A Reexamination of the Five Articles Enacted at Perth in 1618, Section 1 · Part 2 – Part 4
THE SECOND PART.
Concerning the unlawfulnesse of kneeling in the act of receaving, &c.
CHAP. I.
Kneeling in the act, &c. not warranted by the example of Christ and his Apostles.
WE should (as we said before) take us in all doubts to the surest way. Kneeling not warranted by the example of Christ.Our warrant for sitting can not be doubted of. We have the example of Christ and his Apostles, and the practice of the apostolicall Church for warrant to sit, but not to kneel. When Christ himselfe ministred and was present, the Apostles kneeled not. Though the Apostles did not alwayes worship Christ while he was present, especially being occupied in cruell and common acts, yet upon extraordinary occasions they and others worshipped him, Matth. 8. 2. and 9. 18. and 14. 33. and 20. 20. Luke 5. 8. Ioh. 9. 38. Nor yet directed any outward adoration to God the Father. Though they were sitting at supper, yet they m…gh…s…on have changed their gesture, especially seeing the leg…ll supper was finished, and Christs Supper began, saith W…ll…ts, pag. 648. Instit. lib. 4. c. 37. sect. 33.They who receave, as is commanded, w…thou… adoration, are secure that they depart not from Gods commandement, then the which securit…e there can bee nothing be…ter, when wee intrepris… any thing. Th…y have the example of the Apostles, whom wee read not to have adored prostrate, but as they were sitting they receav…d, a…d did eat. They have the pract…se of the Apostol…ck Churches, where it is declared, that the Faithfull did communicate, not in adoration, but in breaking of bread, saith Calvine.
Beza in his disput against Iodocus Harchius saith, So l…ke, as when the Lord truely to bee adored as God and man, Beza centra Harch. vol. 3. pag. 182.at table did inst…tute this holy supper, that the Disciples arose to the end, that falling upon their knees, they might receav… that bread and wine out of his hand. And so lik… as the Ap… s…les were ignorant how to deliver to the Churches the mann…r how to celebrate these holy mysteries. It is known well enough, that the Love feasts could hardly, or sca…ce a…ll …dmit g… niculation. Agapa… quidem certe constat … quidem geniculationem admississe. Hist. sacrament. lib. 4. pag. 182.Hospi…nsa … The Waldenses in the apologie above … hujus testimonio est, quod Dominus noster Iesu… C…ristus sedentibus ded…t, & successores longo tempore per domos fregerunt panem, & acceperunt cibum cum benedictione, & non fecerunt reverentiam.
CHAP. II.
Kneeling in the act of receaving is not sutable with the forme of a banquet, or use of a supper-table.
THis holy action is denominate the Lords table, Kneeling not sutable to the Suppertable.and the Lords supper, from the use of the one, and formes of the other. Wonderfull is the subtilitie of our Doctor, L. pag. 51.who answereth, that the sustaining of meat set on the table is the only use of a table, but of beds and furmes to sit upon. Wee say, this also is the use of a table, that the guests, or persons invited may sit at and about it, and partake of the meat set upon the table. Otherwise, if there bee no use of a table but to set meat upon it, a dressour or a cupboord may bee called a table. Whereas they say, the altar is called the table of the Lord Malach. 1. and yet none did sit at it. True and so do the Papists also call the lid of their altar a table. But it is plain wee speak of a supper or feasting table.
The Altar is called the Lords table, because the Lords meat, (Levit. 22. 25.) that which was burnt with fire in oblation to GOD, was consumed on it. But the Lords supper is called the Lords table, because our Lord and Saviour appointed it for his guests, whom he inviteth to it. So the table of the shew bread might bee called the Lords table, but not in our sense, not a supper or feast table, and therefore impertinentlie alleadged by L. pag. 54. Kneeling is a gesture more agreeable to the Popish altar, where the Priests beside communicated kneeling, then with a feast table wherewith it agreeth not at all. Wee have put down altars, saith Alasco, and use a table, because it agreeth better with a supper, and the Apostle hath given the title of a table to denom…nate the Lords supper. And again, The termes Supper, and Table of the Lord, ver…e familiar with the Apostle Paul, seeme to require sitting rather then standing, kneeling, or passing by.
Where the Apostle saith, L. pag. 43. 44.Yee cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and the table of devils: Our Doctor saith, there is no materiall and artificiall table to be understood, but things offered to Idols in the one speach, and Christs bodie and blood in the other. But both are to bee understood: for meat offered to Idols can not bee called the table of devils, unlesse there had beene a materiall table, upon which the meat was set. The Apostle telleth us, that they sate at these tables in the Idols chappels, 1 Cor. 8. 10. The Idolaters had a table, whereon they eated the remainder of the sacrifice, which was offered upon the Altar, as the Iewes had, Habebant Iudiei primum altaria ubi sacrificabant, deinde mensa…, quas instr…ebant reliquiis ob…i jam sacrificis, atque in illis mensis epulabantur, saith Zanchius, Tilen. synt. de sacrif. missae sect. 32. Wille…s synops pag. 478 edit. 1614.tom. 4. col. 466. See Tilenus, Willets, and Cornelius à …ap…de, a Popish writer upon 1 Cor. 10. 21. and 1 Cor. 8. 10. So the by table of the Lord must likewise bee understood, not the bare elements, or as the Doctor speaketh, the bodie and blood of Christ in the sacrament, but with all a materiall table. And Beza out of the same verse, 1 Cor. 10. 21. inferreth, that in the primitive Church they had materiall tables, and not altars. Willets inferreth the like in his Synopsis. pag. 681.The Lords supper then is called the Lords table, by a trope called Metonymia subjecti, because the elements were set on the table, when Christ said, This cup (meaning the wine which was in the cup) Is the new testament in my blood, the metonymicall speach importeth necessarlie, that hee had a materiall cup in his hand, when hee uttered these words. But saith the Doctour it was possible for a man to sit at both the materiall tables. It is true, if ye look to abilitie and not to right or warrant, Ad possibilitatem facti non juris. Apostolis demonstrat. Corinthios bona conscientia non posse esse participes conviviorum idolatricorum, quippe qui participes esse soleant coenae Domini, A…stedius in supplimente. pag. 45.
