the institutions of Christ which is the first consideration I propound 4. Cons 2. The necessity of being duly qualified for the right receiving the Lords Supper doth not leave men at all excusable in their ordinary forbearing for the danger of performing any Religious duty carelesly is expressed in the holy Scriptures to quicken men unto the greater piety in their attendance upon those services but not to give them any liberty of neglecting them That slothful and wicked servant who hid his talent in a Napkin had at last no comfort by his pretended excuse for his neglect that he looked upon his Lord as an hard man whom he could not please Mat. 25.24 30. but was cast into outer darkness It was no way lawful for the Aaronical Priests to forbear to offer the Sacrifices which God had commanded because he had declared that he would be sanctified in them that come nigh him and had destroyed Nadab and Abihu for their undue approach Though God upbraided the Jews that they did steal and murder and commit adultery c. and come and stand before him in his House which was called by his name yet it was still the duty of every male among them religiously to present themselves there before the Lord three times in the year Deut. 16.16 and they were all enjoined to keep the Passover which encluded a yielding themselves to the Lord. 2. Chr. 30.8 and a preparing their heart to seek God v. 19. And when S. Paul had said 1 Cor 11.27 28 29. that whosoever shall eat his bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord this giveth no allowance to any to neglect this Ordinance but the next verse directeth but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup and the following words For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body are laid down as an argument to shew that men ought to examine themselves and so to eat and drink 5. He that heareth or readeth the word of God or knoweth his will or professeth the name of Christ without obedience yielded thereunto doth encrease his sin and condemnation and yet hearing reading knowledge and profession of Christianity are necessary duties but that which it here only available and is every mans indispensable duty is to join the life of Christianity with its knowledge and profession So it is a duty to receive this Sacrament and to be careful not to receive it unworthily or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unsuitably to its nature and institution Wherefore this Ordinance encluding under the Elements of Bread and Wine an Heavenly Communion of the body and blood of Christ whose death is here represented as he offered up himself to God for us and established the New Testament with the assurance of all the blessings and promises thereof the worthy receiving this Sacrament will require that Communion with Christ be both heartily desired and piously embraced that the death and mediation of Christ be acknowledged as the only way of atonement and remission of sins that the Christian Religion established in the New Testament or Covenant be owned as the only true Religion and all others rejected that the promises of eternal life pardon and grace be valued and sought after as the chief objects of desire and hope and that the Christian practice which the New Testament requireth be undertaken and resolved upon with a circumspect care of repentance and amendment of what is amiss and with a peculiar respect to peace and love by reason of this Sacrament of Unity it being noted by S. Augustine De Consecr dist 2. c. Qui manducant that he who receiveth the Sacrament of Vnity and doth not hold the bond of peace doth not receive the Sacrament for his good but as a testimony against himself which was also the Doctrine of S. Paul 1 Cor. 11.17 18. And though there be too many who do not practise according to the necessary rules of Christianity it is absolutely and indispensably necessary for them that their lives be changed and amended that they may not only be fit to receive this holy Sacrament but that they may be fit to partake of the blessing of God and to avoid the dreadful miseries of everlasting torments and to live answerable to their Baptismal Covenant that they may be advantaged by their profession of Christianity And let any man consider whether it be not as unreasonable a Plea in the sight of God for any man to avoid the holy Communion because he is not willing to live according to the Christian rules when both these things are his duty as it would be in the sight of a Prince for a Subject to refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance upon pretence that he is enclined to undertake practices of Rebellion 6. Cons 3. The Doctrine of our Church and its Rules for Communion do not allow that any persons should come to the holy Sacrament otherwise than in a suitable and Religious manner but it jointly urgeth as the holy Scriptures do also the duty of coming and the necessity of coming preparedly Amongst our Writers Bishop Cranmer declared that we ought not unreverently and unadvisedly to approach to the Lords Table but we ought to come to that Board of the Lord with all reverence Def. of Cath. Doctr. of the Sacr. l. 3. c. 14. faith love and charity fear and dread Both Bishop Whitgift and Mr. Hocker in their defence of the Order for the Communion against T. C. allow that there may be cause of present forbearance from this Sacrament because of unfitness but this ought to be amended B. Whitg Tr. 9. c. 6. Tr. 15. c. 2. and that it is not desirable that men persisting in wickedness should be constrained to come to the Lords Supper Eccles Pol. l 5. c. 68. But it is