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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69491	Gestus Eucharisticvs, or, A discourse concerning the gesture at the receiving of the Holy Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lords Supper by George Ashwell ...	Ashwell, George, 1612-1695.	1663 (1663)	Wing A3998; ESTC R16232	72,577	195

praegustetur c. Before we sit or lie downe we pray unto God c. and a little after Aequè oratio convivium dirimet Prayer likewise ends the Feast But he tells us not that this was done in the Church much less that they used the same Gesture at the Communion which preceded it Yea he elswhere saith that it was different from it when he mentioneth Stationem ad aram Dei in quâ Dominus adoratur sacrificiorum orationes fiunt Standing at the Altar of God where the Lord is adored and such Prayers are made as belong to the Sacrifices Now standing we know was never used or accounted for a Supper-posture And if sitting had been necessary how durst the Primitive Church change it into standing the example whereof is so invidiously urged against the present custom of the Church of England 4. The Church of Christ always looked upon the Communion-Service whereof the Receiving is a part as a principal part of Divine Worship wherein her Children renewed their Covenant with God and offered up themselves an holy living Sacrifice which is our reasonable Service We profess to yeeld the unbloody Service in the Church of God and to partake of the Mystical Blessings and by that means to be sanctified as being made to communicate of the Holy Flesh and Precious Bloud of Christ the Saviour of all Cyr. Ep. ad Nestorium Act Conc Ephes Tom 1. c. 14. Nos servitutem quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur Graecè sive in quibusdam Sacramentis sive in nobis ipsis debemus Aug de Civ Dei lib. 10. c. 4. That is we owe Service to God which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partly in the Sacraments partly in our own Persons And Calvin Inst l. 4. c. 14. § 1. defines a Sacrament Testimonium Divinae in nos gratiae externo signo confimatum cum mutuâ nostrae erga ipsum Pietatis testificatione That is A Testimony of God's favour to us confirmed by an outward signe with a mutual witnessing of our Duty towards him Indeed this offering up of our Selves which is most solemnly done in the Sacrament is the true and daily Sacrifice of the Christian Church the Mystical Body of Christ thus offering up her Selfe by Christ her high-Priest and Head unto God the Father as Christ once offered up himselfe to the same Father for his Body the Church Now in such a publique and solemne worship as this the Adoration of the Body must needs goe along with the Devotion of the Soule else it will be lame and imperfect Wee shall shew our selves ashamed of God and deny to profess him before men God giveth grace to the humble but resisteth the Proud and will not vouchsafe to accept ought of ours unless we first offer up our Soules and Bodies entirely to him The Primitive Christians therefore constantly used the same lowly and reverential Gesture at the receiving of the Sacrament which they did at the Prayers that accompanied it whether Standing as on the Lord's Day and all Dayes of publique Assemblies between Easter and Whitsontide or kneeling as on other Dayes And when the Western Churches thought good to turn standing into kneeling at all publick Prayers on what Day soever they used the same lowly Gesture at the receiving of the Sacrament and the Chancel or Place where the Communion was celebrated was called by way of Eminency The Place of Prayer Certainly then a Prayer-Gesture is most proper for this part of Divine Service All those therefore who think kneeling a fit posture for Prayer and practice it at other parts of the Publick Service cannot with any reason refuse to use it at the receiving of the Sacrament unless they will contradict the Judgment and condemn the practice of the Christian Church in all Ages 5. When the Church anciently used standing in Divine Service on the Lords Days as the most proper Gesture whereby to testifie their Belief in the Resurrection of Christ yet when the Communicants approached unto the holy Table to receive the Sacrament they used constantly to express their Thankfulness and Reverence in a Gesture of Adoration by bowing their Faces and Bodies to the Ground wherein as they shewed their great Humility so they shewed withall their high esteem of the Heavenly Gift which there and then God vouchsafed to bestow o● so unworthy Receivers which serves for a good Pattern to us at this Day that we express the same Reverence by a like Gesture of Adoration And seeing that now the Western Churches and ours in particular usually expresseth the act of Adoration by kneeling what fitter Gesture then that for this holy and solemn Service 6. The far greater part of the Protestant Churches at this day receive the Sacrament kneeling and those who receive it standing when they receive make a reverential Bow at their approach to the Holy Table As for Sitting the Gesture which is so much contended for and affected by our Non-Conformists it was never heard of in the Christian Church till of late years and then used but by one Forreign Church that of Holland which goeth under the name of Reformed Whose practice herein sure no wise and sober Christian will esteem so considerable as to judge it should give law to all the rest Were it not far more equitable of the two that this should rather conform to the major part as those few Churches in the Primitive Age which kept Easter on the Fourteenth Day of the First month on whatsoever day of the Week it fell though they had Apostolical Tradition for it yet for Peace and Orders sake readily conformed to the greater number which kept it always on the Lords Day as it was generally agreed on in the first general Council held at Nice 7. Those few Churches and Divines which commend sitting as the fittest Gesture or dislike kneeling at the Communion neither think that necessary nor this unlawful They commend sitting as that which they suppose most consonant to the Primitive Practice and to the nature of a Supper the groundlesness of which conceit hath been in part demonstrated and shall be farther And they mislike kneeling meerly for the danger or scandal thereof as that which they think countenanceth the Romish Adoration of the Hoast and confirms the Papists in their Idolatry and Superstition Now if this Reason might pass for tolerable and be allowed at first whilst such Adorations were in daily view to provoke the Reformers or at least fresh in memory and the People newly weaned from such Superstitions so as to make some few Churches and Doctors to lean unto the other extreame yet it cannot be rightly judged to have the same force at this day when the People generally especially those who condemn kneeling are so far from Popery that they are running apace into Prophaneness and Irreverence and contempt of Divine Service How many be there amongst us who have neglected the very substance of the Duty in not receiving the Sacrament for many

