A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE fitness of the Posture NECESSARY TO BE USED IN TAKING THE Bread and Wine AT THE SACRAMENT.  
By Edward Peyton, Knight and baronet.  
LONDON, Printed in the year 1642.   

A discourse Concerning the fitness of the Posture necessary to be used in taking the Bread and Wine at the Sacrament.  
THough there hath clapsed a long time since your denying me the Sacrament, standing at the time of administering it, affirming that you had taken an Oath not to administer it to any but did kneel, though I did kneel before and after: yet all this time you should( to a man of my fashion) have had the manners, by letter, to have given me satisfaction, being Curate, and your duty: I will not omit mine; you shall have my reason. I did stand with just ground; wherefore I produce this ensuing Discourse to prove, you ought not to have denied me standing, at the time of giving of the Sacrament to me. If you say at the 〈◇〉 you were commanded by the Bishop or his ordinary so to do; I answer, they had no power without the Parliament. But you will say, it is in the common Book of Prayers commanded, which is confirmed by Parliament. I answer; It is not: for it is not said, you must kneel at the Sacrament, in the rubric, but make your Confession humbly kneeling on your knees. But you will say, you have a Canon for it: But I answer, It is not confirmed by Act of Parliament; therefore unlawful, and cannot be imposed: for the Divines in this time, appointed by the Lords, would have a rubric touching the kneeling, which argueth it was not commanded before by Parliament 
* See the sixteenth consideration upon the Common-Prayer book. . whereas they say, that every one might kneel, that is( say they) comply, with all humility, with the prayer which the Minister makes, which is the Confession of our sins, that I grant; but not at the words of Administration, to wit, at the immediate taking of the Bread, and Wine: and the direction before these words was not in the Common Prayer Book of Edward the sixth, nor Queen Elizabeth; but put in since, as Master White in his 
(a) His Speech in Parliament.  Speech hath rightly affirmed.  
What would you have me kneel to? If you say, to God, why did not Christ, and his Disciples, when he took, administered, and they received, kneel? If you say, to things administered: I answer, it is a creature, we ought not to kneel to a creature from the second Commandement. Then you make the things administered, God; if it be to the Minister, it is Idolatry: 
(b) Acts 11.  If it be to the Bread and Wine represented, you join with the Papists, to make it Christs body, and blood: If you say it is a Prayer, then examine it. Wherefore I will repeat the words: The body of our Lord Iesus Christ, which was given for thee; preserve thy body and soul to eternal life; take this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by thanksgiving: the other for the Blood is the same: is this a Prayer?  
No Administration quatenus an Administration is a Prayer; and if I must kneel, why do you not kneel, if it be a Prayer? But it is not a Prayer, but a good wish, counsel, and direction to the Receiver; for then the words should have been, I pray God preserve thy body and soul to eternal life: you did not desire the people to preserve my body and soul, which is blasphemy: before, for preparation, and after for a blessing, I ought necessary; and if I take the body and blood in remembrance Christ died for me, it is a Meditation, and not properly a Prayer; and after Meditation Prayer is needful, and not before to perfect Meditation. If it be to Christ, why is the word Remembrance put in; I cannot remember a thing present. 
(c) Pag. 132.  My Lord of York in his holy Table, confesseth the gesture Christ had when he gave the holy Supper, was a Table gesture; which is( I say) mathematical and perfect, and admits no alteration, for we ought to follow Christ in all things: for the Scripture saith, he is a perfect pattern, and shepherd of our souls. But( loving friend) these are but venies, I pray give me leave to play at sharp with you: wherefore, as a Champion, I enter the lists, and desire you friendly to look to yourself: the first weapon I will encounter you with is the holy Scripture.  
