ordinationem Domini violare sayeth Beza in his confession that is he caÌ„not be said to haue contemned the sacraments Cap. 4. to whom it is not permitted to partake them as they are established by the Lord far be it from us to imagine anie cases of necessitie by the which we may violate the Lords ordinance But what needeth all this feare for I am sure three or four yeeres abstinence would constrain them to restore unto us our libertie again to suffer the communion to be celebrated after the old forme rather then the people should be defrauded of it This is the least duty we owe. But we are bound further to defend and oppone if we did professe as we avow in the confession of our faith The meanest professor in the kirk oâ— Scotland is bound to maintain this libertie possâ—ssion Otherwise if he quite râ—â—â—er himselfe he is a deserter of Christs cause CHAP. IIII. Of the words uttered at the deliverie of the elements The sacramenta words are not uttered demonstratâ—uely THE third innovation is that the word of promise This is my bodie This cup is the new testament c. is not uttered demonstratiuely when the elements are delivered to everie communicant It is not enough that the words of the institution were rehearsed before by way of historie narratiuelie or materiallie This sacrament is an imitation of Christ not a recitall of his words actions it is to do as he did and not to report what he did sayth Pierr du Moulin Pag. 95. The rehearsal doeth no more but let us see what warrant there is to use bread and wine in the celebration of this sacrament rather then anie other elements and to assure us that bread wine in general are appointed to this use But it can not be said demonstratiuelie de individuo signato of this bread and wine in particular set on the table that it is the bodie and blood of Christ For first it must be blessed sanctified by prayer and thanksgiving to this use that the minister may say Thiâ— that is this sanctified bread is my bodie The rehearsal of the word of promise euen after the sanctification serueth onely for a general warrant The words then must be uttered after the blessing demonstratiuely not to God in a prayer or forme of oblation as the popish or English priest doeth For Christ uttered them to the disciples nor yet by holding or pointing out the bread to the whole congregation saying This is my bodie as in the bastarde leiturgies ascribed to Basilâ— and Chrysostome where the bread is holden up after the pronouncing of these words the people answer Amen or in the Ethiopian masse where the people answer Amen Amen Amen we beleeue it is the bodie of the Lord which were ridiculous hath ben the original of manie errors For what if the elements be not delivered shal they be sacramentally Christs bodie and blood or the remains This is a common axiome of the Divines Elementa extra usum non sunt sacramenta The elements out of the use are nor sacraments For howbeit it be not essential to bread to be delivered yet it is essentiall to sacramentall bread to be delivered taken and eaten Christ said not This is my bodie to all in generall then to everie one in particular take thou eate thou as the papist and formalist doth but first Take eate and then This is my bodie or actu continuo both bade them take and eate and signified what it was he was giving to them The promise is annexed to the commandement as conditionall The promise hath no otherwise effâ—ct then if the condition take place Si quis separat promissionem a mandato discedit ab institutione Christi In Mat. 26. Nâ—n aliter igitur habet effectum promissio quam sâ— conditâ—o etiam locum habeat sayth Robertus Stephanus It fareth with the sacramentall elements as with pawnes pledges in contracts and bargains A ring may be appointed for a pledge in matrimonie yet is it not actually a pledge without consent of the other partie but onâ—ly a meere ring A stone chosen to be a signe of a Marche is not actually a marche stone but in the use when it is sett with consent of parties in the marche for that end So the elements are consecrate and sett apart by prayer and thanksgiving to this use yet are they not actually Christs bodie and blood till they be received and eaten And therefore a sacrament properly is defined to be a ceremonie or action By a figuratiue kinde of speech the bread may be called the sacrament of Christs bodie because it is appointed to that ende as when Isaack said to Abraham where is the sacrifice that is the ramm or the lambe appointed for the sacrifice But Christ called the bread his body not in that sense but in the deliverie and use when it was verilie a signe and seale of Christs bodie It followeth therefore that the word of promise must be uttered demonstratiuely onely in the time of deliverie receiving and eating and to everie one severally if he will needs giue severally For otherwise he shal utter them demonstratiuely to some and not to others The sacramentall signes are like seales hanging at the charter The word of promise is the special solemn clause of the Charter If at any time it should be uttered it should be uttered when the seale is delivered seeing the sacramentall words carie the promise refer the signes to their sacramental use What would we thinke if the minister rehearsed Christs command to baptize in name of the father sonne the holie ghost but when he come to the sprinkling would not say I baptize thee in the name of the father sonne and Holie ghost but utter some other words of his owne framing What is the reason the formalist wil not utter demoÌ„stratiuely the words when he delivereth It is not feare that the kneeler apprehend Christs bodie to be under the bread or the accidents of the bread for he uttereth them not to the sitter more then to him that kneeleth and is not affraide to constraine ignorant people to kneele although he should conceiue Christs bodie to be present under the bread when he hath uttered other words But here is the mysterie of the matter they place the vertue of consecration in these words as the Papist doth And therefore because he hath uttered them alreadie he will not repeate them again least he should seem to consecrate them again For Mr. Lindsay saith That after the sacrament is made by the sacramentall word the Pastor useth other words in delivering the elements Proceedings pag. 57. Mr. Michelson sayth the like And yet haue they not uttered these words before the delivery but onely narratiuely or by way of recitall which as I haue sayd doth onely shew a warrant in generall If demonstratiuely it must be in the time oâ— prayer
is not adoration Praise and thanksgiving differ Augustine sayth Homil. 26. Tom. 10. Christum praedicari per linguam per epistolam per sacramentum corporis sanguinis ejus Having examined all the reasons of the Act according to Maister Lindsayes owne interpretation A question to discover the nakednesse of the Act. that the Reader may the better conceiue how rude they are I propone this question Seeing vvee receiue the same benefite invvardlie and severallie vvee eate the flesh and drinke the blood of Christ as oft as wee beleeue the promises of the Gospell read exponed or in any part of the sermon rehearsed and may haue the heart then lifted up yea sometimes more fervent motions then when we receiue the sacramentall elements of bread and wine Why are we enioyned to kneele at the one time more then at the other if it be not in regard of the outward signes and rites which is idolatry Nay I should urge further Seeing there was onely a voyce at the delivery of the word and here is a visible obiect set before the eye howbeit it were urged there wherefore should it bee urged here Yee heard the voyce of the words but saw no similitude onely yee heard a voyce Deut. 4.12 According to his private interpretation I forme another act mutatis mutandis like the act of Perth that it may be the better understood Another act fâ—rmed to discover the mystery and meaning of thâ—â—ct of Perth SInce we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him we fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receiving of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becommeth well so divine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding our Church hath used since the reformation of religion here to heare the promises of the Gospell read exponed or in any part of the sermon rehearsed sitting by reason of some great abuse in former times yet now seeing all memory of by-past abuse is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God in reverence of God and in due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as wee are made partakers of thereby the Assembly thinketh good that the promises of the Gospell being read exponed or rehearsed in any part of the Sermon that the people hearken reverently kneeling upon their knees Is there any reason in the act of Perth which may not sort with this Three or foure phrases in the Act signifying one thing May not the reader here perceiue that by receiving of the body and bloud of Christ in the narratiue is meant a mysticall receiving of the sacrament and relatiue to this phrase in the conclusion are these three following the holy communion divine mysterie blessed sacrament so that al the foure signifie one thing and without correspondencie to other they cannot cohere in any tollerable construction of words Let the act then bee formed as it should runne in right construction in maner following SInce we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him The Act rightly formed we fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receiving of the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becommeth well so divine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding our Church hath used since the reformation of religion here to receiue the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ sitting