needless to add other testimonies when the Communion Book it self in the first exhortation saith If any of you be a blasphemer of God an hinderer or slanderer of his word an adulterer or be in malice or envy or in any other grievous crime repent you of your sins or else come not to that holy Table lest after the taking of that holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you as he entred into Judas and fill you full of all iniquities and bring you to destruction both of Body and Soul Wherefore it is acknowledged in our Church that the receiving the Holy Communion is not a right Christian action where it is not performed with a Christian spirit and disposition and partly upon this account and partly for the disciplinary discountenancing of wickedness both the twenty sixth Canon and the Rubrick before the Communion do require that no notorious evil liver or malicious man before their amendment be suffered to come to the Lords Table and consistently herewith must that
Rubrick requiring every Parishioner to communicate be understood so as to be exclusive of such notorious siners until their amendment but to urge warn them to amend 7. Cons 4. There is just cause why Christians should be required at least thrice in the year to receive the Communion For whereas God required all males among the Jews to appear before him three times in the year which appearing encluded their professing owning and engaging to serve the God of Israel and their accepting and submitting to the Law of Moses and the Covenant God made with Israel with their expectation of the benefits thereof it would be very unreasonable that Christians who are freed from that severe yoke of bondage which the Jews were under and enjoy higher priviledges than the Jews did should come short of them in our great duties of Religion and therefore we should at least so oft express our owning honouring and accepting the Gospel-Covenant and the service of Christ our Lord in the most solemn manner approaching to this Sacrament of our Lords institution 8. Amongst the ancient Christians this Sacrament was received ordinarily thrice in the Week that is upon the Lords day and the two Stationary days some did partake thereof daily whose practice S. Aug. would neither commend nor censure but he exhorteth them who are duly prepared to receive every Lords day with whom agreeth Gennadius Walaf Strab. de Reb. Eccl. c. 20. as he is cited by Walafridus Strabo who further observeth that they are related to be excommunicate in the Greek Church who passed two or three Lords days without receiving the Communion They who required the least among the ancients did strictly enjoin the communicating thrice in the year De Consecr d. 2. Seculares and omnis hosito as besides others the Councils of Elvira and Agatha are related to have done Our later English Constitutions before the Reformation advised it thrice in the year but insisted upon once at the least Linw. prov l. 5. Tit. 16.8.16 and some Reformed Churches have directed it four times yearly and without all doubt the great neglect of so many amongst us to partake of that Ordinance is a manifest evidence of the want and decay of the ancient spirit of Christian piety and devotion SECT II. Of some other things in the Communion Office 1. Some exceptions here tendred are such that it cannot be conceived that the Objectors thought them at all considerable such is the disliking that clause in the Prayer before the Consecration That our sinful bodies might be made clean by his body and our souls washed by his most precious bloud This passage is charged with ascribing a greater efficacy unto the bloud of Christ than to his body whereas in truth these words as they are here expressed do no way exclude the efficacy of his bloud from washing our bodies nor the sufferings of his body from cleansing our Souls and those words used at the delivery of the Elements The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life and the like concerning his bloud are a manifest expression that the benefits both of the body and bloud of Christ do redound to the salvation both of our souls and bodies 2. Commiss pap p. 92. But with more earnestness and heat the Ministers delivering the Elements to every Communicants hands and using the form of words for the distribution particularly to every one of them is censured as a thing contrary to the practice of Christ and the judging this to be expedient is insinuated to be a studying to be wiser than our Master and not to be obedient to him This Objection was urged also by the Authors of the Admonition V. Bp. Whitgift Tr. 13. c. 1. d. 17. and by Mr. Cartwright formerly and the ground they build upon is this that the holy Evangelists relate our Saviour in his institution of the Lords Supper to have said to his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take ye eat ye whence they conclude that he neither gave the elements singly to every one nor used any particular expressions to every Communicant at the delivery of the Elements Wherefore that this may be rightly understood I shall consider what may be collected concerning the manner of our Saviours distribution and the expressions he used in this ordinance 3. Touching the distribution of these Elements as I can find no evidence in the holy Scriptures to shew that it was not particular which yet would have been evidently expressed if it had been designed by our Saviour to be made a necessary duty in all future Administrations of this Sacrament so there are some expressions in the Scripture which seem to intimate the contrary When S. Matthew Mat. 26.26 27. Mar. 