prescribed form was fitted only to the Meridian of Hierusalem yet there is little question to be made but that it served also for all the Synagogues about Judaea there being no imaginable reason why a prescript form of publick worship conceive me in the moral parts thereof which was observed in the Temple should not be used in the Synagogues which in performance of Gods service was to take pattern from the Temple Only some difference there was in the present case but such a difference as is a matter of meer nicety not of any moment For when this form was used in the Synagogue the People answered Amen at the end of the Prayer But when they used it in the Mountain of the Temple that is within the outmost compass of it their Answer was Blessed be the name of his glorious Kingdom c. as before was said it being not usual with the People as the Rabbins note cited ibid. c. 7. to answer Amen within the Mountain of the Temple So punctual were they in their forms as not to vary in a word or title from that which was prescribed in their publick Liturgies And finally that they had a prescribed form of words for their solemn and occasional Feasts is evident by that of Abel cap. ii 17. where the words occur But to look back upon the Celebration of the daily Sacrifices besides the testimonies of the Rabbins and that of the Samaritan Chronicle produced before we have it thus described by Jesus the Son of Syrac an Author of unquestionable credit to the point in hand Speaking of Simon the Son of Onias who was the High Priest at the time and his officiating at the Altar he proceeds as followeth Ecclus. 50.14 And finishing the Service at the Altar that he might adorn the Offering of the most high Almighty he stretched out his hand to the Cup wherewith the Drink-offering was to be made and poured of the blood of the Grape he poured out at the foot of the Altar a sweet smelling savour unto the most high King of all Then shouted the Sons of Aaron and sounded the silver Trumpets and made a great noise to be heard for a remembrance before the most High Then all the People hasted together and fell down to the Earth upon their faces towards the Lord God Almighty the most High The Singers also sung praises with their voices with great variety of sounds was there made sweet melody And the People besought the Lord most High by prayer before him that is merciful till the Solemnity of the Lord was ended and they had finished his Service Then went he down and lifted up his hands over the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel to give the blessing of the Lord with his lips and to rejoyce in his Name And they bowed themselves down to worship the second time that they might receive a blessing from the most High So far the Author of Ecclesiasticus who lived in the latter end of Ptolemy Euergetes King of Egypt as himself tells us in his Preface Now in these words of his if we mark them well we find particularly all the parts
the Patriarchs were not meer dumb shews a bare and naked ceremony and no more than so But being their devotions were occasional as before was said we have no reason to presume that they had any prescript and set form of Prayer which of congruity was to change and vary according to the several occasions presented to them And yet it seems it was not long before besides the tendry of their Oblations Gods Book makes mention of a further duty that of Invocation the calling on the name of the Lord their God In the beginning of that Chapter we find Cain and Abel bringing their Offerings to the Lord and in the end thereof on the birth of Enos we find that men began to call on the Name of the Lord. Gen. 4.26 Which Text by reason of the different readings and no less differing expositions is not yet so clear but that a question may be made whether an holy and religious Invocation on the Name of God be there meant or not and if it be whether it were a private or a publick duty For howsoever we read it in the Text of our English Bibles Then began men to call on the Name of the Lord yet in the Margin it is otherwise Then began men to call themselves by the Name of the Lord And Aynsworth differing from them both Then began men to call profanely on the Name of Jehovah So also for the several Glosses made upon the Text not to insist upon the different readings either of the Greek or Latine Bibles the Chaldee Paraphrase had it thus Tunc in diebus ejus inceperunt filii hominum ut non orarent in nomine Domini Chald. Paraph. in Gen. Then in his days began the Sons of men not to invoke or call upon the Name of God which is directly contrary unto the English S. Hierome thus according to the tendries of the Jews as himself informs us Tunc primum in nomine Domini in similitudine ejus fabricata sunt idola then began men to set up Idols both in the Name and after the Similitude of God Hieronym Qu. Hebraic in Gen. Maymonides one of the Learnedest of the Rabbins as he is vouched by Aynsworth thus That in those days Idolatry took its first beginning and the People Worshipped the Stars and the Host of Heaven And as for those that do adhere unto the reading of the vulgar Latine Ap. Aynsw in his notes on Gen. 4. Iste coepit invocare nomen Domini which differs very little from the English Bible they are not very well agreed amongst themselves though most of them do agree in this that it is meant of publick Worship and which is more than so of set forms of worship Junius amongst the Protestants doth conceive it so Prius quidem invocavit Adam sed in familia nunc invocarunt multi sed in Ecclesiam recepti Junii Annot. in Gen. Adam saith he did in the first beginning call upon the Name of God but it was only as it were in his private Family Now began many men to do the like but such as were assembled to that purpose in a Church or body Paraeus is more plain and positive Sed an prius non fuit invocatum Had not the Name of God been called on in the former times Yes that it had saith he but privately and by a few But now the Family of Seth increasing the Church and the Religion in the same professed Paraeus in cap. 4. Gen. became much improved Et certa cultus forma fuit constituta and there was constituted and established a set form of Worship The like Pererius hath for the Pontificians who first expounding it of the Exemplary piety of Enos by preaching and instructing others in the fear of God then adds that Enos is first said to call upon the Name of the Lord Pererius in Gen. cap. 4. quia iste primus certas quasdam precationum formulas condidit because he was the first that did compose set forms of Prayer and devised several rites and ceremonies for the advancement of Gods Service Of the same mind also is Torniellus as to the gathering of Gods People into Congregations the setting out of certain forms of Prayer and Praises for the performance of Religious Worship and the appointing of set times and places for those pious duties Tunc primum institutos fuisse spirituales quosdam conventus quasdam devotas precationes puta Psalmos aut Hymnos in summi Dei laudem Torniell Annal sacri anno 236. certis temporibus locis pie cultis communiter recitandos as his words there are In which he saith no more in substance than did those before But where he adds Praecipuè diebus Sabbati that this was specially observed on the Sabbath day he hath not only found a reach beyond his fellows but plainly contradicted what he said before in another place where we are told that there had been no sanctifying of a Sabbath here on earth Id. Ibid. D. 7. till the time of Moses quando sub praecepto data est filiis Israel when as it was imposed by a Commandment on the House of Israel Thus have we found according to the Expositions of these Learned men a prescribed form of Common-prayer in the time of Enos even in the cradle of the World But being the Text hath different readings and no less different explications as before was shewn I dare not hold it a fit ground whereon to raise the building which I have in hand And if we find not here what we have in search there is but little hope to meet with it in any of the publick Acts of Noah or Abraham Gen. 8.20.12 7 13 4 c. Gen. 12.8.13.4 c. Gen. 26.25 Gen. 35.1 Gen. 33.20 of both which it is said that they built Altars and offered Sacrifice of Abraham that he called also on the Name of God Of Isaac it is also said that he built an Altar and called on the Name of the Lord and it is said of Jacob the Son of Isaac that he built two Altars the one at Bethel by the Lords appointment the other at El-Elohe-Israel of his own devotion But with what rites those Sacrifices were accompanied which were performed upon those Altars and in what solemn form of words or whether with any solemn form of words they did pour forth their prayers to Almighty God I am not able to determine Most like it is that their Devotions being occasional their Prayers and Hymns were fitted unto those occasions as before was said And that the several Actions of Religious worship which are recorded of the Patriarchs in the Book of God were occasional only without relation either to set times or places may be easily seen by looking over the particulars The Sacrifice of Noah as it was remarkable so it was occasional an Eucharistical oblation for that great deliverance which had befallen him and his Family by Gods grace
but also after they were setled in the Land of Canaan though many times it changed its seat there as occasion was even till the building of the Temple by the hand of Salomon And for the Priests who were to minister unto the Lord in his Congregation no sooner were the times determined and the place designed but the Lord gave command to Moses saying Take thou unto thee Aaron thy Brother and his Sons with him from amongst the Children of Israel Exod. 28.1 that he may minister unto me in the Priests office Unto which office as they were designed by these words of God so were they after consecrated thereunto in a solemn form by the hand of Moses the state and manner of the which is upon record in the viii Chapter of Leviticus And now and not till now were the Tribes of Israel established in a Constituted Church by the Lord their God But as once Isaac said to Abraham Behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for a Burnt-offering Gen. 22.7 So here we have the Sabbath and the solemn Festivals the Tabernacle and the Priests but where are the Sacrifices all this while where the forms of worship That now comes after in its course and that we will consider in its full extent either as legal or as moral First for the legal part thereof it was all prescribed nothing left arbitrary to the people either for the matter or the manner God knew full well that as they had been much infected with the Idolatries of Egypt where they lived before witness the Golden Calf which they made in Horeb so they were apt to be intangled in the Idolatries of those Nations which they were to neighbour and therefore thought it fittest for them to be tyed up and limited in all acts of worship by his prescriptions Which that we may the better see I shall present a brief Synopsis of those rites and ceremonies which were to be observed in these legal Sacrifices together with the Creatures to be Sacrificed according as I find them in Josephus who hath reduced into a lesser compass that which is laid down more at large in the holy Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph Antiq. Judaic l. 3. c. 10. c. The Sacrifices are of two sorts the one of them is made for a private person the other for the people in general and these are made in two manners for in the one all is consumed which is upon the Altar which for that cause is called an Holocaust or an whole Burnt-offering the other is Eucharistical or of thanksgiving and they are made with Feasts by those that Sacrifice The particular person that offered a Burnt-offering killed an Oxe a Lamb or a Goat of an year old yet it was lawful to kill an Oxe of greater age being all Males And after their Throats are cut the Priests besprinkle the Altar round about with the blood then they dress the Beast and cut it in pieces and season it with salt and lay it on the Altar ready prepared with wood and fire and having well cleansed the feet and entrails they lay them with the rest and the Priest taketh the skins They that offer the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving kill likewise such sorts of Beasts without spot and more than a year old both Male and Female and after they have cut the throats they sprinkle the blood on the Altar then they take the reins the caul and the fat with the caul about the liver and the rump and lay it on the Altar but the breast and the left leg is left unto the Priests and as touching the rest of the flesh the Priests feast therewith for the space of two days and if then there remain any thing thereof it is burned The same is also observed in the Sin-offering but those that are not of ability to make these greater offerings do bring unto the Offerings a pair of Pigeons or two young Turtles the one of which the Priests have to feast withal the other is consumed with sire He that hath sinned upon Ignorance offereth a Lamb and a she Goat at the same time and the Priest besprinkleth the Altar with the blood thereof not in the same manner as before but the horns only of the Altar and on the Altar they offer the kidneys with the rest of the fat and the caul of the liver the Priests carrying away the skins and eating the flesh