We do not read, that any Kneeling here is required of us. That was indeed a Ceremony introduced about the Thirteenth Century, on purpose to suit and serve the Idolatry of the Transubstantiation. But what have we to do with that? The Popish Writers do with all Freedom own, That if the Bread in the Sacrament, remain Bread after the Consecration, to kneel before it, were as vile an Idolatry as ever the Egyptians were guilty of. Alas, that any man, who calls himself a Protestant, should in this manner symbolize with Popish Idolaters! I am to tell you, that the Gesture of Kneeling at the Eucharist, is among those Things, That have been offered unto an Idol; and therefore you may not now use it, For his sake that showed it, & for Conscience sake. It is a great scandal to the Protestant Religion, that any people of the Protestant Profession should retain it; much more, that Thousands of Godly Men should be Ruined and Murdered for Witnessing against it. With what face can we, Kneel before the Eucharist, and out of respect unto it; when we have no word of ⟨p. 21⟩our God inviting us thereunto? 'Tis pleaded by some, That we may pray in the Act of Receiving, and therefore we may also Kneel; but those persons ought to be informed, That Meditation and not Supplication, is to be the principal Exercise of the Soul in the Act of Receiving. Our minds must be directly applied unto the Objects then set before us; and it is Thinking, not Praying, that we are then to be engaged in; otherwise than by short Ejaculations, which require no Changes of our postures. There are others who plead, that a Reverent Humility in the Act of Receiving is most agreeable to our Circumstances. But we should not forget, That the Apostle condemns a voluntary Humility in such concerns. It is Hypocrisy, and not Humility, that will go to show a Reverence, an Holiness, a Devotion in the act of Receiving, for which there is no Warrant in the Word of God. But that which utterly precludes this Gesture is, The Antecedent Interpretation of it, by those that first contrived it, and enjoined it, and that for divers Ages have maintained it. No Protestation of ours, will now free it from the Interpretation of Idolatry; any more than it would have excused any of the Primitive Apostates that threw Frankincense into the Fires upon the Altars in the Heathen Temples, to say, That they did it only to perfume the Room.
We do not read, that any Kneeling here is required of us. That was indeed a Ceremony introduced about the Thirteenth Century, on purpose to suit and serve the Idolatry of the Transubstantiation. But what have we to do with that? The Popish Writers do with all Freedom own, That if the Bread in the Sacrament, remain Bread after the Consecration, to kneel before it, were as vile an Idolatry as ever the Egyptians were guilty of. Alas, that any man, who calls himself a Protestant, should in this manner symbolize with Popish Idolaters! I am to tell you, that the Gesture of Kneeling at the Eucharist, is among those Things, That have been offered unto an Idol; and therefore you may not now use it, For his sake that show'd it, & for Conscience sake. It is a great scandal to the Protestant Religion, that any people of the Protestant Profession should retain it; much more, that Thousands of Godly Men should be Ruined and Murdered for Witnessing against it. With what face can we, Kneel before the Eucharist, and out of respect unto it; when we have no word of ⟨p. 21⟩our God inviting us thereunto? 'Tis pleaded by some, That we may pray in the Act of Receiving, and therefore we may also Kneel; but those persons ought to be informed, That Meditation and not Supplication, is to be the principal Exercise of the Soul in the Act of Receiving. Our minds must be directly apply'd unto the Objects then set before us; and it is Thinking, not Praying, that we are then to be engaged in; otherwise than by short Ejaculations, which require no Changes of our postures. There are others who plead, that a Reverent Humility in the Act of Receiving is most agreeable to our Circumstances. But we should not forget, That the Apostle condemns a voluntary Humility in such concerns. It is Hypocrisy, and not Humility, that will go to show a Reverence, an Holiness, a Devotion in the act of Receiving, for which there is no Warrant in the Word of God. But that which utterly precludes this Gesture is, The Antecedent Interpretation of it, by those that first contri•ed it, and enjoined it, and that for divers Ages have maintained it. No Protestation of ours, will now free it from the Interpretation of Idolatry; any more than it would have excused any of the Primitive Apostates that threw Frankincense into the Fires upon the Altars in the Heathen Temples, to say, That they did it only to perfume the Room.
