YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of Robert J. Barry A L K 1 B L A DISQUISITION Upon Worshiping towards the E A S T. Wherein are Contein'd, The General Antiquity, the Rise, and Reasonableness of this Religious Ceremony in the Gentile World: It's early Adoption into the Church of Cbrlft ; with a Free and Im partial Examination of the Reafons af- iigned for it by the Ahtient Fathers* By a Rafter of Arts of the Uniiterjiiy of Oxfofdi Enchiridion non ad Ofteritatioftem Ingenii, aut Eloquenti* to«- fcripfi, verum ad hoc fofiimj ut mederer Errori vulgicfReligi- - onem conftituentium iii Ceremoriiis & Obfervationibus.y^/«/f»»» Judaicis reruin corporalium, ea quae ad Pietatem fpeftant Jtaxi negligentium, Erasmus. Such have been the torrupt Inclinations of _ Man, ever fuperfiiti- tujly givert-. to make new honouring of God of .his own Head} and then tt have more Afeftion and Devotion to keep Thai, than to fear cb out God's Holy Commandments and to keep Them. CltAKMEi LONDON: jPrlnted for t Roberts near the Oxford- Ami in Warwick-Lane. M.DCC.XXVII1. THE AUTHOR T O Sir Richard Steele. IN the brightefl 'Days of Britain, when BICKERSTAF fpreflded in the Chair of Wit, and o'er this happy Land 'floower d Manna down, which fuited every Taftc, I had the Honour if ho' unworthy and unknown) to be ac cepted as an humble Correfpondent : And it gives me now a melancholy Reflexion, when I am once more inclin'd to vifit the World in Trint, that the only Ter- fon} fori, who introduced me to it, is Him- felf retir'd. To be an Intruder upon Solitude, I am conf clous, is Rudenefs-, but, as the gteatefi Souls have never been fo much adord, as when departed i Suffer me, Sir, to approach your Recefs, {which ought to be facte d) with the Reverence due to the Genius of our Jfles, and to make this fmall Oblation of Gratitude to' th' immortal Manes of the SPECTATOR. A 1 1 1 DISQUISITION UPON WORSHIPING TOWARDS THE EAST. IVINE WORSHIP being an Aft of perfonal Addrefs, that in the Performance there of we Ihould turn ourfelves to wards the Object we adore, is the Rubrick of Nature, and common Senfe alone fufficiently informs us. Now God being an omniprefent Object, A ivhofe 2 A DISQUISITION upon frifmegift. whofe Center, it has been faid of old, is every Prov. xv. where i and whofe Eyes, we read, are in x3- every Place; it feems to me a thing very in different which way we turn in making our Adreffes to Him ; for that we cannot any way turn from him, nor towards him one way more than another : for whether in pay ing my Devotion I look up to Heaven, he ^ is there ; or if I fall low upon the Earth, and humble myfelf to Hell, he is there alfo. For my part, therefore, I fhall readily own (Tuppofing always he that officiates may be as well heard J it would be far from giving me any Offence, mould I fee a whole Con gregation every one, if poffible, facing a different way from each other : thus would they bear Teftimony to the Immenfity, the Ubiquity, or Omniprefence of the Deity with whom they have to do ; and under what more pertinent and awful Notion could they call upon him ? I a m not ignorant, many ingenious, and, perhaps, not ill-meant Arguments have been devifed in favour of one uniform Afpect in the Service of God ; but am humbly of opinion, were they all put together in the Ballance, the fingle Idea of an omniprefent Being, as above naturally fuggefted to us, in point of Edification, would outweigh them all: nor can I ever hope to fee more true Devotion and Decency than in a People acting under a juft Influence of this Concep tion. I fhall only farther add at prefent ; in the Worfhip of Images indeed, or falfe Gods, piping towards the East. j Gods, to addrefs ourfelves more ways than one mufl (for Reafons fufficiently obvious} be. a thing both indecent and abfurd; but 'tis the peculiar and incommunicable Diftin- ction of the Worfhip of the true God, that which way foever we turn, it will be a Cir- cumftance by Nature perfectly indifferent. Yet Men, fays the Preacher, have fought Ecclef. vii. out many Inventions : So bufy and fruitful is 29- Fancy, that it has produced various Opini ons, and various Parties on this very occafi- on, as will abundantly appear to any one who will be at the pains to fearch after them, I N worfhiping, fays Pliny, a We turn about the whole Body ; and this Turn, we may learn from Plautus b, by the Romans was practifed to the right : but, from Pliny again, that the Mafters of the Ceremonies in France did at the fame time opine, the Motion to the Left had the more religious Caft, and was confequently the more orthodox Turn of the two. But waving the Decifion of a Point of this Nicety and Moment in Theology, as a In adorando totum Corpus circumagimus 5 quod in lasvam feciile Gallias religioiius credunt. Plin. lib.. 28. tap. 2. *> Ph. Quo me vertam neicio. Pa. Si Deos falutas, dextravorfum cenfeo. Plant. Curcul. Ael. i. Sc. 1 . viz. Ph. / know not which way to. turn me. Pa. If you are for praying, to the right about J trow. A 2 more + A DISQUISITION upon more proper for the Determination of the next free General Council, than the Pen of a private; Divine, I fhall proceed directly to the Subject of the Enquiry prOpofed c. That Worfhiping towards the Eaft was a Cuftom generally received by the old Ro mans, may appear from this general Maxim in their Temple-Architectufe, d Let the Altars look towards the E a s T. And as to the Grecians before them, the Right Re- Vol. I. p. verend Author of their Archmologiee, treating ? 76. of their religious Affairs, tells us, *Twas an ancient Cufiom among the Heathens to worfhip with their Faces towards the E as t : and in a following Chapter cites the Greek « Scholiaft Upon Pindar remarking, That they were wont to turn their Faces towards the East when they frayed to the Gods. And our c But that I may not feem ludicrous upon fo Sacred an Affembly, by offering any thing beneath the Dignity, of their Confederation, let me here apprife the courtewt Reader • By the Rubricks of the famous Mafs, in ufum Sarum, the Prieft is frequently enjoined to iifs the Altar on the right liand of the Sacrifice; in bis Marginal Notes upon which our venerable Marty* rologift very ferioujly demands — And why not on the left Hand as well ? So that, for ought appears to me, this may be ftill a moot Point in Divinity ; a Shteftion upon which the Dotlors, Chrtflian as well as Heathen, differ- Vide A&s and Monuments Vol. III. fub. Ink. where alfo may be feen a Verbal Tranjlation of the Mafs in Englifh, by Coverdale. * Arre fpeftent ad Orientem. Vitruv. lib. W. tap. ult. e The Original is thus recorded by Mr. Selden de Synedr. jib, 3. jcxrk t«s «r«sr*A«? lifxffw to~s ©im;, learned Worfhiping towards theTLAS t. 5 learned Spencer f, than whom few feem to have been more vers'd in Subjects of this Nature, obferves in general of the yet more ancient Heathens, That to turn themfelves towards the East, upon their firft Entrance into their 'Temples, was accounted by them a Ceremony highly religious. And, if we go nearer yet to the Foun tains of Antiquity, we fhall find the fame Practice in ufe alfo amongft the Oriental Nations, with whom we meet with an ex- prefs Term to our prefent purpofe, denot ing the Point of the Heavens towards which they directed their divine Worfhip. This they called their Kebla: for my firft No tice whereof I own myfelf indebted to the jneftimable Labours of that truly valuable Antiquary the late worthy Dean of Nor- Conea. p. wkb, in his moft curious and entertaining 217.W.I. Difcourfe of the Sect of the Magians, ^d 8° *e- whofesKEBLA, he tells us, wastheRisiNG Son, i. e. (as he explains himfelfj they al- i ;. * . * psft primum Templi introitum, Ceremonia re- ligiofa admodum apud Ethnicos antiquiores habcretur. ite Leg' Heb. Rit.p. 845. Ed. Cantab. 1685. 5 Keblah, Kebleh, or , Kibleh, an Arabick Term, that properly Jignifies the Place tewards which they turn, which one hath or ought to have before him, &c. Didtion. Sacr. And that notable Linguift, Mr. John Gregory, tells us — In the holy Way the East is called Kedem, i. e. tht Face ; — tho' indeed Kedem properly fignifieth not the Face, but that which is before the Face, and is the fame with Kibla in the Arabick. Notes Sec. upon fome Paflages of Scripture, p. 8i. Ed. Lond. 1650. ways 6 A DISQUISITION ways worfhiped with their Faces towards the E ast : which alfo was obferved of old by Lib. I. Herodotus, whom Tully ftiles the Father of Hiftory. And indeed how exceeding ancient this Cuftom muft needs have been, we may p. 177. eafily infer from what Dean Prideaux, upon his firft mention of the Magians, informs us, viz. That in the Times, whereof he is there fpeaking, All the Idolatry of the World was divided between two Seels. . But I much queftion whether we are yet at the Source, or firft Rife of the Cuftom now enquired after ; nay, I am rather fatisfied we muft allow it an higher Original. From the firft Sects of Idolatry then let our next Step be to the firft Object of it, which, by the general Concurrence of an cient and modern Authors, was the S u n, h Sanchoniathon, fpeaking of the Worfhip the Phenicians and Egyptians, ("whom, he ftiles the oldeft of Mortals) paid to the Sun, tells us --This God they accounted file Lord of Hea ven ': { And Plato writes of the firft Inhabi tants of Greece — They held the Sun, l£c. to be the only Gods: and that the very name ©«s, Go d, was originally derived from Sm, to h TSron ©Eon itoibifyn ftiovm. ifavS xvfun, (&ii\ xct- ^slin;, 0 iri nxqct $6w%t xtlpios tsfMeu. apud Eufeb. lib. 1. de Prasp. Evang._cap. 9. • OxiiwTcci fjuai hi ?f parol T ivtSpairrtft xefi t*» ' E A A« ,6- tion is made of the Abomination of 25 Men ftanding in the Court of the Lord's Houfe with their faces, towards ffeEAST: for which very 16 A DISQUISITION upon uli fupra very Reafon (as the Dean y obferves) They were looked upon as Apoftates that had changed their Religion, and were gone over to the Wor fhip of the M a g i, i. e. the Idolatry of the Sun. Deut. iv. To prevent which alfo we find Mofes, in his l6* Time, cautioning the Ifraelites in the moft folemn manner, not fo much as to look up to Heaven itfelf in their Devotions ; and holy Job, who difputes Antiquity with Mofes, and even with Abraham himfelf, difclaims the Practice Job xxxi. now before us a Crime : If, fays he, I be- 2^' held the Sun when it fhin'd ; i. e. ( as both the y The Authority offo competent a Judge in the Cafe I chofe to lay in fight, the better to obviate an ObjeFiion, which may here arife ; viz. That the Crime, charged by the Pro phet on the 25 Perfons aforefaid, was, not fimply worfhip ing towards the East, but worfhiping the Sun towards the East; that therefore, not the Pofture, but ObjeB of their Worfhip was the Abomination : To which I reply, 'twas both the one and the other : and to what is faid a- bove, I fhall only defire to have added, Firft,' That it was {which alfo has been already noted) a received Opinion amongft the Jews, that in oppofition to the Idolatry of the Sun, their father Abraham taught them, by the Directi on of God himfelf, to worfhip towards the West: no wonder therefore that by them a Change in the Pofture of Devotion was regarded as a Change in Religion : Again ; that it was with the Jews a Notion {as in due place alfo will appear) current even to a Proverb, That the Majefty of God was in the Weft: which certainly, within the Courts of the Temple, could not be denied them; for any Per fon. therefore There to turn his Face to the East, muft have been in common ConftruFlion to turn his Back to God : and fo might be literally termed, what the learned Dean (Hies it, an APO STACY; the very Sufpicion of which, 'right or wrong, is ABOMINATION enough with t he People, and with the Prophets, of all Religions even to this Day ! Sxriack Worfhiping towards the East. 17 Syriack and Arabick exprefs it) at its Ap pearing or Rifing : as who fhould fay - - - If I pray'd, or turn'd towards the E a s t. But notwithftandirig this early and open Oppofition from the Servants of the true God, in time the East prevail'd ; and, by degrees, became the mdft general fa vourite K e b l a of all the idolatrous Part of Mankind ; and . thus it flood triumphant in the Reign of Auguftus Ccefar, during which Dr. Spencer produces a very exprefs Evi dence, z that tho" the contrary was indeed the more primitive Cuftom, This, by the Humour of fucceeding Ages, at length obtained to be the Ca- tholick Praclice : which alfo was fufficiently implyed by that general Rule for Altar- Building above-cited from the Architect Vitruvius, who flourifhed under the fame Emperour, and who again tells us, * There feemed to be a Necefftty for placing all the Al tars of the Gods towards the East. And here give me leave Only farther to obferve, before I proceed, that we may al fo trace back, this Eaftern Pofition of Altars, as far as the Reign of, that moft renowned z His, in majorem rei fidem, Hygen't difertpm fubne- £tam teftimonium : — Antiqui Architefti in Occidentem Templa fpedtare, refte fcripferunt : poflea placuit omnem Religionem ed convertere, ex qua parte Cceli Terra illu- minatur : De Leg. Heb. Rit. p. 84;. * Aras omnes Deorum necefte efle videatur ad Orientem pe&are : Di Archit. lib. iv. c. 5. C Prince 18 A DISQUISITION upon Vid. Con- Prince and Pope of theMagicans, Zoroafter % n?6 t' ^° *° or<^erec^ tfte matter, that All, whs came to worfhip, might approach ihm on' the Weft-Side ; that fo having their Faces towards the Altar, and alfo towards the rifing Sun at the fame time, they might direbl their Worfhip towards both: and in this Pofture, (adds Dean Prideaux) they always performed every Part of their Worfhip : and farther he tells us, That to worfhip before the Sun was not a new Inftitution of Zoroafter, but the antient Ufage of that Seel; who, as it falls out, have here in left an Example, with refpect to which it may juftly enough be faid, the World is gone after them: for my prefent purpofe it may fuffice to have recourfe only (once again) to the Romans, in the Period and Paffage laft referr'd to in Vitruvius, where in he tells us, there was an apparent Necefftty, all the Altars of the Gods fhould look towards the Eaft ; which he grounds upon this', viz.' That fo People at their Devotion might at once addrefs themfelves towards the Altar and the Eas t. Th _ .. Thus then flood the Cafe when our blef- Q ' fed Saviour came upon Earth to turn men from idols to ferve the living and true God: and, indeed, with me he needs no other Proof of his Divinity than his miraculous Succefs in this particular: But tho* the - Et ita Vota fufcipientes contueantur Aram & Orien tem Coeli : Vitr. ubi. fupr. Heathens Worfhiping towards the E a s t. 19 Heathens did reject their Gods, they retain ed their Kebla ; at leaft it was foon re trieved, and became more generally receiv'd after, than before, the iEra of Chrift ; for the convert Jews, who were of them that had moft fignally oppofed it, henceforth gave up their Point ; fo that from this Quarter came a confiderable Reinforcement to the Obfervers of the Eaftern Mode : which therefore was fo far from receiving any check upon this great Revolution in Religion, that from this very time may we moft properly date its univerfal Prevalence or Reception. For I fuppofe no man, who pretends to have looked into the Antiquities of the Church, will deny that worfhiping towards the East was a very early and very general Cuftom in the fame : Of this we, need no other Argu ment than the frequent mention made of it by the moft antient Chriftian Authors b : Tertullian in particular, who flourifhed in the fecond Cen tury, acknowledges, Chriftians were then, on this very account, taken for Worfhipers of the SUN c. But as this was an Imputa tion they utterly difclaimed, and affigned many other Reafons for their Practice, I fhall produce about half a Score of fuch as were moft current in the primitive Times, or have fince been thought original. Tho' to *> Nos fatemur haud inviti vetuftiffimum in Ecclefia Chriftiana fuifle Ritum, cum illius mentio fiat ab anti- quiffimis Patribus : Gerhardi Loc. de extreme Judicio. p. 60. « Inde fufpicio, quod innotuerit Nos ad Orientis Regi- onem precari: Apol. 16. /. 688. Folio, Ed. Parifi 1 580. C 2 fpeak 20 A DISQUISITION upon fpeak my mind, I do not think the good Fa thers &c. extxeamly happy in their choice of the faid Reafons ; and fhall therefore, with all dutiful Submiffion, take the Liberty to make fome brief Obfervations thereupon, as I proceed : and that I may be the lefs ob noxious to the Imputation, either of ignorant- ly mifapprehending, or wilfully mifreprefeht- ing the Senfe of the Fathers on this occafion, I fhall chufe to exprefs it in the Words of fuch of our approved Authors, as have been moft juftly celebrated for their Learning, Judgment, arid Integrity ; nor do I conceive it neceffary (fince my utmoft Ambition is not a full Margin) to trouble my Reader, or myfelf, with making many more References, than what they have already made to our Hands. First, then, 'tis alleg'd the primitive Chriftians prayed towards the East; Becaufe the East is a Title given to Chrift in the Old Teftament ; for which they cite Zech. vi. 12. See alfo which, from the Septuagint, they tranfla- c. iii. 8. ted, -- - Behold the Man whofe name is the East d. But this Tranflation of theirs the accurate Author of that moft excellent Trea- tife, entitled --- An Enquiry into the Con- fiitution &c. of. the Primitive Church, clear ly fhews to have been a Miflake, arifing from the Ambiguity of a Greek Word, arid A Juftin. Martyr. Cent. 2. K«i «AAi) j) ypapi u. 1 18. See Dr. Cave's Prim. Chrift. Part I. p. 288. And Mr. Bingham'/ Antiquities, Vol. V. Pag. 278. Item S. Aug. lib. ii- de Ser. Dom. in Monte, cap. v. de quo vide Bifhop Sparrow'/ Rationale per Downes, p. 28. D what 26 A DISQUISITION what will Peoples Antipodes fay to this, with whom the Sun fets as its rifes to them, and rifes as it fets to them ? I readily grant the SUN to be the Fountain, at leaft to Mankind, of Light and Brightnefs ; but am not apprehenfive our East, exclufive of it, has any more Light, or Brightnefs, than any other Quarter under the Heavens. But there feems not to have been a Rea fon more generally embraced and profeffed by the Fathers b,: than what I fhall now men tion in the fifth Place : viz. That the East was the Place of Paradife, our antient Habi tation and Country, which we loft in the firft Adam by the Fall, and to which we hope to be reftored again, as to our native Abode and Reft in the fecond Adam, Chrift our Saviour. Thefe Confiderations, I fay, are an Argument for Eaftward Adoration which has been graced by many of the greateft Names in Chriftian Story. But, pace tantorum Virorum, we have a more fure Word, to which we fhall do well Col, iii. i, to take heed ; which faith, If ye then be rifen 2- with Chrift, feek thofe things which are above, Luk. xii. "where Chrift fitteth at the right hand of God: Set 34. your affeblions on things above, not on things of the earth ; for where your treafure is, there will your h Baffl. Greg. Nyff. Athanaf. Cyrillus, Chryfoftom. &c. See Mr. BinghamV Antiquities, Vol. V. p. 278. heart Worfhiping towards theH ast. 27 heart be alfo. Again another Scripture faith, Heb. xi. They that fay fuch things declare plainly they feek H> J5' a country, and truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned : but now they defrre a better country, i. e. an heavenly. The fame Author alfo in the next Chapter, Heb« xii- fpeaking of the Chriftian Difpenfation, tells 2Z" us, 2? are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem. The prefent Argument therefore for turning our Eyes and our Hearts towards an Earth ly Jerusalem, tho' efpoufed by fo many venerable Fathers, feems to be grounded entirely upon the Millenarian Scheme intro duced by Papias ; who, the fo juftly cele brated Dupin tells us, gave Rife to a common Hift.ofthe Opinion in the three firft Centuries, that before Church, the Day of Judgment Chrift fhould reign upon v/1' JIP" Earth a thoufand Tears with his Elecl; du ring which Term alfo, according to the then current Notion, Jerufalem was to be the Seat of his Empire. An Opinion (not to fay Viri on) which, notwithftanding its allowed Pre tences to primitive Antiquity ;, and general Reception by the greateft Men of old in the i II y a eu plufieurs anciens Dofteurs renommez en Science & Saintete, qui fe font laiflez emporter a cette extravagance: Hiftoire de I'Eglife, & c. par le Sueur, Tom. I. p. 492, item 556, Sec. This Author, amongft others of this Opinion, names Juftin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Laftantius, Athanafius, Cyril of Jerufal. Bafil, Ambrofe, D 2 Church 18 ^DISQUISITION Church of Chrift, has been now fo long uni- verfally exploded, ©r, at leaft, obfolete, that no more needs be faid of it at