by reason of the great abuse used in the idolatrous worship of Papists yet now since all memory of by-past superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God in reverence of God and due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as wee are made partakers of thereby the Assembly thinketh good that the people receiue the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ humbly and reverently kneeling upon their knees By the word Mysterie is meant the sacrament or sacramentall receiving May not any man here see evidently that by Divine Mystery is meant the receiving of the body and blood of Christ in the mysterie of the Supper or the mysticall and sacramentall receiving which standeth in signes rites wherein it differeth from the spirituall By the word Mystery in the singular number as well as by the word Mysteries in the plurall number is meant the sacrament very frequently among the ancient Writers Dionysius Areopagita entituleth the chapter of the Lords Supper De eccles Hierarch The mystery of the Synaxis or holy communion Ambrose sayth Indignus est Dominâ— qui aliter mysterium celebrat quà m ab eo traditum est that he is unworthy in the Lords account who celebrateth the mystery otherwise then hee hath delivered it In 1 Cor. 11 Oecamenius saith that the Apostle Paul calleth the mystery of our master the Lords Supper Hieron in Psal 47.7 Ierome sayth Licet in mysterio possit intelligi tamen veriùs corpus Christi sanguis eius sermo scripturarum est that howbeit it may be understood of the mystery that yet more truly the words of the Scripture may bee called the body and blood of Christ What need many testimonies Exercit. pag. 550. Casaubone sayth of this sacrament Dicitur etiam antonomasticè to mysterion aut numero multitudinis ta mysteria In the English confession the bread and wine are called The holie and heavenlie mysteries of the bodie and blood of Christ In the service booke the word Mysterie is vsed in the singular number Master Lindsay himself vseth some time the word Mysterie and sometime the word Mysteries in his Resolutions The word Mysterie is often vsed in the singular number because both the signes and the rites employed about them are referred to one Christ signified This act may passe among both Papists and Lutherans The act of Perth may passe among Lutherans Papists this clause Notwithstanding our Church hath vsed since the Reformation here to celebrate the holie communion to the people sitting by reason of the great abuse vsed in the Idolatrous worship of Papists yet now since all memorie of by-past superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people praised be God being blotted out as justlie it ought for it is false as I have alreadie said It is superfluous For the act is whole and entire without it the conclusion answering to the narrative And it is insert for a mocke For immediatlie after and before they
A DISPVTE VPON COMMVNICATING AT OVR Confused Communions If I build againe the things which I destroyed I make my selfe a transgressor Gal. 2.18 Yee did runne well who did hinder you that yee should not obey the truth This perswasion commeth not of him that calleth you A litle leaven leaveneth the whole lumpe Gal. cap. 5. vers 7.8.9 Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remoue thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent Revel 2.5 As many as desire to make a faire shew in the flesh they constraine you to bee circumcised onely least they should suffer persecution for the crosse of Christ Gal. 6.12 Printed Anno 1624. CVrse yee Meroz sayeth the Angel of the lord curse ye bitterlie the inhabitants therof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord to the help of the lord against the mightie Iudg. 5.23 Cursed be he that maketh the blinde to goe out of the way and al the people shal say Amen Deut. 27.18 Who shal offend one of these litle ones which beleev in me it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea Matt. 18.6 Woe to the world because of offenses For it must needes be that offenses must come But woe to that man by whom the offense cometh Mat. 18.7 CHAP. I. Of sitting at the Lords table IT was or â—â—inâ—d in the gâ—nerall assemblie holâ—en at Eâ—inburgh the yeere 1564. Sitting at table and distributing by the coÌ„municants was not a Church constitution that ministâ—rs in ministration of the sacrameÌ„â—s should use the order set down in our psalme bâ—oks This order requireth that the communicants sit at table and breake bread with other This order hath beene universallie and perpetuallie observed in our kirk from the first yeere of reformation and some yeeres before not as an order depending upon the varieties of times places persons or the like circumstances as doe church orders and constitutions but as most agreeable to the pattern of the first supper celebrated by Christ and his Apostles as may be seen in the first booke of discipline and in two Rubricks in our psalme bookes In the last of the two Rubricks it is said that Christ commanded that the communicants divide the elements among thâ—ms lues In the booke of discipline it is said That it is plaine Christ Iesus sat at table with his disciples Christ his Apostles kneeled not but sate at the first supper and therefore doe we judge that sitting at a table is most convenient for that action Christs usual gesture in blessing bread at table was sitting as we may see at Emaus Luk. 2â— and when he was to worke the miracle of the five loaves Matt. 14.13 while the disciples were eating and consequentlie sitting as the most learned among the Iesuites themselves confesse Christ tooke bread and after he had given thanks brake it If they kneeled not at the thanksgiving or blessing there is no likelihood that they kneeled in the act of receiving If there had been anie change from one table gesture to another from sitting at the paschal supper into standing about the table as the Israelites did at the first paschal supper in Egypt wold not the Euangelists have made mention of it farre more if there had been a change from all kinde of table gesture into kneeling a gesture of adoration yea kneeling should then have been the only lawful gesture iâ—stituted by Christ For to what end also should the change have been made And so al that communicated sitting either in the primitive kirk or in the reformed should have sinned in so doing When Christ gave the bread he said This is my bodie The formalist wil not utter these words to the kneeler when he delivereth the bread When Christ gave the cuppe to the neerest he badde them divide it among themselves They could not then be kneeling For how could kneeling a gesture of adoration consist with dividing which is not an act of adoration As it is cleere that they kneeled not so likewise that they stood not for how could they coÌ„venientlie stand in the places where they sate leaning upon beds Farther the Euangelists make no mention of standing but onlie say that while they were eating Christ took bread On the Lords supper 1. part pag. 136 Even Pierr du Moulin sayeth that the Apostles continued sitting at the table to the verie end of the action Who ever said otherwise in anie age til this time Examples in setting down of a patterne serve ordinarilie for direction in times to come Christ ratified sitting the ordinarie gesture at religions feasts if there be not some singular occasion of the same which will not agree to other times But there was no singular occasion of sitting at the first supper The washing of the disciples feet the putting on and off of Christs upper garment preceeded the second service of the paschal supper when as Christ was not yet come to the celebration of the euangelical The eventide the unleavened bread the parlour the number of twelve and other like adjuncts and circumstances were but onlie occasional accidentarie to the Euangelicall supper because the legall supper to which they properly belonged was celebrated immediatly before and the last act of it changed into this supper But sitting was not a table gesture proper to the paschal supper and so occasional or accidentarie to the Eucharistical It was the common and ordinarie gesture used at all religious feasts both among the true worshippers of God and Idolaters To the feasts after the sacrifices the Apostle compareth this Christian feast 1. Corint 10. So to speake properlie Christ did not so much institute this gesture at this supper as ratifie and approve the ordinarie and usual Yee wil say that if we ought to follow this exemple we should sit leaning It followeth not Their gesture was a kinde of sitting gesture as Doctor Morton confesseth And not onlie the English translaters expresse it by the word sitting but also the holie ghost in the holie language A man may be said to stand whether he stand upright â—or lâ—aning to a wal so sitting Our sitting and the Turkâ—s and their siâ—ting at the paschal supper answâ—re analogicallie to other and the diffâ—rence is onlie national Farthâ—r to sit was the ordinarie gesture at religious feasts but to siâ— leaâ—ing was onlie occasional and accidenâ—arie to the Euangelical supper by reason of 〈◊〉 canon which was made before the dayâ—s of Châ— st wherin manie diffâ—rences were made betwixt the pasâ—hal feast and other râ—ligious feasts and among â—he rest to sâ—t forth the sâ—lemnitie of this feast above others it was ordained that they should sit after his maner aâ— this feast and not at other except they plâ—ased Quod in omnibus noctibus tam edentes quâ—m bibenteâ— vel sedemus vel
