Ratio prima, quod sit pars cultus diuini.

THe first Reason then is this: It is Pars cultus Dei, a part of diuine worship; In which I vnderstand not the worship of God in a large sense, for euery acte that con­curreth in the worship of God: but in a more neere and proper sense, as it doth exhibite and offer vp somewhat to God. I knowe that all antiquitie in their orderly Liturgies did intermin­gle many things which may not be properly cal­led diuine worship; in which respect they had both Sermons, and readings of Scriptures, which goe as parts of diuine seruice; and this also is still obserued by them that haue no Liturgie, nor or­der in the worship of God, but what euery pri­uate mans fancie doth dedicate vnto him.

And therefore they that brought all ad nudum nomen, to the bare name of worship, and left no­thing of reuerend antiquitie, but a Psalme, a Chapter, and a Sermon, admit somewhat, if not all, into the worship of God, that may not pro­perly be called diuine worship. For reading and preaching are Doctrina cultus, not cultus ipse, the doctrine that teacheth, and the way that lea­deth [Page 39]to Gods worship, but not properly the worship it selfe: For worship offereth and sen­deth somewhat vpward to God, & these do only bring somewhat downward from God to vs, and serue to feede the vnderstanding, and stirre vp the affection: but the offering of our hearts and soules in some one kinde or other, that is indeed, the worship of God, Ascensus mentis ad Deum. When God speakes or sends to vs, Colit, he doth till and dresse vs, as the husbandman doth his field, or vineyard; but when we speake & offer to God, then we doe indeed Colere Deum, worship and adore God by our deuotion and seruice; in which respect the wisedome of the Church hath so ordered that all the worship of God should not be prayer and praise onely, least too much inten­tion should weary out the soule, as too much and too long bending the bowe doth make it slagge, and grow weake; in which respect rea­ding is mixt with praying: nor yet all the wor­ship of God should bee reading, lest the bowe standing still vnbent, should not shoot at all, and so send vp no prayers, not so much as short eia­culations into heauen: In which respect, all the Liturgie is not spent in reading.

And the reason is, that in Gods worship, these three might euer bee ioyned, Lectio, meditatio, o­ratio; reading, as the foode of the soule; medi­tation, as the ruminating and digesting of it; and prayer, as the force and strength that presents it vnto God. Lectio docet, meditatio praeparat, oratio adorat; reading teacheth the duety of worship; [Page 40]meditation applieth and prepareth the heart to worship; and prayer offereth vp and tendereth the worship it selfe vnto God. Now the Sacra­ment is a part of Gods worship: not as reading or meditation is: but as prayer, and the like, which properly offer diuine adoration to God. For why? The Sacrament is a visible signe of an inuisible grace; in which, as God offereth to vs his Sonne in his death and passion, and the gra­ces of the holy Spirit; so wee offer to him our selues.

In Baptisme the Sacrament of Spirituall gene­ration, the water washeth the body; and the Blood of Christ washeth the soule: there God becommeth our Father by adoption, and wee offer vp our selues, and our children, to be sonnes of God by grace; Aug. Tract. 2. in loan. Dedit vnicum, vt non esset vni­cus, God giueth his onely Sonne to vs, that hee might no longer be an onely Sonne, but make many brethren vnto himselfe, and sonnes and heires to God. Christ giueth himselfe to vs to be our head, and wee consecrate and dedicate our selues to Christ to be his members; God becom­meth our Lord, and we become his seruants: we offer our selues to fight as souldiers vnder his co­lours; and he receiueth vs into his army and pro­tection, and armes vs by his grace to fight his battailes; so that Baptisme is as a mutuall or reci­procal couenant, that he should be our God, and we should be his people, consecrated and sealed to his seruice.

The like is done in the Eucharist, the Sacra­ment [Page 41]of encrease; there the Flesh and Blood of Christ, the meate and drinke of our soules is gi­uen to vs for our growth, and we there giue and offer vp our whole selues a holy and liuing sacri­fice acceptable to God, which is our reasonable seruice of him. The first, of regeneration, is done of vs being children, when wee are not able to promise for our selues; in this of nourishment, we doe contract by our selues that he shall be our God, and wee will be his holy Temple; that hee shall be our head, and we will be his liuing mem­bers, that hauing receiued life from his life, and spirit from his Spirit, we will no more liue to our selues, but vnto him; that so we may say with the Apostle Viuo ego, iam non ego, I liue, yet not I, Gal. 2.27. but Christ liueth in mee: we cease to liue the life of sinne, that wee may altogether liue the life of grace. In which respect, the fathers call this Sa­crament Latreiam, diuine worship. Cyril. Epist. ad Nectar. Actor, Concil. Ephe. Tom. 1 c. 14 a­pud Biunium pag. 714. Dum vnigeni­ti filij Dei, hoc est, Iesu Christi mortem, & ex mortuis resurrectionem annunciamus, eiusdemque in Coelum assumptionem, profitemur incruentum in Ecclesia Dei cultum nos obire, mysticasque benedictiones adire, ea (que) ratione sanctificari, vtpote sacrae carnis, & pretiosi san­guinis Christi omnium saluatoris participes effecti: While we do shew the death of the onely begot­ten Sonne of God, that is Iesus Christ, and his re­surrection from the dead, and his assumption in­to heauen, we professe to performe the vnbloody worship of God in the Church, and come to the mysticall blessings, and by that meanes to be san­ctified, as being made partakers of the sacred [Page 42]flesh and the pretious blood of Christ the Saui­our of vs all: Aug. de Ciuit. Dei. lib. 10. c. 4. so sayeth S. Cyrill. And S. Augustine saith, Hinc nos seruitutem quae latria graecè dicitur siue in quibusdam Sacramentis, siue in nobis ipsis de­bemus, We do owe to God that seruice, which in Greeke is called diuine worship, either in certaine Sacraments, or in our selues. Againe, the obla­tion of sacrifice pertaineth Ad cultum Latreiae to diuine worship. August. contra Faust. Man. l. 20. cap. 21. And againe, Sacrifice is diuine worship. Aug de Trinit. l. 3. c. 10. And againe, Infantes non nouerunt quod in altari ponitur, & peracta pietatis celebratione con­sumitur, Infants know not that which is set vpon the Altar, and performed in the celebration of pietie: where this Sacrament is called pietie.

But in my iudgement Caluine doeth best ex­presse this point, for hee defineth a sacrament thus: Instit. lib. 4. cap. 14. §. 1. It is, Testimonium diuinae in nos gratiae, exter­no signo confirmatum, cum mutua nostrae erga ipsum pietatis testificatione, A testimony of diuine grace in vs, confirmed by an externall signe, with a mu­tuall testification of our seruice or pietie towards him. And that this pietie is to Godward, it ap­peareth in the word erga ipsum; And againe, when he saith, That as God doeth seale the pro­mises of his beneuolence to our consciences, by these externall symbols, so we in like sort doe te­stifie our pietie to him, as well before him and his Angels, as in the sight of men. So the Sacrament is an action of our pietie to God: and pietie is the inward deuotion, or adoration of the soule.

And therefore Viguerius in his institutions, which are a briefe of Schole diuinitie, collecteth [Page 43]thus, That, Viguerius cap. 16. ver. 8. Gratia Sacramentalis ad duo ordinari vi­detur, videlicet ad tollendos defectus peccatorum prae­teritorum in quantum transeunt actu, & remanent reatu; & iterum, ad perficiendam animam, in his quae pertinent ad cultum Dei, secundùm religionem Chri­stianae vitae. Sacramentall grace is ordained for two ends, 1. to take away the defects of sinnes past, in as much as they bee past in acte, and re­maine in the guilt. 2. to perfect the soule in those things that appertaine to the worship of God, according to the Religion of Christian life. And ver. 3. He saith, Dicitur signum datum ad san­ctificandum hominem in cultum & honorem Dei, that it is a signe giuen to sanctifie man, to the worship and honour of God. And after, In vsu Sacra­mentorum duo possunt considerari, Cultus diuinus, & sanctificatio hominis; In the vse of the Sacraments two things may be considered: The worship of God, and the sanctification of man.

As in the Law, Circumcision did consecrate and seale the seed of Abraham to God; and the Passeouer did prepare them to the sacrifice of God in the wildernesse; Yea, and this Passeouer is called Religio, Religion; What is this seruice? Exod. 12.26. and Victima transitus Domini, ver. 27. the sacrifice of the Lords Passeouer. And Exod. 13.10. Custodies huiusmodi cultum, thou shalt ob­serue this ordinance or forme of worship: so in the Gospel, Baptisme doeth regenerate, and con­secrate vs to God; and the Eucharist doeth offer vs vp in sacrifice to him. And this Sacrament may better be called an Act of Religion or pietie, [Page 44]and the sacrifice of the Lords Passeouer, since that was Typus agni paschalis, a type of the Paschal Lambe, and here are offered membra agni Pascha­lis, the members of the Paschal Lambe.

And this offering vp of our selues to him, is indeed the true and dayly sacrifice of the Chri­stian Church, which being the mysticall body of Christ, cannot offer Christs natural body, which Christ offered once for all vpon the Crosse; but offereth his mysticall body, that is her selfe, by Christ her high Priest and head, vnto God, as S. Peter sayeth, 1. Pet. 2.5. of which I shall speake more in the next reason.

To this I adde the confession of the Aduersa­ries of kneeling at the Lords Table, which call it a will worship, and addition to the worship of God. I omit all others, and instance in one one­ly, that would seeme to haue collected the force of all his fellowes; one that wrote an answere to D. Sparke, D. Couell, M. Hutton, & M. Rogers; whose arguments you shall finde confuted in the end of this discourse) his fift argument is this, pag. 38.

Here it is assumed and confessed, that the re­ceiuing [Page 45]of the Sacrament is an acte of publike worship, and kneeling is a priuate worship in a publike. So this first Proposition is cleare and manifest, that this Sacrament is a principall part of Gods worship: wherein wee our selues, and not others for vs, with a full and free consent of vnderstanding and will, doe offer our greatest of­fering to God, that is our whole selues, and Qui scipsum dedit, nihil sibi reliquit.

The second Proposition is; In publike and so­lemne Adoration, the deuotion of the soule, and the worship, bowing, and kneeling of the body; the bending of the knees of the soule, and the bending the knees of the body; humilitie of the soule, and humiliation of the body, are required. And this is prooued out of the words of the Psalme, where Dauid calleth to Adoration, Psal. 95.6. and Prostration and kneeling; and by many exam­ples of Scripture, and reason, that both soule and body must concurre in the pacifying of God, as soule and body concurred in the offence of God: that soule and body must pay this rent and tri­bute to their Maker, especially in the Sacrament where they receiue their Maker; and the soule must informe, and animate the body in grace, as wel as in nature, and the body must mutually ex­cite the soule in the actions of pietie, as well as of ciuilitie: and to kneele to God with the body, and not to kneele and bee humble in soule, is to play the hypocrite, and to dissemble with God; and to bow the knees of the soule in humilitie, and not to bow the knees of the body in pub­like [Page 46]like and solemne Adoration, is to be ashamed of God, and to deny to professe him before men.

The conclusion is necessary out of these pre­misses; therefore, in the acte and instant of recei­uing the Sacrament, in which wee offer vp our selues to God, we must kneele in all humiliation.

It is true that in our Liturgies wee stand vp at the saying of the Creed, and reading of the Go­spel, and we sit at the reading of the Psalmes and Chapters: For, besides that there must be some varietie in so long an action for the ease of men, who would sometimes sit, and sometimes stand, and also an vniformitie must be obserued in that varietie, the very gestures fit, and may seeme to proceed Ex natura rei, out of the nature of the thing it selfe. For hearers do sit, as the Preachers haue Cathedras Chaires, so the hearers haue Sub­sellia Pewes or seats. And we stand at the Creed, for it is gestus Confessorum; the gesture of Confes­sors and souldiors that fight the good fight of faith, in token that in the strength of this faith onely we shall stand in the presence of God, and tread all our spirituall enemies vnder our feete: State in fide. 1. Cor. 16.13. We stand at the reading of the Go­spel: it is Gestus expectantium, the gesture of those that expect the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace; as if we did with all cheerefulnesse lift vp the eares of our bodies, as well as our soules at the happy newes of our saluation: Ephes. 6.14. State, succincti lumbos. But when we pray, and offer vp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ, then we kneele: for it is Gestus petentium & offerentium, [Page 47]the gesture of suters and petitioners that desire to receiue and of those that offer, and desire to bee receiued and accepted at Gods hand. And if in the receiuing of this Sacrament wee be petitio­ners for the greatest graces, and offerers of that Sacrifice that God will onely accept, that is, Nos, 2. Cor. 12.14. not Nostra, nothing of ours but our selues; and God will not accept any thing of ours, vnlesse he first accept our selues, though it might bee tolle­rable in some part of our prayers and Petitions not to kneele, yet in this great and most waightie part of our deuotion, and pietie, it is a matter of great waight and moment to kneele most de­uoutly, and piously before the Table of our most bountifull and gracious Father, who in Iustice doeth resist the proud, with all seueritie.

Ratio secunda, Sacrificium est.

THe second Reason, it is Sacrificium, or Conge­ries Sacrificiorum; a sacrifice, or rather a col­lection, and gathering together, a summe or Epi­tome of all the sacrifices of Christianitie. And sa­crifice was euer to be offered with all humilitie of soule, and body, and therefore with kneeling, the true gesture and representation of humilitie.

I would not be mistaken, as if I spake in fauour of any externall dayly sacrifice of the Church, such as the Iewes had in time of the Law; for the one Sacrifice of Christ, once offered vpon the Crosse, hath made a full and perfect redemption, and needs no new Sacrifice, nor reiteration of the [Page 48]old to perfect it. Hebr. 9.12 By his owne blood, hee entered in once into the holy place, hauing obteined eternall re­demption for vs. Hee must not offer himselfe often, saith S. Paul, Heb. 9.25. For then hee must haue of­ten suffered. If Christ be often offered, he must often suffer; that is the Apostles rule, vers. 26. (so no suffering, and therefore no offering:) Once in the end of the world hath hee appeared, to put away sinne, by the sacrifice of himselfe. And againe, v. 28. Christ was once offered to beare the sinnes of many. Againe, Hebr. 10.10. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offring of the body of Iesus Christ, once for all. And vers. 14. By one offering hee hath perfected for euer them that are sanctified.

The Church, according to Christs comman­dement, keepes the memorie of this offering in this Sacrament. Doe this in remembrance of mee: but shee doth not reiterate the action, or take vp­on her to offer the body of Christ: for though it be, De meo, flesh of our flesh, and Meum, ours, gi­uen for vs on the Crosse, and to vs in the Sacra­ment, yet it is not giuen to vs ad sacrificandum, but ad recipiendum; not to sacrifice the natural bo­die of Christ; for that is proper to Christ to bee Hostia & Sacerdos, the Sacrifice and the Sacrifi­cer; and no man may offer that in sacrifice that is not his owne; 2. Sam. 24.24. As Dauid would not offer sacrifice till he bought it, though Araunah offered to giue it to the King freely, as a King. And the worde of the Psalme applied by the Apostle is, Corpus de­disti mihi, Hebr. 10.5. thou hast giuen mee a bodie, which is onely to be offered by him whose body it is. And [Page 49]the Apostle exhorteth, Offerte corpora vestra, Rom. 12.1. It is not Corpus Christi, offer vp your owne bodies, wherof you haue power, not Christs bo­die whereof he onely hath power. Ioan. 10.18. Ego ponam a­nimam meam & nemo tollit; I lay downe my life and no man taketh it from me: but it is giuen to vs to receiue it, and therewith all the fruits and benefits of his death and passion. And the word, Hoc facite, is not properly Hoc sacrificate, doe this, Luc. 22.19. that is, sacrifice this: he must sacrifice it, and wee must commemorate and represent it; for it is hoc facite, doe this, not simply sacrifice, but doe this that I haue done, that is, Take bread & wine and blesse and consecrate it, and receiue it as my body and blood; and Christ did not sacrifice his body there, but on the Crosse. The Euangelists say, Effunditur, my blood is shed; but it is Praesens pro futuro; the present tense for the future; a phrase most common and familiar in Scripture, because of the certainety of it: or else, Effunditur virtute, effundetur actu, it is shed in virtue, Hebr. 13.8. Christ yesterday, to day, and the same for euer; but to bee shed in act: else it must needs follow that Christs blood was not in his body, but shed on the earth, before it was shed by the whips, and thornes, and nailes, and speare, and so he suffred before he suf­fered, yea, he suffered when he suffered not.

In which respect I cannot sufficiently maruell at Bellarmins subtiltie, Bellar. lib. 1. de Missa. C. 2. that will haue this Sacra­ment to bee an externall proper sacrifice, not onely as the name sacrifice doth signifie rem sacrificatam, the thing sacrificed, that is, Christ [Page 50]crucified, which is there truely giuen and recei­ued; but also as it doth signifie actionem sacrificij, or sacrificandi, the action of sacrifice: so that the action of Christs sacrifice on the Crosse, and of the Priests in the Host, must bee one and the same action. For if they bee diuers and many in number, then Christ must be offered, and so suf­fer often, which is directly against the Apostle. And Christ & the Priest must be one high Priest: and the same action must bee bloodie and vn­bloodie; and haue sufferings and no sufferings in it. For the number doth vary the action; and two diuers agents, must produce two diuers acti­ons, and blood and no blood, passion and no passion must necessarily make many and diuers actions in number, and so Christ must suffer, and offer often.

And as absurd is his other conceit; Bellarm. ibid. C. 1. That one and the same Action, should be Res and Repraesen­tatio rei, the thing, and the representation of the thing; As if he should say, that one and the same man is homo viuus, and homo pictus, a liuing man, and the image and statue of a man; that the Pi­cture and the thing pictured is all one; that a sound Logitian, and a subtill Sophister is all one. Surely in this cōceit Bellarmine is a plaine Sophi­ster, and no Logitian; for he doth instance onely in this particular of this Sacrament, that it is the representation of Christs sacrifice vpon the Crosse, as Christ and all antiquitie call it, and the very sacrifice it selfe or action of the sacrifice; and he cannot giue an instance in any thing else [Page 51]in the whole world; in no creature, no not in the Creator. For the Sonne, Heb. 1.3. that is the bright­nesse and Image of his Father, though hee be one in essence w [...]h the Father, yet is not one person with the Father; so that, if the Sacrament be the representation of the true, proper, and externall sacrifice of the Church, then it cannot be the sa­crifice it selfe.

And the trueth is, that the Church hath euer offered true sacrifices, and that in this Sacrament; but, as Saint Peter speaketh, 1. Petr. 2.5. they bee Hostiae spiri­tuales, spirituall sacrifices, acceptable vnto God, per Iesum Christum, by Iesus Christ; so the Church offereth her dayly spirituall sacrifice, not Iesum, but per Iesum Christum, not Iesus Christ, he onely hath power to offer himselfe, but by Iesus Christ her high Priest, by whom they are presented vn­to, and accepted of God. But although this Sa­crament bee not an externall proper sacrifice, as our aduersaries would make it, yet it hath in it spirituall sacrifices of diuers sorts, all which re­quire all humilitie of soule and body in the offe­rers. For to say nothing of the Elements, that were in all times and ages brought by the people in sportulis, in little baskets, and so in a sort offe­red vp to bee consecrated for the vse of the con­gregation, which is nowe done by publike charge; there are besides diuers other spirituall Sacrifices in the whole action of the ministrati­on of this Sacrament.

First then, 1 as the sacrifices of the Law had a double respect; first, as they were offered vp to [Page 52]God; Secondly, as they were communicated and eaten by those men that offered them: so this Sacrament of the Lords supper, which conteines a commemoration of Christs one and onely all-sufficient Sacrifice, consummated vpon the Crosse, and neuer more to bee reiterated by any man, hath the same double respect in it; and therefore as it is represented to God by our con­secration, so it may well bee called Sacrificium re­praesentatiuum, or commemoratiuum, a representa­tiue, or commemoratiue Sacrifice. And that is warranted in the words of our Sauiour, Do this, in mei cōmemorationem, Luk. 22 19. in remembrance of me, or of my death; and so expounded by the Apostle, so often as yee eate this bread, and drinke this cup, 1. Cor. 11.26. Annunciatis mortem Domini, yee shew forth, or represent and commemorate the Lords death till he come. And as it is receiued by vs, it may be called Sacrificium communicatiuum, a commu­nicatiue sacrifice, or the communication or ap­plication of that sacrifice that was offered for vs on the Crosse: and that is most plaine in the A­postle; 1. Cor. 10.16. The Cup of blessing which wee blesse, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which wee breake, is it not the communion of the bodie of Christ? So that though there be not idem sacrifi­cium, the same sacrifice, as it denoteth the action of sacrificing or offring, which is here done only by way of representation, yet it is Idem sacrifica­tum, the same thing sacrificed; Christ crucified, that is, represented to God, and communicated to vs.

And surely euery one that doth desire to bee heard, and therefore concludes his prayers with these words, Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum, through Iesus Christ our Lord, doth represent and offer Christ crucified to God, and entreates remission and grace, through his death, and passion. And Christ our high Priest that sitteth at the right hand of God, doth at that instant ex­ecute his office, and make intercession for vs, by representing his wounds or scarres to his Father. In Baptisme, in like maner, when wee doe conse­crate and dedicate our selues to Gods seruice, wee doe as it were offer vp Christ crucified by way of representation, as if we did explicate and vnfold the passion of Christ, at that time desiring to bee accepted for his sake. And that made S. In exposit. in­cho. Epist ad Rom. Tom. 4. Augu­stine to say, Quodeo tempore quis (que) prose offert, pro peccatis suis, quum eiusdem passionis fide dedicatur; at that time euery one offereth the sacrifice of Christs passion, for his sinnes, when he is dedi­cated in the faith of that passion: and the maner he explicateth with Quodammodo offert, he offers in a sort, not properly, but by way of representa­tion, and application. And this is made good by the words of the Apostle; Rom. 6.3. Know you not that as ma­ny of vs as are baptized into Christ Iesus, are baptized into his death? And againe, v. 4. Consepulti per baptis­mum in mortem, buried with him by baptisme in­to death. And againe, v. 5. Complantati similitudini mortis, planted together in the likenesse of his death; so our Baptisme is a representation of Christs death. But this Sacrament of the body [Page 54]and blood of Christ, as a more ample and per­fect image, doth more fully represent Christs death, and by way of memoriall offer it to God, as being instituted and commanded for a repre­sentation and commemoration thereof. And this is generally receiued of antiquitie, and so al­lowed by the Romish Sacrificers, though they proceede further without ground or reason.

For why? De Trinit. lib. 4. cap. 14. S. Augustine said well, Ipse, cui of­fert, qui offert, qui (que) offertur: these bee proper to Christ, to be the Godhead to whom he offereth, to be the Priest that offreth, & the Sacrifice that is offered vp to God. The true Sacrifice that is due onely to the true God is that, Contra Fau­stum lib. 20. cap. 18. Quo eius altare so­lus Christus impleuit; with which Christ onely filled his Altar. As for Christians, vnde iam Christiani peracti eiusdem sacrificij memoriam cele­brant sacrosancta oblatione, & participatione corpo­ris & sanguinis Christi: They celebrate the me­morie of this sacrifice, performed on the Crosse, by the sacred oblation and participation of the bodie and blood of Christ. So Christs sacrifice is the trueth, and ours the representation of that trueth. Aug. Epist. 23. And in his 23. Epistle, Nonne semel im­molatus est Christus in seipso, & tamen in Sacramen­to nonsolùm per omnes Paschae solennitates, sed omni die populis immolatur? Hee was once offered in himselfe, and yet in the Sacrament he is not on­ly offered yeerely at the solemnitie of the Passeo­uer, but also euery day. And hee giues a reason, Sienim Sacramenta quandam similitudinem earum rerum quarum Sacramenta sunt non haberent, om­nino [Page 55]Sacramenta non essent. Ex hac autem similitu­dine plerun (que) etiam ipsarum rerum nomina accipiunt: Sacraments haue a similitude of things whereof they are Sacraments, els they were not sacramēts. And by this similitude they borrow the names of those things whereof they are Sacraments.

Hoc sacrificium exemplum est illius; Chrisost. ad Heb. 10. this sacri­fice is an example or imitation of that sacrifice of Christ on the Crosse. So Christ offered, and wee offer, sed hoc quod nos agimus, recordatio est sa­crificij; but that which wee doe, is a commemo­ration of a sacrifice.

Againe, S. Augustine saith, Aug. quest. 61. inter. 83. Dominus noster Iesus Christus, ostenditur Rex noster: ipse est etiam Sacer­dos noster in aeternum, secundum ordinem Melchise­dec, quiseipsum obtulit holocaustum pro peccatis no­stris, & eius sacrificij similitudinem celebrandam in suae passionis memoriam commendauit: Hee is our King for euer after the order of Melchisedech, who offered himselfe a sacrifice for our sinnes, and hee commended the similitude of this sacri­fice in the remembrance of his passion.

These and many other sentences of the Fa­thers, Lomb. lib. 4. Dist. 12. G. made the Master of the sentences to rest in this; that this Sacrament is a representation, or memorie of that Sacrifice performed on the Altar of the Crosse; and further went not the di­uinitie of his time. And Thomas, that liued long after him, knew no other doctrine. And hee gi­ueth onely two Reasons why it is called Immola­tio Christi, the sacrificing, 3. qu. 83. art. 1. or immolation of Christ. First, because it is Imago quaedam passionis [Page 56]Christi. It is a certaine Image or representation of Christs passion: as Images are called by the names of those things whereof they are images, as S. Augustine saith. And when wee looke on a painted wall or table, we vse to say, this is Cicero, this is Salust, and the like. So the celebration of this Sacrament, is a representatiue image of Christ passion, which is the true immolation of him, and therefore it is called the Immolation of Christ; and there hee produceth Chrysostomes words cited before.

The second Reason is, 2 Quia participes effici­mur fructus Dominicae passionis; Because by this Sa­crament we are made partakers of the fruit and benefit of Christs passion, therefore it is called, the sacrifice of Christ; so Thomas goeth no fur­ther then representation, and participation. I descend no further: for by this it is plaine, who are Veteratores and Nouatores, the corrupters of antiquity, that remoued the ancient bounds, and the Authors of Noueltie, that not onely speake old Diuinitie, nouè in new words and formes, but also bring in noua, new and strange doctrines, and Articles neuer heard of. That this Sacrament is the onely proper externall dayly sacrifice of the Church, without which the other two relatiues cannot stand; viz. that there is no Religion with­out Priesthood, nor Priesthood without sacri­fice; here it is manifest where the house began to runne to decay, and where the enemie sowed Tares: For as Thomas saith, The Altar is the re­presentation of Christs Crosse, and the Priest [Page 57]beares the image of Christ our High Priest; and so his sacrifice is but a representation of Christs sacrifice, exemplum illius, as before.

Againe, Th [...]. Qu. 73. Art. 4. compare this Sacrament with three times, and it will haue many names: 1 Respectu prae­teriti, concerning the time past, in as much as it is a commemoration of the Lords Passion, which was the true Sacrifice, Secundum hoc nominatur sa­crificium, in this respect it is called a sacrifice. 2 Re­spectu praesentis, in respect of the time present, that is the vnitie of the Church, because men are vni­ted and gathered together by this Sacrament, it it is called Communio or Synaxis, a Communion. Respectu futuri, in respect of the future time, 3 be­cause it figureth vnto vs that fruition of God that wee hope for in another life, it is termed Viati­cum, our spirituall food that giueth vs strength to attaine it.

It is called Eucharistia the Eucharist, or good grace of God; because the grace of God is eter­nall life; or else because it really cōtaineth Christ, that is full of grace: So it is called Metalepsis or assumptio, an assumption, because by this wee as­sume or are made partakers of the Deitie of the Sonne. Againe, in his answere, It is called a Sa­crifice, in as much as it representeth the Passion of Christ; And it is called Hostia an Host, because it containeth Christ, who is the oblation and sa­crifice of a sweet smelling sauour to God, Ephe. 5.

This was the receiued doctrine of the fathers, and ancient Schoole. And that this offering of Christs death by way of representation, cannot [Page 58]be the proper externall sacrifice of the Church, I proue by these Reasons.

First, 1 all externall sacrifice is acceptable vnto God, for the internall sacrifice of the heart, Ex­ternum propter internum; as God first looked vpon Abel, Gen. 4 4. and then vpon his Sacrifice, not vpon Abel for his Sacrifice, but on the Sacrifice for Abels sake. First he offered himselfe a Lambe to God, and then he offered his Lambe, de adipibus, a well chosen Lambe of the best and fattest, none was too good for God. First God accepteth the man, then the gift, not as men doe, that so accept the man as they like and feele his gift. If then Christs Sacrifice be externall and offered by vs, it follow­eth that Christs Sacrifice must be accepted, for the inward Sacrifice of our hearts, and so we are more acceptable to God then Christ is: which is an horrible blasphemie.

Secondly, 2 euery Sacrifice is accepted for the sacrificers person, that is first accepted of God, Sacrificium propter sacrificantem: therefore if wee offer Christ to God, Christs Sacrifice is not ac­ceptable for it selfe, but for our sakes that offer it.

Thirdly, 3 the outward visible sacrifice is a Sa­crament or sacred signe of the inward inuisible Sacrifice: Aug. de Ciuit. Dei. l. 10. c. 5. therefore if Christs Sacrifice bee the outward visible Sacrifice, it is but a Sacrament, or sacred figure, a type or figure, the trueth or substance is the inward sacrifice of our hearts: So Christ is turned to a figure or shadow, who is in­deed the trueth and substance of all figures, and shadowes. So then it is manifest that this Sacra­ment [Page 59]is no proper externall Sacrifice, but onely commemoratiue, and communicatiue of the all-sufficient Sacrifice of Christ. In which I haue bene the larger, because Bellarmine is pleased to finde fault with Kemnitius, who takes it Prosacri­ficio commemoratiuo, for a commemoratiue Sacri­fice, though hee findeth not that word in Scrip­ture. But, saith hee, Kemnitius admitteth that sense to elude the places of the Fathers, in which the Masse is called a Sacrifice, Caeterùm haec accep­tio arbitraria est & conficta, this acception is arbi­trary and fained: for neither the Scriptures, nor Fathers call this a Sacrifice, which is onely a fi­gure or commemoration of a Sacrifice: which I must referre to the iudgement of the iudicious Reader, to resolue whether it bee not most plaine in the Fathers, and in Lumbard, and in Thomas, that it is called a Sacrifice, because it is a memory or representation of Christes Sacrifice on the Crosse.

This Sacrament is called a Sacrifice, 2 because in it we offer vp and present vnto God, our selues, Verba Litur. our soules and bodies to bee a liuing Sacrifice vnto God, which is our reasonable seruice and worship of him, as the Apostle calleth it. Rom. 12.1. And it is also war­ranted by S. Iames, Iacob. 1.18. Of his owne will hee begate vs by the word of Trueth, that wee should bee Primi­tiae, the first fruits of his creatures. In the Law they gaue vnto God Primitias agri, the first fruits of their cattell, and of their field. In the Gospel wee offer not the corne of our ground, nor the first borne of our cattell, but Primitias aenimae, the [Page 60]first fruits of our Soules; our selues to bee first fruits and Sacrifices vnto God. And this indeed is the daily Sacrifice of the Church; for Christ, the head, offered himselfe as the onely propitia­torie Sacrifice for sinne; and the Church offer themselues as the members of such an head to be consecrated by Christ our High Priest, as liuing Sacrifices to God; In which as God gaue Christ, and Christ gaue himselfe for vs, so we giue our selues to God.

Our Sauiour Christ in the forme of God, August. lib. 10. De Ciuitate Dei. cap. 20. re­ceiueth Sacrifice with his Father, with whom he is one God; yet in the forme of a seruant hee chose rather to be a Sacrifice, then receiue Sa­crifice, least by this occasion any should thinke that we might sacrifice to any creature. By this, he is the Priest, hee is the offerer, and he is the oblation. Cuius rei Sacramentum, voluit esse quo­tidianum Ecclesiae Sacrificium, quae, cum ipsius capitis corpus sit, seipsamper ipsum discit offerre. Of which (his Sacrifice) he would haue the daily Sacrifice of the Church to bee a Sacrament: which Church, being the body of the head himselfe, doth learne to offer herselfe, by him. Where I pray you obserue these two things: 1 First the dai­ly Sacrifice of the Church, is but a Sacrament of Christs Sacrifice: and therefore it is not Christs Sacrifice it selfe. 2 Secondly the body of Christ here spoken of, is not naturale, but mysti­cum, not the naturall, but the mysticall body of Christ; And the Church offereth not Christs naturall body, but the mysticall body of Christ, [Page 61]that is her selfe, and this is the daily Sacrifice of the Church.

Againe, C. 19 visible Sacrifices are the signes of in­uisible Sacrifices; as sounding words are the signes of things. Wherefore, as wee that pray, or prayse, doe direct signifying voyces to him, to whom we doe offer the things themselues in our hearts, which wee signifie: so sacrificing, we know visible sacrifice is to be offered to none o­ther but to him; Cuius in cordibus nostris inuisibile Sacrificium nos ipsi esse debemus: Whose inuisible Sacrifice in our hearts we our selues must be.

But the cleerest and fullest place is in the sixth Chapter. The true Sacrifice (saith S. Augustine) is euery worke done to adhere by a holy society to God, referred to that end of goodnesse, by which we may be truely blessed. Whereby it commeth to passe that mercy it selfe (that is pre­ferred before Sacrifice) by which wee relieue man, is not a Sacrifice, if it be not done for Gods sake; and although it bee done and offered by man, yet Sacrifice is a diuine thing, whereby man himselfe consecrated to the Name of God, and deuoted to God, in as much as hee dieth to the world, and liueth to God, is a Sacrifice; for this belongeth to that mercy that man doth to him­selfe. Our body, the seruant, and instrument of the soule, is a Sacrifice, if we chastice it by tempe­rance for Gods sake, Rom. 12.1. much more our soule referred to God, inflamed with the fire of his loue, &c. shall be a Sacrifice. Since then works of mercy towards our selues, and towards [Page 62]our neighbors referred to God, are sacrifices, and workes of mercy are done that we may be freed from misery, &c. it is certainely effected, vt tota redempta ciuitas, that the whole redeemed Citie (that is the Congregation & societie of Saints) Vniuersale sacrificium offeratur Deo per sacerdotem magnum; may bee offered vp an vniuersall sacri­fice to God, by that great Priest, who also of­fered vp himselfe in his Passion for vs, that wee might bee the body of so great an head, in the forme of a seruant; for, this hee offered, and in this hee was offered: because according to this (nature) he is a Mediator, in this he is a Priest, and in this he is a Sacrifice.

Whereas then the Apostle had exhorted vs, to offer vp our bodies, a liuing sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our reasonable seruice of him: and that we should not be conformed to this world, but reformed in the newnesse of our minde, to proue the will of God, which is good and well pleasing and perfect, Quodtotum Sacri­ficium nos ipsi sumus, all which Sacrifice wee our selues are; I say (saith he) by the grace of God which is giuen to me, to euery one that is among you, not to thinke of himselfe more highly then he ought to thinke, but to thinke soberly or to be wise to sobrietie, as God hath delt to euery man the measure of faith; for as wee haue many members in one body, and all the members haue not the same office, so wee being many, are one body in Christ, and euery one, members one of another; hauing diuers gifts according to the [Page 63]grace that is giuen to vs: Hoc est Sacrificium Chri­stianorum, multi vnum corpus sumus in Christo; Quod etiam Sacramento altaris fidelibus noto, fre­quentat Ecclesia; vbi ei demonstratur, quod in ea ob­latione, quam offert, ipsa offertur; This is the Sacri­fice of Christians, many are one body in Christ; which Sacrifice the Church doeth frequent in the Sacrament of the Altar, knowne to the faith­ful; where it is demonstrated to her (the Church) that in that oblation which she offereth, herselfe (that is the Church) is offered. In which passage of S. Augustine, it is most plaine, that in this Sacra­ment the Church offereth the proper Sacrifice of Christians, not the naturall, but the mysticall body of Christ, that is herselfe, or our selues, our soules, & bodies in particular, and all the whole Church in generall, by our great high Priest Christ Iesus. And this is the vniuersall Sacrifice of the Church. And this place of S. Augustine may serue as an interpretation of the Fathers au­thorities, that speake of the offering of the body of Christ, which are to be vnderstood of the of­fering of his naturall body by way of representa­tion, or commemoration, or else of his mysticall body (the Church) which offereth her selfe as a dayly sacrifice to God.