within the Tabernacle the very same day because the Law permitteth not to reserve any thing until the next He that hath sinned none but himself being privie to it offereth a Lamb according as the Law commandeth the flesh whereof is eaten in like sort by the Priests the same very day But if the Princes of the People offer for their sins they do in like sort as others do save that they bring a Bull or a Male-kid The Law also ordaineth that in all Sacrifices both private and common there should be a certain quantity of fine flower brought viz. for a Lamb one Assar An Assar as I take it is the tenth part of an Ephah or three pints and an half of Ale-measure An Hin contained three quarts of our measure for a Ram two for a Bull three which is first of all mingled and wrought with oyle and then set upon the Altar to be sanctified They that Sacrifice do likewise bring oyle the balf part of an Hin for a Bull for a Ram the third part for a Lamb the fourth They brought also the like measure of wine as of oyle and poured the wine near to the Altar And if any without Sacrificing offer up fine flower he putteth the first fruits upon the Altar that is to say one handful of it and the rest is taken by the Priests either fryed for it is kneaded with oyl or in loaves made thereof But whatsoever the Priest offereth that must all be hurnt The Law likewise forbiddeth to offer any Beast whatever the same day it is born or to kill it with its Dam or in any other sort before it hath fed twelve days There are also other Sacrifices made for deliverance from sickness or for other causes in which Sacrifices they imploy wine or liquor with that which is offered of which liquors it is not lawful to reserve any thing till the next day when the Priests have taken that portion which belongeth to them So far Josephus The rest that followeth of this Argument is a recital of those Sacrifices which were appointed for the Sabbath and the other Festivals in all which every thing was prescribed and limited by the Law of God And if such care was taken by the Lord our God in the prescribing of these Sacrifices and all the Rites and Ceremonies which belonged to them being the legal part only of this publick worship there is no question to be made but that the Church took care to prescribe forms of Prayers and Praises to be used in
them which is the moral part thereof A thing which God might please to leave unto the wisdom of his Church and the Rulers of it in that being moral duties and so by consequence imprinted in the minds of men by the stamp of nature there needed not so punctual and precise a prescription of them as of the outward ceremonies which were meerly legal Now that there were set forms of Prayers and Praises used in the celebratien of these legal Sacrifices even from the very times of Moses appeareth by a memorable passage in an old Samaritan Chronicle belonging once unto the Library of Joseph Scaliger now in the custody of the Learned Primate of Armagh In which Book after relation of the death of Adrian the Emperour whom the Jews curse with Conterat Deus ossa ejus as certainly he was a deadly enemy of theirs it followeth thus Quo tempore abstulit librum optimum qui penes illos fuit Clted by the L. B. of Exeter now B. of Norwich in his Answer to the Vindication jam inde à diebus illis tranquillis pacificis qui continebat cantiones preces sacrificiis praemissas Singulis enim Sacrificiis singulas praemiserunt cantiones jam tum diebus pacis usitatas quae omnia acourato conscripta in singulas transmissa subsequentes generationes à tempore Legati Mosis sc ad hunc usque diem per ministerium Pontificum Maximorum These are the words at large as I find them cited the substance of the which is this That after the decease of Adrian the High Priest then being took away that most excellent Book which had been kept amongst them ever since the calm and peaceable times of the Israelites which contained those Songs and Prayers which were ever used before their Sacrifices there being before every several Sacrifice some several Song or Hymn still used in those times of peace all which being accurately written had been transmitted to the subsequent generations from the time of Moses the Legat or Ambassador of God to that very time by the Ministry of the High Priests of the Jewish Nation A book to which the Chronicle aforesaid gives this ample testimony Eo libro historia nulla praeter Pentateuchum Mosis antiquior invenitur that there was not to be found a more antient piece except the Pentateuch of Moses And though some men no friends to Liturgy out of a mind and purpose to disgrace the evidence have told us that the most contained in the aforesaid book Smectymn Vindicat. p. 24. were only divine Hymns wherein there was always something of Prayer In saying so they have given up their verdict for us and confirmed our evidence For if there were set Hymns or Songs premised before every Sacrifice and if that every Hymn had somewhat in it of a Prayer there must be then set forms of Hymns and Prayers used at every Sacrifice which was the matter to be proved and by them denied But to descend unto particulars there was a Song composed and sung by Moses Exod. 15. on the defeat of Pharoah and the host of Egypt which is still extant in Gods book A song sung Quire-wise as it seemeth Moses as Chanter in that holy Anthem singing verse by verse and Mary the Prophetess Aaron's Sister and all the residue of the Women with Instruments of Musick in their hands saying or singing at each verses end CANTATE DOMINO Sing ye to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and the rider hath he thrown into the Sea vers 21. Aynsworth doth so conceive it in his Notes on Exodus and Lyra on the place differs little from it Egressae sunt mulieres quibus Maria praecinebat sec quod oportebat fieri aliae respondebant sicut solet fieri in tympanis choris eodem modo fecit Moyses respecu virorum Cajetan though he differ from them both in the manner of it yet he agrees upon the matter that this Hymn or Anthem was sung Quire-wise or alternatim it being his opinion that the Women singing some spiritual song to the praise of God Cajetan in Exod. c. 15.21 Mary to every verse made answer CANTATE DOMINO Innuitur saith he quod tot choris mulierum tanquam ex una parte canentibus aliquid in divinam laudem Maria sola tanquam ex altera parte canebat initium supra scripti Cantici that viz. which was sung by Moses But whatsoever manner there was used in the singing of it it seems the Jews did afterwards make Use thereof in their publick Liturgy For thus saith Hooker in his Book of Ecclesiastical Polity Hook Eccl. Pol. lib. 5. n. 26. That very Hymn of Moses whereof now we speak grew afterwards to be a part of the ordinary Jewish Liturgie and not that only but sundry others since invented their Books of Common prayer containing partly Hymns taken out of the holy Scriptures partly Thanksgivings Benedictions and Supplications penned by such as were from time to time the Governors of that Synagogue All which were sorted into several times and places some to begin the Service of God withal and some to end some to go before and some to follow after and some to be interlaced between the divine readings of the Law and Prophets Nor is there any thing more probable than that unto their custom of finishing the Passeover with certain Psalms the holy Evangelist doth evidently allude saying That after the Cup delivered by our Saviour unto his Apostles they sung and so went forth to the Mount of Olives What ground that eminent and learned man had for the first part of his Assertion viz That the song of Moses grew afterwards to be a part of the Jewish Liturgy although he hath not pleased to let us know yet I am confident he had good ground for what he said But for the latter part thereof that the Evangelist doth allude unto certain Psalms used at the finishing of the Jewish Passeover I think there is not any thing more clear and evident For proof whereof and that we may the better see with what set form of Prayers and Praises the Passeover was celebrated by the Jews of old Joseph Scalig. de emend Temp. 1.6 we will make bold to use the words of Joseph Scaliger who describes it thus All things being readily prepared and the guests assembled Offam azymam in Embamma intingebat Paterfamilias c. The Father of the Family or Master of the House dipped the unleavened bread into the sawce which was forthwith eaten Another part thereof being carefully reserved under a napkin was broke into as many pieces as there were several guests in the Paschal Chamber each piece being of the bigness of an Olive and each delivered severally to the guests as they sate in order That done he takes the Cup and having drank thereof gives it to the next he to a second and so in order to the rest till they all had
I and my House and the Sons of Aaron thy holy people have sinned and done wickedly c. I beseech thee now O Lord be merciful c. as in the other forms before delivered Finally as there was a form prescribed the Priests in which to make Confession of their own and the peoples sins to the Lord their God so if the people were Impenitent and neither would be brought unto repentance or amendment of life they had their forms of Excommunication also Witness the solemn form in use amongst them in Excommunicating the Samaritans In the denouncing of which censure they brought together 300 Priests and 300 Trumpets and 300 Books of the Law and 300 Boys and they blew with the Trumpets and the Levites singing accursed the Cuttbaeans or Samaritans in the name of Tetragrammaton or JEHOVAH and with the curses both of the higher and lower House of judicature and said Cursed is he who eats the bread of the Cutthaean and let no Cutthaean be a Proselyte in Israel Drusius in Seph Tanhuma neither have any part in the resurrection of the just Which Curse being wrote on Tables and sealed up was published over all the Coasts of Israel who multiplied this great Anathema or Curse upon them Nothing can be more plain than this that in almost all sacred and religious duties which were to be performed in publick the Jews had anciently their appointed and determinate forms as well as their appointed and determinate either times or places But against this it is objected out of Rabbi Maimony that from the time of Moses unto Ezra there was no stinted form of Prayer heard of in the Jewish Church but every man prayed according unto his ability Smectymn Vindicat. p. 25. To which the Answer is in brief that they who have produced this place out of Rabbi Maimony dare not stand upon it conceiving it to be no testimony to command belief Secondly that the Rabbi in the place alledged speaks not of publick but of private prayers And thirdly that the place is curtalled to make it serve the turn the better For look upon the place at large and we find it thus We are commanded to pray every day as it is written And ye shall serve the Lord your God Exod. xxiii 25. We have been taught that this Service is Prayer as it is written And to serve him with all your heart Our wise men have said what Service is this with the heart It is Prayer And there is no number of Prayers by the Law neither is there any set form of this Prayer by the Law nor any appointed time for prayer by the Law And therefore Women and Servants are bound to pray because it is a Commandment the time whereof is not determined But the duty of this Commandment is thus that a Man make Supplication and Prayer every day and shew forth the praise of the holy blessed God and afterward ask such things as be needful for him by request and by supplication and afterward give praise and thanks unto the Lord for his goodness which he abundantly ministreth unto him every one according to his might If he be accustomed unto it let him use such Supplication and Prayer and if he be of uncircumcised lips let him speak according as he is able at any time when he will and so they make Prayers every one according unto his ability This is the place at large in Rabbi Maimony Maymoni cited by Ayns Deut. 6.13 And who sees not that this must be interpreted of private prayer or else it will conclude as strongly against appointed times and places for the performance of this holy exercise as against the forms and then what will become of the blessed Sabbath the day of Prayer or of the holy Temple the House of Prayer Must not they also be discharged on the self-same grounds Or were it meant of publick Prayer as it cannot be all that can be inferred is no more than this that God prescribed no set form or number of prayers in the Book of the Law which makes but little to the purpose For it was said and shewed before that Moses was more punctual and precise in laying down the form and matter of the legal Sacrifices by which the Jews were to be nourished in the faith of Christ and with the which they had not been acquainted in the former times than in prescribing forms of Prayer and Praises being moral duties in which they had been trained from their very infancy Now to this argument derived from the Authority of the Jewish Rabbins we must needs add another which is made against them and that is that the evidence of all this as also of much of that which followeth comes from no better Author than Maimonides Smectymn in Vindicat. p. 23. who wrote not till above a thousand years after Christ Against which weak objection for it is no other we have a very strong respondent even the famous Scaliger Who having made a full description of those rites and forms wherewith the Passeover was solemnized in the former times collected from the Writings of the Jewish Rabbins thinks it as idle and ridiculous to except against them because observed by Writers of a later date though from the best Records and Monuments of that scattered Nation as if a man reading the Pandects of the Civil Law composed in Justinians time should make a question whether those judgments and opinions ascribed unto Paepinian Paulus Vlpianus were theirs or not Quod nemo sanus dixerit Scaliger de emendat Temp. l. 6. Quod nemo sanus dixerit which none saith he except a mad-man would make question of And so these rubs being thus removed and in part anticipated we will go forwards with our search in the Name of God But first before we end this Chapter considering that there were set forms of Marriages and set rites of Burial and those of great Antiquity in the Jewish Church I will here put them down in the way of Corollary For though they were no part of the publick worship yet doubtless they were parts of the publick Liturgy and being performed with Prayer and Invocation of Gods holy Name they deserve place here And first for Marriage in the solemnities thereof they observed this form The time appointed being come the Bride and Bridegroom were conducted by their special Friends who are styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children of the Bride-Chamber Mat. 9.15 in S. Matthews Gospel to the Marriage-house which from the Blessings and Thanksgivings which were used therein on these occasions was called Beth Hillula the House of Praise There in an Assembly of ten men at the least the Writing or Bill of Dowry being ratied before a Scrivener or publick Notary the Man thus said unto the Woman Esto mihi in uxorem secundum legem Mosis Israel Ego juxta verbum Dei colam te honorabo te With my body I thee worship alam
