is a speciall meanes to direct us in applying this rule Every man doth challenge some trust in the Art he professeth And is there any that hath studyed the Scripture so well as the Bishops Pastors Doctors of the Church in all ages Besides they have a calling to expound the Scripture are therfore called Guides Rulers Lights Spirituall Fathers Teachers Ambassadors of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God Finally they have not onely a calling but a promise of the assistance of the spirit Matth. XXVIII 20. Loe I am with you unto the end of the world By vertue of which promise it is certaine that all the Pastors of the Catholick Church in all ages did never erre dangerously and therefore their Iudgment to be preferred before the opinion of any private man for God hath commaunded us to heare and obey them II. Sect. 17. The Church is to judge of the abilities of men and who are fit for the Ministery to conferre Orders appoint them their Stations and direct them in the exercise of their Function This power was committed unto Timothie and Titus and must continue in the Church untill the end of the world For as now we are not to expect new revelations so neither extraordinary missions And therefore hee that will take upon him the Office of a Minister not being called by the Church Ioh. X. is an Intruder a Thief that commeth not in by the doore but climbeth up another way What will you say then to some Dominees heere amongst you who having no Ordination to our calling have taken upon them to preach and preach I know not what even the foolish visions of their owne heart As they runne when none hath sent them 11 Sam. XVIII 23.29 and runne very swiftly because like Ahimaaz they runne by the way of the plaine So like Ahimaaz when they are come they have no tydings to tell but dolefull newes They think by their puff of preaching to blowe downe the goodly Orders of our Church as the walls of Iericho were beaten downe with sheepes hornes Good God! is not this the sinne of Vzziah who intruded himselfe into the Office of the Priest-hood And was there ever the like heard amongst Christians except the Anabaptists whom some amongst you have matcht in all manner of disorder and confusion III. sect 18 It belongs unto the Church to decide controversies in religion The Apostle sayth Oportet haereses esse There must bee heresies So there must be a meanes to discover reprove condemne those herisies and pronounce out of the word of God for truth against heresie Deut. XVII 8.9.10 Under the Law the Priests assembled together had authority to give sentence in matters of Controversie The same authority did our Saviour give unto the governors of his Church when he gave them the power of the Keyes and commaunded others to heare them for that their sentence is the sentence of God Titus is commanded to reject an hereticke and so hee had power to Iudge him Doe we therfore make the Church an absolute Infallible Iudge of fayth No Onely God is the supreme Iudge of absolute Authority because he is the Law-giver And in all Common-wealths the supreme power of Iudgement belongs to the Law-giver Inferiour magistrates are but Interpreters of the Law Therefore in Scripture these two are joyned together Esay XXXIII 22. The Lord is our Iudge the Lord is our Law-giver And Iames IV. 10. There is one Law-giver able to save and destroy His throne is established in heaven but in earth we may heare his voice in the holy Scripture revealing his will to the sonnes of men whereby he speaketh to us for God now speaketh to us and teacheth his Church not by any extraordinary voyce from heauen not by Anabaptisticall Enthusiasmes but by the mouth of his holy Prophets and Apostles whose sentence is contayned in the holy Scripture Lib. V. that wee may say with Optatus Milevitanus De coelo quaerendus Iudex Sed ut quid pulsamus ad coelum cùm habeamus hic in euangelio testamentum The Iudge is in heaven But we need not goe so farre to know his sentence when we have his will expressed in the Gospell So Moses Deut. XXX v. 11.12.13.14 This commaundement which I commaund thee this day is not hidden from thee neyther is it farre off It is not in heaven neyther is it beyond the sea But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest doe it This word being lively and accompanied with the power of the Spirit doth illuminate the minds of men with the knowledge of the truth reprove convince and condemne error and therefore is said to accuse judge condemne Ioh. v. 45. VII 5. XII 4.8 by our Saviour himselfe And so though properlie the Scripture be not the Iudge but rule of faith yet we call it the Iudge by a Metonymie because God who is the Iudge speaketh in it and by it Poli◠lib. III. c. 16. So the Philosopher sayth The Law is the Vniversall Iudge that magistrates are but Ministers and Interpreters of the Law to apply it to particular causes and persons That which the Magistrates doe in Civill matters the chiefe Pastors of the Church are to doe in matter of Religion If a controversie arise they are to heare the reasons on both sides compare them try by the Touchstone of the word weigh them in the ballance of the Sanctuary And so that which the word hath defined in generall they are according to the rule of this word to apply unto the particular cause and controversie pronouncing for truth against error Yet so as they swarve not from the Rule whereunto God hath tyed them Esay VIII 20. To the Law to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word there is no light in them So that the Church doth Iudge and determine controversies not as an absolute infallible Iudge but as a publicke Minister and Interpreter by a subordinate power which yet is more to be esteemed then the Iudgement of any yea of a thousand private men Shee is not the Iudge but interpreter of Scripture Shee doth not Iudge of the verity of Gods Law but of the truth of private mens Iudgements And that especially if the matter in controversie bee of weight when the Bishops are assembled in Councell When there was a Controversie touching Circumcision the Apostles and Elders assembled at Ierusalem for composing the matter Act. XV. The godly Bishops in the primitive Church following their example did at all occasions assemble in Councells for determining Controversies condemning of hereticks and clearing the Truth by their joynt suffrages even in time of persecution under Pagan Emperours they did celebrate diverse Provinciall Synods as at Antioch at Casarea at Carthage And in that famous generall Councell of Nice wherein Arrius was condemned the Fathers saw such a necessitie of this Synodicall Iudgment