Wee require not of necessitie an artificiall table of timber consecrated, and set apart for that use only. A bull hide or a plot of ground may serve in time of necessity, and answereth analogically to a standing table, as the plot of ground did, whereabout the multitude sate in rowes by fifties and fifties, Mark 6. Neither do wee stand upon the fashion, whither it be long or round. We looke to the use more then to the matter o… fashion, and require, that the Communicants alwayes sit tablewise, that they may observe the forme of a feast.
The Ethnicks of old thought the Gods were present, when they feasted at their ta…les.
Ante foces …lim longis considere mensis
M…s erat & mensae credere ad…sse deus.Ovid. Fast. 5
The Poets bring in sometime their Gods feasting … their tables. The Jewes say, That when some alter…a…n arose in the house of Ishbosheth the sonne of Saul, the servant incontinent spread the table, and the alteration ceased. There is a noble saying of Bensyra, Mensa parata sive posita contentio tollitur. Men…am & salem non transgredi, was an old proverbiall speach importing, that the table, was, and should be a band of fellowship.
The other denomination importeth, The Communion celebrate in form of a feast.that this holy action was celebrat, as a supper or in forme of a feast or …. Piscator saith, That the holy supper was so institued, and at the first time so celebrated by our Lord and his disciples, Piscator in Matth. 26. in observationi…bus in versu 26. & seqq.while they sate together at table, that it had the …ew or resemblance of a banquet, Ita ut haec actio habuerit … convivit, imò fuerit convivium, sed sacrum, & … divin… ca…se, & ad piorum c…nsolationem institu…m. Plessie saith likewise, Mornaeus de eucharist. lib. 4. cap. 7.That of old, and not at the … only, this sacred supper was celebrated in the for…e of a banquet. … sacrum coenam o…im c…nvivii instar, in quo discumbeba…ur, celebratam, cujus etiamnum … norum mandato vestigium. The Waldenses … the supper in forme of a banquet, saith their ene… Hayneri…s. Now the forme of a feast or banket … not kneeling. None entertaineth men after that … Alasco, Forma min…ster. ecclesia…ster.tbat they who are invited to a banquet … standing, walking, or kneeling, but they will the … at table, that all may eat together with repose of … …nd minde. They use to cause servants stand, or walke …hout the table, not these who are invited. Kneeling is not a gesture which hath beene used at feasts or banquets, but ra…her a gesture of supplicants. Plessie, ye see, saith, Conviv…i instar in quo discumbebatur.
They say, It may be called a supper in respect of the thing signified, whereof the soules of the faithfull are partakers. This is just the Jesuits answer, for the bread without the cup; But is not the spirituall supper represented by the externall resemblance of a supper. Sacramentu… hoc nego dici convivium ratione rei ipsius significatae, sed ratione significationis sumptae a rebus visbiilibus, saith Cham…er de …ucharist. lib. 8. cap. 6. num. 26. It may be called a supper rightly, howbeit it resemble not a supper in all things. Neither do we require all the formes used at common feasts, but these which Christ the Institutour and master of the feast thought sufficient. And this is likewise an answer to that which they alledge for other religious feasts, that they kneeled not at the eating of the passeover, because it was coena recta a full meale, and indured a good space, but the action of the communicant is soone dispatched. For it is not the length or shortnesse of time, that we consider so much as the forme of a feast, whereunto the gesture of kneeling is not suteable. The same formes, which were used at the close of the paschall supper, were used at this, with a little change. Further, they kneeled not at any part of the paschall supper, no not when the cuppe of praise was reached from hand to hand, which was done in a very short time, or when the bread was eaten in the quantity of an olive, and lesse then an egge.
We desire this to be observed throughout all this dispute, that if wee will speake not in the termes invented by men, Observation upō the form of speach.as to receave or give the sacrament or eucharist, but in scripture language, as to celebrate the Lords supper, to partake of the Lords table, to come together to breake bread, Act. 2. 46. Act. 20. 7. the weaknesse of all arguments for kneeling will appear more clearly, and on the other side, the pith of our arguments for a table gesture, namely sitting.
The ancient Doctours, On the Lords supper, part. 1. pag. 8.saith Moulins, had done better, if they had held themselves to the termes expressed in God… word: for they had not by this meanes (though besides their meaning) opened the doore to this a buse, giving example to others which came after them, to invent other new names lesse proper, and to pluck away from this sacrament the inscrtption, which served to shew the nature thereof, for the small…st faults can Satan manage with dexterity, and by the least sparkes in a small time kindle a great fire. But, saith he, the manner of speach usuall among the Apostles, to wit, to come together to break bread, is become foolish and vaine in this age.
It were harsh language to use these phrases; They brake bread together kneeling, they compassed the table of the Lord kneeling, they celebrate the supper of the Lard kneeling. To shu…t this harshnesse, the common phrases are, to receave the sacrament, or eucharist, or sacramentall elements kneeling.
CHAP. III.
The distribution of the elements by the Communicants among themselfes excludeth kneeling in the act of receaving.
TO kneel for adoration, The distribution by the Communicants excludeth kneeling.and to breake and distribute the bread, and reach the cup from hand to hand, are not compatible. Nor was it ever heard that the like was practised in any part of the world, but where Doctour Lindsey hath beene, that is, at Dundy, as appeareth, pag. 63. But what is absurd or grosse in that mans eyes? Can the Communicant be both adoring God upon his knees, and at that very instant be reaching the elements to his brother likewise kneeling and adoring. Ye have heard out of Culvine before, that the faithfull in the Apostolical Churches did not communicate with adoration, but breaking of bread, as if adoration and breaking of bread could not consist together. We shall have occasion againe to treat more of confusion of actions, or different acts and parts of Gods worship.