prefent, than that it can raife in us but very flender Ex pectations from the Holy Land, tho' we fhould turn to it feven times a Day. When Crufado was the Word indeed it might have had its Confequences. But again ; This is an Argument for turning to the E a s t, which would oblige half Mankind to turn their backs upon it: for that all Nations to the Eaftward of the fup- pofed Situation of the new Jerufalem, by Vir tue of the fame Argument, muft face about to the West, tho' in direct Oppofition to, and in the very Teeth of the four firft ingeni ous Reafons above-fhewn to the contrary. n But thefe things, I doubt riot, will be eafily reconciled by the learned Magi of the Age, thofe faft Friends to the Rising Sun. Tho' honeft Dr. Cave indeed fays, for his Part^i p Part5 how it can be done, he is not able to 289. imagine ; and yet all Sides talk of no lefs than Apoftolical Tradition and Practice. But leaving this Point to be adjufted by thofe whom it may more concern, amongft the Arguments taken from the Fathers on the prefent Subject, the fixth Place I fhall af- fign to a Paffage in Laclantius, Book II. Chap. x. We have already heard how the Uie East is the Fountain of Light and Brightnefs ; but here we have a Father tells us - - - 'Lis God himfelf who is this Fountain, and Prim.Chrift. Worfhiping towards the E As t. z? and the Illuminator of all things, and that there fore the East is afcribed to him. k Or this Argument fome one perhaps may fay, as certain of our own Poets up on another occafion, 'Tis but by way of Simile : Give me leave then farther to ob- ferve, That, if there be any occafion in divine Worfhip to addrefs ourfelves to wards fome Object refembling God in the Qualities above-fpecified, the SUN furely has the beft Claim to our regard, whether he be East or West, and efpecially in the South, where he appears in the greateft Splendor: This then being admitted as a Rule, we ought to vary our Pofition in De votion every hour of the Day, praying in the Morning with the Magians to the East, at Noon with the Turks to the South ', and in the Evening with the Jews to the W e s t, W e may in this Place alfo not impro perly confider the famous Saying of Ter~ k Oriens Deo accenfetur, quia Ipfe Luminis fons, & Illuftrator eft Rerum : See BinghamV Origines Ecclefia- flicae, Vol. V. p. 279. « The Mahometans more particularly call that Part of the World where Mecca isfituated by the name s/Keblah j towards which they are obliged to turn themfelves when they fay their Prayers ; and becaufe Mecca isfituated towards the South, this word Kebla is often taken for the South Part of the Heavens and the Earth : Diaionanum S>a- tuttian, 30 A DISQUISITION upon tullian, Orientem Chrifti Figuram ! m The East, that Emblem of Chrift ! — Had the Father been called upon, I am apt to think he muft have explained himfelf to mean the Sun in /fo East: By the fame Liberty, with the fame Emphafis and Propriety, may we alfo fay aloud, — Meridiem Chrifti Fi guram! viz. That the South rather, in his prefent State, is Chrift's Emblem ; the South, I fay, where the Sun receives his higheft Exaltation, and fhines triumphant in the brighteft Throne of his Glory. But in truth, I could never fee any juft Authority we Chriftians have to, worfhip God by Figures which he hath not appointed: The Jews, 'tis plain, were ftrictly prohibited it, and pretty fharply reprov'd for it : To whom (fays the Jf , Prophet) will ye liken God? or what likenefs will ye cotnpare unto him ? And Mofes in the fame Chapter where he cautions the People againft facing to the Sun &c. in divine Deutiv.15 Service, has thefe words ; — Take ye there fore good heed unto yourfelves ; for ye faw no manner of fimilitude on the day that the Lord fpake unto you in Horeb, out of the midft of the fire. (Now a. Figure or Emblem is but another Word for a Similitude or Likenefs, or Image ; and I think nothing can be clearer than it is from the aforefaid Chap- 81 Noftrse Colunft« Domus fimplex, etiam in editis femper & apertis & ad Lucem; amat Figuram Spiritus Sandli, Orientem Chrifti Figuram : Contra Valentin. cap. 3. ter, Worfhiping towards the East. 31 ter, that We are forbid to worfhip God by any fuch Mediums, whether of Nature, Art, or Fancy ; the Reafon whereof has been a- bove implied, and may farther appear in the Courfeof this Difquifuion. But there can be no time more proper than the prefent, to pay ajuft Attention to the Sentiments of our profefs'd Ritualift, the very eminent Dr. Spencer, fo often cited in this Difcourfe ; who having given us his Remarks upon the weftern Situation of the Jewifh Santlum Sanclorum, feems to declare ftrongly in favour of the East, and puts the Argument laft before us upon this foot ing, viz. That God being Eight, and dwelling in Light, therefore fhould his Servants worfhip him towords that Part of the Heavens from whence the World receives its Light n. To which I think it may be fairly replied, that tho' we muft allow the Premifes, in fome one Senfe to be Truth, becaufe they are Scrip ture °: yet can I fee no Obligation to grant the Conclufion, becaufe 'tis plain the Scrip ture did allow the contrary Practice ; nay, and treats, what theDoctor here efpoufes, as an » Homines proculdubio iEquo & Decoro multo magis convenire judicarenr, ut Deus, qui Lux eft, & Lucem inacceffam habitat, in Loco aliquo verfus Orientem ha- bitaret, & illius Servi verfus Plagamunde Mundus il- lucefcit eum adorarent : De Leg- Heb. Rit. £?V. p. 846. "'God is light, 1 Joh. i. 5. dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto : 1 Tim. vi. 16. Abomination 32 ^DISQUISITION^** Abomination p. And tho' the Doctor will have it to be clear to any Man reading the Law* that the Jews received not any thing in com mand from God for erecting the Sanclum Sanclorum Weftward q ; I herein alfo beg leave to differ from him, as conceiving this Affertion to proceed only from his own Inadvertency ; who, fcarce three Pages be fore, had told us, r The Tabernacle had its Holy of Holies turned towards the Weft, as might be collecled, (fays he) and that not ob- fcurely, from the Words o/Mofes, Exod. xxvi. 22. which Words of Mofes, whoever is pleafed to turn to them, will, at Sight, appear to carry with them a Command of God appointing the Situation r. So that P O Son of man, turn thee yet again, and thou Jhalt fee greater Abominations than thefe : and he brought me intb the inner Court of the Lord's Houfe, and behold at the Door of the Temple of the Lord, between the Porch and the Altar, were about five and twenty men, with their Backs towards the Temple of the Lord, and their Faces to wards the E aft, Sec. Ezek. viii. 15, 16. 1 Cuivis Legem perlegenti clarum eft, Ifraelitas de San- &o Sanftorum verfus Occiduam Cceli regionem extru- cndo, nihil a Deo in mandatis accepifle : p. 846. r Neque Templum folummodo, fed &, illius Proto- typon, Tabernaculum, Sanctum San&orum Plagas occi dental! — obverfum habuit : Hoc e Mofis verbis, haud obfcure colligendum. Exod. xxvi. 22./. 843. f And for the Sides of the Tabernacle Weftward Thou (halt make fix Boards : Ita quidem hunc locum reddunt Noftri, aliique ; Sed nonnihil a vero illius Senfu defleften. tes, nam vox Hebrsea ;£V cum ad res inanimatas tranf- fertur, non latus, fed finem, terminum, extremitatem no- tat : Spencer ubi fupra. we Worfhiping towards the East. 33 we may juftly regard turning to the West not only as a tolerated, but an eftabliflied part of the Jewifh Service. Again, tho' it is true the Scripture fays God is Light ; yet I fee nothing to the contrary, but that it would have been li terally as true alfo, if it had been faid, God is not Light ; for Light (Gen. i.) is a Crea ture. And to obviate this Mifconception of the Deity (prevailing very early in the East^ to me feems the very Reafon of God's thus addreffing himfelf, by the Pro phet, to his fervant Cyrus I am the Ifa. xiv Lord, and there is none elfi, there is no God befides me: — I form the' Light. And as Light is not only a created, but corporeal Subftance, (thus the Philofop'her meant it, who affigned Light for the Body, as Truth for the Soul of God) I do not fee how we can take the Text alleged on this occafion in a literal Senfe, without falling into the Scheme, at leaft, of the refined Materialifts, who maintained of old, That the firft Prin ciple was indeed an infinite Wifdom, but his Effence was only a pure /Ether, of fub- tile Light, which difius'd itfelf every where to give Life, Motion, and Reafon, to all Be ings f. — But this Philofophy (whatever Ceremony may want to be fupported) in the f See tie Chevalier Rzmhy's Theology of the Antients. . -8, E prefent 34 A DISQUISITION upon prefent enlighten'd Age, I hope, will fcarce pafs for Orthodox. Tho' at the farne time, God, by way of Comparifan, may be called Light ; for, as a Father well obferves, As the Sun is to the Sight, fo is God to the Soul l ¦ Job. viii. So when our Saviour is faid to be the Light 12. i. 9. oft the World, and the true light which light - eth every man that cometh into the world ; Commentators teach us he is fo called Clari- tatc Vitce 6? Doctrines ; by 'reafon of the Brightnefs of his Example and Dotlrine ; arid Joh. v. 35. in this Senfe is John Baptift alfo faid to have been a burning and fhining Light. T o proceed : tho' 'tis true one Scripture fays God dwelleth in Light ; 'tjs as true, ano- Pf. xcvii. 2 tner faith, Clouds and darknefs are round a- Pf. xviii. bout him : and yet another - - He made darknefs 1 1 • his fecret place ; his pavillion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds : in his Commentary upon which laft Pfalm, Car dinal Bellarmin obferves, God's ordinary or common Method of manifefting himfelf was by a Cloud ; and that he made ufi of dark Clouds to teach us, by way of Symbol, his Invisi bility, and that all thefe are metaphorical Expreffions, to give us to underftand that God is t Quod enim Sol eft Senfui noftro, id Intelleftui eft Deus. Nazianz. Orat. de Athanaf invifibly Worfhiping towards theEAST. 3 5 invifibly prefent v. In like manner may we pbferve of the Expreffions on the other fide alfo --- Thefe Things are an Allegory, and ferve only to teach us, God is the Spiritual—Light of Man ; or again, that nothing is hh^ from him, but all things Vifible, open and naked before him : at the fame time may we, with Pythagoras, main- vide Didt, tain, We cannot receive the Idea of a God by Sacr' ii our corporeal Senfes: Tho' therefore, figura- Voc-Ido!- lively fpeaking, we may fay, God is Light and dwelleth in Light ; yet in a ftrict and li teral Senfe I fhall not fcruple, (till better inform'd) to profefs myfelf of the Pfalmift's Opinion - - The darknefs and the light to him Pf. cxxxix are both alike; and that he may be as truly 12. faid to dwell in the one as the other; and, ftrictly fpeaking, in neither. I can therefore by no means give my Affent and Confent to what Dr. Spencer vbi f;prc/ advances as the Refult of human Judg ment, viz. That men would think it juft and decent that God fhould dwell in SOME PLACE towards the Eaft, when in my Judgment nothing can be more uiijuft and u Ordinaric Deus autemper ne'oulam fe oflendere folitiu eft, ut patet ex lib. Num. cap. ix. I Reg. viii. Mat. xvii. & alibi, viz. Exod. xl. 34. feV. Ut co veluti Symbolo inviiibilern fe elfe demonftrct. Sunt omnia Mcta- phorica, ex quibus intelligimus Deum invifibiliter prs- fentem Nobis fe facere. Vid. Bcllarm. Explanat. in Pf. xvii. ver. \\. & 13. E 2 indecent 36 ^DISQUISITION^ indecent than for Men to pretend to limit God to "any Place ; efpecially for chriftian , Men, when a Jew would teach us -- God hath filled all Things, extends- beyond all Things, and hath left nothing void of, or uninhabited by hi?nfelf ™ .When again Plato, and even Diogenes, would teach us - - All things 'are full of God"': and the former exprefsly, That 'tis im- poffble God fhould be in a particular Place y ; which is yet more clearly exprefs'd by one of the Fathers, who thereupon obferves —God is his own Place'1: as does alfo another^ adding withal - — That he^ is his own World, and all Things to Himfelf a: And the learned ¦w Udvia. ¦aea'X^UKV) i ©£05, xk) «i« xxvtgiv itOe/ikufoi, km k f'v iosv, ts2t'nr,//M aTsoXiMMu iaviS. Philo, Sacrae LegiS Allegoriarum, lib. ii. p. 41,0:42. Edit. Turneb. '' x Qii, J. M . s-Av>! ^«'fts. Plato, Leg. 10. pag. S99. tlavJa "/"'e fo.' @iS x>.»i(yi. Diog. Cyn. Ilifcc add..s Virgi]ianum il!ud : — Detim namque ire per omnes Terrafque,Tra'clufque Maris, Coelumque profundum. r - -' .- ' / -v , J ' , pEOR. 4. y ' Ov 3 fbijrt ft,i$i) litr), (U/ijrs oAev rvy%civ{ iv, & troAu iti ak-vifiartfrn iyyiyn&sa nx. Plato in Parmcnide, p. 138. 7 O [Am &'i 05os 6ii;Ao5 q}v, x,x) u.^s^iy^a.-floii, iv 7o»a) sk \<;u, kmtq ylep iavli nixa; hi. Damafccn. de Fide, lib. i. c. 16. ¦ a Gad is his own tVorld to himfelf, his Place, and all things, Tertullian. See Ingenious thoughts of the Fathers by Bohours,/). 157'. Lend. 1727. And I think I have fomewhsrc fees this Expreftion ; - - Deus eft' fuum Ubi, however 'tis exactly exprefftve of my own Senfe in the Matter. Comrnen- Worfhiping towards the East. 37 Commentator Danaus, upon the very Paf- fage alluded to by Dr. Spencer, where God is reprefented as dwelling in Light, makes no difficulty to affure-us, what is there faid muft be underftood as fpoken improperly, and after the manner of Men only. b Upon the whole therefore, I fhould very willingly join Iffue in the Cafe with Dr. Spencer, and leave it to the Judgment of Men, might I be fure it would be left to Men of Judgment ; who I doubt would be foon agreed, 'tis impoffible God fhould dwell any where fence, but where he did before Light was created; That therefore Light could have no manner of Influence upon him in the Choice of his Habitation : if it had, certainly not this or that Quarter of the Heavens, but the Sun r itfelf muft have been the Place, as being incompara bly the moft lightfom Dwelling he could poffibly have fix'd upon ; and to which the inryviTcv of the Apoftle (viz the Epithet 1 Tim. vi Inaccessible) beft agrees: and if this >6' Habitation fhould be a moveable one, daily t> Improprie, & more humano habitare dicitur Deus, quippe qui nullo loco continetur. r Zoroafter taught his Followers, that Fire was the trueft Shecinah of the divine Pre fence ; that the Sun being the perfeSeft Fire, God had there the Throne of his Glory, and the Reftdence of his divinerPrefence in a more excel lent manner than any where elfe- Conneft. Part i ft. p. i\d. See alfo Hyde's Religio veterum Perfarum: cap. iv. " circling 38 A DISQUISITION upon circling around the Earth, why fhould the East, in particular, ingrofg the ho nour cf its Situation ? And again, if it fhould be itfelf the Center of the Earth's Annual Circle about it, I do not fee why any one Point of the Compafs fhould have this Right of Claim more than the reft : Admitting therefore that God dwells in Light, yet doth it not therefore follow, that he dwells in the East more than in the West; or that the one End (to borrow Pf.xix. 6- the Scripture PhrafeJ of the Heavens has a Jot better Title to our Devotions, than the other. I shall now proceed to a Seventh Caufe affign'd why we fhould worfhip towards the East, which may be faid to be three fold ; viz, Becaufe Chrift made his Appear ance- on Earth in the East ; and then 4- faenied int-o Heaven ; and then will appear again at the laft Day. d That Chrift's Appearance .on Earfh was in the Eaft to uli thofe -who were Weft of it, is what nobody can deny : And 'tis as fure alfo that it was in the Weft to all thofe vaft populous Nations, which lie Eastward of the Holy Land. Now ¦how good chriflian People in thofe Parts, d Athan. Quajir. ad Anttochum ; Q^ 37. See MA Bingham's Origines Ecclefufticx, Vol. v. p. 270. Jtenv The dncns of St. Bafil, Can, 92. could Worfhiping towards the East. 39 could look both Eaft and Weft at the fame time, as Dr. Cave fays, / cannot imagine % Prim. unlefs, (upon fecond Thoughts) like fome ^hri,L pt- good Chriftians in our Parts they carried p' 289" two Faces ; then indeed no wonder they fhould look more ways than one ; which verily, in fome fort of Times might prove a moft ufeful and laudable . Qualification, as being no more than what we call hav ing our Eyes about us ; and why fhould it be thought a Thing incredible with us, that in foreign Countries Mankind fhould have the Gift of a double Afpect, when we daily behold fo very many Inftances of it at Home, and that with great Suc- Cefs ? The Holy Land is not more direct ly oppofite to the * Ladrone Ifles, than the Church of England to the Church Rome-, or St. James's to --- But to order! To order ! Far be it from me to infinuate as if the bright Ornaments of the Beauty of Hdlinefs had the leaft Caft with their Eyes, or that charming Loyalty can fquint. T o return then to the Point before us : In the East he afcended into Heaven ; thi ther then let our Thoughts follow him ; only remembring what we learnt at School, Caelum undique fupra eft. " Thefe havi their Situation among ft the eaftermoft Parts of our Hem i Ip here from Jerufalsm. But 40 A DISQUISITION «^» But there (viz, in the East where he difappeared) He will appear again at the laft Day. But, with the Father's Leave, this is News that wants Confirmation, which it can receive from Heaven only : The Rabbies indeed, who had ever a remarkable Zeal for bringing Bufinefs to their own Country, have long fince fix'd the Grand Affize in the Valley of Jehofaphat ; to which 1 alfo the -f Fathers have fo far agreed, as to nominate the mount of Olives, overlook ing the fame, for the Judgment-Seat; but fhould we refer the Matter to an impartial Jury of Dutch Commentators, I fhould not at all be furpris'd to find them bringing in their old Verdict, Ignoramus. And, for my own part, I muft confefs, when I at tempt to furvey in one View all the Sons of Men, that ever have been, are, or are to be, I cannot for my Life conceive this is a Day's Work to be done in a Dale : and I once knew a Worcefterfhire Divine, who could no more bear to hear talk of the Vale of Jehofaphat for this purpofe, than the Vale of Evefham : nay, he was moft furi- oufly certain, the latter, according to the moft 'moderate Computations in Chorogra- phy, was above Ten Thoufand times more capacious. This therefore, fome one may fay, was but a narrow Conceit; and whe ther Jewifih or Chriftian, but one Degree -j- Vide Gerhardum de extremo Judicio, p. Co. beyond Worfhiping towards the East. 41 beyond that of the Mahometans ; who (we may learn from Mr. Maundrel) are by all means for keeping Court within Doors ; and are content, it feems, their great Mofque at Damafcus, fhould be converted into a Town-Hall on this grand Solemni ty ; and that, for the better Difpatch of Bufinefs, a Seffion of Oyer and Terminer, fhould at the fame time be held alfo in another at Jerufalem. But to remember whereof we are fpeaking. How much more awful and juft is what the Scriptures teach us! viz. That the Living, as well as the Dead of all Generations, fhall be caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air ; and there fhall ftand arrang'd, to right and left, on the immenfe Expanfe of the astherial Plains ; when Olivet fhall difappear, and Earth and Heaven fly a- way ! e But fhould we come into the Notion - - that our Saviour's fecond Coming will be in a direct perpendicular Line over the Mount of Olives, and that there then ought to be the Center of our Devotions, as of our Ex pectations, and that this is primitive Do ctrine, how ; again, will this primitive Do ctrine be reconcil'd to that more primitive e Revelat. xx. 1 1 . F 42. A DISQUISITION upon cf worfhiping towards the East? when 'tis pirun the Confequence of the latter would be w.dniping from every Pbint of the' Corripafs ; for that all the World lie's round the t W r e k i n. But in the eighth Place ; I find ano ther Pafiage of Scripture, generally allu ded to by the Fathers, is much infifted upon by many even to this day, viz. Mai. iv. 2. * Here, fay they, is Chrift directly call'd the Sun of Righteoufnefs, by a true and literal Translation ; and by turning to wards the Eaft, when we pay our Adora tion, we are fymbolically led to Chrift, T o this I reply ; as to the ufe of Sym bols to lead Men to God, I have already given my Opinion ; and fhall only have' occafion here farther to obferve, what alfo hath been already imply'd ; — That, if the Argument be good, viz. We ought ,to turn to the East, becaufe Chrift is called. the E a s't ; Then will . it be good alfo, We ought to turn to the Sun, becaufe he is 4 ^Salopia? Mons famofus. * Clem. Alesf. Strom. Lib. vii. Aug. de Sett Dom. in Monte. L. u\ c. $. Item, Hieron. in Amos, chap. vi. ver. 14. Verfi ad Orientem paftum inimus cum Sole juftitise. Vide Orig. Ecclef. Vol. v. p. 277. Unto ym that fear my Name, the Sun of Righteoufnefs fhall arife, Sec. Mai. iv. 2. called marine. Worfhiping towards the "East. 43 called the Sun ; and thus ought we to do jn whatever Point of the Heavens the Sun is vifible to us, from East to West; at which rate, if we count by Degrees on ly, fhall we have no lefs than 180 different Kebla's, or Points to turn our Eyes upon, in divine Service. And in the dark Days before Chriftmas, to ferve God with any tolerable Exactnefs, and be critical (as who would not!) in ijjs Devotion, a Man had need of a f Card, as well as a Kalendar ; rune and, to fleer his Vows aright, muft pray, Cna«e as well as fail, by Needle and Compafs. The ninth Place I fhall affign to the Opinion of the very learned and very wor thy Mr. Bingham, with refpect to the Cere mony now before .us. His words are thefe, The Original of this Cuftom feems to be de rived from the Ceremony of Baptifen, in which it was ufeual to renounce the Devil with their Faces to the Weft, and then turn about to the . Eaft,. and make their Covenant with Chrift ; from whence (continues he) / con ceive it became their common Cuftom to wor fhip God after the fame way that they had, at firft, enter 'd into Covenant with him f. -- In this, with the moft fincere deference to fo deferving a Man in what relates to the Antiquities of the Church, I beg leave to f Vol. v. Pag. 276. F 2 diffenc 44 ^DISQUISITION*^* diffent from him ; becaufe (for ought I can poffibly find; the Ceremony of turning to the East amongft Chriftians, was much prior to that of turning to the West; Dr. Spencer (if I take him right) fup- pofes it to have generally prevailed almoft from the very Infancy of Chriftianity s. And there is no room to difpute but that it was the Practice of the fecond Century ; but for turning to the Weft, Mr. Bingham him felf fupplies us with no Authority, I can yet find, above the fourth. And indeed, from what Dupin obferves, I am inclin'd to believe it had then its Rife ; In this Century, (viz. the I V.J fays he, Ceremonies were carried to the higheft Point of their Splendor ; — Baptifm was adminifiered with abundance of Ceremonies h. Dr. Cave in deed particularly mentions this Ceremony of turning to the Weft at Baptifm, in his Part I. p. Primitive Chriftianity ; but the Authors he 3M~ alleges for it are both of them Fourth- Century-Men ; nor does he mention it as a primitive Ceremony, but exprefsly as an additional Rite of After-ages ; obferving, firft of all, that in the Apoftles Age, Bap tifm was adminifiered with great Nakednefs 8 Sane Chriftiani longe plurimi, a primis pene naf- centis Chriftianifmi Seculis, ad Orientem converli pre- cabantur : De Leg. Heb. Rit. p. 846. >> Eccl. Hift. Vol. ii. /. 