Againe, S. Augustine, Lib 22. cap. 10 De ciuitat. Dei. giuing a reason why wee build not Temples to the Martyrs as vnto gods, but rather memories to dead men, whose Spirits liue with the Lord, saith, Nec ibierigimus altaria in quibus sacrificemus Martyribus, sed vni Deo, & Martyrum & nostrorum sacrificium immolamus: ad [Page 64]quod sacrificium, sicut homines Dei, qui mundum in eius confessione vicerunt, suo loco & ordine nomi­nantur, non tamen à Sacerdote qui sacrificat inuocan­tur: Deo quippe non ipsis sacrificat, quamuis in memo­ria sacrificet eorum; quia Dei Sacerdos est, non illo­rum: Neither doe we there erect Altars in which we should sacrifice to the Martyrs: but we offer the Sacrifice to that one God, that is our God, and the God of the Martyrs. At which sacrifice the Martyrs are named in their place, and order, as men that haue ouercome the world in the con­fession of God, but they are not inuocated or cal­led vpon by the Priest that sacrificeth: for he Sa­crificeth to God, and not to them, though he Sa­crificeth in the memory of them. And then hee addeth, For hee is the Priest of God, and not of Martyrs, Ipsum vero sacrificium corpus est Christi, quod non offertur ipsis, quia hoc sunt & ipsi: And the Sacrifice it selfe is the body of Christ which is not offered to them (that is the Martyrs) because they also are this body; And surely the Martyrs are not the natural body of Christ, which was of­fered vpon the Crosse, De natal. Dom. Serm. 3. but his mysticall body. Non elegit Deus, nec speciem tuam, nec oleum tuum, nec ieiuniū tuum, sed hoc, quod te hodie redemit, ipsum offer, id est animam tuā, saith S. Augustine; God re­gardeth neither thy beautie, nor thy oile, nor thy fasting, but this that he redeemed thee; offer thy selfe, that is thine owne soule. And in his 45. E­pistle to Armentarius, Tertul. de Idol. Ei te restitue à quo institutus: Restore thy selfe to him, of whom thou hast thy being: Giue to Caesar the things that are Caesars, [Page 65]and to God the things that are Gods; the image of Caesar, that is the money to Caesar, and the I­mage of God, that is the man to God: Caesari pe­cuniam, Deo te ipsum, thy money to Caesar, and thy selfe to God. Hierom. ad Lu­ciu. Epist. 28. To lay downe our gold is the worke of beginners, not of those that are perfect, so did Crates the Theban, and Antisthenes; Seipsum offerre Deo, propriè Christianorum est & Apostolorum: It is proper to Christians, and Apostles to offer themselues to God, saith S. Hierome; And after; The first faithfull offered or layd their money at the Apostles feete: Sed Dominus magis quaerit ani­mas credentium, quam opes; but the Lord more see­keth the soules of beleeuers, then their goods: Te, non Tua, God would haue thee offer thy selfe, not thine. The Apostles left all for Christ: what was that, but their Netts, and Ships? yet by the testi­mony of him that is the future Iudge, they are crowned, Quia offerentesse, totum dimiserunt quod habebant, because offering themselues, they left all they had. Chrysostome said, Non oues offerebat, Chrysost. lib. de laud. S. Paul. aut boues, sed semetipsum immolabat, propter quod confitendo dicebat, ego enim iam immolor: neque ve­rò his tantùm sacrificijs contentus fuit, sed quia seip­sum consecrauerat Deo, etiam orbem vniuersum stu­duit offerre: S. Paul offered not sheepe and oxen, but himselfe: that made him say, Iam immolor, I am now ready to be offered: and hee was not contented with these Sacrifices, but because hee had consecrated himselfe to God, hee studied to offer vp the whole world also.

I haue beene too long in setting downe these [Page 66]places of S. Augustine, who is the most doctri­nall among the ancient Fathers; and therefore I content my selfe with him, and some few more: onely I adde Eusebius, who ioyneth both these; that is, the commemoratiue sacrifice, and the sa­crifice of our selues together, with other sacrifi­ces, concurring in that action. Sacrificamus nouo more secundùm nouum Testamentum, Euseb. de De­mon. Euang. hostiam mun­dam; & sacrificium Deo spiritus contritus dictus est: wee sacrifice after a new manner, according to the new Testament, a pure sacrifice; and a con­trite heart is called a sacrifice to God. A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Iam (que) etiam incendimus propheticum illum odorem in omni loco, & offerimus ei benè olentem fructum omni virtute abundantis Theologiae, hoc ipsum orationtbus directis adeum facientes: quodsanè ipsum alius quoque docet propheta, qui ait, fiat oratio measicut incensum in con­spectu tuo: igitur & sacrificamus & incendimus aliàs quidem memoriam magni illius sacrificij, secundùm ea quae abipso tradita sunt, mysteria celebrantes, & gratias Deopro salute nostra agentes, religiosos (que) hymnos, & orationes sanctas illi offerentes, aliàs nos ipsos totos illi consecrantes, eius (que) Pontifici, ipsi vti (que) Verbo, corpore, animo (que) dicantes: And now also we burne that propheticall sweete odour in euery place, and we offer to him that sweete smelling fruit of diuinitie, abounding with all vertue, do­ing this with prayers directed to him; which an­other Prophet teacheth also, who saith, Let my prayer be as incense in thy sight, therefore wee doe but sacrifice and offer incense, aliàs celebran­tes [Page 67]memoriam, sometime celebrating the memory of that great sacrifice, according to those things which are deliuered by him, and giuing thankes for our saluation, and offering to him religious hymnes and sacred prayers, aliàs nos ipsos totos illi consecrantes, and sometimes consecrating out whole selues to him, dedicating our selues in bo­die and soule to his high Priest, euen to the Word himselfe. Here is both the commemora­true sacrifice, and the sacrifice, or offering of our selues, our soules and bodies, beside the sacrifice of prayer, and praise, and contrition which I am now to speake of; all ioyned in this one sentence of Eusebius.

To proceede then with this collection of sa­crifices, in this one sacrifice, 3 the third is Sacrifici­um non pecoris trucidati, sed cordis contriti, as S. Au­gustine calleth it, The sacrifice not of slain beasts, but of broken and contrite hearts, by repentance and sorrow for sinne. And this is collected out of the words of the Apostle, Probet seipsum homo, [...]. Cor. 11.28. Let a man examine himselfe, and so let him eare of that bread, and drinke of that cup, for he that eateth and drinketh vnworthily, eateth and drin­keth his owne damnation, not discerning the Lords body. And this probation is a iudiciall acte, for so it followes, If wee would iudge our selues, w [...] should not bee iudged. And these are the actes of Penitents; first to accuse and con­fesse, or beare witnesse against themselues; next to iudge & condemne themselues, and thirdly, to execute and do vengeance on themselues, by true [Page 68]sorrow & cōtrition for their owne sinnes, that so God may spare them. And no man ought to ap­proach the Lords Table, till he haue first washed and clensed his soule, by his repentance from all his sinne, that so it may bee a fit house for the Lord to enter vnder the roofe thereof, and a fit Temple for the holy Ghost to dwell in, and to make his mansion or standing habitation.

So, contrition and repentance, to put away sin past, and to put on a resolution against sinne to come, is a necessary preparation before the re­ceiuing of the body and blood of Christ; lest we come to these holy mysteries with foule mouthes and polluted hearts, and so eate and drinke our owne damnation. Luk. 15.18. And so the prodigall sonne came: First, Peccaui in coelum, I haue sinned a­gainst heauen, and before thee, and I am vnwor­thy to bee called thy sonne; make me one of thy hired seruants: by which sacrifice of contrition hee was not onely receiued as a seruant, or hire­ling, but as a sonne; and admitted to his fathers kisse, and embracing, and adorned with a robe, and a ring; and then at last, tanquam conuivae, as a guest at the Lords Table, he was fed with the fat calse that was slaine for him. And so the ad­opted sonne of grace was fed with the flesh of the naturall Sonne of God, the Sonne of his owne essence and substance. And Saint Augu­stine said well, In Psal. 21. Quotiens Pascha celebratur, nunquid totiens Christus moritur? Sed tamen anniuersaria re­cordatio quasirepresentat, quod olim factum est, & sic nos facit moueri tanquam videamus in cruce penden­tem [Page 69]Dominum: doeth Christ die as often as the Passeouer is celebrated? But yet, saith hee, the anniuersary recordation of it doth as it were re­present that, which was long since done, and doth make vs to be moued or affected, as if wee now saw our Lord hanging on the Crosse. And after he addeth, Tempus lugendi estcū passio Dominicele­bratur, tempus gemendi est, tempus flendi, tempus confitendi, & deprecandi: When the passion of the Lord is celebrated, it is a time of mourning, a time of sighing, a time of confessing and begging of pardon. Cyprian de Coe­na Domini. In huius praesentia non superuacuae men­dicant lachrymae veniam nec vnquam patitur contriti cordis holocaustum repulsam: In his presence, saith S. Cyprian, teares doe not beg pardon in vaine, and the sacrifice of a cōtrite heart neuer receiues repulse. Quoties te in conspectu Domini videosuspi­rantem, Spiritum sanctum non dubito aspirantem, cum intueor flentem, sentio ignoscentem: As often as I see thee sighing in the sight of the Lord, I doubt not but the holy Ghost is breathing vpon thee; so oft as I behold thee weeping, so oft I perceiue God pardoning. And the holy Ghost chuseth the poore in spirit to this ministery, and loueth them, and he detesteth their worship that thrust themselues Pompaticè & gloriosè, pompous­ly, and gloriously to the holy Altars; and who come more pompously, and gloriously, then they that will sit as coheires and fellowes, as if they were Christs equals? And S. Moral. li. 2. c. 1. Gregorie vpon these words, Let a man first examine himselfe: Quid est hoc locose probare? What is it, saith hee, [Page 70]to examine himselfe, but first euacuating or pur­ging the wickednes of his sinns, to offer himselfe tried & pure at the Lords Table? And therefore let vs daily runne to the lamentation of repen­tance, who sinne dayly. And I hope these things should not be publikly and solemnly done, with­out kneeling. Although at all times we ought to acknowledge out selues to bee sinners, yet then chiefly must we cōfesse, Alcui [...]us [...]e Diuinus officijs. cum illo sacro mysterio, &c. when by that sacred mysterie the grace of remis­sion, and the indulgence of sinnes is celebrated.

I proceed to the fourth, for I shall haue oc­casion to speake of this againe; and that is Sacrifi­cium orationis & laudis, the sacrifice of prayer and prayse. And here I cannot sufficiently wonder at those, who would haue this Sacrament admi­nistred and receiued without all maner of prayer or prayse at all, according as it is barely deliue­red to be instituted by our Sauiour Christ a little before his death. As if the Church should meete onely to heare a Sermon, that is, an exposition of some Text, chosen by the Preacher (of which forme of Preaching there is scant a patterne to be found in all the word of God: and why then should that bee called Preaching that is without Example?) and that ended, without any prayer, or thankesgiuing, or preparation, or premedita­tion to proceede to accipite, comedite, take and eate, this is my body, this is my blood, and so farewel; for more is not to be found in the institutiō. And yet in the very institution where we reade [...], Benedixit, hee blessed or consecrated, many [Page 71]Greeke Copies haue, [...], gratias egit, hee gaue thankes, which should worke much with them that value not Consecration much; and both words of consecrating and thankesgiuing being in the Text, I hope no man dates put thankesgiuing out of the celebration of the Sa­crament, when Christ vsed it in the Institution. And after the very Institution there is further Hymnodicto, when they had said Grace, or sung an Hymne or Psalme; surely that was thankes and prayse to God for his graces and blessings. And it is worth obseruation, that this forme of thankesgiuing or Hymne, or Psalme of praise, is principally, if not onely mentioned in the insti­tution of this Sacrament, to shew, that though it may, and ought ex naturae dictamine, by natures rule and direction, be alwaies vsed to repay Gods goodnesse and bountie with the tribute of our thankefulnes, yet it should neuer bee omitted in this Sacrament, where if it bee not instituted, sure­ly it is most cleerely recorded; and the greatnesse of the benefit requireth the greatest measure of thankefulnesse.

As for prayer; 1. Tim. 4.5. if all creatures bee to bee san­ctified by prayer, and the word of God; why should wee thinke that this heauenly spirituall foode of our soules should not first bee sanctified with prayer, as well as consecrated by the word; since it is a greater worke to sanctifie the food of the soule, then of the bodie? I euer thought that our Sauiour, before he offered his all, sufficient Sacrifice on the Crosse, Heb. 5.7. did offer vp prayers & sup­plications [Page 72]with strong cries and teares, and hee was heard for his reuerence. And his action being out institution, we should folow his steps, & offer our prayers and supplications with strong cries and teares before we did presume to present Christ sa­crificed to his Father, or receiue him our selues, or offer vp the sacrifice of our soules and bodies, and the whole Church, which is the dayly sacri­fice of the Church. I euer tooke it, that the A­postles knew best how this Sacrament was to be receiued, 2. Cor. 16. and that they meeting on the Lords day (which is out Sunday, or the first day of the weeke) to make collection for the poore, did con­tinue in prayer and breaking of bread: which I thinke is more ordinarily vnderstood of the Communion of the body and blood of Christ, then of the distribution of Almes. And in the 13. Act. 13.2. of the Acts, the Church at Antioch, before they sent out Paul and Barnabas, they ministred, fasted, and prayed; here is fasting, and prayer, and it is likely it was not without the Lords Supper; for that which we reade ministring, is translated by Erasmus to bee sacrificing, Sacrificantibus illis, and sacrificing did surely imply the representa­tion of Christs sacrifice: and the word is [...], offring of diuine worship: And so there was then a Liturgie; and all Liturgies had this Sacrament in them: so Prayer went through with this Sa­crament. And if the Apostles ioyned prayer and almes, with breaking of bread, I know no rea­son why our Church may not be bold to follow their example, and ioyne prayer, and breaking [Page 73]of bread or the Sacrament together, vnder the protection of their practise; especially, since without all doubt the succeeding ages did follow their example: Apol. 2. ad An­toninum. as is cleere in Iustine Martyr and others, Surgimus & comprecamur, vpon Sunday or the Sunnes day, wee arise, not wee stand (it seemes from reading and hearing) and pray, and then (that is, after prayer) Precibus peractis, pa­nis offertur, & vinum & aqua: Prayers being en­ded, bread, and wine, and water is offered. And Praepositus (quantum pro virilisuo potest) preces, & gratiarum actiones fundit, & populus faustè acclamat, dicens Amen: & distributio communicatio (que) fit eo­rum, in quibus gratiae actae sunt, cuique praesenti. The Bishop or Priest (that was chiefe in that action) doth powre out prayers and praises, with all his might, and the people doe ioyfully crie, Amen, and distribution and communication is made to euery one that is present, of these things that are blessed, or for which thanks were giuen: and all antiquitie relate the same.

Origen saith, L. 8. contra Celsum. Nos qui rerum omnium conditori placere studemus, cum precibus & gratiarum actio­ne pro beneficijs acceptis oblatos panes edimus, cor­pus iamper precationem factos sanctum quoddam, & sanctificans, vtens eo cum sano proposito, Wee that study or endeuour to please the Creator of all things, doe eate the offered bread with prayer and thankesgiuing for the benefits that we haue receiued, being made Corpus quoddam sanctum & sanctificans, a certaine body (marke that word) holy (in it selfe) and sanctifying (others) by praier, vsing it with a good intent, &c. Origen con­tra [Page 74]Celsum. lib. 8. In this sacrifice, saith S. Augu­stine, Aug. Epist. 120 there is thankesgiuing and commemorati­on of the flesh of Christ, which he offered for vs; And againe, Hinc gratias agimus Domino Deo no­stro, quodest magnum Sacramentum in sacrificio noui Testamenti. Chrysost. Hom. in Matth. 26. And Chrysostome, Gratiestote, optima quippe beneficiorum custos est ipsa memoria beneficio­rum, & perpetua gratiarum actio; propterea & reue­renda ac salutaria illa mysteria, quae in omni certe Ec­clesiae congregatione celebramus, Eucharistia (id est gratiarum actio) nuncupatur; Giue thanks; for the memory of benefits, is the best keeper of benefi­fits, and a perpetuall confession of thankes: and therefore the reuerend and healthfull mysteries which we celebrate in euery Congregation, are called the Eucharist or giuing of thankes.

So in those times, prayer and praise were al­wayes ioyned with the Eucharist, though it bee not expresly mentioned in the institution of Christ. And there is all reason for it. For why should any man thinke that the Eucharist should be without praise and thankesgiuing, when as it is the Eucharist, or a Sacrifice of thankesgiuing, for the greatest blessings that euer God gaue to man? Or why should any hold it vnfit to vse contrition and prayer in the ministration of this Sacrament, when as for the preparation thereun­to, nothing can be more needfull then these two things? 1. That wee should be fit and worthy for so great mysteries, which wee can neuer ob­taine at Gods hand, but by prayer, which is the meanes that draweth downe all Gods graces to [Page 75]vs. 2 That God would giue vs Panem super-substā ­tialem, the supersubstantiall and heauenly bread of our soules, that is the Body & Blood of Christ, which we aske in the Lords prayer, Giue vs this day [...], our supersubstantiall or heauenly bread, the bread of our soule, which is more need­full, and therefore more to be asked, as well as our daily bread, the bread of the body, which is earthly and transitory: and if there bee cause to aske Panem corporis, the bread of the body, there is farre greater cause to aske of God Panem animae the bread of the soule, the Body and Blood of Christ.

S. Gregory noteth that, Mox post precem, straight after prayer ended, wee say the Lords prayer, Quia mos Apostolorum fuit, Greg. Mag. l. 7. Indict. 2. ep. 63vt ad ipsam solummodo orationem oblationem hostiae consecrarent: For it was the custome of the Apostles, that they consecra­ted the Host of the oblation, with that prayer onely. So then there were other prayers, and the Lords prayer before the consecration. And that made S. Hierome say, Malachies oblation is contai­ned in prayers. Epist. 59 Qu. 5. S. Augustine in the sanctification of the Eucharist, and distribution thereof, findeth out al these, Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, and giuing of Thanks, mentioned, 1. Tim. 2. Supplica­tions he calleth those which wee make in the ce­lebration of the Sacraments, before that which is set on the Lords table is begunne to be blessed: Prayers hee calleth that, when it is blessed and sanctified, and broken for Communion, which whole petition, almost all the Churches con­clude [Page 76]clude with the Lords prayer. And then dispu­ting whether [...] be votum or Oratio, hee ad­deth, all things are vowed which are offered vp to God; chiefly the oblation of the holy Altar: in which Sacrament another of our greatest vowes is preached, Quo nos vouemus, in which we vow our selues to be mild or meeke in the band of Christs body. Postulationes, Intercessions are made when the people are blessed. In which the Bishops or aduocates doe offer vp to the most merciful power, Susceptos suos, their Christened or confirmed, by imposition of hands. And these things being done, and the Sacrament being par­ricipated, gratiarum actio, thankesgiuing conclu­deth all: so in those times the sacrifice of prayer and praise, were ioyned with the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. August. de spi­rit. & lit. c. 11. And in his booke De spiritu & litera, he saith, Theosebeia porrò, si ad verbi origi­nem Latinè expressam interpretaretur, Dei cultus di­ci poterat; qui in hoc maximè constitutus est, vt ani­ma ei non sit ingrata. Vnde & in ipso verissimo & in singulari Sacrificio Domino Deo nostro agere gratias admonemur. Theosebia, that is pietie to God, if it be interpreted according to the expresse deriuation in Latine, may bee called the worship of God, which doeth chiefly consist in this, that the soule should not be vnthankfull to God; and therefore in the most true and singular Sacrifice, we are ad­monished to giue thankes to our Lord God. As for the necessary vse of prayer, heare Tertullian de Oratione, Neque enim propria tantum orationis offi­cia complexa est, vel venerationem Dei aut hominis [Page 77]petitionem, sed omnempene sermonem Domini, om­nem commemorationem disciplinae: vt reuera in ora­tione breuiarium totius Euangelij comprehendatur: It doth not onely containe the dueties of Prayer, the worship of God, and the petition of man, but also almost all the word of God, and all comme­moration of discipline; insomuch, that in trueth, in this prayer there is contained a breuiarie of all the Gospel. So that out of this it may wel be in­ferred, that there can be no act of diuine worship and Religion, without prayer. And surely since the Iewes that had no forme of Gods worship prescribed for them, did frame to themselues a forme of Liturgie, which they dayly vsed; and among Christians there bee many Liturgies or formes of diuine worship, that beare the names, some of the Apostles, others of the ancient Fa­thers; which whether they bee theirs, whose names they beare, I cannot say, but surely by all mens confession they are very ancient: It is a strange noueltie, and indeed most monstrous in the Church of Christ, that there should bee no prescribed formes of Prayer, and administration of Sacraments, but euery man left to his libertie, or rather license to worship God after his owne fancie: and vnder the name of forbidding will­worship, to set out nothing but will-worship in the Church, and indeed as many will-worships, as there be wils, and so set vp Altar a­gainst Altar, and worship against worship, and make the Church that is acies ordinata, a well or­dered Armie, or house, or kingdome, to bee no [Page 78]better then Babel, a Tower of confusion.

And either the Church must haue power to ordaine and order Liturgies and Gods worship, or else I know not why any priuate man may bee so bold as to frame a worship or Liturgie to him­selfe. For if the whole Church haue not this power, where was it committed to any priuate man, or any part or member of the Church? And I know the Apostles desired Christ to teach them to pray; And Christ taught them onely the mother prayer of all prayers, by which all pray­ers must be ruled and squared: and so it shall be lawfull onely to vse the onely prescribed prayer, that is the Lords prayer: when you pray, pray thus. And then I know there bee other precise Brethren that stand at their elbowes, and tell them that the Lords prayer was not made for that vse, to bee said publikely or priuately: but onely to be layd vp, as a rule, an Idea, or exem­plar to make other praiers by, and so it commeth to passe that wee must admit aut omnes, aut nullos, either all prayers that euery priuate spirit that will reiect the Apostles rule, and not be subiect to the spirit of the Prophets, that is the Church, shal frame: or else we must in effect admit no prayer at all, because there is but one praier prescri­bed by Christ and the holy Ghost, and that is ve­ry short, that may be vsed. And if you will be­leeue the purest reformers (or rather de formers) it must not bee vsed, but layd by as a Patterne to fashion the like.

I come to the fife Sacrifice that I finde in the [Page 79]Lords Supper, and that is Sacrificium Eleemosy­narum, the Sacrifice of Almes: and that as it was chiefly appointed to be done on the Lords day, or the first day of the weeke, 1. Cor. 6. so it is ap­parant that the Lords Supper being then cele­brated, and the Apostles continuing in breaking of bread and prayer, this Sacrifice of Almes was euer a companion of the Lords Supper, of pray­er, ministration or diuine worship, and indeed a true Sacrifice in it selfe. For when Dauid said, Psalm. 51. If thou wouldest haue had Sacrifice. I would haue giuen thee; but thou delightest not in burnt offerings: a troubled spirit is a Sacrifice to God: August. deci­uit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 4. a broken and contrite heart God wil not dispise: Intueamur quemadmodum vbi Deum dixit, nolle Sacrificium, ibi Deum ostendit velle sacrificium: non vult ergo Sacrificium trucidatipecoris, sed vult sacrificium contriti cordis. Marke, saith S. Augustine, where Dauid saith, God would not haue Sacri­fice; there he plainely sheweth that God would haue Sacrifice: God would not haue the Sacri­fice of slaine beasts, but he would haue the Sacri­fice of broken and contrite hearts. And his rea­son is good. Illa enim Sacrificia nonrequirit Deus, quibus significantur haec Sacrificia, quae requirit Deus: God doeth not require those Sacrifices (carnall and externall) by which those Sacrifices (inter­nall and spirituall) are signified, which God doth require. Christ saith, Matth. 9.13. I will haue mercy an not Sa­crifice, in which words, nothing else is to be vn­derstood but this, Sacrificium sacrificio praelatum, that one Sacrifice is preferred before another, for [Page 80]that which of men is called Sacrifice, is a signe of the true Sacrifice; and then he applieth all this to Almes: Porro autem misericordia verum est sacri­ficium, Heb. 13.16. Mercie indeed is a true Sacrifice. And so it was called by the Apostle, To doe good and to distri­bute forget not, for with such Sacrifices God is pleased, or pacified; and so it is true, which the same Fa­ther saith elsewhere of Prayer, and Praise, and mortification, and Almes, and the like, that they are Pro Sacrificijs, and Prae Sacrificijs, in place of Sa­crifice, and to be preferred before all Sacrifices: for the outward Sacrifice receiueth life from the inward Sacrifice of the heart. So then, hee that layeth his money or goods at Gods Table, or at the Apostles feete, that they may be put into the bosomes of the poore, he doth indeed lend them to the Lord, and deliuereth and sendeth them by their hands to be stored vp with him, who is a most faithfull keeper and bountifull rewarder, who will become a debtor to thee for them. And whereas thy goods were earthly and transitorie, Dando, coelestes fiunt; by this giuing, thou shalt make them heauenly, & purchase heauens king­dome with them. De oratione Dominica. And that made S. Cyprian to say, Inefficax petitio est cum precatur Deum sterilis o­ratio; when a barren prayer beseecheth God, that Petition is vnfruitfull. The reason is, because the hand doeth not pray as well as the tongue; and the hands voyce is lowder, and will bee further heard then the tongue. Hom. 29. inter 50. And S. Augustine saith, The Sacrifice of the Christian is Eleemosyna in pauperem, Almes to the poore: for then he of­fereth [Page 81]a charitable heart to God; as in prayer hee offereth a deuour heart; in praise hee offereth a thankfull heart; and in contrition, and mortifica­tion hee offereth a broken heart. And these Sa­crifices are all accepted of God in Christ, but in seuerall degrees: the broken and contrite heart is accepted with non despicies, Psal. 51.17. God will not despise it; Heb. 13.16. The charitable heart is accepted with Placatur Deus, with such Sacrifices God is pleased, and pa­cified; Psal. 50.23. and the gratefull heart is accepted with ho­norificabis mee, hee that offereth me praise, he ho­noureth me.

Monseiur du Plessis, De sacrificio Miss: l. 3. a pillar of the French Church hath ioyned all these together, whom I principally alledge, because he reciteth them all: Eccui mirum, quod Patres sacram coenam Sacrificium appellarunt, in quam vnam tot sacrae actiones conflu­ant? tot proinde sacrificijs conspicuum? vbisacrum officium, sacrificij in cruce peracti commemoratio, ver­bi diuini propositio, expositio, oratio feruens, humilis simul & sublimis, tum peccati nostri, tum gratiae diui­nae meditatio: inde vero cordis contritio, corporis, ani­mique Deo consecrandi votum, viscerum quasi suo­rum in fratres, Christi cohaeredes expansio, effusio? Quae omnes vtique & singulae actiones cum scripturis & Patribus, oblationum, & sacrificiorum nomine in­signiuntur; Can it seeme strange to any man that the Fathers haue called the sacred Supper a Sa­crifice, in which one, so many sacred actions doe meet together, and therefore is conspicuous with so many Sacrifices? where there is the sacred of­fice (or Liturgie,) a commemoration of the Sa­crifice [Page 82]finished on the Crosse: a proposall of the word of God, and exposition thereof, feruent prayer, an humble, and withall an eleuated meditation both of our owne sinne, and Gods grace; also the contrition of the heart, and a vow of consecrating of soule and bodie to God; an enlarging and powring out of our bowels in Almes towards our brethren, the coheires of Christ, which all & singular actions, are called by the name of Sacrifices and oblations in the Scrip­tures and Fathers.

Veteres, De vnico Christ. sacrificio cap. 5. Resp. 5. saith Sadeel, S. Domini Coenam sacrifici­um appellarunt: Primum, quia in hoc mysterio fit com­memoratio vnici illius sacrificij quod pro nobis in cru­ce factum est, atque haec commemoratio coniunctam habet gratiarum actionem, adeo vt sit sacrificium [...], & gratiarum actionis, ac propterea in­ter spiritualia Christianorum Sacrificia recensen­dum. Deinde quia in sacro hoc mysterio, siquidem à nobis cum vera fide, sinceris (que) animis celebretur, nos ipsos totos Deo consecramus, quod est spirituale sa­crificium nobis imprimis ab Apostolo commendatum. Denique, quia id fuit elim in more positum, vt cum S. Coena celebraretur, tum fideles offerrent Eleemosy­nas: The Fathers called this holy Supper of the Lord a Sacrifice: First, because in this mysterie there is made a commemoration of that one one­ly sacrifice, which was made for vs vpon the Crosse, and this commemoration hath thankes­giuing ioyned with it, that it may bee an Eucha­risticall sacrifice of thankesgiuing, and therefore it is to be reckoned among the spiritual sacrifices [Page 83]of Christians. Againe, because in the sacred my­sterie, if it be celebrated by vs with true faith, and sincere minds, we do consecrate our whole selues to God, which is the spiritual sacrifice, chiefly cō ­mended to vs by the Apostle, Rom. 12. And to conclude, because it was the ancient custom, that when the sacred Supper was celebrated, then the faithfull did offer Almes, which is a kinde of spi­rituall sacrifice, Heb. 13. It is sufficiently manifest by the name of Eucharist (which signifieth thankesgiuing) that the Fathers had a respect to this, Sadeel in Resp. ad fid. profes. a Burdegalen. Act. 14. P. 140 when they called the Eucharist a Sacra­ment. And againe, Propterea veteres Patres Coe­nam Domini vocarunt Sacrificium, quod in ea fit com­memoratio sacrificij Iesu Christi: ac proinde est Sa­crificium laudis: Adde quod ibidem nos offerimus Deo vt ei consecremur, quost est rationalis noster eultus: Denique propterea quod antiquitùs in celebratione Coenae Domini Eleemosynae in pauperes confereban­tur, quae omnia dicuntur Sacrificia in sacris Literic: The ancient Fathers therefore called the Supper of the Lord a Sacrifice, because in it there is a commemoration of the sacrifice of Iesus Christ, and therefore it is a sacrifice of prayse. Adde to this, that there wee offer our selues to God, that we may be consecrated to him, which is our rea­sonable worship of him. And to conclude, there­fore also it is called a sacrifice, because anciently in the celebration of the Lords Supper, almes was bestowed on the poore: all which are cal­led Sacrifices in holy writ. Calu. l. 4. c. 17. S. 43.

Caluin mentioneth publike prayers, and a Ser­mon, [Page 84]and then a Prayer againe: afterward the E­lements were set forth vpon the Table, that God who had giuen vs his aliment, would make vs fit and worthy to receiue it: then there should bee Psalmes sung, or somewhat read, and so the peo­ple should communicate decently. After the Supper ended, there should be an exhortation to the sincerity of faith, and charitie, and good life, beseeming Christians: And lastly, there should be thankesgiuing and praise sung to God.

This is then plaine, that in the ministration and receiuing of the Sacrament, there are these fiue kindes of sacrifices. 1 1. The Sacrifice com­memoratiue to Godward, and communicatiue to vs. 2 2. The Sacrifice of our selues, our soules and bodies, in which the Church offers the my­sticall body of Christ, that is it selfe, the Church to God by her High Priest, 3 Christ. 3. The sa­crifice of a broken and contrite heart. 4 4. The Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise: 5 and 5. The sacri­fice of Almes. And in the offering of all these solemne Sacrifices, humility both of soule and body is necessarily required: and therefore this Sacrament ought to be receiued with kneeling.

And this will appeare the more plainely if we consider the meditation and behauiour of sacri­ficers. And that will be the more manifest if we doe but remember, that which all ancient Litur­gies haue, and wee retaine, Leuate corda ad Domi­num, Lift vp your hearts, saith the Priest; the peo­ple answere, Wee lift them vp vnto the Lord. Videte quid, & ad quem, so S. Augustine obserueth; [Page 85]Consider what you lift vp, your hearts; and to whom you lift them vp, vnto God; and as God is pure, so be sure to lift vp pure hearts, to him that is the God of all puritie. And it may passe as probable, that the bodily gesture of those that come to the Lords Table was very humble in those times, because they called on them, Leuate corda, lift vp your hearts, though your bodies be humbled and cast downe: and let not your soules be fixed on these sacred Elements here belowe, but lifted vp to heauen.

And surely if we remember, 1. the greatnesse of God before whom we stand: and 2 the great­nesse of the sinne, which stands out against vs, which wee there confesse; and 3. the vilenesse and basenesse of vs poore silly creatures, dust, and ashes, that there present our selues, and stand out before him, Tantus, tantillos, tantum, so great a God and Creator as the Lord is, to whom none can be comparable, because he is singular aboue all; and so vnworthy and contemptible crea­tures, wormes, and no men, nay worse then wormes, (for the poorest worme neuer sinned a­gainst God, and wee neuer did any thing but sinne in his sight;) and yet that so great a God should so infinitely loue vs, vile creatures, and foule polluted sinners, that hee should giue the Sonne of his Substance for vs, the rebellious workemanship of his owne hands: whom hee loued so dearely, that hee spared not his onely, and dearely beloued Sonne, that he might spare vs most disobedient and wicked seruants: that is [Page 86]loue aboue all loues, and measure without all measure. To which, when wee reckon, that wee are no way able to make any recompense or satisfaction, as hauing nothing to pay (for Plùs diligit & priùs, he loueth vs first, and he loueth vs most) how can it be, but wee, which are the worst of all Gods creatures, (for no creature be­low man is a sinner, but man) when we presume to sacrifice and offer vp our selues (most vnwor­thy and vnfit for so great grace,) to that God, who is holinesse it selfe, and cannot endure nor admit any vncleannesse, when wee aduenture to presse into his presence, and not onely approach to his Table as Communicants, but also exhibit our selues as Sacrifices on his Altar, but wee should then (I say) tender our selues with all hu­militie of soule, and humiliation of body; since both soule and body are there offered vnto him, in mentall and corporall adoration, and prayer, and praise, and almes, and the like; in which, the worke of the hand and the tongue, is but an idle sound, without the word of the heart, and the soule; and the word of the heart is but empty and barren, without the obedience of the hand.

So the person to whom we Sacrifice, and the person that offereth himselfe a Sacrifice, require our humilitie of soule, and humiliation of body; this is the Sacrificers meditation, and other it ought not to bee: for finiti ad infinitum nulla est comparatio: there is no comparison betweene God that is infinite, and man that is finite: be­cause they differ, Plusquam genere, more then in [Page 87]kinde; And therefore dust and ashes that appea­reth before his Creator, must appeare in his owne kind, as dust and ashes, neerest to the earth: since sinne hath placed man in this Earth, in the vale of miserie. Now, what is the behauiour of Sacrifices? Gene. 22.9. Isaak was a liuing and reasonable Sa­crifice; and no doubt, holy; & therfore acceptable to God in Christ, as much as the state and condi­tion of man would permit: and he was bound, and layd at the Altar to be Sacrificed; there was neither sitting, as if he were equall with that God that called for him to be Sacrificed: nor so much as standing, either in his innocencie, or his hope, and expectation; And therefore being the type, both of Christ the propitiatorie Sacrifice, and of the Christians Eucharisticall Sacrifice, wee, as bound by the chaine of our owne sinne, and vn­worthinesse, and layd, and nailed (as it were) on the Altar of Christs Crosse, with the nailes of con­trition, of deuotion, of prayer, and praise, and of compassion, must present our selues in the ge­sture and behauiour of those that are to bee of­fered vp as Sacrifices to God, in all deiection and humilitie of soules and bodies; kneeling with Salomon, 1 Reg. 8.12. 2. Paralip. 6.13. in the consecration and dedication of the spirituall Temple of our soules and bodies, as he did when he cōsecrated the materiall Temple vnto God. Where, I pray you, let it neuer be for­gotten, that it must needs be, that the thoughts of Isaak the Sacrifice, could be no other when he lay bound at the Altar, then this, that he was Ia [...] iam Sacrificandus, & therefore moriturus, euen now [Page 88]in an instant to be sacrificed and die. And he was then to die the naturall death of the body, & we at the Lords Table, die the spirituall death to sin in mortification and newnesse of life: and there­fore there is no great likelyhood that hee then thought of the gesture and prerogatiues of a guest, and a table, as if he were equall to that iust and seuere God, to whom hee was to be sacrifi­ced, and so presented himselfe to him without all feare, and reuerence. S. Stephen the first Martyr, and therefore the first Sacrifice among Christi­ans, Acts. 7.56.60. prayed and kneeled: and though hee were partaker of the vision of God, which is the Sup­per of the Lambe, and that without Sacrament (for hee saw the heauens open, and the Sonne of man sitting at the right hand of God) yet Depo­suit vitam, ne deponeret obedientiam, he neuer layd downe his obedience, till he layd downe his life, but persisted in kneeling, till hee fell into his last sleepe. And why should not the gesture of a Martyr bee a fit gesture for a Communicant at the Lambes Supper, since both are Sacrificers of themselues, the one in body, the other in soule and spirit?

