by St. Luke part of the Divine Worship which he commends Anna for of whom he saith That she departed not from the Temple S. Luk. 2.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving or worshipping God in prayers and fastings night and day His meaning is not that she dwelt or continued always in the Temple for in the next Verse mention is made of her coming thither but that she forsook it not at the set times that she constantly frequented the Temple at the hours of prayer and used in like manner a constant observation of fasting and thereby worshipped God As it is said of the Apostles after Christ's ascention that 8. Luke 24.53 they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God i. e. the Temple at Ierusalem was the place not of their continual abode but of their constant dailie performance of their Devotions This then is Anna's commendation That she constantly frequented the Temple and performed those acts of piety prayer and fasting constantly at the prescribed and accustomed seasons of those duties viz. fasting twice a week and observing the daily hours of Prayer And if in this she is said to serve and worship God we need not fear dishonouring or displeasing of Him by the like observance And now I may add farther that it was usual with the Religious Iews to fast every day till the third hour i. e. nine of the clock in the morning the hour of Prayer and upon Sabbaths and Festivals unto the sixth hour i. e. twelve of the clock As to the first of these St. Peter's apologie at Pentecost when they were charged with drunkenness seems grounded upon it Act. 2.15 Grot. in loc These are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third hour of the day that is the time of Matins whereto men indifferently pious resorted fasting And as to the later it is not improbable but the Heathens did therefore so often upbraid the Iews with fasting on their Sabbaths Hooker Eccl. â—ol l. 5. and to this also some refer the Iews finding fault with our Lord's Disciples St. Matt. 12. Hebraeorum illa fuit à majoribus tradita usu recepta ac tanquam lege probata consuetudo ut non liceret diebus fostis culquam ante sextam horam providere Baron tom 1. Ann. 35. Num. 243. for rubbing a few cars of corn to eat as they walked on the Sabbath day which may seem rather a breach of their customarie fast till noon than of the rest from work and labour then required But enough of this Head 10. I should be tedious if I enlarged this Catalogue as I might by adding the Iewish rites at the Passeover and other Festivals at Circumcision Marriage and Burials I will therefore but touch upon them At the Passeover they varied the first ceremonie of Standing Exod. 12.11 S. Matt. 26.19 20. S. John 13.5 into the fashion of lying on beds and then put off their shoos before lying down whereas at first it was required to eat it with their shoos on They added a thick sawce in memory of the clay and mortar in Egypt and used red wine for a remembrance that Pharaoh shed the bloud of their children They had special forms of blessing the bread and the cup both here and at other Festivals and they sung an Hymn beginning at the 113. and reaching to the end of the 118. Psalm They had frequent washings St. Mat. 15. as Calvin well observes Christ did not simply reprove their washings for then would he not have suffer'd without reproof the six water pots S. Ioh. 2. but their intention and opinion of necessitie and holiness about them At Circumcision They left a void chair for Elias The Witness held the Child in his arms c. As to their Marriages the manner of their betrothing by a piece of Monie Writing c. The Marriage it self in an Assembly of ten men with blessings and praises to God the Marriage-feast seven dayes c. And as to their Burials washing the body of the deceased embalming of it the form of their sepulchres their inscriptions upon them c. These are matters easily to be supplied by an overly Inspection into the Iewish Antiquities Now When we can see a Command and Institution from God produced for these severals and not till then we may conclude That the Church of the Iews were governed by this principle we have under our examination CHAP. V. 2 Of the Church of the New Testament in the time of Christ and his Apostles wherein the instances are Christ's approbation of those rites and usages among the Jews which were not founded upon a Divine Command His Apologie for and commendation of the two women that Anointed him whereto is added the story of the good women at his Sepulchre and of Joseph of Arimathea His frequenting the Synagogues and demeaning himself according to their Customes His carriage at the Passeover and the institution of his own Supper The observance in the Church of Jewish customs and ordinances a long time after their conversion to Christianity Certain things imposed on the Gentiles by way of compliance with the Jews to avoid offence and division The