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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A38767 The case of kneeling at the Holy Sacrament stated & resolved. Part I ... Evans, John, 17th cent. 1683 (1683) Wing E3446; ESTC R226085 40,728 63

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Example without considering the various Capacities and Relations he bare both towards God and towards us and the several Laws by which he stood Bound which were the measures of his Actions we shall miserably mistake our way and bewilder our selves we shall Act like Fools when we do such things as he did pursuant to infinite Wisdom Thus to give but one instance if we should Subject our selves to the Law of Moses as he did for he fulfilled the Ceremonial Law which he came to abolish we should thereby frustrate the great Design of the Gospel and of our Saviours coming into the World And yet even this we are obliged to do if his Example alone be a sufficient Warrant for our Actions I have staid the longer upon this Head because so ill a use hath been made of Scripture-Examples and to shew how far forth we may safely steer by them I scarce know any one Doctrine so teeming and big with Error so Fatal to the Souls of private Persons and the Peace of Publick Societies both Civil and Ecclesiastical as that which teaches us to Learn and Derive our Duty from and to Judge of the Goodness and Badness of our Actions by the Examples of Christ and good Men over and above what we are obliged to do by the Precepts and Laws of the Gospel 3. They who urge the Example of Christ against Kneeling at the Sacrament as our Rule to which we ought to Conform do not follow it themselves Because the posture he Instituted the Sacrament in which they say was a Passover-Gesture was if so very different from that which they so earnestly plead for and use at this day For that was a Discumbing or Leaning Gesture on the left side much after the manner that we lye upon Couches with the upper part of the body almost erect It is agreed by all Learned Men that this was the Ancient Custom of the Jews in our Saviours time and is so to this day at the Passover by which Gesture they distinguish this Festival Night from all others Now if the same Gesture were used by Christ at the Sacrament as was at the Passover and his example makes it necessary and obligatory to all Christians for what Reasons and by what Authority do our Dissenting Brethren change it into Sitting upright according to our Civil way and manner of Feasting When they tell us this it will be very easy to justify Kneeling by the same Authority which they shall alledge for Sitting and our changing the Gesture will be as warrantable as theirs Unless they will say that they alone have the Power and Priviledge to recede from the Example of Christ when and how far they please but our Church hath not nor any other upon the face of the Earth To say Sitting as they do comes nearer to the Gesture used by our Lord at the Passover and consequently as is supposed at the Sacrament then the Kneeling Gesture according to the Custom of our Church will do them no service For there is no Room for this Question Who cometh nearest to the Example they or we when they ought not at all to vary if they keep to their own Rule The Example of Christ as it is urged by them against Kneeling equally Concludes against all other Gestures besides what he himself used And then the supposed Gesture which he observed binds to Lying along For where we have nothing to go by but his Pattern we must cut exactly by it or else we take a liberty to do that of our own heads for which we have no allowance That is we leave the Pattern which we were obliged onely to follow and act at random upon our own heads and then the Pattern cannot be alledg'd for our Justification Though our Church therefore doth not strictly follow the Example of Christ as is objected by requiring all her Communicants to Kneel yet they have no reason to complain and to scruple Communicating with us who do not follow it themselves but receive the Sacrament in their separate Congregations in a Gesture different from what our Lord used at the first Institution of it The Presbyterians if one may Argue from their Practices to their Principles lay very little stress on this Argument taken from the Example of Christ. For though they generally choose to Sit yet they do not Condemn Standing as Sinful or Unlawful in its self and several are willing to Receive it in that posture in our Churches which surely is every whit as wide from the Pattern our Lord is supposed to have set us whether he Lay along or Sate upright as that which is Injoyned and Practised by the Church of England There is too a Confessed variation allowed of and Practised by the generality of Dissenters both Presbyterians and Independents from the Institution and Practice of Christ and his Apostles in the other Sacrament of Baptism For they have changed Immersion or Dipping into aspersion or Sprinkling and Pouring Water on the Face Baptism by Immersion or Dipping is sutable to the Institution of our Lord and the Practice of his Apostles and was by them ordained and used to represent our Burial with Christ a Death unto Sin and a New Birth unto Righteousness as St. Paul explains that Rite Now it 's very strange that Kneeling at the Lord's Supper though a different Gesture from that which was used at the first Institution should become a Stumbling-block in the way of Weak and Tender Consciences that it 's more unpassable than the Alpes and yet they can with Ease and Cheerfulness pass by as great or a greater change in the Sacrament of Baptism and Christen as we do without the least murmur or complaint Sitting Kneeling or Standing were none of them Instituted or used to signify and represent any thing Essential to the Lord's Supper as Dipping all over was why cannot Kneeling then be without any wrong to the Conscience as Safely and Innocently used as Sprinkling How comes a Gnat to use our Saviours Proverb to be harder to swallow than a Camel Or why should not the Peace and Unity of the Church and Charity to the Publick prevail with them to Kneel at the Lord's Supper as much or rather more as Mercy and Tenderness to the Infants Body to Sprinkle or pour Water on the Face contrary to the first Institution 4. They who Kneel at the Sacrament in complyance with the Customs and Constitutions of the Church whereof they are Members do manifestly follow the Example of Christ. For our Saviour complyed with that Passover-Gesture which was at that time commonly and generally observed by the Jews but cannot be pretended to be the same that was used at the first Institution of that Feast in Egypt For thus the Command runs Exod. 12. 11. And thus shall ye Eat it with your Loyns Girded your Shoes on your Feet and your Staff in your Hand And you shall Eat it in haste it is the Lord 's Passover