And this was in the time of Nature. Let vs looke on Moses Law, concerning Sacrifices. In Leuiticus it is often repeated, Leuit. 1.4, 4.24. that the Priest, when he offered for himselfe, or the people, and euery priuate man that offred his priuate Sacrifice, Im­ponet manum super caput, He shall lay his hand vp­on the head of the Sacrifice: How. 1. in Le­uit. Origen expoundeth it allegorically of Christ, Imposuit peccata humani [Page 89]generis super caput suum: Christ layd his hand vp­on the head of the Sacrifice, that is, layd all our sinnes vpon his owne head: But in the letter, there are two reasons giuen of it. 1. Vide Tostat. in Leuit. cap. 3. Vt renuntia­ret proprietati, siue iurisuo, That the priuate man might surrender vp all his right and proprietie that he had in the Sacrifice, when he deliuered it vp to the Priest, to be Sacrificed to God: 2. Vt poenas peccatorum in caput animalis transferret, quas inflicturus erat offerenti, That he might transferre the punishment of sinnes due to the offerer, vpon the beast that was to be sacrificed; In which it is manifest, that euery man that presenteth his Sa­crifice at the Altar, standeth as a condemned man ready to bee executed, that entreateth and beg­geth of God, that the punishment due to him by his demerits may be layd on the Sacrifice, that is vpon Christ that beareth our punishment and curse vpon his Crosse, and healeth vs by his stripes: As the death prepared for Isaak, was trans­ferred from him to the Ramme, that was hanged in the bushes, that is Christ crowned with thornes, and nailed on the Crosse. And he that feelingly considereth this state, wil easily resolue of the humble thoughts, and humble gesture of such a Sacrificer as deserueth the death that the Sacrifice suffereth for him, and deprecateth par­don for his sake, whose Sacrifice maketh atone­ment for the sinnes of man. In this case when we thus condemne, and execute our selues, can any thoughts be too lowly, or any gesture too humble to entreat pardon? So this carriage of [Page 90]the carnall sacrificer telleth vs, what our carriage must bee in the offering of the spirituall sacrifice of our selues. Our prayers, that sue for grace and remission, must shew humilitie in soule and body, because wee seeke indulgence to soule and body. And when we confesse we are most wor­thy to die in our selues, and for our selues, both soule and body; and desire to receiue grace, not for our selues, but for Christs sake; must we not testifie this vnworthinesse with the deiection of both soule and body?

Yea, our very prayses and thankes for all Gods mercies must bee offered, with all outward and inward humility: since as it is in the second Psalme, Psal. 2.11. it becōmeth vs not only to serue the Lord infeare, but also to reioice to him with reuerence, cum tremore, (as the vulgar reades it) with tremor or trembling. For as the goodnesse of God cau­seth confidence and reioycing, so the greatnesse and iustice of God, and our owne guiltinesse and sinne, cause trembling and humilitie. So our ve­ry sacrifice of praise and glory requires humilitie and kneeling: as the examples of those in hea­uen (who being freed from all wants, and there­fore neuer needing to pray, but onely to giue prayse for their ouerflowing and fulnesse of glo­ry at the well head) doth shew: Apoc. 4.10. who cast downe their Crownes, and fall downe and worship him that sitteth on the Throne, and the Lambe.

And surely the Gospel, in the offering of spi­rituall sacrifices, differs not in dueties of Nature and Religion, and chiefly in humility, which is [Page 91] virtus Christiana & Euangelica, the Christian and Euangelicall vertue, vnknowen and contemned by the heathen, and taught onely in the Schoole of Christ. And therefore our Sauiour Christ might teach all sacrificers how to behaue them­selues, when hee entred into his agonie in the garden, which was the entry and beginning of his sacrifice, (for there he did sacrifice himselfe, voluntate, in wil, as he finished it vpon the Crosse actu, in acte) Positis genibus orauit, Luk. 22.41. he prayed vpon his knees, to teach all spirituall sacrificers to vse the same kneeling in their deuotions, and pray­ers, and sacrifices, which he began in the propiti­atory, and all-sufficient sacrifice for sinne. Wher­in, because that wherewith God is worshipped doth profit man, and not God, (for no man doth good to the fountaine, if hee drinke of it, nor to the light, if he see by it; and if man come to God, God is not increased by it, but man; and if hee depart from God, God looseth not by it, but man:) it behoueth vs in all Gods worship so to carrie our selues, that our sacrifice, and our selues, and our worship may be accepted of God. And nothing is more offensiue to God, then pride, and presumptuous carriage, and nothing more plea­sing, then our humility, and the plea of our vn­worthinesse. For as Kemnicius saith, In Examin. Concil. Triden. part. 2. de ven [...] ­rat. Sacram. Externa irre­uerentia signum est prophanae mentis, sicut Paulus di­cit, Corinthios non dijudicare Corpus Domini, quia il­lud in Coena Dominica non maiori reuerentia tracta­bant, quam vulgares concoenationes: Externall ir­reuerence is a signe of a prophane minde, as S. [Page 92]Paul said, that the Corinthians did not discerne the Lords body, because in the Lords Supper they handled it with no more reuerēce then they did their ordinary suppers. And at the com­mon suppers they did sit, and therefore some o­ther gesture doth befit that high Feast. And Bi­shop Iewell said well: It is (without doubt) our du­tie to adore the body of Christ, in the word of God, in the Sacrament of Baptisme, in the mysteries of the body and blood of Christ; and to conclude, wheresoe­uer any footstep or signe of it appeareth: but chiefly in the holy mysteries, in which we haue a liuing expresse image of all Christs peregrination in the flesh: And I assure my selfe, this Reuerend Bishop and d [...]fen­der of the Church and Liturgie of England, was no enemie of kneeling at the Sacrament, though he most stoutly denied all adoration to the Ele­ments, or Species themselues, as we all doe.

In the worship of God, non sum dignus is the best argument: and surely there is no argument more forcible, or more worthy in Gods sight, then the acknowledgement of our owne vnwor­thinesse: nor no fitter gesture to expresse this ac­knowledgement, Hom. 8. in Coe­na Dom. ad poenit. then this kneeling or casting our selues downe to the earth. S. Eligius Episco­pus Nouiomensis saith, Let this sentence be pronoun­ced by the soule, that a man iudge himselfe vnworthy of the participation of the body and blood of Christ. And againe, Biblioth. S S. Pat. Tom. 2. p. 1506. Lactuca quoque agrestis valde amara est, & in viris luxuriam reprimit: significat autem hoc, vt quando ad Corpus Christi, (qui verus agnus est) sumendum accedimus, quamuis de Redemptione [Page 93]laetemur, amaritudinem tamen ex recordatione pecca­torum habeamus: The wild Lettuce is very bitter, and doth represse lust in men: and it signifies this, that when we come to receiue the body of Christ, who is the true Lambe, although wee reioyce of our redemption, yet wee should haue bit­ternesse in the remembrance of our sinne. Idem hom. 14. de esu vtrius (que) agni paschalus. And againe, Certè Redemptor noster consulens nostrae fragilitati, tradidit nobis hoc Sacramentum: vt quia ipse iam non potest mori, & nos quotidie pec­camus, habeamus verum Sacrificium quo possimus expiari à peccatis nostris. Quocircà cum timore & compunctione mentis, omnique reuerentiâ debemus accedere ad altare, & ad mensam corporis & san­guinis Domini, & dicere humiliter cum Centurione, Domine, non sum dignus vt intres sub tectum meum: Our Redeemer deliuered to vs this Sacrament, prouiding for our frailtie, that since hee can die no more, and wee sinne daily, wee might haue a true Sacrifice, by which wee might be expiated from our sinnes: Therefore we must come with all feare and compunction of heart, and all reue­rence (I hope this is reuerence of body as well as of soule) to the Altar and Table of the Body and Blood of our Lord, and say humbly with the Centurion, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter vnder the roofe of my house. And S. Basil of Seleucia saith, Orat. 19. Vidi Centurionem prouolutum ad vestigia Domini, Eusebius Emis­senu, Hom in Dom. 2. in Epi­pha. I saw the Centurion falling downe, or kneeling at our Lords feet. Eu­sebius saith, Quando verò ad Christi Sacramen­tum accedimus, & fragilitatem nostram considera­mus [Page 94]quid aliud dicat vnusquis (que) nostrum, nisi non sum dignus, vt intres sub tectum meum; non sum dignus vt corpus & sanguinem suscipiam in ore meo: When we come to the Sacrament of Christ, and consi­der our owne frailtie; what should euery one of vs say but this? I am not worthy that thou shoul­dest enter vnder my roofe: I am not worthy to receiue thy Body and Blood into my mouth.

For why? Matth. 8.8. Luke 7.6. this Centurion that thought not him­self worthy, vnder whose roofe Christ should en­ter, receiued a high fauour for his lowly thought, that Christ, though hee entred not vnder the roofe of his house, yet entred vnder the roofe of his heart. Matth. 3.11. And Iohn Baptist that professed him­selfe vnworthy to vnty the latchet of Christes shooe, was admitted to that high fauour to bap­tize Christs head. Luke 7.38. And the woman that in the sense of her owne vnworthines, began at Christs feete with her teares, Marke 14.3. proceeded to the anoyn­ting of his head with precious oyle, Iohn 20.16. and was the first that saw him after his Resurrection. This is indeed the great Fisher S. Peters art: Hee put Christ away from him with this word, Luke 5.8. Depart from me, for I am a sinnefull man, that so he might draw neerer to him, and become a chiefe Fisher of men: and the first among the Apostles.

After which examples, if wee stand afarre off with the Publican, and confesse our owne vn­worthines, with the deuotion of our soules, & de­iection of our bodies, we shalbe sure to draw the neerer to God, & procure the more easie accep­tation of the Sacrifices of our selues, & our soules [Page 95]and bodies, and Prayers, and Praises, and Almes.

So then this Sacrament hath many Sacrifices in it: and nothing maketh Sacrifice so accep­table to God, as the heartie acknowledgment of our owne vnworthinesse, to offer to him any Sa­crifice at all: This acknowledgment consisteth in the humble pietie, and deuotion of the heart, and the voluntary deiection, bowing or kneeling of the body: therefore this Sacrament must bee receiued with a reuerend kneeling. All which I conclude with the words of S. Bernard; S. Bernard. Serm. 3. de Pu­rificat. B. Vir­ginis. Quid fra­tres nos offerimus, aut quid retribuimus Christo, pro omnibus, quae retribuit nobis? Ille pro nobis obtulit ho­stiam pretiosiorem quam habuit, nimirum, qua pretio­sior esse non potuit: Et nos ergo faciamus quod possu­mus, optimum quod habemus offerentes illi; quod su­mus vtique nosmetipsi; Ille seipsum obtulit, tu quis es, qui teipsum offerre cuncteris? Quis mihi tribuat, vt oblationem meam dignetur maiestas tanta suscipere? Duo minuta habeo Domine, corpus & animam Dico, vtinam haec tibi perfectè possim in Sacrificium laudis offerre. Bonum enim mihi longe (que) gloriosius atque vtilius est, vt tibi magis offerar, quàm deserar mihi ipsi. Nam ad meipsum anima mea conturbatur, in te vero exultabit spiritus meus, si tibi veraciter offera­tur: What doe we, O brethren? Doe we offer? or what do we giue to Christ, for all these things which he hath giuen to vs? He offered for vs the most precious Sacrifice that he had, then which none can be more pretious: and let vs doe what wee can, and offer to him the best that we haue, which is our selues: hee offered himselfe for vs, [Page 96]and who art thou, that delayest to offer thy selfe to him? who shall procure for mee, that so great maiestie shall vouchsafe to receiue my ob­lation? (And then he tels what he hath to offer, not his soule onely, but his body also.) Lord, I haue two mites, a body, and a soule; Oh would I could perfectly offer them to thee, as a sacrifice of praise: for it is good, and farre more glorious and profitable to mee, that I should rather be of­fered to thee, then forsaken by my selfe; for in my selfe my soule is troubled, but if it be truely offered to thee, my spirit shall reioyce in thee.

Thus haue I been long in this second reason of Sacrifice, because it containeth at least fiue se­uerall sacrifices. I will bee short in the rest, as oc­casion shall permit.

Ratio 3. à Donorum magnitudine.

THe third Reason is Donorum magnitudo, the greatnesse of Gods gifts, and graces, which are heaped vp in this Sacrament. And the grea­ter the person is that giues (that is, God) the greater the gift is that is giuen, which is, Christ, and the holy Ghost: and the more vile and base the Receiuer is, that is mortall and sinfull man, the greater must bee the humilitie of him, that re­ceiues so great gifts from so great a God: euen the lowest humilitie of soule, and humiliation of bodie, De Purificat. B. virginis Serm. 3. in prostration or kneeling. And euen now out of S. Bernard we heard, Hostiam pretiosiorem, quam habuit: Hee offered to God the most pre­tious [Page 97]sacrifice that he had: and what he offered to God for vs on the Crosse, that hee offereth to vs in this Sacrament; that which hee gaue for vs, he giues to vs. So God loued the world, Ioan. 3.16. that hee gaue his onely begotten Sonne that as many as beleeue in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting: And how gaue he him? Animam in precium, car­nem in cibum: Ioan. 6.55.45.51. hee gaue his life for our price and ransome, and his flesh for our foode: And his flesh is meate indeede; and his blood is drinke indeede; and hee is the bread of life; that liuing bread, Luc. 14.16. that came downe from Heauen. A certaine man made a great supper, and bade many, saith our Sauiour: A great supper; for, Magnus qui fecit: Hee is great that makes it, no lesse then a King: nay, Matt. 22.2. no lesse then God himselfe. And that must needes bee a great feast, which is made by the God of all greatnesse and Maiestie, who in all other his works is great, but in this his grace, is greater then greatnesse it selfe, and his mercie appeareth aboue all his workes and gifts. A great supper, quia serui mag­ni, the seruants and attendants are great, Patri­arches, and Prophets, and Apostles, and Bishops who succeed the Apostles, pro patribus filij, Aug. in Psal. 44. Sons in stead of Fathers, Bishops in stead of Apostles, who are Princes in all lands: yea, Christ the Sonne ministreth vnto vs. A great supper, quia coenaculum magnum; the marriage chamber is great, not Iudea, not a corner, or conuenticle, but the world, or rather, the Church ouer all the world. Expulsus ab vrbe, ab orbe recipitur; Christ that was excluded out of the citie Hieru­salem, [Page 98]and crucified on Mount Caluarie, is recei­ued in the whole world. Leo de passione Hom. 1. Merito foli non ha­bent, quod omnibus perire voluerunt, sayth Leo, The Iewes onely, haue not Christ by their de­sert, whome they would haue lost to all o­thers: and the whole earth is become his in­heritance: and there is a greater in expectation, the Kingdome of heauen, when that is consum­mate, which is now begunne. And a great Sup­per, for Conuiuae magni, the guests are great, Kings and righteous men, and learned, and noble, and wise, and rich, and poore, and ignorant, Piscator, Imperator, Orator: the ignorant fisher, the potent Emperour, and the learned Orator, all bow their necks vnder the yoke of Christ: And a great sup­per, Quia apparatus magnus, for the preparation is great: the booke of Creatures, and the booke of Scriptures: the volume of Nature, and the vo­lume of Grace: the Dictats of earth, and the Ora­cles of Heauen: the Paschall Lambe, and the fat Calfe: the Sonne of man, and the Sonne of God: the Word vncreat, and the word incarnate: Cha­ritie vncreated, that is the holy Ghost; and crea­ted Charitie, that is the gifts of the holy Ghost, and all things else whatsoeuer God is pleased to giue vs with his Sonne, and for his Sonne.

In a word it is Refectio in via, Psal. 17.16. a refreshing in the way, & therefore it is called a dinner of grace. Matth. 22. Come to me, I will refresh you, Matth. 11.28. And it is Possessio in patria, the possession in the Countrey; and therefore it is here called, A Supper of glory, I shal be satisfied with thy glory. In [Page 99]the Schoole, it is Coena doctrinae Euangelicae, a Sup­per of Euangelicall doctrine, that teacheth faith. In the Church it is Coena Eucharistiae, the Supper of the Eucharist, that doeth nourish and augment faith, and grace. And in heauen it is Coena gloriae, a Supper of euerlasting glory, that crowneth Gods owne graces in vs. Hee that maketh the Supper, is God the Father; he that is the meat of this Supper, is Christ the Sonne; and he that pre­pareth and prouideth this Supper is the holy Ghost. Christus sponsus, spiritus Sanctus Pronubus, Pater Rex. The bridegrome at this mariage Feast is Christ, not the seruant, nor the kinseman, but the Sonne of God: the chiefe Minister or Vicar that calleth and ordereth the Feast, & the guests, is the holy Ghost: and the man, for his humani­tie or mercie; and the King for his power, and ri­ches, and seueritie, that maketh this Feast, is God the Father, that gathereth a Church to bee a spouse to his owne Sonne. Now (as it is said of God) Non tam habet, quam est causa amoris, God hath no cause of his loue, but is indeed the cause of his owne loue, or rather is Loue it selfe; so in this case, Nontam facit, quam est: Christ doth not so much make, as he is indeed, this Feast: For the Feast and fulnesse, that wee looke for at Gods hands, is not aliquid Dei, but Deus; not somewhat of God, but God himselfe, to whom it is proper to bee the Physitian and the Phisicke, the food, and the Feeder of our soules.

So then, although all Gods gifts and graces be great, and like to himselfe, yet here in this Sa­crament, [Page 100]he giueth not simile but idem, not some­what like himselfe, of a like substance to himselfe, but hee giueth himselfe, and the Sonne of his owne Substance. And then, quantus Deus, qui dat Deum? How great, how good and gratious is God the Father to vs, that giueth vs no lesse, nor no other, then God himselfe; his onely Sonne to be the meat of our soules, and the holy Spirit to bee our Comforter, and refresher in this Sacra­ment?

The Elements, or Signes, after the words of Consecration, are not bare accidents, or signes, and species, but true substances; and in that re­spect they are by Christ, and the Euangelists, and Apostles called Bread and Wine: but the thing sig­nified is the Body and Blood of Christ. It is not fi­gur a tantùm: though the Sacrament be a figure, it is not a figure onely, but the trueth & substance: and God doeth not now feed vs with shadowes, because the trueth and substance is there recei­ued: & this Sacrament doth exhibite this which it signifieth. Neither is it Efficacia tantùm, that is a very weake and short exposition. Hoc est cor­pus meum (1.) efficacia corporis mei, This is my body, that is, this is the efficacie and vertue of my Body: This is my blood: that is, this is the effi­cacie or effect of my Blood: for that were to de­uide the Body & Blood of Christ from the force and vertue thereof; But this is indeed the Body and Blood of Christ, not in any grosse, or carnall, or corporall maner, but in a spirituall maner; a maner best and onely knowne to him, that per­formeth [Page 101]that which he promiseth: Caluin. instit. l. 4. c. 17. §. and as Cal­uin, and Sadeel, and others teach, a manner aboue our capacitie and vnderstanding; Experior ma­gis, quam intelligo, which we prooue rather then vnderstand: and therein are happie, that wee finde it to bee so, in deede and trueth, though it surpasse the capacitie of mans wit, & be knowen onely to God.

In which wee doe imitate the blessed Apo­stles, who beleeued Christs word, and receiued it with faith, Cyril. in Ioan. lib. 4. c. 13. without once doubting or asking the Iewish question full of infidelitie, Quomodo? How can he giue vs his flesh? Chryfostome saith, Hom. 26. in matth. 8. Etsi enim paruum aliquid fuerit quod datum est, fit magnum tamen de honore dantis: immò nihil exi­guum est, quod illo largiente confertur; non solùm etiam quia datur à Deo, sed quia tale est quicquid ille confert, vt dici non mereatur exiguum: vt enim a­lia vniuersa praeteream, quae multitudine suâ nume­rum exuperant arenarum, quidnam poterit ei, quae propter nos facta est dispensationi conferri? Quod e­nim erat apud eum omnibus pretiosius, vnigenitum pro nobis filium dedit, & quidem cum adhuc essemus ipsius inimici; nec dedit solùm, sed & nostram illum fe­cit esse mensam: Although it be little that is giuen, yet it is made great by the honour of the giuer; yea, nothing is little which is conferred, God giuing it, not onely because it is giuen of God, but that whatsoeuer he giueth, is such, that it de­serueth not to bee called little; for to passe all o­ther things, which with their multitude exceede the number of the sands, what can bee preferred [Page 102]before that dispensation that is made for vs? For that which was more precious to him then all things, hee gaue his Sonne for vs, and that true­ly when wee were his enemies; neither did hee giue him onely, but also he made him to bee our Table.

Nec Moses dedit nobis panem verum, Hieron. ad Heb. d. qu. 2. sed Domi­nus Iesus ipse conuiua, & conuiuium, ipse comedens, & qui comeditur, illius bibimus sanguinem, & sine ipso potare non possumus, & quotidiè in sacrificijs eius de genimine vitis verae, & vineae sorec, quae interpreta­tur, Electa, rubentia musta calcamus, & nouum ex his vinum bibimus de regno Patris: Moses gaue not vs this true bread, but the Lord Iesus, saith S. Hierom, he is the guest, and the banquet; the feeder, and the foode; wee drinke his blood, and without him wee cannot drinke: dayly in his sa­crifices wee treade those chosen, red, sweete wines, out of the fruit of the true vine, and vine­yard, sorec: and out of those wee drinke the new wine of the kingdome of the Father. Cuiusdā Serm. d [...] Coena Do­mini inter opera Ber. In coena illa munerans, & munus, Cibans, & cibus, conuiua, & conuiuium, offerens, & oblatio: He is the giuer, and the gift, the feeder and the foode, the guest and the feast, the offerer, and the oblation: In which respect the Eucharist, Dion. Areop. c. 5 de Hier. Eccle­siast. by Dionysius is called, Omnium Sacramentorum consummatio, or, perfectis­simum Sacramentum: The consummation of all the Sacraments, or the most perfect Sacrament. Medicamentum immortalitatis, antidotum non mo­riendi, sed viuendi, per Iesum Christum in Deo, Ca­tharticum expellens malum: It is the Physicke of [Page 103]immortalitie; the antidote or preseruatiue against death giuing life in God by Iesus Christ, the me­dicine purging of all vices, or driuing away all e­uils, so Ignatius. It is Cibus inconsumptibilis, Epist. ad Ephes. vn­consumable meate, so Cyprian: De Coena Dom. Pignus salutis aeter­nae, tutela fidei, & spes resurrectionis: It is the pledge of eternall saluation, the defence of faith, and the hope of resurrection, so Optatus.

S. Cyrill goeth further: Lib. 10. in Ioan. c. 13. Considerandum est non habitudine solùm, quae per charitatem intelligitur, Christum in nobis esse, verum etiam & participatio­ne naturali. Nam quemadmodum si igne liquefactam ceram, aliae cerae similiter liquefactae miscueris, vt v­num quid ex vtris (que) factum videatur, sic communica­tione corporis & sanguinis Christi ipse in nobis est, & nos in ipso: Consider (saith hee) that Christ is in vs, not onely by an habitude, which is vnder­stood by charitie; but also by a naturall partici­pation: for as waxe, if it bee melted by the fire, is so mingled with other melted waxe, that it makes one waxe of both; so by the communi­cation of the body and blood of Christ; he (that is, Christ) is in vs, and wee in him. And hee prooues it out of S. Paul; The bread that we breake, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? De fide ortho­dox. lib. 4. c. 14. And Damascen explaining those words, saith, Commu­nicamus, & per ipsum Christo, & participamus eius carne & diuinitate, & quia communicamus, & vni­mur inuicem per illam: nam quia ex vnopane parti­pamus omnes, vnum corpus Christi, & vnus sanguis, & inuicem membra efficimur, concorporati Christo existentes: Wee communicate with Christ by [Page 104]the Eucharist, and participate his flesh and Deitie; and because we communicate, wee are vnited a­mong our selues by it: for because wee all parti­cipate of one bread, wee are made one body of Christ, and one blood, and members one of an other, being incorporated with Christ.

S. Conf. lib. 7. c. 10. Augustine sayd excellently well in the per­son of Christ, Cibus sum grandium, cresce & man­ducabis me, nec tu me in te mutabis, sicut cibum car­nis tuae, sed tu mutaberis in me: I am the meate of strong men, growe and thou shalt eate mee, nei­ther shalt thou change mee into thee, as thou doest the meate of thy flesh, but thou shalt bee changed into mee. De passione Do­mini Serm. 14. And S. Leo in like sort, Non aliud agit participatio corporis & sanguinis Christi, quàm vt in id quod sumimus transeamus: The par­ticipation of the body & blood of Christ, workes nothing else but this, De Sacram. lib. c. 4. that we shall become that which wee receiue. S. Ambrose saith, Qui vulnus habet, Idem Aug. de verbis Domini Serm. 28. medicinam requirit; vulnus est, quia sub pec­cato sumus, medicina est coeleste & venerabile Sa­cramentum: Hee that hath a wound let him re­quire physicke; the wound is, that we are vnder sinne, and the medicine is the heauenly and ve­nerable Sacrament.

But why doe I trouble my selfe with many authorities? When as it is confessed by all, that in this Sacrament wee receiue the Body and Blood of Christ, Instit. l. 4. ca. 17 as Caluin doth most fully proue; and Beza in an Epistle to Caluin, Epist. 309. Ad secundum ve­rò non ponimus, inquam, pro re significatâ in Sacra­mentis, ipsum tantùm meritum passionis Christi, sed [Page 105]ipsissimum corpus cruci affixum, sanguinem ipsissi­mum in cruce effusum pro nobis. In summâ, Christus ipsemet verus Deus & homo, nobis significatur per il­la signa, vt attollamus corda nostra, ad illum contem­plandum spiritualitèr fide, in coelis, vbi nunc est: at (que) ita communicamus cum omnibus ipsius bonis, & the­sauris in vitam a [...]ernam; id (que)tam verè, tam (que) cervò quam verum ac certum est, nos naturalitèr videre, accipere, edere, bibere, signa illa quae videntur à nobis, & sunt corporea: To the second; for the thing signified in the Sacraments, I say, We put not the merit of Christs passion onely, but the same bo­die that was nailed on the Crosse, and the same blood that was shed on the Crosse for vs. In summe, Christ himselfe, true God, and man is signified vnto vs by those signes, that we may lift vp our hearts, to contemplate him spiritually by faith, in the heauens, where now he is, and so we communicate with all his goods, and treasures vnto eternall life; and that so truly and certain­ly, as it is true and certaine, that we naturally see, and receiue, and eate and drinke those signes, which are seene of vs, and are corporall. And after, Inter. Epist. Caluius. he addeth the words of the Queene to the Cardinal: Audisne Domine Cardinalis, non aliam esse Sacramentariorum opinionem, quam eam ipsam, quam nunc ipse approbasti? Doe you heare Sir Cardinall, that the opinion of the Sacramenta­ries, is but the same, which you haue approued?

Add to this, that Christ neuer commeth alone, but is euer attended with a traine of graces: and as the Father sendeth the Sonne, God of God, [Page 106]and Light of light, to redeeme vs: so the Father and the Sonne send the holy Ghost, to sanctifie vs. Rom. 8.32. If God hath giuen vs his Sonne, how shall he not with him, freely giue vs all things, saith the Apostle? And that this Sacrament is a Com­munion or participation of Christs Body and Blood, it is apparant in the Apostle, 1. Corinth. 10. And whereas wee participate of Christs Body, and Blood, in the preaching of the word, and in Baptisme; yet this onely Sacrament is called Com­munio, the communication of the Body & Blood of Christ, there must be some special reason of it, namely, a more liuely and neere coniunction of our selues to Christ, that we should indeed be li­uing members, incorporated into his mysticall body, that liue no longer by our owne spirit, but by the Spirit of Christ, who is the spirit of our spirit, the soule of our soules, and the very life of our liues. He is the Sun, from whose beames we receiue the light of grace; the Fountaine, from whom we, as riuers receiue the water of life; The Roote from whom, wee as branches, receiue the sap of increase; and the Head, from whom, we as members receiue being and life. By the force and effect of this Sacrament, wee receiue power against sinne, and Satan, and abilitie to serue God in holinesse and righteousnesse, and the neglect thereof, giueth aduantage to our spirituall ene­mies, whereby we are intangled in many tempta­tions, and fall into many sinnes.

S. Donatiuitate Christi. Cyprian saith, Sacramentorum communicatio per quam illius corporis sinceritati vnimur, nos in tan­tum [Page 107]corroborat, vt de mundo, & de Diabolo, & de no­bis ipsis victoriâ potiamur, & Sacramentali gustu, vi­uificis mysterijs inhaerentes, vna caro, & vnus spiritus simus, dicente Apostolo: Qui adhaeret Domino, vnus spiritus est: The Communication of the Sacra­ments, by which we are vnited to the sinceritie of his body, doth so farre forth corroborate vs, that we obtaine victory ouer the world, the deuil, and our selues; And by this Sacramentall tast, adhe­ring to the life-giuing mysteries, we are one flesh, and one spirit, as the Apostle saith, He that adhae­reth to God, is one spirit with him. Againe, Pa­nis hic azymus cibus verus & sincerus, per speciem, De Caena Domini. & Sacramentum nos tactu sanctificat, fide illuminat, ve­ritate, Christo conformat: & sicut panis communis, quem quotidie edimus, vitaest corporis, it a panis iste supersubstantialis vita est animae, & sanit as mentis: This vnleauened bread, the true and sincere meat by a shew or Sacrament, sanctifieth by the touch, illuminateth by faith, and by trueth conformeth to Christ: and as common bread, which we eate daily, is the life of the body, so this supersubstan­tiall bread is the life of the soule, and the health of the minde.

S. Ambrose saith, Venias ad cibum Christi, In Psal. 118. Serm. 15. ad ci­bum corporis Dominici, ad epulas Sacramenti, ad illud poculum, quo fidelium inebriantur affectus: vt laetiti­am induas de remissione peccati, curas seculi huius, metum mortis, solicitudines (que) deponas: Come to the meat of Christ, to the banquet of the Sacrament, to that cup with which the affections of the faith­full inebriantur are drunken, that thou maiest put [Page 108]on ioy of remission of sinnes, and put off the cares of this world.

And Chrysostome saith, Hom. 24. in 1. Cor. Vt frigida ad Eucharisti­am accessio, periculosa est, it a nulla mysticae illius Coenae participatio, pestis est, & interitus: ipsa nam (que) mensa, anima nostrae vis est, nerui mentis, fiduciae vinculum, spes, salus, lux, & vita nostra: As the cold comming to the Eucharist is dangerous, so no participation of this mysticall Supper is a plague, and death it selfe: for this Table is the strength, and force of our soule, the sinewes of the mind, the band of confidence, our hope, our health, our light, and our life. In Ioan. ho­mil. 45. Againe, Hic mysticus sanguis Demones pro­cul pellit, angelos & angelorum Dominum ad nos alli­cit: Demones enim cum Dominicum sanguinem in nobis vident, in fugam vertuntur, angeli autem con­currunt; his sanguis effusus vniuersum abluit orbem terrarum: This mysticall blood driueth the de­uils afarre of, draweth the Angels, and the Lord of Angels to vs: for the deuils when they see the Lords blood in vs, they are turned to flight, and the Angels come vnto vs; this Blood being pow­red out, doeth wash the whole earth. And a­gaine, In Psal. 22. Qui veniunt ad mensam potentis, consideran­tes ea quae apponuntur eis, accipere cum timore, & tre­more, & tribulationes fiunt consolationes, auferuntur ea quae sunt carnis, infunduntur ea quae sunt spiritus, & ex mensa praeparat a proficiunt contra eos, quitribu­lant eos: To them that come to the Table of the mightie, considering to receiue those things that are set before them with feare and trembling; (feare and trembling, is the gesture of Commu­nicants, [Page 109]with S. Chrysostome, not familiaritie and equalitie of heires that boast of the Prerogatiues of a Table) to them tribulations, are consolati­ons, those things that are of the flesh are taken a­away, and those things that are of the spirit are powred in, and by this prepared Table they pro­fit or preuaile against them that trouble them. This made him say, Ad Popul. An­tioch. homil. 61. Tanquam Leones ignem spi­rantes, ab illa mensa recedimus, facti Diabolo terribi­les; As Lions that breath fire, we depart from this Table, made terrible to the diuel, &c. And after: Parentes quidem alijs sepè filios tradunt alendos, ego autem (inquit) non ita: sed carnibus meis alo, meip­sum vobis appono, vos omnes generosos esse volens, & bonas vobis praetendens de futuris exspectationes: Pa­rents often deliuer their children to others to be nourished, or brought vp: but I doe not so, saith the Lord, but with mine owne flesh I nourish them, and set my selfe before them, willing to haue them all noble, and pretending good expe­ctations to them of future things.

This made S. Cyprian to say, Epist. 54. Non infirmis sed fortibus pax necessaria est, nec morientibus sed vi­uentibus communicatio â nobis danda est, vt quos ex­citamus & hortamur ad praelium, non inermes, & nu­dos relinquamus, sed protectione sanguinis & corporis Christi muniamus, &c. Peace is necessary, not onely to the weake, but to the strong, the Communion is gi­uen by vs, not to the dead, but to the liuing, that wee may not leaue them vnarmed, whom wee excite and exhort to the battell, but arme them with the prote­ction of the Blood and Body of Christ. And, whereas [Page 110]the Eucharist is ordained for this end, that it may hee a defence to the receiuers; Let vs arme them with the muniment of the Lords saturitie, whom wee desire to be safe against the aduersary; For how doe we teach, or prouoke them to shed their blood in the confession of Christs name, if we deny to them, going to fight, the Blood of Christ? Giue them the Cup of Christ, that are to drinke the cup of Martyrdome. Serm. de Bapt. in Coena Dom. I conclude this point with S. Bernard; Duo illud Sacramentum ope­ratur in nobis, vt videlicet, & sensum minuat in mi­nimis, & in grauioribus peccatis tollat omnino consen­sum: si quis vestrum non tam saepe modò, nontam acerbos sentit iracundiae motus, inuidiae, luxuriae, aut caeterorum huiusmodi, gratias agat corpori, & sangui­ni Domini, quoniam virtus Sacramenti operatur in eo: & gaudeat quod pessimum vlcus accedat ad sani­tatem: This Sacrament (saith he) worketh two things in vs, it diminisheth sense in small faults, and in great sinnes it altogether taketh away con­sent: if any of you feele not so often, nor so sharpe motions of anger, or enuie, of luxurie, or the like, let him giue the thanks to the Body and Blood of Christ, for the power of the Sacrament worketh in him: and let him reioyce, because the worst soare draweth neere to health.

