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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A36152 The Dissenters guide resolving their doubts and scruples about kneeling at receiving the sacrament / published to prevent men and their families from being ruined by excommunication. 1683 (1683) Wing D1688; ESTC R26719 12,355 41

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who do not communicate are dismissed another Prayer is begun wherein we all not stand but cast our selves down in Prayer together and rise up together By these Testimonies it is evident that Kneeling at Prayer was not generally removed every Lords Day and consequently the foundation of this Argument doth fail Again the Inference if the Antecedent were granted is not good They did not Kneel upon the Lords Day at Prayer Ergo not at the Sacrament Thus we see that what hath been urged and alledged doth not prove the first Branch of the Antecedent namely That Kneeling in the Act of Receiving was brought in by that Antichrist of Rome and therefore much less ean the second be proved viz. That it was brought in for Worship of a Breaden God For as we find no footing concerning the Author so much less concerning that End Now as the Antecedent is uncertain So is the Argument unsound Some Antichristian Bishop brought in Kneeling in the Act of Receiving or thus It hath been abused to Idolatry by some Antichristian Bishop therefore it is unlawful A man might as well reason thus It was proper and peculiar to the Sacrifices of Hercules that the Heathen did celebrate them Sitting therefore it is not lawful for Christians to celebrate this Eucharistical Sacrifice of the Lords Supper so The unclean Spirit said to our Saviour Thou art the Holy One of God and the Spirit of Divination by the Damosel concerning Paul and Silas These men are the Servants of God yea and this they spake to evil ends therefore we may not say so Yea if this Argument be good we must remove Fire from our Houses the Sun out of the Heavens Bells out of Steeples Fonts out of Churches Churches out of the world because the Chaldeans abused the one the Persians the other and the Papists the rest The places of Scripture cited for proof of the Argument are very impertinent Some which have a particular reference are made too general as that in Leviticus For whereas it is said After the doings of the Land of Egypt and the Land of Canaan you shall not do that hath relation to those sins of Uncleanness which are mentioned in the same Chapter And the same being general can no more abide the Light than this After the manner of the Pagans and Papists shall you not do but the Pagans and Papists do kneel in Prayer therefore you shall not kneel in Prayer Or rather thus The Papists and Pagans do kneel to their Idols therefore Professors if the Gospel may not kneel to God For so indeed it is inferred because the Papists in the Act of Receiving do kneel to the Bread therefore we in the same Act may not kneel to God The other Places require the defacing of Images and Idols but what is that to Kneeling For there is great difference between that which is in it self lawful and that which is unlawful as their Idols were which represented False Gods between a permanent Substance and a transient Action between that which may have good use and that which cannot If Antichrist hath stained this Gesture by his Idolatry shall Christians therefore having purged it be debarred of their lawful Interest therein Or rather as the Israelite having taken in war a Woman amongst the Enemies when he had shaved her head and pared her nails might take her home as his own may not the Church of God take this Gesture being pared and purged from Romish corruption and apply it to the Service of God Mr. Cartwright tells us That If amongst the Romish filth we find any good thing that we willingly receive not as theirs but as the Jews did the holy Ark from the Philistims For saith he herein it is true that is said The Sheep must not lay down her Fell because she sees the Wolf sometimes cloathed with it St. Austin shews that we may lawfully use the water of Fountains and woods of the Forests which by Pagans have been dedicated to their Idols Epist 154. And may we not use that Gesture that hath been abused to Idolatry But it is Objected That this Gesture can never be purged And to this purpose are urged the Positions of sundry learned men who would that all things which have appearance of Popery be banished and the same is confirmed by the practice of divers Godly men in the like case To which I answer First That this Position is strange which will admit no possibility of purging any Ceremonies corrupted in the Church of Rome Mr. Robinson a Dissenter saith We do acknowledge it meaning in the Church of England many excellent Truths of Doctrine which we also teach and many Christian Ordinances which we also practise being purged from the pollution of Antichrist Let us further consider the Opinions of sundry eminent and learned men in this Case Beza saith of this very Gesture Epist. 12. Geniculatio speciem habet piae venerations c. This Bowing of the Knee hath a Kind of godly Reverence and therefore it might heretofore be used to good purpose Bishop Jewel saith I grant that Sitting Standing and other like Ceremonies in the holy Ministration are left to the discretion of the Church Yea Mr. Cartwright acknowledgeth again and again That Sitting is not necessary and though he say that Kneeling t s dangerous yet he saith not that it is unlawful Peter Martyr saith in general I cannot be perswaded that the wickedness of the Pope is such that whatsoever he toucheth must thereupon be polluted that afterwards it may not be of use to the Godly And concerning this Matter in particular he saith elsewhere It is no matter of Difference whether we receive the Sacrament sitting standing or kneeling so that Christs in●sitution be preferred and occasion of Superstition removed And surely those are bad Chirurgeons that have no other means of Cure but only by the Saw and the Cautery Again the Fact of Hezekiah may be objected who did not seek to purge but brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent and the practice of our Saviour Christ who held it not sufficient by Doctrine to speak against the Jewish Washings and so to use them to another end but refused that Custom wholly Hereunto I answer first particular Facts even of worthy men do not tie us necessarily to imitation Moses proceeded far against the Israelites Idolatry when he took the Golden Calf burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder strewed it upon the water and made them drink of it What have others sinned that have not done the like Again there is great difference between the Brazen Serpent and Kneeling at the Communion both in their Nature and Use In their Nature the one being a transient action the other a permanent substance and consequently more apt to be abused to Idolatry In their Use for the vertue of Cure being vanished the Brazen Serpent ceased to be of use but the Act of Kneeling will ever remain necessary to manifest our humble thankfulness for so great Benefits as we receive by the blessed Sacrament 3. There was great cause why Hezekiah should thus proceed against the Brazen Serpent in regard that to those days the Children of Israel burnt incense unto it But so is not the Gesture of Kneeling abused by us and therefore needs not such an absolute abolishing And for our Saviours Practice it is rather with us than against us for though he did shun the Superstitious Washings of the Pharisees yet who can think that he did utterly forbear all civil and wholsom washing before meat So we do shun and detest the Idolatrous Kneeling of the Papists at the Sacrament but to abandon Kneeling totally we have no cause nor warrant FINIS