De origine exrorum circa coenam cap. calicem in vlcem propinantes in totum veleris coenae vestigium prae se ferentes as testifieth Bullinger Frier Rainerius testifieth likewise of the Waldenses of whom I made mention before Rainerius in summa that as for the sacrament of the Eucharâ—st in conventiculis suis celebrant verba illa Evangelij recitantâ—s in mensa sua sibique mutuo participantes sicut in Christi coena that is the Leonists for so he caleth the WaldeÌ„ses celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist in their conventicles so it pleased the Popish Frier to call the assembly of the persecuted rehearsing the words of the Gospell at their table and dividing to other as was done at Christs supper Ye see then this superstition had not so farre prevailed but the Lord had some who were not carried away with the stream but kept in the Spoonke in the time of darknes To say that the breaking of the bread is a mysterie ought therefore to be performed onely by the minister it followeth not for the taking eating drinking of the communicants are mysteries And Augustine sayth that when the Wine is powred into the mouths of the faithfull the shedding of Christs bloud is represented Next it is to be considered that fraction or the breaking of the bread is not onely mysticall signifying the torments and renting of Christs body but also serveth for distribution And because bread was distributed by breaking to break in the Scripture signifieth to distribute by breaking or to break and distribute when the word giving is not added As Esay 58.7 Break thy bread to the hungry that is distribute breaking or break and distribute thy bread to the hungry Lament 4.4 The little children asked bread and there was none to break to them that is to breake and distribute to them or to distribute breaking Mark 8.19 Christ sayth When I brake the fiue leaues among the fiue thousand that is brake and gaue to the disciples to set before the fiue thousand to be further broken and eaten Hence it is that in the Scripture to break is taken for to eate or to take foode as Ierem. 16. ver 7. Neither shall men break bread for them that is they shall not celebrate a funerall banquet for them nor reach unto them the cup of consolation And Act. 2.46 They brake bread froÌ„ house to house that is they celebrated love feasts But manie interpreters vnderstand the 42. ver and Act. 20.7 of the celebration of the supper And so after this figure of speech is meant sometime not onlie the act of breaking but also the end to distribute and eate Siclyke the Apostle 1. Cor. 10. The bread which we break is it not the communion of the bodie of Christ That is the bread which we breake distribute and eate is a signe and seale of the communion of Christs bodie as is well observed by the interpreters Panis quem Frangimus 1. Cor. 10.6 idem est atque inter nos dividimus Glossa in Math. 26. The bread which we breake that is the bread which we diuide among us sayeth Robertus Stephanus Humbertus in his Book written against Nicetas a Monke sayeth that in the Apostles times the faithful brake bread dayly and had not a perfect masse two dayes in the weeke onlie Quotidie perseverantes in templo frangentes Panem circa domos Ecce verax Evangelista testatur sub Apostolis fidelis quotidie orasse panem fregisse Et vos qui estis qui dicitis duobus tantum diebus hebdomade missam perfectam fieri debere reliquis imperfectam I will now retort the objection drawen from the representation of Christs person Who ever saw a great Lord or King inviting inferiors to his table to sit with him rise and goe alonge to serve and minister Christ before he sate downe to supper recommending humilitie to his Disciples aspiring to preferment washed their feete but when he came to the table again he sate among theÌ„ and kept his place as master of the feast for now they were in the act of feasting When the minister cometh from his owne place and goeth along delivering the Elements how doth he act in the meane time the person of Christ the Master of the feast There can be no reason for this guise but that the Minister must breake order and put off the person which he should act in his owne place and take vpon him an other office least the Sacrament should be polluted by the deliverie of the communicants or as if the cuppe had greater vertue when Iohn who lay in Christs bosome receaved it out of his hand then when Bartholemew receaved it from Thomas or some other In this order then yee may see great misorder and grosse superstition Iustlie therefore was that ignorant woman rebuked by one of the Ministers of Edinburgh not manie yeeres agoe for striving to be neerest him at table We have yet farther to consider to wit the end The end and vse of distributing by the communicanst and use of the distributing of the communicants To drinke of one cuppe representeth a communion in one common benefite but not that communication of mutuall dueties of love and freindship as doth the reaching of the cuppe from one to another The ghuests of old intertaining others courteouslie at civill banquets reached a cuppe of wine to other which they called Phitotesia because it was a symbole of love and freindship which name a man may justlie impose vpon the communion cuppe sayeth Stucklius Antiqui convivialium lib. 3. cap. 10. Chrysostome recordeth that the communicants kissed one another when the Sacrament was celebrated Osculum pacis porrigere tempore quo celebrantur Sacramenta Lib. 1. de compunct cordi in vsu ecclesiae est and to embrace other propterea misterijs alter alterum amplectitur ut vnam multi fiâ—mus Ierome making mention of kissing and joyning of hands Homil. 51. ad populum Antiochenum Quisquam ne tibi invitus communicat quisquamne extensa manuvertil faciem inter sacras epulas Iudae osculum porrigit Paulinus also making mention of joyning hands Tunc ambo nexi ad invicem dextras damus Ad Theoph. Alexandrinum The kisse was the common form of salutation among the Orientall people as with vs the striking of hands or embracing The men kissed the men women kissed others at the communion Paul corm ad Citheâ—am This kisse was lest of and in stead therof hath succeeded the kissing of the Pax at the masse Seing signes protestations of love were thought requisite at this banquet of love ought we not to be the more careful to retaine that signe which Christ himself hath recommended to vs at the institution Yee are guiltie of this innovation for your part howbeit it be permitted to you to sitt The communicant guiltie where there is want of the right manner of distributing For yee
after the Popish or English maner For they confesse they utter them not demonstratiuely to the communicant If consecration be taken for sanctification then it is placed in the prayer or blessing For by prayer or thanksgiving the elements are sanctâ—fied and consecrated to this use If you will distinguish betwixt sanctification consecration as Popish Divines doe then say we that the blessing and sanctifying is but a part and that consecration that is the making of them a sacrament consisteth in the whole action as our Divines doe well obserue For except there be receiving eating drinking they are not seales of Christs body and blood Sacramenta perficiuntur usu By the way I obserue that as the formalists utter not Christs words demonstratiuely so agree they not upon a prescript form of words but frame them as they please whether in form of praier or otherwise as they thinke good The communicant is accessorie to this innovation because hee receiveth from him who changeth the words and giveth the seale without the word of promise CHAP. V. Of kneeling in the act of receiving the sacramentall elements THE fourth innovation is the kneeling of some ministers and some communicants in the act of receiving First we are to prove the kneeler guilty Next the sitter communicating with him although not in the same degree Suppose kneeling were indifferent Kneeling in the act of receiuing is idolatrous yet the kneeler is guiltie of scandall for it is a shew of conformitie with the Papists in a ceremony which hath been abused by them to the vilest idolatry that ever was in the world the worship of the bready God yea invented by the Antichrist to that end The formalist can not produce one authentick testimony for kneeling for a thousand yeares The Papist is hardened in his superstition and idolatry for he thinketh that we are drawing toward him and that our religion cannot be graced without his rites or manner of worship The weak brother is offended stumbleth upon one sort of idolatry or other We see the outward gesture of an idolater and who knoweth but their intentions may be bad enough Yee will say the offence is taken not given But if it be a thing indifferent as yee say and not necessarie but may be omitted then the offence is given For you are not ignorant into what evils it may induce the simple and ignorant You say the command of the Magistrate taketh away the scandall and that it is better to offend a brother then to offend a Magistrate The word Offend is ambiguous Better it is to offend that is to displease the Magistrate for then I edifie him vvhereas otherwise I should harden him in his course then to offend that is lay a stumbling block before the poorest soule in the kirk and so destroy him for whom Christ died Rom. 14.15 We are commanded to abstaine from things in their own nature indifferent if the vveake brother shall offend vvith the use of them Rom. 14.15.21 The Magistrate hath not power to abolish this law Obedience to the magistrate ought not to be the rule of my loue to Gods glory or salvation of my brother vvhich when it is neglected Gods glory is trampled under foot You will say that we are bound to obey the Magistrate It is true we are bound in conscience to be subject to the magistrat but not to obey him but in the Lord that is we are bound to passiue obedience but not to actiue except in things lawful A scandal is not lawful Further know you not that the magistrate may abuse a thing indiffâ—rent as well as a private man and make all Israell to stumble for he is a sinfull man Know yee not that it often falleth out according to the old saying Quo volunt Reges