committed the Oracles of God Therefore Epiphanius proves Epiph. de menâ— pond the Bookes of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus not to be Canonicall because they were not kept in the Arke And S. Augustin calls the Iewes our Librarie-keepers who are so zealous of the Old Testament that they will rather loose their life then one line of it So carefull also hath the Christian Church beene of both Testaments that many Martyrs have chosen to give their Bodies rather then their Bibles to bee burnt Neither doth it onely belong to the Church to keepe the holy Bookes but also to discerne betweene true Scripture and false And so shee is the Defender of the Scripture to which purpose the Spirit of Christ is given unto her whereby she knoweth the voyce of the Bridegroome Here the Church of Rome hath abused her power and betrayed her trust inserting into the Canon diverse Apocryphall bookes which were not written by divine inspiration nor received by the Church in S. Ieromes dayes And as she is the keeper and maintainer of the holy Records So she is as a Herauld Common-cryer to publish notifie propound and commend these Records as the Word of God unto all men For this cause is the Church called the Pillar of Truth because shee beareth up the Truth by her publicke ministery and sheweth us the holy Bookes So that the Testimonie of the Church is an excellent meanes to know the Scripture to be from God even the first motive and occasion of our faith The Key which openeth the doore of entrance into the knowledge of the Scriptures The Watchman that holds out the light in open view and presents the shining beames thereof to all that have eyes to discerne it The guide that directs and assists us to finde out those Arguments in Scripture wherby the Divinitie of it is proved And so like the morning starre introduces that cleare light which shineth in the word it selfe But the testimony of the Church is not the onely nor the chiefe cause of our knowledge nor the formall object of our faith As the Samaritanes at first believed for the saying of the woman Ioh. IV. 39. but afterward because of his own word saying Now wee beleeve not because of thy saying for wee have heard him our selves And as Nathaneel was induced to come to Christ by the Testimony of Philip but was perswaded to beleeve that he was the Messias by what he heard from himselfe as may appeare by his confession Rabbi Ioh. I. 45 4â— thou art the sonne of God so men are first induced to beleeve that this Booke is the holy Scripture by the Testimony of the Church but after they receive greater assurance when their eyes are opened to see that light which shineth in the Scripture To use a more familiar similitude If a man bring you a letter from your father and tell you he received it out of his owne hand you beleeve him but are better assured when you consider the seale subscription forme of Characters and matter contayned in the Letters So are we perswaded of the divinity of the Scripture The Scripture is an epistle sent unto us from God our father The Church is the messenger and tells us that shee received it from him Wee give credite unto her Report but when we peruse it and consider the divinity of the matter the sublimity of the style the efficacy of the speach we are fully perswaded that the same is from God indeed In a word the Church commends the Scripture to be Gods word not by her owne authority but by the verity of the thing it selfe and arguments drawne out of Scripture which proveth it selfe to be divine even as the Sunne manifests it selfe to bee the Sunne a learned man proveth himselfe to be learned and as Wisedome is justified of her children for which cause the Scripture is called a fyre a hammer a word that is lively mighty in operation a light shining in a darke place All which sheweth that it hath a certayne in-bred power to prove manifest it selfe without any outward testimony And therefore the Authority of the Scripture in respect of us doth not depend vpon the voyce of the Church And yet is the Church bound to give testimony to the Scripture we are bound to heare her Testimony Further as the Church is to propound Sect. 16. so to expound the Scripture apply them by preaching and administration of the Sacraments Wee are all of us so blinde in heavenly mysteries that we may say with the Eunuch of Ethiopia Act. Vâ—ll â—â—4 How can I understand except I had a guide God hath appointed us guides to expound unto us the Scripture and to apply the same for doctrine for confutation for Correction for Instruction These bee the uses of Scripture II. Tim. III. 16. and it is The man of God that is the minister and Pastor who is to expound the Scripture and apply it unto these ends In the II. of Haggai vers 12. the Lord sayth Aske now the Priests concerning the Law And Malach. II. 7. The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seeke the Law at his mouth To them it belongs to teach preach labour in the word divide the word exhort confute rebuke as the Apostle directs his two Sonnes Timothie Bishop of Ephesus and Titus Bishop of Creta When Christ was to remove his bodily presence he established his ministry upon earth when he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men He gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and teachers Eph. IIII. 11. He sent forth his disciples with the like commission as he receaved from his father saying As my father sâ—â—t me even so I send you And agayne Goe teach all Nations baptizing them c. Matth. XXVIII 19.20 That this is the office of the Pastors is manifest and acknowledged by all but they must remember that they expound Scripture by Scripture and according to the meaning of the Law-giver comparing spirituall things with spirituall things and adding nothing of their owne Herein the Church of Rome hath abused her power assigning unto Scripture what sense she pleaseth even that which will make most for her owne turne This is ingenuously confessed by Cusanus Apud Illyâ— Clav. Script p. â— Tract 7. that the Church may expound the Scripture one way at one time another way at an other time still fitting the sense of the Scripture to the practise of the Church As they have done touching these words in the institution of the Sacrament Drinke yee all of this which by the auncient Church sayth he were so vnderstood that even the people were to receave the cup By the moderne Church in another sense But howsoever they have betrayed their trust let us not despise the Iudgement of the Catholick Church in expounding the Scripture For as the Scripture is the perfect rule of faith so the Iudgement of the Church