14.22 23. Luc. 22.19 20. S. Mark and S. Luke reciting the institution of this Sacrament relate both of the Bread and the Cup that he gave it to the Disciples or he gave it to them these words do more fairly and probably express his giving the Elements to every one of them than that he either only blessed them and set them before them all or that he delivered them to one of his Disciples to be given from one to another And if we consider the manner how the chief person of the family did bless things at the Jewish Passover it will give some light hereto it being manifest that our Lord did much comply with the ordinary Jewish Rites According to their Customs they only blessed some things and every one present took thereof which was their usage about the bitter Herbs which required no action of the Master of the Feast to give or distribute them but other things he both blessed and particularly distributed to every one present and such was their usual practice at the eating of the Cake in the Passover Feast Syn. Jud. c. 13. The former of these is expressed by Buxtorf on this wise that after his benediction comedit alios quoque comedere jubet and of the latter he saith comedit aliis quoque porrigit and Camero citing the words of the Jewish ritual referring to this latter Camer in Mat. 26.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth well render them tum singulis dat seu distribuit then he giveth or distributeth to every one of them To the former Custom our Saviour manifestly complyed when he blessed the Cup before the Lords Supper and commanded them to take it and divid it among themselves Luk. 22.17 but his practice was agreeable to the latter Custom when he gave the Bread and the Cup in the Lords Supper to his Disciples 4. If we further consider the practice of the ancient Christian Church in the purer times of Christianity it is most likely that their practices were conformable to the practice of Christ in the manner of distribution and it is no way probable that they in those early and purer times did administer
Covenant to alter the Government is disclaimed and rejected by the Parliaments of England and Ireland and also by the rescissory act as I find it termed in Scotland it must hereby become void though it had been otherwise binding 9. A fourth Rule is That what the general judgment of the best Christians of all ages have condemned as sin ought not to be admitted But they have all acknowledged it a sin that an Oath so far as it is against any right should be persisted in as being obligatory And it is as reasonable to doubt of ordinary travellers knowing the road they have long used as to question whether the most eminent Christians since Christ did ever arrive at the understanding of those plain duties of Religion which are of frequent practice 10. When Novatus made a Schism in the Roman Church against Cornelius he in delivering the Holy Sacrament gave to his followers this Oath Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Swear to me by the body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ that thou wilt never leave me nor return to Cornelius and yet both S. Cyprian and other Catholick Bishops every where judged these men bound to return and condemned their continuance with Novatus in the breach of Peace and Unity Evagrius relateth Evagr. Hist l. 6. c. 6. that when Mauritius the Emperour sent Philippicus to command his Army they bound themselves by Oath not to owne him for their Commander but when the Emperour persisted in his purpose and sent a Bishop to treat with them they were at last satisfied that they ought to receive him notwithstanding their Oath And when Anacletus was set up to govern the Roman Church Vit. S. Bern. lib. 2. c. 5. in opposition to Innocentius the second some persons told S. Bernard that they could not receive Innocentius because they were bound by an Oath to hold to Anacletur against him But S. Bernard answered insanire eos qui rem illicitam Sacramenti patrocinio constare existimant that it is a madness to think that any thing not lawful of it self can be defended by their Oath Spelm. Conc. Brit. in leg Alf. 1. Novel 51. Dig. l. 2. Tit. 14. Jurisg whereas said he such disorderly agreements under whatsoever pretence of Religion they be established are to be accounted void and by the authority of God to be dissolved 11. That nothing otherwise unwarrantable can become a duty by any Oath was declared in the Ecclesiastical laws of Alfred and by the Councils of Basil Sess 4. of Lerida Can. 7. and of Toledo 8. Can. 2. and in several places of the civil Law Cod. l. 9. Tit. 8. Const 2. and by all our Protestant Writers treating of the vow of single life in the who have not the gift of continency And this is so agreeable to all rational principles that it was received among the ancient Roman laws Phil de leg special C. 22. q. 3. 4. lib. 2. Tit. 24. cap. 12. 