167. and Worfhiping towards the East. 45 and Simplicity, probably (fays he) without any more Formality, than a Jhort Prayer, and repeating the Words of Inftitution. And indeed Mr. Bingham himfelf, before he clofes his Chapter, candidly expreffes his Pi>g' 280. own Diffidence, whether it were fo or not as he had conjectured. And here, by the way, I fhall not fcruple to declare my Opinion, That I do not think the Fathers had any more Rea fon to affign the Weft peculiarly to the Devil, than they had to affign the Eaft peculiarly to Chrift ; and they muft be allow'd very generous Adverfaries in allotting their E- nemy one Moiety of the Globe, as they did their Saviour the other; what is this but granting him Divifum hnperium cum Jove? in Milton's Words the very Boaft of Satan, viz. Divided Empire with Heaven's ubi fupra King I hold. A t the fame time it happens a little odd alfo, that, upon this grand Divifion, Lucifer, by the G r. a n t of the Fathers, fhould have the Weft allotted him ; where as, 'tis well known, he makes his Appear ance ¦ every Morning in the Eaft before the Sun itfelf; and that his firft Tranfacti- ons with Mankind, and Triumph over our » Stella gravis nobis Lucifer ortus erat. Ovid. Race 46 A DISQUISITION upon Race were in what we call the E a s r. On the other Hand 'tis as well known alfo by all, who know any thing of fa cred Antiquities, that the Apartment which God chofe in his own Houfe, wherein more peculiarly to manifeft the divine Pre- fence, was the Weft-End of the Temple, And I have often thought the Language of Laclantius and St. Jerome, upon this ac count, could not but give very great Of fence and Scandal to the Jews. The West, fays the former, is afiribed to that turbulent and wicked Spirit*. And, fays the latter, In our Myfteries, the firft Thing we do, is to renounce him who dwells in the Weft '. When, that There is the very Majesty of God, was, with the Rabbies, as much a Proverb, as any in Solomon m. These Confiderations lead me to what I fhall obferve as the tenth and laft Rea fon, for the prefent, why the primitive Chriftians worfhip'd towards the E ^ s t ; viz. the Rule of Contraries, or a Spirit of Oppofetion, not to fay Enmity, towards the Jews. * Occidens conturbatae illi pravaeque Menti afcribitur. lib. 'ii. cap. 10. 1 In Myfteriis primum renuuciamus ei, qui in Occi- dente eft, Hieron. in Amos vi. 14. n> Majeftas divina eft in Occidentc : Maimon. Mor. Nevoch. P. iii. cap. 45. For Worfhiping towards the E as t. 47 For what I have now faid, methinks I already hear myfelf called to account ; and my Anfwer is, I met with it as a late great Man in our Church once met with fomething elfe, to his Purpofe, before me ; viz. by prying into fome Pa pers that bear the Name of Bifhop Overal ". Becaufe, fays my Author, the Jews were the deadlieft, and mofl fpiteful Enemies to Chrifti anity that are in the World ; in that regard were many Laws made by the Church, to have no Conformity with them, no more than with the Heathens in their Orders, SO P R A Y- ING TO THE E AST came up. Upon which, that I may not be far ther tedious, let it here fuffice to obferve only, That they who infill upon this Rea fon feem to forget, that herein they do actually conform themfelves to the Hea thens, who (as in the beginning of this Difquifition has been fhewnj in their ido latrous Worfhip of the S u n, were the primitive . Practifers of this fince moft Catholick Ceremony in the Church of Chrift. Which Opinion I am the more confirmed in, by a Paffage I have lately met with in the eleborate Works of the learned Mr. Theoph. Gale, fometime Fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford ; who, exprefs- n Additional Notes to Dr. Nicholls, upon the Com mon Prayer, p. 16. of the faid Notes. h 48 A DISQUISITION^ ly treating of the Derivation of Popifh from Pagan Rites, has thefe Words. - - An- DffM* other piece of Pagan &Mp,mtotTtux was **' their Ceremony of Bowing and Worfhiping to wards the East: for the Pagans univerfal- ly Worfhiped the Sun as their Supreme God, even the more reform'd of them, the new Platonifts, Plotinus, Porphyry, and Julian the Apoftate, as it appears by his Ora tion to the Sun ; whence it came to pafis, that the Sun rifing in the East, They ufeually worfhiped that way. Hence alfo they built their Temples, and buried their Dead towards the East. Court of the Gentiles, Part III. p. 206. But to draw towards a Conclufion : Thus, Readers, courteous and. uncourteous, (for I expect both, and fhall be very well Content if I have but enough of either) have I with all Fidelity laid before you the moft plaufible, and generally receiv'd Reafons of the Fathers for worfhiping to wards the EAST; and, without refpect of Perfons, as impartially examin'd them, as I have freely exhibited them : Whether upon their being weigh'd they will be found wanting in the Ballance or not, I fhall leave every man to judge for him felf, as I do for myfelf. Father Origen indeed feems to fqueak ; or, at leaft, to betray a Diffidence of the Goodnefs of his Caufe, when he defires Men would be fo civil, as not to be too bufy in enquiring in to Worfhiping towards the East. 49 to it °. And St. Auftin, how well foever affected to the fame, yet fairly acknow ledges, it was a piece of Devotion, his Bible no where taught him -f'. And if we may take Vofftus his Opinion, who, as I have intimated, feems alfo tranfiently to have confidered the Cafe, he will tell us downright — This fame old Cuftom amongil Chriftians, contrary to the Jewifh, of turn ing at their Devotions towards the rifing Sun, ftands upon no found foundation p. Some one perhaps may add ; Upon neither a bet ter nor worfe, than the Ruins of the oldeft Idolatry that has been fince the World began q ; fupported indeed by a Sett of After-thoughts, which, however unphilofophical or unfcriptural, yet muft be allow'd, confidering the Gravity of the Authors, not to be altogether undi- verting. Our great Stillingfleet, 'tis true, ubi fupra fays in plain Englifh, they are very infuffi- cient. - - - But a juft Senfe of the Duty of filial Reverence, has all along con- ftrained me to tread as light as poffible ° See Stillingfleet'^ Eccleftaftical Cafes, p. 267. Ed. 2d. \ Nulla fcriptura nos docuit verfus orientem orare. Vide Durand. Rat. Lib. v. Cap. ii. P Orandi Ritus antiquus Chriftianorum, Judaico con- trarius, quo ad Solem Orientem convert precabantur, nullo folido nititur Fundamento. Vide Indicem Theologize Gentilis &(. in Voc. Qrandi. q Quod fcilicet Confuetudo obvertendi fe ad Orien tem adorandi caufa, ab Idololatria ortum fuum habuiffe videatur, nempe a Solis orientis Adoratione : quae om nium prima & antiquiffima videtur fuiffe Idololatria. Lud. Cappel. ubi fupra. G the 50 A DISQUISITION upon over the venerable Afhes of the ancient Fathers ; and for this Reafon I hope to find the more Indulgence myfelf, fhould I not be able hereafter fo religioufly to keep my Countenance under all the violent Temptations to the contrary, which may occur thro' the Courfe of a Dis quisition from the Beginning of the World to this Day. The Man, who in fo immenfe a Tract of Time can meet with nothing to make him fmile, muft certainly have been inducted, either into the Cave of Trophonius, or the Vica rage of But fince it is, in Fact, a Subject, wherein many Points will be found to arife, that may ferve to divert, as well as inform the World about us, it were Pity it fhould languifh in the Hands of a deprefs'd and drooping Genius, when it is fo capable of being cultivated by one more fortunate and joyous, Cui fa- ciles Rifeus. And to fuch an one I hear tily commend it, and fhall freely com municate my Obfervatioris : And having traverfed the Country before him (if he be one that loves a Day's Sport, as I muft own I once did myfelf ) this I fhall now tell him for his Encouragement He will find the Covers Thin, and Game Plen ty. But for me, tot jam labentibus annis For ten long Years the ftanding Object of a Faction's Rage, 'tis time that I retire, Et featis eft monftraffe Viam. FINIS. Authors cited in this Treatife. PL IN IU S. Pl a u t u S. VlTRUVIUS. Potter: Archasologias Graecie. S e l d e n : De Synedr. Spencer: De Legibus Hebrasorum ri- tualibus, & earum Rationibus. Prideaux: Connection of the Hiftory of the Old and New Teftatnent, &c. Anonym : Dictionariumfacrum feu religiofum. G r e c o r 1 1 : Pofthuma. Sanchoniathon: ex Traduc. Phil. Bib. apud Eufeb. de Praspar. Evang. Plato. Ludovicus Cappellus: Annotationes inter Criticos facros. Gerard us Joannes Vossius: De Theologia Gentili, &c. Chevalier Ramsay: Theology of the An- tients. Stillingfleet: Origines Sacras : And Ecclefiaftical Cafes. Theoph ilus Gale: Court of the Gen tiles. • Jurieu: Hifloire Critique des Dogmes & des Cukes, &c. Milton: Paradife Loft. Mead: De Imperio Solis, &c. Hy genus : apud Spencerum. Joannes Gerhard us: Loci Theo- logici. T E R- T e r t u l l i a n : Apolog. JustinMartyr: Dialog, cum Tryph. Anonym : Enquiry into the Confiitutiwt, &c. of the Primitive Church. W h e a t l y : Rational Illuftration of the Book of Common Prayer. Tacitus. Bingham : Origines EcclefiafticjE. Le Sueur: Hiftoire De 1' Eglife, &c. Dupin : Compendious Hiftory of the Church. Lactantius. N a z i a n z : Orat. de Athanaf. Cave: Primitive Chriftianity. Bellarminus: Explanatio in Pfalmos. Philo: Sacra? Legis Allegonarum Lib. Damascen: De Fide. Hxeronymus: B o h o u r s : Ingenious Thoughts of the Fa thers. Dan£us:Maimonides: Mor, Nevoch. Dr. Nicholls. Etc. ERRATA. PAG. 16. l.u.r. as a Crime, p. 17. 1.32. r. fpeclare. p. 1 8.1.1. r. Magicians, p.37. l.n. r. I doubt not. p. 41. 1.27. r. Dottrinej how again A L K I & L A PART II OR, THE ,,. DISQJJISITfG.N Upon Wor shipino towards the E A ST CONTINUED From the Primitive to the PrefentTimes: With a ferious and impartial Examination of the Reafons affign'd for the Practice by our Modern 'Divines : In order To obviate Superstition in our Tublick Devotion, to remove from it all Party-Diftinclion and unneceffary Objections, and to affert the Principles of the Reformation ; by reducing the Ceremonies of Churchmen to the Standard of the Church; To which are prefix'd Some Thoughts by way of PREFACE concerning the proper Ufe of Ridicule in Controverfies ftil'd Religious. v Ye that defire to be under the Law, . do Ye not hear the .[ Law? Galat. iv. 2.1. He that contemneth fmall Things fhall fall by little and little. '', Ecclus. xix. i. LONDON, Printed", and Sold by J. Roberts, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane ; and A. Dodp-, without Temple-Bar. M.DCC.XXXI. To the. Right Honourable PETER Lord KING, Baron of Ockham, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. May kpkqfeyour JLordjhip^ ;HO' the noble Author of xh^Advancementoffbearn^ ing gives but little Encott>- ragernent to Modern Dedications, and obferves withal, that " Books* " fiich as are worthy the Name of "Books, ought to have no Fatton « but Truth and Reafon;" yet does he not difapprove of the Manner of the Antients, who in dedicating A 2 their iv - D E D I OAT1 0 N. their Labours had regard to the Relation, the Fitnefs and Propriety of the Argument to the Ferfon. Now it fo happens, My Lord, that xhtDifquifition I have engag'd in, owes its Original (as has been elfe- where acknowledg'd *) to an En quiry, which the World has long fince afcrib'd to your Lordfhip. It will alfo be readily granted, that I could not poilibly have addrefs'd myfelf to a more competent and proper Judge of the Matters therein con- tain'd : fince your Lordihip is by all allow'd to be Mafter of the Con- ftitution, as well of the Primitive, as of our pre&nt Church, and that, both confider'd, in a degree pecu liarly your own. lo . As the Pradlice here treated of will now fully appear to be much more popular than rational, my En- ¦* Anatomy of the Kebla, p.^6. deavours, D E D I CA T I ON. deavours, I hope, to fet it in a true Light will find a favourable Recep tion in general from Thofe, who re tain a juft Concern for the Reafon- ablenefs of their Devotion-, and are not yet fix'd in the Opinion, that « in Matters of Religion, Reafon " ought to be refign'd to Cuftom." That I have not been able indeed to reduce a Difcourfe of this nature into a much narrower compafs, may feem to need fome Apology: what I have to offer is, that it hath been owing, in part, to aDemonftration, which the Purfuit of my Subject hath led me to attempt ; that the Primitive Chrijlians had no Notion of praying, ovprofejjing their Faith towards an Altar ; and that, even to the Fifth Century, the General Si tuation of 'Churches was dire&ly the Reverfe of what we now behold. Some Addition alfo has been occa- fion'd by the incidental Proof "of the Spuriouf- vi DEDICATION. Spurioufnefs of the Cdnftitutivms that go under the Name of xhsApofths*. In fine, there are few Points per haps of Sacred Antiquity, how lit-' tie fbever the prefent has. hitherto. been cultivated,, which will be found more productive of Enter tainment for the Curious, or Iti- ftrudrion for the Inquifitive after Knowledge \ and this in a Cafe which has had no fmall Influence upon the Faith and PraBice of all Ages. But of the whole your Lord ihip will beft determine; for whofe Decifion in all Things no Man can have greater Regard, and Reverence than, My Lord, Your Lord/hip's Moft Humble, and moft Devoted Servant, William Asplin. C vii 3 THE PREFACE. \ 0 fooner did the former Part of this Difquifition appear in the PVorld, but I was immediately importun d by Some, and provok'd by Others* to bring it down to the prefent Times : But the Resolution I had taken was, in the firft place, patiently to abide the more mature Judg ment of the Publick, whether I had efpous'd the right Side of the Queftion. THIS I have fince found determined in the affirmative, and that by the Learned and. Candid even amongft thofe whofe Inclinations led them another way. But when I was thus entirely fatisfied as to the Merits of the Caufe, there arofe an Objeclion of the tendereft Na ture vm PREFACE. ture againft all farther Profecution of it ; the Ceremony / had attempted to explode be ing at this Day, it feems, countenanc' d by the folemn Obfervation of not a few of the Right Reverend Fathers of our Church, for whofe Of fice and Perfons no Man' has greater Venera tion than myfelf, nor can be lefs fond of a Con- teft that may officii their PraStice. HERE then was I fome time fufpended be twixt Regard to my Subjetl, and Refpecl^ to my Superiours ; when, upon, farther Enquiry, I was at laft given to underftand, that not One of this high Order did exprefs any par ticular Zeal for the Point oppos'd, or had given the leaft Encouragement (whatever might be pretended) for its Defence; that the Prac tice was rather impost by Cuftom, than ob- ferv'd of Choice ; and that their Lordjhips probably would not be difpleafed to find- them felves freed from the Impofition, provided it were done in a ferious and fubmiffive Man ner, not inflam'd by the Application of Wit and Ridicule, which, however juft in them felves, are too often provoking to thofe on whom they fall ; that ?noreover, the more ferioufly any thing was urg'd againft Superftition, fo much the better. THIS, as it was matter of Satisfaction to me, in that I found myfelf at liberty to pur- fue a Subjetl, wherein not only my own Repu tation, but (as for Reafons above fpecified * I • Vide Title-Page. took PREFACE, took it) the genuine Conftitutlbn of the Church if England, the Good of Religion in ge neral, and even the Publick Welfare itfelf in fome meafure were concerned: So, on the other hand, I began much to refteel, wherein I might moft probably be thought to have prejudiced a right Caufie by a wrong Management, how heft to do it juftice in what remained, and, if poffible, to convince without Offence ; whichi whatever Effect it may have upon fome par ticular Perfons, is the general Defign of this Second Part; BUT here I would beg leave to premife-^ That though, in order to what is proposed, I may, in Prudence, recede from my former Methods yet can 1 not, in Juftice, condemn it : i The Publick has alfo feen it vindicated* and that, as far as yet appears, paft all Dif- pute, in a Letter to a Prelate of the firft Eminence both in our Church and State : To what has been there offer' 'd concerning the Ufe of Ridicule upon certain Subjecls call'd Reli gious, I fhall take the Opportunity of this Pre face, once for all, briefly to add fome Refec tions of a different Turn of Thoughts FO R the right ftating of the Queftion, the only Favour I would defire of Mankind w—* to diftinguifh betwixt making Things ridicu lous, and fhewing them fo to be. To de* fcribe Things in their proper Characters, and , make them appear to be what they are, be the Subjecl what it will, to me feems the Right and. 'Duty of every Man, who profeffes to treat a of it x PREFACE. of it : For which reafon, whoever pretends to exercifie the Talent of Ridicule upon Matters which have nothing in them that is really ri diculous, does manifeft Injuftice to his Subjetl, and his Crime will be the fame with regard to- Things, as Defamation with regard to Per- fons ; He deferves not the Name of a Writer, but Libeller: Nor will this Crime receive a Uttle Aggravation when committed againft Things Sacred, which have a natural Claim not only to our Refpect but Reverence. BY the fame Rule alfo, for any one con- fcioufly to reprefent Ridiculous Things as Ra tional or Sacred, muft be a very criminal Abufe of the Faculties that God has given him: 'Tis Imposture, and Impiety: 'tis deluding Man, and trifling with God. IN a word then ; lam for no Mifreprefen- tations on either Side ; but would that in our Searches after Truth every Thing fhould be plac'd in its juft Light, let it appear decent or deform'd, theObjetl of our Devotion orDerifion. 