in the service of God without any speciall warrant but when I considered that this is the very Diana for which you strive and the wall of separation between you the Church I thought fit to inlarge my selfe upon this point to manifest unto all those who love the trueth that sitting hath no more ground in Christ's Institution then kneeling And now to proceed Sect. 36. I will shew you other Ceremonies used by you in Gods worship without any speciall warrant The next to sitting at the Communion is sprinkling in Baptisme for which there is no warrant but the custome of the present Church for the auncient Ceremonie in Baptisme was not aspersion but immersion which Ceremonie was sanctified by the Baptisme of our Saviour Matth. III. 16. Mark I. 10. for the Evangelists say When he was baptized he came out of the water and therefore he went in into the water The same was used by the Apostles and thereunto the Apostle alludeth shewing that the mortification of sinne the increase of that mortification and the vivification of the new man are signified by the Ceremonie of Baptisme for the dipping in Baptisme had three parts their going down into the water their continuance in the water and their comming up out of the water The going downe into the water figureth the mortification of sinne by the power of Christs death for all wee sayeth the Apostle which have beene baptized into Iesus Christ have been baptized into his death The continuance in the water noteth the increase of that mortification by the power of Christs death and buryall We are buryed with him by Baptisme into his death The comming up out of the water ratifieth our rising againe unto newnesse of life Like as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father so wee also should walke in newnesse of life Rom. VI. 3.4 This Ceremonie was continued in the Church for many hundred yeares and to that purpose in ancient times they had places in each Church for dipping called Baptisteria and Lotiones neither was sprinkling generally practised in the Church till 1300. yeares after Christ when to use your owne words Antichrist was in his full height Now can you shew me any reason why you may leave a Ceremonie which was certainly used by Christ by his Apostles and the whole auncient Church and was of singular use for fignification and in stead of it take another not so significant brought into the Church by Antichrist And that yet it shall not bee lawfull for the whole Church to lay downe another Ceremonie to wit sitting at the Communion whereof there is no certainty nor likely hood that ever it was used by Christ or his Apostles or any Church in the world and in place of it to use another which is a great deale more decent and comely Thirdly you use to injoyne pennance to receive penitents in a white sheet and I am sure that if a Surplice in Gods Service be a Ceremonie so is a white sheet in publick pennance and absolution and there is no more warrant for the one then for the other Fourthly you use a Ceremonie in Marriage by joyning of hands and pronouncing of words which are not commaunded Fiftly I could tell you that the time was in the dayes of the Presbyterie when that Church whose orders you so much approve did use a Ceremonie in Ordination and a very strange one It was not imposition of hands but shaking them by the hand to bid them welcome into their Societie because forsooth they were loath in any thing to have a conformitie with the auncient Apostolick Church Sixtly you professe to honour the Church of Geneva as a fit patterne unto all other Churches and yet they use the Ceremonie of godfathers in Baptisme and wafer Cakes in the Communion against which one Ceremonie I could say more then can be said against all the Ceremonies of our Church Finally the lifting up of the eyes to Heaven the spreading out of the hands the knocking of the breast sighing and groaning in Gods service are Ceremonies used by none so much as by your selves And yet I confesse that if they proceed from a sincere heart they are lawfull expressions of devotion By this time you doe all see that whereas you deny Ceremonies in Gods worship which are not commaunded you are evidently convinced by your owne practise I thinke that I have said enough Sect. 37. to overthrow that ground which you have laid that no Ceremonies ought to bee used in Gods service without a speciall warrant from the word Now for the conclusion of this poynt I will appeale unto the confessions of the reformed Churches and the suffrages of divines You professe to approve the Articles of the Church of England as contayning nothing but trueth though not so manie particulars as you account to be matters of faith and those Articles doe ascribe such a power to the Church to ordaine Ceremonies as you may see in the XX. Article The Church hath power to decree rites or Ceremonies and againe in the XXXIIII Article Every particular or Nationall Church hath authority to ordaine change and abolish Ceremonies The same you may reade in the Articles of Religion of the Church of Ireland which were printed in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth As for the Iudgement of other Reformed Churches I shall referre you to the Harmony of Confessions and the writings of their learned Divines where you may learne I. That it is not only lawfull but expedient and requisite to use Ceremonies in Gods worship II. That those Ceremonies should be significant III. That it is not necessary that the same Ceremonies bee observed in all Churches at all times IV. That we are not bound to observe all those Ceremonies which were used by the Apostles and the Primitive Church V. That we may retain some Ceremonies used by the Iewes namely Ceremonies of order not of prefiguration VI. That we may use some Ceremonies used by the Pagans VII That wee may retaine some Ceremonies of the Papists VIII That the governors of the Church have power to make choice of Ceremonies to change and abrogate some and to ordayne others as they shall see occasion Finally That wee are bound to observe all Ceremonies which are injoyned by lawfull authoritie provided that they bee qualified with these conditions following Instit lib. IV. c. 10. §. 14. Mr Calvin requireth three conditions That they have In numero paucitatem in observatione facilitatem in significatione dignitatem I. For number they should be few for when the Church is pestered with the multitude of them it makes the estate of Christians to be more intollerable then the condition of the Iewes as it is in the Church of Rome whose missalls are larger then the booke of Leviticus whereof Gerson Polydore Virgill and others did complaine in their time II. They should bee easie for observation III. For signification they should be grave decent and
When a King of a heathen becomes a Christian he loses not that temporall right which hee had but acquires a new right in the spirituall goods of the Church so if afterwards of Christian he become Heathen he loseth the new right which he had acquired in the benefites and priviledges of the Church but not the old temporall right which hee had unto his Crowne So Bernard told the Pope In criminibus non possessionibus potestas vestra The Church hath power to censure offences namely with the sentence of excommunication not to take away possessions But I might have spared this labour Sect. 41. for you are not the men who ascribe too much to the censures of the Church but indeed too little and set them all at naught If a man for his faction disobedience be cast out of the Church you thinke him so much the neerer heaven as one who hath witnessed a good confession and is very zealous for the truth then you account him most worthy of your company as if our Saviour had said If hee refuse to heare the Church Let him be unto thee as a faithfull brother So little doe you regard the