Christ reaching the cup to his disciples, Christ commanded them to devide the cup.commanded them to divide it among them, Luk. 22. 17. This cup is the evangelicall cup, or which is all one, the last paschall cup changed into the evangelicall. Luke applieth Christs protestation, that he would drinke no more of the fruite of the vine, &c. to the cup, which he commanded them to divide among themselfes. But that protestation is applied to the communion cuppe by Matthew and Mark, who make mention only of the cup of the Lords supper, in the verses immediatly preceeding. If it had not beene the communion cup, how could Christ protest, that he would drinke no more of the fruite of the vine in this life, if he was to drinke incontinent after of the communion cup, as they oppose the paschall cup to the evangelicall. Cyprian by this protestation proveth that vine was in the cuppe, Hierom. epist. ad Hedibiam.Epist. 63. ad Coecilium. Hierom saith, Christ was both Conv…va & convivium, the fellow-feaster, and the feast it selfe; commedens, & qui comedi ur, one who did eat, and was eaten. The old hymne beareth the same, Se nascens dedit socium, Clemens Alexan. in p…edagog. …. c. 2.convescens in edulium. See another hymne to the same purpose cited before. Clemens Alexandrinus disputing against the Euc…atits, who abhorred wine, proveth, that Christ himself drank wine, by this, that he dranke of this cuppe. When the Schoolmen would prove, that wine was one of the elements at the evangelicall supper, they cannot finde a … all the Evangelists, but in this protestation. I thinke there is no man will deny that wine was in the cup, Muscul. de coena Domitū.saith Museulus, seeing the Lord said, Matth. 26. Luk. 22. That he would drinke no more of the fruit of the w…ne. Fulk …, The demonstrative pronoune This, Mat…h. 26. 29. declareth that he spake of the wine in his hand, tha… is, of the communion cuppe. Dominus etiam in…nducavit, utest communis sententia, saith Bellarmine de euchar. …t. lib. 4. cap. 16. Further Christ in his protestation alludeth to the Canon or custome of the Jews. forbidding to taste of any thing after the last cup, which was called the cup of praise. Annot. in Marc. 14. 25.Alludit ad morem quo nefas crat post poculum illud apolyticon quicquam cibi in posterum diem …, saith Beza. Meuschii defens. harm. generalis cap. 4.Theobaldus Meuschius proveth likewise by this custome of the Jewes, that this protestation concerned the communion cup. To imagine that Christ protested twice, and that he bad devide the one, and not the other, is a fiction without any ground in the text. For none of the Evangelists make mention of two protestations, or to what end two, seeing the last paschall cuppe and the evangelicall was all one, the one being changed in the other. Or to what end should he have bidden them devide the paschall cup more then the evangelicall. And if there were two protestations for two severall cuppes, the later should have crossed the former. Vasquez proveth by this protestation, that Luke meant only of one cup, howbeit he maketh mention of it twice, that it was in the communion cup, that the protestation containeth the cause, wherefore he willed them to drinke of it, and devide it among them, because now at his last farewell, In 3. part. tom. 3. quast. 78. num. 41.he would testifie his love to them, and joyne them in mutuall love to other. Ipsos inter…e mut…a charitate conjungeret, dum ex eodem calica eis propinaret. Another reason, that the cup, which Christ commanded them to divide, was the communion cup, is, that he gave thanks; when he tooke it in his hand. Matthew and Mark refer the thanksgiving to the communion cup. Luke therefore, maketh no mention of this thanksgiving, when he maketh mention of the cup the second time, because he had made mention of it before; But useth an article referring to that cup, of which he had made mention before foreign, as Euthymius hath observed. Luke then by way of anticipation, before he come to the order of the institution, bringeth in Christ protesting in the 17. verse, that the protestation of not drinking more, may be joyned with the protestation of not eating more, preceeding in the former verse. Therefore when he commeth to the order of the institution, vers. 20. he omitteth the protestation and thanksgiving, which are recorded by other Evangelists, because he made mention of them before, vers. 17. and 18. This anticipation or inversion of order in the Evangelist Luke, was observed by Augustine and Euthymius, Barradius the Jesuit, Jansenius, and Swarez. Swarez. in 3. part. tom. 3. p. 909.Meuschius observeth other inversions in the same chapter. For Judas went out immediatly after he got the sop, and consequently before the evangelicall supper. And yet Luke maketh mention of his going out after he hath set downe the evangelicall supper. Beza conjectureth, that through the negligence, and caresesnesse of writers of manuscripts, the verses have beene transposed, and not by the Evangelist himselfe, and that the 19. and 20. verses should be subjoyned to the 16, and that the 17. and 18. verses should be subjoyned to the 19. and 20. Me…schius saith, It is likely, yea, almost necessary to thinke, that the 17. and 18. verses were taken out of the institution of the supper which followeth, and placed here by the negligence of Scribes. Verisimile igiturest & prope necessarium hos versiculos ex sacrae coenae inst. tutione huc esse à scribis trajectos. I might, if it were needfull, cite moe testimonies, that the protestation concerned the communion cup, and consequently that Christ bad them devide it, but the reasons I have brought are of themselfes snfficient to evince it. L. 62.And L. doth not gansay it.
