word participation of the sacraments Commemoration of divine misteries may be performed upon the ordinary sabbath but to make up a festival day Bellarm. requireth a determination of a day signification and representation of the misteries wrought on such dayes Scaliger observeth that the ordinary sabbothes were never called Chaggim as the anniversarie solemnities were 1. Reason against festivall dayes Six dayes shalt thou labour and doe all that thou hast to doe These words are either a command to doe the works of our calling as many both Iewish and Christian divines doe interprete or els a permission as others doe interpret If they contein a command no countremand may take it away If a permission no human authority may spoile men of the liberty that God hath granted unto them as long as they haue any maner of worke to doe for the sustentation of this life The Muscovits therefore say very well that it is for Lords to keepe feasts and abstien from labour The Citizens and Artificers amongst them upon the festivall dayes after divine service do betake themselues to their labour and domestick affaires as Gaguinus reporteth It may be objected that Constantine the Emperour made a law that none but the Prince may ferias coÌ„dere erect an idle day the Prince then may inioyne a day of Cessation Answer The Lawes of the â—od are not rules of theologie A Prince may not inioyne Cessation from Oeconomicall and domestick works but for weapon shewing exercise of armes defence of the country or other publick works and affaires But that is not to injoyne a day of simple Cessation but to inioyne a politick work in place of the oeconomicall Every particular member ceassing from their particular work exerciseth another work serving for the preservation of the whole bodie The curse that Adam shall eate with the sweate of his browes is mitigated by the permission of six dayes labour The Lord permitteth unto man six lest he devoure the seventh day which is sanctified What if the Kirk representatiue injoyne a weekly holy day as another sabboth ought the Kirke to be obeyed what power hath the Kirk representatiue to inioyne an anniversary day more then a weekly or hebdomadary holy day If a day of simple Cessation from all maner of work Oeconomicall and politicall may not be inioyned a festivall day may not be inioyned I say further that the poore craftsman can not lawfully be commanded to lay aside his tooles and goe passe his time no not for an houre let be for a day as long as he is willing to worke and perhaps urged with the sharpnes of present necessity And yet farther that he ought not to be compelled to leaue his worke to goe to divine service except on the day that the Lord hath sanctified The second Reason It is the priuiledge of Gods power to appoint a day of rest and to sanctifie it to his honour as our best Divines mainteine Zanchius affirmeth that it is proper to God to choose any person or any thing to consecrate and sanctifie it to himselfe as it belongeth to him alone to justify Catechismus Hollandicus saith no wise man will deny that this sanctification belongeth onely to God that it is manifest sacriledge to attribute these things to men which are onely of divine ordination Willet sayth It belongeth onely to the Creator to sanctifie the Creature In the booke of Ecclesiasticus cap. 33.7.8 it is demanded Why doth one day excell another when as the light of every day of the yeare is of the Sun It is answered By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished and he altered seasons and feasts Some of them hath he made hie dayes and hallowed them Some of them he hath made ordinary dayes The common tenent of the Divines was acknowledged by the pretended Bishop of Galloway in his Sermon at the last Christmas It may offend you sayd he that this is an holy day I say there is no power either civill or Ecclesiasticall can make an holy day no King no Kirk onely the Lord that made the day and distinguished it from the night he hath sanctified the seventh day The like was acknowledged by M. P. Galloway in his Christmas Sermons If the speciall sanctification of a day to an holy use dependeth upon Gods commandement and institution then neither King nor Kirke representatiue may make an holy day The observers of dayes will say they count not their anniverserie daies holier then other dayes but that they keep them only for order and policie that the people may be assembled to religious exercises Answer The Papists will confesse that one day is not holier then another in its owne nature no not the Lords day for then the Sabboth might not haue been changed from the last to the first day of the weeke But they affirme that one day is holier then another in respect of the end and vse And so doe wee They call them holy dayes and so doe wee They vse them as memoriall signes of sacred mysteries whereof they carie the names as Nativitie Passion Ascension c. And so doe wee The presence of the festivitie putteth a man in minde of the mysterie howbeit he haue not occasion