sentence of the Church which our Saviour hath commaunded you to obey saying sit tibi Let him bee unto thee as a Heathen man and a Publicane for which he gives a reason in the words following saying Verily I say unto you What soever yee bind on earth shall be bound in heaven that is the sentence pronounced by the Church is ratified by God himselfe Here I cannot dissemble the injury that is done unto the Church by you in those parts for her Instructions are not received her Ordinations are neglected her determinations despised her orders contemned her lawes trodden under foote her censures derided In nothing shee is heard And these who refuse to heare her yee are so farre from accounting them As Heathens and Publicanes that you esteeme them as Saints and Martyrs and account us no better then Heathens Publicanes and persecuters you open heaven only to those that are of your faction damne all that approve not your fantasies and so condemne all Churches that are or have beene except your owne Conventicles That it is a wonder to me how you can professe to beleeve The holy Catholicke Church for never any ancient Church observed these orders which you seeke to obtrude upon the world as the discipline of Christ and the seepter of his kingdome And never any Church since the Apostles dayes wanted our orders which you reject as unlawfull and Antichristian So that that which you account the true Church is not Catholicke and that Church which is Catholick is not holy Thus have you lost one article of your Creed It was so with the Donatists in ancient times and almost in every thing their courses were so like unto yours that as oft as I consider your opinions and practise I doe remember them and thinke it is Vetus fabula pernovos histriones as though by a Pythagorean transmigration their soules had taken up their mansion in your bodies Which I will instance in some particulars The Donatists did not only separate from the Catholicke Church but most arrogantly esteemed their owne faction to bee the only true Christians in whose assemblies salvation was to be found a Beelesia una est eam tu frater Parmeniane apud â—os solos esse dixisti Optat lib. 2. post Nitimini suadere hominibus apud vos sotos esse Ecclesiam So have you appropriated unto your selves the styles of Brethren Good men Professors As if all others who favour not your faction had no brotherhood in Christ no interest in goodnesse made no true profession of the Gospell The Catholickes acknowledged the Donatists to be their brethren loved pittyed and prayed for them b Velint nolint fratres nostri sunt Aug in Psal 32. Concordate nobiscum flatres diligimus vos hoc vobis volumus quod nobis Id. Ep. 68. But the peevish schismatickes requited their love with hatred esteemed them no better then Pagans and disdayned to salute them c Isti qui dicunt non esâ—is fratres nostri Paganos nos dicunt Aug in Ps 32. Vos odio noâ— habetis fratres utique vestros auditorum animis infunditis odia docentes ne Ave dicant cuiquam nostrum Optat. lib. 4. So albeit we have reached foorth unto you the right hand of fellowship yet have you answered us with disdaine terming us formalists time-servers worldlings Papists Arminians limmes of Antichrist and no better then reprobates But for my owne part I passe very little to be judged of you for all your malice you shall have my pitty and my prayers The Donatists thought all things polluted by the touch of Catholickes and so washed their Church walls and their vestiments broke their chalices scraped their Altars d d Rasistis Altaria fregistis calices lavastis pallas parieâ—es inclusa spatia salsa aqua spargi praecepistis Optat. lib. 6. So these men thinke that our service-booke our Ceremonies our Churches and all are polluted with the Papists though they descended unto them from the ancient Church and we have better right unto them then they had And therefore where they had power they did not wash the Churches but in a sacrilegious furie pull them downe to the ground burnt the vestiments broke the chalices or converted them to private uses and razed the Altars esteeming a beggerly cottage fitter for Gods service then a magnificent Temple much like the officers of Iulian who when they saw the holy vessells of the Church cryed out En qualibus vasis ministratur Mariae filio What stately plate is this for the Carpenters sonne The Donatists taught that the efficacie of Sacraments depends on the dignity of the Minister and so would not receive the Sacrament from any but such as they esteemed just men that is to say men of their owne faction e De Baptismo dicere solent tune esse verum baptismum Christi com ab homine Iusto datur Aug. Ep 167. And are not some of you of the same minde who refuse the Sacrament though they might have it after their owne fashion onely because the minister hath conformed himselfe unto the orders of the Church The Donatists taught that the Church ought not to tollerate evill persons in her Communion that Communion with such persons polluteth and profaneth the Church And that therefore all the Churches of the world were perished because they communicated with Caecilianus f Donatistae pertinaci dissensione in heresin schisma verterunt tanquam Ecclesia Christi propter crimina Caeciliani de toto terrarum â—â— be perierit Aug. cont â—pist Parmen l. 3. Id. de haeres ad quod vult cap. 69. And was it not upon the very same ground that your brethren the Brounists did run both out of the Church and out of their witts they built their conclusions upon your premisses
can be no order nor constitution so just but some scrupulous minde or other will dislike it And as they are enemies to Christian liberty so they give just offence to all sorts of men To the Kings Majesty but their disobedience to his Lawes To the Church by foule aspersions and seditious practises They charge her with will-worship Idolatry which is as much as to cal their mother whoore Besides it cannot but grieve her to be bereaved of her children many of whom she sees following those bâ—ind guides through the praecipices of error and schisme They give offence unto all moderate and well affected Christians by forsaking their Communion for no other reason but because that others even the King State Church and all will not follow their fancies and be squared by their wills They give great scandall unto the Papists who observing their practises and mistaking their Tenets for the doctrines of our Church charge us that we are newfangled not carried so much with zeale to the truth as with hatred to them abhorring almost every thing that is used by them and departing further from them then they haue from the Primitive Church Insomuch that I dare say the violent courses of these partiall Divines whose soules hate peace is not the least cause of the Papists separation from us They lay a stumbling blocke before their own followers a number of simple people who by their example are animated or as the Apostle speaketh edified without ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I. Cor. VIII 