Sabbath day kept with the first day of the week The holy Kiss The Love-feasts St. Paul's injunctions in order to the decencie of Divine worship that the man be uncovered and the woman covered with the concluding of that matter of Ceremonie against the contentious by the custom of the Churches ANd so I pass on secondly to the Church of the New Testament and that First in the time of Christ and the Apostles wherein we may observe these instances 1. Our B. Saviour himself did approve of and conform unto those rites and practises among the Iews which were not founded upon any Divine Precept A special evidence of this we have in his apologizing for and commending of the affectionate deportment of two good women towards himself with their cruses of oyl and sweet ointment such entertainment being usual with the Iews at their feasts and related to by David's expressions Psal 23.5 The first story we have in the Pharisee's house by a woman that had been a sinner St. Luke 7.37 38. c. she brought a cruse of Ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kiss'd his feet and anointed them with ointment This was her ceremonious observance The Pharisee whose name probably was Simon takes exceptions at Christ's enduring her approaches to him being a sinner but Christ answers him first with a Parable and then so applies it as to make a comment upon the several acts of the womans love whom upon that account he assures of the pardon of her sins Ver. 44.45 c. He turned to the woman and said unto Simon Seest thou this woman I enter'd into thine house thou gavest me no water for my
respect of writing the Gospel for there is none that thinketh the office of preaching to be either extraordinary or temporal p. 118. As for Prophets if you mean in respect of the gift of telling things to come such as Agabus was then be they temporal but if you mean Prophets in respect of their dexterity and readiness of expounding Scriptures such as Simeon Lucius Manaen and Saul Act. 13.15 1 Cor. 14. likewise such as Judas and Silas and such as the Apostle St. Paul speaketh of 1 Cor. 14. I see no cause why the Calling should be extraordinary or the office and gift temporal except you have a liberty to make temporal and perpetual ordinary and extraordinary what you please But seeing you would have all things proved by Scripture I pray you prove this that you have said either of the Apostles Evangelists or Prophets by the Scripture seeing you teach that of them which seemeth to be contrary unto Scripture And when T. C. replyes This passeth all the Divinity that ever I read that there are now Apostles T. C. p. 41. Sect. 1. Evangelist and Prophets You shall assuredly do marvels if you prove that as you say you will if any deny it I deny it prove you it The Arch-Bishop answers thus Then have you not read much Divinity p. 229.230 for if it be true that the Apostle St. Paul in the fourth Chapter to the Ephesians doth make a perfect platform of a Church and a full rehearsal of the offices therein contained as you say he doth then can I not understand how you can make those offices rather temporal than the office of the Pastors and Doctors And forasmuch as you greatly contemn Authority and would have all things proved by Scripture let me hear one word of the same that doth but insinuate these offices to be temporal The place it self seemeth to import a continuance of these functions unto the coming of Christ for he saith Ephes 4. He therefore gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the gathering together of the Saints for the work of the ministry c. until we all meet together in the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto à perfect man and unto the measure of the age and fulness of Christ I am perswaded that you cannot shew any like place which doth so plainly import the abrogating of them as this doth make for their continuance I have beside that place to the Ephesians the twelfth of the first to the Corinthians and the fourteenth where he speaketh of Prophets as of perpetual ministers in Christ's Church I know saith he that there were certain things in the Apostles which were proper unto themselves as their calling which was immediately from God p. 231. although Matthias was not immediately called by God as it appeareth Act. 1. neither can you prove by Scripture that Barnabas was so call'd but the contrary rather doth appear Acts 11. and yet he was an Apostle their commission to go into the whole world c. but to preach the Word of God in places where need requireth or to govern Churches already planted I see no cause why it should not be perpetual Likewise the office of Evangelist if it be taken for writing of the Gospel then it is ceased being fully perfected and accomplished but if it be taken for preaching the Gospel plainly and simply as Bullinger thinketh or generally Bull. in 4. ad Ephes Musc Tit. de Verb. minist in Loc. com for preaching the