19. before the Empire became Christian and is likewise declared by Philo the Jew And in the Canon Law Gratian resolved by divers ancient authorities that an Oath against the duty of obedience being sinful cannot oblige and the like is asserted in the Gregorian decretals both which are in this matter received with good approbation by Protestant Writers 12. Now I shall not think it necessary to answer objections but shall content my self no note that whatsoever objection may press some one of the rules above-mentioned doth still leave the main design secure unless all these rules could be invalidated And such objections as carry an appearance of proof that an Oath may oblige to what otherwise would not be warrantable have this manifest indication of mistake because they tend to uphold this monstrous position that men are bound to observe Gods commands and their duties no longer than till they shall please to make an Oath against them CHAP. III. Of the Declaration and Subscription referring to the Liturgy 1. SOme open acknowledgment or subscription not only to doctrines but also to other rules and Ecclesiastical Constitutions hath been a thing very usual in the Christian Church and in matters lawful and orderly hath been thought desireable to promote Peace and continue well established order therein and the expediency thereof standeth recommended by the wisdom and ordinary practice of the Church 2. In the Council of Nice Conc. Nicen c. 8. the returning Novatians who were received in the Clergy were required by subscription to testify that they would conform to the Catholick practice and the Constitutions and Decrees of the Catholick Church The ancient Custom of subscribing to their Synodical Constitutions Conc. Carth. gr c. 93. Conc. Carth. 2. Can. 13. is evident from divers ancient Councils which was also practised in the Carthaginian Territories where such who acted contrary to their profession or subscription were sharply sentenced And in the Constitutions of Justinian according to some Copies he who was to be ordained Bishop besides his subscribing to the doctrine of the Faith and his Oath against Simony was required to read the offices of the Church for the holy Communion and with the other Prayers of the Church Novel 123. edit Haloand those also appointed for Baptism And he who as he was required did testifie his allowance of these Prayers by reading them might as well have testified the same by any other vocal acknowledgment or subscription 3. Among the Protestants the practice of subscription to such things as also that which is more solemn an acknowledgment by Oath hath been frequently admitted In Poland after the consent chiefly touching the Lords Supper was established in the Synod of Sandomir 1570. between the Churches of those three Confessions the Bohemian Augustan and Helvetian Syn. Torun 2585. it was concluded in another following General Synod and attested by the Super-Intendents Ministers and Patrons of the several Confessions that none should be admitted into the Ministry or received into their Churches as a Minister unless among other qualifications consensui subscribat he subscribe to the consent and behave himself accordingly Which provision contained a prudential care that a due decorum should be kept even in the Agenda of Religion The French Church requireth a subscription to their Liturgy and the like may be observed in divers other places 4. In the Bohemian Church after the time of their ordination which was performed manuum Episcopalium impositione Ratio Discipl c. 2 Sect. 4. 5. p. 32 34. the Ministers were solemnly admitted to their particular ministration by their Visitor who amogn other things committed to them their liber Ritualis containing their form and rites of worship of the performance of which they were to take care and to which among other offices of their Ministry they did at their Ordination oblige themselves by a Religious Oath both to God and his Church Ratio Canon Examin in Bucer
longer Lessons sitting while this particular reverence is expressed only at the reading some shorter portion of the Scripture De Eccl. Offic. l. 3. c. 11. is very allowable because it is well observed by Amalarius that the Apostles themselves did sometimes hear the Scriptures read in the Jewish Synagogue sitting as is evident from Act. 13.14 15 16. Where they entred into the Synagogue and sat down and after the reading the Law and the Prophets Paul stood up 5. Obs 3. Standing at a short portion of the Gospel rather than at any other portion of the Scripture is reasonably chosen to express reverence to the holy word of God because the actions and words of our blessed Saviour are for the most part therein contained In the Primitive Church while the servour of true devotion did continue they heard the Writings of the Apostles read with that high esteem and veneration as if they had then seen the Apostles faces and received those words from their mouths which Tertullian thus expresseth Tertul. de Praescrip c. 36. Authenticae literae eorum sc Apostolorum recitantur sonantes vocem representantes faciem uniuscujusque eorum And in like manner they heard the words of the Gospel as if they had seen Christ himself and received these words from his mouth And though all divine truth be therefore highly valuable because it is from God yet so far as concerneth the deliverer it was requisite and warranted by the Scriptures Mat. 21.37 Heb. 2.1 2 3. Ch. 3.3 that those who lived when Christ was in the flesh should shew the higher respect of the two to Christ himself speaking whose words are ordinarily in the Gospel than to his Apostles who were sent by him Ign. Ep. ad Philadelph Wherefore Ignatius accounteth the Gospel to have this excellency in it viz. the presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ and his suffering and resurrection And out of special respect to our Lord and Saviour it was the Custom of the ancient Greek Church to stand up when ever the Book of the four Evangelists was opened Chrysost de Circo Const Apost l. 2. c. 57. or any Lesson read from thence though the gesture of sitting was allowed at the hearing any other Books of Scripture so that the liberty of sitting even at any Lessons from the Gospel was not there indulged the practice of divers Churches being in these things not alway the same where the