10. to contemne authority and from that contempt many doe proceed either to open separation or to some degree of disloyall discontentment Finally they give great offence to the weaker sort who are not well grounded in the faith for when they see them who are the greatest zelotes in Religion to make more conscience of a harmlesse Ceremonie then of lying slandering backbiting cosenage Vsury Sacriledge And to urge sitting at the Sacrament more then the duty and comfort of the Sacrament it selfe for their humor to forsake their ministery and for trifles to set all Gods ordinances at sixe and seaven They take occasion from thence to mislike all forwardnesse in Religion esteeming zeale but hypocrisie and so either rest in outward civility or turne altogether profligates So many wayes give they offence Deut. XXVII 18. And Cursed bee he that maketh the blind goe out of the way And let all the people say Amen And now having discomfited the Disputers forlorne hope I come to grapple with his many forces even with his Draconary milites which he sent to assault the reverent gesture which we use at the receiving of the Sacrament Where though his Arguments seeme unto those who looke upon them through the vapour of affection greater and goodlier then they are yet if they would dispell the mists and cloudes of partiality then those reasons which seeme Gyants in their eyes would appeare like little dwarfes In this Conflict I confesse my Answers were very briefe denying only that Proposition which was false sometimes giving instance to show the absurdity thereof Intending to let the Disputer runne his witts out of breath and then if I had not been prevented by being put in mind of the danger of that publick disputation to resume the summe of his proofes make the Auditors sensible of the vanity of them In the mean time I was forc'd to follow or rather goe along with him in his wyld-goose-chase through a rabble of intortuled Syllogismes which to relate I should even blush in his behalfe And indeed the third part of them that are set downe in the Libell were not used in the Court but have been framed since by the Libeller as are also the Answers fathered upon me whereupon he builds the whole frame of his senselesse discourse fighting against his own shadow therefore I can not build upon these Answers which he hath framed for me but I must take the matter a-new into my hands culling out every medium which he used to inforce his Conclusion and waighing them severally in the ballance of reason And besides his bold alleadging the example of Christs Institution whereof I will say nothing now Sect. 31.32.33.34.35 having so fully disproved it in my Sermon that he his fellowes may be ashamed for ever to abuse the world with so false a pretence All his Arguments may be reduced unto these foure I. That kneeling at the Communion hath been abused unto Idolatry II. That in using it there is danger of Idolatry III. That it hath an appearance of Idolatry and will-worship IV. That to kneele at the Sacrament is Idolatry at least as the Disputer was pleased to speake without any president from the Schoole which he never read Corporall Idolatry These foure he confounded together skipping from one to another and back again to the former like a man distracted of his senses But I must play the Chymist to extract them and put them in their severall boxes for the Readers better understanding The first exception against Kneeling is That it hath beene abused to Idolatry What then If that were a sure rule that all things which have been so abused should be abolished we should leave our selves nothing which could be safely used for there is none either of all Gods workes or of the workes of man but it hath in some place or other been some way or other abused to Idolatry How then could our consciences be assured of the lawfull use of any thing which we use whenas we are not sure whether the same thing in some other place be not made an Idoll If there were any force in that Argument it would conclude more strongly against the Sacrament it selfe which hath beene made an Idoll then against Kneeling which never was the object but the naturall expression of worship commonly indifferently used in true worship in false by the servants of God and by Idolaters But here the Disputer tells us that The bread in the Sacrament is a holy and necessary thing which cannot be removed Implying that Kneeling is not so Here I will aske this wise man whether before the Institution of the Sacrament it was not free for our Saviour to have ordayned the same in other Elements then bread wine I thinke he will confesse that he might have appointed other things to bee the outward Elements in that Sacrament So then these Elements were neither necessary nor holy yet did our Saviour make choyce of them notwithstanding that he knew how they had beene prophaned by Gentiles in their Idoll-service a Iustin Martyr Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Matth. XV. 2. Mark VII 3. As he did also appoint water to be the Element in the other Sacrament albeit it was at that time superstitiously abused by the Pharisees in their Lotions Whereupon it necessarily followes that the idolatrous or superstitious abuse of a thing makes it not altogether unfit for Gods service But
done this trespasse ver 31. I wish that our brethren who are offended at our kneeling and other Ceremonies upon an erroneous conceipt of Popery and superstition were as apt to be informed of the trueth and then perceiving the innocency of our Church which hath beene so often manifested and that she observeth these things onely to retaine a Communion with the Ancient Catholicke Church that it may appeare that she hath a part in that God whom they worshipped They would not persist to accuse her but with Phineas blesse God that she hath not done that trespasse And yet we have a better warrant for kneeling at the Communion and a more necessary use of it then the Reubenites â—â—ed for their Altar It being a uaturall gesture which God hath sanctified for his worship and which these men themselves use in other ordidances And here I would be beholding unto the brethren if they would shew me a true reason why it should be lawfull for them to kneele in prayer and not at the Communion which is a reall prayer and thanksgiving When that gesture hath beene Idolatrously abused by the Papists oftener in prayer then in receiving of the Sacrament a thousand times for one Can the Popish abuse of kneeling make it uncleane to us in one Ordinance and not also in another where it hath beene more defiled Let them wynd themselves out of this if they can I thought I had sufficiently taken away the first exception That kneeling at the Sacrament hath beene abused to Idolatry by shewing that all things so abused are not to be abolished albeit the inventions of man That kneeling is no invention of man And that our kneeling neither was nor is abused to Idolatry But perusing the Libell againe I find some Scripture alleadged by the Disputer to prove his