That gesture is best which is used of the Apostles, 
(d) Eph. 5.1. 1 Cor. 11. 1 Tim. 16. 2 Thes. 3.7.  but the Apostles used this gesture, yea Christ; therefore it is the best gesture: they sate down, 
(e) Math. 26.20. Mark 14.18.  the word in the original is 〈◇〉, the new Interpreters translate it, occubuit; the old, discumbebat, 〈◇〉; the new, cum Apostoli accubuissent; the old illis discumbentibus, 
Luke 22.14.  〈◇〉, discubuit, accubuit, which translated is, sate down: and John the beloved Disciple of Christ is said, 〈◇〉, accumbens in sinu Iesu, sitting did lean upon the breast of Christ. This gesture is for feasts and banquets, saith Tremelius, joseph Scaliger, 
(g) Emend. temporum.  and Beza upon the place; the same with our sitting at supper, when no other Scripture proveth positively other gesture in the Lords Supper, but that which answereth our sitting at feasts; as in the miracle of five loves and two fishes, which was a feast 
(h) Luke 9.17.  〈◇〉, discubuerant, all sate down; it is unlawful to use other. Sitting is not indifferent, but necessary from the example of Christ, in which gesture we please God, and ought to doubt of kneeling, which is not commanded by God. Of which gesture, saith Calvin 
(i) just. l. 4. c. 17 sect. 35. at the end of the vers.  against the Papists with all their cogitations, they ought not to observe, not to kneel, to adore the Sacrament, who securely may receive the Sacrament without adoration, not kneeling; for the Apostles did not prostrate themselves and adore it, but sate down, took, and eat. 
(k) Bullinger decade p. 461. all the section.  Who can use a better gesture than Christ the high Priest of the catholic Church, saith Bullinger? Christ used a gesture most necessary for all Churches, saith 
(l) Systema theolog. pag 465 the end of the verse.  Kikerman: the reverence of the Sacrament is to be taken from the word of God, saith 
(m) Exam. Con. part 2 pag. 35.  Chemnitius: kneeling was never used in three hundred yeares after Christ, say the Centuries 
(n) Holian Con. 4. l. 4. c 26. ●8. in the Epilogue to the 4 Centuary  Tertullian proveth from an ancient custom in the Primitive Church, 
(o) De Corona militis.  namely on every Sunday from Easter to Whitsuntide none should kneel on the Lords day, which custom hitherto we enjoy, saith Tertullian. So is the Nicene council, 
(p) Canon 20.  that they should stand on the Lords day, and pray to the Lord, rendering their vows: which Canon taxeth the Montanists 
(q) Centu. 4. l. 2. c. 10.  of heresy and superstition, which the Fathers would abolish, the year 327 saith Hosiander; Basial the year 386 
(r) Lib. de Sp. sancto.  in whose time he affirmeth and defendeth, it was the custom of the Apostles; and rendereth divers reasons, that they never received, but stood in the Church from Easter to Whitsuntide: now for to think that in three hundred yeares and more they never received the Sacrament from Easter to Whitsuntide, is absurd, when all ecclesiastical Writers are plain, they received in the Primitive Church every Lords day, and never kneeled at the Sacrament. The year 140 
(s) Eusebius Cron. l. 17. cap. Graci 19. Latin. 18.  Damasus Bishop of Antioch writing to Pope Xistus 2, saith in giving thanks they said Amen, and stood at the Table, with their hands took the holy bread. You shall find it in the Translation of John james Grineus, not in John Christopher, which is castrated of the Papists. 
