A Continuation of Kneeling at the Communion.

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AGE 52. You think you have me in an Hofe-Net, when I fay, That the Gesture is not of the Effence of the Sacrament. Thou retorts thus, then why do you,Scotch Liturgical Curates,innovate and attempt to bring in a Custom among us, and which bred fo much Divifion in England? To this I answer, First, That you fall into the fame Fault which you libelled me for, p. and that not once but twenty Times, and that is ufing of Retortions: But I pardon that, because I mind to use them, when there is Occafion. And then I answer, That Epifcopals us❜d Kneeling in Scotland before the Revolution (for ought I know) in moft Dioceffes. 2dly, We do it in Conformity with the Catholick Church in unquestionable Duties and Decencies; and to diftinguish our felves from Schifmaticks, who have cut themselves off from the Body of Chrift, and whofe Paftors have neither Order nor Ordina

tion.

Secondly, fay you, if the Pofture be not of the Effence of the Sacrament; why has the Church of England discharg'd her Minifters, under Pain of Sufpenfion, to give it to any that does not kneel? I anfwer, That all Churches have establish'd their own Uniformity in this Matter, whether Kneeling, Standing or Sitting; and no knowing nor pious Perfon will picque a Quarrel with any Church, or disturb the Peace thereof upon the Account of a Circumftance. The Church must not prostitute its own Power; for, give a Popular Cheat an Inch of his Will, he'll seek an Ell. I ask you, would you give it to a Church of England-Man at Dumbarton, who would defire it Kneeling? Itrow not. Why then fhould other Churches tranfgrefs its own Establishments more than yours? When I fay, that Chrift did not fay, Do this until I come again, that is, Take it fitting till I come again. Your Anfwer is, Neither did he fay, Take the Bread first and the Wine next. As if forfooth the Sacrament could not be a Sacrament without fitting, more than it can be without Bread and Wine. Such Reasoning is unworthy of common Senfe.

For that of receiving the Sacrament in a Table Gesture, according to the Fashion of every Country, is faid without any Shadow of Proof, from Scripture, Reason, or Senfe, and never was dream'd of by any ancient or modern Church in the World.

P. 53. Thou indicts me for Tridentine Popery, for that Expreffion, The Word by which the Element is made a Sacrament; but without Reafon. For the Words of Inftitution, particularly, This is my Body, &c.- must be in the Confecration, without which there can be no Sacrament.

P. 55. Thou libels for faying, That tho' Leaning or Sitting had been the Pofture at the firft Inftitution; yet there is Reason now for a Pofture of profound Reverence and Adoration; because they did not understand the Depth of the Mystery, until the coming of the Holy Ghoft. Your Answer is,that my Meaning is,That their not Kneeling was a Sin of Ignorance; for they would have done it, if they had known better. But I do not allow you to make Reasons for me; because you make but very bad ones for your felf. But fay you, would not Chrift told them, if they had been wrong? To which I anfwer as formerly, that they kneel'd for ought you know, they lean'd for ought I know, and they stood for ought any knows; and not one of the Three Poftures wrong.

You find Fault with my Saying, That Chrift was corporally prefent at that time, and they did not look upon Him as God incarnate, nor Worship Him with a Divine Adoration. Against this you prefent me with a Confutation from these following Scriptures, 1.Chap. Joh. 49. 11. Joh. 27. 6. Ch. 69. 16. Matth. 16.16. Joh. 29,30. Thou art the Son of God. Son of the living God. We are fure thou knoweft all things. I fay,all thefe Scrip tures do not infer, that they believed him to be God Effential, nor had they distinct Knowledge of the Perfons of the Trinity or of the Hypoftatical Union: Angels, Adam, & Magiftrates, are called the Sons of God. And they might have believed, that Chrift was the Son of God in a more fpecial Manner than others who were fo called, but not to be the eternal and incomprehenfible God. They had but grofs Conceptions of Christ's Kingdom even after the Refurrection.