prayer made by him at the Dedication of it The substance and effect whereof is no more than this that in what misery or distress soever the people of the Lord should fall into either by temporal plauges and punishments which assault without or on the apprehension of their sins which assails within If they poured forth their souls to God either in or towards his holy Temple the Lord would hear them and deliver them out of all their troubles And so much is summed up by Josephus briefly Joseph Judaic Antiq. l. 8. c. 2. briefly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If it shall so fall out saith he that thy People go astray and that afterwards being punished by thee with death pestilence or any such chastisement wherewithal thou reclaimest those that offend against thee to the observance of thy Laws if then they have recourse unto this Temple beseeching and requiring thee of mercy that thou wouldest please to hear them and have mercy on them and deliver them from their Adversities Nor was it without special reason that God amongst so many Ministeries as were performed in and about his Temple should single out the exercise of prayer by which to give denomination to this holy place for by that name the House of Prayer he hath been pleased to call it twice in one verse of Esay Isa 56.7 Or that our Saviour Christ should be so scandalized at those which sold Doves in the verge thereof or at the Tables of the Money-changers Mat. 21. being so necessary or at least convenient for those who came from remote places that they might easily provide their offerings there and dispatch their business with the greater speed Why else was this but that our Saviour looked on it as a place for Sacrifice wherein his legal worship was to be performed in the Oblations of Bulls and Goats Turtles and Pidgeons and the like but as a place intended for his moral worship wherein his People were to offer the calves of their lips or at the least as on a place which was more grateful to him as an House for Prayer than as a Slaughter-house for Sacrifice His saying that he would have mercy and not sacrifice shews us how little he esteemed of the legal duties in respect of moral So then the Temple was an House of Prayer and built most chiefly for the Use Which being an action meerly moral was notwithstanding to be waited on with such rites and gestures wherewith the earnestness of their Petitions and the humility of the Petitioners might be at once presented to the Lord their God Not that these outward rites and gestures have in all times and places been the same alike for I know well they have been may be varied according unto times and seasons the customs and conditions of several Nations but that in many of them and those the principal there hath been an unanimous agreement over all the world The first of those which we shall speak of in this place is that which was first used in this holy Temple which was the kneeling on the knee and then the lifting up of the hands to God For so we find it of K. Solomon at the first Consecration of it and in the prayer of Consecration that he kneeled on his knees before the Altar and his hands spread up unto the Heavens 1 King 8.54 But behold a greater than Solomon is here for Christ our Saviour when he prayed to God that that Cup if it were possible might pass from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fell upon his knees and prayed as S. Luke procidit super terram He fell upon the ground and prayed Luk. 22.41 Mark 14.31 Mat. 26.35 Psalm 95. as S. Mark procidit super faciem suam He fell upon his face and prayed as S. Matthew hath it Our Saviour being both the Lord and the Son of David was not to seek in David's lesson where he doth call upon the people and invite them saying O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker He which is all in all did all this and more I know it is conceived that commonly the Jews did stand upon their feet in the act of Prayer and for the proof thereof is brought as well the instance of the Pharisee and the Publican of both whom it is said that they stood and prayed as also an old Saying used amongst that people Sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus Christ Synag l. 1. c. 6. § 5. But clearly this is to be understood of private Prayers whether made in the Temple as that of the Publican and the Pharisee before instanced in or in the fields the ways a mans secret closet which cannot but be much subservient unto the general subsistence of the Universe in which they were at liberty to stand or kneel and did stand most commonly not of the publick acts of worship in the Congregation Davids Venite adoremus makes this sure enough Yet we will make it somewhat surer if it may be possible by adding to this Text of David the Gloss or Commentary of the Jewish Rabbins and they t ell us this that in the place of David there are three several gestures of humiliation in the sight of God and that they all differed from one another The bending of the body spoken of in any place is towards the knees the bowing of all the joynts of the back-bone so that he makes his body as a bow the bending of the head is with the face or countenance downward the bowing of ones self or worshipping is the displaying of hands and feet till he be prostrate with his face on the earth And they conceived that every one of these had its several Use it being noted by them that the bending of the head with the face to the ground was to escape judgement the bowing of themselves or worshipping to obtain mercy and that the bending of the head was before the worshipping according to the mystery of the Sin-offering before the Burnt-offering This is observed by Maimony in his book of Prayer Cited by Aynsworth Exod. 4.31 and so most like to be the usual gestures in the Act of prayer In those particulars of kneeling and spreading of the hands to Heaven the Jews and Gentiles hold good correspondence with one another In other rites concerning Prayer they extreamly differed the Gentiles looking towards the East whereof more hereafter and the Jews praying towards the West if in the Temple because the Ark by Gods appointment was placed in the West end thereof Otherwise when they were abroad or in foreign Countreys they turned their faces toward Hierusalem from what Coast soever as appears evidently by Daniel's practice when he was a Prisoner in the Land of Babylon Dan. 6.10 It is reported also out of Drusius a man exceedingly well skilled in all the knowledge of the Hebrews that when they prayed their heads were covered
deceat The meaning in both passages is no more than this that Christ obliged not his Disciples to the very words but only shewed them how they were to pray and what to pray for if they would order them aright and did desire to have them acceptable in the sight of God To this doth Musculus agree besides many others whom here indeed I had not named but that he doth translate the Text in a different manner from all the rest which I have met with For whereas Beza Calvin Erasmus Castalio Paraeus and indeed who not do read it sic orate as the Vulgar doth Musculus to decline the easier all set Forms of prayer Musculus in Mat. c. 6. doth translate it thus ad hunc ergo modum orate pray according to this manner and thereupon infers non dicit hanc ergo orationem vel haec verba proferte c. Christ doth not say saith he repeat this Prayer or use these words which you hear me speak but let your Prayers be made by this rule and pattern which is laid before you In which if they intend no more than this that Christ our Saviour did not so confine his followers to those very words but that they might express their minds and represent their Prayers unto the Lord in such other Forms as might be serviceable to that end and purpose for which Prayers are made they shall take me with them I know not any sober-minded man who will gain-say them in this matter if they mean no otherwise S. Augustin did so state it many years agone Liberum quidem est saith he aliis atque aliis verbis eadem tamen quae haec oratio continet in orando dicere sed non est liberum alia diversa contraria dicere Augustin in epist 121. ad Probam But if they mean that this celestial Form was made for imitation only not at all for use I mean not to be used precisely in our saviours words I must needs crave their pardon if I leave them there For when it is affirmed by Musculus non dicit hanc ergo orationem vel haec verba proferte when it is said by Calvin non jubet Christus suos conceptis verbis orare when it is thought to be so hard a task to prove from Scripture Vindicat. p. 23. that the Disciples were tyed to the use of this Form and that the often reiterating thereof in our publick Liturgy is judged a matter so impertinent as to be reckoned for a stumbling block before the feet of many Smectymn p. 12. I cannot sec but that their meaning is to exclude the use of this divine and Heavenly Prayer from Gods publick Worship if not from the devotions also of Gods Saints in private This if it be their mind and meaning as by the practice of some men it may seem to be I must there leave them to themselves Our Saviours dicite delivered plainly and expresly in his holy Gospel is no idle word who being required by his Disciples to teach them what and how to pray tells them in plain terms Dicite say Our Father which art in Heaven with the rest that followeth And this as is affirmed by good interpreters and very faintly if at all gain-said by Calvin in his hac ale re cum nemine pugnare volo was at a different time and on a different occasion from that which by S. Matthew was before related Though sic or ad hunc modum as it is in Musculus may serve exceeding well for imitation yet Dicite of it self without either of them will not be denied to serve as strongly for the use And sure the Fathers so conceived it Of whom thus Cyprian Qui enim fecit vivere docuit orare ut dum prece oratione quam filius docuit apud patrem loquimur facilius exaudiamur He Cyprian de Oratione Dominica saith the holy Martyr who made us to live hath also taught us to pray that while we speak unto the Father in that prayer and orizon which the Son hath taught us we may be heard with more facility And not long after Agnoscat pater filii verba cum precem facimus Let the Almighty Father hear the words of hsi blessed Son when we make our prayers The like to which we have in Chrysostom if not hence derived Opus imperfect in Mat. Homil. 14. Cognoscit Pater filii sui sensus verba that the Heavenly Father knows right well the words and meanin gof his Son And what else doth Tertullian mean when he informs us that this most excellent prayer being then animated by the spirit when it proceeded from the divine mouth of our Lord and Saviour Suo privilegio ascendit in coelum commendans Patri quae filius docuit doth by a special priviledge ascend to Heaven Tertul. de Oratione commending to the Father those devotions which were taught and dictated by the Son Add here the care that hath been taken in the times of old that Children should be taught this Prayer in their tender years for which consult S. Austin Serm. 1. Mat. 2. in Dominica 10. de Christiano nomine Concil Rhemens cap. 2. and then I doubt not but it will appear to indifferent men that this most excellent Form of Prayer was prescribed for use and not laid down only for our imitation and no more than so So then we have a Form of Prayer prescribed by Christ to his Disciples to be used by them on occasions at the least in private When it became a part of the publick Liturgy and by whose Authority we shall shortly see In the mean time the next thing here to be considered is the institution of the Sacraments in both of which our Lord prescribed not the matter only but the Form and words wherewith the one is to be ministred and the other celebrated But you must understand me of that Form those words which are essential to the Sacraments and not of those which have been added by the Chuch for the procuring of a greater reverence to those Acts of Worship and the exciting of devotion in all those that attend the Service The Form of Baptism so determined in those words of Christ go ye and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Mat. 28.19 That when the Arrians were suspected not to use the same but rather to Baptize in nomine patris per filium in Sp. sancto as 't is said they did it was decreed in the Council of Arles that if upon examination it did so appear Nicephorus hist Eccl. l. 13. c. 35. Concil Arelatons Can. 8. those who had been Baptized in so void a Form should be a new admitted to that holy Sacrament And for the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist so far forth as the Rites and Form of Celebration used by Christ our Saviour are declared in