Gospel as Musculus supposeth in which sense also Paul said to Timothy 2. Tim. 4. Do the work of an Evangelist or for preaching more fervently or zealously than other as Bucer saith Bucer in 4. ad Ephes then I see no cause at all why it may not still remain in the Church Moreover Prophets if they be taken for such as have the gift of foreshewing things to come then be they not in all times of the Church but if they be such as St. Paul speaketh of 1 Cor. 14 such I say as have an especial gift in interpreting the Scriptures whether it be in expounding the mysteries thereof to be learned or in declaring the true sense thereof to the people I understand not why it is not as perpetual as the Pastor or Doctor Thus you see that I have both Scripture and Reason on my side and to the end that you perceive that I am not destitute of the consent also of Learned men in this matter I will set down the opinions of one or two Ambrose upon these words ad Eph. 4. Ambrose Et ipse dedit quosdam quidem Apostolos c. saith thus The Apostles are Bishops Prophets be interpreters of the Scriptures Although in the beginning there were Prophets as Agabus and the four Virgins Prophetesses as it is in the Acts of the Apostles yet now Interpreters be called Prophets Evangelists be Deacons as Philip for although they be no Priests yet may they preach the Gospel without a chair as both Stephen and Philip before-named Bucer Bucer upon the same same place saith that there be Evangelists now T. C. and you your self fol. 42. confess that Hus Jerome of Prague Luther Zuinglius c. were Evangelists Peter Martyr Peter Martyr in his Commentaries upon 12. to the Romans saith that the Apostle there describeth those functions and gifts which are at all times necessary for the Church and in that place the Apostle mentioneth prophesying Mr. Calvin Calvin in his Institut cap. 8. doth confess that God hath stirred up Apostles and Evangelists since that time of the Primitive Church and that he hath done so likewise even now in this time Mr. Bullinger Bullinger upon 4. Ephes saith that the words be confounded and that an Apostle is also call'd a Prophet a Doctor an Evangelist a Minister a Bishop and a Bishop an Evangelist and Prophet c. To be short It is thus written in the Confession of the Churches in Helvetia Confess Helvet The Ministers of the New Testament be call'd by sundry names for they are called Apostles Prophets Evangelists Bishops c. And speaking of Prophets it saith The Prophets in time past foreseeing things to come were call'd Seers who are expounders of the Scriptures also as some be even now a dayes Evangelists were writers of the History of the Gospel and preachers also of the glad tidings of Christ his Gospel as Paul bid Timothy do the work of an Evangelist c. So that to say there are in the Church Apostles Prophets and Evangelists in such sense as I have deelared is no strange Divinity to such as be Divines indeed But enough of this distinction 'till we again meet with it Let us hear the Catechist of Ordinary Officers Q. 23. Who are the ordinary Officers or Ministers of Christ in the Church Catec p. 12◠to be
not baptized in their infancy and their infant seed Matt. 28 19. Act. 2.38 39. and 16.33 1 Cor. 1.16 and 7.14 Coloss 2.12 13. with Genes 17.10 11 12. Q. 39. Where and to whom is the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper to be administred Answ In the Church or Assembly of the Congregation to all the Members of it rightly prepared and duly assembled or to such of them as are so assembled 1 Cor. 11.20 21 22 28 29 33 Act. 2.46 Q. 40. How often is that Ordinance to be admmistred Answ Every first day of the week or at least as often as opportunity and conveniency may be obtained 1 Cor. 11.26 Act. 20.7 The Catechist should do well for the credit of his own principles to shew us the word Sacraments in the H. Scripture or where Baptism and the Supper of the Lord are there called Sacraments not that I disallow the name but cannot reconcile his using it with his doctrine of adhering in all things to the pattern in the Mount Touching Baptism it had been pertinent for him to have declared the matter and the form of it and the manner of administration whether by immersion or sprinkling out of the sacred Bible That he makes professed believers the proper subjects of Baptism is certainly consonant to the word of God but how he can avoid making the said Professors Church-members since Baptism is the door of admission into the Church I apprehend not and so I leave him to be reconciled to himself in what he hath before taught Cat. p. 105 106. Whereof see what hath been remarqued chap. 2. Next that he disallows re-baptization and approves of paedo-baptism I mislike not but he may do well to consider that the Anabaptists generally argue from his beloved principles and nothing is more ordinary in their mouths than this Where have you an express warrant or Command in