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Page 55. You tell me, That I go on next in the fame Argument, faying, That Chrift was then corporally prefent as a mortal Man, but now he is prefent in the Sacrament as God immortal. You answer me by Way of Question: What! Was he not then prefent as God immortal as much as he's now? Deny that if you can; aud if not, fay, if ever thou heard fuch a Blander. I fhall let it be known, that thy Argument against me, is a very grofs Blunder, to speak in thy own Stile and Byword. God immortal was prefent; but Chrift, as God-Man, was not prefent as God immortal, as now he is: Because Chrift dieth no more. His Divinity could not die, no more did his Soul; yet the Son of God died, which may be inferred from the Scriptures you have cited against me to prove His Deitie.

P. 55, 56. When I fay, That the Presbyterian Argument against Kneeling is odious, to wit, that it fymbolizes with Idolaters: And I inftance, that Sitting has been as much abus'd, for it fymbolizes with Heathens at their facrifical Feafts, with the Pope and the Benedictine Monks,who take the Sacrament,Sitting; and with the Socinians that deny the Dis vinity of Chrift. Thou fays, In that they fit, they are right; in that they do it on fuch a Confideration, they are wrong. And fo I do fay of Kneeling; and then we are alike.

Page 56. You repeat what you faid in the Dialogue, That the primitive Chriftians never kneel'd on the Lord's-Day, no not at Prayers nor on any other Day of the Week betwixt Eafter and Whitfunday: What follows from this? That they did not kneel on any other Day throughout the Year, will not this fay as much againft Sitting? I told, They did not labour nor faft on the Lord's-Day, it will not follow, but they did it on other Days? But I add to this, That I doubt, whether Standing was an universal Pofture upon thefe Days, and that because St. Auguft. does fay fo, Epift. 119. Cap. 7. his Words are, That we pray standing on thofe Days, and every Lord's-Day, whether it be uni verfally obferved I do not know: I truly read of Standing and Kneeling, but not one word of Sitting in Worship.

I told, P. 39. That Standing was a Pofture of Joy, which may be confiftent with Kneeling, which may also be a Pofture of Joy as well as of Humility, I cited 95. PA O come, let us make a joyful Noife, and kneel before the Lord, &c. 17. Gen. 16. Abraham fell on his Face and laughed, &c. I told, A Malefactor might receive his Pardon, and a Man of Merit his Honours upon his Knees. But thou makes a Mockery of these Things, mutilating and disjoining Sentences, to put my Words in thy own Drefs, and to make thy own Scoffing an Anfwer to them.

Page 57. You tell me,That my Citation from St. Chryfoft. proves,that we should approach the Holy Table with Reverence, ergo. What fay you? You know no Presbyterian,that ever deny'd it; perhaps too, they practise it as much as their Neighbours.

Thou was fo wife as not to repeat St. Chryfoft. Sentence,which I cited, because thou was fure, that the Anfwer thou and all thy Gang could give, was not fatisfying. And therefore I fhall infert it to your Hand and to all the Readers, to let it be feen, how wife thou art, to fhun what thou art fure will defeat thee. Chryfoft. 24 Hom. Cap. 10. 1 Epift. to the Corinth. This Body the wife Men reverenc'd, even when it lay in a Manger, and approaching thereto, worshiped it, with Fear and great Trembling. Let us therefore who are Citizens of Heaven, imitate at least thefe Barbarians. But thou feeft this Body not in a Manger, but on the Altar, not held by a Woman, but by the Prieft, &c. Let us therefore, ftir up our felves, and be horribly afraid, and manifeft a much greater Reverence than thofe Barbarians, left coming lightly, and at a Venture, we heap Fire upon our Heads.

I refer to any judicious Reader, if this Reverence be not an Adoration, let us manifeft a much greater Reverence, than the wife Men that worshipped him in a Manger. What may be thought of fuch a Perfon, that conceals the Strength of his Antagonift's Arguments, to gain Credit to the Weakness of his own Defences? They dare not go to the Fathers, for the gray Beard of Antiquity is a Terrour to the new Gospellers, who are but of Tefterday and know nothing.

And for Presbyterian Reverence to a Sacrament, is the Thing can never be seen; witness the Parade they make, draining up Nine or Ten Parishes, to meet in one Kirk and Kirk-yard, and there to eat and drink; tho' the Apostle fays, What have ye not Houfes to eat in, or defpife ye the House of God?

This Citation from the Father might ferve for an Argument of Kneeling: But I must say more, because this Author makes a fair Bargain with me, in thefe Words following.