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I believe in one unbegotten and only true God Almighty Father of Christ maker of all things and in our Lord Jesus Christ his only begotten Son c. Next after followeth a set Form of prayer used by the Bishop in Consecrating of the Oyl or Chrism and sanctifying of the Water And finally this prayer to be said by them who were newly brought into the Church by Baptism Id. ibid. c. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give me a body undefiled a pure heart a watchful mind knowledge without error together with the presence of the holy Spirit that I may both attain and hold fast the truth without doubt or wavering through Christ our Lord with whom be glory unto thee in the Holy Ghost world without end Amen The sum of what is said before in these two last Authors Clemens I mean and Dionysius because the Writings attributed to them are by the Learned thought to be none of theirs we shall find presently confirmed in the words of those who lived shortly after and are of an unquestioned credit amongst all Divines both of the Protestant party and the Church of Rome In the mean time we will sit down and repose our selves concluding here so much of the present search as may be found in any of the Writings of the holy Apostles or such as claim the reputation of being Apostolical men the Scholars and Successors of the blessed spirits though now disclaimed for such by our choicer judgements And yet before I leave this Age I will see if any thing occur in St. Ignatius touching a Form of Common-prayer or Invocation used by the Christians of his time who being said to be that Child on whom our Saviour laid his hands saying Except ye receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a little Child c. But howsoever questionless the Apostles Scholar and Successor to S. Peter in the See of Antioch hath informed us thus in his Epistle to the Magnesians of which no scruple hath been raised amongst Learned men omnes ad orandum in idem loci convenite una sit communis precatio una mens una spes in charitate Ignat. Epist ad Magness c. By which it seemeth that as the Magnesians had a Church or meeting place to which they usually resorted as a House of Prayer of which more hereafter so they had also una Communis precatio one certain Form of Common-prayer in which they all concurred as if spirited by one soul and governed by one hope in charity and faith unblamable in the Lord Christ Jesus Which is as much as we could look for in those times and from a man whose writings are not many nor of any greatness his custom being to express himself as briefly as the nature of Epistles could invite him to That in this Age the day of worship was translated from the last day of the week to the first or to the Lords-day from the Sabbath will not here be doubted nor can it be much questioned amongst sober men but that the Chrisitans of these times did Celebrate the Feast of Easter together with that of Whitsontide as we call them now in honour of the Resurrection of their Lord and Saviour and of the coming down of the Holy Ghost according to the Annual Revolution of those great occasions That which hath most been doubted for this Time and Age is whether the Christians had their places of publique worship and whether those places of worship had the name of Churches both which I think may be concluded in the affirmative by convincing arguments And first it is affirmed for an old Tradition in the Church of Christ and proved so to be by Adricomius out of several Authors that the Coenaculum or upper Chamber in which the Apostles met together after Christs Ascension was by them used for a place of publick worship Luk. 22.12 this being said to be that Room in which our Saviour Instituted the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood the same in which the Apostles met for the choice of one in the place of Judas Act. 1.13 Act. 2.1 Act. 6.4 6. Act. 15.6 the same in which the Holy Ghost descended on them at the Feast of Pentecost the same in which they were Assembled to elect the seven And finally the same in which they held the first General Council for pacifying the disputes about Circumcision and other ceremonial parts of the Law of Moses This was called then by the name of Coenaculum Sion or the upper Chamber of Sion supposed by some to have been a part of the House of Simon the Leper but howsoever of some Disciple of rank and quality who willingly had devoted it to the use of the Church it being the custom of such men in those early days when they were not suffered to erect more magnificent Fabricks to dedicate some convenient part of their dwelling houses for the Assembling of Gods people and the acts of worship Thus find we in the Recognitions of Clemens that the House of Theophilus in the City of Antioch to whom S. Luke dedicated both his Gospel and Book of Acts was by him converted to a Church for the use of Christians and in the Acts of Pudens whom we find mentioned by S. Paul in the second to Timothy that he gave his House unto the Church for the same use also and such an House or such an upper Chamber rather so given and dedicated is that thought to be in which S. Paul preached at Troas and from a window whereof Eutychus fell down and was took up dead Act. 20.8 But to return again to the Coenaculum Sion before-mentioned certain it is that in relation to those duties of Religion which were there performed it was inclosed afterwards with a beautiful Church commonly called the Church of Sion and by S. Cyril a godly Bishop of Jerusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Hier. catech 16. the upper Church of the Apostles in which the Holy Ghost is there said by him to have fallen upon them begirt in following times with the Cels or Lodgings of religious persons in the form of a Monastery of which Bede thus In superiori montis Sion planicie Beda Tom 3. de locis sanctis monachorum cellulae Ecclesiam magnam circundant illic ut perhibent ab Apostolis fundatam eo quod ibi spiritum sanctum accepere in qua etiam locus coenae Domini venerabilis ostenditur That is to say in the uppermost plain of Mount Sion the Cels of Monks begirt a fair and spacious Church there founded as it is affirmed by the holy Apostles because in that place they had received the Holy Ghost and where they shew the place in which the Lord did institute his holy Supper Where by the way this Church is said to have been founded by the Apostles not that they built it from the ground but because being
they whose they will And with as little justice do they use S. Austin whose words they bring to prove that it was free for Christians to pray as their occasions did require Vindication p. 17. without being limited to prescribed prayers This they are brought to prove indeed they say well in that For they are thus brought in in another place viz. And to the same purpose that there were then no such stinted Liturgies S. Austin in his 121. Ep. Liberum est c. It is free to ask the same things which are in the Lords prayer Smectymn p. 7. aliis atque aliis verbis sometimes one way and sometimes another But doth this prove think they that in those times there were no stinted Liturgies which is the matter to be proved I cannot possibly believe they think so whatsoever they say The Father in that place as they know full well speaks of private prayer and sheweth that in addressing our desires to God we are not bound to use the very syllables and words of the Lords prayer only I trow none ever said we were Certain I am that there is no such doctrine preached by any of the Sons of the Church of England Besides if there were publick Liturgies in S. Austins times as they seem to grant because they say they will not peremptorily say there were not Vindication ibid. and we say they are peremptory enough when there is ground for it Then certainly whatever might be done in private it was not free nor lawful to ask the same thing in the publick service of the Church aliis atque aliis verbis in other words than were prescribed in those Liturgies And so the testimony out of Austin is neither so full unto the purpose as they did intend nor hath it proved the matter it was brought to prove Id. ibid. So far was that good Father from decrying either the benefit or use of publick Liturgies that as we saw before he derives their petigree not only from the Apostles times ab ipsts Apostolorum temporibus as his own words are but also from their words and warrant and therefore was not like to countenance so bold a freedom of praying in Gods publick worship with what words we listed or indeed any other than the prescribed Forms But this being only his opinion as a private man it may be some will take it to be more authentick if he delivered it in Synod and had therein the suffrage and consent of all the Fathers there Assembled And possible it is that it may be so For in the body of the Canons which as they stand in Balsamons collections are called the Canons of the Council of carthage and so they are in that of Zonaras but as collected by Justellus are called in general the Canons of the Church of Africa there is one runs thus entituled De precibus quae debent fieri ad Altare Touching the prayers to be made at the Altar Codex Can. Eccl. Africn c. 103. Hoc quoque placuit ut precationes quae in Synodo confirmatae sunt sive Praefationes sive Commendationes sive manus impositiones ab omnibus peragantur omnino aliae adversus fidem nunquam proferantur sed quae à sapientioribus colleciae sunt dicentur i. e. It seemeth good unto us say the Fathers that those prayers which have been approved of in the Synod whether that they be Prefaces or Commendations or laying on of hands that is in Ordination as I conceive and I will tell you why anon be performed by all that none which be against the faith be said in publick but only such as have been formerly composed by wise and understanding men This Canon if it were made in any time between the year 395. and 430. it is most likely that S. Austin had a hand in the making of it for so long he sate Bishop of the Church of Hippo. v. baron in Annal. eccl An. 395.430 Binius in editione Concil To. 1. For if it were decreed in the third of Carthage which seems to have a touch of something of it Can. 23. it must be then An. 397. as it is ranked by Baronius if in the Council of Milevis whither some refer it it falls into the year 416. by the same account at one of which S. Austin was and at both of them might be present for ought I know unto the contrary But the truth is the Canons of these African Councils are much disordered in all collections of them which I yet have seen This Canon in the collection made by zonaras being the 117th in that of Balsamon Can. 106. in the Code published by Justellus his 103. and amongst those ascribed to the Milevitan Council 't is in rank the 12th But howsoever it be placed in this rank or that it seems it was not made without good occasion For as it is observed by Balsamon Balsamon notae in Concil Carth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some Bishops then as since some Presbyters have done endeavoured to introduce new Forms of their own devising And yet it was not only the Bishops fault some of the Priests was no less active in the Innovation Zonaras in Concil Carthagin Can. 117. and unto them it is referred by Zonaras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he tells us there And this not only in the ministration of the daily prayers but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very act of Ordination in which the Bishop laying hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the head of him that was to be ordained used certain prayers Fically he resolves that in all the several Acts of publick Worship before remembred the prayers confirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not first devised in that Synod should be only used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. ibid. and that no new ones brought into the Church by any one whosoever he was should be entertained The reason of the which as 't is touched before so is it more expresly manifested in that of the Milevitan Council if it were of that Ne forte aliquid contra sidem Concil Milevit Can. 12. vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum lest else perhaps either through ignorance or want of care something against the rule of Faith be composed and published So then this was no new restraint and much less the first whereby the liberty of Prayer or praying by a Form of ones own devising was prescribed and limited as some give it out Smectymn p. 7. but a Reviver only or a Confirmation of the antient Canons by which it had been limited and prescribed before As for the Canon of the third of Carthage in which it seems to be permitted to the Minister to use such Prayers in the officiating Gods divine Service concerning which cum fratribus instructioribus contulerit he had before conferred with the learned Brethren Id. Ibid. when they can prove that Canon to be made in