But yet, saith he, Christs meaning was not, that they should reach the cup to other, but that one should not drinke all out. This silly shift he hath borrowed from Bellarmine de eu…haristia lib. 4. cap. 25. B…canus de … sub utraque specie. c. 10. hath the same. Will he have the first set downe the cup that the next may take it. But this is ridiculous or superstitious, not accipere, but sumere. Nor yet gave hee to every one the cuppe out of his hand, which had beene sufficient for parting of it, if no further had beene intended, but only to the first, the first reached it to the second, Hospin. hist. sacra. l. 1. c. 1. & lib. 2. c. 1. p. 31.and so sorth, saith Hospinian. So saith Piscator on Matthew 26. So saith Swarez the Jesuit, speaking of the cup, Fuit per … as Ap…stolorum manus ab uno ad al…um delatus. Swarez in 3. part. Thomae tom. 3. p. 861. Bellarm. de euchar. l. 4. cap. 25. Piscator in Matth. 26. v. 26. in schoilis.And so saith Bellarmine, Calicem autem n…n fregit, nec d…v…sit ipse discumbentibus, sed dedit integrum … unus alteri porrigeret. The last paschall cup it selfe; which was changed into the evangelicall, was reached from hand to hand. Christ then devided it not, but bad them devide it among themselfes, as the manner was at the paschall, and is usuall at common feasts. To drinke of one cup, representeth fellowship in one common benefite, but not that communieation of mutu…ll love and amity, which is represented by reaching the same cup to other. The guests at civil banquets of old, entertaining others courteously, Antiquita…um convivialium lib. 3. cap. 10.reached a cuppe of wi…e to others, which cappe they called philotefia, metonymica…y, because it was a symbole of love or fr…endship, which name any man may justly impose upon the cup of the hol. supper of the Lord, saith Stu…kius. In iis eaim, amicitiae ergo humanite…se mut… accipi…n…es, vini calicem sibi invicem porrigeb…, quem philo…esiam appella…an, metonym ce nimirum, quia symbolum erat amoris & amicitiae, quo nom ne ver…ssi… me quis illud sacrosancti Dom…ni coenae poculum insigni…rit. One of our Doctours saith, That they had in the primitive Church other tokens of love and friendship, as love-feasts, and the kisse of peace, but one token should not justle out another. Beside that, both are worne out of use, and the kisse is turned into the kisse of the pax. So much the rather should that signe and token which was recommended by Christ himself, be preserved.
If there were no more, They distributed not only the cup, but the bread.but reaching of the cup from one to another, and deviding of it, it were sufficient to exclude kneeling, howbeit the communicants did not breake and distribute the bread to other. For what reason were there to kneel at the receaving of the bread, and not at the receaving of the cup. Were it not also absurd to see the Communicants reaching the cuppe to other, and the minister walking along to give to every one the bread. Is the bread holier then the wine? Analogy requireth, that the bread should be distributed by the Communicants, as well as the wine. When the Evangelists say, Christ gave the bread, they meant not to every one severally, more then when he gave the cup, or the disciples the bread to five thousand, Matth. 14. 19. for Mark 6. 4. they set the bread before five thousand. Pilat gave the body of Christ, that is commanded it to be given, Mark. 15. 45. Matth. 27. 17. Christ said in the plurall number, Take ye, ca…ye, this is my body, as well as he said, Piscat. in Matth. 26.… devide ye. It is probable (saith Piscator) that … brake the bread in two parts, and gave one of them, …o him that sate… arest on the right hand, the other, to him that sate on the left, and that they reached in order to the near…st. Tossanus upon Matth. 26. saith the like, and Hospinian, and Estius a popish writer. Sit autem & Chr…sti discipulos in ul…ima coena fe…sse nonest improbabile, ut quibus Chr…stus d…erit, accipite & dividite inter v…s, Luc. 22. qu…d et side caliced…ctum sit, nihil tamen vetat d…pine similiter intell gi… Beza saith, Hosp. hist. facr…m. lib. 2. p. 31.That the manner of their sitting could not permit Christ to give every one severally the Bread, Estius in 1 Cor. 10. 16 Beza epist. 2.but as he gave the cup to the nearest, and the nixt reached to the nearest, so it is probable that those, who sate most remote, receaved the bread from the nearest. Moulins maintaineth, On the Lords supper, 2. part pag. 97.That Christ might with as good reason have said, Eat ye all of this, as dr…nke ye all of this; his reason is, Consider…ng that being set at table among … persons, he could not deliver the bread into every one of the disciples hands: especially considering that the parties, lying halfe a long upon beds at the table, tooke up more roome then they do now adayes. The Canon of the Masse hath, Drinke ye all of this, Bellarm. de euchar. lib. 4. cap. 25.Mand…cate ex eo omnis, which Bellarmine alle…geth, they have receaved by tradition from the Apostles. But to us there is the like force in the words, Eat ye, and Eat ye all of this; for speaking in the plurall number, he spake to all.
The Apostolicall Churches, The Apostles continued this distribution.and such as in the ages following celebrated, as near as they could, to the … terne, continued this distribution. P. acknowledgeth page 92. 101. 104. that the Communicants at the first supper did communicate the bread and cup one with another, as also in the Apossles times, pag. 95. Of the Monks of Saint Bennets orders yee may see before, and that was a footstep of the order observed universally before upon the anniversarie day, called the day of the Lords supper. Raynerius in summa.Frier Raynerius saith, The Leonists, for so he calleth the W…ald…rses, celebrate the sacrament of the …uchar…st in their conventicles (so it pleased the Frier to call the assembly of the persecuted) r…hearsing the words of the Gospel at their table, and participating mutually as was done at Christs supper; In conventiculis suis celebrant, verba illa evangelii rec… an…es in mensasua, sibique mutuo participantes, sicut in Christi coena. Bull…nger saith, That the supper of the Lord is then rightly celebrated, when the communicants distribut the bread and the cup among themselfes. Bulling dec…d. 6. serm. 9. fol. 364.Idcirco legittime coenam Domini celebrantes, mu…ò inter se panem Demin de manibus ministrorum Christi acceptum fran unt, distribu… & manducant, poculum insuper Domini de manibus m…nistrorium Christi acceptum, inter sedistributam omnes pota…. fol. 364.And again, Primogen… simplie tati & institutioni magis conven…t, & sedere & sacram…nt aln manus propr… as accipere de man bus praesidentium, deinde verò frangere, percipere & alliis impertir. Vt en…m Dominus ad mensam cum discipulis accubui…, ita dixit porrectis symbolis, fol. 360.…pite, dividite inter vos And againe, Acconstat veteres non exhibuisse ca nantibus buccellas, sed mutuum fr gisse panem. It is well known (saith he) that the an…ien's gave no to the Communicants at the suppermorsels, but they brake bread one with another. Hom. 118.Gualter in his homilies upon Mark setting downe the best forme of celebration, requireth that they breake the bread to other, and distribute the cup, deinde cum solenni gratiarum actione panem inter se mutuò frangant, & poculum Demian distribu… … que in coetum illum convenorunt. And when hee …, hee saith, Est hic ritus simplicissimu…, & Christi … nititur, quae sola nebis in omnibus sufficere debe…, This is the most simple for me, and is grounded upon Christs … which alone should bee sufficient to us in all things. Tindall in his tractat upon the Lords supper pag. 477. requireth, that every man breake, and reach foorth to his neighbour. In the later consession of Holvetia, which was approved by many reformed Churches, and by our own, anno 1566. The bread is offered by the Minister, and the words of the Lord are heard, Receave it, this is my bodie, divide it amongst you, Drink yee all of this, This is my blood.