Now, Luke 15. what shall I say more? The Sonne of God, as the Sheepheard, seeketh vs, and carrieth vs to the fold of the Church; The holy Ghost, as the woman, lighteth the candle of knowledge, and sweepeth the house by obedience, and san­ctitie; and there remaineth but one onely grea­ter gift, the vision and possession of God the Fa­ther, [Page 111]who is our exceeding great reward. The two first, of the Sonne, and the holy Ghost, per­taine to grace; the third, of God the Father, be­longeth to glory. The two first are in the way, the third in the Country in the end of the way. What greater gifts could God giue vs, then those, that he hath giuen in this Sacrament, that is, not creatures, but the Creator, the second and third person in the Trinitie, the Sonne and the holy Ghost? Quem horum contemnitis? which of these two can wee despise? The Sonne, whose members wee are? or the holy Ghost, whose Temples we are? If God had giuen vs the best of his creatures, wee ought with all reuerence to haue receiued them, & kneeling had bene decent and necessary, Respectu doni & donātis, both in re­spect of the gift it selfe, which far surmoūteth all proportion of desert in vs: but much more of the giuer, whose incomparable and infinite greatnes, and loue, more then infinite, requireth all reue­rence of body and soule, of vs vile wretched sin­ners, who deserue punishment, and receiue re­mission, and life euerlasting. But when he gi­ueth Creatorem, the Creator, the Sonne, and the eternall Word that made all things, and the holy Ghost, who is Charitas increata, vncreated and essentiall charitie; and Donum, the gift, that is, both the gift of God, and God himselfe, can any deuotion or adoration of the soule, and prostra­tion, and bowing, or kneeling of the bodie bee too humble, nay, humble enough when wee come to the Table of the Lord, there to receiue, [Page 112]not Panem Domini, the bread of the Lord alone, as Iudas did, but Panem Dominum, the Lord him­selfe, the bread, and meate, and drinke of our soules? The people of Israel who were a stiffe­necked people, when Moses tolde them the law of the Passeouer, Exod. 12.27. Incuruatus adorauit, bowed themselues and worshipped or adored: and that was but Typus, the Type, and Lex, the Law of the Passeouer, and not the true Passeouer: But this Sacrament containeth Christ, the true Passe­ouer: and shall wee not much more bow downe and kneele, when wee receiue this trueth, and substance? If the King that is but a mortal man, whose breath is in his nostrils, giue vs a pardon, or some great gift and office, who is so proud but hee will stoope and bow downe his head, and kneele, nay kisse his feete? And the grea­ter the Kings grace is, the greater will be the re­ceiuers humiliation. And shall we denie that to God, which we euery day tender to man?

So then, as Religion taught men naturall and ciuill dueties, to Parents, to Kings, and to Priests, and benefactors, to kneele, and to bow the head in reuerence, when wee receiue naturall and ci­uill gifts: so let nature and ciuilitie, as Riuers, re­turne their streames to the Sea of Gods good­nesse, whence they take their beginning, and teach men the dueties of Religion and deuo­tion; to bow the head, and the bodie and the knees with all reuerence and humilitie to God, who giueth not onely naturall, but also superna­turall and diuine graces, and glory it selfe: nay, [Page 113]that giueth himselfe, and his Sonne, and his ho­ly spirit for vs, and to vs, in this Sacrament. And let Fathers and Masters on earth learne, euen of their children, and seruants on Earth, to do their duetie to their Father that is in Heauen. Thou bowest and kneelest to thy Father, thy Master, thy Prince, thy ghostly Father in earth, who are but instruments, and vnder-agents of thy being, and conseruation in nature, and grace, and therein doest but thy duetie: And wilt thou not much more kneele, and bow to thy Master, and King, and Father, and God in Heauen, who is the first, and supreame Author and cause of our naturall and supernaturall being, in grace and glory? If thou doe it to Gods Image, much more doe it to God himselfe: for Gratiam, Psal. 84.12. & glo­riam dabit Dominus, grace, and glorie are both the gifts of God: and because they bee the grea­test gifts, they must bee receiued with greatest reuerence and humiliation, and therefore with kneeling.

Ratio 4. Tremenda mysteria.

I Come to the fourth Reason, and that is, My­steriorum dignitas, the dignitie of the mysteries. And that surely is great, since they exhibite Christ vnto vs: for as it appeareth in the former Reasons, in this Sacrament God giueth his Son Christ; and Christ giueth himselfe to be our food. And therefore since wee receiue the bread of Heauen, and the soode of Angels, we may well [Page 114]thinke the Church to bee another heauen vnto vs, where God feedeth vs with his Sonne, and the Angels assist and minister in this feast. And in that respect, all humilitie of soule and bodie, and consequently kneeling, is most fit for this holy action of consecration, and participation of this heauenly and Angelicall foode.

Moses beheld a burning bush in the wilder­nesse, Exod. 3.5. and hee might not come neere it, vntill hee had put off his shooes; the reason is, because, Locus in quo stas, terrasancta est: the place wher­on thou standest is holy ground: and is not this sacred mystery as holy, if not more holy then this burning bush, since it hath vim Sanctifican­tem, a sanctifying power in all them that receiue it with true contrition, and faith? When God appeared to Iacob at Bethel, Gen. 28.16, 17 Iacob said, Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not, and hee was a­fraid, and said, Quam terribilis est hic locus? How dreadfull is this place? This is none other but Domus Dei, Gen. 31.13. and Porta Coeli; the house of God, and the gate of heauen; and God calleth himselfe the God of Bethel. But this mystery goes fur­ther; It is not Domus, but Mensa Dei, not the House onely, but the Table of God; not Porta, but Cibus Celi; not the gate onely, but the foode of heauen; yea, Christ that is God and man, is here offered, and receiued; and therefore as that was Locus terribilis, a dreadfull place, so this is, Actio terribilis, an action, not of familiarity, which breedes presumption, and presumption begets contempt, but of dread and reuerence; [Page 115]and therefore to be vndertaken with all deuotion of soule, and humiliation and kneeling of bodie. And if holinesse doe become Domum Dei, Psal. 93.6. the house of God for euer, much more doth holines become Deum Bethel, the God of Bethel, the God of that house. If holinesse become the materi­all house, or Temple, much more doth it be­come the spirituall house, and table of the Lord, in which wee offer our soules and bodies, to be spirituall Temples to the Lord.

And this holinesse must make a difference of the Lords body, from other meates: 1. Cor. 11.29. for some eate and drinke their owne damnation, because they discerne not the Lords bodie. And what is it to discerne the Lords bodie? Doth hee dis­cerne or make a difference of the Lords body, that commeth to this Sacrament with no more respect or reuerence then hee commeth to his ordinarie supper? Doth hee discerne the Lords bodie, that adoreth and kneeleth to the Ele­ments, and giueth the worship to the creature, which is due onely to the Creator? Doth hee discerne the Lords body that commeth to this Sacrament, Pompaticè, & gloriosè, pompously, Cyprian de Coena Dom. and gloriously, without all contrition and sorrow for guiltinesse of sinne, without all praise, and thanks for the great blessings hee is to receiue, without any prayer, that hee may worthily receiue those great mysteries? Doth hee discerne the Lords bodie that commeth to these mysteries rashly, and presumptuously, as if he were coequall, and hailefellow with Christ, when as wee should in­deed [Page 116]come cum timore & tremore, Chrysost. with feare and trembling, in respect of Gods greatnesse, and our owne vnworthinesse, to receiue these sacred my­steries: So then these holy mysteries by their dignitie and greatnesse, should strike an awe and reuerence in vs, when we come to the Lords Ta­ble, and procure adoration and kneeling: not to them, for they are but creatures, consecrated to an holy vse; but to the Creator, that feedeth vs in such holy, yet fearefull maner.

In which respect the ancient Fathers spake of these mysteries with great reuerence; Hom. 24. in 1. Cor. 10.16. chiefly S. Chrysostom, who expounding the words of S. Paul, The cup of blessing which we blesse, &c. saith, Quid dicis O beate Paule? volens auditori pudorem suf­fundere, & reuerendorum mentionem faciens my­steriorum: benedictionis Calicem vocas illum terri­bilem, & maximè formidandū calicem? certè, inquit, non est enim paruum quod dictū est. Nam quando dico benedictionem, explico omnem thesaurum beneficen­tiae Dei, & magna illa dona in memoriam reuoco. Nam nos quoque ad calicem recensentes ineffabilia Dei be­neficia, & quaecun (que) sumus adepti, it a ipsum offerimus, & communicamus gratias agentes, quod ab errore li­berarit hominum genus: What sayest thou blessed Paul, when thou wilt confound the Auditor, mentioning the dreadfull mysteries? thou callest that fearefull cup horroris plenum, full of horror, the cup of blessing: It is true, for it is no small thing that is said: for when I call it blessing, I call it the Eucharist, and calling it the Eucharist, I open the treasure of all the benignitie of God: for with [Page 117]this Cup we reckon the vnspeakeable benefits of God, and whatsoeuer we haue obtained; So wee come to him, and communicate with him, gi­uing thankes to him that hath freed mankinde from error. And mentioning elsewhere this Sa­crifice, horrore & reuerentia plenissimū, most full of horror and reuerence he saith, Per id tempus, Lib. 6. de Sa­cord. et an­gelisacerdoti assident, & coelestiū potestatū vniuersus ordo clamores excitat, & locus altari vicinus, in illius honorem, qui immolatur, angelorū choris plenus est, id quod credere abundè licet, velex tanto illo Sacrificio, quod tum peragitur: At that time (the time of the Consecration of the Sacrament) the Angels stand by the Priest, and the vniuersal order of the heauenly powers do raise vp cries; And the place neere the Altar is filled with the quires of angels, in the honour of him that is immolated: which may abundantly bee beleeued, by that great Sa­crifice which is then performed. Lib. 3. Againe in the third booke, Dum conspicis Dominum immolatum, Sacerdotem sacrificio incumbentem, ac preces funden­tem, tum vero turbam circumfusam pretioso illo san­guine in tingi, ac rube fieri, etiamnè te inter mortales versari, at (que) in terrâ consistere censes? ac nonpotiusè vestigio in coelos transferri? While thou behol­dest the Lord offered vp, and the Priest sacrifi­cing, and the present multitude to be dipped, and made redd with that precious Blood, doest thou thinke that thou doest conuerse among mortall men on earth? Or rather that thou art suddenly translated into heauen? And after hee inferreth, Hoc ergo mysterium, omnium maximè horrendum, [Page 118]verendum (que), quis tandem qui sanus in idem minimè sit, qui (que) è potestate non exierit, fastidire, ac despi­cere poterit? What man that is not madd and out of his wits, can despise or loath this mysterie, of all others most dreadfull, and fearefull? And S. Cyprian long before him said, Cyprian. de C [...]na Dom. Sanguinem sugimus, & intra redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam, quo interiùs, exteriús (que) rubricati, à sapientibus huius seculi, iudicamur amentes: Wee sucke his Blood, and put our tongues into the wounds of our Re­deemer, with which being made redd within, and without, wee are iudged to be madd by the wise men of this world. S. Augustine interpreting the words of the Lords prayer, Giue vs this day our dayly bread, vnderstandeth [...], supersub­stantiall bread to be the Eucharist, which is called dayly bread; Augustinus de verbis Dom. serm. 28. And then he addeth, Si quotidianus est panis, cur post annum, illum sumis? accipe quotidi [...], quod quotidiè tibi prosit, sic viue vt quotidie merearis accipere: Idem habet Ambrosius. qui non meretur quotidie accipere, non meretur post annum accipere: quomodo sanctus Iob, quotidie pro filijs offerebat sacrificium, ne forte ali­quid vel in corde, vel in sermone peccassent. Ergo tu audis, quod quotiescun (que) offertur sacrificium, mors Do­mini, resurrectio Domini, eleuatio Domini significe­tur, & remissio peccatorum; & panem istum vitae no­strae quotidianum non assumis? Qui vulnus habet, medicinam requirit: vulnus est, quia sub peccato su­mus, medicina est coeleste & venerabile Sacramen­tum: If it be daily bread, why doest thou receiue it once in the yeere? receiue it dayly, that it may daily profit thee: Liue so that thou mayest ob­taine [Page 119]to receiue it dayly; he that obtaineth not to receiue it dayly, obtaineth not to receiue it after a yeere. As holy Iob offered Sacrifice dayly for his sonnes, lest perchance they should offend in thought, or word: Doest thou heare that as often as the Sacrifice is offered, the death of the Lord, the resurrection of the Lord, and the ascention of the Lord is signified, and remission of sinne? and doest thou not receiue this dayly bread of life? He that is wounded seeketh physicke; Now thy wound is sinne, and the medicine is the hea­uenly and venerable Sacrament. I cannot stand to reckon all the titles at large, that the Fathers giue to this Sacrament: I add S. Chrysostome, for he is most copious in these amplifications, Chrisostom. Homil. 24. in 1. Cor. and ex­aggerations vpon these words, Calix benedictio­nis, the Cup of blessing which we blesse. Valde fi­deliter dixit, & terribilitèr, hoc est autem quod dicit: Id quod est in Calice, est id quod fluxit è latere, & illius sumus participes: Calicem autem benedictionis voca­uit, quod eam habentes in manibus, sic eum hymnis, & laudibus prosequimur, admirantes: Caeleste donum stupentes, benedicentes, bonis (que) verbis prosequentes, quod eum ipsum effudit, ne maneremus in errore; & non solum effudit, sed etiam eum ipsum nobis imper­tijt: Quamobrem si sanguinem (inquit) cupis, non a­ram Idolorum, brutorum caede, sed meum altare, meo cruentum sanguine: quid est hoc horribilius? quid autem amabilius? He speaketh very faithfully, and terribly, and this is that which hee saith: That which is in the Cup, is that which issued out of his side, and we are partakers of it. And he called [Page 120]it the Cup of blessing, because hauing it in our hands, we do, admiring, folow him with hymnes, and praises, wondering at his ineffable gift, bles­sing, and setting forth with good words, that hee hath powred it out, that wee should not abide in error; and not onely he hath powred it out, but also giuen the selfe-same to vs: wherefore (saith he) if thou desire this Blood, not the altar of I­dols, bloody with slaine beasts, but my Altar bloody with mine owne Blood: what is more horrible, and yet what more amiable then this? And againe, Ad populum Antiochenum. Hom. 61. Hic sanguis effusus est, & coelum facit accessibile, horrenda scilicet Ecclesiae mysteria, horren­dum altare. This Blood is shed, and maketh hea­uen accessible, that is to say, the dreadfull myste­ries of the Church, and the dreadfull Altar. And in the same place: Tu vero petens Sacrificium quod horrent Angeli: When thou goest to the Sacrifice which the Angels dread; and in the next words hee calleth this Sacrament, Tribunal Christi, the Tribunall of Christ; And after, Considera, quaeso, mensa Regalis est apposita, Angeli mensae ministran­tes, ipse Rex adest; & tu adstas oscitans? sordescunt ti­bi vestimenta & nihil est tibi curae? at pura sunt, igi­tur adora, & communica: Consider I pray you, a Kingly feast is prouided: the Angels minister at the Table: the King himselfe is present, and standest thou gaping? thy garments are foule, and takest thou no care? but thy garments are pure: Adore then and Communicate. Quo non oportet igitur esse puriorem, tali fruentem Sa­crificio? quo solari radio non splendidiorem manum, [Page 121]carnem hanc diuidentem? os quod igne spirituali re­pletur: linguam quae tremendo nimis sanguine ru­bescit? What shall I say then, but that he must be cleerer then the Sunne beames, that distributes this flesh, and haue a mouth filled with heauenly fire, and a tongue red with this fearefull blood, that will duely receiue this reuerend Sacrament: for it is not man, but God that feedeth vs, and it is not earthly, but heauenly food, wherewith we are refreshed.

And therefore I maruell not, 1. Cor. 11.10. if the Apostle say, that women must bee couered in the Church Propter Angelos, for the Angels: Gen. 28.12, 13 When God (as on Iacobs ladder) standeth and beholdeth, and the Angels are present, and ascend and descend, and the Priest doth represent the person of Christ, in the consecration, and the people be as the Apo­stles, that receiue these dreadfull mysteries. For bee it, that the Angels bee there vnderstood, An­gels per naturam, by nature and creation, as the blessed Angels that are Gods ministring spirits, or Angels per officium, by office, that haue the power of consecrating these dreadfull mysteries; All reuerence is due to that sacred worke where­of God is the giuer, Christ the gift it selfe, the holy Ghost supreme agent, the Angels assistants, and the Bishops and Priests, Angels by office, are instruments; and the mysteries themselues so dreadful & reuerend, that the lowest of humility, is scant lowly enough, for so great graces: Since, Dial. lib. 4. c. 58. as Gregorie speaketh, Quis fidelium habere dubium possit, in ipsa immolationis hora, ad Sacerdotis vocem [Page 122]Coelos aperiri in illo Iesu Christi mysterio, Angelorum choros adesse, summis ima sociari, terrena coelestibus iungi, vnū quiddam ex visibilibus at (que) inuisibilibus fieri? What faithfull man can doubt, that in the houre of immolation, at the voice of the Priest, the heauens are open, the quires of Angels are present in those mysteries of Iesus Christ, the highest are sociated to the lowest, earthly things are ioyned to heauenly things; and some one thing is made of things visible and inuisible.

And may this coniunction of heauen & earth, spirit and flesh, Christ & our flesh, be made with­out the greatest humilitie on our part? May wee presume to eate the bread of heauen, & forget the duetie of sinful and earthly men, that are but dust and ashes? No surely: Reuerend & dreadfull my­steries, must haue receiuers that come with re­uerence and dread, and such as our action is, such must be our affection; that is, to receiue that, with feare and trembling, which is so fearefull and dreadfull in it selfe. And men in feare fall to the ground, in horror and confusion, and wee out of humilitie, must prostrate our selues, and bow and kneele on the ground, when wee consi­der that we are but earth and ashes, in compa­rison of the reuerēd mysteries: of which we may well say, Quis ad haec idoneus? Lord who is fit for these things? So then, though we kneele not, nor adore those reuerend mysteries, because they are but creatures; yet wee ought to adore and kneele at the receipt of these mysteries, since we receiue the body & blood of Christ, and Christ [Page 123]himselfe, God and man, to whom all adoration and prostration and kneeling is due.

I conclude this Reason with Chrysostomes wordes; Terram tibi Coelum facit hoc mysterium, In 2. Cor. 10. hom. 24. Aperi ergo coeli portas & perspice, vel potiùs non coeli, sed coeli coelorum: & tunc videbis quod dictum est: nam quod illic est omnium preciocissimum, & maxi­mè honorandum, hoc ostendam tibi situm in terrâ: sicut enim in regiâ, id quod est omnium magnificen­tissimum, non sunt parietes, non tectum aureum, sed corpus Regis sedens in solio: sed hoc tibi nunc licet vi­dere in terrâ: Non enim Angelos, nec Archangelos, neque coelos, & coelos coelorum, sed ipsum eorum osten­do Dominum; vidisti quemadmodum, quod est om­nium praestantissimum, & maxime honorandum vi­des in terra; ne (que) solum vides, sed etiam tangis, sed etiam comedis, & eo accepto domum reuerteris. Si tibi Regis filius cum mundo, & purpura & diademate traditus esset ferendus, quaecunque sunt in terrâ ab­iecisses: Nunc autem non hominis, Regis filium ac­cipiens, sed ipsum vnigenitum Dei Filium, dic rogo non extimescis, et eorum quae ad hanc vitam perti­nent, non omnem expellis amorem? This mystery makes the earth to be heauen vnto thee; open then the gates of heauen, or rather of the heauen of heauens, and behold, and then thou shalt see that which is spoken: For that which is of all o­thers, most precious, and most to bee honored, this will I shew thee vpon earth: as in the Kings Court, that which of all others is most magnificent, is not the walls and golden seeling, but the bodie of the King sitting in his Throne: [Page 124]And that thou mayest now see on earth: for I shew thee not Angels, nor Archangels, nor the heauen, nor the heauens of heauens, but the Lord of them. Thou seest then that which is the best, and most honorable in earth, and thou doest not onely see him, but touch him, and feed on him, and hauing receiued him thou returnest to thy house. If the Kings sonne, and his robe, and his Diademe had been committed to be ca­ried by thee, thou wouldest haue cast away all o­ther things on earth. But now thou hast recei­ued, not the Kings sonne, that is a man, but the onely begotten Sonne of God: tell mee, I pray thee, doest thou not feare, and cast off all the loue of the things that appertaine to this life?

The conclusion then, in short, is this; These dreadfull and reuerend mysteries may bee as Tutors and Schoolemasters to imprint the same dread and reuerence in the soules and bodies, of the receiuers, which they carrie in them­selues: great and reuerend dreadfull mysteries, must bee receiued with great and dreadfull humi­litie of soule, and humiliation of body, of which kneeling is a part, and therefore in the action of participating, and receiuing, wee must kneele, that it may appeare in the sight of God, and his Angels, and men, that wee doe homage and re­uerence to him that feedes vs, by these reuerend mysteries, with the heauenly and diuine foode, whereon the blessed Angels and Saints euer feed, and euer desire to feede. Inhiantes semper edunt, & edentes inhiant: their eating doth not fill, but [Page 125]increase their appetites: and they euer say, Ioan. 6. Lord euermore giue vs this bread.

Ratio 5. Praxis Ecclesiae Militantis.

THe fift Reason is, Praxis Ecclesiae militantis, the practise of the Church militant, which is the best interpreter of the Churches doctrine, in point of outward gesture & Ceremonie: as in the old Testament, Praxis Prophetarum, was In­terpres Prophetarum, the Prophets practise, was the best expounder of the Prophets. In which, because it is not altogether cleare, what Christ and his Apostles did in the first institution, wee must be content to proceede à posteriori, and from the neerest succeeding ages, to collect what they learned from their predecessors, euen from the time of the Apostles.

And first, although it please them that are the fauourers of sitting at the Receiuing of the Co­munion, to take it as granted, that Christ admi­nistred, & the Apostles receiued this Sacrament Discumbentes, sitting, or lying on one side, or lea­ning on one arme, as the custome of that time, and Countrey was; yet the grounds of that con­ceipt are not so cleere as they take them to be.

First then, it must bee obserued, that in this night, in which this Sacrament was instituted, there was Triplex Coena, Paschalis, Vulgaris, Eu­charistica, the Paschal supper according to the Law, Exod. 12. The vulgar supper, of common meates, if the Paschal did not suffice: and the Eu­charisticall, which is the very institution of this [Page 126]Sacrament. And of the Paschall, and Eucharisti­call there is no doubt; The figuratiue Paschall Lambe was to continue vntill the true Paschall Lambe Christ was to bee offered, and then in presence of the Substance, the shadow was to cease, and in the presence of the Truth, the figure was to bee remooued: Leo de Passione Domini, Serm. 7 Vt ouem figuratiuam vera ouis remoueret; hostia in hostiam transit, sanguis san­guinem excludit, & legalis festiuitas, dum muta­tur, impletur: The true Lambe Christ that takes away the sinnes of the world, tooke away the fi­guratiue Lambe; one Sacrifice was translated into another Sacrifice, the blood of Christ exclu­ded all other blood, and the legall festiuitie, while it is changed, is indeed fulfilled.

And Christ was to make his Will and Te­stament before his death, that hee might seale it with his Crosse, & confirme it with his Blood; so Christs death was the end of the figuratiue Passe­ouer, and the beginning of the true Passeouer, that was then offered for vs. And that there were three Suppers, Euthim. in 26. Matt. cap. 63. Euthimius sheweth in these words; De modo autem manducandi, verisimile est quod stan­tes primùm manducauerunt Pascha, secundum legem, deinde discubuerunt & coenauerunt: For the man­ner of eating, it is very likely, that first they did eate the Passeouer standing, according to the Law, then they sate downe and did suppe. And the same will further appeare out of Chrysostome and Theophylact.

I obserue this to this end, to shew how vncer­taine this point of sitting at the celebration of the [Page 127] Eucharist is, when they that ground it vpon the gesture of the Apostles, which they take to be an eternall law, or rule, to all their successors, are forced to make it vp with verisimile est, or non con­stat, it is very likely or probable, that they sate, or there appeareth no other gesture but sitting, when they receiued this Sacrament; For why? Matth. 26.20. S. Matthew saith, Now when the euen was come, Discumbebat, he sate downe with the twelue: but this is plaine to be spoken of the Paschal Supper: for the disciples say to Iesus, Where wilt thou that wee prepare for thee to eate the Passeouer? Vers. 17. & 19. And the disciples did as Iesus appoin­ted them, and they made ready the Passeouer; And then follow the words, When the Euen was come, he sate downe with the twelue: so this Dis­cumbebat was in coena Paschali, this sitting was at the Paschal Supper; And the Eucharistical Supper was begunne after the end of the Paschal Supper, Luke 22.20. 1. Cor. 11.25. as it is plaine in S. Luke, and S. Paul, Et postquam coe­nasset, and after Supper hee tooke the Cup: And two seuerall Suppers, might haue two gestures. And it is a very poore argument to conclude thus, Christ sate with his Apostles at the Paschal Supper, and likewise at the vulgar supper, if there were any: therefore he sate also at the Eucharisti­cal Supper. For though S. Matthew say, Matth. 26.26. Coenanti­bus illis, while they did eate, Luke 22.20. 1. Cor. 11.25. Christ tooke bread and blessed it, and brake it, &c. Yet S. Luke, and S. Paul expound his meaning to be postquam coena­uit, after Supper, or in the end of Supper, be­tweene Supper, and rising to goe to the Mount [Page 128] Oliuet. Caluin. harmo. Euangel. in Matih. 26. And Caluin saith, Finita coena, sacrum parem & vinum gustarunt, they tasted the sacred Bread and Wine, Supper being ended.

S. Marke hath the same narration of the pre­paration of the Passeouer, and then addeth, In the euening Iesus came with the twelue, Mar. 14.17, 18. and as they sate and did eate, our Sauiour told them, that one that did eate with him, should betray him. And in the 22. verse, he saith as S. Matthew did, Manducantibus illis, as they did eate, Iesus tooke bread, &c. But S. Luke maketh it most cleare: for after the phrase of sitting downe with the twelue, hee describeth two Cups, one of the Paschal, or common Supper, of which he said, Diuidite inter vos, Take this, and diuide it among your selues; the other of the E­uangelicall Supper, Luke 22.14.17.19. in the 19. Verse, He tooke bread: And in the 20. Verse: Likewise after Supper hee tooke the Cup. And lest any, out of the former wordes should gather, that onely the Clergie should taste of the Cup, and the people should be debarred of the Blood of Christ, because, of the Paschal Cup, he had said, Diuidite inter vos, Diuide it among you; Of the Eucharistical Cup he saith in S. Matthew, Matth. 26. ver. 27. Bibite ex hoc omnes, Drinke you all of this; all for whom my Blood is powred out.

S. Iohn omitteth this Eucharisticall Supper, or the institution of this Sacrament, as being fully related by the other Euangelists: but he mentio­neth his rising from Supper, and the washing of his Disciples feete; And then hee addeth, So after hee had washed their feete, and had taken his garments, and was set downe againe; He said vnto [Page 129]them, &c. So it seemeth this sitting was, ad pra­dicandum, to teach them the vse of washing their feete, and to discouer the traitor Iudas: and then to fall into that excellent diuine Sermon, equall to that in the Mount, continued in the 14.15.16. and 17. Chapters. So then it is cleare, that they sate at the Paschal or common Supper: but of the Sacrament here is altum silentium, not one word in particular in all the Gospel.

Secondly, it is not cleare, that the word dis­cumbebat in the Euangelists, doeth necessarily in­force sitting: For why? Discumbere, in the strict letter of the Text, must be vnderstood of the ma­ner of the sitting, vsuall in that Countrey at their Feasts; which was partly lying on the ground, and partly leaning on one side, or arme, as the Poet said, Strato discumbitur ostro. And it is the more probable, because it is cleare in the Text, that S. Iohn leaned on our Sauiours breast, which he might easily doe in this lying, or leaning, but hardly in sitting. And then, if the Apostles ge­sture in receiuing this Sacrament, be a perpetuall rule, and patterne for vs, we must neither stand, nor kneele, nor sit, but lye on the ground, or on pilowes, or beds, and leane as the custome then was. So that it doeth not necessarily enforce Ge­stum actionis, but actionem ipsam, not the gesture of the action, which is lying, or leaning, but the acti­on it selfe: that is Discumbebat, (i.) Coenabat, he sate downe, that is, he went to Supper.

Besides, there is yet a further difficultie, which is not easily remoued, that ariseth our of the strict [Page 130]sense of this word: For if Christs Discumbere, be sedere, if this supping be sitting, I would be glad to receiue an answere, how our Sauiour can bee excused from the breach of the Law of the Passe­ouer: For though it bee not expresly said in the Text, Exod. 12. Comedetis stantes, you shall eate it standing; yet all the circumstances of the Text are strong, and pregnant, that they did stand at the Passeouer. The maner is described thus, the word sic comedetis, you shall eate it thus, doeth im­ply the maner to be kept inuiolably, vntil Christ the true Passeouer, should be offered vp. For this is the Law of the Passeouer, and an ordinance for euer, which they must teach their children: and therefore to bee kept not onely by them, that were at the first institution, but to continue to all posteritie; and not to be changed nor altered by the Iewes at any time, no not by our Sauiour Christ himselfe, who came not to dissolue one title of the Law, but to fulfill it, that therein hee might fulfill all righteousnesse.

First then, accingetis renes vestros, you shall eate it, with your loynes girded; that was no way fit for sitters, or leaners: for why should they haue their loynes girded, that were to take their ease, and rest? As if it should be said, that he that goeth to his rest, should put on his armour: since loose garments are fittest for repose and rest, and girt garments are fittest for them that minister, or trauaile; that they may bee light and nimble in the way, or in their seruice. So the girding of their loynes is a preparation to setting out in a iour­ney, [Page 131]for which wee are most ready when wee stand on our feete, as S. Peter when hee was led out of prison, Act. 12.8. was commanded by the Angel to gird himselfe.

Next it is, calceamenta habebitis in pedibus; you shall eate it with your shooes on your feete: and the Iewes custome was to put off their shooes at their comming into the house, Luk. 7.44. and wash their feete, and then to eate or repose themselues. Act. 12.8. And S. Peter was bidden to bind on his Sandals when he was led out of the prison by the Angel: so that it seemes they put not on their shooes vntill they were ready to set forward on their iourney.

Thirdly, it is Baculos tenentes in manibus, you shall eate the Passeouer with your staues in your hands; and nothing is more cumbersome in a feast, then a staffe in ones hand; there is more neede of a knife, or a cuppe at a supper, then a staffe.

And lastly, comedetis festinantes; you shal eate it in haste, for it is the Lords Passeouer. In haste? then there is no leisure to sit, nor is it fit to lose so much time as to arise from the bed, or ground; stāding is fitter for such haste, thē lying or sitting: and what should vpper garments, girt vpō vs, do in such hot Countreys, at a feast? or foule shooes to pollute the beds? or staues in our hands, to trouble our eating? And when there is such haste that wee are in doubt to be thrust out, if wee goe not of our selues, stāding in all reason is the fittest site, or position of such posters. And therefore though the word standing be not in the Text, yet [Page 132]all the circumstances do conuince, that the Iewes stood at the Passeouer.

And it seemes, the Apostle had a relation to this gesture of the Passeouer, in the whole armor of God, Ephes. 6.14. when hee sayd, state succincti lumbos, stand therefore with your loynes girded with the girdle of trueth, and your feete shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; standing is the fittest gesture for Souldiers and trauailers: so long as they stand, they are on their way; so the reason of the Text speakes for standing at the Passeouer, although the letter haue it not. And then since the Euangelists vse the word Discumbe­bat, hee leaned, or lay downe, as the proprietie of the word imports, of the Paschall supper, this sitting, or leaning, or lying, must bee stan­ding, or els Christ must be a breaker of the lawe of the Passeouer, which were great wrong once to thinke of him, that did many things that were not needfull for him to doe, that he might fulfill all righteousnesse.

Againe, De sacrificijs Abel & Cain. Philo Iudaeus that knew best the pra­ctise of the Iewes, allegorizing those other cir­cumstances of girt loynes, and shooes on their feete, and staues in their hands, saith plainely, stent (que) recti firmatis pedibus, let them stand vp­right, their feet set or fixed: whereby it appeares to bee the custome of the Iewes to stand at the Passeouer, Hom. 60. ad po­pul Antioch. ha­bet, & verba eadem hom 83. in Mattheum. by the testimonie of a Iew of great credit among Christians. S. Chrysostome is of the same iudgement. Nam si Iudaei stantes, & calcea­menta manibus gestantes, & baculos, agnum cum fe­stinatione [Page 133]comedebant te multò magis oportet esse solertem: If the Iewes standing, and carrying shooes and staues in their hands, did eate the Lambe in haste, it becommeth thee to bee much more diligent. Hom. 82. in Matth [...]u [...]. And againe he asketh this questi­on, Quomodo autem si pascha comedebant, aduersus legem recūbentes comedebant? If they did eate the Passeouer, how is it that they did eate it sitting, or lying, or leaning, contrary to the Law? And he answeres himselfe: Sed dicere possumus, quia post­quam comederant Pascha, ad coenandum recubuerunt: We may say, that after they had eaten the Passe­ouer, they sate, or lay, or leaned downe to sup­per. So there was a vulgar supper, after the Pas­chall, besides the Eucharisticall; and S. Chryso­stomes iudgement is cleere, that the law comman­ded standing at the Passeouer, and that sitting, lying, or leaning at the Passeouer was against the Law of God.

Theophylact is of the same iudgement: In matt. 26. Ex hoc putant quidam, quod hoc anno, Pascha non comederit Dominus: Dicunt enim quod stantes comedebant ag­num, Christus autem recumbens tradidit suum Sa­cramentum: Vpon this occasion some thinke, that our Lord this yeere did not eate the Passeo­uer, for they say that they did eate the Passeouer standing, and Christ lying, or leaning, In Marc. 14. did deli­uer his Sacrament. Againe, Quomodo accumbe­bat, cum lex praeciperet à stantibus comedendum Pas­cha? Verisimile igitur primum est, post perfecta ea quae sunt legis, deinde recubuisse proprium Pascha traditurum: How did they sit or lye, when [Page 134]as the Law commanded the Passeouer to bee ea­ten by standers? It is likely that first, they did perfect those things which were legall, and then Christ sate, or lay downe when he deliuered his owne Passeouer. In Luc. 22. Againe, Pascha olim stantes come­debant: quomodo igitur Dominus recumbere dicitur? Dicunt ita (que) quod postquam comedit legale Pascha, re­cubuerunt more vulgari, comedentes alios quosdam cibos: In former times they did eate the Passeo­uer standing, how then is our Lord said to sit, or lye? They say that after he had eaten the legall Passeouer, they sate, or lay downe, eating cer­taine other meates, after the common fashion. In all which you see Theophylact is cleere, that they did euer eate the Passeouer standing, and that our Sauiour and his Apostles did eate it stan­ding, according to the Law. And though hee saith, in S. Matthew and S. Marke that he deliue­red his owne supper sitting or lying, yet here he saith, they sate at their vulgar, or common sup­per; and Euthimius saith, Quod (que) lex stantes edere iuberet? To these I may adde two great learned men of this later age, although our aduersaries, Ioannes Maldonatus, In Matt. c. 26. and Lucas Brugensis vpon the 26. of S. Matthew. So then this word, discumbe­bat, which without all doubt was spoken of the Paschall Supper, cannot signifie the gesture of sitting, or lying, vnlesse we will grant that Christ brake the Lawe of the Passeouer; but onely im­ports, Accessit ad mensam, or Coenauit, hee came to the Table, or Supper, and then it remaines, that it is altogether vncertaine what gesture the [Page 135]Apostles vsed at the receiuing of this Sacra­ment.

To this I adde one word more, The words of standing, and sitting, and the like in Scripture, doe not alwayes conclude a certaine gesture. Luke 7.38. It is said of Mary Magdalene, Stans retrò secùs pedes eius, she stood at his feet behind him: Behind, for there her sinnes placed her: and behinde him, be­cause if she, being a Citie sinner, that is a knowne and marked sinner ouer al the city, must appeare before God her Iudge; she would be sure to put Christ betweene God, and her, that if God did see her, hee might also see and behold the face of his Anoynted Christ, and for his sake be reconci­led to her. Now the word is stetit, she stood; but it must needs be Prouoluta ad pedes Iesu: she stood, that is, she fell downe at Iesus feete, groueling on the earth, else shee could not wash Christs feete with her teares, nor wipe them with the haires of her head, nor kisse, nor anoynt them. So standing in this place cannot expresse her gesture, or her site or position, but only her comming to Christ: shee stood, that is, shee came behinde him to his feet, and washed them with her teares.