'TIS upon this footing a right reverend and learned Author has of late fo juflly vin dicated the Antient Chriftian Apologifts, viz. " That if Some of them expos' 'd the Gentile " Superftitions, it was with a Ridicule into " which their Religious Follies naturally fell " even by „ bare Defcription of them" And thus likewifie he proceeds to vindicate the Re formers for reprefenting with an Air of Plea- fantry the Superftitions of Popery, faying 1 " It PREFACE. " It was no wonder, fence they were ridiculous " in themfelves." His Lordfhip adds indeed, that if either the Fathers or Reformers have carried the Matter too far, He does not de fend them. In which alfo I cannot but think him extremely right, there being no Man who lefs approves, or, firiclly fpeaking, more abhors than myfelf a Ridicule which is either not founded upon Reafon, or not contain' 'd within the Bounds that Reafon prefcribes. In fhort, All I conceive worth contending for in this Way, is only (and that where the Sub) eel de- fierves no more Ceremony) the Sober Ufe of a Rational Ridicule. THESE laft Words I am not unjlnfible may found in the Ears of many as a Contra- diclion, it being a Sort of Vulgar Error, that Reason and Ridicule are Things of a quite different nature, and inconfiftent with each other : whereas, if duly confeder'd, true and juft Ridi- ¦ eule will appear to be one of the fineft and politeft Species of Reafoning, being no other than Argumentum ex Abfurdo, a Topick which the greateft Logicians in all Ages have recom mended to others, and had recourfe to them felves. Were I indeed worthy to be ask'd, what an Author ought moft fo value himfelf upon: I fhould fay, at once, The Syllogifm of his Wri tings: But as it has been not injudicioufly re marked of Pindar, " that He has at the Bot- " torn as much Logick as Ariftotle or Euclid, " tho' fome Criticks have thought him mad:" So may it be' affirmed alfo there are Pieces of the diverting Kind, which will as eafily be a 2 reduced u PREFACE, reduced into Mood and Figure as Compofitiom of a more formal Afpect. Such therefore muft necejfarily be the Producl of what we. call Good Senfe ; and, though the Clue may not he vifible to every Eye, will be often found to have been condutled by a clear and found Judgment. " Truth, faid one, will fometimes *' laugh when She fpeaks ;" Tet, may we add, ought She to be refpecled in whatever Shape or Form, with whatever Air fhe ap pears. AS to the Efficacy of the Manner in dife pute ; a late very good and allow' d Judge of Mankind gives us to underfland it was owing to his Excellence this way, that Socrates be- qame one of the greateft Propagators of Morality in the Heathen World. The Pre-* ference that Horace fo long fince gave it to - the oppofite Manner in Matters of Importance, feems to have met with the general Approba tion of the Criticks in every fucceeding Age ; and One of the greateft and graveft of the pre fent has not ficrupled to make this Conceffeon '«' Rallery, i" own, is fometimes more fuccefs- *' full in deftroying impertinent Opinions, than " Serious Argument." Which gives me oc cafion to infer, that, fence of all others, Reli gious Impertinences, or (as the Right Re verend Author above-cited juftly ftiles them ) Religious Follies are found to be the moft ob- ftinate, they will need the moft effeclual Re medies: Superftition deaf to the Still Voice of Reafon, tho' divine, dreads only the brisker Airs of Rallery : and though 'tis a Spirit of that PREFACE. that Kind which goes not out by Conviction of Argument, frequent Experience has fhewn, it cannot ftand the Dint of Laughter, THE Primitive Fathers feem to have had a juft Senfe of this Truth, when, as the in genious Dr. Main obferves, '< They made ufe f ' even of Lucian'j Arguments to banter down " the Heathen Gods ; and that to him it is we " owe,- in part, our common Chriftianity." Nor is it difficult to account for thefe great and good Effects of the Manner now before us: they have generally been afcrib'd to the Pleasure that attends it ; to which I fhall add a Caufe of another Confederation .•———. One of the greateft Reftraints Nature has laid upon the Minds of Men is that of Shame ; and as it muft be a very feenfible Reproach for Creatures pretending to Reafon to efpoufe No tions that are Ridiculous, to fhew them to be fuch muft be a very proper Method to re form them ; efpecially where Religion is con cern' d, which, above all things, ought to be Ra tional. A T the fame ' time it muft be own*d, this moft agreeable and ufeful Method of Convic tion is not • without its Enemies ; nor can it be denied that the ftrongeft and moft violent Prejudices have been rais'd, and ftill are car ried on againft it : infomuch that fome (pro- feffing Chriftianity) feruple not to pronounce it ?' a jure Mark of a profane and atheiftical ff Spirit," though it be in fail the frequentPrabJice • * * xirt XIV PREFACE. Practice of the Holy Ghoft * : And we may learn from Sir Thomas More, that a certain Order of Friars in his time had obtain' d a Bull, " that Nobody fhould jeer them, and " that whoever did fhould be excommuni- « cated." THE ever-memorable Author now cited feems to have pointed out, in an Epiflle to Peter Giles, the three general Caufees to which is owing this implacable Enmity to the Plea- fant Way : viz. The natural Morofeenefes of fome mens Tempers ; the Inability of Others to ufe it themfelves ; or a deep Refentment of what they have fuffer'd by it: " Some, fays he, *' are fo four, they can allow no Jefts ; and " Others are fo dull, they can endure nothing " that is fharp ; and Some are as much afraid " of any thing that is quick and lively, as a *' Man bit with a mad Dog is of Water." TH ERE is no doubt but that the Two laft Caufes here intimated are frequently the true ones ; but at the fame time alfo a very great Share muft be allow'd, in the Cafe be fore us, to meer Temper only : There are thofe in the World who have a Sort of Con- ftitutional or Complexional Zeal for Gravity, and a perfecl natural Antipathy to every thing that is airy and diverting : according to that of the Poet " Oderunt hilarem trifles, the * See rt Letter to the Bifliof of London, occafion' d by the Abuie oftt Pujfago in his Lordfliifs Paftoral Letter. " Gay ' P R E F A C E. *« Gay are the Averfion of the Grave :" 'tis true indeed he immediately adds " triftem- " que jocofi, and the Grave of the Gay*" fo that there is no Love loft betwixt them. But when the End propos'd on both Sides is the fame, why fhould they hate each other for the Means they ufe to attain it ? 'Tis as un- juft to impofie our Tafte in Writing, as in Eating, ,for a Standard to all others ; and we may as well exped that every Man fhould conform his Features, as his Style, to the Mo del of our own. Add to this ; as God has given to different Men different Talents, all which may be fincerely employ' d for his Glory, and accepted by him, it muft be an odd Sort of Self -Partiality for us to feuppofee none but our own will be fo. B UT, fay the Grave, This Way has been fo much abus'd, both in its Ufe and End. I reply : As Wit may be inconfeftent with Good- Manners, or Good-Nature ; fo may Gravity with both, and with every thing elfee that is good : We fhall do well to obferve alfo every Manner of Writing has its Counterfeit or falfe Likenefs : as there is a falfe Sublime, fo is there a falfe or affecled Calm ; as falfe Wit, fo falfe Reafoning. He therefore that would argue againft the Ufe of Ridicule where Reli gion is concern' d, becaufe it has been abus'd, may as well argue againft the Ufe of Rea fon, in any other way, in the fame Caufe ; fince it has therein been abus'd alfo, and that * Horat. ad Lollium. Ep. L. i- xviii. no XV Xvi PREFACE: no lefs : and indeed there have not been want' ing Thofe who., in plain Terms, have equally decried the Ufe. of Reafon in Religion, as an improper Subject. A Thing the lefs to be ad- mir'd in our Days, when we find one of the moft Antknt Fathers, ftrenuoufly maintaining Faith and Logick to be inconfiftent *. A S to the trivial Objection, that " Any «« Thing may be turn'd into Ridicule:" 'tis matter of Surprife to me that Men of Under ftanding fhould fo much infift upon it ; fince it might with equal Juftice be replied, " Any «« Thing maybe turn'd into Religion." BUT, fay they again, " It is fo unfe- *' rious a Manner. -To which I fhall only an- fwer Gravity is no Teft of Serioufnefs, nor Pleafantry of the Want of it : None have more ftudioufty and cordially fet themfelves to reftify. the Underftandings of Men, to enlighten their Minds, and r.efcue them from their Mi- ftakes, than Thofe who have chofie the Plea- fant Way ; None more induftrioufly and male volently to darken their Underftandings, and rivet them in their Ignorance and Errors, than Thofe who have affum'd the ftrongeft Airs of Gravity. In a word ; of all Banterers the graveft are the greateft : Of this One Inftance may fierve for a thoufand ; and that is The De cree of Tranfubftantiation : Upon which occa fion 'tis notorious that the graveft Perfonages * See the Enquiry into the Conftitution, &c. of the Primitive Church, fart i. f.oi. of PREFACE. of the World, affembled in the gr_veft Man ner, did, with all due Form and Solemnity, moft effectually attempt to banter Men out of their Senfes : and 'tis as well known that our glorious Reformers, and others the beft Writers of the Proteftant Side, have as ferioufly endea vour' d to rally them into their Senfes again. LASTLT, there are Thofee alfeo who have ob jected the great Irreverence and Indecency of the > Manner in difpute, wherever Religion is con cern' d. And indeed would They without Equi vocation or Ambiguity explain themfelves ftriclly to mean, thatja ridicule Religion in general, or, as fome chufe to exprefs themfelves, to de ride God and his Religion, is a Practice high ly irreverent and indecent, none but an Atheift could deny it : But that Mankind ought to ft and in awe of every Thing that has the Affurance to ufeurp the Name of Religion, or claim Re lation to it, however falfe or ridiculous, and this under Penalty of Civil Punifhment, Js a Conceit that fmells ftrong of the Capuce, and becomes no Man more than a Familiar of the Inquisition. FOR my own Part ; I freely acknowledge 'tis my Cafe to have no Notion of the Reve rence due to Superftition ; much lefs to Im- pofture of any Kind : and as nothing is more certain than that Thofe who are imposed upon are the Jest of the Deceiver, fo nothing to me feems more equitable than that They alfo fhould have the Privilege at leaft to laugh in their Turn: and what is equitable, I pre fume, may b be xvii xviii P R E F A C E. he alfo decent, and executed without Breach of good Manners. Nor does the Number of Thofe that efpoufe a Delufion (as fome are apt to al- ledge) at all alter the Cafe in its favour, by ren- dring it more the Objetl of our RefpeCl : The more it prevails, the more neceffary does it be come that it fhovild be expos' d ; for which indeed, from one Quarter, femall Thanks are to be ex pected ; but He that refents his being undeceived {efpecially when 'tis done in a Way agreeable to Good-Nature and the Rules of Good- Manners) is ungrateful to his Benefactor. I UPON the whole ; If the Manner we are /peaking of is not in general to be jufiified, , much lefs ought it in general to be condemn' d: and Thofe who have intemperately determin'd, that the Use of it in any Book upon the Sub ject of Religion muft proceed from a Deprav'd Mind, would do well to confider what Sort of Sin that muft be, which teaches Men to in fer that many Parts of Scripture itfelf are the Suggeftions of an Evil Spirit. This fiole Re flexion, I am verily perfeuaded, would mind them for the future to fpeak more refpectfully, or at , leaft with greater Caution, of a Manner that has been authoris'd by the Ufe of Infpir'd Writers. i" fhall clofie thefe Thoughts with an ExtraCi from one of Mr. Addifon's Freeholders, the exprefs SubjeCl of which is < — " The Use " „«i Advantage of Wit W Humour ** under proper Regulations." " Thofe, fays he, " who feupply the World with fuch " En- PREFACE. " Entertainments of Mirth as are. inftruclive, '.' or at leaft harmlefe, may be thought to de- " feerve well of Mankind : To which I fhall " only add, that they retrieve the Honour of " Polite Learning, and anfwer thofe fower " Enthufiafts who affed to ftigmatife the " fineft and moft elegant Authors, both antient " and modern (which they have never read) "' as dangerous to Religion, and deftrutlive of " all found and faving Knowledge." TH IS Prefice is already much longer than I defign'd : Yet the Reader perhaps may want to know, before I conclude it, whence it is that I have prefeum'd thus to preface a Tract in- fcrib'd to a Lord High Chancellor of Great Bri tain, as in Dignity, fo in Gravity second to None. 'Tis true indeed, if we have any re gard to the Common Confent of all Parties, or hut refleCt upon what is neceffary to form a confummate Character in the Two great Pro- feffeons of Divinity and Law, it muft be granted that his Lordfhip's tranfcendent Abilities in each Capacity have long fince fhewn him equal to the higheft Station of a SubjeCl whether in Church or State, nor could either poffibly be fill'd with greater ~Decorum : Tet at the fame time it is not the leaft Part of his Lordfhip's Perfonal Character, and the Publick Felicity, that in Him the moft awful Gravity is happily temper'd with the greateft Sweetnefs of Nature ; indulgent to others, fievere to himfelf alone. NOR am I confiious that I fhould have given any juft Caufe of Offence had I carried b 2 the xix _-_ PREFACE. the Matter yet higher. To behold indeed the Spirit of Satire preying upon the Vitals of Re ligion, were a Sight fhocking to any Man of Senfe : but what good and wife Man can be dif- pleas'd to fee it- reduc'd within its juft Bounds, and employ' d to its proper Ufe in eating out thofe little heterogeneous Mixtures of Superfti- tion, which from time to time will be ever of- fieioufey intruding, and blend themfeelves with our Devotion ? lam alfeo thelefes apprehenfive Impropriety in my Addrefs to his Lordfhip, by reafon of the Subjecl of my Preface, when I confider that One of the moft celebrated of all his Predeceffors thought it not unbecoming his own Character to compofe - a Serious Defence of the Pleafant Manner of Writing. I mean again the excellent Sir Tho. More in his truly eloquent Epiflle to Martin Dorpius, an eminent Divine of that Age, who had wrote bitter Things to their common Friend Erafmus, upon his Ludicrous Praife 0/ Folly ; a Piece dedicated to the Chancellor himfelf, and which has ever fince been the Admiration and Delight of all the bright Part of the Learned World. AS to Thofe who can bear with nothing but what feuits their own Notions, and who, by virtue of their own Sufficiency, have created themfelves Dictators of the Age ; / am very fienfible it is next to impoffible a Man fhould differ from them, but he muft differ with them : nor will it be an eafey Task, in dif cuffing their Decrees, to avoid evtry Thing that may provoke a Smile : yet remem- bring P R E F A C E. xxi bring at whofe Feet this Piece is laid, I fhall ufe'my beft Endeavours to purfue the grave and good Advice of a noble Author and Genius afore cited, to one of our famous Univerfities —" in *' Modeftia animi Libertatem ingenii reti- «. nere." / have only farther to premife, that whereas this Part of my Difquifition contains much more Matter, and greater Variety of Argument than the former, I have found it proper for the Eafie and Convenience of the Reader, to divide it in to Four Sections : The Contents whereof, that the Plan of the whole Work might appear in one View, 1 have here feubjoin'd to thofe, of the former Part. THE r xxii _f THE CONTENTS OF THE. FIRST PART. THE General Antiquity, the Rife and Reafeonablenefs of this Religious Ceremony in the Gentile World. Its early Adoption into the Church of Chrift ; with a free and impartial Examination of the Reafons affign' d for it by the Antient Fathers. The Contents of the Second Part. SECTION I. The Difquifition continued from the Primitive Times to the Reformation : with an Ac count jof the Original and Genuine Conftituiion of the Church of England, as then by Law eftablifh'd, C O N T EN T s: eftablifh'd, in regard to Ceremonies: and what elfie is found to concern the prefent Sub ject down to the Subverfton of the Eftablifhment by the Civil Wars. xxiii II. The State of the Cafe at the Reftoration; with an Examination of the Reafons affign 'd for the Practice enquir'd into by Bifhop Spar row, in his Rationale upon the Book of Common-Prayer. Where alfo, of the Gene ral Situation of the firft-built Churches. III. The peculiar Reafons examined that occur in Dr. Biffe's Beauty of Holiness in the Book of Common - Prayer, &c. As alfo Thofe in Mr. Wheatley' s Rational Il lustration of the faid Book. Together with the General Argument taken from Custom and the Practice of the Church: Where of Apostolical Traditions, and the Constitutions fo call'd. IV. The infidious and pernicious Confequences of the Practice both to Church and State ; with the proper Remedy. The concurrent Opinion of fome of the greateft Ornaments, and moft undoubted Friends of the Church , of England : And an Anfwer to certain Objections againft the prefent Undertaking. POST- XXIV CONTENTS. POSTSCRIPT, In relation to a Paragraph in a Sermon of the Bifhop of Litchfield and Coventry. APPENDIX, Cdntaining the Original Authorities for fome things before mentioned, which could not be conveniently inferted in their proper place. [I ] THE DISQUISITION UPON WORSHIPING TOWARDS THE EAST CONTINUED. S E C T I O N the Firft. pra^HF, Ceremony of worfhiping to- * wards the East, tho' originally (as has been fhewn) of Heathen Growth, yet having taken root in the Church of Chrift foon be gan to flourifh there exceedingly : and tho' it does not appear that our Saviour himfelf or B His A D I S QUI SI T I ON upon his Apoftles paid any more regard to this, than to any other Quarter of the Heavens, but rather the contrary, yet was it not long before it became to the Chriftian, what it had b_en to the Gentile World, Alki-bla, i. e. the Grand Kebla*, or Point towards which the Devotions of the Church, where- foever difpers'd, were ufually directed as to a common Center. " Another Cuftom," fays the " learned Dr. Cave fpeaking of the Primitive " Ghriftians, " which they hadin Prayer was, " that they conftantly pray'd towards the " East : this was fo univetTally common, " that there's fcarce any Ecclefiaftical Wri- " ter but fpeaks ofit."[| Mr. Bingham, who perhaps had more particularly confider'd the Cafe, mentions it with fome little reftriction : his words are thefe,.; "There is one Ob- " fervation more which muft hot be omitted, " becaufe it was a Ceremony almoft of gene- " ral Ufe and Practice ; and that was the cc Cuftom of turning their Faces to the East " in their folemn Adorations." -p It cannot therefore, I think, be doubted, but that it was a very prevalent as well as primitive Cuftoin ; norddes'it appear to have met with any confiderable Obftruction for fbme Ages. * t£w. ALCA'IRA is Grand Cairo, || Primitive [Chriftianity, IPart. I. p. zS8. 