Works of Joseph Hall, Section 36
SECTION XXXVI.
OVR kneeling you deriue (like a good Herald) from the errour of Tranſubſtantiation: but to ſet downe the deſcent of this pedigree, will trouble you:Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. De Conſecr. d. 2. Ego Bereng. Apol. we doe vtterly denie it, and challenge your proofe. How new a fiction Tranſubſtantiation is, appeares out of Berengaries Recantation to Pope Nicholas: The error was then ſo young, it had not learned to ſpeake; ſhew vsus the ſame noueltie in our kneeling: Till of …, ble… …eld not the Bread to bee God; of olde, they hauehave held it ſa…ed: This is the geſture of reuerence in our Prayer at the receit, as Maſter Burgeſſe w…ll interpreted it, not of idolatrous adoration of the Bread. This was moſt-what in the eleuation: the aboliſhing whereof cleares vsus of this imputation▪ you know wee hate this conceit, why doe you thus force wrongs vponupon the innocent? Neither are we alone in this vſe: The Church of Bohemy allowes and practiſes it: and why is this error leſſe palpable in the wafers of Geneua? If the King ſhould offer vsus his hand to kiſſe, wee take it vponupon our knees: how much more when the King of Heauen giues vsus his Sonne in theſe Pledges? But if there were not ſomthing more than iuſt reuerence, why doe we ſolemnely kneele at the Communion, not at Baptiſme? Can you finde no difference? In this (beſides that there is both a more liuely and feeling ſignification of the thing repreſented) we are the parties, but in the other witneſſes: This therefore I dare boldly ſay, that if your partner M. Smith ſhould euer (which God forbid) perſwade you to rebaptize, your fitteſt geſture (or any others at full age) would be to receiue that Sacramentall water, kneeling: How glad you are to take all ſcraps, that fall from any of ours for your aduantage? Would to God this obſeruation of your malicious gathering would make all our reuerend Brethren wary of their cenſures: Surely, no idolatry can be worſe than that Popiſh foreign. The Bread, and the Crucifix ſtriue for the higher place: if we ſhould therefore be ſo tied to kneele before the Bread, as they are tied to kneele before the Crucifix, their ſentence were iuſt. They adore the Crucifix, not we the Bread: they pray to the Crucifix, not we to the Bread: they direct their deuotions (at the beſt) by the Crucifix to their Sauiour, we doe not ſo by the Bread, we kneele no more to the Bread, than to the Pulpit when we ioyne our praiers with the Miniſters: But our quarrell is not with them; you that can approue their iudgements in diſlike, might learne to follow them in approbation, and peaceable Communion with the Church: if there be a galled place, you will be ſure to light vponupon that. Your charity is good; whatſoeuer your wiſdome be?
SEP.
To let paſſe your deuout kneeling vntounto your Ordinary when you take the Oath of Canonicall obedience, or receiue abſolution at his hands, which (as the maine actions are religious) muſt needs be religious adoration, what is the adoring of your truly humane (though called Diuine) Seruice booke in and by which you worſhip God, at the Papiſts doe by their Images? If the Lord Ieſus in his Teſtament hauehave not commanded any ſuch Booke, it is accurſed and abominable: if you thinke he hauehave; ſhew vsus the place where, that we may know it with you; or manifeſt vntounto vsus that euer the Apoſtles vſed themſelues; or commended to the Churches after them any ſuch Seruice booke. Was not the Lord in the Apoſtles time, and Apoſtolike Churches, purely and perfectly worſhipped; when the Officers of the Church in their miniſtration manifeſted the ſpirit of prayer which they had receiued according to the preſent neceſsities and occaſions of the Church, before the leaſt p…rcell of this pacchery came into the World? And might not the Lord now be alſo purely and perfectly worſhipped; though this printed image; with the painted and c…ed … ges; were ſent backe to Rome; yea, or caſt to Hell, from whence both they and it came? Sp…ke in your ſelfe; might not the Lord be intirely worſhipped with pure and holy worſhip, though … other Booke but the holy Scriptures were brought into the Church? If yes (as who can deny…, that knowes what the worſhip of God meaneth) what then doth your Seruice booke there? The Word of God is perfect and admitteth of none addition. Curſed be he that addeth to the Word of the Lord, and curſed be that which is added, and ſo he your great idoll the Communion booke, though like Nabuchadnezzars Image ſome part of the matter be Gold and Siluer, which is alſo ſo much the more deteſtable, by how much it is the more highly aduanced amongſt you.