In like sort it is said of the Pharisee and Pub­lican, Luke 18. Pharisaeus stans, orabat apudse, Luke 18.11.13. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himselfe, and Publicanus stans à longè The Publican standing a­farre off: but the Pharisees standing was rather in superbia cordis, then Erectione corporis, in the pride of his heart, then the erection of his body: in which he said, Non sum sicut caeteri, I am not as [Page 136]other men, or as this Publican: Bonus sum, and solus bonus sum, I am a good man, and the onely good man, no man is equall to me: But the Pub­lican stood afarre off, Longè loco, quia longè dissimi­litudine, farre from God in place, further in dis­similitude, by reason of his sinne. Hee stood a­farre off, not presuming to come neere the Arke, but as he was lowest in the humilitie of his soule, so hee tooke the lowest place in the Temple for his body; And he that would not, or durst nor, so much as lift vp his eyes to heauen, it is more then probable, that hee did cast downe his body to the earth. And the rather, because the Iewes custome was to pray kneeling, not standing, as appeareth by Salomon, 1. Paral. 6.13. Gen. 17.3. 1. Paral. 21.17. 1. Reg 18.42. Dan. 8.10. Luke 22.41. Acts. 7.60. in whom standing, is in­terpreted to be kneeling: and by Abraham, and Dauid, and Elias, and Daniel, and others; And by the practise of our Sauiour, the Apostles, S. Ste­phen, and others in the Gospel, who in this point made no alteration frō the practise of the Iewes. So standing doeth not alwayes expresse the ge­sture of the body, but the action it selfe: & there­fore no sound argument can be grounded in eue­ry place of Scripture, from those words of stan­ding, and sitting, or leaning, or lying, to enforce a necessary gesture at all times in the seruice. So it remaineth most doubtfull, what gesture the A­postles vsed at the receiuing this Sacrament: be­cause there is the word discumbebat, he sate or lay downe, vsed of the Paschall Supper, but of the Eucharisticall there is nothing said at all. And this word discumbebat, doeth not signifie the ge­sture [Page 137]of the body in that place: for then our Sa­uiour and his Apostles, cannot well be excused from the breach of the Law of the Passeouer.

I come to the third point, 3 that is the gesture of the succeeding ages: which a posteriori may bring vs to the Apostles gesture, which may be a rule vnto vs. And here I cannot conceale the ob­iection, made by the aduersaries of kneeling, which carieth a great shew of probabilitie with it, but when it is well examined, it is not so much as verisimile, a resemblance of the trueth; The obiection is, that Diebus Dominicis, & à Paschate ad Pentecosten: All Sundayes in the yere, and like­wise from Easter to Pentecost, the Christians did stand at their prayers, and not kneele, in memorie and honour of the Resurrection of Christ. The 20. Canon of the Nicene Councell is cleare, Quo­niam sunt in Dominica die, quidam ad orationem ge­nua flectentes, & in diebus Pentecostes, propterea vti­que statutum est à sancta Synodo, quoniam conson [...], & conueniens per omnes Ecclesias custodienda est con­suetudo, vt stantes ad orationem, vota Domino redda­mus: Because there are some that kneele at pray­ers on the Lords day, and the daies of Pentecost, therefore it is decreed by this sacred Synod, be­cause an vniforme and conuenient custome is to be kept in all Churches, that wee shall pay our vowes to God, standing at prayer.

To the same purpose are cited some other la­ter Councels and Fathers, to proue that which no man denies, that the Primitiue Church vsed to stand at prayers on the Lords day, and from [Page 138]Easter to Pentecost, in remembrance of the re­surrection of our blessed Sauiour; of which I shall say somewhat in their proper place.

In which allegations, I pray obserue a plaine repugnancie betweene the witnesses, and the au­thor that produceth them: for they doe directly crosse and confound his purpose; for he maketh the gesture of the Apostles to bee in a maner es­sentiall to this Sacrament, in diuers respects. For why? ¹ the time, after supper; ² the element, vn­leauened bread; ³ the place, a priuate chamber; and ⁴ the preparation of the receiuers, fasting, or full, may and are changed by the practise of the Church, vpon good reason; but this gesture of sitting, may not be changed for any reason: so it must be of the essence of the Sacrament. And a­gaine, it is repugnant to the Law of nature to change this gesture of sitting, because it doeth a­gree with a feast or banquet, & the prerogatiues of a table, Ex natura rei, out of the nature of the thing, that is a feast, a banquet, and a table; and the behauiour of guests at such a feast. Now all the witnesses produced; Fathers, and Councels, giue euidence for standing, which is as repug­nant to the Law of nature, as kneeling is: and so this learned Logitian proueth standing to haue bene vsed in the Primitiue Church, and conclu­deth, Ergo, we must sit at the Lords Table.

Besides all the Fathers, and Councels, that mention standing in time of Prayer, on Sun­dayes, and from Easter, vntill Whitsuntide, doe approue of this gesture of standing, as it were, Ex [Page 139]priuilegio contra legem publicam, by the way of Priuiledge or priuate law, for a particular reason or cause, against the publike law of Prayer, which by consent of all, should be made kneeling, in all humilitie. And all priuiledges are derogations to the common Law, and rule of right. And therefore it is a very poore kinde of arguing, to dispute, out of a priuiledge, to ouerthrow the publike rule of the gesture of prayer: For the Fathers decreed standing for Sundaies, and from Easter to Pētecost, non ex natura orationis, not out of the nature of prayer, which ought not to bee made standing; but rather in honorem resurrectio­nis Domini, in honour of the resurrection of Christ, which as that day, the first of the Cre­ation, wherein light was seuered from darknesse, Apoc. 2. as Iustine Martyr reasons, arose from the dead, and made that day to vs, the first of our Recrea­tion, & regeneration, or resurrection from sinne; wherein all the darkenesse of sinne, and death, and ignorance, and types, and figures, and sha­dowes was dispelled, the power of Satan, the Prince of darkenesse was vanquished, and so dis­couered to be vanquished; and we were brought into the cleere light of the Gospel, that hath not so much as a cloud of doubting, no, not of our resurrection, to obscure this glorious light: in as much as Christ, that died for our sinnes, arose a­gaine for our iustification, 1. Cor. 13.20. and so became Primi­tiae mortuorum, the first fruits of the dead; and vbi primitiae, ibi alij fructus: where there are first fruits, there are other fruits; the first haue relation to [Page 140]other, or second fruits that will follow. And Christ as hee arose solus, alone, neuer to die more: others that were raised by Christ, did rise to die againe, as Lazarus and others did: so hee arose Totus, All Christ, that is, all the mem­bers of Christ; and all that haue the same man­hood with Christ shall arise after him: the faith­full from the death of sinne, in this life, which is the first resurrection: and all men from the death of nature, in the life to come.

And in this respect, the day of rest, after crea­tion in nature, was changed from the Iewes Sab­bath, to the day of rest, of Recreation in grace, and honoured with the name of Lords day, because the worke of Redemption, from which Christ rested at his resurrection, is a greater worke, and much more beneficiall to vs, then the worke of Creation: For Creation giues vs beeing; but Redemption restores vs to that beeing, which was lost by sinne; to the well beeing of grace; and giues vs a right by the free gift of God to the best and blessed beeing of glory.

And here I cannot omit this one thing, that the Author of these reasons, cares not to make all the Fathers, and Councels, and the greatest of all Councels, next to the Apostles Councell, the great Councell of Nice of 318. Bishops, sinners against the law of Nature, so hee may say some­what against kneeling: though therein he said as­much and more against himselfe, then indeed he doth against kneeling. For if sitting at the Lords Supper bee essentiall to the Table and feast, and [Page 141]banquet of Christ, and the behauiour of guests and coheires: the Fathers and Councels are guilty of the violation of this Law of Nature, who vsed and decreed standing at prayer on Sundayes: And therfore as this man most weake­ly would infer, at the Lords Supper also: which in those times it seemeth was seldom, or neuer omitted on the Lords day; and so all his wit­nesses, as they testifie against him that produ­ceth them, so they are tainted with the breach of the Law of Nature, which is in effect the Law of God, and so no way to be credited. And if a­ny credit be to be giuen to them, certainely they are good witnesses against him that produceth them, and therefore they doe in effect argue thus against him.

To which if wee add, that the Fathers of those times and Councels best knew the practise of Christ and his Apostles, whose example they proposed to themselues, as their rule and institu­tion, one of these things will follow, that either standing is the essential gesture, which Christ and his Apostles vsed, and not sitting; or els the Fa­thers and Councels changed the gesture of sit­ting, vsed by Christ and his Apostles, into stan­ding, vpon particular reason of the resurrection of Christ, and then the present Church may vp­on [Page 142]as important reason of humilitie (which is indeed the lesson that Christ taught, verbo & ex­emplo, by word and example) change sitting, and standing, into kneeling; or that which is the trueth, the Fathers, and Councels, that vpon the particular of Christs resurrection decreed for standing prayer, might, and did (as it will ap­peare) vse kneeling at the Lords Table; accor­ding to the generall rule of Prayer, at all other times and occasions: and according as they then vsed to do in the participation of those great and reuerend mysteries of the Body and blood of Christ.

Now among all these obseruations, this must not be omitted in generall, before wee come to the particular, that all those Fathers, who vpon particular reason of Christs resurrection, speake for standing prayer on Sundayes, and from Ea­ster to Pentecost, and at other times, according to the Common Law, or rule of prayer, require kneeling and humility with prayer; yet in the matter of this Sacrament, either they are silent, and say nothing; or if they speake of it, they re­iect both sitting, and standing, and speake onely for adoration and kneeling. And so here bee Testes, but not Testimonia, names of mute witnes­ses; whose depositions, or dictats, are nothing a­gainst kneeling, but rather pleade for it, both by their silence, and their reason.

For, concerning their silence, it is more then probable, that they, who for the resurrection of Christ, and our hope and expectation of our [Page 143]owne Resurrection, did in a maner violate the Law of Prayer and humilitie, and ordaine stan­ding on the Lords day; and from Easter to Pen­tecost, as a testimony of our ioy and confidence, and expectation thereof, and dispence against the generall Law of kneeling at Prayer; would also haue added the like expresse declaration in a matter of so great consequence as the Lords Sup­per is, and said plainely, that for the same reason, we ought also to stand at the Lords Table, when we receiue the Body and Blood of Christ: since these reuerend mysteries require as reuerend ge­sture and behauiour, as prayer doeth: because in this Sacramēt, we receiue all that which our prai­ers can aske, and receiue in this life, that is Christ with all the benefits of his death and Passion, and the holy Ghost, with all the whole traine of his gifts and graces; and the greater Gods gifts are, the greater should bee our humilitie and reue­rence in receiuing them.

And the Argument is good, Quod hominem, though it be defectiue in the Fathers sense, which is this: ‘The Fathers and Counsels decreed for standing at Prayer on Sundayes, and from Ea­ster to Pentecost: But in the celebration of the Eucharist, according to Christs institution, there was not, neither should be now, any prayer at all, as these men suppose. Therefore the Fa­thers and Councels that decreed for standing at Prayer on Sundayes, and from Easter to Pentecost, spake nothing of the Lords Supper, in which there ought to bee no prayer at all.’

So then the silence of the Fathers in point of the Lords Supper, is an argument that they spake onely of standing at Prayer, and not at the Lords Supper.

Come to the Reason, and it wil appeare more plainely: For besides that priuate Lawes are stri­cti iuris, and therefore to be restrained to the strict letter, and no further; And as the Lawyers say, Exceptio firmat regulam, the exception doth make the rule more strong, and firme: the exception of Sundayes, and betweene Easter, and Pente­cost, concerning standing at prayer, maketh the rule strong, that we should not stand at any other time, and the exception of Prayer on Sunday, maketh it strong, that at other parts of diuine worship, whereof the Sacrament is a principall and most eminent part, we should not stand, but vse the gesture that the nature of the action re­quireth, which is humilitie, and kneeling. The reason which the Fathers giue, is the memorie, and celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and the confidence that we haue, of our part, in the first, and second Resurrection. Now what is this Reason to this Sacrament, which is Comme­moratio, not Resurrectionis, but Mortis, a com­memoration, not of the Resurrection, but of the death and Passion of Christ? 1. Cor. 11.26. The Apostle saith not, as often as you eate this bread and drinke this Cup, Annunciabitis resurrectionem, you shall shew forth the resurrection: but Annuncia­bitis mortem Domini, you shall shew foorth the death of the Lord: So then the reason of the Fa­thers [Page 145]is quite turned against this disputer.

The Christians did stand at praier on Sundaies, and from the Passeouer to Pentecost, vpon a par­ticular reason, that is, for the memorie of Christs Resurrection, and the ioy and confidence of our Consurreximus, our rising with Christ, Phil. 3.10. and the power of his Resurrection in vs; Wee come to this Sacrament, not to celebrate the memorie of Christs resurrection, nor our confidence of ri­sing together with him, but in remembrance of his death, and Passion; in which wee must die to sinne, as hee died to nature: Therefore, though we stand at Prayer to celebrate Christs resurre­ction, yet we ought to kneele in all humilitie, at the receiuing of this Sacrament, in remembrance of his death, and Passion: for the Passion of Christ is as forcible to procure sorrow and hu­militie for our sinne, that deliuered him to death, as the Resurrection of Christ, is able to procure ioy and confidence for our redemption, and de­liuerance from sinne, and death.

And of the oxen and fatlings Christ said, Matth. 22.4. Tau­ri mei, & altilia occisa sunt; mine oxen, and fat­lings are killed: and Christ was slaine, not onely that he might be to Godward Pretium, the price of our ransome: but also that hee might to vs­ward be Cibus, our food; Wherein because man doeth altogether abhorre to eate liuing flesh, our blessed Sauiour was put to death, that so hee might be the food of our soules. So then the rea­son of the Fathers, which moued them to decree standing at Prayer on Sundayes, and from Easter [Page 146]to Pentecost, doeth proue a contrario, that when we celebrate the memorie of Christs Passion in the Eucharist, which mooueth compunction and humilitie, we should then kneele, in token of our contrition, and humiliation, as they did stand in the ioy, and confidence of Christs, and their owne resurrection. Whereby it appeareth, that the Fathers who ioyne teares, and contrition, and confession, and prayer with this Sacrament, ment not to alter the humilitie in the receiuing thereof, though they change the ordinary ge­sture of kneeling at Prayer, vpon Sundayes, and from Easter to Pentecost, for the ioy and confi­dence they receiued of our Sauiours Resurre­ction.

Thus haue we passed the example of our Sa­uiour and his Apostles, and haue not yet found any solid proofe for sitting at the Sacrament, but rather left it doubtfull, what gesture they vsed, whether standing as at the Passeouer, or knee­ling, or lying, or sitting. Now after the time of Christs Ascention, vnto the time of Iustin Mar­tyr and Tertullian, and Dionysius of Alexandria, there is no Author produced, that saith any thing concerning the gesture of Communicants: only there is a coniecturall argument made to prooue sitting. Christ and his Apostles sate at the institu­tion, the words [...] and [...], importe so much: In which assertion there is neither Gram­mer, nor reason: no Grammer; for the proper signification of these words is not to sit, but to lie downe, as it is well knowen to all that are skilled [Page 147]in the originall. Nor no reason: for if these words doe signifie sitting, this Discumbere was at the Passeouer, as appeares most clearely in the Gospels: and there might be great difference of gesture, at the Paschall and vulgar supper, and the institution of this Sacrament.

It is confessed, that their sitting, was both a sitting, and a leaning: I rather take it to bee ly­ing and leaning, then sitting and leaning: But I make no controuersie about words: I say reso­lutely, the word of sitting, or leaning, or lying is vsed of the Paschall Supper, or the vulgar sup­per, if they had any; but whether they continued the same gesture at the Euangelicall Supper, it doth not appeare; and it is more probable, that they did not, if Christ, betweene these Suppers did arise, and wash his disciples feete.

Now for the practise of the Apostles, after Christs Ascension, there are two other conie­ctures vsed; first, it is probable that the Apostles departed from that gesture, vsed by themselues, at the institution: and this is not easily to bee gainesayd; but it doeth no where appeare that they sate, either at the first institution, or at any time after the Ascension. And all that is said of sitting, is spoken of the Paschall Supper. So this coniecture commeth farre short.

Secondly, 1. Cor. 10.21. the Apostle compareth Christs Table with the table of deuils; You cannot partake of the Lords Table, and of the table of deuils: and this cannot bee denied; but withall, it doth not appeare by the name of a Table, what gesture [Page 148]was vsed at Corinth, at the feasts of Idols: and I thinke it not vnlikely, that their Tables were such as were in vse at those times: and so it is likely to be lying on the ground, and leaning on pil­lowes.

As for the Lords Table, I conceiue by S. Pauls words, that there was more reuerence to bee vsed, then at either the feasts of Idols, or o­ther common feasts or eatings of Christians; such as their loue-feasts were: for els why doth S. Paul say, that there must bee an examination, and probation of our selues, before wee come to the Lords Table? Why doth he say, that they which eate this bread, and drinke this Cuppe of the Lord vnworthily, shall bee guilty of the Bo­die and Blood of the Lord, and eate and drinke damnation to themselues, not discerning the Lords Bodie? If this Supper may not bee recei­ued without due probation, and worthinesse, which was not required at the tables of Idoles, nor at the ordinary feasts of Christians: why should any man presume to make a comparison betweene the Lords Table, and the tables of ordinary Christian feasts? why should any bee so prophane, among Christians, to compare Christs Table with the tables of deuils? As if he would haue vs in our comming to this Sacra­ment, to vse no more reuerence then the Ido­latrous heathen did at the feasts of their Idoles. If Church gesture must bee ruled and squared out by the Idolatrous worship of deuils, why doe we not send Christians to the Idolatrous Priests [Page 149]of the heathen to bee tutored, and disciplinated by them? Nay, if we must bee schooled in Gods worship, to carrie our selues at the Lords Table, as wee doe at our ordinary tables, why doth S. 1. Cor. 11. vers. 21, 22. Paul reprooue the eating of Christians, out of or­der, in such sort, that one is hungry, and another is drunker? what? (sayth he) haue you not hou­ses to cate and drinke in? or despise you the Church of God, and shame them that haue not? The Church was for the Lords Table, the house was for ordinarie tables; they that eate in the Church, in such irreuerend fashion as they eate in their priuate houses, they despise the Church of God. Then surely there was more reuerence to bee vsed at the Lords Table, then at ordina­ry tables; there must be a discerning of the Lords Bodie, from common eatings: and how shal this discerning be discerned? by the inward affection and deuotion of the heart, which is knowen on­ly to God? This S. Paul could not reprooue in the Corinthians, for hee was not the searcher of the heart and reines: therefore he must discerne their hearts by their hands, and their intentions by their actions, that is, by their gestures: and so it will necessarily follow, that whereas at common tables there was societie and equalitie, and no­thing but ciuill reuerence, (which must not bee denied at common eatings) betweene the Fea­ster and his guests; yet at the Lords Table there must be more then ciuill reuerence, and that must necessarily bee diuine worship to God, who makes this Feast, with whom there can bee no [Page 150]equalitie at all, as hereafter more at large shall be shewed.

Now I come to the authorities that are alled­ged in this cause.

The first that is produced is Dionysius Alexan­drinus, 1 who liued about 250. yeeres after Christ, not first in order of the time, but first in the order that this Author conceiues, though erro­niously; for he placeth him Anno 157. before Iu­stine Martyr and Tertullian: I thinke because hee onely commeth neere to the purpose, he placed him first; for he onely speaketh of the Lords Ta­ble, Enseb. l. 7. hist. c. 9. the rest of prayer. Hee writes to Xistus the Bishop of Rome, concerning one that desired re­baptization, because hee had been baptized, as hee said, with a Baptisme full of impietie, and blasphemie; whom hee durst not rebaptize, al­though troubled in his minde about it, because his often communicating did suffice him, who had heard thanksgiuing in the Church, and said Amen with others. Mensae astitisset, [...], hee stood at the Table, and reached out his hand to take that holy foode: This phrase, Hee stood at the Table, in this mans conceit, prooues standing to bee the gesture of Communicants in that age. But if hee had considered the proprietie of the word that signifieth, Propè vel iuxtasistere, vel ad­esse, to be present, or neere to the Table, hee might haue conceiued, that Dionysius spake no­thing of the gesture of Communicants, but of his presence at the Communion: For Ruffinus reades it thus; Quod tamdiu in Sacramentis nobis [Page 151]iamparticeps fuerit: Because he had bene partaker of the Sacraments so long with vs. And againe, Neque audet vltra ad mensam Dominicā accedere, he dares not come any more to the Lords Table: so Ruffinus vnderstandeth [...], of the action of receiuing, not of the gesture. And the force of his answere is not placed in his standing, but in his presence, and partaking of the Communion: he need not to be rebaptized, and begin at rege­neration; Why? because he had often receiued the Communion, the Sacrament of encrease and perfection.

This authoritie is grounded in Grammer, or rather Criticisme, not in reason; which I the ra­ther conceiue, because I find the like words vsed by Chrysostome in his 61. Homil. ad populum Antio­chenum, and in his 3. Homil. ad Ephes. In vaine is the daily offring, Frustra stamus ad altare: In vaine stand we at the Altar; others read it, Frustra assisti­mus ad Altare: his reason is, Nullus qui cōmunicetur, none commeth to the Cōmunion: surely when there was no Communion, there was no knee­ling, but standing, or being at the Altar, expecting Communicants. As for Chrysostome, he is cleare, that we should kneele at the Communion, as his following words ad populum Antiochenum shew; At pura sunt, igitur adora, & communica, but thy garments are pure, therefore adore, that is kneele, and cōmunicate: as he elsewhere sheweth, by the comparison of the Wise men, that kneeled to our Sauiour in the manger, as I wil shew in his place.

In like sort, saith this Author out of Chryso­stome, [Page 150] [...] [Page 151] [...] [Page 152]The Deacon slandeth vp and speaketh to the people, Let vs pray altogether; Had the Dea­con stood vp, and said, Stemus & communicemus, Let vs stand vp, and Communicate, it had bene some what to the purpose: but the Deacon stood vp, not to cōmunicate himselfe, but to call on the people to pray; he stood vp, that he might be the better heard of all the people. So this standing of the Deacon is no gesture of standing at Recei­uing, but of calling to prayer. And it is vsuall in those Churches that reteine kneeling, that the Minister, or some other standeth vp, and calleth to the people, Let vs pray: and yet the people pray kneeling. And this Author might haue remem­bred, that the Deacon in the time of Liturgie, stood vp, and called to the people at Prayer and Receiuing, Flectamus genua, Let vs kneele, which is more to the purpose, then this standing vp to call to Prayer. Centur 3. cap. 6. de ritibus circa Coenam. And whereas hee alledgeth, that the writers of the Centuries collect, out of this Epistle of Dionysius, that the rite and custome of the Church in that age was, that the Communi­cants did stand at the Table, and reach out their hands to receiue the holy meats: the Centurie writers say, it is peruetustus mos, an ancient cu­stome, vsed in many Churches, that they did reach out their hands to receiue the Bread and Wine; and not expect to haue it put into their mouthes: which they proue out of Clemens Alex­andrinus, Stromatum lib. 1. p. 2. But of standing, they bring no custome of any other Church, but onely vse Dionysius word in the plurall, Mensae as­sisterent, [Page 153]not adstarent, which he speaketh onely in the singuler, Mensae adstitisset, which rather sig­nifieth his presence, then his gesture: therefore this testimony is little to the purpose.

The second is Iustin Martyr, 2 though first in time, whose testimony in part is cited before. On Sunday, &c. the reader ceasing, Anno 150. Apo. 2. Praesidens (which he readeth, the Pastour) with his Oration, instru­cteth the people, and exhorteth them to the imi­tation of so beautifull things, and then addeth, Sub haec surgimus communitèr omnes, & precationes profundimus, after this, wee arise altogether and powre out our prayers, and then proceed to the Eucharist. This witnesse had need of some helpe, for in himselfe hee saith nothing for them, and nothing against vs: and therefore hee helpeth him with a false translation, & a false collection. First he readeth it, we arise and pray, and that is the trueth of the letter, which implieth the lea­uing of their former gesture of sitting or reading, but no way designes a new gesture in particular that followed after sitting: and therefore to helpe him out, he after addeth; there it is plaine, Pag. 76. the people sate at the hearing of the word, and rose vp to stand at prayer, but after he plainely peruer­teth the reading, and saith; After that they stood vp and prayed: here rising is turned to standing. But the Collection is, they arose and prayed; therefore they receiued the Sacrament standing: which hath no coherence: for they might arise to kneele, as well as to stand, and they might stand at some of the Prayers, and yet kneele at the re­ceiuing [Page 154]of the Body and Blood of Christ. But, whatsoeuer may bee iudged of this Collection, sure I am, this doeth necessarily follow out of this testimony: they arose and prayed, and after they receiued, therefore they did not receiue sit­ting, which according to this new doctrine, is the essentiall gesture of Communicants.

The third is Tertullian, 3 De corona militis: who saith, Anno 203. Of prayer on the Sunday, and from Easter to Pentecost, Die Dominicâ ieiunium nefas duci­mus, vel de geniculis adorare: we hold it not law­full to fast on the Lords day, or to pray on our knees. This is not to be denied; But no one of the Fathers is more resolute against sitting at prayer, De oratione. then Tertullian is, Siquidem irreuerens est assidere sub conspectu, contra (que) conspectum eius quem quàm maxime reuerearis, ac venereris: quantò magis sub conspectu Dei viui, Angelo adhuc orationis astante, factum istud irreligiosissimum est: nisi exprobramus Deo, quod nos oratio fatigauerit: It is irreuerent to sit in the sight, and before the face of him whom thou doest most reuerence and honour: how much more is that actiō most irreligious, (to sit) in the sight of the liuing God, the Angel of prayer being present, vnlesse wee exprobrate to God, that our prayers haue wearied vs. As for that Collection, that, as they prayed, so they Re­ceiued standing, as if they had vsed the same ge­sture at the Sacrament, which they did at prayer; Heare what Tertullian saith, of the receiuing the other Sacrament of Baptisme: De Baptismo in fine. Ingressuros Baptis­mum orationibus crebris, ieiunijs, & geniculationi­bus, [Page 155]& pervigilijs orare oportet: They that were to be baptized, ought to pray with often prayers, and fastings, & kneelings, and watchings. Knee­ling was ioined with the Sacrament of Baptisme, which was giuen on the Sunday aswell as the Eu­charist. So the collection is not good, they stood at prayer, therefore they receiued the Eucharist standing, for at the same time they stood at prayer, and yet receiued Baptisme kneeling.

But in the word of station, he is egregiously deceiued: For, saith he, Tertullian de oratione put­teth the word statio, standing, for prayer; and calleth the Lords days, Dies stationum, the dayes of station, or standing; For it is cleere in Tertulli­an, that Dies stationum, the dayes of station were neuer made on the Sundayes; and his words are plaine, De corona mi­litis. Iam & stationes aut alij magis faciet quam Christo, aut die Dominico, quando nec Christo: He shal make his stations to another, rather then to Christ, or else on the Lords day, and so not to Christ. So it is plaine, that in Tertullians time, there were no stations on the Lords day: and so the Lords day is not called the day of station, be­cause on that day they stood at prayer. And sta­tion properly is nothing else, but a diurnall watching in the time of solemne prayer: in which they did watch in prayer, 1. Pet. 4.7. as the Apostle said, Vigilate in orationibus: so this station was not so named for standing at prayer. And Ter­tullian saith, Their station shall be more solemne, Si steteris ad aram Dei, if thou standest at Gods Altar. This is to be vnderstood of the stationary [Page 156]prayer made at the Altar, which being made on the weeke dayes, was made keeling, and therfore stare here is genuflectere, standing is kneeling. And this sentence is full and complete in it selfe: and then he addes, Accepto corpore Domini, & reseruato, the body of the Lord being receiued, and reser­ued, both is saued, both the participation of the Sacrifice, and the execution of our office: And surely it is probable, that they receiued the Sacra­ment kneeling, as well as they prayed kneeling.

S. 4 Cyprian is the fourth; who affirmeth lesse then his Master Tertullian: Anno 250. hee onely saith, Cum stamus ad orationem: when wee stand at Pray­er; and hee sayth nothing of the Lords day, and from Easter to Pentecost: whereby I con­ceiue, hee knowing that at all other times they prayed kneeling; and speaking in generall of Prayer, his word stamus, must not so much expresse the gesture of Prayer, as the action of Prayer: which whether it were standing or knee­ling, it must, as the next words are, be vigilant, vigilare, & incumbere toto corde ad preces debemus: we ought to watch, and intend our prayers with our whole heart: and then hee addes that which is vsed in our Liturgie, sursum corda, lift vp your hearts; to which the people answere, Wee lift them vp vnto the Lord: by which we are admo­nished to thinke of nothing but of God, and to shut our hearts against the aduersary. As for S. Cyprian, I take it, his opinion is, that they did bow or kneele at the receiuing of the Sacrament, as in his place it will appeare.

The fift is S. Basil; his words are, 5 In primo Sabbati erecti perficimus deprecationes, Anno 370. De spiritu, & litera. sed rationem omnes non nouimus: vpon the first day of the weeke wee pray standing, but all know not the reason. He giueth two, 1. the Resurrection of Christ. 2. that day is Imago seculi futuri, the I­mage of the world to come, which shall neuer haue end, that knowes no euening, nor giueth place to a succeeding day. But speaking after­wards of kneeling, he saith: Insuper & quoties ge­nua flectimus, & rursùs erigimur, ipso facto ostendi­mus, quod ob peccatum in terram delapsisumus; & per humilitatem eius qui creauit nos, in Coelum reuo­cati sumus: As often as we kneele and stand vp a­gaine, by this deede wee shew, that for sinne wee are fallen to the ground, and by his humilitie that created vs, wee are called backe to heauen: In which it appeares that confession of sinnes, which alwayes goeth before the Communion, requires kneeling, that we may fall to the earth by humilitie, as wee fell to the earth by sinne.

S. Hierome is the sixt; his words are, 6 On the Lords day, and throughout the Pentecost, Anno 390. Contra Lucifer. (by the tra­dition and authoritie of the Church) wee doe not a­dore on our knees, nor fast: The word (wee hold it not lawfull) is not in Hierome, but it seemes this Author added it, out of Tertullian: In which I marke one thing, which this Author might haue obserued in all his authorities; that the Church hath authoritie to change a gesture, from the na­tural and prescribed gesture, vpon particular rea­son: And why then shall not the Church haue [Page 158]power to prescribe a gesture at the Lords Table, most suring with the memory of Christs death, and the carriage of humble & contrite Commu­nicants? In which case I pray you heare what Hierome saith vpon those words of the Apostle, Eph. 3. Flecto genua: Haec autē spiritualiter exponētes, non statim, iuxta literam, orandi consuetudinem tol­limus, qua Deum genu posito supplicitèr adoramus, & fixo in terram poplite, magis quod ab eo poscimus im­petramus: legimus enim & Paulum in littore sic o­rasse, & geniculationes in oratione praeceptas: sed il­lud aedificat supplices, sicut veram geniculationem esse docemus in anima; quia multi corporale flectentes ge­nu, animae nequaquam poplitem curuauerunt: & con­tra, alij erecto Deum corpore deprecantes, magis se a­nimo curuauerunt: Expounding these things spi­ritually, we doe not presently take away the cu­stome of praying, in which we adore God, hum­bly vpon our knees, and obtaine that of him which we most desire, setting our knees to the earth: for we reade that S. Paul prayed thus vp­on the shore, and kneeling was commanded in prayer. But this doth edefie the simple, as wee teach, the true kneeling to bee in the soule: For many, bowing their corporall knees, do not bow the knees of their soule: and on the contrary, ma­ny praying to God standing vpright, haue more bowed themselues in soule. In which words I obserue: 1. when we kneele, then wee adore God supplicitèr, humbly in the fashion of suppli­cants. 2. By kneeling magis impetramus, we pre­uaile more in our Peticions. 3. Kneeling is not [Page 159]onely grounded vpon imitation and example, but praecepta, It is commanded. So S. Hierome, though he permit standing at prayer vpon a spe­cial reason, yet he holdeth kneeling to be sub prae­cepto, and of greater force in the sight of God.

S. Chrysostome is the seuenth; his words are, 7 Anno 398. Frustra stamus ad Altare, in vaine doe we stand at the Altar, expecting Communicants; and none come: and that is common with vs to stand vn­till the people draw neere, & then kneele; whose words I haue answered before in Dionysius Alex­andrinus.

S. Augustinus is the eighth, who saith, 8 Propter hoc & ieuinia relaxantur, & stantes oramus, Anno 420. Epist. 119. cap. 15. quod est signum resurrectionis, For this cause we remit our fasts, and stand at prayer, which is a signe of the Resurrection: which is no more then is granted. And yet in the end of the 17. chapter, he conclu­deth of it, Vtrum vbi (que) seruetur, ignoro, I know not whether it be obserued euery where. There is a reason added out of S. Augustine in the same 15. Chapter, which I accept of, though I finde it not there; that kneeling is a gesture of a Penetentia­ry, and of such outward humiliation, as is wholy disagreeable with the solemnitie of reioycing, on the Lords day. S. Augustine indeed mentioneth rest and reioycing, and then addeth, Propter hoc: for this cause we fast not, but stand: wherin I see no reason but a man may haue rest, and reioyce­ing for Christs Resurrection, and yet haue sor­row, and contrition, and humiliation for his sinne, without which no man can bee duely pre­pared [Page 160]for the Lords Table. And as standing at prayer may agree with rest and reioyceing, so compunction and humiliation is most sutable to a Penetentiarie; and all Communicants must first be penitents, and examine themselues, and discerne the Lords body, before they receiue it. And therefore they that reioyce at Christs Re­surrection, and so stand, must bee contrite, and humble, and so kneele when they participate of Christs Body and Blood. And I presume it will be plaine, that S. Augustine required kneeling at the receiuing of the Body and Blood of Christ.

And here I pray you obserue, what a vast hia­tus, gulfe or space, this Author maketh; From S. Augustine, he descendeth per saltum or rather prae­cipitium, hee leapeth, or rather casteth himselfe downe headlong to Anselme, our Archbishop of Canterbury: a long leape from the beginning of the fiue hundredth yeere, vnto eleuen hundred yeeres at one iumpe. It seemeth, in all that time of 700. yeeres, he could not finde one writer, ex­cept a Councell or two, that spake for standing at Prayer. And S. Augustine, though hee allow the custome of the Church, in standing at prayers for certaine dayes, yet hee doubteth of the suc­cesse of the decree of the Nicene Councell in that case, Epist. 119. cap. 17. in his last words, Quod vtrùm vbique seruetur ignoro: which, whether it be euery where obser­ued, I know not; and hee would not haue made the doubt, if hee had not knowne, that it was not euery where obserued. And if it were doubted whether it were obserued in S. Augustines time, [Page 161]who liued about an hundred yeeres after the Ni­cene decree, I should haue thought it had bin quite discustomed, long before Anselme, but that it was held in life by some after Councels: yet from the last Councell vnto Anselme, there passed about 300. yeeres, in which time there is not found one word in fauour of standing at prayer.

Now this Author from S. Augustine, cites no other, till he come to Anselme, who liued neere 700. yeeres after him: yet this gesture of standing is mentioned in Beda, and Alcuinus, and I finde it in Hugo de sancto Victore, who liued neere 60. yeeres after Anselme. But in this I obserue; That this standing was not, during all the Liturgie, but onely at a part; not at the Eucharist.

For Hugo de sancto Victore obserueth, that they stood at prayer, vntill the Collect, Domine Deus Pater, qui nos ad principium: O Lord God, and heauenly Father, which hast safely brought vs to the beginning of this day: which is the last Collect in our first Seruice, in the Liturgie of the Church of England. I say the first Seruice, for it is still in vse in some Cathedral Churches in Eng­land: they haue the first Seruice on the Sunday morning, and then goe out for a time, and come in againe, and beginne at the Lords Prayer, ten Commandements, or second Seruice, and so goe to the Communion: and the first Seruice is said in the ordinary place, but at the second the Priest goeth vp to the Communion Table, or Altar, and there proceedeth to the Communion. And in some Churches, the Sermon is betweene the [Page 162]first and second Seruice. Yea in some Parish Churches, though they goe not out, to come in againe, yet they make a pause, and knoll a Bell, to giue warning of the beginning of the second Seruice. De diuinis Of­ficijs. And I finde in Alcuinus, somewhat re­corded to the same purpose: His finitis, omnes exe­unt; this being ended (and in this there is no men­tion of the Eucharist,) all goe out.