(t) Cent 3. pag. 133.  This custom, say the Centuries, was in use in many Churches. I pray what correspondency or proportion hath kneeling with the Sacrament, either with the end or use of it? Nor concurreth it with the intimate intention of the heart; for the end is to conform us in grace; what comformation hath kneeling, unless to conform us in Transubstantiation, which is heresy by our Church? In the beginning of Queen Elizabeth a reason before the rubric was set down, that they should not kneel in respect of avoiding the heresy of Transubstantiation, and Consubstantiation, which since is put out to sympathise with Papists; and the use is to receive the body and blood of Christ by faith, which is taken away by kneeling, affirming Christs presence: we believe he is in heaven, not bodily on earth: if on earth, his body is a Monster; for in heart reverence to the Sacrament kneeling is adoration, for adoration is in heart and gesture; for the Elements of Bread and Wine represent his Humanity, not his Deity, which makes it an absurdity to kneel to the Humanity, a Creature. Is not this a plain confirmation of the Papists, and Lutherans: for Christ fell down on his face and prayed 
(u) Math. 26.29  a gesture only due for Prayer: 
(x) Mark. 14.35  he fell on the earth and prayed: 
(y) Luke 22.41.  upon his knees and prayed: 
(z) Psal. 95.6.  we bend our knees to the Lord after the example of Elias. Daniel prayed thrice a day on his knees: 
(a) Psal. 95.  David saith, let us fall down and kneel to the Lord which made us. Positively we are bound to pray to God on our knees, and wee are forbidden to kneel in the example of Christ and his Apostles in the Sacrament.  
To bend the knee to a Creature, 
Propos.  in divine norship, is Idolatry.  
But to bend the knee at the Sacrament, 
Assump.  is to bend the knee to a Creature;  
Ergo, 
Conclus.  To bend at the Sacrament is Idolatry.  
The Proposition is proved 
(z) Exod. 30.5.  from the second Commandement: In which two things are forbidden, to make the Image of any thing in heaven, of the stars; in earth, of men and beasts; under the earth, fishes of the sea: and in the disjunctive bowing to Creatures, Sun, moon, stars, Men, Beasts, Vegetables, minerals, &c. And to kneel to them is equally forbidden, as adoration, 〈◇〉 of Master Perkins is defined, 
(a) Aurea Calena 2. come. pre. hib. 5.  God is worshipped with the intention of the heart: From hence may be gathered( saith he) That Ceremonies, 
Col. 2.23. 1 Sam. 13.9, 10 13.  and bending the knee at the Sacrament is to worship God otherwise than he hath commanded; and therefore it is Idolatry: So that to reverence the Sacrament, which is a Creature, is forbidden. Argum. 2. 
(b) Ibid. Pet. 2. come. prohib. 8.  Corruptions saith ( Perkins) and human Traditions are forbidden; But bending the knees at the Sacrament, &c. is a human Tradition, proved before out of divers Authors; Ergo, Bending the knee at the Sacrament is forbidden. Also saith Perkins, 
(c) Ibid. prohib. 8. precept. 2.  The worship of God is polluted when any thing is added to the Scripture or diminished. Christ used in the Sacrament the gesture of a Banquet, not that of Adoration and prayer: and so wee frame our Conclusion implicitly, from the perfect example of Christ.  
And as for the Assumption( they say) they do reverence the Actions of the Sacrament, not the Sacrament itself.  
To reverence religiously the Sacrament, the things belonging thereto, or the actions, more than we ought, is Idolatry; But to bend the knee at the actions, or to the things in the Sacraments, or at the Sacraments, religiously, is to reverence the actions, or the Sacraments, &c. more than wee ought; Ergo, Religiously to reverence the Sacraments, the things in the Sacraments, or the actions, more than wee ought, is Idolatry.  
Wee will fortify the mayor from Mr. Perkins, 
(d) Fraecept: probib. 9.  who saith, A religious reverence of the Creature is forbidden in the second Commandement, because it is greater than God commands.  
I will strengthen the minor; for bending the knee in the Sacrament is a more humble gesture than Christ used or his Apostles: For it is an assured truth, If the Apostles did not bend the knee, Christ being present, much less when Christ is absent: we ought not to bend the knee unless wee will hold with the Papists that Christ is corporally present; for no body can be present in so many places, where the Sacrament is administered. 
(*) Acts 10.25. Tremel. ●i●l.  The bending to the actions is unlawful, the intention of adoration being wanting: ( Tremelius.) Cornelius fell at Peters feet and worshipped, ( Beza.) 