the word of God for baptizing infants And possibly upon tryal he will find it difficult so to decide the points against them by naked Scripture as to pronounce them hereticks for not being of his belief Lastly That Baptism should be confined to the infant-seed only of professed believers I find no Scripture-proof but rather the contrary appears from the parallel between Circumcision and Baptism whereto he sends us when he quotes Coloss 2.12 13. with Gen. 17.10 11 12. For there expresly not only he that is born in the house but he that was bought of any stranger with money and not of Abraham's seed is yet commanded to be circumcised Some such Argument as this the English Colledge urged in the Synod of Dort when they answered See this story aâ— laâ—ge in Mr Hales Letters to Sr. D Carlton L. Ambassadour in the affirmative That the Children of Ethnick parents adopted into the families of Christians were to be baptiZed if so be they who did offer them to be baptized did undertake that they should be brought up in the Christian Faith But that Synod however thought good to resolve it in the Negative and when 't was moved that some of the especial reasons brought by the Synod might be added to the Decree 't was nobly answer'd That Reasons were obnoxious to cavil and exceptions and it was not for the authority of the Synod to reason but to decree Thus briefly of Baptism As to the Lord's Supper he speaks nothing of the nature of it but only where to whom and how often it is to be administred and the answers are passable unless by asserting that this ordinance is to be administred in the Church or Assembly of the Congregation his design be to exclude * So he seems to mâ—an where he saith before Some Ordinannaunces are and spensâ—bly appointed in the Assemblies of the Church 1 Cor. 10.16 17. and 11 20.24.25 33. Cat. p. 47. private communions with the sick and persons detained from the publick as unlawful and if so his proof is short and insufficient from the warrantableness or examples of Communions in the Congregation to argue the warrantableness of any in private whenas both fairly consist together And now I would dismiss this matter but that I call to mind the Catechist hath elsewhere reflected upon the determinate gesture to be used at the Lord's Supper and it is but fitting that I reduce the consideration of it to this place Having spoken of the way and manner of the ordinances of Christ appointed and commanded by him and therefore duly to be attended to and observed as part of the worship of God Of this nature saith he among other things Cat. p. 46. 47. are Gestures in some sacred actions Matt. 26.20 26. John 13.23 All which the Church is diligently to attend unto as things that belong to the pattern of the house of God c. His meaning is questionless to hint and intimate that sitting at the Lord's Supper is a Gesture determined by Christ and therefore to be observed by the Church without any liberty of altering from it or substituting any other in the room of it Here therefore let it be considered That it is impossible to demonstrate so as the conscience may infallibly build thereon That either Christ or his Apostles sate in the Eucharistical Supper That they sate at the Pass-over or used a gesture which we so English is express'd but no word of the gesture used by them at the institution and participation of the Communion And at the best 't is but a probability that they did not change and alter their gesture from what it was before there being a great distance of time between the Pass-over and that sacred Supper our B. Saviviour preaching an heavenly Sermon to his Disciples before that took place S. John 13. 2. Granting that the same gesture was used in the Lord's Supper as at the Pass-over their sitting then in the position of the parts of the body was as far from our sitting as from our kneeling being a manner of lying along used in those Eastern Countries to this day The Greek works are See also S. Matt. 8.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with S. Mark 6 3â— 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Matt. 26.20 S. Mark 14.18 S. Luke 22.14 S. John 13.12 One of the Disciples was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. John 13.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. John 21.20 we cannot translate it sitting in Jesus bosom we read it therefore Leaning on Jesus bosom and S. John 13.25 Lying on Jesus breast And so elsewhere Jesus enter'd in where the damsol was lying the word is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Mark 5.40 Of this gesture we read in the Prophet Amos Amos 2.8 chap. 2.8 They lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every Altar and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God i. e. They ate and drank at and before their Altars as they lay down upon the beds pawned unto them Chap. 6.4 Amos 6.4 7. They lie upon beds of ivory and