vadun leges the lawes must sing as will the King Know yee not that the Magistrate may hauâ— his owne private respects and under colour oâ— things indifferent bring in a corrupt religion I need not insist upon this point it is sensiblâ— enough to men of meane iudgment Say no therefore with Cain Am I my brothers keeper The Lord wil say to thee Thy life for his life if he be missing 1. King 20.39 How careles alas are many although thousands fall at their right hand and ten thousand at their left so that they can either win or retaine the favour of their superiours But looke how vile the soule of thy brother was in thine eyes thine shall be in the eyes of God except thou repent and amend I am now to proue it idolatrous Kneeling in the act of receiving is Idolatrous first in respect of the publick intent of our superiours Next simply whaâ—soever intent men can pretend That we may know what is the publick intent we are to consider the intent of the English Church for conformitie with that Church is intended Next the act of Perth Assembly which is urged The kirke of England intendeth kneeling for reverence of the sacrament The publick intent of the English Kirk is idolatrous for in the booke of common prayer whereunto they are bound by the statute 1 Elizab. kneeling is enioyned upon this ground That the sacrament might not be prophaned but held in a reverent and holy estimation D. Morton answereth Are yee then of opinion either that the sacrament cannot be prophaned or that the Church had not reason to prevent or avoid the prophanation of this sacrament of the Eucharist And again to stop the mouths of blasphemous papists vilifying our sacrament with the ignominious names of Bakers bread Vintners wine profane elements Ale-cakes and such like reprochfull termes did hold it fit that wee by our outward reverence in the manner of receiving the Eucharist might testifie our due estimation of such holy rites which are consecrated to so blessed an use as is the communion of the body and blood of Christ and that thereby we might repell the staine and ignominie which such virulent and unhallowed tongues did cast upon them The Replyer to Doctor Morton refelleth this allegeance of stopping the mouthes of Papists Reâ—ly 2. part pag. 50. and telleth us that some close dissembling adversaries did hinder the worke of reformation so much as they could and that they haue done so ever since and doe so still to this day Howsoever it is yee see they kneele to testifie their due estimation of the holy rites Mr. Hatton saith they kneele to put a difference between the ordinarie bread and wine and these sacramental to which they giue the more reverence because it is more then ordinary bread and wine Book 2. agâ—â—nst the â—inisters of Cornwall Devonshire What can be sayd more plainly Master Rogers in his second Dialogue hath some words to the same effect Now to kneele for reverence of the elements because they are more then ordinarie bread and wine or to testifie our due estimation of the holy rites which are imployed about the elements
urged in this part of divine service It is not then simplie in due tegâ—rd of so divine a mysterie as is the receiving of Christs body and blood that kneeling is intended for the spirituall and inward receiuing is common both to the word and sacraments but in regard of so divine a mysterie as is the receiuing of Christs body and blood in the sacrament or which is all one in regard of the mysticall or sacramentall manner of receiving and consequently in regard of the symbols or symbolical rites employed about the symbols It is cleare then that in the narratiue of the act by the receiving of the body and blood of Christ is meant a sacramentall receiuing and to that manner of receiuing is the word Mysterie relatiue in the conclusion The third reason sayeth he The third reason in the act for kneeling refuted is the correspondencie betweene the outward gesture of our body and the meditation and lifting up of our hearts when we remember and consider the mystical union betwixt Christ and us and among our selues whereof we are made partakers by the receiuing of Christs blessed body and blood This reason depending upon the former shall receiue the like answer Are we not made partakers of that mysticall union when at the hearing of the promises of the Gospell we eate Christs flesh and drinke his blood Many haue been partakers of this mysticall union who were never partakers of this sacrament But the words of the narratiue The right meaning of the third reason and the conclusion cannot sorte together after that manner Therefore he shunneth to set down the words of the narratiue and of the conclusion relatiue to them For in the narratiue is no mention made of the mysticall union neither is it said in the narratiue that the most humble and reverent gesture of the bodie well becommeth our meditation and the lifting upp of our hearts when we consider the mysticall union betwixte Christ and us but that the most humble and reverent gesture of our bâ—dy in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becommeth wel so divine and sacred an action as is the receiving of the body and blood of Christ Now this reason receiueth the like answer that the two former For it may be asked why becommeth that humble gesture of meditation and lifting up of our hearts the receiving of Christs body and blood in the act of recâ—iving the sâ—cramentall elements more then in the hearing of the promises of the gospell if it were not in regard of the sacramentall elements Next what hâ—mble gesture is that which is so suteable with mâ—ditation Men doe meditate walking siâ—ting lying but not kneeling For by meâ—â—tation a man doth speak to himself holding a soliloquâ—e in his own soule Againe what humble gesture is that which best becommeth tâ—e lifting up of the heart sâ—eing the heart may be lifted up without prayer and in prayer kneeling doeth signifie rather the submission and humiliation then the lifting up of the heart The lifting up of the eyes or hands are the outward signes of lifting up of the heart In the conclusion the words which he maketh relatiue to the former are these To remember is not to lift up the heart by prayer In remembrance of so mysticall an union as we are made partakers of by so divine a mysterie In remembrance that is in memorie for so runne the words In reverence in due regard in remembrance But least I should seeme to cavill at words let it be in remembring Iâ— there be any force in this reason we should kneele whensoever we remember so mysticall an union If this clause in the conclusion were relatiue to the former in the narratiue then by lifting up of the heart is not meant prayer For to remember or as he addeth to coâ—sider is not to pray Howbeit there by pondering remembring considering and momentanie meditations are ejaculations of meditation in prayer as there are momentanie petitions and ejaculations of prayer incident to our meditations yet to pray is not to meditate nor to meditate to pray nor nâ— man of sound judgment ever defined them so but are two diverse exercises of the soule and require divers employments of the bodie divers times and divers denominationâ— from the principall worke and not from the incident ejaculations So that by the lifting up of the heart can not be meant prayer For one humble gesture of kneeling is not sutable both to meditation and prayer both to speaking unto God and to our selues We are not directed by the act to meditate We are not directed by the act to meditate or pray in the acte of receiving and lift up our hearts when we remember and consider this mysticall union whereof we are made partakers by receiving Christs body and blood but only to use that humble gesture when we receiue Christs bodie and blood which we use in our meditation and lifting up of our hearte although we be not then meditating or lifting up our heart But put the case that we be so directed and that by lifting up of the heart be meant prayer yet it must be meant a mentall prayer not a vocall for that is a lifting upp of the voice The mental prayer must either follow the vocall prayer of the Minister or must be conceaved by the kneeler Mentall prayer following the vocall of the Minister in the act of receaving was not enjoyned The Lords over-rulers of that assembly meant not a mental prayer following the vocal prayer of the Minister For then they would have ordained some prayer to be vttered by the Minister or els that every Minister should conceave a prayer as he thought good But no such thing was done Some who are said to have beene penners of the act themselves vse not a forme of prayer at the deliverie of the Elements nor yet anie other so farre as I know Everie man was left to his owne free choise of words whether in form of prayer or otherwise Kneeling therfore should not be vrged til in another like assembly they have dressed all the appurtenances They were so glad of kneeling that they forgot all the requisites and so they brought forth a shapelesse birth like the beares whelpe which wanteth eyes and is a rude deformed lumpe when it is brought forth and must be cherished and licked a long time before it be brought to a perfect forme But suppone that a vocall prayer had beene ordained yet is not kneeling enjoyned in regard of anie vocall prayer For the communicant kneeleth both before and after the receaving and the Minister endeth if he follow the English forme his wish or request of three or foure words a short ejaculation of the tongue sooner then the communicant can addresse himselfs to his knees and before he eate the other endeth his prayer biddeth him eate and be thankful which is an admonition or exhortation not a prayer and so leaveth him and goeth to another Next if