and doth not only reach the Priests but caeteros omnes praesEntes all who were present in the Church Anastas Ep. ap Binium in To. 2. Concil And doubtless 't was in use before though but now enjoyned Sozomen blaming it in the Alexandrians and he lived long before the time of Anastasius that at the reading of the Gospels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop stood not up as in other places Sozomen hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 19. Yet you must understand it so that they used not to stand upright sed curvi venerabundi saith the letter decretal but with the bowing of the body as in the way of adoration and more than so too if the name of Jesus did occur in the reading of it they used with all reverence and duty to bow the knee which in those parts and times was the greatest sign both of humility and subjection Of this we need no other witness than the great S. Ambrose whose speaking in his Hexaemeron Ambros in opera Hexaem l. 6. c. 9. touching the particular office of each several member he makes the bowing of the knee at the name of Jesus the proper duty of that part Kneeling they used both in the act of Prayer and Invocation as also in the participation or receiving of the blessed Sacrament First in the act of Prayer or Invocation for when Tertullian blamed it in the Gentiles that they did assidere sub aspectu contraque aspectum ejus Tertullian de Orat. cap. 12. Origen in Numer Homil. 5. sit down irreverently before their Gods as soon as they had done their Prayers And when as Origen asks the reason quod genua flectimus orantes why we should kneel upon our knees in the time of Prayer both of them put it out of question that in the act of Prayer or Invocation the Christians of those early times were upon their knees Next for the reverence which they used in the time of Participation the least that can be said of them is that they received the Sacrament upon their knees What else can be the meaning of that of Ambrose where he informeth us of the Christians of his time that they did carnem Christi in mysteriis adorare adore the flesh of Christ in the holy mysteries Ambros de Sp. S. lib. 3. c. 12. Chrysost Homil. 3. in Ephes or that of Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When thou seesT all things ready at the great Kings Table the Angels ministring at the same the King in presence and thou thy self provided of a Wedding garment cast thy self down upon thy knees at least and so Communicate And what else think you caused the Gentiles to accuse the Christians living in S. Austins time for worshipping Ceres and Bacchus two good Belly-gods August contra Faustum Man l. 20. c. 13. but that they were observed to kneel when they received the Bread and Wine in the blessed Eucharist And all this done with hands stretched out and heads uncovered manibus expansis Tertullian Apologet. c. 30. Basil Ep. 63. capite nudo as Tertullian hath it and as S. Basil doth observe of Gregory Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he used not to be covered in the time of prayer Add that they turned towards the East in the act of worship whereof consult with Justin Martyr in his Book of Questions and Answers ad Orthodopes Qu. 118. Tertullian in his Apologetick chap. 16. Origen in his 5. Homily on the Book of Numbers not to say any thing of those who came after them And then we have a perfect view of the most usual and material orders used by the Primitive Christians in Gods publique service Before I do conclude this Age I shall subjoyn some few notes on the Gloria Patri retained on so good grounds in this Church of England so oft repeated in the divine service of the same so solemnly and reverently pronounced by those who either understand their own Christian duties or the intentions of the antient holy Catholick Church And those remembrances I shall reduce unto these three heads First I shall shew the Antiquity and Original of it Secondly when and by what Authority it became a part of the publick Liturgies And thirdly in what posture Gods people used to put themselves as often as there was occasion to pronounce the same Concerning the Antiquity of the Gloria Patri I know it is referred by some to the Council of Nice or the times immediately succeeding and that it is by them conceived to have been framed of purpose for a Counterpoise to the Arian Heresie and to train up the people in the right perswasion of the holy Trinity And were it so it need not be ashamed of its Original or look into the world for a better petigree the space of 1300 years and more being abundantly sufficient to procure it credit and set it far enough above the reach of contentious men But yet S. Basil who lived near that Council Basil de Sp. S. c. 27. Id. ibid. c. 29. goes a great deal higher and fetcheth the Original of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the tradition of the Apostles and cites some of the antient Fathers and amongst them S. Clemens the Apostles Scholar and Dionysius of Alexandria who died long time before this Council and in whose writings this doxology was expresly found For the Apostles being commanded by their Lord and Saviour to teach and Baptize all people in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost there is no question to be made but that in due conformity to their Masters pleasure they did accordingly proceed and for a preparatory thereunto required of such as were to be added to the Church a solemn profession of that Faith into which they were to be Baptized And this Confession of the Faith he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original and mother as it were of that Doxologie then and of long time used in the Church of Christ Id. ibid. c. 27. And then it followeth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That as they had received so they did Baptize and as they did Baptize so they did believe Id. ibid. Ep. 78. and as they did believe so they also glorified But they Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and they believed in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost and therefore also had some Form of ascribing Glory to the Father Son and Holy Ghost which was the Form remaining on record in those antient Fathers whose names there occur And this he further proves by an antient ceremony used of old at Candle tinding which he ascribeth also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the tradition of the Fathers but by which of them devised or first introduced that he could not tell Onely he noteth that at the first bringing in of the Evening lights the people were
holy Trinity than by this Form and in the constant uniformity of that antient Gesture which hath been recommended to us from the purest Ages and the most glorious lights of the Christian World CHAP. VIII Touching the Dedication of Churches and the Anniversary Feasts thereby occasioned 1. Dedication of Religious places used antiently by all Nations and the Reasons why 2. A Repetition of some things that were said before with reference and application to the point in hand 3. The Tabernacle consecrated by Gods own appointment and the consequents of it 4. Antiquity of the like Dedications amongst the Romans and by whom performed 5. The Form and Ceremonies used in those Dedications by the Antient Romans 6. The Antiquity and constant usage of such Dedications in the Church of Christ 7. Titulus and Encoenia what they signifie in the Ecclesiastical notion 8. The great Solemnities and Feasts used by the Jews and Gentiles in the Dedication of their Temples 9. As also by the Primitive Christians 10. Dedication Feasts made Anniversary by the Roman Gentiles 11. And by the Christians in the times of their greatest purity 12. Continued till our times in the Church of England 13. The Conclusion of the whole and the Authors submission of it to the Supreme Powers HAving thus found out Liturgies and set Forms of Worship in the best and purest times of the Christian Church together with certain places and appointed times for the performance of those Offices of Religious Worship in the said Liturgies prescribed It remains now that we speak somewhat as by way of Corollary touching the Dedication of those places in which those Acts and Offices of Religious Worship were to be performed it being consonant to Reason that holy Actions should be celebrated in an holy place and places are not otherwise hallowed than by the Dedication of them unto holy Use For howsoever in themselves they be but ordinary Houses made of Lime and Stone and may be put to any use which the Founder pleaseth yet being once consecrated by the Word and prayer they become forthwith Holy Ground and carry with them such an awful reverence in Religious minds as is not given to other houses houses to eat and drink in as the Scripture calleth them And so we are to understand that of Thomas Aquinas who in the stating of this Question hath resolved it thus Quod Ecclesia Altare alia hujusmodi inanimata consecrantur non quia sunt gratiae susceptiva Thom. 3. par qu. 83. Artic. 3. sed quia ex consecratione adipiscuntur quandam spiritalem virtutem per quam apta redduntur divino cultui Churches saith he Altars and things inanimate are not therefore consecrated because they are susceptible of any divine Grace conferred upon them but because they do obtain thereby some spiritual fitness which before they had not and which doth render them more proper for Religious Offices Besides which influence which they gain by these Consecrations on the minds of such who piously refort unto them they are thereby exempted also from the power of those by whom they were first built or founded who otherwise might challenge a propriety in them That which the ground and charge of building made the house of Man is made by Consecration the House of God and being once dedicated to his holy Service the property thereof is vested in him and in him alone The Founder cannot take it back or reserve any part of it for his own private use or pleasure without sin and sacriledg Such was that of Ananias Acts 5.2 who when he sold his House kept back part of the money as if he would divide the sum betwixt God and himself The Gentiles by the light of Nature had discerned thus much and therefore in the Consecration of their Temples they did use these words Se ex profano usu humano jure Templum cellam Alex. ab Alex. Gen. Dier l. 6. c. 14. mensas arulas quaeque eo pertinent eximere That is to say That they exempt from the right of Men and all profane and common usage the Temple Table Vaults and Altars and all things which pertained unto them appropriating them unto the service of that God to whom the Fabrick was intended in the Dedication A matter of such general use that it was commonly observed both by the Patriarchs before the Law by the Jews under the Law by the Gentiles without the Law and finally by the Christians being a body made up both of Jews and Gentiles in the times of the Gospel In looking over whose proceedings touching this particular and thereby justifying the right use of those Dedications we will first search into the Antiquity Universality and first Authors of them next into the great Solemnities and magnificent Feasts accustomably observed in them and finally on the Annual Revolution of those solemn Feasts appointed by all sorts of Men in memorial of them And first for laying down the Antiquity and first Authors of them it is necessary that we look back on something which was said before touching the practice of the Patriarchs and some of the godly Princes of the House of Jacob. And first whereas the Scripture telleth us of Abraham that he planted a Grove in Beersheba and called there on the Name of the Lord Gen. 21.33 the everlasting God The meaning of which place is by Expositors left uncertain as before we noted yet the succeding practice both of Jews and Gentiles in consecrating Groves for superstitious and Idolatrous Uses mention whereof is very frequent in the Scriptures makes it plain and evident that they concdeived this planting of a Grove by Abraham was but the consecrating of it to the service of God for invocating on the Name of the Lord Jehovah Greater Antiquity than this as we need not seek so a more holy Author of those Dedications we can hardly find And yet the practice and Authority of Jacob is not much short of it either in point of reputation or respect of time of whom it is recorded that he took the Stone which he had put for his Pillow Gen. 28.17 and set it up for a Pillar and poured Oyl on the top of it and then and not till then that it was thus consecrated he called the name of the place BETHEL which by interpretation is the House of God Look what effect this Act of Jacob did produce and we shall find first that God took unto himself the name of the God of Bethel as a place dedicated for his Worship Gen. 31. v. 13. And secondly that in reference to this Consecration it was thought the fittest place for Jacob even by God himself to offer sacrifice to the Lord and to pay his vows Gen. 35.16 Nor can I doubt but that when Jeroboam the Son of Nebat made choice of Bethel 1 Kings 12.9 to be the seat for one of his Golden Calves he had respect unto the consecration of this place by the