(a) Annot. 26. on the word 〈◇〉 Acts 10.  Falling at the feet of Peter, worshipped: From whence he infers,( in the same place) That religious bending the knee is onely to God; to give it to civill Ministers of the Word is dangerous. Did Cornelius think the religious worship that was due to God might bee transferred to Peter? no truly; but strook with so great a reverence of the servant of God, he kept no mean; For it is not easy to hold a moderation in reverence and adoration, Beza. 
(b) Apoc. 13.19. Bez. inter.  johannes procidit ante pedes Angeli ut adoraret eum: the old Interpretation, Cecidit ante pedes ut adoraret: 
a Annot. c. 11. v. 10.  Iunius on this Verse saith, Wee must abstain from divine worship to creatures; of which religious kneeling is one. 
(c) Apoc. 22.8, 9.  John fell down and worshipped; See thou do it not( saith the angel;) I am thy fellow servant, worship God. Therefore to kneel down to the action at the Sacrament, which is divine honour, and a Creature, is forbidden: For if wee do it to Christ as a Creature and Man, it is unlawful; for the Papists deny the Deity is bread or blood, Christ being really there; which heresy wee confirm by our kneeling to it. Wee will use the Arguments of the Papists to prove this Truth; namely, what their Champion Bellarmine is wont to maintain; 
(d) De●uchar. l. 2. c. 18. p. 619.  If kneeling at the Sacrament may be without sin, as the Calvinists say, then it is not Idolatry to kneel before Images: and the observation is not to be omitted. And Christ 
(b) Luke 22.19  〈◇〉, when he broke the Bread, gave thanks, and gave it to his Disciples: which of the Fathers is 
(i) Cent. 2.99.  〈◇〉 the Sacrament called from giving of thanks, and it is improper to give thanks kneeling; for that is not the fittest gesture. I will show it from the example of Solomon 
(k) Kings 8.54, 55.  who ending his Prayers, stood up and gave thanks, because God heard his prayers kneeling is inconvenient, therefore it ought to be abolished. Wherefore S. Aug. saith, 
(l) Aug. Ep. 119  although Ceremonies have not open evil in themselves, notwithstanding because they are inconvenient to burden the Church with human presumptions, if they have not authority from holy Scripture, nor from general councils, nor from the universal Church, but from a doubtful beginning, without all doubt they are to be cut off.  
But some may object from 
(m) Ibidem  Augustine, a mutation in the Church is dangerous, which causeth an unfruitful trouble. I answer them with Augustine and 
(n) Ibidem 1 Sam. 14.  Peter Martyr, When Ceremonies cease to bee profitable without doubt they are to be removed.  
Kneeling, because it is used of the Papists to adore Bread and Wine, is necessary to be held unprofitable: 
(m) Ep. 86. d Causel.  For Augustine holdeth Fasting indifferent on the Sabbath, yet by reason of circumstance it may have some scandal, as of the Fast of the Manichees, he holdeth it unlawful. Besides, Bowing towards the East was long in use among the Fathers, yet lo 
(n) lo. serve. de nold. Dom.  took away this ancient custom, because it was observed of Pagans in adoration of the Sun, and did obdurate them. For although it be supposed, Kneeling might be used in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths time, to reconcile us to the Papists, or rather to draw them to us; yet now it is not good, in this light of the Gospel, to harden the Papists hearts: For 
(o) Epist. 18.  S. Augustine saith, What is untowardly done in the worship of God, ought to be amended, or not to be commanded. Wherefore I conclude with the before syllogism, When kneeling at the Sacrament is neither in the word of God comprehended, nor positively commanded, nor by consequence gathered, nor of general Councells commanded, nor of the catholic Church,( but of the Carolicall) accustomend, yea of the Reformed Churches inhibited, or not used, except ours; and when it is a scandal and hardening to the Papists, and against the Nicene council in the Primitive Church, for these reasons deservedly it ought to be abolished in our Church: and you ought not to hinder me standing, which may be with as much reverence as kneeling.  
FINIS.