a familiar kinde of speaking to say that a thing is in doing which alreadie done is sealed and confirmed De sacram pag. 68. sayth Whitakers Fourthly the nature of the gift is to be considered Any man will behaue himself otherwise when he receiueth a Iewell out of the princes hand nor when he is receiving a supper is in the act of feasting with him Christ and his Apostles knewe after what maner we should behaue our selues at this banquet that we neede not to goe learn courtesie at the court You will say that men bow to the chair of estate The argumeÌ„t drawn from ceremonies of court answered or the Princes letter or seale without injurie done to the Kings person Yea the honour is conveyed to the Prince by the chair of estate or the seale Doctor Abbots answer to Bishop in another purpose may serue here verie well pag. 1215. It should seeme strange that formalities observed to Princes in thâ—â—r courts for maiestie and royall estate should be made patterns of religious devotions to be practised in the Church De civit dei l. 2 cap. 4. Augustine sayth that civill courtesies often are grounded upon base humilitie or pestiferous flatterie Hence it is that some countries mislike the courtesies of other countries Conon an heathen refused to adore Artaxerxes after the manner of the Persians Next the bowing to the chair of estate or to the seal of the prince is but a civil worship for a politick end to testifie homage allegiance Doctor Abbots in defence of Perkins sayeth It is holden for a matter of princely Maiestie that there be a reverence performed to these things which serue in a speciall manner for the Princes use On the other side Pag. 121â— no such duetie is done to the Princes Image It is thought good by the State that the Maiestie of Princes be upholden by such meanes because they are but weake mortall men But God needeth not any such props to hold up his maiestie neither wil he haue any worship conveyed to him mediatelie by anie creature never so holy or of whatsoever use The sacraments are compared to seales but not in every respect The sacraments haue all their force and power from the word so hath not the Kings seale from the Charter The word is of it selfe firme and sure without the sacraments so is not the Charter without the seale A seale maketh things authenticall as measures clothes grants or the like The sacraments are annexed to the word not to make the wâ—rd more authenticall but to confirme our faith The outward signes of the sacrament are made for us not we for them And as one sayth as they are the plainest part of Divinitie so they come lowest to our necessitie and capacitie When we heard the word we were sealed with the Spirit Ephes 1.13 The holy Spirit is the seale or signet sealing us to redemption the graces of the Spirit are the seales sealed or printed upon us The holy Spirit sealeth unto us Christ and all his benefites and properly assureth us of them sometime by the word and sometime by the sacrament as outward meanes The outward meanes are to bee reverenced but not to be adored The argumeÌ„t taken from bowing before the arke answered It is alledged that we may bow before the Sacramental bread and wine because the people of God bowed before the ark We answer they bowed not for reverence of the arke but to God dwelling or sitting in the arke betweene the Cherubims God was after an extraordinarie and singular manner present in the arke delivering oracles For this singular presence of God in the arke the Temple was built and al the implements therof made God promised to heare his people when they should turne them toward this Temple So they bowed toward the arke toward the Temple wherein the arke was toward the mountain wheron the Temple was situate because of Gods presence in the ark in the Temple wherein the arke was which was situate vpon the mountaine They bowed toward the Temple not as toward a particular thing but as toward a particular place of presence The bread is a particular thing not a particular place of presence wherein God may be said to sitt or dwell or from whence he promiseth to heare our prayers There is no such place of presence now under the New testament The arke wherein God dwelt or sate was a type of Christs manhood not yet existing and of the Godhead dwelling in the manhood The Temple also Iohn the second chapter and the nineteene verse But now under the new Testament we are directed to direct our worship to that place where the Godhead is dwelling in the Manhood existing that is to the heauen where Christs Manhood is Yee will say Improper adoration is idolatrous we may reverence the bread as a signe of Christs body by way of representation that is as if his body howbeit absent were present in the bread or under the accidents of bread and all the honour that wee would doe to the body of Christ as if it were present we doe before and about the bread as in a Comedie all the honour done to him that representeth the King is accounted done properly to the King not to him that representeth but improperly Sicklyke to an Embassadour and after the same maner to an emptie coffin at funeralls We answer that we owe no adoration to any creature either properly or improperly A representation of Christs body actiuely to the communicant that is to represent his body to be received we acknowledge but a representation of Christs body passiuely that is to stand in Christs roome to receiue adoration from the communicant as a Vicegerent of Christ absent we doe not acknowledge For that were to giue a portion of divine honour to the creature to make it Christs Vicegerent when wee worship him By this reason wee might not onely kneele but kisse the sacrament and direct our speech and prayer toward it as the Iesuite doth when fixing his eyes upon a Crucifixe in his Sermon hee directeth his speech to Christ To this kinde of worship many referre the convey of civill worship to the Prince by the chaire of estate But it is limited to one particular to wit bowing Coniunct adoration or proper respectiue of the signes are intended in the act and both are idolatrous Yee will say yee intend not this representation but consider Christ as present as the Papist considereth the samplar or person represented as present as clothed with the Image or shining in the Image that is present Secundum esse representativum non secundum esse reale that is by meere representation onely This coniunct adoration is like the coadoration of the purple robe wherewith the King is clothed or of the Popes shooe when the Pope is adored or any submission or supplication made unto him But God will not bee worshipped according to our apprehensions We make
is Idolatry The publick iâ—tent of our Church is idolatrous We are next to try the publick intent by the act of Perth Assembly ratified in Parliament the tenor whereof followeth as it is published after fining and refining The act of Perth aâ—â—nt kneeling Since we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him wee fall downe and kneele before the Lord our Maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receiving of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becometh well so divine and sacred an action Therefore notwithstanding our Church hath used since the reformation here to celebrate the holy Communion to the people sitting by reason of the great abuse used in the Idolatrous worship of Papists Yet now since all memorie of bypast superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people praysed be God in reverence of God and in due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as we are made partakers of thereby the assemblie thinketh good that the blessed sacrament be celebrated hereafter to the people humblie The false superfluous clauses of the act and reverently kneeling upon their knees We haue here two lyes enclosed in the parenthesis It is untrue that al memorie of by-past past superstition is blotted out of the hearts of the people as the countrie wel knoweth the behaviour of some ignorant people when they were kneeling hath alreadie bewrayed Next it is untrue that the abuse in time of papistrie was the onely and principal cause of restoring the gesture of sitting at the beginning of reformation If they had aimed only at the reformation of that abuse they needed not to haue restored sitting standing or taking en passant would haue served the turne Both sitting and distributing of the elements by the communicants were restored at the reformation because most agreeable and neare to the pattern of the first supper We haue three reasons in this act wherefore we shold kneel as M. Lindsay hath analyzed it The first reason for kneeling in the act refuted The first reason in the narratiue is this Since we are commanded by God himselfe that when wee come to worship him we fal down and kneel before the Lord our maker Relatiue to this in the conclusion we haue these words Therefore in reverence of God the assemblie thinketh good that this sacrament be celebrated to the people kneeling upon their knees For the confirmation of this reason is alledged thâ— 9â— Psalm verse 7. By this rude reason it is a sin not to kneele in the act of receiuing Christ his Apostles al who followed their example since haue sinned For if we be coÌ„manded by God it is a sin to violate his commandement Next the word worship is not taken here for anie kinde of religious and divine service or action expressed by the word Cultus in latine but more strictly for adoration or rather that gesture of prostrating the whole body The people of God used four gestures of the bodie as signes of honour first a bending or bowing down of the head which they expressed by the word Cadad this was the least degree Next a bending or bowing of the superiour bulke of the body which they expressed by the word Carang The third kneeling which they expressed by the word Barach The fourth falling down prostrate with their hands feet spread which they expressed by the word Histachaveh The last three are all mentioned