themselves had seen the Twelve had a preheminence above the rest of the Disciples in those three particulars first in their nearness of access unto him when he was alive Secondly in the latitude of their commission when he was to leave them And thirdly in the height of their authority after his departure For first the twelve Apostles and no others were the continual constant and domestical Auditors of all his Sermons the diligent beholders and observers of all his Miracles With them did he discourse familiarly propounding questions answering their demands and satifying all their scruples The Twelve and none but they were present with him when he did institute his holy Supper and they alone participated of those Prayers and Promises which he made to them from himself or for them to his heavenly Father Many there were of his retinue of his Court not few the Twelve were only of his Council and of those too some more especially admitted to his privacies and of his Cabinet-council as it were than others whereof see Matth. 17.1 Mark 14.33 Luke 8.51 And on this ground doth Clemens tell us Clemens Alex. ap Euseb l. 2. c. 1. that Christ imparted many things unto these three after his Ascension which they communicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the rest of the Apostles the rest of the Apostles to the 70. As they were nearer in access so were they furnished with a more liberal Commission Mark 16. when he was to leave them Ite in universum mundum He said unto them Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature No such commission granted to any others who had their several precincts and bounds a limited Commission when it was at best To the Eleven for unto them alone did he give that charge the whole World went but for a Diocess Chrys Tom. 8. p. 110. edit Savill For this cause Chrysostom doth honour them with the stile of Princes and Princes of a great command over all the Universe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Apostles were ordained Princes by the hand of God Princes which have not only under them some Towns and Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but such unto whose care the whole World was trusted So far that Father And if we doubt that their authority fell short in any thing of their Commission the same good Father in the same place will inform us otherwise For making a comparison between Spiritual and Civil Dignities Chrys ibid. he calleth the Office of an Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual Consulship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most spiritual of all Powers or Governments and finally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the head the root nay the foundation of all spiritual Dignities of what sort soever Doubtless the Father had good reason for so high an Eulogie When Christ affirmed Sicut misit me Pater John 20.21 that as his Father sent him so sent he them He said enough to intimate that supreme authority which he had given them in the Church whether it were in preaching of the Gospel in founding Churches constituting and ordaining Pastors or whatsoever else was necessary for the advancement of his Kingdom For by these words as Cyril hath right well observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did ordain them for to be Guides and Teachers unto all the World Chrys in Joh. Evang. l. 12. and the dispensers of his holy Mysteries commanding them not only to enlighten the land of Jewrie but all the people of the Universe as also giving them to understand that it was their duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to call the sinners to repentance to heal all those that were afflicted either in body or in soul in the dispensing of Gods blessings not to follow their own will but his that sent them and in a word as much as in them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to save the World by wholsom dictrines for to that purpose was he sent by his Heavenly Father And so we are to understand Saint Chrysostom when he tells us this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom in Joh. c. 20.21 Calv. in Job that Christ invested his Apostles with the like authority as he received from his Father Calvin affirms as much or more upon those words of our Redeemer Quare non abs re Christus cum Apostolis suis communicat quam à Patre autoritatem acoeperat c. But this authority of theirs will be seen more clearly when we behold it in the practice and execution Five things then of necessity were to concur in the making or constituting of an Apostle truly and properly so called first an immediate Call from Christ himself secondly an Autopsie or Eye-witnessing of those things which they were afterwards to preach or publish of him thirdly their nearness of access fourthly the latitude of their Commission fifthly and finally the eminence of their authority Of these the first were common with them unto the rest of the Disciples save that the calling of the Apostles to that charge and function doth seem to be more solemn and immediate But in the rest which are indeed the special or specifical differences they had no co-partners This made them every way superiour unto the rest of the Disciples although all equal in themselves Though in the calling of those blessed Spirits to that great imployment there was a prius and posterius yet in regard of power and authority there was neither Summum nor Subalternum And howsoever Peter be first named in that sacred Catalogue yet this entitleth him to no more authority above the rest of the Apostles than Stephen might challenge in that regard above the residue of the Seven Saint Cyprian did resolve this cause many hundreds since assigning unto all the twelve a parity of power and honour Cyprian lib. de unitate Eccles Hoc erant utique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis sed exordium ab unitate proficiscitur Where clearly there is nothing given to Peter but a priority of Order a primacy if you will but no supremacy Neither doth Barlaam give him more though he inscribe his book de Papae Principatu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Apostles all of them saith he Barlaam de Papae principatu in matter which concerned the Church were of equal honour If Peter had preheminence in any thing it was that in their sacred meetings he first brake the business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and peradventure also had the upper place in the assemblies of that goodly fellowship But what need Cyprian or Barlaam come in for evidence when as we find this parity so clearly evidenced in holy Scripture In the immediateness of their Calling and their access unto our Lord and Saviour they were all alike He that called Peter from his Nets called also Matthew from the receit of custom If only Peter and the sons of Zebedee
Epist ad Corinth p. 62. There find we the good man complaining that the Church of Corinth so ancient and well grounded in the faith of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should for the sake of one or two contentious persons tumultuate against their Presbyters and that the scandal of their functions should come unto the ears of Infidels to the dishonour of the Lord. Nor did the faction rest in the people only Ibid. p. 58. though it proceeded to that height as the ejecting of those Presbyters whom they had distasted but it had taken too deep sooting amongst the Presbyters themselves encroaching with too high an hand on the Bishops Office or wilfully neglecting his authority Part. 1. ch 5. For whereas in those times as before was shewn the blessed Eucharist regularly and according to the Churches Orders could not be celebrated but by the Bishop by his leave at least and that it did pertain to him to appoint the Presbyters what turns and courses they should have in that ministration these men perverting all good order neither observed the time and place appointed for that sacred Action nor kept themselves unto those turns and courses in the performance of the same which were assigned them by their Bishop Certain I am that the discourse of Clemens in the said Epistle doth militate as well against the one as against the other blaming as well the Presbyters for their irregular proceeding in their ministration as censuring the People for their insolency in the ejecting of their Presbyters So that we have two factions at this time in the Church of Corinth one of some inconformable Presbyters so far averse from being regulated by their Bishop as they ought to be Clem. p. 57. that they opposed the very Calling raising contentions and disputes about the Name and Office of Episcopacy another of the people against the Presbyters and that pursued with no less acrimony and despite than the former was For the repressing of these factions at this present time and the preventing of the like in the times to come the good old man doth thus proceed Beginning with the Presbyters Id. p. 48. he first presents unto them the obedience that Souldiers yield to their Commanders shewing them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how orderly how readily and with what subjection they execute the several Commands imposed upon them by their Leaders that since all of them are not Generals Collonels Captains or in other Office every one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his rank or station is to obey the charge imposed upon him by the King or Emperour and his Commanders in the Field Then represents he to them the condition of the natural Body Id. 49. in which the Head can do but little without the ministery of the Feet the Feet as little out of question without direction from the Head that even the least parts of the body are not only profitable but also necessary concurring all of them together to the preservation of the whole Which ground so laid he thus proceeds in his Discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Id. p. 52 c. These things being thus declared and manifested looking into the depth of heavenly knowledg we ought to do those things in their proper order the People in the tendring of their Oblations the Presbyters in the celebrating of the Liturgy according to the times and seasons by the Lord appointed who would not have these sacred Matters done either rashly or disorderly but at appointed times and hours and by such Persons as he hath thereunto designed by his supream Will that being done devoutly and Religiously they might be the more grateful to him They therefore who upon the times presixed make their Oblations to the Lord are blessed and very welcom unto him from whose commands they do not vary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For to the High-Priest was assigned his particular function the Priest had his peculiar ministery prescribed unto him and the Levites theirs the Laymen being left unto Lay-imployments Therefore let every one of you my brethren in his Rank and Station offer to God the blessed Eucharist with a good Conscience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 53. keeping within the bounds of his ministration appointed to him by the Canon For so I take it is his meaning For not in every place was it permitted to the Jews to offer up the daily and perpetual Sacrifices whether they were Sin-offerings or Eucharistical Oblations but at Hierusalem alone nor there in any place indifferently but only in the Court of the Temple at the Altar the Sacrifice being first viewed and approved of both by the High Priest and the foresaid Ministers They that did any thing herein otherwise than agreeable to his will and pleasure were to die the Death you see my brethren that as we are endued with a greater knowledg so are we made obnoxious to the greater danger The Apostles have Preached the Gospel unto us from Christ JESUS Christ from God Christ being sent by God as the Apostles were by Christ and both proceeding orderly therein according to his holy Will For having received his Commands and being strengthened by the Resurrection of our Lord JESUS Christ and confirmed by the Word of God they spread themselves abroad in full assurance of the Holy Ghost publishing the coming of the Kingdom of God and having Preached the Word throughout many Regions and several Cities they constituted and ordained the first fruits of their labours such whom in spirit they approved of to be Bishops and Deacons unto those that afterwards were to believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 54.55 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 55. Nor was this any new device it being written many ages since in the book of God Esay 60. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. I will appoint them Bishops in Righteousness and Deacons in Faith Afterwards laying down the History of Aarons Rod budding and thereby the miraculous confirmation of his Election he adds that the Apostles knowing by our Lord JESUS Christ the contention that would arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the name or function of Episcopacy Id. p. 57. take it which you will and being for this very cause endued with a perfect foresight of that which afterwards should happen ordained the aforesaid Ministers and left to every one their appointed Offices that whensoever they should die other approved men should succeed in their several places and execute their several parts in the Ministration Those therefore which were either ordained by them or by those famous and renowned men that followed after them with the consent and approbation of the Church and have accordingly served unblameably in the fold of Christ with all humility and meekness and kept themselves from baseness and corruption and have a long time carried a good testimony from all men those we conceive cannot without much injury be deprived of their place and service it being