same liberty was allowed concerning the other Scriptures 6. Wherefore to shew that outward respect to the holy Scriptures which both the Jewish and Christian Churches have owned and wherein our blessed Lord hath given us an example to stand up at the reading them is reasonable and unblameable And the liberty allowed for sitting at the other Scriptures which for order sake is sit to be used doth not countenance any want of high respect to all Divine truth which is expressed by manifesting this respect to a particular short part thereof and that part is to this purpose chosen wherein the words and actions of our Lord and Master do frequently occur SECT III. Of the fitness of kneeling at the Communion and the gesture at the institution of that Sacrament considered 1. To kneel at the receiving the holy Communion hath been judged a gesture very expedient and commendable upon divers respects 1. Because this Sacrament doth in a special manner exhibit a mystical and spiritual Communion with Christ or the Communion of his body and bloud and the greatest reverence and most humble gesture is very convenient for so solemn an Ordinance and so near an approach to Jesus Christ especially since in this great Ordinance there ought to be a devout religious worship performed unto Christ himself Kneeling therefore is a fit gesture of adoration performed in this Ordinance unto God and Jesus Christ which is the more inoffensively performed because our Church hath openly declared against any adoration either of the Sacramental Bread and Wine Rubr. after Communion or of any corporal presence of Christs natural flesh and bloud therein 2. Because of the greatness of the benefits conveyed in this Ordinance to the worthy receiver such as the Grace of God and remission of sins in the bloud of Christ and if he who receiveth some great gift or some great pardon from his Prince doth fitly receive it kneeling and the Poenitentes in the ancient Church always received Ecclesiastical absolution from the Rulers of the Church upon their knees in token of their submissive humility much more he who cometh unto Christ in this Sacrament to receive from him the remission of his sins tendred in his bloud of the New Testament should appear before him with humility Ibidem To this purpose Kneeling at the Sacrament is in our Liturgy declared to be for a signification of an humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy receivers and Mr. Hooker saith very well coming as receivers of inestimable Grace at the hand of God Eccles Pol. l. 5. c. 68. what doth better beseem our bodies at that hour than to be sensible witnesses of minds unfeignedly humbled 2. 3. Kneeling is a suitable gesture for solemn Prayer and humble thanksgiving both which may be sitly exercised at the receiving this Sacrament For religious Prayer becometh him who there affectionately desireth to be made partaker of the benefits of Christs Passion and therefore the Communicant should devoutly join in and in heart say Amen to those Petitions at the delivery of the Elements which peculiarly refer to himself The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy Body and Soul to everlasting life and The bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ c. And humble thanksgiving at the holy Eucharist for the benefits of the New Testament there tendred the love of Christ in his sufferings here remembred and for the means of Communion with the Father and the Son in this Ordinance encluded with reflexion on our own guilt Ans to Admenit Tr. 15. c. 1. div 11. pollution and infirmity is a fit exercise for this Ordinance And upon this consideration Bishop Whitgift declared the kneeling gesture to be very meet for the receiving this Sacrament 3. But against the lawfulness of this gesture divers things are objected 1. That Kneeling is no Table gesture as sitting is nor doth it so properly express our fellowship with Christ Rutherf Divine Right of Ch. Gov. p. 196. and the honour and priviledge of Communion with him as Coheirs Ans 1. As the Lords Supper is no common Feast but a Heavenly Banquet prepared by Jesus Christ which principally consisteth of spiritual graces and benefits and Communion with Christ signified by and tendred under the outward Elements so the administration and participation of this great Ordinance ought not to be guided by the Rules of common Table fellowship but by more religious considerations At other Tables the attendants
designed for these Religious actions 2. That though the Jewish Sabbath had a peculiar respect to their deliverance from Egypt Deut. 5.15 Yet for that mercy which was far inferiour to what Christians enjoy by Christ they observed also other yearly solemnities especially the great Feasts of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles Wherefore though the observation of the Lords day as it is one day in seven encludeth a testimony that we worship God the Creator who made the World in six days and rested the seventh and as it is the first day of the Week it containeth a a professed owning and honouring of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour who accomplished his humiliation and began his exaltation on that day yet this doth by no means exclude the lawful use of any other time directed either by voluntary choice or Ecclesiastical or political laws for the advantage of piety in the worship of God and the more solemn observance of those great actions of our blessed Lord which ought evermore to be had in remembrance CHAP. V. Of the particular Offices in the Liturgy SECT I. Of the direction for Communicants receiveing the Lords Supper 