to be present in the holy Assembly We are commanded to obserue them in all points as the Lords day both in the publick Assemblies and after the dissoluing of the same Yea it is left free to teach any parte of Gods word on the Lords day but for solemnitie of the festiuall solemne texts must be chosen Gospels Epistles collects Psalmes must be framed for the particular service of these dayes and so the mysticall dayes of mans appointment shall not onely equall but in solemnity surpasse the morall sabboth appointed by the Lord. Doth not Hooker say that the dayes of publick memorials should be cloathed with the outward robes of holines They aledge for the warrant of anniversary festivities the Ancients who call them Sacred and misticall dayes If they were instituted only for order and policie that the people may Assemble to religious exercises Wherefore is there but one day appointed betwixt the Passion and Resurection fortie dayes betwixt the Resurrection and Ascension Ten betwixt the Ascension and Pentecost Wherefore follow we the course of the Moone as the Iewes did in our moveable feasts making the christian Church cloathed with the Sunne to walk vnder the Moone as Bonauentura alludeth Wherefore is there not a certain day of the moneth kept for Easter as well as for the nativitie Doth not Bellarmine giue this reason out of Augustine that the day of the Natiuity is celebrate only for memorie the other both for memorie and for sacraments Ille celebratur solum ob memoriam ideo semper die 25. Decembris at lâ—fe celebratur ob memoriam sacramentum ideo variatur If the anniversarie commemorations were like the weekely preachings as the two forenamed preachers made the comparison why
is objected and said that wee may pray in the act of receaving therefore wee may kneele in the act of receaving Answer This objection insinuates that kneeling is the proper and onely commendable gesture of prayer and therefore the Bishop of Rochester exponeth the standing of the publican Luk. 18.11.13 to haue been kneeling because sayeth he the Iewish custome was to pray kneeling But if he had remembred the Lords owne saying Ierem. 15. though Moses and Samuell stood before me c. he might haue understood that they prayed standing as wel as kneeling Drusius observeth that of old they prayed standing that therfore prayers were called stations or standings And Rabbi Iuda had a saying that the world could not subsist without statioÌ„s or standings And where it is said Abram stood before the lord Manabem an Hebrew Rabine expoundeth it he prayed before the Lord. Next the prayer meant of is either some publicke prayer uttered by the Minister or the mentall prayer of the communicant As for the prayer of the Minister in the act of distribution it is flat against the institution as I haue already sayd The Minister is ordained by the institution to act the person of Christ and pronounce the words of promise This is my body as if Christ himselfe were pronouncing these words and not change the promise into a prayer Fenner in his principles of Religion layeth this down as a ground That in the second commandement we are forbidden the practise and use of any other rite or outward meanes used in the worship or service of God then he hath ordained Ioh. 4.22 2 King 18.4 and that by the contrary we are commanded to practise all those parts of his worship which he in his word hath commanded and to acknowledge onely the proper use of every rite and outward meanes which the Lord hath ordained Deut. 12.32 2. King 17.26 Further we are forbidden by the second commandement to pray by direction before any creature This publicke prayer is but a pretended cause of kneeling as the Ministers of Lincolne make manifest in their abridgement for no Canon of our neighbour Kirke hath directed any part of this kneeling in the act of receiving to be assigned to the said prayer In populous congregations where there is but one Minister the communicants sit a quarter of an houre before the Minister repaire to them with the sacrament And last the prayer is ended before the delivery of the elements As for our Kirk no such prayer is ordained to be uttered by the Minister therefore no such prayer can be pretended In the late Canon it is sayd That the most reverent and humble gesture of the body in our meditation and lifting up of our hearts best becommeth so divine an action Meditation is not prayer and the heart may be lifted up by the act of faith and contemplation as well as by the action of prayer so that neither publick nor mentall prayer is expressed in our act But let the words be interpreted of mentall prayer even mentall prayer is not the principall exercise of the soule in the act of receiving the sacramentall elements the minde attending on the audible words the visible elements the mysticall actions and making present use of them men should not be diverted from their principall worke and meditation upon the Analogie betwixt the signes and things signified The soule may send up in the meane time some short