4 Origines Ecclefia'fticae, or,ihtJt»tiquitits of the Chri ftian Church . Book i j . ch. 8. But Worfhipitng towards the East. But as this Ceremony had its firft Rife in Superftition and Idolatry, fo in procefs of time was it found thither to revert again , proving a Means to feduce fome who had embrae'd the Truth, and to confirm others in their Er- rour. This being obferv'd by Leo the Firft, Bifhop of Rome about the middle of the Fifth Century, he thought it his duty, as itappear'd a matter of very ill Confequence, both to preach and write againft it : and we have ftill extant fome very remarkable Paffages on the Subject in a Latin Sermon of his upon the Nativity: a Tranfiation * of which, Ipre- fume, may not be unacceptable to the Englilh Reader. " From fuch Inflitutions, fays he, " proceeds this Impiety, that the Rifing Sun " is worfhip'd from the Hills by fome of the " weaker fort of People : which fome Chri- ¦ " ftians alfo hold to be fo very religious *' an Obfervance amongft them, that be^ " fore they come to St. Peter's Church, de- " dicated to the one living and true God, «' having pafs'd the Steps to the Afcent of " the upper Court, they turn themfelves back «' towards the Rifing Sun, and bow down " their Heads in honour of that fplendid Orb. " Which we perceive to be owing partly to " Ignorance, partly to a Spirit of Paganifm, " and that to our no fmall Grief and Afflic- " tion: becaufe tho' fome perhaps may rather c' worfhip the Creator of this fair Luminary «' than Light itfelf, which is a Creature, yet * The Original of this, with fome other things, too long for the Margin, it mas found proper to place by nay o/Ap- penbix at the End of this Treatife. Vide Numb. I. B 2 " ought A DISQUISITION " ought we to abftain from the very Ap> " pearance of this fort of Devotion towards " it : which when One of our Heathen Con- " verts fhall obferve amongft Us, will he « not retain as probable that Part of his old «« Opinion which he fees to be common both " to Chriftians and Infidels? Far therefore be " fo blameable*a Perverfnefs from the Prac- " tice of the Faithful : nor let the Honour due " to God alone be blended with the Rites of " thofe who worfhip and ferve the Creature : " Be not entic'd by that Light wherein the " Fowls of the Air, the Beafts of the Field, " and Flies, and creeping Things rejoice : " To corporeal Light apply thy corporeal " Senfe ; but with all the Affections of thy " Soul embrace that True Light which lighteth "every Man that is born into this World : " and of which fays the Prophet, Draw near " unto him, and be enlighten'd, and your " Faces fhall not be afham'd : For if ye are " his Temple, and the Spirit of God dwel- " leth in you ; greater is that Light which " every true Chriftian hath in his own Breaft, " than that which, with fo much Admiration, " he beholds in the Firmament. Not that " we would thus injoin or perfuade you (moft ." beloved) to defpife the Works of God, or " to believe that there is any thing prejudicial " to your Faith in thofe things which God, " mho is good himfelf, hath created good in * This is the fofteft ConftruEtion the Latin (damnanda Perverfitas) mil bear. Dr. Plot below-cited renders it a moft Damnable Perversnesj. " -their Wbrfaiping towards. the East. «* their Kind alfo ; but that ye may make a " rational and temperate Ufe of every part of " the Creation, and all that adorns this " World." S o much good Senfe, deliver'd by a Perfon of fo great Authority, upon fo folemn an Oc cafion, muft needs have given no inconfider- able Stroke to the Cuftom, however preva lent, of Eastward Adoration. According ly the Commentator Pineda* affures us, that it was actually grown out of ufe in this Bi- fhop's Time : who, we are inform'd by other Writers, had proceeded alfo to prohibit it. by an exprefs Decree, This Prohibition feeing highly probableftnat it Continued in force, as Dr. Plot T relates, above eight hundred Tears un interrupted, feems to be altogether a Miftake. The very eminent Roman Ritualift Duran- dus particularly obferves, that Pope Vigilius, who fiourifh'd in the Middle of the next Cen tury, made a Confiitution that " the Prieft at " the Altar, and in all Parts of Divine Ser- " vice, fhould pray towards the East, t This Confiitution ofPootVigilius does not appear to have been ever yet formally re- vers'd by any of his Succeffors; fo that wor fhiping towards the East may thenceforth be * In Jobi cap. 31. v. 26. f Natural Hiftory of Stafford/hire. Pag. 368. ± Sacerdos in Altari, & in Divinis Officiis, debet ex In- ftitutione VigilH iap& verfus Orientem orare. Rationale Divinorum Officiorum. L.f. c. 1. faid A DISQUISITION upon faid to be upon the Eftablifhment in that Com munion : At the fame time 'tis eafy to ima gine, that by reafon of the growing Refpect towards Altars, for which every Age now ex- preffed fome frefh Degree of Reverence, they muft infenfibly have come in as Afibciates or Partners of the Empire, which the East had fo long obtained over the Affections of the Chriftian World : nor can we but conceive, that from the moment Tranfubftantiation was eftablifhed by a Law, the Altar muft have flood, in all common Cafes, at leaft joint Kebla with the East, and wherever it varied from it, fiupreme :. For to have God vifibly appearing upon the Altar ^qnoSl have been fucn*a Reafon for worfhiping towards it, as would have borne down at once all Argu ments that had been ever given for worfhip-. ing towards the East, when at any time a Competition fhould happen to arife betwixt them. And thus it was in Fact: a brief Ac count whereof I fhall here give in the Words of a very deferving modern Author " For *' This, and fuch like Reafons (viz. as were " affign'd in the former Part of thisDifquifition) ** the Primitive Chriftians ufually pray'd with " their Faces toward the East : But after- " wards, when Superftition and Idolatry had " over-run the chriftian Church, and the " Doctrine of Tranfubftantiation, with the " Practice of adoring, and paying divine " Homage to the Elements of Bread and " Wine came in fafhion, this Cuftom was " con- Worfhiping towards the E as t. " continued upon a different account: all the " old Reafons were forgot, or laid afide ; and " the Altars being built, and the Elevation of " the Hoft being made towards the East, *'. People were taught to bow themfelves that " way out of Reverence to God, who, they ec were made to believe, was prefent to their " View in that Quarter*." This therefore being the Popifh Shecinah? nothing could be more natural, upon the Fun damental Maxim of this Difcourfe, that " in worfhiping every Man ought to turn " himfelf towards the Object He adores f ", than for all Believers of that Communion to take this Turn in Divine Service. Confonant hereto, as to worfhip towards the East foon became a moft "univerfal Practice in the firft Ages of the Heathen World, wherever the Idolatry of the Hoft of Heaven extended; fo in thefe laft Ages of the Chriftian World has worfhiping towards the Altar been moft catholickly embrac'd and eftablifh'd in every Nation, where the- Adoration of this otherHoft p'revail'd : And this not rarely to the Exclu sion of the East itfelf; for inftance, as oft as the Altars were plac'd fome other way; which muft of necefiity come to pafs, when in procefs of time they began to increafe and multiply to that Degree, that in many Churches fcarce was there a Corner to be found without * Supplement to Mr. Nelfon'j laftsandFeftivals, p. i»i. f Vide Alkibla, p. i. one: A D I S QUI S IT ION upon one: This is*a Truth, which in all Popifh Parts appears at fight. one: However, where there was no Altar in the cafe, the East ftill retain'd its Preroga tive ; and out of Doors, at leaft, was ftill regarded as the moft orthodox Point in the Compafs : which was manifefted paft all Dif- pute in the ever-memorable Cafe of John Huss, when by order of Council he was tied to a Stake for his Converfion into Afhes : " Whereas by chance, fays my Author, he " was turn'd towards the East, certain cried " out that he fhould not look towards the " East ; for he was an Heretick : So he " was turn'd towards the West *." And This, I muft confefs, feems to countenance what Dr. Plot relates, " that the Defign of " Pope Vigilius his Confiitution for East- " wa rd Adora tion, was to diftinguifh Chri- " ftians from other Seels." Wi t h this fignal Inftance of true Catho lick Zeal, no longer fince than the Fifteenth Century, for afferting the Honour of their Antient Kebla, fhall I clofe the Period of my Difquifition before the Time of our own Re formation : to which I fhall next proceed, and henceforth confine my Enquiries to what has paft at Home in the Proteftant Church of England, as it has flood, from time to time, by Law eftablifh'd. * See his Martyrdom in Fox. L'Enfant alfo mentions the fame Circumftance in his Council of Conitence, Vol. I. p. 4*0. When Worfhiping towards the East. When after a long Night of Egyptian, or, more emphatically fpeaking, Italick Dark nefs, at laft it pleas'd God once more to vific us with that facred Day-fpring from on High, the Light, of the Gofipel of Chrift ; it feem'd good to the primitive Fathers of our prefent Church, amongft other material Points, to take into their Confideration the multitude of Ceremonies in Divine Service ; under which Religion languifh'd, like our choiceft Fruit when depriv'd of the Light and Benefit of the Sun, by the too great Luxuriancy of Leaves. Upon this occafion our moft ex cellent Tillotfeon has thus exprefs'd himfelf*. *« , The Church of Rome (as they have handled '« Chriftianity) by the unreafonable number *' of their needlefs and fenfelefs Ceremonies, '*' have made the Yoke of Chrift heavier than *' that of Mofes, and the Gofpel a more car- " nal Commandment than the Liaw : So that " Chriftianity is loft amongft them in the " Trappings and Accoutrements of it ; with " which, inftead of adorning Religion, they il. have-ftrangely difguis'd it, and quite ftifled «* it in the Crowd of external Rites and Ce- " remonies." An d to fee how juft a Senfe in their Days our great Reformers had of this impertinent^ and, to ufe their own Words, intolerable Griev ance in the Church of Chrift, we need only turn to that moft judicious Advertifement upon * Serm. _8. E>/. p. 333, printed in his Life-Time. C this io ^DISQUISITION this very Subject, which they annexed to the End of the firft Englifh Common-Prayer Boik, and which to this day is happily preferv'd in the Beginning of our own, under the following Title; viz. " Of Ceremonies, why fome be " Abolifh'd, and fome Retain'd." * • With refpect to the former they thus begin. " Of fuch Ceremonies as be ufed in " the Church, and have had their Beginning " by the Inftitution of Man, fome at the " firft were of godly Intent and Purpofe " devis'd, and yet at length turn'd to Vanity " and Superftition : Some enter'd into the " Church by ' indifcreet Devotion, and fuch a " Zeal as was without Knowledge ; and for be- " caufe they were winked at in the beginnirigi t " they grew daily to more and more Abufes ; " which not only for their Unprofitablenefs7 " but alfo becaufe they have much blinded the " People, and obfiur'd the Glory of God, are " worthy to be cut away, and clean rejeft^' " ed." And again, fay They, — ~" Fur- " thermore, the moft weighty Caufe of the *' Abolifhment of certain Ceremonies was, " That they were fo far abus'd, partly by the ?' fuperftitious Blindnefs of the rude and un- " learn' d, and partly by the unfatiable Avarice, " of fuch as fought rhore their own Lucre. 5' than the Glory of God, That the Abufee could' "" not well be taken away, the Thing remain- « ing ftill.'? Here then we have not only a plain Ac count of the Abolition, the Cutting off, and clean rejecting Worfhiping towards the E a s t? j £ rejecting of certain Ceremonies of the Church at the Time of the Reformation, but alfo _)/«*'« Reafons for fo doing. And now, to draw towards my Point, I will fuppofe the Que- ftion afk'd " Which were the Ceremonies *c then abolifb'd ? " And my Anfwer, in a Word, isr -All that were not exprefsly re tained by the Book of Common Prayer, to which the aforefaid Advertifement was fubjoin'd. Of this the Relation itfelf betwixt the Book and the Advertifement, which can refer to nothing elfe, is a fufficient Evidence : And were more Proof requir'd, we need only turn to the firft Leaf of our Common-Prayer Book, which is intitled, not only the Book of Common-Prayer and Adminiftration of the Sacraments, but alfo of other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Ufe of the Church of Eng land : We therefore who profefs ourfelves Members of this Church, may as juftly ima gine we are at our liberty to ufe another Com mon-Prayer, or another Adminiftration of the Sacraments, as Other Rites and Ceremonies than what we find in this Book ; which, as to this .particular, prima _? plena facie, profeffes it felf to be wrote for the Obfervance of all true Sons of the Church of England. • Thus far have we the Voice of the Church, fpeaking in the very Title prefix'd to its Pub lick Liturgy, and in the authentick Advertife- vient of its venerable Compilers annexed to the fame. Let us next hear what fays the Law by which the Church itfelf was then eftablifh'd * * x&\ Ed. VI. 1. 1. C a The 12 ^DISQUISITION upon The very firft Ael of Uniformity eftablifh- ing the Common-Prayer Book does fo abound with Claufies to our prefent purpofe, that I cannot but think it much better to refer the Reader to the Ad itfelf, than to tranfcribe them here ; but thus much I beg leave to lay before him, viz. That we are there ex prefsly acquainted " The Lords Spiritual " and Temporal,* and Commons in Parliament " affembled, confidering the Honour of God, " and great Quietnefs which by the Grace "of God would enfue upon the One Uniform " Rite and Order in fuch Common-Prayer " and Rites and externe Ceremonies to be ufed " throughout England, &c. did give to the " King's Highnefis moft hearty and lowly " Thanks for the fame: and defir'd that all " and fingular Minifters in any Cathedral or " Parifh-Church, or other Place within this " Realm of England, &c. be bounden to fay " all their Common and Open Prayer, in fuch " Order and Form as is mentioned in the faid " Book, and none other or otherwise : " And that Penalties be ordain'd and enacted " for whatfoever Minifter in Cathedral or " Parifh-Church, &c. fhould thereafter ufe " (wilfully and obftinately ftanding in the " fame) any other Rite, Ceremony, _?c# " than is mention'd, and fet forth in the faid *' Book." Which Things were all accord ingly enacted and ordained. And to know the true Intent and Mean ing of the Act in this Particular, one would think Worfhiping towards the E as t. i 3 think we need only have recourfe to the Vifitation Articles of the Arch-bifhop of Canterbury in the very Year after it was pafs'd ; which Articles conclude thus ¦ " Finally, to ufe no other Ceremonies " than are appointed in the King's Book of *' Common-Prayer* or Kneeling otberwife than " is in the faid Book *. " I T appears alfo, that Calvin himfelf had the very fame Notion of this Matter ; who, in his famous Epiftle about that time to the Lord Protector, wherein he declares, in the ftrongeft terms, his Approbation of a. Jet Form of Prayers and Ceremonies, affigns in part thefe Reafons for his Opinion,- — *' That thus Paftors ** would have a fix'd Rule from which they *' might not depart in their publick Mini- " ftrations, the Harmony of Congregations " would be the more apparent, and the de- *' fultory Levity, of fuch as affected pecu- " liar Innovations, obviated Jr. " And when in the laft Year but one of this Reign there was a fecond Book of Com mon-Prayer, with fome Alterations, fet forth by Authority, as to the Point before us the * Burnet** Hifiory of the Reformation, Part II. 1p.102.and of the Records, p . 1 6 f. f Quod ad Formulam Precum & Rituum Ecclefiafti- corum valde probo, ut certa ilia extet a qua Paftoribus difcedere in functione fua non liceat, tam ut confulatur quorundam Simplicitati 8c Imperitia;, quam ut certius ita conftet omnium inter fe Ecclefiarum Confenfus; poftremo etiam ut obviam eatur defultori™ quorundam Levitati qui Novationes quafdam affe&ant. Cafe 14 A D 1 S Q0 1 S I T fB N upon Cafe was ftill the fame; the old Ael being made applicable thereto by the new, arid no other Ceremonies allowed but what the Book, in force, injoined. Upon which occafion, I find thofe emi nent Divines, and other learned Men, who were now jointly commiffioned to draw up a Reformation of the Ecclefiaftical Laws, thus expreffing themfelves,——" Which Book we " will and command to be the proper and ab- " fiolute Judge and Director of all Divine Ser- «* vice *." Nor can I think it pofiible, that any Man fhould conceive otherwife of the real Defign of the Legiflature then in being, unlefs fuch only as either will not take the pains to confiderthe Cafe, or labour under the moft violent Prejudice and Prepoffeffions to the Contrary. I n the fucceeding Reign indeed, the Book entire, together with the Atls that eftablifhed it, and the Church itfelf, were all cancell'd and deftroy'd : And amongft the reft of the Ma rian Injunctions, we have this ftill upon Re cord: " Item, That the laudable and honeft " Ceremonies {viz. all the old Popifh ones) " which were wont to be ufed, frequented and " obferved in the Church {viz. of Rome) be «* alfo hereafter frequented, ufed, and ob- i " ferved f." * Quem (Librum) proprium 8c perfeftum omnis Dj- vini Cultus j[udicem & Ma|iftrum efl"e juflimus. De Liturgia Anglicana, Tit-DePivinis Officiis, c.xvi. f Fox'j Eccl.Hiftory, Vql.III. p. 31. Edit.i68^ But Worfhiping towards the East. 15 But foon after, when a Princefs appeared upon the Throne,- born to efpoufe the Refor mation, and fuppoft the Caufe of Chrift, the late Statute for repealing the Common-Prayer -Book was itfelf repealed: " And the faid " Booki with the Order of Service, and of " the Adminiftration of Sacraments, Rites and " Ceremonies, with the Alterations and Ad- *<¦ ditions therein added and appointed by this " Statute, (fays the ACt prima Eliz. prefixed «* to the Prayer-Book) made to ftand and be ** in full force and effect." From the pafiing of this Ael may we date the Mra bf the Reformation complete : And now to refume my Argument; from this Mra alfo may we date the final Period of any authoriz'd Ceremony for worfhiping to wards the East in the Church of England: for after comparing what has been above faid upon the Subject of Ceremonies Abolifh'd and Retain' d, it will require fure no very pro found Capacity for any Man himfelf to form this Conclufion, viz. " That if there is no " Provifionin our Liturgy for worfhiping to- " wardsthe East, then it is no longer to " be regarded as a Ceremony of our Church: " For fince we may not ufe any Ceremony *' but what is retain' d by this Book, there is " no Medium betwixt not retaining and re- " jecling." And hence have we at laft a So lution of that Problem which fo long has puzzled many well-meaning People, viz. *f That in the Church of England as by Law " efta- i«5 A DISQUISITION upon " eftabliflied, there can be no fuch Thing " as an indifferent Ceremony:" and we may take it as a general Rule, that with us, in the Cafe of Ceremonies, " not to command is " to forbid" A Ma x i m in the Truth whereof I am the more confirm'd, by the manner wherein I have obferved Bifhop Jewel fpeaking of our prefent Subject : for having occafion in his Apology for our Reformation to fpeak of Ceremonies, he ufes no other Diftinction but that of Abolifh'd and Retained, confonant to the Language of our firft Reformers in their/ above-cited Advertifement ; to which indeed the whole he fays upon the matter has much affinity. However, for the Benefit of the Englifb. Reader upon this occafion I fhall endeavour to tranflate the Senfe of fo great a Man, than whom perhaps no one ever deferved better of the Church of England. " Concerning the Multitude of ufelefs "f Ceremonies, (fays he) we know that Auftin '^ in his time grievoufly complained : We *' have therefore cut off no fmall number of " 'em, being fenfible they were become a " Burden to the Confciences of Men, and an " Encumbrance to the Church of God. Yet <* do we retain and obferve not only Thofe "¦ we know to be of Apoftolical Tradition, but " Some others alfo which we thought pro- " bably might be fuffered without Detri- " ment.to the Church ; being defirous that, " all Things in our Religious Affemblies (as: « Paul Worfhiping towards the East. 17 " Paul injoins) fhould be done decently and " in order: But again all fuch Ceremonies as " we found exceedingly fuperftitious, or infig- " nificant, or indecent, or ridiculous, or .o»- " /rary to the Word of Go J, or unworthy of " fober-minded Men, of which fort there are " an Infinity amongft the Papifts, Thefe we " eaft off All without exception, being loth the " Worfhip of God fhould be any longer pro* " faned with fuch like Impertinence." Upon the whole therefore, fince it evi dently appears to me by fo great a Variety of Teftimonies, giving Light and Strength to each other, from the Beginning to the End of our Reformation, " that whatever Ceremony " was not exprefly retain'd in our Liturgy, " was both by our Liturgy and our Laws re- " jected," I cannot but conclude, that this of worfhiping towards the East being no where therein actually retained, was thereby actually rejected, and cut off from the Church of England, notwithftanding all its venerable Pre tences to Primitive Antiquity. The next Thing I fhould do in courfe, would be as impartially to examine the Rea fons " why the Fathers of the Church of " England threw out this Ceremony," as I elfewhere have thofe " why the Fathers of " the Church Primitive brought it in :" But our Reformers having affigned no fpecial Rea fons in this particular Cafe, I fhall content myfelf juft to remind my Reader of fome of the general ones above mentioned, and let D every it A DISQUISITION upm every one chufe and judge for himfelf.— — Whfther, for inftance, it was upon Sufpicion of (to fpeak with Jewel) Superftition, Infignifi^ tancy, or Ridiculoufnefs, as a Thing Unworthy of feober-minded Men, and* an Impertinency no longer to be tolerated in the Houfe of God. — Or whether (to fpeak with our firft Reformers J it were for that, at the very firft, it entered into the Church by undificreet Devotion, and fuch a Zeal as was without Kkowledge, and being wink'd at in the beginning, grew daily to more and more Abuses, till not only for its Unprofitablenefs, but alfo becaufe it much blinded the People, and obfecur'd the Glory of God ; it was held worthy to be abo- liflh'd, cut away and clean rejected :—¦<• >Or whether, finally (with fome farther Variation of the Cafe) it were fo far abus'd partly by the fuperftitious Blindnefes of the rude and un learn d, and partly by the unfeatiable Avarice Of fuch as fought more their own Lucre than the Glory of God, that the Abufies could not "be takert away the Thing remaining ftill.