1. THE first particular office according to the order of the Book is that for the Communion at the end of which the Rubrick requiring every Parishioner to communicate at least three times in the year is disliked because many persons may not be duly qualified to receive Presbyt Excep p. 21. and therefore this Rubrick was desired either to be left out or to be altered to this sense that the Communion should be thrice in the year administred if there be a convenient number to receive Now because this exception is thought considerable whereas indeed the Rubrick is herein not only justifiable but very commendable I shall endeavour to clear this whole matter by these considerations 2. Cons 1. To receive the holy Communion is a very great Christian duty and cannot be neglected without grievous sin and the displeasure of God This may appear by observing that God strictly required all his Sacramental Institutions to be received when he appointed Circumcision he declareth concerning the uncircumcised Manchild that that Soul should be cut of from his people he hath broken my Covenant Gen. 17.14 When he ordered the use of the Pass-over he said the man that is clean and not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover the same soul shall be cut off from his people because he brought not the Offring of the Lord in his appointed season that man shall bear his sin Num. 9.13 and even this person who was unclean was bound to keep the Passover in the next following month Num. 9.10 11. Under the New Testament those words Joh. 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God are by the general testimony of Antiquity to be understood concerning Baptism and the Pharisees are condemned for rejecting the Counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of John Luk. 7.30 Now the reason why God was so greatly offended at the neglect of these Sacraments is expressed to be because he accounted this to be a disowning or dis-esteeming his Covenant of which his Sacraments were a sign and seal Gen. 17.14 and because Gods appointment and institution therein was not obeyed Num. 9.13 Luk. 7.30 Wherefore because the Lords Supper doth exhibit the New Testament in the blood of Christ and the partaking thereof is particularly commanded by Christ it must upon the same reasons be as evil and dangerous to neglect this Sacrament as those other And if it be further considered that this is a special Ordinance of eminent Christian profession shewing forth the Lords 〈◊〉 till he come 1. Cor. 11.26 and exhibiting the Communion of the body and blood of Christ the right partaking of this Ordinance must needs be concluded to be a principal action and service of Christianity whether we consider the duty performed or the benefits which may be thereby received 3. If the practice of the Apostolical and Primitive Church be consulted the three thousand converted on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was given Act. 2.42 did all continue stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of Bread and Prayer And the receiving the Communion was esteemed so high a part of the Christian service in their publick Assemblies Act. 20.7 that their assembling was called their coming together to break bread Conc. Ant. c. 2. The Council of Antioch determined them to be cast out of the Church who were present at the reading of the Scriptures but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a disorderly manner went away and received not the Eucharist Can. Ap. 9. and the same was decreed in the Canons of the Apostles and much to the same purpose in other Councils which as that of Antioch were embraced as part of the Code of the Universal Church Agreeably hereunto it was Ignatius his desire for the Ephesians Ign. Ep. ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they all of them jointly and every one of them particularly should meet together and partake of the same bread Among the Protestant Churches Syn. Petricor Sect. 5. 1587. the Polonian Synod consisting of members who owned three distinct confessions did unanimously declare that all Pastors ought to teach and accustom their auditors that as oft as the Lords Table is prepared in the publick Assemblies for the faithful they should not neglect every one of them to come unto it And the vehement expressions in the Geneva Catechism and in Bucers Censura against them who neglect to come to the Lords Supper might be here added with other testimonies of the same nature Only it must be here observed that Non-Conformity hath run its changes at such a variance as if both the extreams were to be preferred to the middle way The Author of the Admonition esteemed this direction for the Communicants receiveing to be too large T. C. Reply p. 117. and that too much was done in directing them to Communicate but both Mr. Cartwright the chief opposer of the Liturgy in Queen Elizabeths time Alt. Damasc c. 10. p. 727 728 and the Author of the Altare Damascenum who was the most violent censurer thereof in King James his time thought that too little was done herein for both of them would have all who are in the Churches Communion forced even by civil punishments saith the former and statis temporibus omnes adigendi sunt saith the latter to receive the Lords Supper and both of them condemn them who abstain from the Lords Table out of fear as guilty of superstition and that they ought not to be born with But now again the Chanel is altered and the stream is returned to the other side But by the invariable rule of the will of God which is an unerring guide it is the duty of all Christians to attend upon