The Lords supper was denominate breaking of bread from that rite, or ceremonie of breaking of the bread by the faithfull: It is said, Act. 2. 42. that the Christians continued in breaking of bread. This place is interpreted of the sacrament breaking, not only by ancient, but also modern writers, both popish and Protestant, as also Act. 20. And the Syrian interpreter translateth it eucharist in both the places. But the breaking of the bread in both the places is attributed not to the Ministers or Pastors only, but to the people also, and is made common to the whole meeting. In the one place …is said, they continued in breaking of bread: and in the other place yet more clearly, the Disciples conveened to break bread, which is clearer then if Luke had said, Bellar. de eu. charist. lib. 4. cap. 24.they conveened to the breaking of bread. Bellarmine saith, that Luke descriveth what the people did, not what the Apostles did. Hee might have said, both the Apostles, and the people.
Estius a popish professor in …way acknowledgeth the same, Estius in 1 Cor. 10. 16.and sayeth, Fiebat autem …ujus panis fractio Tempore primitive Ecclesiae, primum quidem … sbyter is & diaconis, deinde verò magisque particulatim à singulis fidelibus, quibus eucharstia, dabatur in manus ut ea n…, si porro …nter se vel domi inter fuos distribuerent. In the primitive church (saith hee) they had the breaking of bread which was first done by the presbyters and deacons, and after them in smaller pieces by the faithfull to whom it was given, that they might distribute the same among themselfes, or at home among theirowne. For Luke meaneth so much, when hee attributeth this breaking to the faithfull in generall, Act. 2. For their distributing in the convention he alleadgeth Act. 20. For distributing at home, hee alleadgeth Act. 2. 46. whereas the meaning is, that the faithfull conveened sometime in one house, sometime in another, for fear of persecution, or not having yet appointed, and certain places for meeting. The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 16. sayeth, The bread which wee break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? that is, the bread which we break, distribute, and eat. For the breaking alone by the Minister is not the communion of the bodie of Christ, P…nis quē frangimus (1 Cor. 10.) idem est, atque inter nos dividimus: The bread which wee break, that is, the bread which wee divide amongst us, R. Stephan. glossa in Mat. 26.saith Robertus Stephanus. Whereas the Apostle saith, the cuppe which wee blesse, the words may bee spoken generally in the persons of all the faithfull, who are present. Qui quidem omnes …alici benedicunt, eo modo & sensu, quo omnes ibidem praesentes dicuntur unà cum sacerdote offerre, Estius in 1 Cor. 10. 16.videlicet animi consensu & devotioone, saith Estius. The Minister blesseth in name of the rest as their mouth: so the blessing may bee attributed to the people likewise. The Apostle rehearsing the words of the institution, said … but in the plurall number, Durand. Rationa…. c. 1.Tak… ye…, eat ye. … saith, that the Apostles celebrated as Christ did, e…ndem … teriam in rebus, & formam in verbis. It appeareth not then, that the Apostles gave to everie one severally, saying to each one, Take thou, eat thou: but that speaking in the plurall number to all at once, the Communicants brack and distributed among themselfes. Now that rite from which the Apostolicall Church denominate the whole action is sacramentall and necessarie, saith Paraeus in 1 Cor. 11.
When the holy supper is called breaking of bread, it is not to be imagined, that there was only communicating in bread, but the whole is denominated from a part according to a custome of speech usuall among the Jewes, who used the phrase of breaking of bread to expresse their full meals, or common civill feasts, as Ierem. 1…. 7. As the Grecians on the contrarie, tooke the denomination sometime from the drinking, and called their feast symposium a drinking together. Yea, one of the names, which of old was given to this holy feast, was synaxis. Now foreign, Casaub. oxercit. pag. 537.saith H…sychius, is foreign, to drinke with other.
The breaking of the bread served for two uses: Breaking of bread for representation.First, for representation of Christs sufferings. If their powring of the wine out of the cuppe into the mouth be a mysticall representation of the effusion of his bloud, their breaking may have the like use. Wee can well allow of a mysticall shedding of Christs bloud in the supper, Against the Rhen…ists, or Mat. 26. 28.faith Master Cartwright, for when the wine is powred out of the cuppe into the mouth, thereby mystically and sacramentally, is shed the bloud of Christ out of his blessed body into the earth, that is the shedding of it is …. So saith Prosper in his book of sentences, Dum sangu… … sidelium sunditur, sanguinu de latere effusio defignatur Lanfranous, Lanfranc. de euchar. Alger. de sacrament. lib. 2. cap. 8. Chamierde cucharl. 7. c. 13. num. 14. Bullinger Decad. 5. serm. 7.and A… gerus say the like. Solenne … est cum frangitur panis, … calix in… fidelium funditu, tunc significari sacrificium illud quod in cruce immolatun est, saith Chamierus. The Communicants taking, eating, drinking, are mysticall, why may not also his breaking of the bread. Bullinger saith, Ac nos ipsi quidem panem Domini proprits frangi…us manibus. Nos enim ipsi in culpa sumus quod ille ait…itus. That is, Wee breake the bread of the Lord with our own hands: for we ou…selfes are to be blamed, that he was bruifed. Our sinnes wounded him, we crucified him. We reach not only the bread and cuppe to other, but partake our selfes. For we beleeve not only that he suffered for others, but in speciall for our selfes. Gualt. Homil. 295. in Matth.Gualter in his Homilies upon Matth. Vt vero Christus panem accepit, & fregit, postquam gratias egisset, ita eundem discipulos quoque accipere & frangere voluit, ut ita singuli admonerentur hunc ad se privatim pertinere, se item necis illius authores esse, ad hac debitores omnibus ut eos in Christi, atque salutis que in eo habetur, societatem adducant. That is, As Christ had taken the bread, and after thanksgiving brack, so he would have his disciples to doe the like, that thereby every one might be admonished, that he belongeth to every one of them particularly, that they were the authours of his death, that they are debtours to all, to bring them to the fellowship of Christ and the salvation which is to be found in him. And in his 118. homil. upon Mark, he saith, Fractio panis Christi passionem & mortem representat, & dum singuli panem ipsi frangunt, se ex corum numero esse fatentur, qui Christo mortis authores fuerunt, id quod peccatorum … servit, & animum ad punitentiam extimulat.