ejaculations and darts of prayer to heaven to strengthen her owne weaknesse and returne to her principall worke of meditation and application of the benefites represented These short ejaculations of the minde are onely occasionall as a Christian feeleth his owne present estate and are incident to all our actions both civill and religious In the act of receiving our earthly food in going out the way in hearing the word If a man be moved inwardly when he heareth that the word was made flesh shall he kneele as they do in the Romane Kirke If a man should kneele at every inward motion of the minde when he heareth the word what confusion would there be in the congregation A man looking occasionally to a crucifix may remember Christ and send up some ejaculations shall he therefore kneele The three children prayed mentally no doubt when they were brought before the golden Image but lawfully they might not kneele before it Perkins destinguisheth notably betwixt publick private and secret worship the secret and mentall worship must be yeelded to God and the signes thereof concealed from the eyes and hearing of men as Nehemiah when he prayed in presence of the King Nehem. 2.4 In a word the Institution and the second commandement hinder kneeling at this time suppose mentall prayer were the principall exercise of the soule I heare there is alledged a third sort of prayer to wit that the very act of receiving is of it selfe a reall prayer Is not this as much as to say that craving and receiving is all one Bellarmine sayth That prayer of iâ— selfe and of the own proper office doth impetrate and that a sacrifice hath the force and power of obtaining or impetrating because it is Quaedam oratio realis non verbalis a certaine reall prayer not a verball We may forgiue him to say this of the sacrifice of the Masse where there is an offering of a sacrifice to God But Bellarmine was never so absurd as to call the act of receiving from God a reall prayer to God Their other obiection that we may praise God in the act of receiving therefore we may kneele may be answered after the same manner There is no publicke thankesgiving ordained to be made at the delivery of the elements mentall praise therefore must be meant Mentall praise is no more the principall worke of the soule then mentall prayer what was sayd of the ejaculations of the one let it be applied to the short eâ—aculations of the other The name of Eucharist given to this Sacrament helpeth them nothing for it is a name given by Ancients and not by the Scripture Next as it is called Eucharistia so it is called Eulogia for the words he gaue thankes and he blessed are indifferently used by the Evangelists Some parts of this holy celebration stand in thankesgiuing as the beginning and the end and therefore is the whole action denominated from a part saith Causaubon Eulogia Eucharistia utraque vox à parte una totum Domini actionem designat It followeth not that all the parts of this holy ministration are actions of thankesgiving Obiect What we may craue of God upon our knees we may receiue on our knees Ans. It is false I may on my knees Giue us this day our daily bread but I may not receiue it on my knees The people of Israel prayed for food yet they were not esteemed unthankfull for not kneeling when they received the Manna It is again objected that in the act of receauing we receaue
questions extant among Iustinus workes the learned do not acknowledge them for his In Augustins rule there is no mention of the nativity day As for the other foure daies mentioned put the case they were universally observed in Augustines time that is in the fift age after the Apostles yet except they were perpetually observed Augustines rule will not helpe them If If they cannot proue Pasche to be Apostolicall how will they proue the Penticost the Passion Ascension day to be Apostolicall There is Sermons extant amongst Cyprians workes upon the Passion and Ascension dayes But Bellarmine himselfe confesseth these Sermons of Christs cardinall workes to be suppesitions The observing of the passion day brought into the kirk set dayes of fasting the Friday fast Lenton fast and a number of superstitions accompanying the said fastings together with the opinion of merit by fasting Set anniversary fasts are condemned by our Divines The right manner of fasting is to fast when some iudgement is imminent some great worke to bee performed And as for the private man when hee is greatly tempted to sin and cannot overcome his tentation then is it fittest time for him to fast The Paschall fasts were also abused for the Paschall communion following as if Easter communion required greater preparation then any other communion in the yeare The sixth Reason If it had been the will of God that the severall actes of Christ should haue been celebrate with severall solemnities the Holy Ghost would haue made known to us the day of his Nativity Circumcision presentation to the Temple Baptisme Transfiguration and the like For it is kindly to remember Opus diâ—i in