And Hugo de Sancto Victore, speakes in the fame place of so much of the Liturgie, De Officijs Ec­clesiast. lib. 2. cap. 2. as he there reckons; Et haec omnia in Dominicis diebus, & caete­ris festiuis diebus, stando dicuntur, propter memori­am Dominicae resurrectionis; cum quo omnes sanctispe consurrexerunt: And all these prayers are sayd standing on Sundayes, and other festiuities, for the memorie of the Lords Resurrection: with whom all the Saints are risen in hope. And hi­therto hee hath not one word of the Eucharist. After, Cap. 4 Hugo makes a difference, Inter preces, & orationem, which must be expounded by some that are better skilled in their Masses, and orders, then I am: His words I will relate, and leaue them to the iudicious Reader to be further scan­ned; Dum preces dicuntur, Sacerdos, qui peccator est, cum peccatoribus prostratus est: sed quia vicem tenet Christi, stando dicit orationem, vt resurrectionem recolat eius, cuius vicem tenet: While the prayers are said, the Priest, because hee is a sinner, kneeles, or prostrates himselfe with sinners, but because hee beares the place of Christ, he saith the prayer standing, that he may remember his Resurrecti­on, whose place he beares. Here be preces, pray­ers, [Page 163]many in number, which both Priest and peo­ple, all sinners, say prostrate or kneeling: and here is oratio, one prayer, in the singular, whether the Lords prayer, or some other singular prayer, made for the celebration of the Resurrection, I cannot resolue, but must leaue it to the Readers more mature iudgement. But the argument is very probable, because Hugo designeth some prayers that were sayd standing, which are no part of the Communion; therefore the speciall prayers, vsed at the receiuing of the Eucharist, were not said standing, but kneeling; according as the Deacon called to the people; Flectamus genua, Let vs kneele; and as wee in our Liturgie stil obserue at the confession, before the Eucharist: Make your humble confession to Almightie God, meekely kneeling on your knees.

And surely Anselme vpon those wordes, Cap. 4. ad Co­loss. In­state in oratione, saith little for it: for in the place cited, hee onely sayth. It becomes all to bee in­stant in prayer. And hee doth well to command to watch in prayer, vt cum stamus ad orationem, that when wee stand at prayer, all carnall and worldly thoughts may be banished: Cumstamus ad orationem, is no more, but cum oramus, when wee stand at prayer, is no more, but when wee pray: and so much his reason shewes: for we must watch in prayer, bee it on Sunday, or any other day: and drowsie and sleepie prayers are ne­uer acceptable vnto God: and the word of the Text is, Instate in oratione, bee instant in prayer, and watch in the same with thankesgiuing, and [Page 164] Instare in oratione, and astare ad orationem, to bee instant in prayer, and to stand in prayer, are of one extent, to bee vsed at all times, Sundayes, and other dayes: and this watching in prayer, with thankesgiuing, is as much required in knee­ling, as in standing: and wee must shut out all worldly and fleshly thoughts in all our prayers. Wherein, because Anselme doth not mention this priuate law of standing at prayers on Sun­dayes, and from Easter vntill Pentecost, as the Fathers doe, but spake generally of Prayer; wee must vnderstand him to speake according vnto the cōmon law of prayer, of that position, which prayer in the nature thereof doth require, which is kneeling; of which Anselme elsewhere speakes very largely, lest wee seeme to make him con­tradict himselfe.

Now the same Anselme, vpon the words, Flecto genua, Ephes. 3. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus; Per flectio­nem genuum, intelligimus humilitatem supplicantis: nam ad hoc solent in oratione flecti genua, vt humili­tas interior denotetur, & humiliori supplicatione af­fectus orationis commendetur: By the bowing of the knees, we vnderstand the humilitie of a sup­plicant: for to this end knees are bowed in pray­er, that inward humilitie may be declared, and the affection of prayer is commended by the more humble supplication. And then he varieth the words thus, I bow my knees, that is, I suppli­cate humbly in prayers; so that humble prayer, and kneeling at prayer, are equiualent with An­selme. [Page 165]And humble prayer is effectuall prayer: and then, as it is true, humilis oratio penetrat coelos; humble prayer pearceth heauen; so kneeling prayer must haue the same effect, that it entreth heauen, and is accepted of God.

Now I come to the Councels. And first, Cap. 20. the Fathers of the Nicene Councel decreed for stan­ding at prayer on the Sundayes, and the dayes of Pentecost, but giue not their reason, as the Fa­thers before had done, but they labour for the vniformitie of one custome in the external forme of Gods worship: which was not a forme pre­scribed by the word of God, nor agreeable to the nature of prayer, but yet decreed by those Fa­thers, whose names are glorious in Gods Church vnto the worlds end. And therefore they thought they had authority to ordaine, esta­blish, and confirme externall worship, and cere­monies in Gods seruice, and those repugnant to the nature of the thing they had in hand; which if they grant to bee vsed in the Communion, as they affirme without proofe, either these Patrons of standing, must confesse the Churches power to be so great, to alter the gesture vsed by Christ and his Apostles, which is essentiall to the Sacra­ment it selfe, and vpon priuate reason, to place another in the stead thereof, repugnant to the nature of prayer; or else, they must lay a foule a­spersion vpon that most reuerend and venerable Synod, of greatest note and authoritie, that Chri­stianitie hath knowen, since the Apostles liued; that is, that they violated an essentiall part of [Page 166]this Sacrament, when they turned sitting into standing at prayer, and ministration of this great mystery.

Now as concerning this custome: it was not begun by those Nicene Fathers, but reduced to vnitie and vniformitie, (a thing which these sit­ters cannot endure, but desire to be left at liber­tie, enery man to vse what gesture and fashion he likes best) but it was, as all customes are, and should bee, so ancient, that it was beyond all me­morie of man: (for how can that be called a cu­stome, whose beginning is knowen by them that style it by the name of a custome?) and there­fore no one witnesse, or Father produced for standing at prayer, speakes other of it, then as of a receiued custome, In moribus hominum, in the manners of men before his time. Iustin Martyr is the first: he saith, wee rise vp and pray, hee sayth onely surgimus, wee arise, it is factum, a thing not now begun, but done before; not decretum, not now decreed to be done. Tertullian sayth, Nefas ducimus, wee hold it vnlawfull to kneele at such times; this custome was growne olde of great strength, not to be resisted, it was become natu­rall vnto them: and prescription was another law to them: to crosse which custome hee sayd, we hold it vnlawfull. So though this age testifie of it, yet must it bee much elder, and take be­ginning from the Apostles, or succeeding Apo­stolicall men. And this custome is onely confir­med and decreed in this Nicene Councell, be­cause as it seemes, Christians liked not altoge­ther [Page 167]the reason of it; for there may be ioy in him that kneeleth, as well as sorrow in him that stan­deth: so though it were ancient, and had some co­lour of reason for it, yet it seemeth, because there was greater reason for kneeling then for stan­ding, it began to grow out of vse, and that was the cause of this decree.

Now that this decree for standing reacheth onely to Praier, and not to the Sacrament, it may appeare by another decree, not of the first twen­tie that Ruffinus hath: but those other set out by Gelasius Cyzicenus l. 3. wherein, because in those times it seemed they were too humble at the Sa­crament, they thus decree, Ne humiliter intentisi­mus ad propositum panem & poculum, sed attollentes mentes, fide intelligamus situm in sacra illa mensa, ag­num illum Dei, tollentem peccata mundi, incruentè à Sacerdotibus immolatum, & pretiosum ipsius corpus & sanguinem nos verè sumentes, credere haec esse re­surrectionis nostrae Symbola: Let vs not be humbly intentiue to the Bread, and Cup set before vs, but lifting vp our minds, let vs by faith vnder­stand, that the Lambe of God, that taketh away the sinnes of the world, and is slaine vnbloodily by the Priests, is set vpon that holy Table, and that wee truely receiuing his pretious Body and Blood, doe beleeue those to bee the Symbols of our Resurrection. It seemeth somewhat was a­misse, that the Councell by this Canon would re­dresse; and it must be in the humble intending to the Elements; That must be either in the inward thought, and opinion of the Bread and Wine, [Page 168]and then the Councell should not haue said, hu­militèr intenti, but reuerentèr intenti, not humbly intentiue, as if they thought too basely or hum­bly of them, but rather reuerently intentiue, as thinking too highly of the Elements or crea­tures; or else it must be in the outward carriage and behauiour, and then the Canon would re­dresse the outward gesture, which might incline vnto too much honour of the Elements, and so detract from the humble reuerence that was due to God, whom we doe worship and adore more specially in this Sacrament. And so it will ap­peare, that they were too humble at the receipt of the Eucharist, and therefore receiued it with kneeling; for so much the Canon doeth imply, à contrario sensu, Ne humilitèr intenti simus ad pro­positum panem & poculum, Let vs not bee humbly intentiue to the Bread and Cup set vpon the Ta­ble, Ergo humilitè intenti erga Deum qui corpore & sanguine agni nos pascit, Therefore let vs be hum­bly intentiue towards God, who feedeth vs with the Body and Blood of the Lambe of God, that taketh away the sinnes of the world.

The next is the sixt Councell of Carthage, Ca­non 20. which is no other then the former of the Nicene Councell in effect; Quoniam sunt quidam qui die Dominico, & in diebus Pentecostes, flectunt genua, placuit de hoc sanctae & magnae Synodo, cun­ctos in omnibus locis consonantèr & consentientèr stantes, Deum orare debere; Because there be some that bow their knees vpon the Lords day, and the dayes of Pentecost, it hath pleased this sacred [Page 169]and great Synod in this point, that all, in all pla­ces ought to pray to God standing, consonantly, and with one consent. In which I obserue no­thing, but that the continuance of this gesture at this time began to decay; belike, because it de­clined from the naturall gesture of prayer, which should be kneeling with all humilitie; and there­fore they in Africa made this Canon to keepe life in it. For, as it is said before in S. Augustine, there was some doubt of the obseruation of it, in all places; and in this Councell it is last mentio­ned plainely, and affirmatiuely. And after S. Au­gustine, there is no author produced vntill An­selme. And after this Councell, there is little mention of it in plaine termes, vntill the Coun­cell of Turon, about Anno 800. except the Quin­nisext Councel of Constantinople; and these wil appeare to be but cold testimonies for it.

To the third, which is the Roman Councel, held vnder Hilarius the Pope, there needeth no answere, for they doe onely decree the obserua­tion of the Nicene Canons in generall words; without any particular mention of standing at Prayer on the Lords day, & in the dayes of Pen­tecost. Vt diuinae legis praecepta, & Nicenorum Cano­num constituta, that the precepts of the diuine Law, and the cōstitutions of the Nicene Canons, be not violated. This is all, and it may be this 20. Canon about standing at Prayer, was not much thought of in particular, by those 48. Bi­shops in that Councell.

The Canons of the Councell called Quini­sextum, [Page 170]which were made at Constantinople, mention and approue this standing at Prayer, and withall limit it, Canon 90. that Post vesperti­num ingressum, After the euening ingresse to the Altar on Saturday, to the next euening, no man should kneele, and after that euening they should kneele againe. In which that appeareth which was before said, that this was but a dispensation, or a priuate Law, which doth derogate from the publike, vpon speciall reason, and therefore it did easily returne to the prime institution.

The fourth and last Councell, is the Coun­cell of Turon, vnder Charles the great, and Leo the third: I will set it downe at large. Sciendumest, quòd exceptis diebus Dominicis, & illis festiuitatibus, quibus & vniuersalis Ecclesia ob recordationem Do­minicae resurrectionis, solet stando orare, fixis in ter­ram genibus, supplicitèr Dei clementiam nobis profu­turam, nostrorum (que) criminum indulgentiam depo­scendum est: cuius rei in Euangelio ipse Dominus no­bis dedit exemplum: sed & Stephanum Martyrem, & Apostolum Paulum eadem fecisse, Liber Actorum Apost testis est. Ex quibus intelligi datur, oportere Christianum humilitèr ad terram prosterni, ne fortè illi dicatur, Quidsuperbis terra est cinis? We must know, that except the Lords dayes, and those fe­stiuities in which the Vniuersall Church, for the remembrance of the Lords Resurrection, vsed to stand at Prayer, wee ought to pray (not wee may pray, as this Author renders it) or intreat Gods mercie profitable to vs, and pardon of our sinnes humbly, with our knees fixed on the [Page 171]ground: of which kneeling in prayer) our Lord himselfe gaue vs an example in the Gospel: and the Acts of the Apostles are witnesse, that S. Stephen the Martyr, and S. Paul did the like. By which it is giuen to vnderstand, that Christians ought (not may) cast themselues humbly on the earth, lest it be said to them, Why art thou proud, that art but dust and ashes? The Canon doth not say, Nefas ducimus, as Tertullian did, we hold it vnlawfull to pray kneeling on Sundayes, and in the dayes of Pentecost, but resolutely decree­eth for kneeling in prayer, and by way of priui­ledge onely permitteth standing at prayer on the Lords day, and other festiuities, celebrated in the Church, by way of exception out of the generall rule. Wherby it appeareth, that the generall rule is, that we must kneele at prayer, and therefore prayer being ioyned with the celebration of the Sacrament, & not excepted, we must also kneele at the receiuing of the Eucharist. So this Coun­cell is the last that speakes for standing at prayer, and that by way of exception: for Anselme saith nothing to the purpose: and therefore there pas­sing 300. yeeres from this Councell to the de­cree of Honorius, it is very probable, that knee­ling at Prayer was receiued long before Honorius, the third his time: And kneeling at the Commu­nion is as old, as the eldest witnesse produced a­gainst it, as I presume shall appeare in the testi­monies that ensue.

I come now to this mans Verbum grande, his great and grand, and lowd word, that I say no [Page 172]more of it; that is, that vntill Honorius the third (about the yeere 1120.) made a decree for the a­doration of the Sacrament, the Eucharist was e­uer receiued standing, and not kneeling: And kneeling is Antichristian, brought into the Church for the adoration of their Breaden god, in honour of Transubstantiation, and (as hee calls it) Real presence: which opinion was first hatched by Damascen, and then fostered by Innocent 3. and now honored by Honorius the third. I would this man had studied his Masters, Caluin and Beza a little better, hee would peraduenture haue lear­ned a great difference, betweene Transubstantiati­on, and the Reall presence: and no lesse then Inter rem ipsam, & modum rei, betweene the thing it selfe, and the manner of doing of it. And surely Caluin and Beza doe allow a true and Reall pre­sence, if I vnderstand them; that is, that we in the Eucharist receiue the true Bodie and Blood of Christ: which all antiquitie doe collect out of Christs wordes; This is my Bodie, This is my Blood. But they renounce this new found man­ner, by way of Transubstantiation, found out a­gainst Berengarius: whereby they thought to quench the flame that was then kindled, but it was Igne maiori, they put out the lesser, with a greater fire, and not onely filled their bookes with a number of curious, idle, and philosophi­call questions; and so corrupted diuinitie with philosophie, but also for this new fangle of Tran­substantiation, and the maintenance of the Popes vast and vnlimited transcendent power, made [Page 173]the rent, and diuision of the Church vncureable, desperate, and past all hope: because the Popes will neuer renounce and disclaime their bound­lesse ambition; and the Schoole will neuer giue ouer to adore this their Idol of Transubstantia­tion: which the more they labour to make plaine, the further they inuolue themselues with a world of difficulties: Which no doubt is the occasion, that most of the wise and vnderstan­ding Papists, who see how great euill hath fallen to the Church by it, and how much blood hath bene shed in the cause, doe wish in their hearts, though perchance they dare not professe it, that the decree had neuer bene decreed.

In which assertion, I take it, this man is pal­pably deceiued, and would deceiue others. For I take it to be plaine, that kneeling and adoration, was not brought into vse by Transubstantiation, but rather Transubstantiation was collected out of the Adoration and kneeling, that was vsed in the receiuing of the Eucharist: as I shall shew by and by out of Algerus, who inferreth Transub­stantiation, out of kneeling and Adoration. As for Honorius decree, I doe not finde kneeling ex­presly named in it. Sacerdos frequentèr doceat ple­bem suam, vt cum in celebratione Missarum eleuatur hostia salutaris, se reuerentèr inclinet: Let the Priest often teach his people, that when in the celebra­tion of the Masse, the healthfull Host is eleua­ted, they bow themselues reuerently. The word is, reuerent bowing, not kneeling; and it is to be done at the eleuatiō, not at the receiuing. I could [Page 174]wish that the whole decree were to be seene, for then somewhat would be manifest, that now is obscure. But the first words of the Chapter, Sane cum olim, do imply somewhat more ancient: and it is very probable, that Honorius did not make a new decree, and establish a new forme of Adora­tion at the Sacrament, neuer vsed before, but ex­plane and confirme an old, which was bowing or kneeling; and peraduenture in particular, to designe in special, when it should be done, name­ly at the eleuation. And it is most certainely testi­fied, that some hundred yeeres before this Hono­rius was borne, the Deacon did call at the Masse, Flectamus genua, Let vs kneele; so that kneeling, and bowing was generally in vse before, but ele­uation was vnknowne to the Fathers: and after it had gained ground, and began to be in request, then this decree of Honorius did honour that par­ticular action of eleuation, with a reuerent bow­ing, by those perchance which receiued it not: which doeth no way prooue, that kneeling was not vsed before Honorius time, but rather those three words, set before the decree, doe lead vs to apprehend that some reuerence, and humilitie of bowing, or kneeling was anciently in vse; out of which practise or pretence of antiquitie, Honorius did ground his decree. And it is a grosse non se­quitur to inferre thus: ‘Honorius made a new de­cree, that at the eleuation of the Host, men should reuerently bow themselues: Therefore before this decree, men did not receiue the Eu­charist with reuerent bowing or kneeling.’ For [Page 175]they might, and did kneele at receiuing the Communion, in the times of the ancient fathers, and yet this eleuation, and circumgestation of the Sacrament, be but a new deuise, that made way to much superstition and Idolatry.

Now, although it bee hard to finde out the beginning of euery outward gesture, vsed in the worship of God, and the Administration of the Sacraments, yet as it falleth out with the shadow on the Diall, we discerne it not moouing, but we easily discerne, that it hath mooued; So we can­not easily discerne and point out the first begin­ning of this gesture, of kneeling in the Eucharist, though after it hath passed some lines and de­grees of time, we may easily discouer by the later vse and custome, that it fetcheth his pedegree from the Apostles, and Apostolicall men.

The Fathers of the first age, being in conti­nuall conflict with persecutors without, and he­reticks within, had little leysure to delineate and describe euery gesture they vsed in the Liturgie: yet surely they that so strictly required an exa­mination, and probation of our selues, contriti­on and compunction, and prayer, and praise, and almes, and humilitie, and reuerence in this part of the worship of God, in such sort, that they held none to come worthily, nor bee admitted to the Lords Supper, but those that vsed this probati­on, and preparation of themselues, though their words speake not of kneeling, yet their reasons doe enforce it. And the very discerning the Lords body, did require as well an outward, as [Page 176]an inward difference, betweene the Lords Table, and other common tables: and therefore an out­ward gesture beseeming the presence of the Eter­nall God, which must be sutable to the greatest humilitie, and that must needs be kneeling. And therefore this Author that speaketh, and writeth so tediously against kneeling, is forced to dash out all humilitie, and reuerence in his Commu­nicants, lest if he had granted humilitie, hee must also haue bene forced to admit kneeling, the most proper and significant gesture of humilitie.

Now, as all the Fathers, cited by this Author, that speake for standing at prayer, are cleare wit­nesses against sitting, which he maketh essentiall, as being vsed in the first institution; and most of their reasons are for kneeling: so many of them, as also many others, speake manifestly for ado­ration and kneeling.

To omit then, that at the deliuering of the Law of the Passeouer, Exod. 12. the people Incuruatus ado­rauit, bowed themselues and worshipped; and Christ the true Passeouer, Luke. 22. in his Agonie before his Passion, fell on his face, and flexis genibus ora­uit, praied on his knees: I come to the Authors.

And, to say no more of Iustin Marten, it is cleare that his words are against sitting: Post haec surgimus communitèr omnes, & preces profundimus; these things added, we all arise and pray. There it is manifest, they left sitting.

I come to Tertullian, who is most resolute for standing at prayer: De oratione. for he saith, Nefas ducimus, we hold it vnlawfull to kneele at prayer on Sundaies, &c. [Page 177] it is irreuerent to sit in the sight, and before the face of him whom thou doest reuerence and honour, how much more is that action most irreligious (to sit) in the sight of the liuing God, the Angel of Prayer be­ing present, vnlesse we will exprobate to God that our prayers haue wearied vs? If Tertullian will haue re­uerence and humilitie at prayer to God, whom we most reuerence and honour, why should hee not more require it at this Sacrament, which is the greatest and most eminent part of Gods worship?

Againe, Tertullian that speakes so boldly for standing at prayer, doth require kneeling at Bap­tisme: for speaking of the set dayes of Baptisme, De Baptism. in fine. as Easter day, hee saith, Caeterùm omnis dies Domi­niest, omnis hora, omne tempus habile Baptismo: si de solennitate interest, de gratia nihil refert. Ingres­suros Baptismum orationibus crebris, ieiunijs, & geni­culationibus, & peruigilijs orare oportet, & cum con­fessione omnium retro delictorum, vt exponit etiam Baptismum Ioannis: tingebantur, inquiens, confiten­tes delicta sua: Euery day is the Lords day, euery howre, and euery time is fit for Baptisme, though there be difference of solemnitie, there is no dif­ference of grace: they that are to bee baptized, must pray, with often prayers, and fastings, and kneelings and watchings, and with confession of all their sinnes past, as Iohns baptisme shewes; they were baptized confessing their sinnes. So it is apparent by Tertullian, that they which stood at praier on Easter day, the most solemne day, the day of Christs Resurrection, they kneeled at [Page 178]Baptisme. And if they came to baptisme cōfessing their sinnes, they ought to come to the Eucharist with the like confession of their sinnes: for there is as great necessitie of confession of sinnes in the Eucharist, as in Baptisme; as confession auricu­lar was more enioyned before the Eucharist, then before Baptisme: And there was greater reason of kneeling at the Eucharist, then at Baptisme, be­cause wee come neerer to Christ in this Sacra­ment of encrease, then in the other of regenera­tion. And of confession of sinnes, which was neuer omitted before the Eucharist, De poenitent. Tertullian saith, Ita (que) Exhomologesis prosternendi, & humili­ficandi hominis disciplina est: Confession is the discipline of casting downe, or prostration, and humbling man; So no Eucharist without con­fession of sinnes to God: no confession without casting downe, and humbling by kneeling, there­fore no Eucharist without prostration, and knee­ling; so Tertullian, that speakes most confidently of standing at prayer on Sundayes, for the me­morie of the resurrection of Christ, speakes very throughly for kneeling at Baptisme, and by con­sequent, at the Eucharist.

The 2. is Origen, about 220. yeeres after Christ, vpon Numbers: his words are; Sed & in Ecclesiasticis obseruationibus sunt nonnulla huiusmo­di, quae omnibus quidem facere necesse est, nec tamen ratio corum omnibus patet; Nam quod (verbi gratia) genua flectamus orantes, & quod ex omnibus coeli plagis, ad solam orientis partem conuersi orationem fundimus, non facilè cuiquam puto ratione comper­tùm: [Page 179]sed & Eucharistiae siue percipiendae, siue eo ritu quo geritur explicandae, vel eorum quae geruntur in Baptismo, verborum gestorum (que), & ordinum, at (que) in­terrogationum, atque responsionum, quis facilè expli­cet rationem? In the Ecclesiasticall obseruations, there are some such things, which it is needfull all should doe, yet the reason is not manifest vnto all: For example sake, that we pray kneeling, and powre out our prayers, frō all parts of the world, towards the East, I thinke it is not easily knowen to euery one by reason: And who can easily expresse the reason of receiuing the Eucharist, and explicate the Rite with which it is perfor­med, or of those things that are done in Bap­tisme, the words, and gestures, and orders, and of the interrogations and answeres? This witnesse is little fauourable to these sitters, for he menti­ons interrogatories in Baptisme, which they can­not well brooke; and of kneeling, in prayer; and presently orders the rites of the Eucharist, which, if they had been different, he had reason to haue set downe. And so the Argument is concludent: They kneeled at prayer; and therefore at the prayer in the Eucharist: so the Eucharist in Origens time was receiued with kneeling. But in his fift Hom. In diuersos, he speaketh more fully; discour­sing vpon the words of the Centurion: Quando Sanctum cibum, illud (que) incorruptum accipis epulum, quando vitae poculo & pane frueris, manducas & bibis corpus & sanguinem Domini, tunc Dominus sub te­ctum tuum ingreditur, & tuergo humilians teipsum, imitare hunc Centurionem, & dicito, Domine non [Page 180]sum dignus, vt intres sub tectum meum: vbi enim in­dignè ingreditur, ibi ad iudicium ingreditur accipi­enti: When thou receiuest that Sacrament, and that vncorrupt banquet, when thou enioyest that bread and cup of life, and eatest and drinkest the Body and Blood of the Lord, then the Lord en­treth vnder thy roofe; thou therefore humbling thy selfe, imitate this Centurion, and say, Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe: for where the Lord entreth vnworthi­ly, there he entreth to iudgement to the receiuer. This is most plaine: humilians teipsum must be in bodie and soule, else it were humilians partem tui: humble thy selfe, thy whole selfe, not a part of thy selfe, in body as well as in soule: The Cen­turions humilitie appeares in soule, in his words, and in his sending by others, as thinking him­selfe vnworthy to come by himselfe. And all the Ancient thinke, that at his comming hee hum­bled himselfe in bodie, as Basil of Seleucia sayd; Vidi Centurionem ad pedes Domini prouolutum, I be­held the Centurion fallen at our Lords feete. Therefore in Origens time humble kneeling was in vse, at the receiuing of the Eucharist.

The third is S. Cyprian, in his booke De oratio­ne Dom. he saith, The word and prayers of them that doe pray, let it bee with discipline (euery man may not doe what hee list, and pray in what fashion he lift) Continens quietem & pudorem, expressing rest (or peace) and shamefastnesse or modestie; that is not to stand vpon the prerogatiue of co­heires, and a table without all humilitie; certain­ly [Page 181]shamefastnesse will cause humilitie, or confu­sion: Let vs thinke wee stand in the sight of God: and then he addeth, Placendum est diuinis oculis, & habitu corporis, & modo vocis, We must please the eyes of God with the habite of our body (that is not sitting) and the tune of our voyce. And in his booke of the Lords Supper, he commeth nee­rer to the point, Sacramento visibili, ineffabilitèr diuinase infundit essentia, vt esset religioni circa Sa­cramenta deuotio; The diuine essence doeth inef­fably infuse it selfe into the visible Sacrament, (though our Transubstātiators know the maner of it) that Religiō might haue deuotion about the Sacrament. Deuotion is sometimes the inward Adoration of the heart, but in Gods solemne worship, outward Adoration is required with it. And againe, hauing described the sighes, Num. 13. and groanes, and teares of those that come to this Sa­crament, he saith, Gemitus illos pietas excitat, it is pietie that sendeth forth those sighes: and after, Inter data & cōdonata se diuidens, affectiō diuiding it selfe, between graces giuen, and sins forgiuen, Fletibus se abluit, & lachrimis se baptizat, washeth it selfe with weeping, and baptizeth it selfe with teares. Is not this the very highest, or rather the lowest of humilitie? And why should not the body bee as humble in kneeling, Num. 14. as the soule in teares? And then he addeth, Pauperes spiritu eli­git, & diligit Spiritus sanctus, & eorum, qui pompa­ticè & gloriose sacris se Altaribus ingerunt, obsequia detestatur, The holy Ghost chooseth those that are humble in spirit to this mysterie, & he loath­eth [Page 182]them, and hee hateth their obsequiousnesse, that thrust themselues to the sacred Altars pomp­ously, and gloriously. What is this pompous and glorious comming to the Altar? Is it not to come proudly without humilitie? For I must leaue the schoole of diuinitie, if I doe admit any medium, betweene Theologicall contraries: eue­ry man either humbleth himselfe, or exalteth himselfe: euery man commeth to the Lords Ta­ble either pompously & gloriously without hu­militie, as if hee were coheire, and coequall with Christ, or else humbly in all humiliation of soule and body. And though the holy Ghost know the secrets of all hearts, because he is God, yet no man can know the heart of another man, and therefore wee must iudge them to come pomp­ously, and braggingly that will not kneele, but will sit, as equall with the eternall God, without all outward humilitie, when they are but dust and ashes. Againe, in the 17. Num. Ad haec intra sacra mysteria ad gratiarum actionem conuertitur, & inclinato capite, munditia cordis adepta, se intelligens consummatum restitutus peccator, sanctificat am Deo animam, quasi depositum custoditum fidelitèr reddit: After in the sacred mysteries, the soule turneth to thankesgiuing, and bowing the head; the restored sinner hauing gotten purenesse of heart, vnder­standeth himselfe to be consummated, and resto­reth his sanctified soule, as a thing committed and faithfully kept, vnto God. Here we haue al­most all the Sacrifices spoken of before, Contri­tion, Prayer, Thankesgiuing, and the offering of [Page 183]our selues; and this is done with the exterior ge­sture, not onely of the bowing of the knee, but the head also. So that in Cyprians time, humilitie of the body, and kneeling, was in vse at the recei­uing of the Eucharist.

The 4. is Cyrillus of Hierusalem, In catache [...] mystagogica. 5. who descri­beth the whole order of the Liturgie, in the cele­bration of the Eucharist, the water in which the Priests did wash, the kisse of reconciliation, the wordes of the Liturgie, Lift vp your hearts, the thankesgiuing, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Saboath, the prayer at the consecration, the Lords prayer, and the like, which hee there mentioneth: then first hee describeth the ministring of the Bread, and Body of Christ, and the maner of the recei­uing of it; at last hee commeth to the Cup, and then he saith, Tum verò post communionem corporis Christi, accede & ad Calicem sanguinis illius, non ex­tendens manus: sedpronus adorationis in modum, & venerationis, dicens, Amen: Then after the Com­munion of the Body of Christ, come also to the Cup of his Blood, not reaching out thy hands, but falling on thy face in maner of Adoration, and worship, say, Amen. I hope this testimonie is so plaine, that malice it selfe cannot inuent a cauill to auoyd it.

The 5. is S. Gregory Nazianzen, 370. in the oration for his sister Gorgonia. Hee doeth not indeed de­scribe the celebration of the Eucharist, for it was in the night, when shee was alone, and neither Priest, nor consecration: but onely shee caried with her, some of the consecrated mysteries, [Page 184]which shee had reserued, as the fashion of those times was: and then in the stilnesse of the night, when her disease gaue her a little truce, Ante alta­re procubuit: she kneeled, or fell downe at the Al­tar, and called on him, whom she worshipped, with a lowd voyce, and all her endeuour; after, she leaned her head on the Altar, and with cries, and teares, like to the woman with the bloody issue, she touched herselfe with those mysteries: and the cōclusion is, she was made whole. This, Gregorie Nazianzen reueileth as a secret, and ap­prooueth and commendeth it. And I relate it onely to this end, not to iudge of the miracle, but to obserue in this, the custome of Communi­cants: which was, Procubuit ad altare, to fall downe and kneele at the Altar. For surely shee did now in her sicknesse, as she and all others did in their health, when they come to the Lords Table, that is, fall downe and kneele.

The 6. is S. Ambrose, 374. Cap. 12. in his third booke De spi­ritu & litera: who expounding the words of the Prophet, Psal. 98.5.99. according to the vulgar, Adorate sca­bellum pedum eius, exalt you the Lord our God, and worship at his footstoole, for he is holy; He discourseth that God hath no body, and needs no footestoole, that the earth is a creature, and may not be worshipped, and then remembring that Christs flesh is earth, he saith, Perscabellum terra intelligitur, per terram caro Christi; quam ho­die quo (que) in mysterijs adoramus: & quam Apostoli in Domino Iesu, vt supra diximus, adorarunt: By the footstoole the earth is vnderstood, & by the earth [Page 185]the flesh of Christ, which wee also adore in the mysteries this day; and the same which the Apo­stles did adore in our Lord Iesus, as I haue sayd before. This testimony is plaine, and cannot be eluded with that idle shift of adoring in soule, or by any other meanes then kneeling: for his cōpa­rison is plaine of external adoration by kneeling, in the Apostles, who did adore Christ at his as­cension with externall, singular, and visible wor­ship, Luk. 24.52. for with internall deuotion they did alwayes adore him. But this speciall worship­ping must bee vnderstood both of soule and bo­dy; so we must adore in soule and body, and that must be with kneeling, at the receiuing of the Sa­crament. And in the Comment that goeth vn­der his name, 1. Cor. 11. Deuoto animo, & cum ti­more accedendum ad communionem docet: vt sciat mens reuerentiam se debere ei, ad cuius corpus sumen­dum accedit: he teacheth, that hee must come to the Communion with feare, that the soule may knowe that shee oweth reuerence to him, whose body shee comes to receiue: this reue­rence must bee externall, as the deuotion is in­ternall; and that appeareth in the words follow­ing, Quem cum disciplina nos accipimus: which blood we receiue with discipline: that discipline certainly is the exterior order, and carriage pre­scribed by the Church: so prostration, and knee­ling was in that time an ordinance of the Church, at the Lords Table: not equalitie in co­heireship, and prerogatiues of a Table.

The seuenth is Gaudentius Brixensis, who spea­keth [Page 186]not of this Sacrament of the Eucharist in spe­ciall, but of the other of Baptisme, or of both; and there is much more reason to kneele at the Lords Table, De manducat. Agntpaschalis Sermone 9. then at Baptisme. His words are, Lectiones diuinas aure percipimus, ore Dominum con­fitemur, laudamus, benedicimus, obsecramus, manus supplices ad Coelum tendimus, pedibus ad Ecclesiam currimus, & vnam Trinitatis Deitatem flexis ad ter­ram genibus adoramus: Wee perceiue the diuine reading with our eares, wee confesse the Lord with our mouthes, we praise him, we blesse him, we beseech him, wee stretch out our suppliant hands to heauen; and kneeling on our knees on the earth, we adore the one Deitie of the Trini­tie. Hee speakes in this Sermon much of Bap­tisme, but the Title is, De manducatione Agnipas­chalis, of the eating of the Paschall Lambe: so it may well be applied to both Sacraments.