If

If you can find the Pofture of Kneeling at the Communion before the Doctrine of the Corpo= ral Prefence was broach'd and obtain'd, I promise to come to the English Service, and never to fet Foot in a Presbyterian Kirk again.

A very fair Offer; but I am fure,the Reafon of an Angel will not convince thee from the Stipend of Dumbartoun. Thou'lt find Sophiftry and Tergiverfations to elude Demonftrations: But if there were any Hopes of re-establishing Episcopacy, I doubt not but very probable Arguments might tempt thee to a Change.

The Doctrine of the Corporal Prefence began (as I find by Mr. Evans in his Treatife of Kneeling) in the Eaft by John Damafcen, in the Days of Gregory the III. and about an Hundred Years afterward, by Pafchafius Radbertus, a Monk of Corbie, and one ·Amalarius of Metz, about the Year 740.

But that Kneeling was before that Time, I inftance Greg. Nazian. in his Panegyric upon his Sifter Gorgonia, in the Year 370, who being fick, and all Remedies proving ineffectual, fhe went to the Church, and having referved fome of the confecrated Elements, she went, and kneeling before the Altar,had eaten, and having prayed was made whole. Du Pin in the Life of Greg. tells, She mixt the Elements with her Tears: Her Brother calls her going to the Altar, A pious Piece of Confidence. Whatever Debate may be on the Head, as her being made whole, it may look Legendary-like, in this loofe Age; but it is certain, the Reverend Father has her Kneeling before the Altar upon Record, with Approbation, in the Year 370. I inftance from Hamon l'EStrange, in his Alliance of Divine Offices, Cap. 7.1.8. c. 5. Ofa Woman, which, to please her Husband, coming to the Communion, took the Bread, when the Prieft gave it her, and kneeling down, as it had been to fecret Prayer, convey'd it away; her Maid (ftanding by) privily ftealing a Piece of common Bread into her Hands, which she did eat inftead of the other. Whence it appeareth, that Kneeling then was not interdicted. And it is fure from the Fathers, that the Communion was taken in an adoring Posture; for St. August. fays on the 98 Pfal. Let none prefume to eat that Flesh, until first he pay an Adoration.

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That the primitive Chriftians took the Sacrament in a praying Pofture, is clear to any that have read the Ancients: Standing was the Festival Pofture, and Kneeling the Fafting Pofture. This we learn from Tertull, who flourished in the Year 192. him de Coron, Milit. p. 121. Parif. Edit. An. 1641. cum Notis Regaltii, cap. 3. fpeaking of that which is not determined by Scripture, yet is confirmed by Practice; which undoubtedly did proceed from Tradition. How can any Thing (fays he) be practifed, un lefs it were handed down by Tradition? And among the reft of Church Practices, here is one he mentions; We reckon it an impious Thing, upon the Lord's Day, either to Faft or Kneel: We rejoice in the fame Freedom from Easter to Whitfunday.

So thefe, who did Communicate every Time they met, took the Sacrament, which is the most folemn Part of Worship, in the profoundest Adoration. See St. Jerome, Proleg. in Comm. Epist. ad Ephef. St. Aug. Ep. 119. ad Jan. cap. 15. We pray standing, in fign of the Resurrection.

Yet I faid already, grounding my Saying upon St. Auguft. That it is a Doubt, whether Standing at Prayers on Sunday was an univerfal Practice: For I find the 20 Canon of the Council of Niece, Anno 325, making an Act for Uniformity in Standing; because fome pray'd Kneeling on the Lord's Day, Because there are fome that Kneel on the Lord's Day, and on the Days of Pentecoft (that is between Eafter and Whitsunday) it is therefore ordained by this Holy Synod, That when we pay our Vows unto the Lord in Prayer, we observe a Standing Pofture, to the end that an uniform and an agreeable Custom may be maintained and Secured by all Churches. So that Kneeling was not discharged as unlawful, but as unfit for fuch Festival Seasons.

Now, Sir, what becomes of thy Many, Many a Four Hundred Years after the middle of the Third Century, that Kneeling was not heard of? If the Word Kneeling, that is mentioned in the Nicene Canon had been Sitting, it had been hugg'd by the Didoclavian Crew: I should truly think it an unanswerable Argument for Sitting, if the Word Sitting had been expreft in that Council. I could give more Citations to this Purpose; but I know to no purpose with those that are refolved to be stiff.