should be sanctified when it was ordered and appointed by the Law of Moses And this he calls Commentum ineptum contra literam ipsam contra ipsius Moseos declarationem A foolish and absurd conceit contrary unto Moses words and to his meaning Yet the same Catharin doth affirm in the self-same Book Scripturis frequentissimum esse multa per anticipationem narrare that nothing is more frequent in the holy Scriptures than these anticipations And in particular that whereas it is said in the former Chapter male and female created he them per anticipationem dictum esse non est dubitandum that without doubt it is so said by anticipation the Woman not being made as he is of opinion till the next day after which was the Sabbath For the Anticipation he cites St. Chrysostom who indeed tells us on that Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold saith he how that which was not done as yet is here related as if done already He might have added for that purpose Origen on the first of Genesis and Gregory the Great Moral lib. 32. cap. 9. both which take notice of a Prolepsis or Anticipation in that place of Moses For the creation of the Woman he brings in St. Jerom who in his Tract against the Jews expresly saith mulierem conditam fuisse die septimo that the Woman was created on the seventh day or Sabbath to which this Catharin assents and thinks that thereupon the Lord is said to have finished all his works on the seventh day that being the last that he created This seems indeed to be the old Tradition if it be lawful for me to digress a little it being supposed that Adam being wearied in giving names unto all creatures on the sixth day in the end whereof he was created did fall that night into a deep and heavy sleep and that upon the Sabbath or the seventh day morning his side was opened and a rib took thence for the creation of the Woman Aug. Steuchius in Gen. 2. So Augustinus Steuchius reports the Legend And this I have the rather noted to meet with Catharinus at his own weapon For whereas he concludes from the rest of God that without doubt the institution of the Sabbath began upon that very day wherein God rested it seems by him God did not rest on that day and so we either must have no Sabbath to be kept at all or else it will be lawful for us by the Lords example to do whatever works we have to do upon that day and after sanctifie the remainder And yet I needs must say withal that Catharinus was not the only he that thought God wrought upon the Sabbath Aretius also so conceived it Dies itaque tota non fuit quiete transacta Problem loc 55. sed perfecto opere ejus deinceps quievit ut Hebraeus contextus habet Mercer a man well skilled in Hebrew denieth not but the Hebrew Text will bear that meaning Who thereupon conceives that the seventy Elders in the translation of that place did purposely translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that on the sixth day God finished all the work that he had made and after rested on the seventh And this they did saith he ut omnem dubitandi occasionem tollerent to take away all hint of collecting thence that God did any kind of work upon that day For if he finished all his works on the seventh day it may be thought faith he that God wrought upon it Saint Hierom noted this before that the Greek Text was herein different from the Hebrew and turns it as an argument against the Jews and their rigid keeping of the Sabbath Artabimus igitur Judaeos qui de ocio Sabbati gloriantur Q◠Hebraicae in Gen. quod jam tunc in principio Sabbatum dissolutum sit dum Deus operatur in Sabbato complens opera sua in eo benedicens ipst diei quia in ipso universa compleverat If so if God himself did break the Sabbath as St. Hierom turns upon the Jews we have small cause to think that he should at that very time impose the Sabbath as a Law upon his creatures But to proceed Others that have took part with Catharinus against Tostatus have had as ill success as he in being forced either to grant the use of Anticipation in the holy Scripture or else to run upon a Tenet wherein they are not like to have any seconds I will instance only in two particulars both Englishmen and both exceeding zealous in the present cause The first is Doctor Bound who first of all did set afoot these sabbatarian speculations in the Church of England 2. Edit p. 10. wherewith the Church is still disquieted He determines thus I deny not saith he but that the Scripture speaketh often of things as though they had been so before because they were so then when the things were written As when it is said of Abraham that he removed unto a Mountain Eastward of Bethel whereas it was not called Bethel till above a hundred years after The like may be said of another place in the Book of Judges called Bochin c. yet in this place of Genesis it is not so And why not so in this as well as those Because saith he Moses entreateth there of the sanctification of the Sabbath not only because it was so then when he wrote that Book but specially because it was so even from the Creation Medulla Theol. l. 2. c. 15. § 9. Which by his leave is not so much a reason of his opinion as a plain begging of the question The second Doctor Ames the first I take it that sowed Bounds doctrine of the Sabbath in the Netherlands Who saith expresly first and in general terms hujusmodi prolepseos exemplum nullum in tota scriptura dari posse that no example of the like anticipation can be found in Scripture the contrary whereof is already proved After more warily and in particular de hujusmodi institutione Proleptica that no such institution is set down in Scripture by way of a Prolepsis or Anticipation either in that Book or in any other And herein as before I said he is not like to find any seconds We find it in the sixteenth of Exodus that thus Moses said This is the thing which the Lord commandeth Verse 32 Fill an Omer of it of the Mannah to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the Wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt It followeth in the Text that as the Lord commanded Moses Verse 34 so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony to be kept Here is an Ordinance of Gods an institution of the Lords and this related in the same manner by anticipation as the former was Lyra upon the place affirms expresly that it is spoken there per anticipationem and so doth Vatablus too in his Annotations on that Scripture But
us and to banish him violently out of our souls And instead of him in whom is all grace and vertue to receive the ungracious spirit of the Devil the founder of all naughtiness and mischief than which there can be nothing more direct and positive to the point in hand And as for the co-operation of mans will with the grace of God either in accepting or resisting it when once offered to him besides what may be gathered from the former passages it is to be presumed as a thing past question in the very nature of the book for what else are those Homilies but so many proofs and arguments to evince that point For to what purpose were they made but to stir up the minds of all men to the works of piety And what hopes could the Authors of them give unto themselves of effecting that which they endeavoured had they not presupposed and taught that there was such a freedom in the will of man such an assistance of Gods grace as might enable them to perform these works of piety as in all and every one of the said Homilies are commended to them More for the proof of which points might be gathered from the said second book of Homilies established by the Articles of Queen Elizabeth's time as before is said were not these sufficient Proceed we therefore from the Homilies and the publick Monuments of the Church to the judgment of particular persons men of renown and eminent in their several places amongst which we find incomparable Jewel then Bishop of Salsbury thus clearly speaking in behalf of Universal Redemption viz. Ceerto animis nostris persuademus c. We do assuredly persuade our minds saith he that Christ is the obtainer of forgiveness for our sins Bishop Jewels Defâ—n Apolog c. 18. Devis 1. and that by his bloud all our spots of sins be washed clean that he hath pacified and set at one all things by the bloud of his Cross that he by the same one only Sacrifice which he once offered upon the Cross hath brought to effect and fulfilled all things and that for the cause he said it is finished By which word saith he he plainly signified persolutum jam esse pretium pro peccato humani generis that the price or ransom was now fully paid for the sin of mankind Now as Bishop Jewel was a principal member of the House of Bishops so Mr. Nowel was the Prolocutor for the House of the Clergy in which the Articles were debated and agreed upon In which respect his favour is much sought by those of the Calvinian party as before was shewn But finding no comfort for them in his larger Catechism let us see what may be found in his Latin Catechism authorized to be taught in Schools and published by his consent in the English Tongue Anno 1572. And first he sheweth that as God is said to be our Father for some other reasons Catec Edition c. 1â—54 p. 19 so most specially for this quod nos divine per spiritum sanctum generavit per fidem in verum suum atque naturalem filium Jesum Christum nos elegit sibique Filios regni Coelestis atque sempiternae vitae heredes per eundem instituit that is to say because he hath divinely regenerated us or begotten us again by the Holy Ghost and hath elected us by Faith in his true and natural Son Christ Jesus and through the same Christ hath adopted us to be his Children and Heirs of his heavenly Kingdom and of life everlasting And if Election come by our faith in Christ as he saith it doth enither a Supra-lapsarian nor a Sub-lapsarian can find any comfort from this man in favour of that absolute and irrespective decree of Predestination which they would gladly father on him in his larger Catechism and then as for the method of Predestination he thus sets it forth viz. Deus Adamum illis honoris insignibus ornavit Ibid. 22. ut ea cum sibi tum suis id est toto humano generi aut servaret aut amitteret c. God saith he indued Adam with those Ornaments that is to say those Ornaments of Grace and Nature which before we spake of that he might have them or lose them for himself and his that is to say for all mankind And it could not otherwise be but that as of an evil Tree evil fruits do spring so that Adam being corrupted with sin all the issue that came of him must also be corrupted with that original sin For delivery from the which there remained no remedy in our selves and therefore God was pleased to proise that the seed of the Woman which is Jesus Christ should break the head of the Serpent that is of the Devil who deceived our first Parents and so should deliver them and their posterity that believed the same Where first we have mans fall Secondly Gods mercy in his restitution Thirdly This restitution to be made by Jesus Christ and fourthly to be made to all which believe the same Proceed we next to a Lermon preached at St. Pauls Cross Octob. 27. 1854. by Samuel Harsnet then fellow of Pembrook Hall in Cambridg and afterwards Master of the same preferred from thence to the See of Chichester from thence translated unto Norwich and finally to the Archiepiscopal See of York For the Text or subject of his Sermon he made choice of those words in the Prophet Ezekiel viz. As I live saith the Lord I delight not in the death of the wicked Chap. 33. v. 11. In his Discourse upon which Text he first dischargeth God from laying any necessity of sinning on the sons of men and then delighting in their punishment because they have sinned he thus breaks out against the absolute decree of Reprobation which by that time had been made a part of the Zuinglian Gospel Mr. Harnets Sermon at Pauls Cross bound up at the end of Dr. Stewards three Sermons printed 1â—58 p. 1â—3 c. and generally spread abroad both from Press and Puipit There is a conceit in the World saith he speak little better of our gracious God than this and that is that God shoould design many thousands of souls to Hell before they were not in eye to their faults but to his own absolute will and power and to get him glory in their damnation This Opinion is grown high and monstrous and like a Goliah and men do shake and tremble at it yet never a man reacheth to Davids sing to cast it down In the name of the Lord of Hosts we will encounter it for it hath reviled not the Host of the living God but the Lord of Hosts First That it is directly in opposition to this Text of holy Scripture and so turns the truth of God into a lye For whereas God in this Text doth say and swear that he doth not delight in the death of man this Opinion saith that not one or two but millions of men should