The other use is for distribution, Breaking of bread for distribution.and reaching to other, to testifie mutuall love and amitie, which dutie is expressed in a more lively manner, then if they should drinke only of one cuppe together. Therefore L. his reason page 60. that it appertaineth only to the minister, be, cause it is mysticall, is naught, for it serveth both for repraesentation and distribution. Fractio non solum ad distribuendum, sedetiam ad significandum ordinatur, Bellarmine de missa, lib. 2. cap. 10. For the representation ye have heard already sundrie Divines. If two should drinke out of one cup, and yet not reach it to other, it might well be thought, there were no great kindnesse betwixt them, Communion in one common benefite is one thing, and the communication of mutuall duties and tokens of love and friendship another. It is one thing to the guests to participate of the same dainties, which are to be united to their bodies, another to interchange and communicate with other tokens of love. Justly may the communion cup for this cause be called Philotesia, saith Stuckius. To divide the bread also, Se…rariu… in Iosuam 6. 9. quest 6.and to eat together in token of love and bene volence, was a custome observed in all the orientall countries, and is yet observed in ma…y countries of the west, say Lyra and Arias Montanas, as Serrarius the Jesuit relateth. Bulling … decad. 5. serm. 7.Facit ad amicitiam conciliandam, reparandam, & conservandam, quòd de uno pane participamus, quòd panem offerimus fratribus, quodque de manu fratrum poculum accipientes bibimus. Non enim aliam ob causam videntur veteres coenam appellasse synaxin, saith Bullinger. That is, It serveth for the procu…ng, reparing, and keeping of friendship, that we participate of one bread, that we offer bread to our brethren, and that we drinke taking the cup out of the hands of our brethren. It seemeth for no other cause the ancients called the Lords supper Synaxis. And in the 9. sermon of the same decade, Quondam arctissima faed ra fractione panis consecrabantur. Of old, Leagues or covenants were confirmed by breaking of bread. Hom. 118. in Marc.Gualter saith, Panem & peculum pii inter se distribuunt, quod illis charitatis officium commendat, & de conjunctione mutua eos admonet, ut se unum iu Christo corpus esse intelligant, & sibi invicem officiis mutuis inserviant, quemadmodum in corporibus nostris membra facere videmus. The godly distribut the bread and wine among themselfes, which recommendeth to them the duty of chariti, and putteth them in minde of mutuall conjunction, that they may understand that they are one body in Christ, and serve one another with mutuall duties, as we see the members to do in our owne bodies. Zwinglius in his exposition of the Christian faith, Expos. fidei Christian. ad Reg. Christian in 80. fol. 40.setteth downe a notable proofe of this. How that some sitting together casually, and participating after this manner, were reconciled, who before had beene at variance, and that this fell forth often. Deprehensum est saepenumerò, quòd quidam, qui tem…re consederant, quì tamen simultates & odiapriùs inter se exercuissent, ex hac participatione sive panis, sive potus, animi impotentiam deposuerunt. The ancients had the kisse, which was a familiar kinde of salutation among the Orientals, as the striking of hands with us, they joyned hands also, and embraced another at the communion. Seeing so many signes, and protestations of love were thought requisit at this banket of love, ought we not to be the more carefull to retaine that signe, which was practised in the patterne.
I end this section with a passage out of Lauaterus, descriving the forme of celebration used in the Church of Zurich, to wit, with sitting, and the communicants distributing: posthac per totam ecclesiam ministri, De ri…ibus ecclesiae Tigurinae c. 13.that is, those that serve, az mumpanem in …tinis circumserunt, at accipit quisque particulam de exhibito pane, & posteà reliquam partem dat proxime assidenti: Deinde sequuntur alii ministri cum poculis & cantharis, ac praebet alius alii poculum Dominicum, atque sit omnes de uxo pane participant.