—- For which of thefe Reafons, I fay, it was that the Fathers of the Church of England, in their great Wifdom, thought fit to cut off, dbolifh "and utterly rejecl as a Thing of Nought, or rather worfe than Nothing, a Ceremony which not a few of its Sons have fince taught us fo much to reverence, I fhall not at prefent de termine ; but leave all true Lovers of the Mode to chufe which of the aforefaid Reafons thev like beft. y Thus it is abundantly manifeft that the Practice now in Queftion was one of the Ejected Worfhiping towards the East. iq Ejetlei Ceremonies by the Ails, of Uniformity a.t the Time of the Reformation : But notwith standing it was then fufficiently purg'doutof our Eftablifh'd Ritual, the Book of Common-Prayer, by thofe moft judicious Divines, and venerable Fathers of the Proteftant Church of England, who from time to time had the reviling of it ; yet do I not at all doubt but the Remains of this Practice were ftill to be feen in many Congregations; for as Rome was not built, fo neither was it to be demolifh'd all in a day. That the Reader may not regard this as a Surmife only of my own, I would beg leave to refer him to Mr. Fox's Ecclefiaftical Hi ftory about the Beginning of King Edward's Reign : where he will find Complaint, " That " thro' the perverfe Obftinacy and diffemb- " ling Frowardnefs of many the inferiour " Priefts and Ministers of the Cathedral and " other Churches of this Realm, there did " arife a marvelous Schifm and Variety of " Fafhions in celebrating the Common-Service " and Adminiftration of the Sacraments, and " 'other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church: " for Some, zealoufly allowing the King's Pro- ' ' ceedings, did gladly follow the Order thereof; " and Others, tho' not fo willingly admitting " them, did yet dijfemblingly and patchirigly «' ufe fome Part of them : but Many, care- " lefly contemning all, would ftill exercife " their old wonted Popery'' Hitherto the King had proceeded by Orders of Council only, Injunctions, and Pro- * D 2 clamations ; _o yf DISQUISITION clamations; but thefe proving infuffrcient, a Common-Prayer-Book was fet forth, to bring his Subjects (as the Hiftorian expreffes it) to fome Conformity, and this Book was alfo en- forc'dby Act of Parliament, "with theCon- " fideration (as we farther read) of altering " thofe things which were alter' d', and retain^ " ing thofe things which were retain' d in the " fame Book". But ftill do we find Com plaints, and that even of the Juftices of Peace themfelves, to whofe Truft and Charge the King's Majefty had committed the Execu tion of all his Proclamations, of his Acts of Parliament, and of his Laws, viz. " We " are inform'd that many of you are fo ne- " gligent, and fo flack herein, that it doth " appear, you do look rather, as it were, " thro' your fingers, than diligently fee to " the Execution of the faid Laws and Pro- " clamations: For if you would according to " your Duties, to your Oath, to- the Truft " which the King's Majefty hath in you, give ' " your Diligenee and Care towards the Exe- *' cution of the fame moft godly Statutes ^ and Injunctions, there fhould no Difobe- " dience, nor Diforder, nor Evil Rule be be- " gun or rife in any Part of the Realm, but " it fhould by and by be reprefs'd, kept " down and reform'd. But it is fear'd, and " the Thing itfelfglvtih occafion thereto, that " divers of you do not only not fet forth, *< but rather hinder, fo much as lieth in you, " the King's Majcfty's Proceedings-, and are *' content that there fhould arife fome Difo- *' bedience, Worfhiping towards the E a s t. 2 1 *' bedience, and that Men fhould repine a- " gainft godly Orders fet forth by his Ma- ' "Vjefty, you do fo flackly look to the Execu- " tion of the fame ; fo that in fome Shires " which are farther off, it may appear that " the People have never heard of diverfe of " His Majefties Proclamations ; or, if they " have heard, you are content to wink at it, " and neglect it, So that it is all one as tho' it *f were never commanded" Again, fays our Hiftorian, " What zea- " lous care was in this young King, and in " the Lord Protector his Uncle, concerning " Reformation of Chrift's Church, and fincere " Religion, by thefe Injunctions, Letters, Pre- " cepts and Exhortations, as well to the Bi- " fhops, as to the Juftices of the Realm a- '* bove premis'd, it may right well appear : " Whereby we have to note, not fo much " the careful Diligence of the King and his " learned Council, as the lingring Slacknefs " and drawing back, on the other Side, of di- " verfe the faid Juftices and Lawyers, but " efpecially of Bijhops and old Popifh Cu- " rates, by whofe clok'd Contempt , wilful " Winking, and ftubborn Difobedience, the Book " of the Common-Prayer was, long after the " publifhing thereof, either not known at " all, or elfe very irreverently us'd thro' ma- " ny Places of the Realm." We find alfo particular complaint made of the Bifhop of London, " That thro' his evil i<- Example, Slacknefs of Preaching, and admi- " nifiring 22 ^DISQUISITION " niftring the Sacraments, &c. many of the " People within that great City and other " Places of his Diocefe, were not only very " negligent and forgetful of their Duties to " God, in frequenting the Divine Service then " ftablifh'd, and fet forth by the Autority " of Parliament, but alfo that diverfe others, " utterly defpifing the fame, did in fecret " Places of his Diocefe often frequent the " Popifh Maffe, and other foreign Rites not " allow'd by the Laws of this Realm." Things Handing thus, we have little Rea fon to doubt, but that the Ceremony in par ticular of Worfhiping towards the East ftill kept its ground, or at leaft, by Connivence, was much in ure. However the time was not long before it began again to be openly cul tivated and encourag'd by thofe who fet up for the beft and only true Churchmen, with no lefs a Perfon than an Arch-Bifhop of Can terbury at the Head of them : " Who (once more to borrow the Words of the Supple ment to Mr. Nelfon) " fucceeded in his Defign " of reforming the Church of England back- " ward fo far, as to procure the recommend- " ing this Cuftom by a Canon made in the " Year 1640." The matter of Fact was This : There was at that time a Confiitution pafs'd, wherein Provifion was made for placing Communion- Tables under the Eaft- Windows ; and wor fhiping towards thefe Tables being recom mended in the fame, worfhiping towards the East, Worfhiping towards the East. 2. East, as our Churches generally now ftand, was, confequentially, recommended alfo. But to take the Matter higher: " From " Anno 1627, (fays One, than whom few were better acquainted with the Church-Affairs then in Agitation) " there had been much " done in Preaching and Practice to intro- " duce fome Comelinesses, as they were " ftyl'd, in the Houfe of God which had not " been before: The Arch-Bifhop fet his mind " upon it ; which a late Writer calls his *' Pregnancy to revive Antient Ceremo- " NIES."f Now that amongft the reft then reviv'd, this, of worfhiping towards the East, was one, is clear enough from the common Complaints of the Times ; which it would be as tedious as ungrateful to repeat : I fhall therefore be as brief as pofiible on the Occa fion. Sir John Culpepper in his Speech upon Grievances* gives this the Second Place, viz. " The obtruding and countenancing di- " vers New Ceremonies in Matters of Reli- " gion, as placing the Communion Table Al- " tarwife, and Bowing or Cringing to or to- " wards it." Amongst the Grievances annex'd to the London Petition is exprefly mention'd — + HacketV Life -of Arch-Bifhop Williams, Part. 2. p. " Praying 100. 24 A DISQUISITION*^ " Praying towards the East," and "Bow* " ing to the Altar towards the East." Mr. White in his Speech before the Houfe particularly complains of " a Practice of Mi- " nifters to turn their Faces to the East, and " their Backs to the People in the Reading " Desk." I find alfo it was Matter of Complaint in Parliament, that fuch Paffages as made againft thefe Innovations were omitted in the printing of Books, by the Conduct, of thofe who had the Management of the Prefls at that time1: I fhall beg the Reader's Patience for one In- ftance only, as it bears fome relation to our prefent Subject. The learned and ingenious Mr. Ward, it feems, in his Commentary upon St. Matthew had thus written. " It is controverted between " Us and the Papifts concerning the Forms of " Churches ; and Bellarmin affirms that they " fhould be built East and West, that fo " when we pray therein, our 'Faces might be " turn'd towards the East : and for the Proof " thereofhe produceth this Place {Mat.24.2y.) " — ab Orienteventurus creditur ad Judicium : " It is believ'd that Chrift will come unto " Judgment from the East , therefore we " ought to pray towards the East." * " First, (continues Mr. Ward) creditur, It " is believ'd : viz. by Thofe who can believe " what they lift, tho' never fo abfurd." "Se- tv'orfhtping towards ^East. 25 " Secondly, fays he, fuppofe the Ante-' u cedent were true, yet the Confequence halts ; " for althq' Chrift fhould come from the " East to Judgment, yet it would not fol- " low thence, That therefore we fhould pray " towards the East : We muft pray unto " Chrift who is every where in regard of his " Deity ; and, according to the Papifts, in " regard of his Humanity alfo ; and there* " fore which way fbever we pray we look " towards him : yea I imagine that Bellarmine " would bluflh -f" to affirm, and be backward " to undertake to prove, that Chrift' s Seat " and Throne of Glory in Heaven isfealed in the " East End thereof, and that the Humanity " never fiirs or moves out of that Seat and Part " of Heaven ; both which he muft prove be- " fore his Argument be of any worth or *' weight." " Thirdly, the Comparifon (in thefe " Words) betwixt the Coming of Chrift and " the Lightning doth not refpect the Place, " but the clear and feudden Apparition of Both." All this, fays, my Author, is expung'd. * f I fhould be glad to fee what our ICeblifts would do> who have not blufh'd to take up this Argument in their firft Part, nor to drop it without any Acknowledgment in their Second. Vide, T/^Kebla, or Defence of Eaftward Adoration,?^. Alfo, the Anatomy of the Kebla, p. 41. * Compleat Hiftory of the Tryal, £cc. of Arch-Sifhop Laud, p- l"' E And 26 yf DISQUISITION up6n And as thus a vigilant Care was taken to fupprefs all fuch Arguments, as might feem to bear an evil Afpect upon a 'favourite Ceremo ny: So at the fame time alfo were fome of the moft learned and able Pens of the Church employ'd to promote, what Men were then taught to call, " The Good Work in hand." I need mention Two Perfons only, Mr. Mede and Mr. Gregory : of which the latter was - ftil'd the Miracle of his Age, and the for mer ftill continues the Oracle of ours. But there feems to be an unhappy Difference in their Sentiments on the prefent Subject, The learned Mr. Mede, upon the Cafe of Eaft ward Adoration, pleads indeed the Practice of Antiquity, alledging, " the Antient Chri- " ftians worfhip'd towards the East :" But he obferves withal, " when they worfhip'd " they turn'd themfelves or look d towards " the Altar alfo: and if it be ask'd, fays " he, which of the Two they reflected in " their Pofture ; I anfwer, they refpected " Both : But, if they could not obferve both, " then ( he determines) they prefer'd the Al- " tar; as, fays he, in the Church at __»- " tioch."* But the learned Mr. Gregory, in the Cdn- clufion of his Notes and Observations upon Scripture, has this moft remarkable Paragraph. " Here I muft tell you (how much foever Vol.1, p-jor. "you Worfhiping towards theHAST. %j " you fee written to the contrary) that You " will not find any the leaft mention of Ad- " oration towards the Altar, in the whole 66 Stock of Church- A ntiqjiity, Greek, " Latin, Arabick or whatfoever: You will " think perhaps I take too much upon me ; " but you will find it to be true: and where "you think you meet with any fuch thing, " underftand it ftill of the East, orelfeyou " will be out. And for want of knowing " this, all the Difcourfes which have been fo " lately written to this Purpofe have very " abfeolutely mifecarried." But when the Cafe we are now upon came before the fupreme Judicature of the Nation, they did not at all trouble themfelves to de cide, which of thefe two learned Gentlemen was moft in the right, but feem to have thought 'em both befide the main Point in debate : which They rightly ftated thus : " What Innovations in Dotlrine or D.ifecipline " have been introduced into the Church " without Law fince the Reformation?" WHEN,upon mature Deliberation, and Con futation had with our ableft Divines, " Bow- " ing towards the Altar, or towards the " East , many times with three Congees, " but ufually in every Motion, Accefes or _?_- " cefes in the Church: Item, the Minifter's " turning his back to the Weft, and his Face " to the East when he pronounceth the " Creed or reads Prayers," were found and dedar'd to be fuch Innovations as had been E 2 intro- 28 ^DISQUISITION intfoduc'd in the Church without Law fince the Reformation': and this by Men (amOngft others of the firft Rank) whofe Names are to this Day the Glory of the Church of England.-^ And when his Grace himfelf was brought to his Tryal, I do not find he was able to produce any one Order of the Church for the Practice of thefe Particulars : However he bethought himfelf of fomething he had for merly harangued upon, as feeming to coun-. tenance his Conduct, in the Statutes of the Order of St. George: But ¦ ¦••>• • to hear an Arch-Bifhop of Canterbury, when call'd upon to vindicate himfelf for tranfgref- ¦ fing the Rules of his Common-Prayer- Boqk, plead the Rubrick of the Gar ter, was what fure could give no feolid Sa- fisf dC^ion but only to his Enemies! In fhort, his Grace was given to under- ftand by way of Reply, — Not the Black Book of Windsor, but "That of the f Common-Prayer, and Adminiftration of *' the Sacraments and other Rites and Ce- H remonies of the Church pf England '_' t The moft Venerable Primate Usher.- Williams fome time Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and afterwards Arch- Sijhop of York: The Bifhops of Durham and Norwich! alfo the Drs. Ward, Prideaux, Sahderfon. Bro wnrigg, Hold f. worth and Hacker, All Bifhops in their Time : and other fminent Divines. See Dr. Hacked Life of Arch-Bifliop Williams, Part II. p. 146". &C. Alfo the Hiftory of Non conformity, pag. 3&l*v<>imr1x- Ub.i. c.fj. H What 50 __" DISQUISITION Wh a t, Bifhop Sparrow, and all our mo dern Divines in his way of teaching, feem to ground themfelves upon, is the Vulgar Error, that in the. firft Churches regularly eretled the Communion Tables, or what They rather call the Altars, wereplac'd in. the East-End : Archbifhop Laud, even upon his Tryal, was fo pofitive in this Cafe, as to affirm it to have been general in all Churches, and that they flood even clofe to the East-Wall, " as,. fays He, " All Antiquity manifefts*." Which yet his own Chaplain Mr. Mede fcrupled not to declare to be " a foul and monftrous Error," in his Brother Chaplain Dr. Heylin ~f. But this by the way. — - The Divines afore faid, I fay, being very unanimous that Altars in general were plac'd towards the East-End of the Chancels, concluded that thofe, who wor fhip'd towards the East, muft of courfe wor fhip towards the Altar. In anfwer to which, not to fpend time in inlarging upon a very obvious Objection arifing from what I have juft obferv'd out of the Apoftolical Conftitutions, I do infift upon it, that their Notion itfelf, as to the Place of the Lord's Table in the firft Churches, is a vulgar Error, the Suppofition of a Fact void of all Foundation, and con trary to the real Truth of the Cafe. And as ftrange as what I now advance may feem to our Keblists, I doubt not but the moft Zealous of them would entirely accord with * RufliworthV Coll. Vol. 2. p. 278. f At the Clofe of a Letter to Mr.Eftwiek. me, Worfhiping towards the Has t. 51 me, could I make it appear, That the Ge neral Situation of Churches, even' to the fifth Century, was the very Reverfe of what we now behold, viz. That they had their chief Entrances, not as now towards the West, but towards the "East : This, I fay, muft unite them all in Opinion, that the Altar could not be plac'd clofe to,, or near the East-End of the Houfe of God ; the Door, I think, having never been reckoned in the general Efteem of Men, the moft ho nourable Place in any Houfe. In order to what is propos'd, the only Poftulatum I fhould defire to be granted is This that " Buildings are properly faid " to be fituated, to front, face, look or ft and " that way, by which they have their chief En- " trance and Accefe." This is nothing more than what is confonant to, the general Lan guage of Architects antient and modern : and this being granted, it will not be denied, that which way ever Buildings are faid to have flood, to be fituated, &c. that way, if we cre dit the Writer, ought we to underftand they had their chief Entrance and Accefe. Th 1 s being premis'd ; I fhall next ex hibit the moft antient general Rule for building chriftian Churches now extant, and. alfo the moft antient general Defcription of them that has fallen under my Obfervation. The Rule we have in the Conftitutions above-cited, viz. " That Churches fhould be turn'd towards the H 2 " East." 5? .^DISQUISITION " East*." And no doubt but, if they, were turn'd that way, they would fta.nd that way, and by confequence have their chief Entrance that way. It will perhaps be objected, this Confti tution has been otherwife interpreted ; but the Queftion with me is not, how it has been, but how it ought to be interpreted, according to the Propriety of Language amongft thofe moft converfant in affairs of this Nature ; and indeed according to the commpn Ufe and Ac ceptation of the Words. But to fhew that I am not lingular in my Interpretation ; Doctor Spencer, 'tis plain, underftood this Place in the Senfe I now contend for, when fpeaking of certain Churches in the primitive Times with their Veftibula or Entrances towards the East, " To this Cuftom, fays he, Clemens, (Con. " Apoft. 1. 2. c. 57. ) 0c. if You have leifure " to confult them> do give fufficient Tefti- «{ monyi".'' A s to the general Defcription of Churches when built ; the moft antient to me feems that of Tertullian, " Noftrse Columbje Domus " fimplex, etiam in editis fiemper, & apertis9 * ng.)^u\ov pb e once* f ;a> l7ny.riKvi(, i&l' ivitjoKeit TejoitfAiJLivof. ubi fupra. t ex eo more gentilitid profeotum videtur, quod, frb rei Chriftiana; Principia, Gen,tiles, converfi Templo- rum^nonnullorum Veftibula verfus Orientem aedificarent: Huic mori Clemens (Con. Apoft. 1. 2. c. 5-7.) & Eufebius (L. 10. c.4.) fi ferat otium facile confulendi, teftimonium fatis amplum perliibent, De leg. H«b. p. 849. " & Piping towards the E a s t. 53 *<¦ & ad Lucem." In this well known Paffage, which is on all hands agreed to relate to Churches, we have a full Account of the Situation j and we can underftand nothing elfe by it but that it was generally, if not conftant ly, High, Open, and towards the East. T o come from this general Defcription to particular Churches : One of the moft antient and' authentick Defcriptions that we have (as Mr. Bingham himfelf obferves) of any parti cular Church, is that in Eufebius * of the Church of Tyre ; the Great Entrance of which is more than once defcrib'd as oppofite to the Sun-Rifing. The Founder of this Church was the Bifhop of the Place, who no doubt knew very well what he did in placing the Great Doors, which were " exceeding lofty and *' magnificent," towards the East. This was the nobleft Structure theChri- ftians till then were ever mafters of: And when, foon after, Conftantine ordered a Church to be built at Jerufealem, which fhould not only excel all other Churches, but alfo all other Buildings in the World, This again had its Grand Entrance towards the East1 : for " Three Doors (fays my Author f) fitly " plac'd at the Rifing Sun receiv'd the Mul- " titudes of thofe that went in " It -is wor thy of obfervation alfo, that this Church was built upon Confultation with, if not chiefly * Eccl. Hift. 1. 