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A12327
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A sermon preached in the cathedrall church of Durham, Iuly, 7. 1628. By Peter Smart
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Smart, Peter, 1569-1652?
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1640
(1640)
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STC 22641; ESTC R212597
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19,767
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42
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ministers and prayeth if it be left as a thing inâifferânt without superstition As St. Augustine saithâ Cum quis quaerit orare collocat membra âicut ei occurrit wheÌ any man goes about to prây âe placeth his body as occasion serveth And St. Paul exhorteth every man to lift up pure hands whether towards the East or West it makes no matter Yet indeed it is more dangerous to pray toward the east because the idolatrous Heathen which worshipped the Sun rising did so And it was the custome of the Jewes to pray westward leât they should be entised to worship the Orienâall Sunne as the Heathen did Which God himselfe in the 8 chaâp of Ezek. 16. v. reckoneth among the abominatioÌs of the idolatrous Israelites who turning their backs towards the Temâle worshipped the Sunne towards the East But the Iewes saith Bellarmine which served the Lord prayed towards the West Therefore Christians must turne them toward the Eâst A bold reason The Iewes did well in avoiding all occasion of Idolatry vnto which the vulgar sort is too prone as appeareth by the people of this place how soone learned they to bow down to the Altar worship it The Jews I say did well therfore may Christians doe ill in imitating the idolatrous Gentilâs in thât foolish popish superstitious observatioÌ of turning their faces eastward when they pray And why may wee not imitate the Jewes in the tâing they did wâll the reason of their so doing being not ceremoniall but morall The ceremoniall law is indeed abrogated therfore we may not retaine it but the morall law is still in fârce binding both Jewes and Christians to avoid Idolatây But see the shamelesnesse of a doâing Iesuite he is content we should imitate the Iewes in their ceremonies long since disanulled and ended in having Altaâs Sacrifices Priests priestly vestiments oyntments incense But he will not have us be like the Iewes in casting Idols out of our Churches and in shunning all occasions of idolâtry by âurning our backes on the East when we pray as they did Our good Princes and learned Bishops when they bâgan to reforme the Church of England were carefull that we should be like the Jewes rather in this point then the idolatrous Papists or Gentiles And therefore they ordained by Law that the Communion Table should not stand Altar-wise the two ends looking to the South and North as of purpose Altars were set in Popery that the Masse priest might stand on the West side with his face toward the East and his backe to the people But contrariwise they appointed the table to bee placed in the midst of the Church to be moveable fastned neither to wall nor floore the ends standing from East to West as I said before And they precisely injoyned the Minister to stand at the celebration of the Lords Supper on the north side of the Table to the intent they should not bee like superstitious shavelings Which makes me to wonder at the presumptuous âoldnâs of him or theÌ which immediatly after the death of our last learned Bishop before we had another about 11. yeares âgoe tooke upon him I know not by what authority to alter the situation of the Communion table from the old manner of standing which it had kept in all Bishops times from the beginning of Qâeen Elizabeths raign save onely when the Rebels possâst this churchâ sang Masse thereinâ The Lords table J say eleven years agoe was turned into an altar and so placed that the Minister cannot stand to do his office on the north side as the law expresly chargeth him to doe because there is no side of the table stânding Northwârd He J say that contrary to law durst doe this in imitation of Papists and Rebels deserves he not to bee sharply cânsured Why doe I say durst he doe it Non audet sâygiâs Pluto tentare quod audeâ Eâfrenis Monachus The Divell in hell dare not attempt more then an vnrâly Monke or Frier dare doe A Divell a Frier will adventure strangely J have heard of a Divell that preacht I have heard of a Frier that preacht in a rope but J never heard of either Divell or Fryer that preached in a Cape But why is the Communion table set in the Eâst end of the Church and not in the West end or middle raâher whereas Socrates saith in his 5 booke 21. chap. that in a Temple at Antioch the Altar was placed at the west end And Gentean Hervât a popish writer describing the fashion of the Greeke Church aâ this time saith In âraecorum Templis vnicum est Altare idque in medio Choro The Graecians have but one Altar in a Church and that in the middle of the Quire Therefore neither the Graecians nor the people of Antioch looked eastward but rather westward when thây prayed Biâius also and Bawnius say that because the Manichees which did worship the Sunne prayed towards the East Lâo the first ordained that to discerne Catholikes from Heâetickt Ad Occidenâem converâi Deum colerent The Catholikâ should worship toward the Wâst Afterward by the constitution of PâpâVigiliuâ it was ordainâd that the Minister sâanâing at the Alâar âhould pray toward the West It came thââefore ââom Antichrist to râstraine Christian liberty by commanâing will-wââship the doctrine of men without any warrant out of Gods word Againe Necromancers and Sorcerers turne their faces to the Eâst when they act their enchanâments and it liââlâ bâcomes Christians to follow Wiâches and Coâjurers in their supeâstitious and divellish devotions by preferring Eâst before West It being a Ceremony of all other most fooliâh hereticall Papisticall Paganicall and Magicall Let us therefore in the name of God hate with the Prophet David the abomiâations and superstitious vanities If we hate thâm not God will hate vs and abhorre our festivities with all the pomp and glory of our Church As he told the Israelites in the fifth of Amos v. 21. I hate and abhorre yoâr feast dayes I will not smell your solemne assemblies Take away from me the noyse of thy songs I will not heare the melody of thy instruments fâr ye have born the Tabernacle of Molock and Chiun your Images the starre of your God which you made to your selves Such Molocks such Chiunâ such Images and stars some of us heere have made to themselves lift âp your eyes you praised âhem set up aloât roând this Church Harke then what Christ saith to the Angell of the Church of Ephesus Revel. 2. Remember from whence thou art fallen and repeât and doe thy first workes else I will come quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent This is done their Candlesticke is removed that pretious pearle the Gospell is taken from the Ephâsians and in stead thereoâ Mahometisme raigns there So if wâ remâmber not from whence we are fallen and doe the first works and worship our God sincerely abandoning Idolatrous and supersâitious vanities Our Candlesticke will be removed and the light of Gods truth will be taken from us Then shall we be overwhelmed againe with Anti-christian clouds of AEgyptian darknesse which God for his merciâs sake give us grace to avoid By repenting by amending our lives by forsaking our Idols and by hating all manner of superstitious vanities To God the Father God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost three persons in Trinity one God in unity be âscribed all honour and glory all might and majâsty all power and dominion now and evermore Amen FINIS