A Vindication of the Office of Burying the Dead according to the Liturgy.

THE Church of England giving Chriftian Burial to all, that go under that Name,

and who have not renounc'd the Faith, gives Provocation, but cannot give Offence(in the Scripture-Stile) to the Enemies of the Liturgy,who bury their Dead, with the Burial of an Afs. They who die in the Faith are called Believers. All Chriftians go under the Name of Elect; the Scripture gives thefe Titles to all who are baptiz'd, even in the Church of Corinth, which was charg'd with Error and grofs Scandals: See 1 Cor. 6. Ch. 11. ----But ye are washed, but ye are fanctified, but ye are juftified in the Name of our Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God. So in the First General Epiftle of St. Peter, 2. Ch. 9. all Chriftians, whether Jews or Gentiles, are ftiled by him, a chofen Generation, a royal Priesthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar People, &c. The fame CharaEter was given to the Jewish Church, not only to the Good but to the Bad; because they were inCovenant withGod by Circumcifion,as we are by Baptifm: So that it did not belong to particular Perfons, but to the whole Jewish Nation. Even to the Difobedient, for io. Deut. 15. 16. they are called the Elect tho' ftiff necked. And that these Phrafes are applied to the Chriftian Church without any Diftinction, is clear from the forecited Places.

But to go to your own Notion of abfolute Election and Reprobation, you baptize all Children,not knowing whether they be predeftinate to Salvation or Damnation, yet you cannot deny them Baptifm. Again, as to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, you give it to the worthy and unworthy Receivers; faying, Take, eat, This is my Body which is broken for you: And yet you deny, that Chrift died for all Men, even for many that hear the Word, and receive the Sacraments; because you do not know, who are Elect or Reprobate? Now, what is this all the while that the Church of England does in this Office of Burying the Dead; but reads a ferious Difcourfe of Mortality and the general Refurrection to the Survivers; and paffes a Charitable Expreffion or two upon the Defunct, without any Air of Infallibility or abfolute Certainty? God makes His Sun to rise upon the Just and Unjuft: And fo ought our Charity reach to all Men; for a mistaken Charity is better than none at all. God never told any Man in Scripture, who is in Hell; for the rich Glutton is not named, and it is a Parable. Judas his going into his Place is doubted, if it be Hell;and good Criticks make it to be Matthias, going into Judas his Place or taking his Apostleship: But admit it be to the Place of Torment, it is told by him, who knew all things; and it does not follow, that we may or should pronounce Sentence of any Man's State, until Chrift divide the Sheep from the Goats. We lofe nothing by Charity; and Certainty we have not of any Man's Cafe and State in the other World. May we not then as warrantably read that Charitable Discourse and Prayer in the Office, as you adminifter fuch Sacraments as you can give, to your Elect and Reprobate? So God would fave the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah, for the Sake of Ten righteous Perfons; fo may this Charitable Office be read for all Perfons, that have not renounc'd the Faith, and as we hope for Ten Thousand righteous Perfons Sake: It is not we who should make the Distinction of those who are gone to the other World.

The Words you quarrel are, Forasmuchas it hath pleas'd Almighty God, to take unto himself the Soul of our dear Brother, here departed, we therefore commit his Body to the Ground, in fure and certain Hope of a Refurrection to eternal Life. This Declaration you fay, can do no Good to the Dead, but much Hurt to the Living. I fee no Proof you give for this bare Saying. Is any fo fimple as to think, that the charitable Office of burying the Dead can put his Soul in Heaven, without the Perfon be qualified for that Happiness? Can this be known to us, who very often are mistaken in our Opinions of Men, and have other Sentiments of Men than God has? The Multitude no doubt looked upon the Hypocritical Pharifee as a Child of God; and upon the Scandalous Publican, as a Reprobate and a Caftaway: And yet his Heart was righter with God, than that Person whom the Multitude is apt to pronounce a true God fearing Man. In the 13 of St. John 27 verf. When our Saviour faid to Judas, what thou doft,do quickly, the Disciples never thought, he was to betray his Mafter, but because he carried the Bag, that he should go and buy Provifion for the Feaft: They loft nothing by their Charitie, tho' they were in a Miftake. For Charity believeth all Things, I Cor. 13. that is, it believeth the best of all things until the contrary be evident; when Things are in a Doubt, it takes the Doubt in the more charitable Part. A

A Continuation of a Vindication of the Office of Burying the Dead, &c.