and yet they that came last were rewarded with the first Mat. 20. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better but yet the Lords Will was rather to justifie the Publican Luk. 18. The elder Son had a better will to tarry by his Father and so did indeed and yet the fat Calf was given to the younger Son that ran away Luk. 15. whereby we have to understand how the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept according as it is written non ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt c. Which are born not of the will of the flesh nor yet of the will of man but of God Furthermore as all then goeth by the will of God only and not by the will of man So again here is to be noted that the will of God never goeth without faith in Christ Jesus his Son And therefore fourthly is this clause added in the definition through faith in Christ his Son which faith in Christ to us-ward maketh altogether For first it certifieth us of Gods Election as this Epistle of Mr. Bradford doth well express For whosoever will be certain of his Election in God let him first begin with faith in Christ which if he find in him to stand firm he may be sure and nothing doubt but that he is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly the said faith and nothing else is the only condition and means whereupon Gods mercy grace Election vocation and all Gods promises to salvation do stay accordingly the word of St. Paul si permanseritis in fide and if ye abide in the faith Col. 1.3 This faith is the mediate and next cause of our justification simply without any condition annexed For as the mercy of God his grace Election vocation and other precedent causes do save and justifie us upon condition if we believe in Christ so this faith only in Christ without condition is the next and immediate cause which by Gods promise worketh out justification according as it is written crede in dominum Jesum salvus eris tu domus tus Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thy whole house And thus much touching the Definition of Election with the causes thereof declared which you see now to be no merits or works of man whether they go before or come after faith For like as all they that be born of Adam do taste of his Malediction though they tasted not of the Apple so all they that be born of Christ which is by faith take part of the obedience of Christ although they never did that obedience themselves which was in him Rom. 5. Now to the second consideration Let us see likewise how and in what order this Election of God proceedeth in choosing and electing them which he ordaineth to salvation which order is this In them that be chosen to life first Gods mercy and free grace bringeth forth Election Election worketh Vocation or Gods holy calling which Vocation though hearing bringeth knowledge and faith in Christ Faith through promise obtaineth justification justification through hope waiteth for glorification Election is before time Vocation and Faith cometh in time Justification and Glorification is without end Election depending upon Gods free grace and will excludeth all mans will blind fortune chance and all peradventures Vocation standing upon Gods Election excludeth all mans wisdom cunning learning intention power and presumption Faith in Christ proceeding by the gift of the Holy Ghost and freely justifying man by Gods promises excludeth all other merits of men all condition of deserving and all works of the Law both Gods Law and mans Law with all other outward means whatsoever Justification coming freely by Faith standeth sure by Promise without doubt fear or wavering in this life Glorification appertaining only to the life to come by hope is looked for Grace and Mercy preventeth Election ordaineth Vocation prepareth and receiveth the Word whereby cometh Faith Faith justifieth Justification bringeth glory Election is the immediate and next cause of Vocation Vocation which is the working of Gods Spirit by the Word is the immediate and next cause of Faith Faith is the immediate and next cause of Justification And this order and connexion of causes is diligently to be observed because of the Papists which have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine thus teaching that Almighty God so far as he foreseeth mans merits before to come so doth he dispence his Election Dominus prout cujusque merita fore praevidet ita dispensat electionis gratiam futuris tamen concedere That is that the Lord recompenseth the grace of Election not to any merits proceeding but yet granteth the same to the merits that follow after and not rather have our holiness by Gods Election going before But we following the Scripture say otherwise that the cause only of God Election is his own free mercy and the cause only of our justification is our faith in Christ and nothing else As for example first concerning Election if the question be asked why was Abraham chosen and not Nathor why was Jacob chosen and not Esau why was Moses Elected and Pharaoh hardened why David accepted and Saul refused why few be chosen and the most forsaken It cannot be answered otherwise but thus because so was the good will of God In like manner touching Vocation and also Faith if the question be asked why this Vocation and gift of Faith was given to Cornelius the Gentile and not to Tertullus the Jew why to the Poor the Babes and the little ones of the world of whom Christ speaketh I thank the Father which hast hid these from the wise c. Matth. 11. why to the unwise the simple abjects and out-casts of the world of whom speaketh Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1. You see your calling my Brethren why not many of you c. Why to the sinners and not to the just why the Beggars by the high-ways were called and the bidden guests excluded We can ascribe no other cause but to Gods purpose and Election and say with Christ our Saviour quia Pater sic complacitum est ante te Yea Father for that it seemed good in thy sight Luk. 10. And so it is for Justification likewise if the question be asked why the Publican was justified and not the Pharisee Luk. 18. Why Mary the sinner and not Simon the inviter Luk. 11. Why Harlots and Publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the Kingdom Matth. 21. why the Son of the Free-woman was received and the Bond-womans Son being his elder rejected Gen 21. why Israel which so long sought for righteousness found it not and the Gentiles which sought it not found it Rom. 9. We have no other cause hereof to render but to say with Saint Paul because they sought for it by works of the Law and not by Faith which
must needs follow thereupon that all which held their Lands of the Crown in Capite were capable in those times of a place in Parliament And so it seems they had in the Reign of King John and afterwards in the Reign of King Henry the 3d but in the last years of the said King Henry and by the power and prudence of King Edward the first were brought into a narrower compass none being admitted to appear and attend in Parliament but such as he thought fit to summon by his Royal Mandate And hereunto as well our choicest Antiquaries as our most eminent Lawyers do consent unanimously But here is to be noted saith Chief Justice Coke that if the King give Lands to any one tenendum per servitium Baronis de Rege he is no Lord of Parliament till he be called by Writ to the Parliament which as he there declares for a point of Law so is it also verified in point of practice out of the old Record entituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum in which it is affirmed Ad Parliamentum summoniri venire debere Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores alios majores Cleri qui tenent per Comitatum aut Baroniam ratione hujusmodi Tenurae that all Arch-bishops Bishops Priors and other Prelates of the Church who hold their Lands either in right of their Counties or in right of their Baronages were to be summoned and come to Parliament in regard of their Tenures Where we may see that though they had a jus ad rem in regard of their Tenures yet they had no pretence to their Jus in re but only by the Writ of Summons And secondly whereas the Modus speaks of some Bishops which were to be called to the Parliament in the right of their Counties I think he means it of the Bishops of Durham and Ely which enjoyed all the Rights and priviledges of a County Palatine in their several Circuits By which we see that to the making of a Baron or a Lord of Parliament it is not only necessary that he hold by Barony but that he have his Writ of Summons to attend the service which puts a signal difference between Lords of Parliament and such as are called Lords in respect of their birth or in regard of some great Offices which they hold in the State of the first sort whereof are all the eldest sons of Earls and upwards who are not only honoured with the name of Lords but challenge a precedence by the Rules of Herauldry before all the Barons of the Realm and yet can lay no claim to the Rights of Peerage unless perhaps they may be summoned to the Parliament in their fathers life time And so it hapned in the Case of the Earl of Surrey the eldest son of Thomas Lord Howard Duke of Norfolk arraigned in the last days of King Henry the eighth and tried by a Jury of twelve men because not being called to Parliament in his fathers life-time he could not be considered as a Peer of the Realm And in the last sort we may reckon the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord Privy Seal the Lord President of his Majesties Council the Lord High Chamberlain the Lord Admiral the Lord Steward and the Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold the Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and the three Chief Judges who if they be not otherwise of the Rank of Barons can plead no Title to their Peerage nor to Vote in Parliament and so it hapned in the Case of Sir William Stanly Lord Chamberlain to King Henry the seventh tried by a Jury of twelve men in a case of Treason without relation to his great Office or Title of Lord. Most true it is that some of these great Officers have their place in Parliament and so have all the Judges of the Courts of Westminster the Master of the Rolls the Masters of the Chancery the Kings Attorney General and perhaps some others all summoned to attend the service by Especial Writs but they are only called to advise the Court to give their Judgment and Opinion when it is demanded but not to canvass or debate and much less to conclude in any business which is there discoursed of as both the Bishops and the Temporal Lords are impowred to do Which difference appears in the Writs themselves For in the Writ of Summons to the Judges and the rest here mentioned the words run thus viz. Quod intersitis nobiscum cum caeteris de concilio nostro and sometimes nobiscum only supra praemissis tractaturi vestrumque consilium impensuri But in the Writ of Summons to the Bishops and the rest of the Peers we shall find it thus viz. quod intersitis cum praelatis magnatibus proceribus super dictis negotiis tractaturi vestrumque consilium impensuri c. which Writs of Summons to the Bishops and the Temporal Peers are the same verbatim but that the Bishops are required to attend the service sub fide dilectione the Temporal Peers sub fide ligeantia quibus nobis tenemini Upon which Premises it may be rationally inferred that the Bishops of this Church were reputed Barons a Baron and a Barony being conjugata and being Barons have as good a Claim to the right of Peerage as any of the Temporal Lords who hold as well their Peerage as their place in Parliament by no other Tenure for that a Baron of Realm and a Peer of the Realm are but terms synonymous and that the Bishops of the the Church of England are both Peers and Barons hath been proved before and may be further evidenced from that which they affirmed to the Temporal Lords convened in Parliament at Northampton under Henry the 2d for the determining of the differences betwixt the King and Thomas Becket Arch bishop of Canterbury which the Temporal Lords would fain have thrust upon the Bishops as more competent Judges to which the Bishops thus replied viz. non sedemus hic Episcopi sed Barones nos Barones vos Barones Pares hic sumus We sit not here say they as Bishops only Seldens Titles of Honour pag. â—18 but as Barons also we are Barons and you are Barons here we sit as Peers Their sitting in the Parliament was in a right of their Baronies And in the right of their Baronage they were also Peers and Peers to all intents and purposes as well as any others whether Earls or Barons who had Vote in Parliament This appears further by the words of Arch-bishop Stratford who being suspended from his place in Parliament by King Edward the 3d came boldly to the Doors of the House and turning towards those that attended there thus maintained his Claim Amice Rex me ad hoe Parliamentum scripto sua vocavit Antiq. Brittan ego tanquam major Par regni post Regem primam vocem habere debens in Parliamento Jura Ecclesiae meae Cantuariensis vendico ideo Ingressum in Parliamentum peto Which