10. c. 4. f Eufebius de Vita Conftantini, Lib. 3. cap. 37. under 54 A DISQUISITION 0^0 v under the Direction of, the Diocefan, and the Dedication of it -was celebrated by a general Confluence, of Bifhops from all Parts, with the higeft Encomiums both upon the Stru cture and the Founder, in all things expreffing the greateft Joy ^imaginable || : Yet furely muft it have caus'd fome Abatement in the general Satisfaction, had fo noble a Structure, after all, been built with the wrong End ¦ypwards. Many more were the Churches erected by the fame Emperor ; nor is there any rea fon to doubt (tho' Hiftorians may be filent as to that Particular) but they had the fame Situation:, and this I am the more inclin'd to believe, becaufe from the Sermon of Leo above-cited, by the Defcription of the Accefs to St. Peter's in Rome, it appears that Church then had (as it ftill continues to have) its En trance towards the East : which Church alfo owes its Original to Conftantine as may be feen by an Infcription over its Entrance *. l Besides, Such was the common Situation of Churches in that Age, as is clearly attefted by Paulinas Bifhop of Nola, who wrote in the latter end of it : for fpeaking of a Church himfelf had founded " It has not," fays he, " its ProfipeCi towards the East, as the || See again the Life of Conftantine, B. 3 _»4. * Vide Donaturn de XJrbe Roma. I.4. 0.28*. item 33o. 380. i " more Worfhiping towards ^ East. 55 " more ufual Manner isf." How long af terwards it continued fo, I will not be pofitive ; I believe it began to decline about that time : for Pineda above-cited writes, that " the Cuf- "tom, which the" Primitive Fathers of the " Church had obferv'd and injoin'd, of build- " ing Churches towards the East, was grown " out of ufe in the time' of Leo the Firft, " Bifhop of Rome || ;" viz. about the middle of the next Century after that we have been fpeaking of. However, Churches thus built thus continued for many Ages. Durandus, who died in the 14th Century, by the Paflage above-cited, — "In Churches which have their " Doors towards the East, as at Rome $," feems to fpeak of them as common there in his Time. And Bifhop Jewel, referring to this Paffage in his Difpute with Harding, plainly gives us to underftand the fame of the Great Churches, in general, at Milain, Naples, Lions, Mentz, and Rome ; and, in particular, of the Church of St. Laurence in Florence, at the time when He wrote * : by which one would be tempted to imagine that All, or moft of them, remain fo to this very Day. The rea fon, why the Great Churches more efpecially (as obferv'd) fhould be found thus fituate, is f Profpe£tus Bafilicas non, ut ufitatior Mos eft, Orien tem ipe£tar. Ep. 12. ad Sever. || In Jobi cap. 31. v. 26. \ Rat. Div. Off. l.f . c. 2. * Reply. Artic..^. of Prayers in aftrange Tongue". plain ; 5_ .^DISQUISITION plain; They were beft built, and fo furviv'd others of the fame Date, which, in all pro bability had the fame Pofition. These Things confidered, it feems to me abundantly manifeft, " That for the four "firft Centuries the GeneralSituation of Churches " was directly the Rev erf e of what we now " behold." Yet muft it be own'd, this Truth is contrary to the receiv'd Opinion, not only of the Vulgar, but even of the Generality of our moft celebrated and learned Writers. What feems to have led them into the Miftake, is the current Notion, " That, as the Primi- " tive Chriftians worfhip'd towards the East, " their Churches, to be accommodated to their " Manner of Worfhip, ought fo have had ** their Entrances, as ours have,- at theWEsT- " End." Thus fpeaks Archbifhop Williams in his Holy Table? Name and Thing : Thus his An- tagonift Dr. Heylin in his Aniiddtkm: Thus alfo the moft learned Mr. Mede, and Mr. Stave- ley, ih their Difcoarfes of Churches; 'Tis plain alfo Dr. Cave and Mr. Bingham^ if not all our modern Antiquaries, are entangled in this way of thinking. And yet perhaps the matter of Fact is not more clear " That the Primitive Chri- " ftians worfhip'd towards the East," than *' That the Primitive Churches had alfo their *' Fronts or Great Entrances that way." To untie this Knot, I beg leave (with all due Submiflion to the many and great Authori ties on the other Side) to lay down thus Ob fervation, Worfhiping tdwards the East. 57 fervation,— ," That this Sort of Situation is but a meer imaginary Impediment to Ea st- " ward Adoration:" to which I fhall add, Tis highly probable it might in fome Ages be held the mbft proper Situation for that Pur pofe; "It is granted for the moft part, fays Mr. Selden, " that the Gentiles did in " general look towards the East in Prayer, " and that therefore (for this very reafon) " the Doors of their Temples did look to- " wards the fame Quarter, even from the " moft antient Times f." And fince we read that Daniel open'd his Windows to pray towards Jerufalem ; why can we not conceive the Primitive Chriftians to have fet open their Doors in order - to pray towards the East ? This would, fo far, clear the Profpect towards it ; which, irt the Ge nerality of our Churches is intercepted by a Stone- Wall above the Head of the talleft Man in the Congregation : and in our Cathe drals the Communicants have fcarce fo much as a Glimpfe of the East-Window. But what more confirms me in my Opi« nion is, that in the Panegyrical Oration, in Eufebius *, upon the Church of Tyre, the fur- prizing Convenience as well as Beauty of f Admittitur autem plerumque Gentiles generatim Orientem, inter precandum, adeoque fores Templorum eorum eandem in Plagam a vetuftiflirnis etiam Seculis fpe&affe. De Synedriii L3. cap.ulc. * L. 10. c.4. ^ I \ each 58 A DISQUISITION each Part of the Structure is particularly com mended : This Church therefore could not but be thought well accommodated to the moft remarkable Ceremony in all their Service : and yet had this, as well as that of Conftantine, not only one, but Three Doors towards the East ; the middlemoft of which, the Orator informs us, " flood like a Queen betwixt her Royal " Supporters." This being a fair State of the Cafe, Thofe Gentlemen, who in this Difpute have taken Sanctuary at the Altar, muft certainly find themfelves greatly difappointed ; for fince, according to their own common Principle, the " uppermoft Part is due to the Altar", they cannot fuppofe it to be plac'd at or near the Door ; nor can they deny, but that as many of the Congregation as flood betwixt the Door and the Altar, when they prayed towards the East, muft have turn'd their Backs upon the Altar : and again, if any Re verence were made towards it at their En trance, it muft have been made Westward, contrary to their profefs'dKEBLA, or avow'd Point of Worfhip. The prefent Subject may be farther illu- ftrated, by inquiring, What was the Ori ginal Place affign'd for the Altar, or Com munion-Table, fo call'd, in Chriftian Churches. The Defcription of the Church of Tyre afore- laid will afford us perhaps the beft. Light we can now have in this matter : And hence it will appear the good Bifhop, the Founder of that Worfhiping towards the East. j9 that noble Pile, plac'd the Holy Table in the Center of it ; i. e. in the very middle of the Body of the Church : for it is a very great Miftake, tho' a very common one, to imagine that Churches, in the Times we have been fpeaking of, had any feparate Apartments at their upper Ends, fuch as we now call Chan cels, for the Office of the Communion : This to me is evident from the Paffage of Tertul- lian above-cited, " Noftrae Columbse Domus " fimplex -f\" By which ExpreiTion, in my Opinion, the Father makes it the Commen dation of a Chriftian Church that it had no Partition, but confuted of one Room only. And as to the manner of the Chancel in the Church of Tyre (the firft 1 ever met with) it was not a difiinbl Part of the Building from the Body of the Church, but a circular Enclofeure only in the Midft of it, high enough to keep the Croud at a convenient diftance from the Table, that the Minifters might the better officiate. Which, to be brief, cannot perhaps be more juftly conceiv'd, than by our imagin ing the Communion Table at St. Paul's to be plac'd directly under the midft of the Cupulo, with a round Space rail'd in about it, of fuffi- cient Dimenfions handfomly to accommodate the Clergy belonging to the Church in time of Divine Service. This to me appears a juft Account of the Original of Chancels : which alfo long conti- f Adverfus Valentinianos, p.tfi- I 2 nued <5o # DISQUISITION jiued in this Pofture, as friay appear front what Bifhop JeWel * cites out of St. Auftin—* " Mehfa ipfius eft ilia in Wedio conftituta.'' The Lord's Table is that which isplacM in the ¦Midft. For which Petition, eveh inhis Time, Durandus, afligning a Reafon, tells us, " By " the Altar is underftood the Heart of Man, " which is in the Middle of the Body, as the " Altar is in the Middle of the Church +." A Plan, upon this Scheme, of the Church of Paulinus at Tyre, and another of that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerufalem, may be feen in a little Tract of the R.evrt. Sir George Wheeler concerning the Churches of the Pri mitive Chriftians ; wherein, tho' He could not himfelf get over that Stumbling-Block, " That " Churches to be accommodated to their Mam - *' ner of Worfhip," fhould have their Chan- eels, as now, at the East-End, yet has he giv'n us fair Plans, fo far as their Situation is concern'd, of the Two Churches now fpe- cified. What influence the Inflection of thefe Plans may have upon fuch as are prejudic'd in favour of another Scheme, I know not ; but would fincerely recommend them, toge ther with their Defcriptions in Eufebius, to their impartial Meditation : defiring them moreover in particular to obferve, that ih thofe early Times the Fonts for Baptifm will * Againft Harding, ubi fupra. f Per Altare Cpr noftrum intelligitur, quod eft in Me dio Corporis, ficut Altare in Medio Ecclelise. Rat. Div. Off. Lib. i- cap. 2. appear Worfhiping towards the E a s.t. 61 appear to have had their. Place without, in the Open Air, Eastward of the Church to which they belong'd ; fo that all* who com ing to be baptiz'd made publick Profeffion of the Chriftian Faith towards the East, as was the undoubted Practice of the fourth Cen tury, muft of Neceffity, in fo doing, turn their Backs upon the Altar, which flood with in. That Chriftians in thofe Days therefore had no Notion of prof effing their Faith towards an Altar, will be a Point more clear, if pof- fible, than that they had none of praying to wards it. Nor ought it in the leaft to be a thing incredible with us, that the truly Pri mitive Chriftians fhould have no Notion, that they, properly fpeaking, had any Altar at all, or that the Chriftian Difpenfation did at all require it. But it is time for me now to afk my Reader's Pardon that I have fo long detain'd him on Points of this Nature, which perhaps may feem an Excurfion from my Subject : But I am verily perfuaded that, if what I have advanc'd will bear the Teft (which I fubmit to the learned) I have cut the very Sinews of the Caufe ofEASTWARD Adoration as now in vogue, and not only deftroy'd the chief Argument, but the chief Defign of Some of its chief Advocates : who are Men of too much Philofophy, and of too good Senfe, to have any real Regard in their religious No tions to one Point of the Compafs more than another ; but are well enough pleas'd to make ufe 62 A DISQUISITION upon ufe of the East as a Shooing-Horn to their Altar ; and when once they have well fix'd our Devotions on that, the East will be dropt of courfe ; as is now the Cafe in all Popifh Churches where the Altar ftands to wards fome other Quarter : even juft as the learned Mr. Mede himfelf has determin'd it ought to be. I Should now proceed to the Difcuffion of the Arguments of fuch other of our Mo derns as feem to deferve a publick Notice : But it may be proper for me firft to obviate Two Objections, which are the moft likely of all others to be rais'd againft what I have now advanc'd in relation to Churches and Altars. Socrates the Hiftorian, fpeaking of the various Circumftances of Chriftian Worfhip, obferves that " at Antioch in Syria the Site of the " Church was inverted ;" for, fays He, " the " Altar [or rather Chancel] looks not towards " the East, but towards the West f." Hence it has been agreed by the Generality of Writers, who in this, as in too many other Cafes, have gone in a Track, that This Church at Antioch, facing towards the East, was built directly contrary to all otherChurches ; and a learned Doctor of our own in parti cular calls it " A moft prepofterous Situation." f M \iLKKY\miL AVnT^OV %)$t 7BC 8*W ' « Jaf Tg)f M&loKtiv ii 6i/0;ecr>'ieV/e ep.£. Lib.y. c.22. Yet Worfhiping towards the E a s t. p"3 Yet no Man fure, that will confider what has been now offer'd, can fuppofe that a Church in this Situation could be any thing rare or uncommon in the Time of Socrates : to any unprejudic'd Mind it will appear much more probable, that this very Church was one of the then new-fafhion'd Churches, which flood, as ours now do, towards the West : and thus - alfo, properly fpeaking, do our Chancels ftand at this day, fince they have their chief Entrance and Accefe that way : Nor fhall I ftart a new Notion, fhould I fay- that " the Altars in all fuch Chancels look " towards the West :" Since that Side of the Altar has been ufually call'd the Front which faces the Congregation, as may be feeri in. Durandus, lib. i. c. 3. Whence alfo the Car pet hanging down before it is term'd the Frontale, which Mr. Stavely * tranflates the Forecovering ; anfwerable to which, fays he, they had on the other fide the Dorfeale vel Doffale, viz. the Covering for the Back-Part of the Altar. A Second Objection, I forefee, will arife from hence That the Altar was ufually call'd the Tabernacle of God's Glory : His Chair of State: The Throne of God: The Type of Heaven itfelf: The Propitiatory : Chrift' s Mo nument : The Tabernacle of his Glory : and the Shop of the Great Sacrifice: &c. and that for thefe Reafons the Primitive Chriftians did al ways in praying look towards it. * P. 187. 1 Thus <54 A UISQVIS IT I Q N upm Thus argues Dr. Biffe. * upon the Autho rity of Bifhop Sparrow's Rationale, as the- Bifhop -f- upon that of a cer-tain Greek Rratioft- alift of the 15th Century: But 'twill be fuf- ficient for us to reply, that there is not the: leaft Foundation in the Gofpel for thefe high-. flown Metaphors upon the Lord's Table, and very little relation in the Nature of Things, as upon Examination would eafily appear. 'Tis true indeed, an Allegorical and Myftical Way of fpeaking did too foon prevail" in the Church, whence arofe fome of the greateft and moft fhocking Abfeurdities that ever enter-'d in to the Heart of Man ; and more efpecially with regard to the Altar : which, by a cer tain Licentia, Rhetorica, became, in the end, juft what the Preacher pleas'd, as may be feen by the Particulars above-fpecified ; viz. at once a Table, a Seat, and a Tabernacle : a Throne, and a Monument: a Heaven, and a -*-Shop. Yet did I never meet with any Pri mitive Chriftian who has left us thefe Reafons for praying towards it : if indeed for the Rea fon laft mention' d we had been told that Mo dern Chriftians had been taught to look to wards the Altar in prayer, I could have faid little to the contrary ; but to what is affirm'd of thofe call'd Primitive, I defire to be ex- cus'd my Affent, till I fee fome more primi tive Authority produc'd for it : and even This, I muft tell them, would be of very little Ser- * Beauty of Holinefs, p. 143. Ed.8. t Rat. Ed. 7. f>. 38. & 320. vice Worfhiping towards the E as t. 6§ vice to thofe concern'd, unlefs they could at the fame time fhew us, that '" whatever was " the Practice of the Primitive Chriftians in " Prayer, ought to be our Practice alfo:" which yet (as in its Place will appear) they cannot maintain, without firft renouncing the Principles of the Church of England, and every other Church, at this day, upon the face of the Earth ; there being not now that Church in the whole World which in all things con forms to the Ufages of the firft Chriftians in Prayer : I believe I might add, " there is not " that Man that does it." This Point there fore, by the way, as much Noife as is made about it, muft be given up by Catholick Confent. And if the Practice of our Predeceffors in Chri ftianity is not binding to us, much lefs are we obliged to take the Model of our Service from the Jewifh Pattern : whence alfo Bifhop Sparrow, in the Clofe of his Argument, at tempts to inculcate his Notions upon us. Thus I take my leave of this Renown'd Rationale ; and have only this to add of . its Author, that, to give him his due, no other perhaps hath ever more artfully attempted to fiophifticate our Service under pretence of ren- dring it more reafeonable. That the Reader may have time to breath, I fhall here put an End to this long Section. «fga K SECTION 66 ^DISQUISITION SECTION III. THE Author of the celebrated Beauty of Holiness, &c. Dr. Thomas Biflfie, as next in Dignity, fhall be next in Place. But I may fay, " If I have anfwered the Bifhop, " I have anfwered the Doctor : " fince the main Body of his Arguments on this head are a meer Tranfcript only from the Trea- tife laft before us ; and that taken upon Truft, without confulting any higher Au thorities 5 as appears from the Story cited out of Epifhanius, in relating of which both the Bifhop and the Doctor mifreport the Name of the Perfon they would reprefent as a Mad man and Impoftor, calling him Elzmus -f ; as a later Writer does Elzacus : whereas in the Original He is S wxiymm m-J|_i (Hser. lib. i. c-19.) which Durandus, and other Latins, rightly tranflate Elxceus. But not to infift f In the fame Error are our Keblists, (p. 37.) But at the fame titni have fallen into a more capital, not to fay comical, Miftake, having actually made the real and de* teftable Heretick Elxai one of the moft Primitive Patrons of Eaftward Adoration. But for this, and other the like Fidtions, I fuppofe they think themfelves no more account able, than for the audacious Piece o/Impofture they fet out with in their very Title-Page, and for which they have been fo juftly ftigmatix.'d by my Friend their Anatomist, p, 21. & patiim. upon Worfhiping towards the East. 67 upon a Mifnommer (which yet in fome Courts, it feems, is thought a fufficient Caufe of Nonfiuit) let us come to the Merits of the ^ Story. — «-__. If then this- fame Elxceus, alias Elzceus, alias Elzacus, deferv'd to be thought little better than a Madman, becaufe he could not acquiefce with the eftablifh'd Rites of the Church in his Time, what ought they to be thought who are as ill-content with the efta blifhed Rites of their own, and muft needs be adding more Ceremonies than the Law al lows ? How will they efcape the Charge of Impofture, whilft fetting themfelves up as the trueft Sons of the Church, they are found falfe to its Legal Conftitution, and not only tranf grefs themfelves, but teach others fo to do, mifreprefenting and defaming all fuch as dare not take the fame Liberties with themfelves, as is moft hotorioufly manifeft in the very Cafe now before us ! The Doctor indeed has once attempted to improve the Rationale, when fpeaking of the Jewifh Pattern he obferves, " even the " Cherubims were form'd with their Faces " looking towards the Mercy-Seat f." Which Argument, by his Leave, looks as if it had neither won nor loft ; for it being well known that the Cherubims fronted each other, in looking towards the Mercy-Seat they could not both look towards the East, if either did : Their Looks therefore can be of no great weight to the good Caufe in hand. f Beauty of Hplinefs, p. 143. Ed. 8, K 2 Again, 68 A D I S QU I S I T I ON upon Again, when I fay the main of the Doc tor's Argument is a Tranfcript, .let me not be und.