the Table Then he first took his own Portion reliqua vero frusta sigillatim ordine discumbentibus caeteris porrigebat The remainder he distributed severally and in order to the other Guests who sate with him at the Table We have small reason to question comparing these Circumstances with what is recorded by S. John ch 13. and consulting the Judgement of the most learned hereupon but it was this Bread thus divided and distributed which our Saviour made use of at the Institution of the Sacrament And therefore if we will follow this primitive Patterne we must not be our own Carvers at the Communion but take that Portion which is given us by the hand of the Minister Adde hereunto that as the Consecrating of the Bread and Wine so the Breaking Powring forth and Distributing of them are Sacramentall Actions belonging to the Minister alone as appeares by what our Saviour did at the first Celebration The Communicants are onely to take eate and drink in memory of our Saviours Passion as the Apostles then did as we are commanded to do Mat. 26. 26 27. 1 Cor. 11. 23-26 4. The words of Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is when some distribute the Eucharist as the Custome is they suffer every one of the People to take his Part. But these words prove not either that the Communicants sate at the Table or took the Sacrament of themselves without any Delivery by the Minister Rather they import the Contrary that the People took that onely which the Minister distributed that Part which he pleased to give them However Tertullian who was contemporary with him is plaine enough when he tels us De Cor. Mil. c. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum non de aliorum manu quam Praesidentium sumimus That is We take not the Eucharist from any other hand then that of our Presidents Now who these were he tels us in his Apolog. cap. 39. Praesident apud nos probati quique Seniores Our approved Elders are the Chief Governours or Presidents amongst us The same whom S. Peter cals his Fellow-Elders or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5. 1. the same whom Justine Martyr cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antistites the Governours and Bishops of the Church Who also witnesseth the same in his 2d Apology where having first told us that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop having prayed and given thanks with a most intense Devotion over the Sacramentall Bread and Wine the People closed it with a lowd and unanimous Amen He immediately adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Then Distribution is made to every one of the Communicants of the consecrated Bread Wine they who are absent have it sent them by the Deacons S. Cyprian tels us the same lib. de lapsis Where he relates a story whereof himself was an eye-witness touching a Maid-Servant who having polluted her selfe with the Idol-Sacrifices took the Boldness to come among other Christians before she had either confest her sin or was reconciled unto God and the Church by Repentance and unknown to him communicated of the Sacrament but immediately after the receiving thereof fell down Dead Sacrificantibus nobis latenter obrepsit Sacerdotem Dei nec occulta crimina fefellerunt quae fefellerat hominem Deum sensit ultorem that is shee crept in privily as we officiated at the Communion Table yet her hidden sins escaped not the knowledge of Gods Priest she who had deceived man felt God an Avenger In the same place speaking of the Delivery of the Cup he saith Solemnibus adimpletis calicem Diaconus offerre praesentibus coepit When the Prayers were ended the Deacon began to give the Chalice to them that were present And this may be well thought necessary if it were onely for this good end that the unworthy might be kept off from the Sacrament the Minister being charged not to give holy things unto dogs But why insist I any longer upon this when the Practise of receiving the Sacrament from the hand of the Minister alone is so well known from all antiquity in the Christian Church and so generally used at this day in all Protestant Churches except that of Holland and some few of her confederate Neighbours where they use sitting In the rest which follow Zuinglius Calvin throughout Switzerland Hessen the Palatinate Prussia and Poland as they receive the Sacrament at the Table with a gentle bending of their knees so they receive it severally and in order from the hand of the Minister who stands officiating at the Table The like do they in West-Friezland though one of the Confederate Provinces As for the Churches of the Augustane Confession which are commonly called Lutheranes the People universally receive it from the hand of the Minister but with this difference that the former receive it into their Hands but these immediately into their Mouths Object 3. Religious Adoration before a Creature especially if consecrated and signifying an holy Thing with respect thereto is Idolatry except we have a special command of God for it But the kneeling before the Sacramental Bread and Wine is such an Adoration Ergo c. If it be said that the worship is given not to the Bread and Wine but to God and his Son Christ who are there present the same excuse will serve the Papists yea the Pagans themselves who pretend to worship not the Image it self but God in the Image God censureth the Intention of the worshipper by his outward Gesture Jer. 2. 27. Neither is there any manifester way of idolizing any Creature than to kneel and pray before it Hezekiah therefore not only removed but brake in pieces the brazen Serpent when it was abused to Idolatry though it had been set up by Gods express command and was reserved as a Monument of his great Mercy and Power shewen towards his People Lastly if there be no Adoration given to the Sacrament but to God only why is there not the like Reverence shewen at Baptisme which is a like Ordinance of Christ and a part of his Service Answ 1. The Limitations here given are vain and idle for to transfer the Honour due to God alone unto any Creature is Idolatry whether the Thing be consecrated or no whether it have or have not an holy signification Neither can any such Action be made lawful by a special command because God dispenseth not with such Things as are intrinsecally and absolutely evil and expresly repugnant to his Honour which he professeth that he will not give unto another Jsa 42. 8. It were absurd to say It is unlawful to blaspheme or forswear without Gods special warrant by commanding or permitting either 2. To worship before a Creature even with some respect thereto is not always Idolatry or Superstition so that the Creature be n●t the work of our own hands such as an Image is or such a work of God as we fix our worship in or at least make it