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GAIN, when I did vindicate thefe Words, In fure and certain Hopes to eternal Life, I told, this did not relate to the Perfon deceaft; but to the general Refurrection, which they, who bury the Dead, profefs to believe for themselves, and in which Faith the Perfon interr'd did die. My Proof of this, you altogether keep out, for your own Sake: But this is your Ordinary, and a great Sign that it is not Truth that you are seeking for, but the standing of a Party, right or wrong.

That this was the Meaning, might appear from the next Words, where the Number is alter'd to the Plural, Who fball change our vile Bodies, &c. not speaking of the Body of the Defunct; which Words alfo you was pleased to flip over.

But you answer, That in the Prayer to be faid by the Priest, we have thefe Words, "We " give Thee hearty Thanks, for that it hath pleafed Thee to deliver this our Brother out of the "Miseries of this finful World". Your Obfervation is in these Words: I believe the delivering one out of the Miseries of this World, and to be thrown into the Torments of the next, is no Subject of Thanks; therefore the Hope relates to the Party deceaft. I answered that already, in the Words that you have omitted, and which I have above inferted. So that Surety and Certainty is not expreft in that Prayer, but the Surety and Certainty is of our Belief of the General Refurrection, which is not in the Prayer, as any that reads the Book may fee.

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I told again, That the Words, God's taking to Himself, &c. are not abfolute, a Thing that we are certain of, but a charitable Hope that it is fo. Befides I told, That to go to God, doth not mean,that the Perfon is in a State of Blifs; for Ecclef. 12. 7. The Spirit goeth to God who gave it: This is faid of all Men good and bad.

Your Reflection upon this is, Are we not certain that all Men's Souls go to God to be judged? Is it not an abfolute Truth; or have we only a charitable Hope thereof? If fo; then from the Doctrine of the Church of England, good Lord deliver us. Thefe are moft trifling Sophifms; and I wonder if the Author be taken with this Anfwer, or if he believes himself. We are fure,that all Souls go to God, to be difpofed of at His own Pleasure: But we are not fure whom He faves, or whom He condemns; that is a Secret in His own Breast. And it is as fure, that the Perfon whom ye pronounce glorified, may be damn'd; and he whom you damn, may be faved. We know fome of We know fome of you, in Funeral Sermons, talk very confidently of fuch a Perfon's Salvation, Would to God their Souls were where he is the Day; others may be rafh in determining, that thefe very Perfons are in Hell. Our fureft way is, to live in Faith, Hope and Charity, believing the Chriftian Principles, hoping well of all Men, wishing well to all the World, leaving God to judge righteous Judgment. Our Saviour gives a Check to these that judged rafhly of the Galileans,Luke 13.1,2 I think all Chriftians are obliged to hope well of their dead Friends,and not to mourn,as they who have not Hope,to wit,of a Refurrection: This was given in Direction to the Theffalonians,Epift.1.Ch 4. Verfe 13. They knew not the State or Condition of their Friends in the other World,but the Hope of the Resurrection ought to comfort them. The Dead are called thofe that fleep in the Lord, we are no further concern'd in their Condition: Hoping well of the Deceaft,and comforting one another with the Doctrine of the Refurrection,is not only a private but a publick Duty, 1 Theff. 4. 18. The Apostle does not enjoin them to trouble their Heads with anxious Doubts, but to hope well of them; and to draw Comfort from the Belief of the Refurrection: And our Charity can neither put them in Heaven, nor take them out of Hell. Nor is it any Encouragement to a lewd Liver, that he gets the charitable Complement of the Church at his Funerals; more than the Wicked Man's Piece of Ground is bedewed with the fame Influence from Heaven, or warmed with the fame Sun-fbine that the Good Man's Labouring is. And this all the Doctors and learned Men do declare to be the Sense of the Church; tho' they cannot prevail with the Contentious,, Schifmatical, Hot-headed Spirits: We profefs to live in the Land of Hope; and if in this Life we had only Hope, we were of all Men the most miferable.

Why