If none must give the sacramentall bread, Not necessary that the minister dispense the elements.but the minister, because he acts the person of Christ, who gave his owne body, by the same reason, they may not reach the cup to other, as the Apostles did at the first supper, where they represented the faithfull, and communicate not as pastours, but as disciples, as guests, as faithfull, as all our divines do hold, and among the rest Musculus himselfe cited by L. pag. 59. All that was done in prison, Joseph was the doer of it, because he was direct our, and commander of every thing that was to be done, Gen. 39. 22. …. confesseth the cup may be reached from one communicant to another. Proceedings at Perth asscmbly, pag. 60. 61.For (saith he) he in whose name the commandement is uttered, is properly the giver and propiner, because by his authoritie it is given, and by the warrant of his word it is ceaved. When the King drinketh to any of his servants, and sends it by the hands of his servant, the servant is not properly the giver and propiner, but the deliverer of the gift and propine. He granteth likewise, that the Communicants may deliver the cuppe to other, the minister still acting Christs person in his owne place. pag. 61. 62. So may we say, that Christ at the first supper, or the minister representing Christs person, is properly the giver of the bread, because by his commandement or direction it is given. When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, that is, brake and gave to the disciples to set before them to be further broken. The disciples in setting the bread before five thousand, Mark 6. 41. gave the bread to five thousand, Matth. 14. 19. Christ gave the cup to his Apostles, say the Evangelists, because at his direction they reached one to another. Swarez saith, Swarez in …. part. tom. 3. p. 861.It is one thing to distribute as a dispenser, or as of power, another to touch, carrie, or applie this sacrament to the mouth of the receaver. Aliud est dispensative, seu ex potestate distribuere hoc sacramentum, aliud verò illud tangore, deferre, aut ad os sumentis applicare. Let them make of the word dispense what they will, we say the Communicant may carrie the bread, and apply it to the hand of another Communicant. Againe, if none but the minister might doe it, because hee represents Christs person, then might not the deacon in the ancient Church do it, because he represented not Christs person, yet his giving was called dispensing. Vazquez in part. 3. tom. 3. disp. 219. num. 12. & 13.Vazquez confesseth, That it is not forbidden by divine law, that the sacrament be ministred, or carried by a layman, but by humane lawes. Non quia jure divino vetitum sit hoc sacramentum per laicum ministrari aut deferri. But humane lawes forbad laymen to touch it with their hands. I would aske, when the minister commeth from his owne place, and goeth along to deliver the elements, how doth he act the person of Christ the master of the feast. There can be no other reason of this guise, but to nourish a superstitious conceat, that it is holier to receave out of the h…nd of the minister, who perhaps is a Judas, then out of the hand of a faithfull brother, as if his hands profaned or polluted it. Are not the peoples hands as holy as the ministers? saith P. pag. 313. Nay superstition encreasing, at last they might not take the sacrament in their owne hand to put it in their mouth, but it behoved the priest to put it in their mouth. Such superstitious conceats condemne Christ and his Apostles, and the faithfull in their time who distributed to other, and deprive us of the profitable uses of fraction, or breaking of bread, whereof we have already treated. The representation and forme of a feast or banquet is not observed. It is rather Sportula, which is opposite to coena, then coena, that is, rather like a dole of meat, then a supper. For Sportula was a dole of meat distributed by the princes to the people, which was called Sportula, from the panier, or basket, in which it was brought.
This giving of the elements to every one severally, The inconveniences following upon the ministers dispensing.whither the communicants sit, stand, or kneel, bringeth in also confusion of actions, and private communions in the publike assembly. For while the ministers are giving the elements to every one, the people is in the meane time exercised in hearing the word read, or psalmes sung, and heare not what they say to the communicants, nor do the communicants understand, what is read or sung in publike. Yea, sometimes two ministers will be speaking at once to sundrie communicants. So the communicants communicate a part, and might as well go aside, or to an Ile of the Church, to communicate, yea, and farre better. For the minister can scarce know his owne voice, when he speaketh to the commucant, being troubled with the exercise of the whole congregation, as one of the ministers of Edinburgh confessed publikely in pulpit. The exercise is dead, and cold, when the minister giveth to every one severally. Therefore they are forced to reading and singing in the mean time, to drive away tediousnesse, and so bring in confusion of actions. But if they would speake in the plur…ll number to the communicants, as Christ did, saying, Take ye, eat ye, and not to every one, Take thou, eat thou, the action should bee more comfortable. For the phrase of speach in the plurall number, …fittest (saith Fenner in the doctrine of the sacraments) to note …ut the fellowship and communion of the Church in this worke, the person of Christ by the minister bidding all his guests with one love, as from him, to be merrie, and eat with faith one spirituall meat togeither. It setteth an edge upon us, when with one heare, as it were, and together we apply every one of us to our selfes, that which is uttered by the minister. But when the action is prolonged with speaking to every one, the mindes of men languish and wander.
Our Doctour saith, L. pag. 56. Christ spake in the plurall number at the deliverie.they utter the words in the plurall number at the consecrating of the elements, he meaneth at the rehearsall of the words of the institution, at, or before the thanksgiving, but Christ uttered them at the deliverie of the elements, which they do not. Next (saith he) they apply the generall command to every one in particular, as if the Apostles, or other communicants, to whom the words were uttered in the plurall number, did not apply to themselfes particularly, when every one did take, eat, and drinke. And the Doctour himselfe confesseth, that every worthy receaver ought to apply the words to himselfe in particular. If Christ spake in the plurall number, when the communicants were so few, what would he have done, if there had been a great multitude present. Another profound Doctour imagineth, that Christ spake first to all generally in the … Number, and after in the singular delivering to every one particularly. But this imagination is without any ground of appearance in the text. And Swar…z rejecteth this fancie, because it changeth the order of the text set downe with so full consent of the Apostle Paul and the Evangelists, no reason forcing them so to doe. … rullairatio cogit, Suarez in … part. tom. 3. pag. 702.non oprte ordinem textus mutare, praefertim cum ab Evangelistis & Paulo tanta consensione obiervatus sit.
This rate of fraction or breaking of bread after thanksgiving, Paraeus de symbolis pag. 166either for representation or distributation, is not injoyned by the English service book. Paraeus reporteth, That the Lutheran Churches have it not, but have the bread cut in small pieces, before it be brought to the hand of the minister, which is not the sacramentall breaking.