assertion with as much fidelity as the devill did alleadge Scripture in the Gospell Yet I will stay to examine it The place is Deuter. XII 4. Yee shall not doe so unto the Lord your God and ver 30.31 From whence he labours to inferre that it is unlaw full to kneele at the Communion because in so doing Wee serve our God without warrant as Idolaters serve their God contrary to that Commandement Where this clause without warrant is inserted by him only to make way for an escape But he will find his passage stop't if he will be pleased but to observe what he may learne from what I have already said especially in my Sermon namely that in the word of God without relation to any Ecclesiasticall constitution there is as much warrant for kneeling at the Sacrament as for sitting standing or any other gesture and more for kneeling then for either of them the same being more sutable unto worshippers And that now the Church according to that liberty which God hath allowed her to determine such circumstances having ordayned that gesture we have not only a warrant but also a necessity laid upon us to observe it forasmuch as it is necessary to obey authority necessary to maintaine the Peace of the Church necessary to preserve the liberty of our ministeries necessary to receive the holy Sacrament And as the case stands unlesse wee kneele we disobey authority disturbe the Churches peace lose the liberty of our ministery and the comfort of the Sacrament Let us see then whether kneeling at the Sacrament come within the compasse of that prohibition ye shall not doe so unto the Lord your God namely as the nations did And certainely that precept concernes not kneeling for the nations bowed unto their gods yet must we bow unto the Lord our God for that Negative in the second Commandement Thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them includes an affirmative Thou shalt bow downe unto the Lord thy God and worship him Besides if we must not use any of these gestures which Idolaters have used in their Idol-worship then we must not worship God at all for if you take away all gestures you must take away all the outward worship of God forasmuch as it is not possible for us to worship God but in some position of body And take away one gesture upon that ground that it hath beene used in Idol-worship Then take away all for all gestures have been abused by Idolaters in their Idol-worship and are common to them and us in our service of the true God They kneele so doe we They stand so doe we They sit so doe we And because the Disputer sayes A man cannot commit Idolatry sitting I shall desire him to consider what the Apostle speaketh of sitting at Table in the Idols temple I. Cor. VIII 10. and what he may reade in prophane writers how that sitting was commonly used at the sacrifices of Hercules Macrob Saturn lib. III. c. 16. But it is not heathenish Idolatry that offends these men but Popish that not so much in any other Ordinance as in this of the Sacrament Let them therefore know that all maine gestures have been applyed by the Papists unto their Sacrament of the Altar standing sitting kneeling The Priest stands the Pope sitts the people kneele Now shall it be unlawfull for us to use the gesture of the people and not also unlawfull to use the gesture of the Pope So that if that Commandement forbid one gesture used by Idolaters to be used in the service of God it forbids all and makes more strongly against them then against us But indeed neither that commandement nor any other in the Word of God can bee extended unto gestures or any other actions which are lawfull in themselves as shall easily appeare if we take a view of the places Deut. XII 2.3.4.5 Yee shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which yee shall possesse served their gods upon the high mountaines and upon the hills and under every greene tree And you shall everthrow their Altars and breake their pillars and burne their groves with fire and you shall hew downe the graven linages of their gods and destroy the names of them out of that place Ye shall not doe so unto the Lord your God But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there even unto his habitation shall yee seeke and thither thou shalt come And againe ver 30.31 Take heed to thy selfe that thou be not snared by following them after that they be destroyed before thee that thou enquire not after their gods saying how did these nations serue their gods even so will I doe likewise Thou shalt not doe so unto the Lord thy God for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods for even their sonnes and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods In which places foure things used by the Idolatrous nations are forbidden and made unlawfull unto Gods people I. Their Idols and Images of their gods which must be destroyed you
word our dull affections are not stirred up to worship God but either by the contemplation of his workes or meditation in his word or consideration of his holy Sacraments So that if we take away all occasionall worship before a creature we must needs destroy all Religion VI. I desire the Disputer and his fellowes to remember that many of their owne faction in England though they kneele not in the act of receiving yet they doe kneele in blessing of the Elements and giving thankes And they themselves use to stand exhort the people to humble themselves and to pray unto God for a blessing here is worship before the Elements with a religious respect unto them for which they have no more warrant either by commandement or by the example of Christs Institution then we have for kneeling in the act of receiving And of the twaine it seemeth rather to be Idolatry to worship in beholding the Elements then in receiving of them for no man can be so mad as to worship that which he is tearing with his teeth VII They sit uncovered before the Elements with a religious respect unto them which they use not to doe in hearing of the word Now uncovering the head is a gesture of worship as well as kneeling If the one be Idolatrous so is the other neither have they any more warrant either by commandement or by the example of Christs Institution for the one then we have for the other Besides they use diverse other expressions of worship as lifting up of the eyes and hands unto Heaven which is daylie used by the Priest in the Masse And sometimes weeping which hath been abused to Idolatry as by the women whom the Prophet saw mourning for Tammuz Ezek. 8.14 a Prophet of an Idol for whom there was a solemne mourning once a yeare in the night yet have I seene many of their disciples not only lift up their eyes and hands unto Heaven but also weepe when they received the Sacrament and that as I charitably beleeve out of a godly sense of their owne misery and of Gods mercy Now were it not strange if our kneeling onely should be Idolatrous and not also those other gestures which are expressions of worship and have been abused to Idolatry as much as kneeling Finally I desire him to remember what I have