The eighth is S. Chrysostome, Hom. 61. Adpopu­lum Antiochenum: Considera quaeso; mensa regalis est apposita, Angelimensae ministrantes: ipse Rex adest, & tuastas oscitans? Sordescunt tibi vestimenta, & nihil est tibi curae? at pura sunt: igitur adora & commu­nica: Consider, I pray thee, The Royall table is set before thee, the Angels minister at the Table, the king himselfe is present, and doest thou stand gaping? Be thy garments foule, and thou takest no care? but thy garments are pure: then adore, and communicate. So adoration goeth with re­ceiuing; and that this is externall adoration and kneeling, Hom. 24. in 1. Cor. c. 10. he wil shew elsewhere; Hoc corpus etiam i [...]cens in praesepi reueritisunt Magi, & viri impij, & [Page 187]barbari, patria & domo relicta, & longam viam con­fecerunt, & cū venissent, cum multo metu, & tremore adorarunt: Imitemur ergo vel barbaros, nos Coelorum ciues. Nam illi quidem cum & in praesepi vidissent, & in tagurio, neque tale quidpiam vidissent, quale tu nunc vides, cum magna accesserunt reuerentia: tu au­tem non in praesepi vides, sed in altari: non foeminam eum tenentem, sed sacerdotem adstantem, & spiri­tum cum magnacopia, ea quae sunt proposita superuo­lantem. Non solummodo hoc ipsum corpus vides, si­cut illi: sed nosli eius & virtutem, & dispensationem, & nihil ignoras ex ijs quae per ipsum facta sunt; vt qui in omnibus mysterijs sis exactè, & accuratè initi­atus. Nos ergo ipsos excitemus, & formidemus, & longè maiorem, quàm illi barbari, ostēdamus reueren­tiam: ne sitemere, & inconsideratè accesserimus, in nostrum caput ignem congeramus: The Wise men did reuerence this body, lying also in the man­ger, and these wicked and barbarous men, lea­uing their houses and Countrey, finished a long iourney, and when they came, they adored with great feare and trembling. Let vs therefore, the citizens of heauen, imitate those Barbarians: for they truely when they saw him in the manger and in the Cottage, neither had they seene any such thing as thou now seest, they came with great reuerence; But thou seest him not in the manger, but in the Altar; not a woman holding him, but the Priest present, or standing by, and the Spirit in great plenty, flying ouer those things that are set forth; neither doest thou one­ly see his very body as they did, but thou know­est [Page 188]both his power and dispensation, and thou artignorant of nothing done by him, as being ex­actly and accurately initiated in all mysteries. Let vs therfore excite our selues, and feare, and shewe much more reuerence then those Bar­barians did; lest if perchance wee should come rashly and inconsiderately, we should heape fire on our owne heads. This restimony is most plaine, the wise men adore Christ in the manger, falling to the ground, or kneeling; wee must imi­tate them, wee must shew much more reuerence then they did; therefore wee must kneele when we receiue this Sacrament. The like he hath in Matt. Hom. 7. Imitemur nos saltem deuotionem Ma­gorum, Let vs at least imitate the deuotion of the wise men. And after, Et sifortè Magussis, nihil te ad hunc regem introire prohibebit, modò vt adora­turus, & honoraturus Dei filium, & non quasiconcul­caturus aduenias, modò vt honorem ipsum cum gau­dio, ac tremore offer as: possunt enim vtraque haec pa­ritèr conuenire: sed caue ne Herodi efficiaris similis, & dicas, vt & ego veniens adorem eum, cum (que) ve­neris, interimere coneris: huius enim similes sunt, qui indignè abutuntur communione mysterij: And if thou be a wise man, nothing shall hinder thee to goe in to this King, so as thou come to adore and honor the Son of God, and not to tread him vnder thy feete; so as thou offer this honor with ioy and trembling, for those two may well stand together: But take heed thou proue not like He­rod, and say, that I also may come and worship him; and when thou commest, thou endeuour to kill [Page 189]him; for such like are they that vnworthily a­buse the Communion of this mystery. And after, speaking of the tyranny of Satan, he addeth, Hic enim in homines tenere imperium gestit, suos (que) Cul­tores simulat, & mittit ad Christum, vt specie quadam adorare videantur, quantum vero inipsis est, interi­munt eum, quem adorarese simulant: Timeamus igi­tur, ne quando speciemsupplicum, at (que) adorantium ge­ramus, opere verò inimici existamus; Igitur adoratu­ri Christum, cuncta proijciamus è manibus: Satan doeth desire to hold the Empire ouer men, and he maketh his worshippers counterfeits, and sen­deth them to Christ, that they may seeme to worship in shew, and, as much as in them is, kill him, whom they counterfeit to adore. Let vs therfore feare, lest when we take vpō vs the shew of suppliants, and adorers, in worke we be found his enemies: therefore when wee goe about to worship Christ, let vs cast all things out of our hands. And this word of Adoration is often v­sed in this 7. Homilie, which I must passe ouer, and referre the Reader to some other places, as the Homilie De Proditione Iudae, and his Sermon De Eucharistia in Encaenijs; by all which it is most plaine, that Adoration, and kneeling at the recei­uing of the Eucharist, was in vse in Chrysostome, and those other Fathers time, some 700. yeeres before Honorius, that is made the first Author thereof.

The 9. is S. Augustine, In Psalme 98. whose place is knowne to this Author, and he labours to elude it against the haire, as also he doeth S. Ambrose, who vseth [Page 190]the word of Adoration, as before you haue heard. S. Augustine expounding the words of the Psalme, Adorate scabellum pedum eius, as the vul­gar readeth it, worship at his foot-stoole: or his foot-stoole; and alleadging the other Psalme, Heauen is his Throne, and the earth his foot-stoole, and knowing that wee must worship the Lord our God, and serue him onely, he maketh a question how we may worship the earth without Idolatry, and saith: Anceps factus sum, timeo adorare terram, ne damnet me, qui fecit terram: Rursùs timeo non ado­rare scabellum pedum Domini mei, quia Psalmus mihi dicit, Adorate Scabellum pedum eius. Quaero quid sit Scabellum pedum eius, & dicit mihi Scriptura, Terra scabellum pedum meorum: fluctuans conuerto me ad Christum, quia ipsum quaero hic, & inuenio, quomodò sine impietate adoretur terra; sine impietate adoretur scabellum pedum eius: Suscepit enim de terra terram; quia caro de terraest, & de carne Mariae carnem acce­pit: Et quia in ipsa carne hic ambulauit; & ipsam car­nem nobis manducandam ad salutem dedit: nemo au­tem illam carnem manducat, nisi priùs adorauerit, in­uentum est, quemadmodum adoretur tale scabellum pe­dum Domini, & non solùm non peccamus adorando, sed peccamus non adorando: I become doubtfull, I feare to adore the earth, lest hee condemne mee that made the earth: Againe, I feare, not to a­dore the foot-stoole of my Lord, because the Psalme saith to me, Adore his foot-stoole. I questiō what is his foot stoole; and the Scripture saith to me, that the earth is his foot-stoole: wauering, I turne my selfe to Christ, because I seeke him [Page 191]heare, and I find how the earth may be worship­ped, without impietie, and his foot-stoole may be adored without impietie: For he tooke earth of earth, for flesh is of the earth; and he tooke flesh of the flesh of the Virgin. And because hee wal­ked here in the flesh, and gaue that flesh to be ea­ten by vs to our saluation; and no man eateth that flesh, vnlesse he first haue adored, it is found out how such a foot-stoole of the Lord may bee adored, and wee shall not onely not sinne in ado­ring, but sinne in not Adoring.

In these words S. Augustine speaketh of the re­ceiuing of the Sacrament; and he saith in effect, that the custome, and gesture was vniuersall ouer all the world. Nemo manducat, no man eateth that flesh, but first hee Adoreth: not the Sacra­ment, but the flesh of the Sonne of God, which without reason, our Aduersaries wrest to the A­doration of the Sacrament. But this must not be omitted, that S. Augustine saith, That it was so farre from sinne to Adore the flesh of Christ, that it was sinne not to Adore it: so the omission of this Adoration, or kneeling is a sinne in S. Augu­stines iudgement. And S. Augustine speaketh ge­nerally of all Adoration, spirituall, and corpo­rall, externall, and internall, for else we may deny spirituall Adoration, as wel as externall in the re­ceiuing of the Eucharist: and that this Author doeth acknowledge; and then I marueile he can deny corporall, where he granteth spirituall.

For why? May we worship, and adore God at the receiuing of the Eucharist, with our hearts, [Page 192]and refuse to worship him with our bodies, and our knees? If we giue him our hearts and spirits, shall wee deny him any thing that the heart, and spirit doeth command? Shall wee giue him the greater, and better part of our selfe, (our Soule) and deny him the lesse, the bowing of the knee? So, S. Augustine speaking of Adoration in the so­lemne, and compleate worship of God, must bee vnderstood of inward, and outward Adoration, when both may be giuen. Besides, it is a friuo­lous exception that this man maketh; that what S. Augustine speaketh of the flesh of Christ, must be vnderstood spiritually: Spiritualitèr intelligite quod loquutus sum, vnderstand that spiritually which I haue spoken; for hee particularly spea­keth it of the flesh of Christ. Non hoc corpus quod videtis, manducaturi estis; You shall not eate this body which you see, nor drinke that Blood which the Cruci­fiers shall shed; I haue commended vnto you a certaine Sacrament, being spiritually vnderstood, it shall quicken you, or giue life; and though it be necessary to celebrate it visibly, yet notwithstanding it must be in­uisibly vnderstood. So S. Augustine saith, that those words of the flesh of Christ, must bee spiritually vnderstood; the flesh, that is the fleshly vnder­standing profiteth nothing: but though the flesh be vnderstood spiritually, yet there is no syllable, that the Adoration should bee onely spirituall. And because I will not trouble my selfe with this mans dotage, it is his owne word, that Adoration must not alwayes meane kneeling, no more then the name Man, doeth signifie Socrates: Let him [Page 193]giue mee a reason, why Adoration should not signifie both inward deuotion and outward bow­ing, and kneeling, alwayes, except some circum­stance, or necessitie doe restraine it onely to in­ward worship, when both inward and outward may, and ought to be tendered.

But S. Augustines Text is plaine, for externall bowing, and kneeling: Ideo & ad terram quālibet cum te inclinas et prosternis: Therfore when thou doest incline, or bow downe, or cast downe thy selfe to the earth, behold it not as earth, but as that holy one, whose footestoole thou adorest, for him thou adorest. So S. Au­gustine speakes of such adoration, wherin there is inclining, bowing downe or kneeling: and ther­fore this gesture of kneeling was the vniuersall custome of the Communicants in S. Augustines time. I passe that ouer, that S. Augustine doth cal this Sacrament, honorandum, honorable, as you may see in his 118. Epistle, ad Ianuarium. c. 3. On­ly see wherein hee (yea, S. Paul in his iudgement) placeth the abuse of the Sacrament; Apostolus in­dignè dicit acceptum ab eis, qui hoc non discernebant à caeteris cibis veneratione singulariter debitâ: The Apostle saith, that it was vnworthily receiued of them, who distinguish't it not from other meates, by yeelding it that worship which is especially due to it.

The tenth is Theodoret, Dial. 2. Neque enim si­gna mystica post sanctificationem recedunt à natura sua: manent enim in priori substantia, & figura, & forma, & videri, & tangi possunt, sicut & priùs in­telliguntur autem ea esse quae facta sunt, & creduntur, [Page 194]& adorantur, vt quae illa sunt, quae creduntur: The mysticall signes after sanctification, doe not de­part from their nature, for they remaine in their former substance (there the substance of bread and wine remaines in the Sacrament) and figure, and forme, and may be seene and touched, as be­fore; but they are vnderstood to be those things, which they are made, and are beleeued, and a­dored, as being those things which they are be­leeued. So in Theodorets time there was adorati­on at the receiuing of the Eucharist, and that ex­ternall: for creduntur, they are beleeued, implies the inward (as this Author would make S. Au­gustine to speake) and then Adorantur, must ex­tend to the outward, which doth consist in the bowing, prostration and kneeling of the bodie.

Againe, Dialogo 3. answering how a bodie might procure our saluation, he sayth, Not the bodie of a man alone; but of our Lord Iesus Christ, the onely begotten Sonne of God. And if that seeme small and vile to thee, Quomodo eius typum, ac figuram venerabilem, ac salutarem existi­mas? cuius autem typus est adorandus & veneran­dus, quemadmodum est ipsum exemplar archetypum vile, & aspernandum? How doest thou esteeme the type and figure of him to be venerable & sa­lutiferous? for how is the Archtypal examplar, vile, and to bee despised, whose type is to be ado­red and worshipped? Here it is cleere, that there was veneration, and adoration of Christ in the receiuing of the Sacrament; the very elements are sacred, and dreadfull after consecration; then [Page 195]Adoration is not due to them, beeing creatures; but to Christ, whose flesh is the type, and co­uering or vaile of his Deitie.

The 11. is Eusebius Emissenus, Homil. in 2. Do­minica post Epiphan. his words are: Quando vero ad Christi Sacramentum accedimus, & fragilitatem nostram consideramus, quid aliud dicit vnusquisque nostrum, nisinon sum dignus vt intres sub tectum; non sum dignus vt corpus & sanguinem tuum suscipiam in ore meo? when wee come vnto Christs Sacra­ment, and consider our owne frailtie, what else doth euery one of vs say, but this; I am not wor­thy that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe, I am not worthy to receiue thy bodie and blood in my mouth? He speakes not plainly for knee­ling; but the opinion of the ancient is, that this Centurion, Prouolutus adpedes Domini, fell down, or kneeled at Christs feete, and then hee meant this acknowledgement to bee with kneeling. And, sure I am, this testimony confounds this man, that denies any humilitie to bee vsed in re­ceiuing the Eucharist: for his confession of his vnworthinesse argues his humilitie, and his hu­militie is the first linke, or moouer of kneeling: so hee that requires inward humilitie of soule, may well bee vnderstood of outward humiliati­on of bodie, in the publike, solemne and highest acte of Gods worship.

The 12. is Caesarius Arelatensis, Homil. 12. Biblioth. SS. Pat. Tom. 2. p. 107. Ideò qui vult missas ad integrum, cum lucro suae animae ce­lebrare, vsque quò or atio Dominica dicatur, & bene­dictio populo detur, humiliato corpore, & compuncto [Page 196]corde se debet in Ecclesia continere: He that will ce­lebrate the whole Masse (or Liturgie) with the gaine of his owne soule, ought to containe him­selfe in the Church, with an humbled body, (that's kneeling) and a contrite heart, vntill the Lords prayer be said, and the blessing bee giuen to the people. And hee spends almost an whole Homilie, the 34. of this title, De genibus flectendis in oratione, vel de verbis otiosis: in which hee per­swades, that while they pray at the Altar, or the Deacon calls on them to pray, they should bend, not onely their hearts, but also their bodies faith­fully; and then hee makes an obseruation, that when the Deacon calls, flectamus genua: let vs kneele: hee marked most of the pleople, ere­ctos sicut columnas stare, to stand vpright like pil­lars: and therefore those words, flectamus genua, are very auncient, since it is remembred by him as a thing receiued in vse, & not newly brought into the Church: of which hee saith, Obe­dientibus in remedium, inobedientibus in testimo­nium: it is a remedie to the obedient, and a testi­monie to the disobedient. After, he saith, The Publicane by his humilitie, obtained mercie of God, that lifted not vp his eyes to heauen, but hanging, or inclining downe his head, smote his breast. Againe, he doth not beleeue his sinne to be heauie, who doth not prostrate, and kneeling, seeke the cure of his soule. Againe, hee saith, I would know of them that will not kneele, nor in­cline their heads; if they should sue for any need­ful thing of the Iudge, or any potent person, whe­ther [Page 197]they would supplicate stantes, standing, and holding their hands vpright. Wee aske tempo­rall things of earthly men, and wee incline and bow our selues humbly, euen almost to the earth: and wee aske remission of sinnes, and eternall rest of God, and vouchsafe not to bow and in­cline our heads.

Againe, did our Sauiour want nothing for which he should supplicate in this sort? he wan­ted nothing, but he prepared for vs, by his exam­ple, the remedies of prayer: Orat misericordia, & non orat miseria? orat charitas, & non humiliatur ini­quitas? orat prostratus in terra medicus, & non incli­natur aegrotus? orat innocentia, & non orat nequitia? Mercie prayed (kneeling,) and shal not miserie? charity praieth, and is not iniquity humbled? the Physitian lay prostrate vpon the earth, and doth not the sicke man bow? Innocencie prayeth, and doth not guiltines pray? He that sinned not, nei­ther was there guile found in his mouth, prayeth; and doth not he cast himselfe on the earth, that is obnoxious to many sins? the Iudge prayeth, and desires to spare, and doth not the guilty person pray, that he may obtaine pardon? Orat qui Iu­dicaturus, et orare dissimulat iudicandus? hee that is to giue iudgement prayeth, & doth he that is to be iudged dissemble to pray? And after, he com­pareth the Church to a liuing spiritual fountaine of liuing water, and no man can drinke of an earthly spring, vnlesse he stoope or bow downe; and no man can drinke of Christ, the liuing fountaine, and the Riuer of the holy Ghost, vn­lesse [Page 198]hee will incline in all humilitie. I omit ma­ny other things, which the Reader shall there finde; and the Homilie is worth the reading.

The 13. is, Eligius Nouiomensis: Homil. 15. Quocirca cum timore, & compunctione mentis omni (que) reuerentia debemus accedere ad altare, & ad mensam corporis, & sanguinis Christi, & dicere humilitèr cum Centurione, Domine, non sum dignus vt intres sub tectum meum: Wherefore wee ought to come to the Altar and Table of the Body and Blood of Christ, with feare and compunction of heart, and all reuerence (then of body, and soule) and say humbly with the Centurion, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter vnder my roofe.

The 14. is venerable Beda: in 1. Ioan. 1. vpon those words; And the Blood of Christ purgeth vs from all sinne. Humiliter quotidie nostros confi­temur errores, cumsanguinis illius Sacrament a perci­pimus: Wee doe humbly confesse our errors to him dayly, when wee receiue the Sacrament of his Blood: and Confession (as Tertullian saith) is the discipline of kneeling.

The 15. is Damascen. de Orthodox. fid. li. 4. c. 14. Proinde omni cum timore, & conscientia pura, & in­dubitabili fide accedamus, et omnino fiet nobis quod credimus non dubitantes, et veneremur ipsum omni puritate animi et corporis: Therefore let vs come with all feare, and a pure conscience, and faith without doubting, and altogether it shal be done to vs as wee beleeue, not doubting, and let vs worship him with all purenesse of minde and [Page 199]body. Here is expresse veneration, and worship­ping in the receiuing of the Sacrament, and wor­ship of body, as well as soule, and therefore Kneeling.

The 16. is Albinius Flaccus Alcuinus, de diuinis officijs: He first sheweth that it was receiued in the Leiturgie, or the Masse, that the Priest saith, Ore­mus, Let vs pray: and the Deacon calleth, Fle­ctamus genua, Let vs kneele. And a little before he saith, Pro periculis huius vitae, & pro haereticis, & per omnes alias orationes genua flectimus, vt per hunc ha­bitum corporis, mentis humilitatem attendamus, ex­cepto quando pro perfidis Iudaeis oramus: for the pe­rils of this life, and for Heretickes and Pagans; and in all other our Prayers we kneele, (and this was on Easter day) that by this habite of the bo­dy, we may attend the humilitie of the mind, ex­cept it be when we pray for the perfidious Iewes. And he giueth his reason: For they bowed their knee to our Sauiour, doing a good worke ill, be­cause they did it mocking him: wee, to demon­strate, that we ought to auoyd those workes that are done in dissimulation, auoyd kneeling for the Iewes.

And after, Licèt omni tempore peccatores nos esse ex corde cognoscere debeamus; tunc quàm maximè confitendum est, cum illo sacro mysterio celebratur re­missionis gratia, & indulgentiapeccatorum, & cum humilitate, & cordis contritione dicendum, &c. Al­though wee ought at all times to acknowledge from the heart, our selues to bee sinners; yet it must be most confessed, when in that sacred my­sterie [Page 200]the grace of remission, and indulgence of sinnes is celebrated, &c. Lay these two places together, and it will be most manifest, that knee­ling was vsed. For in the former place he saith, in all other our prayers wee kneele; here he saith, tunc quàm maximè, then chiefly, when wee pray for remission of sinnes: that is in the Eucharist, with humilitie and contrition: therefore knee­ling was then in vse, both at all prayers, and in this Sacrament, and that in the very day of the Resurrection it selfe.

The 17. is Haimo. in 1. Cor. 11. Cumtimore & compunctione cordis omni (que) reuerentia debemus acce­dere, recolentes quanto amore dilexit nos, qui pro nobis seipsum obtulit, vt nos redimeret: as often as wee come to consecrate or receiue this Sacra­ment, of his eternall gift, which the Lord before his Passion, left to be held by vs in his memorie, we must come with feare and compunction of heart, and all reuerence, (if all, then of body as well as of soule, and so of kneeling, because that, of all other, is most reuerent,) meditating with how great loue he loued vs, who gaue himselfe for vs to redeeme vs. And after, Cum timore & tremore debemus ac­cedere ad illud Sacramentum terribile; vt sciat mens reuerentiam se debere praestare ei, ad cuius corpus su­mendum accedit: Wee ought to come with feare, and trembling to that terrible Sacrament, that the soule may know, that she ought to performe reuerence to him, whose body shee commeth to receiue.

The 18 is Ioannes Climacus, who is said to liue [Page 201]in the sixe hundredth yeere: he relateth a story of one, that, it seemeth, was possessed, and brought to the Communion, & there blasphemed; where­upon he saith, Nam si mea sunt turpia illa & scele­rata verba, quid est quod donum caeleste suscipiens a­doro? quomodo possum vnà & benedicere & maledi­cere? If those foule, and wicked words are mine, how is it that receiuing the heauenly gift, I a­dore? how can I at once both blesse, and curse? Lib. 1. cap. 117.

The 19. is Honorius; if hee be the Author of that Booke called Gemma animae, extant in Bib. SS. P. De diuinis officijs: In Quadragessima ideò in Mis­sa, (Flectamus genua) dicimus, quia corpus, & ani­mam in paenitentia humiliare innuimus, &c. In Lent therefore we say in the Masse (Let vs kneele,) be­cause wee shew that wee humble our soules and bodies in repentance. Whereof hee gi­ueth three Reasons; 1. because wee adore Christ in the flesh; 2. because we call to mind that wee, that stood in Paradise with the Angels, doe now lye on the ground with the beasts; 3. because he that standeth, is equall to other men that stand in their righteousnesse, as reasonable creatures: but after our fall into fleshly desires, welye in the dirt with the beasts, as vnreasonable. And hee deri­ueth this gesture from Abraham, and the Pro­phets, and the Apostle, that said, I bow my knees to the Lord.

The 20. is Algerus: hee liued about an hun­dred yeeres before Honorius; De Sacramentis, Lib. 2. cap. 3. Cassa enim videretur tot hominum assisten­tium, vel adorantium vener and a sedulitas; nisi ipsius [Page 202]Sacramenti longè maior crederetur quam videretur, veritas, & vtilitas: Cum ergo exteriùs nulla sint, qui­bus tanta impenduntur obsequia; aut insensati sumus, aut ad intima mittimur magnae salutis mysteria: The venerable sedulitie of so many men assisting or a­doring, might seeme vaine, if the trueth, and vti­litie of the Sacrament it selfe, were not beleeued to bee much greater then is seene. Seeing there­fore outwardly they seeme nothing, to which so great dueties of worship are giuen, either we are insensible, or els wee are sent to the secret myste­ries of the great Saluation.

I will not descend any lower, Authen. Coll. 8. de Nauti. vsur. Nouel. 109. nor trouble the Reader with any other testimonies: onely I take it, there is a Ciuill Constitution in the Authen­ticks, against womens Dowries, that shall not hold the Orthodox faith, Nec percipientes sacro­sanctam & adorabilem Communionem, nor receiue the holy, and adorable Communion: which pe­naltie of loosing of Dowries, and portions, if it were in force among vs, we should peraduenture haue fewer stiffekneed sisters, that are forcible O­tors, to draw many to the present irreuerence, that is vsed in the worship of God, and the cele­bration of the Sacraments.

By these it is manifest ynough, that Kneeling at the Sacrament, was in vse in the second hun­dred yeeres after Christ, and so continued vnto Honorius Decree: and that may be the reason that he made no mention of the receiuing of the Sa­crament, but onely of the eleuation of it. And this I hope may satisfie any reasonable man, that [Page 203]regardeth the practise of the Church militant, and beleeueth the Fathers, if not as Doctors, that teach Quid faciendum, what ought to bee done; yet as Historians, that truely relate Quid factum, what was done in their times.

And if it were receiued as a custome in the Church, in the second hundred yeeres; why may wee not ascend to the first, and so to the A­postolicall Church, and say, the second age lear­ned it of the first, and the first of the Apostles, since no beginning can be found of the custome, though we may perchance finde the first writer of it? And then the rule is, If it be a custome of the Primitiue Church, the founder and Authour whereof is vnknowen; referendum est ad Apostolos, it must be ascribed to the Apostles that vsed it in their times: And so it may well bee conclu­ded, that it was not a late Antichrist, but the Spi­rit of Christ in the Apostles and Apostolicall men, that first brought kneeling into the wor­ship of God in the receiuing of the Eucharist: For if the beginning and vse were good; the abuse, which is pretended for the abolishing of it, be­cause it was turned to Idolatrie, must bee refor­med and brought to the first institution: as the Church of England hath done, which kneeles to God and Christ at the taking of this Sacrament, though wee vtterly detest the grosse superstiti­on of those, that doe adore the Elements and species themselues, if any bee found so palpably blinde: for the learned among them doe dis­claime [Page 204]this point in their booke-learning, what­soeuer their practise be.

Now heare, I pray you, the force of this knee­ling, how able it is to appease wrath: Petrus Ble­sensis saith of it; Nihil faciliùs frangit iram, quam genuflectio: nothing more easily breaketh anger, then kneeling, for it prouoketh him that suffers the iniurie to pardon, and him that doeth the iniurie it leadeth naturally to teares. For there is a certaine Sympathy, inter oculos & genua, betweene the eyes, and knees: for, as they say that are skilfull in the nature of things, the child in the mothers wombe, oculos habet genibus super­positos: hath his eyes placed ouer his knees; and thence some thinke, that genua, the knees, are cal­led, à genis, of the cheekes that are ouer them, therefore the eyes naturally breake out into teares when wee kneele, as answering by a na­turall affection tanquam collectaneis suis, as it were to those with whom they were nourished.

But I will not say what it may be in man: sure I am, if the Emperour Marcus his narration bee true, when he and his Armie were in distresse for want of water, and he had called the Christi­ans in his Armie, to pray to their God to supply their extreame necessitie, the Christians present­ly Proijcientes se in terram, casting themselues on the earth, fell to their prayers: and as soone as they had fallen to the earth, and called on God by prayer, the Lord sent raine from heauen, that saued the Emperor and all his Army: there knee­ling procured a most gratious rayne: and so no [Page 205]doubt, but it is powerfull to draw down all Gods graces vpon vs.

I conclude with S. Augustine, De cura pro mor­tuis, cap. 5. Nam & orantes de membris sui corporis fa­ciunt, quod supplicantibus congruit, cum genua figunt, cum extendunt manus, vel etiam prosternuntur Solo, & si quid aliud visibiliter faciunt, quamuis corum in­uisibilis voluntas, & cordis intentio Deo nota sit, nec ille indigeat his indicijs, vt humanus eipandatur ani­mus, sed his magis seipsum excitat homo, ad orandum gemendum (que) humiliùs at (que) ferrentiùs: & nescio quo­modo, cum hi motus corporis fieri, nisi motu animi prae­cedente non possunt, eisdem (que) rursus exteriùs visibili­tèr factis, ille interior inuisibilis, qui eos fecit, augetur; ac per hoc, cordis affectus, qui vt fierent istapraecessit, quia facta sunt, crescit: For they that pray, of the members of their body doe that which agree­eth with suppliants, when they kneele, when they lift vp their hands, or when they prostrate themselues on the earth, or if they doe any other thing visible, although their inuisible will, and intention of their heart be knowne to God, and hee needeth not any of these signes, that mans minde may bee layed open before him; but by these (gestures) man doeth excite himselfe to pray, and sigh more humbly and more feruent­ly. And I know not how (it commeth to passe) when these motions of the body cannot be per­formed, vnlesse the motion of the minde goe be­fore them; yet againe by these externall gestures visibly done, the internall inuisible intention which stirreth them, is increased, and by these [Page 206]the affection of the heart, which preceded, that these (gestures) might be performed, doeth in­crease, because these are performed.

Ratio 6. Praxis Ecclesiae Triumphantis.

THe sixt Reason is, Praxis Ecclesiae Triumphan­tis: the practise of the Triumphant Church in heauen; and this admitteth no refusal: for hea­uenly things are the exemplars and patternes, to which earthly things must bee conformed. Is there a Tabernacle to bee made on earth? must not the modell thereof bee taken from heauen? Secundùm formam in monte; Exod. 25.40.26.30. thou shalt make it ac­cording to the forme shewed thee in the Mount. Is there a forme of life to be prescribed to men on earth? Is it not to bee guided by the rule of heauen? Matth 6.10. Thy will be done, Sicut in coelo, sic in ter­ra, In earth as it is in heauen; the obedience of earth, must be squared by the line of heauen: and then, though our bodies be on earth, yet our con­uersation is in heauen. Phil. 3.20. The earth is the prison, or place of mans banishment; the out-house, and suburbs, in comparison of heauen, the Citie, and pallace of the great King. The earth is the place of Pilgrimage, and the valley of misery; and hea­uen is the Countrey of rest, and eternall felicitie. In earth all things are vnperfect, and only incho­ate: in heauen all things are consummate and in absolute perfection. Mans ambition by the sub­tiltie of the Serpent, Gen 3.5. was Eritis sicut Dij: you shall be as gods: but mans greatest exaltation after his [Page 207]fall is, Eritis sicut Angeli, you shal be as the Angels. And if it be true, that the Church-gouernment, the neerer it commeth to the Hierarchie of hea­uen, the more perfect, and absolute it is; it will al­so be true, that the neerer the worship, and Ado­ration of the Church militant resembleth the exact, and absolute patterne of the Triumphant Churches worship in heauen; the more pleasing and acceptable to God it must needs be. For sure­ly this Sicut in coelo, reacheth principally to the worship of God: So that this is an vndeniable proposition which must necessarily be granted:

• Such, as is the Adoration and gesture of the Saints, in the worship of God, and of the Lambe, at the supper of the Lambe in Hea­uen: such must be the Adoration & gesture of the Saints in earth, in the worship of God, at the Supper of the Lambe on earth.
• But the Saints in the worship of God, and of the Lambe, doe vse the Adoration of fal­ling downe and kneeling, at the Supper of the Lambe in Heauen.
• Therefore the Saints must vse the Adoration of falling downe, or kneeling, in the wor­ship of God, at the Supper of the Lambe on earth.

For that there is a Supper in via, in the way, there can bee no doubt to him, that readeth Christes wordes, Luke 14.16. A certaine man made a great Supper, and bade many. And that there is a Sup­per in patria, in the Countrey and kingdome of Heauen; there can be no doubt, to him that belee­ueth [Page 208] S. Iohn, Apoc. 19.9. that pronounceth them blessed, that are called to the Supper of the Lambe. The first Supper is sub Sacramentis, vnder Sacraments: for so long as we liue here in this vale of misery, and our soule is clad about wth sinfull flesh, we haue need of Elements, which God hath ordeined to conuey his graces to vs; and because we cannot see, but as in a glasse, or darke speaking, all vailes are not taken from vs. But when we shall see, as we are seene, face to face, wee shall bee admitted to that Supper, which is sine Sacramentis, without all Sa­craments: and as we shall be sicut Angeli, as the Angels of God, so we shall be fedde, sicut Angeli, as the Angels of God, without the meanes of any creature, or Element at all.

Now, if they at the marriage Supper of the Lambe consummate in Heauen, doe bow downe and kneele, much more must wee, that are onely admitted to the marriage Supper, that is the con­tract and espousals, that is made by the holy Spi­rit, in the Church militant in earth, bow and kneele. And so much the rather, because the bles­sed Saints that bow and kneele in Heauen, doe onely make Confessionem Laudis, confession of praise, and giue glory and honour to God, in signe of their Ioy, which is so absolute, that all teares are wiped from their eyes. And therefore the Saints on earth that make Confessionem pecca­torum & miseriae, confession of their sinnes and miseries, in token of their sorrow and contrition, ought much more to bow downe, and kneele, to pacifie the anger of God.

Now that the Saints in heauen doe bow downe, or fall on the ground and kneele, when they worship (in bodie if their bodies bee there, or else in soule and spirit) and adore God, and sing praise to him tha [...] sitteth on the Throne; it is apparant in many places in the Reuelation of S. Ioh. Cap. 4.10. The foure and twenty Elders fall downe before him that sate vpon the Throne, and worship him that liueth for euer and euer, and cast their Crownes before the Throne. And cap. 5, 8. the foure and twentie Elders fell downe before the Lambe: and ver. 14. the foure and twenty Elders fell downe and worshipped him that liueth for euer and euer. And C. 7. ver. 9. ha­uing put a certaine number for an vncertaine, twelue thousand of euery one of the twelue Tribes: A great number clothed in white robes, and Palmes in their hands, cryed, Saluation to our God, which sitteth vpon the Throne, and vnto the Lambe. And all the Angels stood round about the Throne, and about the Elders, and the foure beasts; and fell before the Throne on their faces, and worship­ped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wis­dome, and thankesgiuing, and honour, and power, and might, bee vnto our God for euer and euer, Amen. And that these are Saints in glory, appeareth af­ter, ver. 14. These are they that come out of great tribulations, and haue washed their Robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lambe: therefore are they before the Throne of God, and serue him day and night in his Temple: and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them: They shall hunger no more, [Page 210]neither thirst any more, neither shall the Sunne light on them, nor any heate; For the Lambe which is in the middest of them shall feede them, and shall leade them vnto liuing fountaines of waters, and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes.

Now these are the Endowments of another life; wee are in great tribulation, as long as wee are in this life; these came out of great tribulati­on: wee doe now wash our selues in the blood of the Lambe, and while wee liue we cannot get out all the spots of sinne and lust; these haue wa­shed their Robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lambe. This life is, Esuries & sitis Iustitiae: the hunger and thirst of righteousnesse; the life to come, hath no hunger nor thirst, be­cause they liue at the well head, and sea of all goodnesse; and their cup doth alwaies ouerflow. I omit other circumstances: for these prooue sufficiently, that the Saints which the Apostle de­scribeth, are Possessors in the Kingdom of glory, not Trauellers in the way of grace. And the Text saith, Verse 17. The Lambe which is in the middest of the Throne, shall feede them: that must ne­cessarily be, Coena gloriae, the Supper of glory; the vision and contemplation of God and Christ, face to face without all Sacrament.

And in all this worship; that the consumma­ted Saints giue to God, it is said, that the Angels, and the Elders, Cap. 7.7.11. and the beasts did fall downe be­fore the Throne on their faces, and worship God: So in heauen there is no worship without prostration and kneeling.

In like sort, the twenty foure Elders, which sate before God on their seats, fell on their faces, and worshipped, c. 11.16. And in the 19. Verse 4. Chap­ter, where the great whore is iudged, the foure and twenty Elders, & the foure beasts fell downe and worshipped God, that sate on the Throne; saying, Amen: Alleluia: And in the ninth verse it followeth: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage Supper of the Lambe. So at the marriage Supper of the Lambe, there is falling downe, or prostration and kneeling.

If all this worship bee giuen to God, that sit­teth on the Throne, and to the Lambe, by the Angels, and Elders, and Beasts, and Saints, when they worship God, and are feasted at the Supper of the Lambe, in glory in heauen; why should not their practise bee a warrant to the Saints in earth, to vse like falling downe, or kneeling, in the worship of God, at the feast of the Lambe in grace, on earth? since the practise of the Church Triumphant may well be receiued as a patterne, and guide by the Church militant, whose example so long as shee follow­eth, shee can neuer erre; whose imitation is her readiest way to perfection?

If any shall replie, that this is not the practise of the Church Triumphant, which S. Iohn de­scribeth in the Reuel. but rather, that vnder the name of the Church Triumphant in heauen, the Militant Church is described in earth, though I doubt not, but it may very well be collected out of the pregnant circumstances of the Text, that [Page 212]many of those passages cannot well bee vnder­stood of the Church Militant in earth, but onely of the Triumphant Church in heauen; as in part appeareth before; yet I will not greatly contend with him, that shall gainsay in this point.

For suppose S^t. Iohn, vnder the name of the Throne, and the Angels, and beasts, and Elders, and heauen, doe only vnderstand the Kingdome of heauen, and the Throne of Christ in the Kingdome of grace, in this Life: yet to my pur­pose it is all one: For be it, the worship here spo­ken of, be of the Saints in the Church militant; it is worship with outward Adoration, prostration, or kneeling, which worship is principally perfor­med in the Eucharist. And be it that the feeding, and supper of the Lambe, be the feeding by the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the supper of the Lambe in the way (For at the feeding by the preaching of the word, no man calls for knee­ling) they must necessarily grant my Conclusion: That at the receiuing of this supper there must be prostration, falling downe, and kneeling. And if Saint Iohn saw this; then in Saint Iohns time kneeling was the receiued gesture of Communi­cants at the Supper of the Lambe. So whether Saint Iohn spake of the Supper of grace, or the Supper of glory, kneeling or prostration is the gesture of Communicants at the Lords Table.

The perfection of the Triumphant Church imposeth a necessitie of our imitation: if it bee done in heauen, it must be imitated on earth; if it [Page 213]bee done in confession of glory, it must much more be done in confession of sinne: if it be done in the sacrifice of prayse, it must much more bee done in the sacrifice of contrition, and prayer: if they that haue no want, nor no imperfection, doe thus fall downe and kneele, how much more must they cast downe themselues in all humility, that abound in nothing, but onely in wants and imperfections, whose greatest perfection is Agnitio imperfectionis, the acknowledgement of their imperfections: and whose greatest glory is the ingenuous confession of their own vnwor­thinesse.

And surely Saint Iohn, Apoc. 9.10.22.8. that wrote this Reuela­tion, is twice reprooued by the Angel, because he would haue giuen diuine worship to the An­gel: but the faul [...] [...] in obiecto, not in modo adora­tionis: in the obiect of his adoration: For hee would haue giuen that to the Angel, which was peculiar only to God; but it was not in the man­ner of his adoration: he fell at his feete and wor­shipped him: diuine worship must haue falling downe, or prostration, or kneeling, but di­uine worship may not bee giuen to any Angell or Saint, or Sacred, or consecrated Creature; but only to God, to whom onely it is due.