in the 6 verse of the 95 Psalme If there were any command here included to fal down when we receiue the sacrament we should be commanded not onely to bowe the superior bulke of the bodie as Pope Honorius commanded to be done at the elevation or to kneele as we are now commanded to doe but â—lso to prostrate our selues upon our face with our hands and feet spread for so do some interpret the manner But there is here onely an â—nvitation and exhortation not a commandement not to kneel when they come before the Lord to worship but â—o â—â—me before the Lord that is before the arke which is called the face of God and worship that is prostrate themselues kneele and bow themselues before the Lord their maker in token of thanksgiving It is great ignorance to infer hereupon that we are coÌ„manded to kneel in the act of receiuing the sacramental elements in the act of preaching and hearing the word which are al acts of divine service or worship in a larger sence The words relatiue in the conclusion taken simplie are not true For we are not bound at al times to kneel in reverence of God For affirmatiue precepts bindeth us ever but not to practise at everie time For then we should never be off our knees because we ought ever to carie with us reverence to God The second reason in the narratiue of the act is this And considering with al The second reason in the act for kneeling refuted that there is no part of divine worship more heauenly and spirituall then is the holy receiuing of the blessed bodie and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Relatiue to this reason we haue in the conclusion these words And in regarde of so divine a mysterie the assemblie thinketh good that that blessed sacrament be celebrated to the people humblie and reverently kneeling upon their knees Mystery sayeth he is not taken here for the elements because it is not said Mysteries but Mysterie and by Mysterie is meant the holy receiving of thâ— body and blood of Christ which is mentioned in the narratiue When the acte was firsâ— formed the copies that we saw had the word Mysteries It is now refined and yet they are not a whit farther off For what reason is there to refer it to the remoter words of the narratiue when iâ— may be referred to the nearer words of the coclusion to wit the celebration of the holy coÌ„munion the words following that blessed sacrament But the truth is it is relatiue to al the three as we shal make evident in the owne place But admit his interpretation If we should kneel when we receiue Christs body and blood in regard of so divine a mysterie then should we doe it whensoever we eate Christs flesh and drinke his bood But so it is that as oft as the promises of the gospell are read exponed or in anie part of the sermon rehearsed and the hearer beleeueth he receiueth and eateth Christs flesh and drinketh his blood But then we must be attentiue hearers and not speake to God when God is speaking to us Attentiue hearing and the work of apprehending considering discerning trying what is spoken caÌ„ not consist with presenting our prayers upon our knees Neither is kneeling
kneeling were intended in regard of anie vocal prayer of the Minister then where there is no vocall prayer at the deliverie kneeling is not intended and they have greatlie failed who have kneeled But that is done almost everie where where there is kneeling Thirdlie if in regard of the vocall prayer of the Minister then if a Minister vtter demonstrativelie Christs owne words the communicant must not kneele but if hâ— vtter the words of mans framing he must kneele So Christs order must be overthrown that kneeling may have place Fourthlie suppose vocall prayer had beene enjoyned and the communicant to follow it mentallie what can be the reason to vrge kneeling in regard of that vocal prayer rather then anie other if there were no further intended then to kneele in regard of the vocall prayer of the Minister At a convention holden at Sainct Andrewes before Perth assemblie it was thought good that people should either stand or kneele in time of prayer at other times What need I insist vpon this point seing there was no direction for a vocall prayer farre lesse a declaration that kneeling was intended in regard of that prayer The mentall prayer of the communicants owne framing not enjoyned not kneeling in regard of it If by lifting vp of the heart could be meant the mentall prayer of the communcants owne framing and coÌ„ceiving it must be either a set continued prayer or short ejaculation momentanie petitions The set and continued prayer which may be called Oratio instructa a prayer set in order according to Davids phrase Psal 5. Mane instruaÌ„ coram te sum speculiturus cannot consist with the exercise of receaving eating drincking and the mentall actions answering analogicallie to them Eyther the minde must be abstracted from meditation and consideration of these outword rites whereabout the senses and members are employed or els it must be distracted and divided betwixt two exercises A Prince would not be content to be so vsed by a poore supplicant to see him employed in another action athough lawful and honest when he is preferring his petition to him Dist. 49. cap. sacer It is then the sacrifice of fooles Offer it now to thy Governor wil he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Malach. 1.8 Indignum est dare Deo quod dedignaretur homo If we make petition but to some earthlie Prince we fixe the eye both of bodie and minde upâ—n him and scare least some incongruous or vnseemlie word move him to averâ— his countenance Totâ—m in cum mentiâ— corporis aciem defigimus de nutu ejâ—s trâ—â—ida expectatione pendemus Câ—llat 23. cap. 27. non mediocritâ—â— fâ—rmidâ—ntes ne quod forte incongruum verbum audientes misericordiam avertat sayeth Cassianus The like incongruity of confouÌ„ding two exercises receaving eating drinking in time of sett prayer and adoration vpon our knees was never heard among the verie barbarians and I thinke would never have beene heard among Christans if they had not imagined falsly that they were eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their God Next if by lifting vp of the heart be meant the sett mentall prayer of the communicant it will follow that kneeling cannot be farther vrged then the sett mentall prayer it self But I beleeve that the communicant if he be well exercised in the mentall actions answering analogicallie to the outward communicateth worthilie howbeit he conceave not a set mental prayer Thirdlie if kneeling be enjoyned in regard of sett mentall prayer to be conceaved by the communicant then a secret or private prayer is commanded in a publâ—â—k assemblie without a vocall either of the Minister or of him that prayeth even then when the Ministâ—r and congregation is not praying He concurreth not with the congregation nor the congregation with him And beside the signes and gestures of secret and mentall prayer where there is not vocall should be concealed in publick far lesse should they be extorted They may as well enjoyn the communicant to lift up his eyes or knock on his bâ—eâ—st that we may know he is praying as to enjoyne kneeling if it were intended in regard of this secret prayer For kneeling lifting up of the hands eyes knocking on the breast are naturall adumbrations of the inward motions and passions of our soule which ought not to be extorted It must be therefore for some other regard that kneeling is intended then in regard of anie sett mentall prayer For whether he pray or not mentallie he is urged to kneele Kneeling not intended in regard of the eiaculations of the heart If by lifting up of the heart be meant the momentanie petitions and short ejaculations of the soule that lifting up may very well consist with set meditation and not onely with this action of receiving eating drinking the sacramentall elements but also with the receiving of our ordinary and daily foode eating and drinking at common tables In a word with all our actions whether civil or religious and may be incident to my passing by a Crucifixe at which time I may not kneele howbeit I detest the Image I may very well passing by with neglect or contempt groane to God for the blindnesse of the people or lift up my hand or my eyes because these gestures may well expresse our inward ejaculations But kneeling attendeth not upon ejaculations but upon set prayer or thankesgiving purposely intended It was therefore a silly tale of one of our ministers to say that wee granted they might lift up their eyes but we envied the poore knee Will any man inferre that I may kneele at eating of daily food because I may then lift up my eyes These ejaculations and holy motions of the heart may be and are often incident at hearing of the word and sometimes more fervent then at the receiving of the Sacrament It is not therefore in regard of that lifting uppe of the heart by short eiacalations of prayer that kneeling is intended What hath beene sayd against the pretext of prayer The pretence of mentall reall thankesgiving answered let it be applyed to thanksgiving vocall or mentall set and contined or iaculatorie and momentanie If they will say that the action of eating and drinking is a reall thankesgiving and shewing forth of the Lords death the Apostle sayth not so but requireth a declaration by words of the Lords death as oft as we communicate But put the case the Apostle had sayd by eating and drinking yee shewe forth the Lords death yet is not the action a reall thanksgiving but a reall commemoration to speake so of Christs death and passion and consequentlie of the nature of preaching and shewing forth of the Lords death and passion and not of the nature of thanksgiving It is one thing to professe and publish Gods mercies before men for the redemption of man and another thing to offer up thankes to God by way of adoration God may be honoured many wayes but every honour