die sua the worke of the day in the own day This was the custome of old under the Law Hooker sayth That the wondrous works of God advanced the dayes times wherein they were wrought Bellarmine sayth That Christs acts did consecrate the dayes and times wherein they were wrought If the principall workes of God advance some dayes above other all the dayes of the yeare should be holy If we should honour the memory of Christs actes all dayes likewise should bâ— holy because every one of them is full of his miracles as Leâ— sayth Christ by his actions did no more consecrate the times wherein they were wrought then his body did the Mangâ—r or the Crosse. Not Christs action on a day but his institution maketh a day holy If Christs actions advance consecrate the dayes whereon they were wrought the dayes ought to be known Otherwise it will fall out that we shall keepe the dayes holy that were never advanced noâ— consecrated either by Christs action or institution But so it is that the day of Christ nativity and consequently the other dayes depending upon the calculation of the same is hid from mortall men That Christ was born the 25. day of December is grounded upon an erroneous conceit that Zachary the father of Iohn Baptist was an high Priest when as he was a Priest of one of the 24. orders that is of the order of Abijah The Auncients made Iohn the Baptist to be conceiued the 24. of September when Zachary as high Priest should haue offered up incense And from the conception of Iohn they counted six full moneths to the conception of Christ that is to the 25. of March when as they should haue counted but fiue full moneths This opinion of Christs nativitie on the 25. day of December was bred at Rome Scaliger sayth Post seculum Constantini Romae haec observatio instituta tempore Chrysostomi Constantinopolin derivata est That this observation was instituted at Rome after Constantines time Chrysostom in his Homilies upon the Nativity saith That ten yeares agoe before the making of the sayd Homily the 25. day of December was made known to the Orientall Kirkes by the Occidentall to haue been the day of Christs Nativity Epiphanius testifieth that hee was ignorant that the Occidentall Kirk had ordained the 25. day of December to haue been the day of the Lords nativity a little before hee made his booke against heresies All the Kirkes of the East and of Egypt observed one day for the nativity and baptisme of Christ upon the Epiphany day Ambrose is the most ancient who maketh mention of the 25. day of December sayth Scaliger The diversity of the Ancients observing some the 6. of Ianuary Some the 19. of Aprill Some the 19. of May. Some the 25. of December argueth that the Apostles never ordained it Bellarmine nor no other can produce a writer for 300. yeares to testifie that the Nativity day was keept Clemens Constitutions are known to be counterfet and late as Scaliger proveth in the same place Because they make mention of the 25. day of december which was not receaved in his time namely in the Orientall Kirk By the same argument may the counterfeit Epistle of Theophilus be rejected for it maketh likewayes the nativity to fall on the 25 day of December as a matter out of all doubt Cyprians sermon on the Nativity is acknowledg by Bellarmine himselfe to be suppositious as I haue said before Yee se then as God hid the body of Moses so hath he hid this day and other dayes depending on the calculation of it wherein he declared his wil concerning the other daies of his notablâ— acts To wit that not Christs action but Christs institution maketh a day holy Bellarmine sayth Dies dominica refert nobis memoriam natalis Christi et resurrectionis ejusdem et adventus Spirit us Sancti nam Christ us die dominica nat us est Christ was borne vpon the Lords day If this be true what needeth vs an anniuersarie day after a Iewish manner They will not suffer the ordinary sabboth that is Christs day serue in a morall maner for vnknown dayes but they will set vp a mysticall day vncertain and vnknown and equall it with the Lords day that is the true Christs day institute by himself Why should we follow antiquity blinded in this point fostâ—r a grosse error of Zacharius hie priesthood against the expresse word of God He was a Priest of the eight order every order kept their course and station about the Temple from sabboth to sabboth 1. Chron. 9.25 None of them incrhoched vpon othâ—r but kept the order set down by David and to that effect was made a severe Cannon Euery Priest or Levit that medled with the function of another let him die the death as Scaliger reporteth out of their ancient lawes Omnis sive Sacerdos sive Levita qui sese immiseuerit function alterius capite luat This order was so observed that if any of the 24. families had failed either by famine or by the sword the daily sacrifice ceased in the time of their function and no other family would supply the roome But from the instauration and dedication made by Iudas Maccabeus the 22. day of November when the first family began