The sum therefore of this reason is short, and punctuall: The Church Triumphant worship­eth and feasteth at the Lambes Supper, with pro­stration or kneeling: Therefore the Church Mi­litant, that must learne of the Church Trium­phant, must worship with prostration or knee­ling, [Page 214]at the feast of the Supper of the Lambe. For the earth must learne of heauen: and he that re­fuseth such guides, as the Saints in heauen, in the worship of God; it is to be feared that hee is turned ouer to worse Tutors on earth: and vn­lesse he repent, and returne to the right way, and follow their footsteps that are gone to heauen be­fore him; he will hardly attaine to the great City, wherof they are admitted as Citizens and Saints: And sure I am, the very Habendum and Tenen­dum: the hauing, and holding, the right, and pos­session of our inheritance, is, as Christ said: Vade & fac similiter; Luc. 10.37. goe, and doe thou likewise. They kneeled, and prostrated themselues, when they adored God; and were admitted to the feast of the Lambe on earth; they doe so, as S. Iohn saith, now in heauen; and they that rest from all their labours, rest not from this labour, of Adoration, and prostration; and we must follow them in the way, that we may be crowned with them at the end of the way, in the Kingdome of glory.

I Come now to the reasons for sitting, for the Authorities are for standing. Now before I come to handle them in particular, giue mee leaue to strike at the roote of them all in ge­nerall; and that is in short, Pride, and Presump­tion. You will maruell much, that I should say, the Foundation of all these Reasons is, Presump­tion, and Pride: and I cannot but maruell at it my selfe; but I must much more maruell at the Au­thor [Page 215]of these Reasons; that bearing the name of a Christian, and perchance a Minister, he should giue mee cause to say as I doe: For I knowe no meane or medium in Theologicall contraries: when wee come to the Lords Table, either wee must be humble, or else we must bee presumptu­ous, and proud: Luk. 11.23. Hee that is not with mee is against mee, saith our Sauiour, and hee that gathereth not with mee, scattereth. Either a good man, or a bad man; either faithfull, or vnfaithfull; either a good seruant, or a bad seruant; either borne of God, and the childe of God, or borne of the de­uill, and the childe of the deuill: either wee doe righteousnesse, or wee doe vnrighteousnesse; ei­ther wee loue the Brethren, or wee loue not the Brethren; either a good tree, and good fruit; or a bad tree, and bad fruit. And although a good tree cannot but beare good fruit, and a bad tree cannot but beare bad fruit; yet, Mala arbor fieri potest bona; a bad tree may bee made a good tree: and the change must be first in radice, and then in fructu: first in the Roote, wee must be grafted in­to Christ; and then it will follow in the fruite. Yet in all these there is no meane; there is none to be found, but either he is good or bad: so there is none that comes to the Lords Table, but ei­ther hee is humble, and comes in humilitie with the Publicane, or else hee is presumptuous, Luk. 18.10. and comes in pride with the Pharisee.

Now, that I may not bee accused to mistake this Author, I will relate his words: ‘Kneeling is not onely disagreeable with the ioyfull Pag. 85.[Page 216]carriage, which in the iudgement of the said Fa­thers, the solemnizing of the Lords day requireth throughout euery part of Diuine Seruice, but al­so repugnant in particular, to the person sustained by each Communicant, and to the nature, and in­tendment of the Lords Supper. The Lords Supper being a Sacrament; not of humbling our selues af­ter the manner and guise of suppliants, and peni­tentiaries; but of spirituall feasting and reioycing on our parts, not onely for the Lords Resurrestion, and our owne, in his person, but for all other fauors and dignities, purchased for vs by his death. And Pag. 84. Kneeling, which is a gesture of humilia­tion, and of him that bewrayeth his sinnes, and submissiuely sueth for the pardon of them, is altoge­ther unsutable, and repugnant to reioycing and cheerefulnesse, &c.’

Good God, Is there any action of a Christian, that may be done without humilitie? May man, that is but dust and ashes, present himselfe at any time, in Gods sight, without humilitie? That is, with Pride: for these admit no meane; either humble, or proud. May wee haue the affection of humilitie, and not haue the gesture of humilitie? Did not the Fathers that stood at their Prayers in honour of Christs Resurrection, stand in all hu­militie? surely they stood in confidence of Gods grace, and in hope of their owne Resurrection; but they stood in al humilitie, because they could not forget their owne frailtie, confident in God, but humble in themselues.

So the Fathers that layd downe the gesture [Page 117]of humilitie, for a particular Reason, did neuer lay downe the affection of humility; because that is against all reason, to cease to be humble, when Christ said, Discite ex me, quia humilis, Learne of me, to be humble, and meeke: learne of mee, not to create the world, not to redeeme the world: not to feed fiue thousand with fiue loaues, nor to feed the whole world with a few seeds; not to raise from the dead, nor to keepe men that they die not, by curing all diseases: but learne of mee to be humble, and meeke.

And may it suffice to be humble in confession of sinne, and supplicating for pardon? or will it suffice to be humble in asking petitions, for sup­ply of wants, and not bee humble in giuing of thanks? will it suffice to be humble in the Exami­nation of our selues, and preparing our selues be­fore we come to the Lords Table: and at the ve­ry comming, & receiuing, to cease to be humble, and take state vpon vs? Did we by our humilitie attaine to bee in a measure fit, and worthy for those great mysteries, that so we may lay downe humilitie, and come Pompaticè, & gloriosè, Cyprian. de Caena Domin. pom­pously, and gloriously, as if we were haile-felow, and equall with God? No: It was humilitie that prepared vs to come to the Lords Table; and it must be humilitie that presenteth vs at the Lords Table. And, Eadem sunt principia constitutionis, & conseruationis; Humilitie was the first principle of Constitution, to make vs Christians: and hu­militie must bee the same principle of conserua­tion, to keepe vs Christians: and when we leaue [Page 218]humilitie, we leaue to be Christians: for humili­tie is Proprium quarto modo: no Christian with­out humilitie: And therefore Christ saying in­definitely, Learne of me, for I am humble and meeke, saith vniuersally, because humilitie is necessary to Christianitie; Learne of me to be humble in all actions of Christianitie.

Christ saith not, Learne of me to be humble in the way, and to be proud, and presumptuous in the end of the way: he saith not, Learne of me to be humble in confession of sinne, and then to be proud in confession of praise: hee saith not, Learne of me to be humble in your priuat pray­ers, and bee proud at your prayers in the Tem­ple, and corners of the streets: hee saith not, Bee humble, and come by weeping Crosse in your preparation to the Eucharist, and then be proud, and presumptuous at the Eucharist, as if you were equall with Christ, coheires with Christ, and owed him no reuerence at his Table: No, the Lesson is Catholicke and vniuersall: Bee humble in all actions, and dueties of Christianitie.

And surely this Man neuer learned this Les­son of the Fathers, but doeth indeed father his vntrueth vpon them: For they neuer discerned kneeling, the gesture of humilitie, to be vnsute­able, and repugnant with reioycing and cheere­fulnesse: their standing at Prayer was as full of humilitie, as of Ioy, and cheerefulnesse; and they well knew, that reioycing was ioyned with re­uerence, As it is in the 2. Psalme, Exultate cum tre­more, so they reade it, Reioyce to him with trem­bling. [Page 219]They knew, Abraham that feasted the An­gels, or the Sonne of God, did adore them; And yet his feast was not without Ioy. And had this man read, and obserued the Fathers well, hee should haue found, that they neuer thought hu­militie it selfe, or the gesture of humilitie, to bee vnsutable, and repugnant to the Ioy of Commu­nicants.

S. Cyprian saith, that we must come, Cum lachry­mis nectareis, & suspirijs contemplationis; with teares, sweeter then Nectar, and sighes of con­templation: Fletibusse abluendo, lachrymis se bap­tizando, washing and baptizing our selues with teares. Chrysostome saith, we must come, Cum ti­more & tremore, & horrescendo, with feare, and trembling, and a certaine horror. Ambrose saith, Cum cordis contritione & lachrymarum fonte, with contrition of heart, and a fountaine of teares: with a deuout heart, with feare, with reuerence and trembling, with chastitie of body, and puri­tie of soule. S. Augustine saith, Cum veneratione singularitèr debitâ, with singular veneration, with adoration, and prostration, and kneeling, as Am­brose, and Augustine, and many others of the Fa­thers speake. Wee must come confessing our selues to be sinners, with feare, and a pure con­science, with feare and compunction of heart, with humbled bodies, and contrite soules, with due reuerence and vigilancie; and many the like phrases, most common in their writings, as the Reader may in part see in the fift Reason.

I hope all these phrases proue sufficiently, [Page 220]that the Fathers no way thought the gesture of humilitie, to be altogether vnsutable or repug­nant, to the Ioy and cheerefulnesse of the guests at the Lords Table. They knew well ynough, that this is a Sacrament of humbling our selues, after the guise and maner of suppliants, and peni­tentiaries, though it were a spirituall Feast, and reioycing. For the more humble we are in soule and body, when we come to this Feast, the more Ioy we shall haue in our selues: Ioy in the Feast of God, and the participation of the Body, and Blood of Christ, and an encrease of Ioy, because wee haue encreased our sorrow, and contrition for our sinnes past, and sent vp our sighes, and teares to procure our pardon, and acceptation of our selues, our soules, and bodies, to be liuing Sa­crifices, holy, and acceptable to him, which is our reasonable seruice of him; and the greater was our sorrow, the greater is our Ioy, for the treasure that is sought in sorrow, is found with Ioy: Matth. 13.44. and the blessed Virgin, & Ioseph that sought Iesus, sorrowing, found him with Ioy in the Temple. Luke 2.48.

But why doe I trouble my selfe, and the Rea­der, with this vn-Christian doctrine, that exclu­deth all humilitie of soule, and humiliation of bo­dy, from the Feast of the Lords Supper? Surely I make this one vse of it; that I presume, if the words of this Author were well obserued, by all his absurd fauourers, and followers, they would renounce that prophane or ciuill gesture of sit­ting, which dasheth out one of the most glorious [Page 221]and eminent vertues of Christianitie, that is Hu­militie, out of the greatest, and principall part of Gods worship, that is the Eucharist, which assu­redly the more humble it is, the more acceptable it is in the sight of God, and bringeth in stead thereof, that same Luciferian Pride, that was so odious in Satan, that presumed to say, Esay 14.13. Sedebo in monte testamenti, I will sit vpon the Mount of the Congregation: O thou impudent Lucifer, Bern. Serm. de S. Bened. when thousands of thousands, and millions of millions stand and minister about him, and fall downe and worship him; Tusedebis? wilt thou sit, as if thou thoughtest thy selfe equall to God? Cast downe thy selfe then, O thou miserable soule, at the feet of Iesus, that thou mayest cease to be miserable: and bow thy knees to him, Phil. 2.10. to whom all knees are bowed, of things in heauen, in earth, and vn­der the earth; and know, that all Christian ver­tues without humilitie, can neuer make vp the wedding garment, without which thou shalt ne­uer be suffered to abide at the marriage Feast, but be cast out into outward darkenes, where is wee­ping and gnashing of teeth.

Now the first Reason is Ius cohaeredis, Ratio 1 the right of a coheire: wee are Sonnes, not seruants: and not yonger Brethren, but heires; and heires of God, not of man; and coheires, or ioynt heires with Christ: and heires must take their place, and right vpon them, and sit as coheires with Christ. But this man had forgotten the Text: Gal. 4.1.2. The heire so long as hee is a childe differeth no­thing [Page 222]from a seruant, but is sub Tutoribus, vnder Tutors and gouernours, vntill the time appoin­ted of the Father. Surely, though wee haue put off the beggerly rudiments of the world, and bee Sonnes of grace, and no seruants of the world; and haue put away disciplinam naturae & legis, the discipline of nature, and Moses Law, and the dis­cipline of seruitude and feare: yet wee haue not put away Disciplinam Euangelij & charitatis, the discipline of the Gospel of charitie. Christians are vnder the discipline of charitie, as well as Iewes were vnder the discipline of the Law: and we haue Tutors and gouernours in the Gospel, as well as they had in Nature, & in the Law: And so, as we are the sonnes of God, so also we are the seruants of God: not Serui timoris, but Serui cha­ritatis, Rom. 6.18. & serui Iustitiae, not seruants by feare, but seruants by loue, and seruants of righteousnesse, and bound to the Lawes of Loue, and the Lawes of Children; And then, as children, when they aske a blessing of their fathers, they kneele; so we, when we aske pardon, or grace, and chiefly when we aske the greatest grace, that is Christ, in the Eucharist, we must kneele.

And suppose we be Cohaeredes, coheires, ioynt­heires, or heires annexed with Christ, yet we are not aquales, equals to Christ, that wee should sit with him: for our part commeth farre short of Christs part. Doeth this Author thinke, that we are equall to Christ in grace, when hee receiued the Spirit without measure, Psalm. 45 8. Praeconsortibus, and Pro consortibus: aboue, and for his fellowes; and [Page 223]we in a scant measure? or shal we be equal to him in glory, who sitteth at the right hand of God?

Besides, Christ, Quà homo, is Cibus: as man, he is the meat of this Feast; and Quà Deus, as God, he is the maker of the Feast: and though there may be some colour of equalitie, Quà homo, as he is a man; yet, as God, there can be no equalitie, nor proportion at all. So, though wee may be e­quall to the meate we receiue, the flesh of Christ, yet wee can neuer be equall to the Master of the Feast, that is, the Deitie of Christ, and God him­selfe. And therefore though our Coheireship may giue vs some boldnesse, in respect of Christs humanitie, yet our vilenesse, in respect of his Dei­tie, should cast vs downe as low as the earth, when wee thinke that dust and ashes, is admitted to the Lords Table.

And the Coheires that we now speake of, are but coheires inspe, in hope: but the Coheires in re, in deed, and in possession, the Saints and An­gels in Heauen, that feed at the Supper of the Lambe without all Sacraments, they doe fall downe or kneele, and worship him, that sitteth vpon the Throne, and the Lambe, & cast downe their Crownes before the Throne. Wee haue onely Ius adrem, a right to our inheritance, but are out of possession; the Saints haue Ius inre, right in the inheritance, that is right and posses­sion also: and yet they kneele. So the Saints in glory are humble, and fall downe or kneele, and worship: and the Saints in hope are proud, and sitte; as if they were equall with God, to [Page 224]whose Table they are admitted.

Besides, this Argument is drawne from the common place of all sects; that is Pride. Now consider whither it tends; for it trenches deepe, and reaches almost to Arianisme, to deny all worship to Christ. For the Proposition being generall, will beare many Conclusions:

• We come to the Lords Table as Coheires with Christ.
• Ergo, wee must not knele nor humble our selues to Christ.

In like manner.

• We come to Gods worship as Coheires with Christ.
• Ergo, Wee may not worship, or pray to Christ, he is but our Coheire.

For if we may pray to him, and worship at all times, and in all places; then wee may kneele to him at all times, and in all places; and so at the Lords Table. And if wee giue him inward de­uotion and worship, wee cannot deny him out­ward Adoration, prostration, and kneeling: So the Argument either denieth all worship to Christ; or else granteth kneeling at the Eucharist.

The second Reason is not worthy to be called a Reason; Ratio 2 for it is but a branch of the former. It is Certitudo Cohaeredum, the assurance of our Co­heireship.

‘Kneeling at the Eucharist crosseth our assu­rance of our Coheireship with Christ.’

Therefore we may not kneele at the Eucharist.

And why doeth Kneeling crosse our assurance of our Coheireship with Christ? For my part I know nothing, that more crosseth the assurance of Coheireship with Christ, then Pride and an assurance without ground: And nothing doeth more assure the soule of a Christian, in his inhe­ritance in heauen, then this humilitie. For pre­sumption and pride ouerthrowes all Theologi­call and Christian morall vertues, as appeareth in the Pharisee: and humilitie is Basis & funda­mentum, the base, or foundation of all Christian vertues: and the deeper the foundation of humi­litie is, (so it be ioyned with hope, and not with despayre) the more strong and assured is the buil­ding, that reacheth vp to heauen: so that this pro­position is vtterly false, That Kneeling, which is an Act of humilitie, doth weaken, or shake, or crosse our assurance of Coheireship with Christ. For nothing doeth more strengthen this assu­rance, then this inward humilitie, and deuotion of the heart, testified by the outward gesture of the Kneeling, and prostration of the body.

And no man can haue any assurance of his Coheireship that commeth not duely prepared by repentance, and contrition, by prayer, and prayse, all which are odious in the sight of God, if they be not ioyned with humilitie. For God hateth and abhorreth the prayer, and the thanks of the proud, and presumptuous, their sacrifices are abominable in his sight: 1. Pet. 5.5. hee respecteth the humble, and resisteth the proud.

Suppose Iudas did sit at the Lords supper, at [Page 226]the first institution: what assurance of Coheire­ship had he? The Fathers and Christians in the Primitiue Church, as appeareth by the testimo­nies cited in the fift Reason; did adore, and kneele at the receiuing of the Eucharist, what did their kneeling crosse their assurance of Coheireship with Christ? Nay, did not their humilitie and kneeling increase their assurance? this false prin­ciple then must necessarilie produce a false con­clusion, like vnto it selfe: For kneeling doeth di­rect vs, not to an apprehension of disfellowship, but rather of fellowship (if that be not too fami­liar) and vnitie with Christ.

As for that profane word, Pag. 22. that kneeling doeth import subiection and disfellowship with Christ, and the person of a guest and Coheire doeth import equae­litie and societie with him; and therefore it is not to be vsed in the receiuing of the Eucharist; it is a most odious speech, becomming a Pharisee, better then a Christian: for though we haue fel­lowship with Christ, yet wee shall neuer haue e­qualitie with him, neither in this life, nor in the life to come: there may be equalitie in nature, as hee is a man; but there can neuer bee equalitie in the endowmēts, either of nature, grace, or glory. And if the words of the Prophet be true; Psal. 8.6. Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius: 1. Cor. 15.27. thou hast put all things in subiection vnder his feete, how is it that they which professe themselues to bee the Saints, Heb. 2.8. the holy Brethren, and the kingdome of Christ, should deny subiection to him in any action of Christianitie? Luc. 19.14. Is not this to say, Nolumus hunc reg­nare [Page 227]super nos: we will not haue this man to reigne ouer vs: we will doe no act that shall import sub­iection, and disfellowship with him, to whom it is performed.

He is our Brother and Coheire: and that is in effect to say; Hee is no more but our Brother and Coheire; that is, he is a man, and no more but a man: For if they did acknowledge him to bee God, they would yeelde humilitie and subiection to his Deitie, though they claymed Coheireship, and Fellowship with his huma­nitie.

So then the Reason is turned thus against them:

• It is the Sonne of God that feedeth vs in the Eucharist with his flesh and blood.
• All worship and Adoration, and Kneeling is due vnto the Sonne of God in signe of humilitie and subiection to him.
• Therefore all worship, Adoration, and knee­ling, is due to him that feedeth vs in the Eucharist with his flesh and blood in signe of humilitie and subiection to him.

If any shall say, Because they haue societie with the Sonne of man, therefore they will not be subiect to the Sonne of God; they are fitter to be chastised with Lucifer, then confuted with Rea­son: and so I passe to the third Reason, which is as reasonlesse as the two former are.

The third Reason is Prerogatiua mensae & con­uiuarum: Ratio 3 the Prerogatiues, and liberties of a Ta­ble [Page 228]and a guest: his reason is this:

• Not to partake with Christ in the Liberties, and Prerogatiues of a Table in the Eucha­rist is a sinne. Kneeling in the Eucharist doth debarre vs from partaking with Christ in the Liberties and prerogatiues of a Table.
• Therefore to kneele in the Eucharist is vnlaw­full, and may not bee performed without sinne.

All this Reason is drawen from the rules of Tables, and Feasts amongst men: wherein this man is as grosse and carnall, as in the two former Reasons hee was absurd, and smelt of Arianisme. ‘A ciuill Symposiarch admits all his guests to sit with him at his Table; therefore all must sit with Christ at his Table.’ This is the force of this Argument; as if hee should say: Christ is tied to the rule of ordinarie Feast-makers, and must doe as they doe. It is a Table, and a Feast, and they are guests; and therefore all liberties, and prerogatiues of a Table, and a Feast, and guests; and so sitting, equalitie, and society, with­out humilitie and subiection, is due vnto them, as their libertie and prerogatiue.

The word of the Apostle was neuer truer then in this case: 1. Cor. 1.14. Animalis homo non percipit ea quaesunt Dei: this carnal man vnderstands not the things of God: For what greater ignorance can there be, then out of the fashion of Tables, and gestures of guests at Feasts amongst men, to ga­ther a necessary Conclusion, That because the Lord hath a Table, and admits guests to that [Page 229]Table; therefore men may demeane themselues with like gesture at Gods Table, as they doe at the feasts of men.

But this man might haue remembred that the Eucharist is as well called Sacrificium, and Cul­tus Dei, as Caena; a Sacrifice, and the worship of God, aswell as a Supper: and then Kneeling, and Prostration, and Adoration, are more fitter ge­stures for sacrificers, and worshippers, then sit­ting is for guests at the Table of the Lord of all power and Maiestie.

And therefore as in S. 1. Cor. 10.21. Heb. 13.10. Paul there is Mensa Domini; the Table of the Lord. So there is, Ha­bemus altare: wee haue an Altar, whereof they haue no right to eate which serue the Taberna­cle. And the word Altar in the Fathers, is more common then the word Table: so that as the name of Table may pleade for sitting; so the name of Altar enforceth worship, and Sacrifice, and that implieth Adoration and Kneeling.

But his grand error is, that hee inferreth, that the gesture, vsed by guests at the feast, or table of a man, is, and must bee essentiall at the Lords Table. For why? Suppose the greatest Mo­narch or King, should feast the meanest of his Subiects, and admit him to sit at his Table, is it an Argument à pari; to conclude therefore, Wee must sit at the Table of the Lord? why then will it not follow thus? The King suffers his subiect to sit at his Table with him couered, or his Hat on, (for this is one of the liberties & prerogatiues of a table, and vsed ordinarily at all great feasts) [Page 230]therefore we must come, and sit couered, or our Hats on our heads, at the Table of the Lord. But the true difference is this; The King and the Subiect, though different instatu, in state; the one is to gouerne, as Gods Vice-Roy; the other to bee gouerned: and the King hath power of life and death ouer his Subiect, according to Iustice and Law; yet they are equall in nature and condition; both men, created according to one stampe or Image, the Image of God; both borne by one way of generation; both liuing, and dying after one fashion; and the graue knowes no difference betweene the ashes of the King, and his meanest vassall. And they are equall in grace, both bought with one price, the blood of Christ; both regenerate in one Lauer of Baptisme; both sanctified by one holy Spirit; both fed with one and the same bread, the Word of God, and the flesh and blood of Christ; both equall in hope of eternall glory: so there is inequality in one thing, that is, in state; but there is equalitie in three for it, that is, in Nature, Grace, and Glory.

But betweene God, euer blessed, and euer to bee adored; and man, whose greatest blessing is to bee admitted, euer to blesse, and adore God, there is no equalitie at all: For it is proper only to the eternall Sonne of Gods owne substance, to be aequalis Deo sine rapina; equall to God without robbery. Men are called Gods, but they are Gods onely in name, Psal. 82.6. Dixi Dijestis; I haue sayd, yee are Gods; Iob 10.34, 35. because the word of God was sent to them; and can neuer be equall to God; and it is [Page 231]grosse saeriledge, that any man who is a God by grace, or name onely, should account himselfe Gods equall, or fellow, as this man doth account himselfe, & all his coheires to be equal to Christ: For God and man doe differ infinitely, because God is infinite, and man is finite; and betweene eternitie & mortalitie, the Creator and the crea­ture there can bee no comparison, at all.

And in this Sacrament, Christ as man is our food, and Christ as God, and the whole Trinitie, doe giue this food: yea Christ, not onely Qua ho­mo, but also Qua homo mortuus, not onely as he is a man, but also as he is dead for vs, is our food: and therefore this Sacrament doth represent, not vi­tam, but mortem Christi, not the life, but the death of Christ; So Christ as man, doeth not make this Feast, but Christ as God maketh this feast, and Christ as man is the meate of this Feast. And though there were equalitie betweene Christ and vs, as he is man, and our elder Brother: yet betweene Christ, and vs, as he is God, there is no equalitie, but all subiection on our parts; and therefore all submission of soule, and body is to be tendered to him by vs, when wee come to re­ceiue his Flesh and Blood. And it is a plaine fal­lacie, and no good reason to inferre, Wee sit at the Kings Table, therefore wee must sit at the Lords Table. And therefore we may not claime that libertie, and prerogatiue at Gods Table, that we take at the tables of men, vnlesse wee will flat­ter our selues, that no more reuerence, and wor­ship, [Page 232]and Adoration, and kneeling is due to God, then vnto man.

The fourth Reason is, Ratio 4 it is, contra Ius naturae, ‘contrary to the Law of nature; Kneeling at a feast or banquet, is against the Law of nature: therefore it is vnlawfull to kneele at the Feast or Supper of the Lord.’

Here I would bee glad to know where this Law of nature is written, or to bee found. If by the Law of nature hee vnderstand the Morrall Law, I finde bowing downe, or kneeling, com­manded there in the worship of God. Exod. 20.5. Thou shalt not bow downe to them, (that is to Idols) there­fore thou shalt bow downe, or kneele to God. For where the one contrary is forbidden, there the other contrary is commanded. And this Sa­crament is a principall part of Gods worship; If he meaneth the naturall Law, found out by the light of naturall Reason, Gen. 17.3. then Abraham, and the Wise-men, Matt 2.11. worshipped God with prostration or kneeling. If he meane the law of Nature, that is, the nature of the thing or action, Vt naturarei, sit Lex naturae: that the nature of the thing, should be the Law of Nature, then kneeling is most a­greeable to the nature of the action, or thing done, that is the Eucharist: For it is altogether an action of subiection, and humilitie, and therefore kneeling is most sutable to it. It is Cultus Dei, the worship of God, and a most eminent and prin­cipal part of it. It is a Sacrifice commemoratiue: [Page 233]It is a Sacrifice of our selues, our soules and bo­dies: It is a Sacrifice of contrition offered by pe­nitentiaries, a Sacrifice of Prayer, offered by sup­pliants; and kneeling is most fit for Sacrificers: It is the Eucharist or Sacrifice of praise: and in the Reuelation, where it is often said, That the Elders did fal downe & worship, there is seldome or ne­uer any prayer made for want, but honour, and glory, and praise for that which was receiued. So kneeling is most sutable to Thankesgiuing. And in this Sacrament wee receiue the greatest bles­sings at Gods hand, that this life is capable of; and the greater Gods graces be, the humbler should wee be at the receipt of them: as men vse to re­ceiue the greatest goodnesse of Princes, vpon their knees.

So that, besides the practise of the Church in Heauen, and earth; all reason pleadeth for knee­ling, and all Reason pleadeth against sitting. For what is more repugnant to the nature of wor­shippers, of Sacrificers, of penitentiaries, of sup­pliants, of thankesgiuers, then societie, and fel­lowship, and equalitie, and sitting? so this Reason is well retorted.

Sitting is repugnant to the nature of Com­municants, that worship, that sacrifice, that are contrite, that are suppliants, and receiuers: therefore sitting is not to be vsed by the Com­municants at the Eucharist, as being repugnant to the law of Nature, or naturall reason, or the nature of the thing, or action that is in hand.

The fift Reason is, Ratio 5 It is Cultus priuatus in pub­lico: [Page 234]Kneeling at the receipt of the Eucharist, is a priuate worship, in the time and act of publicke worship: therefore kneeling is vnlawfull.

This Reason I vnderstand not, or else it is false and friuolous: false; for it is vtterly vntrue, That it is vnlawfull to performe priuate worship, du­ring the time, and act of Gods publicke Seruice. As if he should say, It is vnlawfull for a Christi­an to make his priuate prayers, in the time of publicke prayers, for his owne wants and ne­cessities; then, which nothing is more absurd. For why? 1. Sam. 1.10. was it vnlawful for Samuels mother to aske a sonne of God in the Temple, in the time of di­uine, and publicke worship? Or was it vnlaw­full for Naaman the Syrian, 2. Reg. 5.18. in the time of the publike idolatrous worship in the house of Rim­mon, to make his petitions to the God of heauen? Was it vnlawfull for the Apostles, Acts. 3.1. S. Peter, and S. Iohn, to ascend to the Temple at the hower of prayer, the ninth hower, and there worship and make their priuate petitions after the manner of Christians, for their owne wants and necessities, in the time of the publike worship of the Iewes? Is it vnlawfull for the Preacher, in the time of di­uine and publike worship, to make his priuate prayer, for Gods assistance, in the discharge of his duetie in that worke?

But the secret of this proposition is; This man meant to make some shew or colour for the pro­phane fashion of some of his Brethren, who in time of Diuine Seruice, come into their seates, and there squatt downe, and neuer vouchsafe [Page 235]once to kneele, or make any prayer to God; vn­der pretence that they must ioyne in publicke worship and so neglect their owne priuate occa­sions and duties.

It is friuolous: For how can any worship bee called publicke, vnlesse it be also the priuat wor­ship of the particular men there present? as the vniuersall doth consist of many particulars: Now this worship hath the name of publicke, because it is performed by the particular men there pre­sent, though peraduenture successiuely, as the capacitie of the place will permit: As first the Minister kneeles, and receiues; then hee stands vp, and goeth, and deliuereth the Sacrament to the Communicants kneeling in order. It may be they do not all kneele together, because they doe not all come together, but yet euery mans priuat kneeling, by succession, maketh the publicke worship and adoration. And so, that this worship may be publicke and generall, it is necessary that euery man, by his owne priuat worship, doe make the whole Seruice, to be the publicke worship of God. And if by the priuat, there bee any distur­bance, or difference in the publicke worship of God: the fault is in those refractary spirits, that out of the humor of contradiction, rather then reason, refuse to kneele with the rest of the con­gregation; that so there may, neither be vnitie in heart, nor vniformitie in gesture in the Seruice of God.

The 6. Reason is Sessio, prior & potior genusle­ctione: Ratio 6. [Page 236]sitting is more ancient, for it is the practise of Christ and his Apostles; and it is better then Kneeling; therefore we must sit at the Eucharist and not kneele.

It is true, Prior tempore, potior iure, he that is first in time, hath the better right: This Reason stands on two grounds, Antiquitie, and goodnesse. The first is doubtfull, and was neuer prooued, but on­ly assumed. The second I take to bee plainely false: For the Antiquitie, I see little reason, for why? there is no record of Antiquitie for sitting, produced since Christs time; & therfore though it may haue a writ of right, yet I am sure it hath beene out of possession, euer since the Apostles times: and this Author cannot deny it, nor lay the fault vpon the reformed Church of England, for making an entry, and dispossessing this sitting at the Sacrament: For he proueth standing at pray­er, and thereupon presumes, standing also at the Sacrament to haue beene a receiued custome in Tertullians time. And I haue proued kneeling to bee in vse in the Sacraments, in Tertullians time. So it was the Primitiue Church, that changed the old, and first, and best gesture at the institu­tion, into a newer, and a worse, if this man say true. Besides, at the Paschall supper Discum­bebat, Christ sate, or lay, and leaned with the twelue: but what hee did at the Euangelicall sup­per, it is not knowne: so the practise of Christ, and his Apostles is most imitable if it were known what it were. And Discumbebat, is not, he sate, in the proprietie of the word and gesture, for then [Page 237]Christ and his Apostles did breake the Law of standing at the Passeouer: so the first part of puri­tie is doubtfull.

The second, of goodnes, is false: Sitting is not so decent, and comely a gesture for Communi­cants, that are worshippers, and sacrificers, and penitentiaries and suppliants, and praysers, as Kneeling is. For kneeling is a gesture of humili­tie and subiection, and best suteth with Christian pietie and deuotion: and sitting is an action of so­cietie, and equalitie, which can neuer be graun­ted betweene the eternall God, and man that is mortall. Kneeling agrees well with Saints in hea­uen, and therefore best sutes with Saints on earth: Therefore kneeling is the better gesture. So this Argument is partly doubtfull, and partly false.

The 7. Reason is, Idololatria est: Ratio 7. Kneeling ‘before a consecrated creature in the act of Di­uine seruice, with a religious respect of it, is I­dolatry.’

Here I obserue a fine tricke, that is; that with this man, it is all one, to bow downe before a consecrated creature, and to bow downe to a consecrated creature. The first may be done, and was euer done, the second may neuer bee done lawfully: For example, He that kneeleth at the Lords Table, at his prayers, or in a Temple, he boweth downe, Coram, before a consecreated creature. The Priests in Salomons Temple, bow­ed downe before the Altar, and both Temple [Page 238]and Altar were consecrated. The high Priest once euery yeere entred into the Holiest, and bowed before the Altar, the Mercie-seate, and the Cherubins: And the Tabernacle, and the Altar, and the Mercie-seat, and the Cherubins were consecrated: yet none of these committed Idolatry therein; because, though they bowed before consecrated creatures, yet they bowed not to the consecrated creatures; but to that God that ordained such consecrated places, and such consecrated creatures for the better performing of his owne worship and seruice.

And if these Iewish Priests, and the high Priest, were not Idolaters, though they bowed before these consecrated creatures; no more shall it bee Idolatrie in vs, to bow downe and wor­ship God, before the consecrated Bread and Wine, so long as wee giue no part of Gods worship to those consecrated creatures.

Philip Mornay could easily distinguish be­tweene the worship of God, De Sacr. Miss. 1.4. Pag. 7 32. before consecrated creatures; and the worship of consecrated crea­tures themselues, vpon S. Ambrose his words, A­doramus in mysterijs, non mysteria; in Sacramentis, non Sacramenta; Creatorem in creatura sanctificata, non ipsam creaturam: Wee adore in the myste­ries, not the mysteries themselues; in the Sacra­ments, not the Sacraments themselues; the Crea­tor in the sanctified creature, not the creature it selfe.

And the trueth is, that God doth so farre foorth value consecrated Temples, and Chur­ches, [Page 239]and Tables, and Altars, that hee doth the better approoue, and receiue the Sacrifices, and Prayers, and prayses of his people, onely in this respect; that they are offered in Templo, or versus Templum; in the Temple, or towards the Tem­ple: As no doubt God doth receiue our Peti­tions more readily, because they are made in the stile of heauen, in the wordes that Christ himselfe taught, When you pray, pray thus.

So it is one thing to worship God in a con­secrated place, or before consecrated creatures; & it is another thing to worship, or giue any part of diuine worship vnto the consecrated creature. And hee is a plaine Sophister, that shall argue thus: ‘Wee may, or doe worship God in a con­secreated place, or before, or in the presence of consecrated creatures; therefore wee may, or doe worship the consecrated place, or consecra­ted creatures themselues:’ So this Author, in this Reason, doth make an aduersary to himselfe, and then shootes his arrowes at him, but neuer comes neere the practise of the Church of En­gland, that as resolutely denies all Adoration of any consecrated creature, as shee readily offers all diuine worship and adoration to God, to whom onely it is due.

The 8. Reason is, Praxis Ecclesiae, Ratio 8. the pra­ctise of the Church: ‘Christ and his Apostles sate, and the Church, for eleuen hundred yeeres, prayers on Sundayes, and from Easter to Pentecost, and on those dayes they admini­stred [Page 240]the Eucharist: therefore they stood at the Eucharist; so sitting or standing is preferred be­fore kneeling; which came in with Honorius 3. de­cree inhonour of their Breaden god.’

This is answered before in my first Reason, and there largely confuted: In which let these things neuer be forgotten: 1 First, hee takes the Paschall Supper for the Eucharisticall Supper; they sate at the one, 2 ergo, at the other. 2. Christ did not breake the Lawe of the Passeouer, which was to bee eaten standing; and therefore Discum­bebat, doth not inferre the gesture of sitting, but onely the action of supping. 3 3. The Fa­thers, that speake for standing at prayers on Sundayes, and from Easter to Pentecost, say no­thing of standing at the Sacrament: and many of the same Fathers, with many others, prooue kneeling to bee in vse at the receiuing of the Eu­charist, as standing was at prayer. And there is kneeling vsed in diuine worship in heauen, by them that are admitted to the Supper of the Lambe. So the practise of the Church is for kneeling at the Eucharist, and neuer for sitting.