condemne our Church for want of reverence and due regard to this Sacrament which ought to have prevailed above all other respects if their reason were forcible This false superfluous and mocking clause being blotted out yee have the whole act as followeth SInce we are commanded by God himselfe that when we come to worship him The Lutheran or popish 〈◊〉 we fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker and considering withall that there is no part of divine worship more heavenly and spirituall then is the holy receiving of the blessed body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Like as the most humble and reverent gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts becommeth well so divine and sacred an action Therefore in reverence of God and due regard of so divine a mysterie and in remembrance of so mysticall an union as wee are made partakers of thereby the Assembly thinketh good that blessed sacrament be celebrated to the people humbly and reverently upon their knees This act I say may passe among Papists and Lutherans Câ—â—doration or ells respective adoration of the elements is intended in the â—ct For they maintaine that all the communicants even the verie wicked and hypocrits receave the verie bodie and blood of Christ in at their mouth the Papist vnder the accidents of bread and wine the Lutheran vnder or within the elements of bread and wine For the Papist and Lutherane hath beside the spirituall receaving which they grant onlie to the godlie a Sacramentall but essentiall and reall receaving of the verie bodie and blood of Christ in at the mouth which they grant also to the wicked The act of the communicants receaving is no otherwise expressed here then by the receaving of the bodie and blood of Christ May wee not therefore justlie suspect the Sacramentall reall receaving of Christs bodie and blood to have been intended by the first penners of the act wheresoever it was first forged seing there is nothing contrarie to this meaning in the act it is damned as curiositie to enquire after what manner Christ is present in the Sacrament of the supper Yea it is plainlie avouched that Christs blood is after a more sublime manner present in the Sacramentall wine then it is in the water of Baptisme So in this sense to kneele in regard of the divine mysterie is to kneele in regard of Christs bodie reallie present and the signes together conjunctlie as the totall object of adoration and so the signes shal be worshiped by way of coadoration So the Papists worship the bodie of Christ and the species or accidents togither Non solum Christus sub speciebus existens sed etiam totum Sacramentum visibile vt ex Christo speciebus constat vnico latriae actu adorandum est sayeth Swarez And againe Tom. 3. disp 65. sect 1. simpliciter hoc Sacramentum adorandum esse adoratione latriae absoluta perfecta qua per se adoretur Christus coadorentur autem species quia hoc Sacramentum in re est vnum Constans ex Christo speciebus If no man can be perswaded that there is anie such intent yet the other respect is at least intended to wit to kneel in regard of the mysterie that is of the mystical rites and elements which is Idolatrie For to kneele in regard of the elements is to adore them Because kneeling in Religious vse is ever a gesture of adoration and soveraine worship which belongeth onlie to God and by it is designed some times the whole worship of God Ipsam proskunesm quae hominibus propter analogicam cum Deo similitudinem legitimè tribuitur ita Deo propriam censeo cum Religiosa est ut totus cultus divinus illa solâ— designetur Christus illam Diabolo Diâ—put pag. 233. Angelus sibi abjudicet hoc argumento quod Dei propria sit sayeth Arminius Yet I cannot see how the word Mystery can be other wise taken in the act then for the receaving of the signes and the thing signified together Sacramentallie It is true God offereth the thing signified as oft as the outward signes are presented vnto us but the fail is vpon the part of the receaver who wanteth faith and receaveth onely the outward signes Wâ—e have examined the publick intent which wee find to be idolatrous The private intents of the coÌ„municants examined And therefore whatsoever be the privat intent of the communicant he must be interpreted according to the publik intent Otherwise a man may goe to Rome and kneele But we will examine also what the communicant can alledge for his private intent The pretence of mentall prayer or thanksgiving we have alreadie discussed The pretence of receauing a precious gift the body and bâ—ood of Christ. First yee say ye are receaving a precious gift the bodie and blood of Christ Will not anie man doe reverence to the king when he receaveth a gift out of his hand This pretence hath beene alreadie answered For we receave the same benefite at the hearing of the word But farther it may be doubted whether thou be receaving such a gift howbeit God be offering it Next the manner of the offer is to be considered to wit not immediatlie but mediatlie by the Ministrie of the word and Sacraments Thirdlie we must not imagine that Christs bodie is offered vnto us in the Sacrament as if we had never receaved his bodie before Did we not receave his bodie at the Sacrament in former times did we receave and then loose againe Yea we receave the bodie of Christ at our first conversion we receave his flesh and blood in the word before we receve them in the Sacrament We are in Christs bodie before we eate of Christs bodie De civit deâ— l. 2â— c. 25. sayeth Augustine Dicendum non est eum comedere corpus Christi qui non est in corpore Christi And againe he sayeth that we are made partakers of Christs bodie in Baptisme Nulli aliquatenus est dubitandum vnumquemque fidelium corporis sanguinis tunc esse participem quando in Baptismate membrum efficitur Christi And the Apostle sayeth By one spirit we are all Baptized into one bodie 1. Cor. 12.13 That we are graffed in Christ that we putt on Christ Rom. 6.35 Galat. 3.27 Vide de Consecrat dist 1 Quia passus Tertullian sayeth of baptism that we are not baptized that we may cease from sinning but because we have left off to sinne and have our hearts washed and clensed Non ideo abluimur De poenitentia ut desinamus delinquere seà quia desâ—imus corde loti sumus The table is ever spread for the soule when the word is preached and the Sacrament ministred We bring with us actuall faith to feede upon him whom by habituall faith we retain dwelling alreadie in us Familiaris loquendi modus est ut fieri dicatur quod factum obsignatur It is
an idoll of him if we apprehend him otherwise then he is The sacrament cannot be the robe of that body which is in the heavens and not in the bread and therefore the bread cannot be worshipped concomitanter with the body of Christ upon a meere apprehension There is no adoration of any created thing with the Godhead but onely of the manhead of Christ united personally to the Godhead Therefore Nestorius an old heretick conceiving the manhead of Christ to be a distinct person from the Godhead and notwithstanding averring that the manhead should be adored with the Godhead was condemned in the Councell of Ephesus The body it selfe of Christ were not to be adored if it were not personally united to his Godhead I know the understanding Formalist denieth in words both the improper and coniunct adoration But we are now examining the private intent of the communicants and who doubteth but many apprehend Christs body to bee either present in apprehension or represented as absent or really present in the bread when they kneele Did not one of our Barons protest that he kneeled not for reverence of the bread but because it was a signe of Christs body What was that to say but that he would not adore the simple bread but that hee would adore the sacramentall bread but after what manner whether improperly or coniunctly or respectiuely I thinke he could scarce tell himselfe What may we then iudge of many in the land The formalist kneeling according to the intent of the act in regard of the divine mysterie that is of the sacramentall receiving of Christs body and blood adoreth either the body of Christ and the signes coniunctly as obiectum quod totale adaequatum or els disiunctly the signes as the material obiect obiectum quod and the body of Christ onely by consequence as obiestum quo the reason wherefore he adoreth the signes properly and directly in recto as they speake and the samplar but indirectly in obliquo There is no other regard either of praier or any other like thing expressed in the act which may lead us to thinke that improper adoration was intended And of the two last I cannot see how the proper respectiue can be intended seeing they are then using the signes to the end whereunto they were appointed and consider them in actu exercito as they are then representing Christs body Whereas the proper respectiue is given to the signes as to things sacred As when the Papist passing by the Image uncovereth his head considering it only generaly and confusedly as a thing sacred But when he considereth the Image as it is an Image actu exercito representing the thing signified and intendeth to adore in it or before it the samplar or person represented then hee kneeleth for their proper respectiue adoration they call veneration such honour as they giue to the book of the Gospell or sacred vessels sayth Swarez who calleth it adoratio veneraria Howsoever it is with them kneeling is ever a gesture of adoration and never to bee used but to God directly in absolute adoration Absolute adoration we call that which is given to persons or intellectuall creatures for some intrinsick excellencie in them Respectiue we call that which is determined in senslesse and dead creatures resteth in them and is properly given them which are honoured per se by themselues