A dispute against the English-popish ceremonies, obtruded upon the Church of Scotland Wherein not…A dispute against the English-popish ceremonies, obtruded vpon the Church of Scotland Wherein not…

Of this sort of dedication Gaspar Sanctius writeth thus, Alia dedicatio est, non solum inter prophanos, sed etiam inter Haebreos usitata, quae nihil habet Sacrum, sed tantum est auspicatio aut initium operis, ad quod destinatur locus aut res, cujus tunc primum libatur usus. Sic Nero Claudius dedicasse dicitur domum suam cum primum illam habitare coepit. Ita Suetonius in Nerone. Sic Pompejus dedicavit theatrum suum, cum primum illud public is ludis & communibus usibus aperuit; de quo Cicero lib. 2. Epist. 1. Any other sort of dedicating Churches, we hold to be superstitious. Peter Valdo, of whom the Waldenses were named. is ^yreported to have taught, that the dedication of Temples was but an invention of the Devil. And though Churches be dedicated by preaching and praying, and by no superstition of sprinkling them with holy water, or using such magical rites, yet even these dedications saith ^zthe Magdeburgians, ex judaismo natae videntur sine ullo Dei praecepto. There is indeed no warrant for such dedication of Churches, as is thought to make them holy. Bellarmine would warrant it by Moses his consecrating of the Tabernacle, the Altar, and the Vessels of the same, but ^aHospinian answereth him, Mosis factum expressum habuit Dei mandatum: de consecrandis autem templis Christianorum, nullum ⟨p. 9⟩uspiam in verbo Dei praeceptum extat, ipso quoque Bellarmino teste. Whereupon he concludeth, that this Ceremony of consecrating or dedicating the Churches of Christians, is not to be used after the Example of Moses, who in building and dedicating of the Tabernacle, did follow nothing without Gods express commandment. What I have said against the dedication of Churches, holds good also against the dedication of Altars; The Table whereupon the Elements of the body and blood of Christ are set, is not to be called holy: neither can they be commended who devised Altars in the Church, to be the seat of the Lords body and blood, as if any Table, though not so consecrated, could not as well serve the turn. And what though Altars were used in the ancient Church? yet this custom à Judaica, in Ecclesiam Christi permanavit ac postea superstitioni materiam praebuit, say