often said that all gestures being common to true worshippers and false it is onely the publicke doctrine and received opinion that determines the use and end of all gestures and puts a difference between the servants of God worshippers of Idols Insomuch that as I told him in the Court If the first Reformers of our Religion had onely changed the gesture from kneeling to sitting not the doctrine touching the Sacrament it selfe Idolatry would have remayned But the doctrine of our Church sufficiently cleeres us that we worship not the bread either directly or indirectly Mediately or immediately permanently or transiently relatively or absolutely To which purpose I will here set downe that Declaration published in the first Booke of Common Prayer Anno 1552 which was approved by all the Divines of the Reformed Churches which was publickly read at my visitation to have given satisfaction to these men And whereof I shall desire the Reader to take speciall notice because some of that faction have slandered our Church with an Idolatrous intent saying This gesture seemes to be injoyned even with a superstitious intent â—â—ridg pag. 6â— and meaning to adore the Sacrament it selfe What the intent was shall appeare by this Declaration following Out of the Booke of Common Prayer Imprinted by Edward Whitchurch MDLII Cum privilegie Although no order can be so perfectly devised but it may be of some either for their ignorance infirmity or else of malice and obstinacy misconstrued depraved and interpreted in a wrong part And yet because brotherly charity willeth that so much as conveniently may be offences should be taken away Therfor we willing to doe the same Wher as it is ordayned in the Booke of Common Prayer in the Administration of the Lords Supper that the Communicants kneeling should receive the holy Communion which thing being well meant for a signification of the humble and gratefull asknowledging of the benefites of Christ given unto the worthy receiver and to avoyd the prophanation and disorder which about the hâ—ly Communion might else ensue Lest yet the same kneeling might be thought or taken otherwise wee doe declare that it is not meant thereby that any adoration is done or ought to be done either to the Sacramentall bread or wine there bodily received or unto any reall and essentiall presence there being of Christs naturall flesh and blood For as concerning the Saâ—ramentall bread and wine they remaine still in their very naturall substances and therfor may not he adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithfull Christians And as concerning the naturall body and blood of our Saviour Christ they are in Heaven and not here For it is against the truth of Christs true naturall body to bee in moe places then in one at one time This is the Doctrine of our Church against which no man in his right wits can except And that the Reader may see the opposition between light and darknes I will give him a tast of their doctrine as I have gathered it out of their unworthy authors which is such as I hope all Christian eares will abhorre Repli part to B Morton pag. 36. Sitting at the Table of the Lord is a part of the Sacramentall signe whereby they condemne all Churches which either kneele or stand of the breach of Christs Institution are guilty of will-worship as I have proved The principall worke namely of a Receiver is meditation upon the Analogie between the signes and the things signified Perth Assem pag. â—02 which a very reprobate may doe Survay pag. 75. It seemes not warrantable by the Word that in the action of ministring the Elements the Minister should minister to Christ and the Church both When it is his Office to stand between God the people and minister unto both Disput pag. 27. Whatsoever libertie or praerogative a table of repast hath for those that partake therof the same have Communicants at the Lords Table Whereupon it would follow that they may cover their heads eate liberally drinke oftner then once and discourse one with another Disput pag. 14. and 20. Worship to God and receiving of Christ preached to us in the elements are two such opposite imployments that the one cannot but frustrate the other Wee cannot banquet with the second person and yet intertayne holy important negotiation with the first Where besides that he makes it unlawfull to pray to God so much as mentally in the act of receiving no haeretick could have said more to divide the Persons of the Trinity Disput pag. 6. c. Kneeling imports inferiority therfor it
from the hand of his Prince When David allowed Mâ—phiboshâ—th to eate bread at his table he bowed himselfe Behold Christ hath provided a better Table for us feeding us with that Bread of Life which came downe from Heaven and is it not fit that wee should humble our selves even unto the dust Gen. 17 in thankfull acknowledgement of so great a benefit When Abraham received the promise of the blessed Seed he fell on his face And shall we think it much to kâ—eel when wee receive the performance of that promise even the blessed Seed himselfe All these considerations may move us to put a difference between Christs Supper and a common supper even in our gesture and outward behaviour when we partake of that holy Banquet Againe if we confider what our selves are besides the respects arising unto us from the consideration of the Sacrament as namely That wee are in Gods presence worshipping him offering unto him receiving from him inestimable benefits We shall find that in the Sacrament we sustaine the persons of Poenitentiaries petitioners praysers First Poenitentiaries for we have before our eyes a lively representation of the bitter death and passion of our Blessed Saviour whereof our sinnes was the cause and we our selves as guilty as Iudas Pilate or the Iewes which must needs breed in us sorrow and bitter lamentation The Passeover was eaten with bitter herbes Exod. 12.8 2. Chron. 30.22 and with confession of their sinnes So ought wee to eate this New Passeover with the soure sauce of sorrow and contrition for sinne For if Christ for our sinnes did sweat water and blood yea shed his hearts blood should not wee our selves shed bitter teares should not our hearts bleed for them Chap. 12.20 This was foretold by the Prophet Zachary They shall looke upon him whom they have pierced as we must needs behold him in this Sacrament crucified before our eyes and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his only sonne Now nature it selfe and the common custome of all countreyes teach us that kneeling or prostration is the fittest gesture for Paenitentiaries who come to acknowledge their offence The Syrians came in before Achab with sackcloath upon their loynes and rapes about their neckes in token of their guiltinesse 1. Kings 20 3â— because that they heard that the Kings of Israel were mercifull Even so should we present our selves before the Lord in the Sacrament wherein we celebrate the remembrance of Christs death for our sinnes with all manner of submission Next In the Sacrament we