The Doctour saith, Distribution continued in ages, following;That in the ancient Church the sacrament was delivered by the pastour, or the deacon who helped him, and supplied his place, but not by any of the people. If so were, wee ought to take h…ed, saith Cyprian, not what any before us hath done, but what Christ before all hath done, we must not follow the custome of men, Calvin. institint l. 4. c. 13. &c. s. 11.but the truth of God. Calvin saith, That the ancients went nerer to a judaicall manner of sacrificing, then the ordinance of Christ and course of the Gospel could suffer. They carried the …read of the sacrament home to their houses in Tertullians time, that is, about 200 yeares … Christ. The custome of giving the communion to infants continued for 600 yeares. Yet wee have already produced some instances in the contrary, as of the Waldenses, and some footsteps of the ancient Church, howbeit declining, yet remaining among the Monks of Saint Bennets order, when they celebrated lebrated according to the paterne. The deacon, as I have said, represented not Christs person, and therefore should not have ministred or delivered the elements, if that were true, that none should deliver them immediatlie but the pastour, because he representeth Christs person. It is like at the first, that deacons ministring at tables in time of love-feasts, served likewise at the communion, which was conjoyned with them, and carried only the platters and cuppes, out of which the communicants them selfes tooke the elements, and distributed. Olim ex patin… suis quisque ma…ibus suam sumpsit particulam, See Salme…on in Mor…on of the in…tution …31.ut morisfait ad sextam usque synodum, nempè Caesar angustanam, saith Salmeron. Thereafter they gave the elements themselfes, both the bread and the wine, and did not help the minister going along. In processe of time indeed the minister went along with the bread, and the deacon delivered the cuppe. And words were put in their mouth to be uttered at the deliverie, as Sauguis Christi; calix vitae. At last they were made halfe priests, Clemens Alexandrinus saith, That the communicants tooke the eucharist themselfes; Str…at. l. 1.Cum eucharistiam quidam, ut mos est, diviserint, permittitur unicui que è populo partem sumere. In Tertullians time it seemeth, that in Africk they tooke the elements out of the hands of their rulers or presidents, that is, the bishop, elder, or deacon, when he saith, De corona militis c. 3.Eucharisti …m non aliorum qu…m de pr…es…. dentium in m…nu sumin…us. For so not only Ju…us, but also …mel. us in his annotations expone that place. All these formes were aberrations from the right forme, and opened a doreto let in many corruptions. For if the distribution of the communicants had beene at all times continued, as it was at some times in the yeare, kneeling had not entred, the words uttered by Christ at the deliverie of the elements had not beene changed, confusion of actions, and a privat forme of communicating had not taken place, the forme of a feast, which is now changed into the manner of distributing a dole, had beene preserved. Therefore suppose the distributing of the communicants were not recommended to us, nor had no other profitable use, make it only lawfull, this is a most profitable use, that it is a barre to hold out so many corruptions. The first assault therefore was made upon it, at a meeting in Saint Andrewis, in the year preceeding Perth assembly. But that meeting, neither was nor is acknowledged to be a free generall assembly. For as long as wee retaine the distribution by the communicants, they perceave there was no place for kneeling. Therefore as wee would stand for the preservation of that holy action, from being prophaned with confusion of actions, and polluted with privat communion, superstitious receaving out of the minister… hand, and the idolatrous gesture of kneeling, let us stand for this distribution. Homil. 118. in Marcum.What shall we say then of those, who this day …ke away the chiefe parts of the Lords institution, to wit, the b…e k…ng of the br…ad, and distribution, and involve this most wholesome m…ster ew…th superstitious, and contentious …. They may perhaps have the popes supper, or som… other mens, whom they prop…ne to themselfes to be imitated, but they cannot have Christs supper, till leav…ng the i…v…ntions of me…, they foll w…le first institution, …aith Gu…lt…r. Quid ergo de illis hodièd cem…ts, qui praecipuas institution is dom n…ae partes, fractionem … mirum, & distributionem tollunt, simulque mysterium … saluberrimum superstitiosis, & contentiosis opini…nibus involvunt. Habent illi fortassis caenam Pape aut alterius cujusdam, quem sibi imitandum proponunt. At Christi Jesu caenam non habebunt, nisi relictis hominum ad inventionibus primam ejus institutionem sequantur.
If any man then will aske, Christs forme the most perfite.where is kneeling forbidden in the act of receaving? We answer, In the institution. For the whole frame of the paterne forbiddeth it, where magisterio vel exemplo; by precept or exemple, as Cyprian speaketh, wee are directed to celebrat after the forme of a feast or banket, to fit, which is the usuall gesture, and most suteable to a feast, and to breake and distribute. Christs forme was most perfite (saith Bullinger) Bulling. Decad. 5. serm. 9.and to what purpose is it the Lord himself having devised a…st simple and perfite forme, and the Apostles receaving it, to devise another. Who can devise a better, then the Sonne of God himselfe, the supreme high Priest of his Church: Quorsum attine simpli issima, optima, perfectissima que illa coenandi formula, ab ipso Christo tradita, & ab Apostolis ejus accepta, comminis…i aliam? Quis enim m…liorem tradet ipso Dei filio pontifice catholiae ecclesiae summo? Hospin. histor. sacrament lib. 1. cap. …. &c. 5.If another more commedious and better forme could have beene devised, out of all doubt (saith Hospinian) Christ would have devised it, and the Apostles would have recommended it to the Churches; and therefore willeth, that if any thing be found different, either in the nature and proper sense of words, or in rite or externall ceremonie from this rule, that it be amended according to the same, as the most holy, most excellent, most uncorrupted, and most certaine rule. Grat. de co… secrat. dist. 2. cap. 3.Sed vide, frater charissime, si quis de antecessoribus nostris, velignoranter, vel siplmiciter, non hoc servavi… & tenuit, quod nos Dominus & magisterio & exemplo suo docuit, potest simplicitati ejus de indulgentiâ Domini venia concedi, nobis verò non poterit ignosci; qui nunc a Domino …dmoniti & instructi sumus. But see, most deare brother, if any of our ancestours, either through ignorance or simplicitie, hath not keeped or holden, that which the Lord hath taught us, both by precept and example, his simplicitie may be pardoned of the Lords indulgence, but wee cannot bee forgiven, who now are admonished and instructed, saith Cyprian. The testimonie ye may finde in Gratian.
Doctour Mortoun in his late worke of the institution of the supper, pag. 49.saith, It was good divinitie in Cyprian, and pope Iulius dayes, to argue from the example of Christs instituti…n negatively, by rejecting such acts, and accounting them as centrarie to the institution of Christ, which accord not with his example, and which are not comprised within the Canon of Christ his hoc facite.
Bellarmine himselfe putteth It out of all doubt, that that is best, which Christ did, and what he did is to be done, Neque enim dubita…i potest, quìn illud sit mel…us, & faciendum quod Christus feci…, De…ucharist. lib. 4. cap. 7. And yet Master Struther was not ashamed to averre, that Christs forme might be bettered.