howbeit propter aliud for some extrinsick excelencie out of theÌ„selues inherent in the samplar or thing represented and consequently honour redoundeth to the samplar by consequence The pretence of Obiectum a quo significative answered Put the case the Formalist were free of the former two intentions that is to adore signes either coniunctly or respectiuely and that it were true whereunto he fleeth as unto his last refuge that the bread and wine are obiectum à quo significativè that is an actiue obiect moving us to worship the thing signified which diffreth not from the adoration which Durandus Holcot and Picâ—s Mirandula giue to Images for they adore not images the obiect of their adoration but only in their presence or before them worship the samplar Their adoratioÌ„ is as abstract from the image as theirs can be from the elements neither can Doctor Morton shew any difference The outward action is exercised materially before the image the intention of worship is directed to the samplar in their understanding So the image was only obiectum a quo significative to them in regard of the inward affâ—ction And yet we condemne them for exercising the natural action of outward adoration before the image or at the presence of the image Resolut pag. 161. M. Lindsay sayeth that there is a difference between images the invention of men the works of God the word of God and the sacraments But manie of the English formalists approue images as lawfull obiects to stirre up the memorie as the Replyer to Morton doth testifie And they haue reason for if they condemned images as signes invented by men unfit and unlawfull for wakening up of the memorie and putting them in minde of some pious dutie they must also condemne the signe of the crosse the surplice and other significant rites invented by man Now if they may be lawful obiects to stirr up the memorie what can hinder adoration before them more then before other moving obiects Si exemplaria ipsa per se sint digna adoratione quid obstare potest praesentia imaginis Tom. 3. pag. 798. quo minus adorari possint saith Swarez So in the case of adoration there is no difference In the case of estimation or veneration instructioÌ„ they differ We esteem more of Gods works then the workmaÌ„ship of men We owe veneration a decent comly usage to Gods word sacraments which we ought not to images They are also ordayned by God for our instruction and so are not images But to adore God in them by them or before them by direction is forbidden as well as adoration before images Otherwise we should fall downe before everie green tree before an asse or a toade or any other vile creature when they worke as objects upon our minds and moue us to consider Gods goodnes wisdome and power We haue to consider that when a man is considering the invisible things of God in the workmanship of an asse tree toade or any other creature he is not then praying or praysing except by ejaculations which may occurre in al our actions but he is meditating and contemplating For if I should adore that is pray or praise God upon my knees in the meane time when I am poring with the eyes both of body minde upon a tree or a toade I should coÌ„found two exercises or be thought to adore the asse the toade or the tree or God in De adoratione lib. 3 disp 1. cap. 2. 3. or by the asse toade or tree Vasques the Iesuite doubteth not to averre that not an image onely or an
holy thing may be worshipped with the same adoration that is given to God but also any thing in the world the sunne the moone the stars a stock a little stone or a straw We are not far from this horrible error if we fall down to worship God before his creatures when they put us in remembrance of him or when we contemplat his properties in them Resolutions pâ—g 162. M. Lindsay himself changeth the phrase of speech to shun this absurditie For he sayth To bow down when we haue seen the works of God when we haue heard the word and when we receiue the sacraments to adore him when by his works the word and sacraments we are taught to adore is neyther to bow downe to an Idoll nor to worship God in an Idol Why doth he not say when we haue received the sacraments as he sayd of the other two when we haue seene the workes of God when we haue heard the word or why doth he not say when we see the works of God when we heare the word and when we receiue the sacraments as he should haue done if he would haue showen the difference betwixt images the works of God the word of God and the sacraments For the works and word of God are objects significant when we see and heare the same So if we may fall down to worship God when we see the sacrament because it is obiectum a quo significative we may do the like when we hear the word or in private worship when we see the creatures and consider the workmanship of God in them for these are not images or inventions of men The ground of this error is the confounding of two exercises prayer or praise and meditation or contemplation If I were reading a passage of scripture and meditating upon it I adore not then upon my knees because I am then apprehending and considering what is read and adore not till that exercise be ended When it is ended if I finde my self moued to pray or to giue thanks I pore not stil with the eyâ—s of my minde and body upon the book but turn me to a wall or a chair or a bed or any other thing casually placed before me yea perhaps before the book it self but casually as before any other thing For I am not then gathering lessons or instructions For that exercise is ended and this time it is not fit As it fareth with the book of grace so doeth it with the booke of nature When I am reading in the booke of nature beholding an asse a tree or a toade or any other workmanship of God and considering in it his goodnes power wisdome it is an object moving me to praise thanke God but not in that exercise For thâ—n I shal both still behold and adore Now if we may not do this with the works of God in private worship we may not do it with the word read or preached or the sacramental signes in publike worship For when we are hearing beholding and considering we are receiving instruction from the objects of the eye and the eare and we are then in another employment then when we are adoring Farther the elements are objectum a quo significative immediatly after the consecration as the papist and formalist both hold Therefore all that are in the kirk should kneel at the sight of the consecrated elements euen long before they receiue or approach to receiue and the elements should be lifted up as the bread is among the papists at the elevation to the ende they may be moued to inward devotion and outward adoration by this obiectum a quo significative for now is the time of publick worship and after their consecration they haue gotteÌ„ their vertue to signifie This adoration before a significant object instructing the minde or stirring up the memorie wil be found nothing different from improper adoration which is by way of representation For I exercise the outward acts of adoration before that obiect as a Vice gerent of the thing absent signified by the same For the Iesuites say they worship an image improperly when they take it obiective and make it the Vicegerent of the thing considered as absent or distant Swarez reckoning all the sorts of adoration of images reduceth them to three the improper worship of Durandus and Holcot Tom. 3. disp 51. 52. 53. when the image is obiectum a quo significatiue the conjunct adoration of the image with the samplar the proper respectiue of the image for the samplars sake So the improper by representatioÌ„ must be reduced to the first sort To adore then by direction before a creature because it is obiectum a quo significative is to adore it by way of representation of the thing signified and to performe all that service before and about it which I would performe if the samplar were present which kinde of adoration the understanding Formalist denyeth And in deed the act of Perth beareth no such thing for to kneel in regard of so divine a mysterie to wit as is the receiuing of the body and bood of Christ sacramentally is not to adore before the elements as obiectum a quo significative the samplar but to adore the elements themselves with the thing signified Thirdly the elâ—ments are not set before us as obiectum a quo significative only to be presented to the eye outwardly and by the eye to moue the minde De eucharist lib. 4. c. 23. but we take eate drink Therefore sayth Bellermine Iste fructus melius obtinetur videndo eucharistiam in mensa quam eam manducando Nam duÌ„ manducatur continuo peril significatio At dum cernitur attente confideratur semper representat significat promissiones Dei etiamsi per annum integrum eam quis cernere vellet Praeterea significatio melius apprehenditur per oculos quam per gustandi sensum The meate set before us at table before it be used is an obiect moving us to praise God for his beneficence but withall it is a subiect whereupon we craue a blessing to be powred because we are to use it Next we blesse or giue thanks not kneeling but in the verie use and act of eating and drinking none did ever say grace as wee use to speake farre lesse kneele no not among the most barbarous or yet the most superstitious These three things are ever to be distinguished in the benefits of God not to be confounded preparation before the use by prayer and thanksgiving the use it self and thanksgiving after the use There are some other shifts scarse worth the answering therefore I doe but lightly touch them From the uncovering of the head a gesture of simple reverence that among some nations onelie can no good argument be drawen for kneeling A fardel of pretences answered which is a gesture of adoration among all nations neither in civil nor religious use I wil not kneel to everie one to whom I uncover my