are Petitioners it is a wonder unto me that they who stand so much upon a civill custome urge sitting at the Sacrament because it is the gesture used at civill meales will not remember that kneeling is the gesture used by petitioners if it be unto the King much more in our prayers unto God as is evideÌ„t by the practise of the godly throughout the whole Scripture And in the Sacrament we are petitioners praying unto Almighty God that we may have an Interest in that precious death the remembrance whereof we then celebrate The Disputer sayeth It is not our maine action to pray namely in the Sacrament but to meditate upon the passion of Christ As if these two were opposite whenas meditation is a mentall prayer and true prayer alwayes joyned with meditation Take away the intention from prayer it is no prayer but the sound of words and what is intention but meditation Meditation and prayer are of such asâ—inity that one Hebrew word comprehends them both Gen. 24.63 Isaac went out to the field to meditate Or as others render it To pray The Hebrew word Lashuach beares both Finally In the Sacrament we praise God for the worke of our redemption yea the whole action is a reall thanksgiving And kneeling is a gesture which hath beene commonly used by them who give solemne thanks In the 95. Psalme the Prophet calls us To sing unto the Lord to come before his preâ—ence with thankâ—giving And a litle after he shewes what should be our deportment O come let us worship and bow downe Let us kneele before the Lord our maker Abrahams servant worshâ—pped the Lord bowing himselfe to the earth Gen. 24 52. in thankfull acknowledgment of the good successe God gave him in his journey Exod. 4.31 The people When they heard that the Lord had visited thâ— children of Israel that he had looked on their affliction then they bowed their heads and worshipped And that was but upon the report of their approaching deliverance from corporall thraldome But in the Sacrament we receive a pledge of our spirituall deliverance from sinne Satan hell it selfe by the death of our blessed Saviour When Ezra blessed the Lord the great God Nehem. 8.6 All the people bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with heir faces to the ground Solomon kneeled downe upon his knees before all the Congregation 2. Chron 6.13 2. Chron. 7.3 and gave thanks unto God The children of Israel bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and praysed the Lord. â— Chron. 29.28 All the Congregation worshipped and the singers sang Luc. 17.16 And bowed themselves The Samarimne fell downe on his face at Iesus feete giving him thanks Revel 4.10 Ch. 5.8 Ch. 7.11 Ch. 11.16 Ch. 19.4 The foure and twentie Elders fall downe before the Throne singing prayse and Allelujahs unto him who sitteth on the Throne And never was there such an occasion of thanksgiving as is offered unto us in this Sacrament Now let us take all these considerations together That in the Sacrament are the signes of Gods presence That therin we worship God offer our service yea our selves unto him receive wonderfull benefites from him confesse our sinnes with poenitent hearts pray unto God for his grace and praise him for his wonderfull mercies And it will appeare that humility should be the maine affection of our soules It is Immility that praepares us to come to the Lords Table And humility must present us at his table Humility is required in all Christian actions but especially in receiving the holy Sacrament for at the Institution of that Sacrament Christ gave unto his disciples a lesson of humility by washing their feete And were it not strange If he would have us to expresse humility one towards another in the Sacrament and not also towards himselfe considering that he is represented unto us in this Sacrament as crucified for us And if ther should be humility of the soule why not also humiliation of the body Here I have alleadged many motives the least wherof were sufficient to perswade us to kneele though we were at our owne choyce what gesture to use in the receiving of the Sacrament But as the case stands ther is a necessity of kneeling if we will receive the Sacrament for the Church will not minister the same unto those who contumaciously despise her wholsome Orders And how can it stand with the peace of a mans conscience to spend and end his dayes without the comfort of the Sacrament Shall this be a good plea before the Tribunal of Christ at that great day Lord I did not ease at thy supper because I could not be permitted to receive it as I doe my ordinary meales Will not Christ answer them as Samnel to Saul Hath the Lord so great delight in civill fashions or gestures as in obeying the voyce and ordinance of the Lord We are commanded to eate and to drinke but ther is no Commandement for any gesture And will any man lose the substance for the Ceremony If he doe not only Gideons souldiers but even Abrahams camels shall condemne him Gen. 24.11 who kneeled downe for to drinke water And in the Sacrament is the water of life which some will rather never drinke then bow for it I beseech them to consider how to the disturbance of the Churches peace and great prejudice of their owne soule they contest about trifles Ther are other things wherein they may exercise their zeale Contending for the faith which was once given unto the saints striving to enter in at the strait gate to goe one before another in goodnesse fighting against the lusts which warre in their members beating downe the pride of their owne hearts and wrestling against principalities and powers This were a strife worthy of a Christian But as for Ceremony or no Ceremony kneeling or sitting a white garment or a black The kingdome of God consists not in these things Rom. 14.17 But in righteousnesse and peace and Ioy in the holy Ghost As many sayeth the Apostle as walke according to this rule Gal. 6.16 peace shall be upon them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And let us marke the rule even that Circumcision is nothing nor uncircumcision that is Ceremonie nor no Ceremonie But the substantiall a new creature Now The God of truth and peace open the eyes of them that are out of the way and restore peace to his disturbed Church that as there is one sheep heard so we may all become one sheâ—â—fold worshipping the only true God through his sonne Iesus Christ in the unity of the spirit and in the bond of peace AMEN ERRATA PAg. 36. in marg l. 4. contendi read contendendi p. 51. l. 24. this gesture read his p. 54. l. 29. he brake it read he blessed it p. 67. l. 6. in the Sacrament read in this p. 80. l. 7. Niddus reade Niddui p. 96. l. 21. far read fare p. 123. l. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and l. 34. were it not a strange reade were it not strange p. 133. l. 14. many forces read maine p. 144. l. 33. if ye should read if he c. p. 155. l. 11. est qui qui read est qui. p. 163. l. 24. to turne to the read to turne the. p. 173. l. 33. to Gods read to God p. 179. l. 25. would follow read will p. 182. l. 5. te read to