-rftood to deny, that there are fome Things he may properly call his own : As when he fets up the Camp, for inftance, as a Pattern to the Church, and zealoufly contends for inter- pofing fome Military Exercife with our Spiri tual. " In rehearfing of our Creeds," fays He, " This Cuftom [of turning to the Al- " tar or the East] is ftill more proper and " fignificant: for we are appointed to per- " form it fianding, by this Pofture declaring " our Refolution to ft and by that Faith which " we have prbfefs'd. So that at thefe Times " we refemble not fo much an Affe^bh as " an Army. As then in every well-?narfhall'd " Army all look and move one way, fo " fhould we always do in a regular Affem- " bly *." And this Refemblance of the Camp in the Congregation the good Doctor elfewhere pronounces " A moft amiable, moft bleffed " Sight f!" This puts me in mind of what I have read of the Gentlemen in Poland, viz. " That " when they repeat their Creed, they draw " their Swords, to fhew how ready they are " to defend the Faith of Chrift againft all " Oppofers." " This, continues my Author, " is a very fignificant Ceremaiy, and makes " a Fine Show !" And fhould the Church * Ubi fupra. f Of Decency and Order, Ser. 3. p.oo. * Of Worfhiping towards the E a s t.' 69 of England ever be blefs'd with fo amiable a Sight, might it not be proper upon Review of our Liturgy, inftead of the Hoc agite of the Antients, to have a Perfon appointed to ufe certain new Words of Colhmand, as Thus — " To the East about I" As you " were !" Sec. Yet fome perhaps would think this Employ fitter for an Adjutant than an Archdeacon : I perceive alfo the Doctor, tho' an experiene'd Divine, is but a raw Soldier, or he would never have told us, that " in " every well -marfhal I'd Army all look and " move one way." Whereas in forming the Hollow Square, which I take to be the com- pleteft Ceremony of the Field, the fame Body of Men turn and look four ways at once. But fince the Doctor is fo great an Ad mirer pf a well-marfhall'd Army, it might have been expected one of his Function would have given us fome Account of their Devo tion as well as their Difecipline, in the Per formance whereof, it feems, . they all, in their refpective Regiments, face towards their Chap lain ; about whom they place themfelves in a Ring, the moft natural of all other Pofi- tions, where the Congregation is large, for publick Edification, and which may ferve to give us fome Idea of one of the Round Chancels of the Antients. I Should not have fpent fo many Words upon this Martial Model of the Doctor's, but that it appears to be his own great and fa vourite yo ^DISQUISITION vourite Exampk * : and is what the Ladies. (as a Practice admitting of a graceful Turn in Divine Service) come into with much Alacrity and Addrefs. I fhou'd be extremely forry, therefore t^ have giv'n the leaft Uneafinefs by my Manner of treating it ; and wifh nothing more, than that the Manner of the Argument had giv'n me an Opportunity to treat it with more refpect. For which very reafon I fhall not enter into any critical Examination of the Propriety, not to fay Decency, of many other Examples, which the good Doctor's Zeal on this occafion has fuggefted for the Imitation of all True Churchmen : amongft the reft we find propos'd thofe of Locufts, Woodcocks, Cranes, and Wild-Geefie, as excellent Unifor- mifis T / The two laft Species indeed had been long ago mention'd in a memorable Comparifon by one of the moft eminent Fa thers, but not much to the Honour of Eccle- fiaftical Affemblies ||. Having thus far paid the Tribute of our Attention to this fo juftly adrnir'd Author, let us now come to what we find peculiar upon our Subject, in " the Rational Illuftra- " tion of the Book of Common-Prayer." This will be beft pointed out to us by its own Index, under the Word East ; viz. (i.) " Why the Primitive Chriftians turn'd " that way in their Worfhip." (2.) "Why * Beauty of Holinefs, p. 144. f Decency jmd Order p. 9. || See Le Clerc'i Life of Gregory Nazianzen. " Chan- Worfhiping towards the "East: 7_ " Chancels ftand at the East -End of the " Church." (3.) " Why People turn their " Faces thai way when they fay their Creed." (4.) " Why they are buried with their Feet " towards the East." The Two firft Articles have been already fpoke to: and tho' I muft beg a Word more with Mr. Illuftrator on the fecond, yet does it feem moft proper to poftpone it till the Two laft Articles have been fpoke to alfo, viz. " Why People turn their Faces towards " the East when they fay their Creed:" And " why they are buried with their Feet " towards it." As to what concerns turning at the (freed9 our Author tells us, " It is done that fo wc " may look towards that Quarter of the " Heavens where God is fuppos'd to have " his peculiar Refidence of Glory *." That this was the East he had before told us " was probable even from Scripture itfelf -f-.'* But inftead of quoting Chapter and Verfe, which had been the ready and fair way, he refers us at large to various Tracts of Mr. J. Gregory, entitled " Notes and Obferva- " tions upon fome Paffages of Scripture," and more efpecially to his Preface and Eighteenth Chapter. A s to the Preface, no Scripture can I find looking this way there, but the Infcription I I H ¦ I" —»_——___ ¦__¦ M— — — _¦ ———————. I — — — — * P. If2. t P. 80. 1 of 72 ^DISQUISITION upon of a long-fquare Stone found underground in China by thofe who, 'tis fuppos'd,. knew beft where to find it, the Jefuits. This fubter- raneous Gofpel of theirs indeed acquaints us, that " Chrift at his Afcenfion gave Com- " mand that Men fhould worfhip towards " the East." But it is a fhrewd Sign they wanted aText who went fo far for it : and other than this, I fay, can I find none in the Pre face -, unlefs we have recourfe to an old Egyp tian Hieroglyphick, wherein is reprefented a Scarabaus, or Beetle (one of the Creeping Gods St. Paul refers to) making Worlds in Fimo. Bovis : " itfelf in the mean time turning to- " wards the East, as, fays Mr. Gregory, to " call up Great Nature to thefe Travailes." i. e. in more modern Terms, to invoke the Di vine Aflfiftance upon its Labours. A Most ftupendous, Inftance, I muft.con- fefs, and worthy Precedent of Eaftward Ado ration ! But in this fceptical Age of ours, wherein almoft every Thing Sacred is call'd , in queftion, Some perhaps may doubt the Truth of it. I fear too it may be thought g, little odd, that our Divine having promis'd Scripture, fhould give us a Stone ; and profef- fing Rational Illuftration, fhould appeal to a Beetle. Nor can I find in the famous eighteenth Chapter, or throughout Mr. Gregory's Works a fingle Text to the Purpofe from the New leftament : as for thofe taken from the Old ; the known Situation of the Holy of Holies both in Worfhtping towards the East. 73 in the Tabernacle and Temple of the Jews, and their even Proverbial Saying that " the " Majefty of God is, in the West," are fuf- ficient Objections againft the Probability of any fuch Interpretation. But fhould we ad mit that " God (which yet his own People would never grant) " has his peculiar Re- " fidence of Glory in the East," and that therefore we ought, when we pray, to turn towards the East, as addrefiing ourfelves to God; What is this to the Point which our Author ought to have had in view, viz. Saying the Creed I Which, as Dr. Bennet well obferves, " is a Declaration made to Man, " even- to the Congregation Prefent:" The Minifter therefore in particular, upon every fuch occafion, according to that natural Ru- - i brie which .teaches us, when we fpeak to any one, to look in his Face* unlefs we are afham'd of what we have to. fay ; the Minifter for this very reafon,. I fay, whenever he repeats the Greedy ought more efpecially to look full upon his Congregation ; and by no means to turn his Back upon them, as if he were going to fay fomething which they ought not to hear. t What our Author next takes upon him to illuftrate js, "Why People are buried with " their Feet towards the East?" Upon which his own Words are thefe : * " As to .'* the Pofture or Pofition of the Corps in the " Grave, it hath been always a Cuftom to P.rio. L ** bury 74 ,_* DISQUISITION 0/00 " bury them with their Feet Eaftward, and " their Face upwards, that SO at the Refur- " rection they may be ready to meet-Chrift, ".who is expected from the East ; and that " they may be in a Pofture of Prayer as foon " as they are rais'd." T o touch upon the Granimar of this Il luftration is no bufinefs of mine ; having ftood Six Editions, it may perhaps plead Custom. But a Rationale ought ever to be fubject to the Bar of Reafon. Now tho' 'tis certain that Contri vance is an admirable Gift, and that 'tis no fmall Confolation for us to live in a Chriftian Country, where, whenever we die, our Bo dies will be laid in the Ground to the beft advantage for rifing and praying; yet, as all other human Schemes are, fo is This, how ever rational^ mpft certainly liable to various Contingencies: To omit other Confiderations, it muft entirely depend upon the abfolute Quiet and Immobility of the Earth : of the, contrary whereof Diogenes was fo very pofi- tive, that he earneftly requefted his Friends, whenever he fhould die, to bury him with his Face downwards, being confident that the World would, one time or other, be turn'd Upfide-down, and then, faid he, " ". But I forbear ; as remembring that tho' the Reafons on the other fide are not the moft folid, yet the Subject is folemn : Nor have I forgot the many learned Mouths open'd up on me by the little Liberties taken with the If ally of Jehofaphat, in the former Part of this Difquifition j and I muft own I fhould not have Worfhiping towards ¦ tJ^e East. 75 have given that Offence, had I then feen the judicious Obfervations of Mr. Sandys upon that awful Vale : " Which prefenteth," faith he, " no other than a large dry Ditch (tho' " natural) to the Eaft of the City, conf rafted " between it and the overpeering Hills of " the oppofite Olivet: It is faid to be about " two Miles long, and, if fo, but fhort ones. " Where the General Judgment fhall be, " if the Jews or Latins may be believ'd, " who , ground their Opinions upon the Pro- ** phecy of Joel: which I will not gainfay, " fince fome of our Divines have of late fo la- " bour d to approve it: of the fame Opinion " are the Mahometans." -f Not to be wanting therefore in point of Serioufnefs on the prefent occafion, I would only beg leave to put the Queftion thus Suppofe the Earth fhould remain immove able, yet what Affurance have we that our felves fhall continue, when thus with all due Rites depofited, in ftatu quo? Who can fay what Revolutions happen in the Grave I Where our Limbs may crawl before the Day of Judgment ? or walk ? or fiwim ? or fly ? Omnes in omnia indies immutamur : There is a fort pf general Tranfubftantiation, not at all abfurd to be believ'd, continually going on thro' the whole Courfe of Nature : and Every Thing is Every Thing by Turns. This laft affign'd Argument therefore, I with great f Trav. p. 145. L 2 Sub- 76 >_" DISQUISITION Submilfion conceive, would have become any other Illuftrator as well as a rational One : at leaft a courteous and friendly Writer would have told us after all, " There was Nothing " in't." The candid Author of certain modern Travels (fuppos'd a Dignitary of no fmall Diftinction) fpeaking of the Ritus fepeliendi in Ecclefid Liliputiand, reports, «« That they bu- " ry their Dead with their Heads directly " downward ; becaufe they hold an Opinion " that in nooo Moons they are all to rife «' again ; in which Period the Earth, which " they conceive to be fiat, will turn Upfide- ** Down, and by this means they fhall at the cc Refurrection be found ready ftanding on •' their Feet : the Learned among them,'* adds he, " confefs the Abfurdity of this Doc- " trine ; but the Practice ftill continues in *' compliance with the Vulgar." * Had the Rational Illuftrator of the Book of Common- Prayer but treated us with the like ingenui ty, it had been fair. For my own Part, I am verily perfuaded, which way foever we are buried, there is One will take due care, that every Man fhall be rais'd in his own Order. Nor have I ought whereof to accufe the Cuftom of my Nation, provided there is no Superfiition tack'd to it ; and particularly, that it be not made ridicu- * Vol. I. p. 94. hits fhiping towards the E a s i. jj leus by a Rationale. True Religion is True Reafon; which fmiles at pointed Wit, and mocks the Scoffer's Tongue ; and is alike in vulnerable by Ridicule or Rage: But When once we blend Silly Notions with our Reafon- able Service, 'tis then we expofe our felves Naribus horum Hominum. I T was a remarkable piece of Malice and Ignorance in the Perfecutors of the firft Chriftians, that when they had burnt their Bodies, they threw their Afhes into Rivers, or fcatter'd them before the Wind, to de- ftroy all Hopes of their Refurrection : Yet who can doubt but when the Angels fhall be fent to gather together the Elect (as 'tis written) from the four Winds, from one End of Heaven to ihe other; who doubts, I fay, but thefe Bleffed Saints of did, however their Afhes were difpers'd in Atoms, will then as readily arife, and glorify God, as fome who are fince moft advantageoufly interr'd with their Feet Eaftward and their Faces upward I I durft almoft be anfwerable that Mr. Illu ftrator himfelf, upon fecond Thoughts, will be much of my Opinion: I have only a Word more to fay, and I fhall trouble him no farther at prefent. In the former Part of my Difquifition * in 1728, I gave this worthy Author a friendly- Intimation to correct in his next Edition a * P3g" li' Mif- 78 ._? DISQUISITION Miftake he had often publifh'd as to a Mat ter ot Fact that had relation to the Subject I was then upon: This, I am told,- he was pleas'd to take in good Part ; as I hope He alfo will the Notice I now give the Publick that an Affertion, in the very fame Page of his Sixth Edition, concerning the Pofition of Chancels, viz. " That they always ftood at «' the East-End of the Church," is con trary to Fad. And this I the rather chufe to do in this publick manner, becaufe The Ra tional Illuftration of the Book of C. P. is now in many hands, and generally regarded as a Piece of no fmall Authority, and to the Edi tion now mention'd is prefix'd a Platform of what the Author calls an Antient Church j •which is a very ambiguous Expreffion, and generally underftood to mean a Primitive Church, or, at leaft, one within the four firft Centuries : during all which I fhould be glad to fee what Churches our Author will be able to produce fituated according to his Platform, notwithftanding it is (as himfelf affures us) " chiefly taken from Bifhop Beveridge in his " Pandeclce Canonum." I would beg the fa vour of him therefore either to explain his Intention or to take down his Sign ; becaufe it deceives the People, and gives them a very falfe Notion as to the Situation of a truly Pri mitive 'Church, which, generally fpeaking, was only the reverse of what he there re- prefents. Mr. Illuftrator will pardon me alfo if upon this occafion I put him in mind of the Rationale of a Rationale, as delivered by his PredecefforDuRAND in Proemio, viz. "That " it Worfhiping towards the- East. 79 " it betokeneth Truth as well as Do- " ctrine." But it will be fome Apology for our Au thor, that he has been led into this Miftake by Common Opinion and Great Names: even Mr. Bingham himfelf, who, for his Induftry and Impartiality, is never to be mention'd without refpect, where he treats of the Situ ation of Churches, has left behind him but too evident Tokens of human Infirmity : And, if he has any furviving Friend of fufficient Authority to do it, his whole SeCiion upon that)> Head ought to be new fram'd ; nor is there much of it that will be found fit to ferve again. Thus far have I endeavour 'd impartially to confider the moft popular modern Argu ments for the East, affigning to each Author thofe to which he feem'd to have moft Right : there is one yet remains to be fpoke to which is common to them all, and which I have there fore referv'd to clofe the Whole : This is the General Plea of Custom, or the Practice of the Church. For the more effectual Difcuffion of this Point, I have found it neceffary to examine diftinctly the Force of Primitive and Prefent Custom ; neither of which, I hope to evince, ought to have any influence upon our Practice but in conjunction with our Laws. That *c* ^DISQUISITION That Worfhiping towards the East was a very early and general Cuftom in the Primi tives Times, is a. FaCt not to be denied: but that the Cuftoms of Thofe Times ought to be the Rules of all that fhould come after, is a, Gwfequence, for many Reafons, not to be mainjtain'd. That no fuch Principle pre^ail'd in the Church of old is plain, in that it hath feeen even euftomary with the Church in all Ages to change its Cuftoms ¦• and that the Church of Rome in particular, in its better DaySj did change the very Cuftom now before us, is evident from the Decree of Leo above Eeferr'd to. But as my Bufinefs chiefly lies with thofe who value themfelves upon nothing fo much as their being the trueft, and confe quently the moft obedient, Sons of the Church of England, I can do. nothing more- proper, than to offer to their Confideration, by- way of Supplement towhat has-been already fuggefted, fonfie farther Publick Declarations and Authen- tiekDecifions She has made upon this- Pojn^ $M fo, if they hear not me, they may hear the Church, A s to Antient Cuftom therefore, or the Prac- $ce of the Primitive Times ; that we are under no manner of Obligation to follow in farther than our own Laws direct, will, moft fully appear to have been the conftant Senfe of the Church of England from its firft Reformers to its laft Reformers. In the Conclufion of the Original Advertifement concerning Ceremonies, fo oft above reiferr'd to, we have Thefe Words— « We Worfhiping towards the East: s_ " We think it convenient that every Country " fhould ufefuchCmvKo«z'mstheythinkbeft to «* the fetting forth of God's Honour and Glory, " and to the reducing the People to a moft " perfect and godly living without Error or " Superftition ; and that they fhould put away " other Things which from time to time they ** perceive to be moft abus'd." Again, the 34th of our Articles, firft fet forth by King Edward, thus begins' — " It " is not neceffary that Traditions and Cere- " monies be in all Places one or utterly like ; " for at all Times they have been divers, " and may be chang*d according to the Diver** " fity of Countries, Times, and Men's Man- " ners, fo as nothing be ordain'd againft " God's Word." And as if our Church's Claim of Right in fo material a Point had not been here fuffi ciently afierted, the Convocation at the refet- tling our Articles in the Reign of Queen Eli zabeth made this remarkable Addition to that above-cited, viz. " Every Particular or Na- *' tional Church hath Authority to ordain, " change-, or abolifh Ceremonies or Rites of " the Church ordain'd only by Man's Au- " thority." That alfo our Church did continue of the fame Opinion, even after the Reftoration, will appear from the Preface to our Book of Com mon-Prayer upon the Review in Sixty One: Where we thus read: ¦ -¦. " The particular M " Forms &2 A DISQUISITION " Forms of Divine Worfhip, and the Rites " appointed to be us'd therein, being Things \ " in their own nature indifferent and alterable, , " and_/» acknowledge, it is but reafonable " that upon weighty and important Confi- " derations, according to the various Exigen- " cies of Times and Occafions, fuch Changes " and Alterations fhould be made therein, as " to Thofe that are in place of Authority " fhould from time to time feem either ne- " ceffary or expedient." This confider'd as the clear and unconteft- able Voice of the Church of England, what will it avail our Keblifts fhould they be a- ble to fhew (as towards the Conclufion of their Defence they have much labour'd) not only the Antient Fathers to a Man, but alfo all Modern Communions from Rome to Ruflfia making a Dead Point to the East? What would it avail them, I fay, when our own Conftitution, the beft in the World, has not retain'd, and thereby has abolifh'd the Cufiom ? If there be any one who requires farther Light in this Matter than what our Laws and Liturgy thus afford, let him turn to the 14th Canon, the very Title whereof may fatisfy a Perfon unprejudic'd : for our Divine Service being there term'd a prefcript Form, 'tis fufficiently imply'd, that what is not prefcrib'd is no Part of it: But the Clofe of the Canon puts it paft all Difpute, abfolute- ly requiring " All Minifter s to obferve the «' Orders, Rites, and Ceremonies prefcrib'd in *' the Book of Common-Prayer* without either *' dimi" Worfhiping towards the Hast. g3 " diminifhing or adding any thing in the Mat- " ter or Form thereof." Upon this Point it were eafy to multi ply Authorities ; but thus much may abun dantly fuffice to acquit my Friend the Ana- tomift before all impartial Judges, of that fio great Confidence he is tax'd with by the Keblifts, for afferting that " to Us, who have fubmit- " ted ourfelves to a Church, all whofe Forms " and Ceremonies of Worfhip are eftablifh'd " by Law, not the Practice of any Church " that ever1 was upon the Earth, but the " Laws of our own are the proper Guides " and Directors." The Charge againft ray old Friend for what he had very juftly thus afferted, his An- tagonifts have attempted to fupport by a Story from Dr. Heylyn, who, they tell us, has particularly obferv'd that " Some Cere- " monies were retain'd at the Reformation "by vertue of fome Antient Ufeage only not *' by Law prohibit edf." But I leave it to every Reader to determine for himfelf which ought moft to be regarded, the many Pub lick Authorities I have produc'd, or the un- authoris'd Obfervation of one Private Doctor. Befides what I have now alledg'd, the Gen tlemen might have confidered alfo, that fince the Times of which their Doctor fpeaks, there has paft an Ael of Uniformity, with this Claufe peculiar to it: viz. " That no Form or Order f The Kebla, Parti, p-^%. M 2 "of S4 ^DISQUISITION «' of Common-Prayer, Adminiftration of the « Sacraments, Rites or Ceremonies fhall be «« openly us'd in any Church, Chapel, &c. *« o/& And the Ground of Adam's Sentence is elfe- ii. 14. where reported to be ¦ " Becaufe he had hearkned to the Voice of his Wife t." i. e. had „ yielded to his Wife's Perfuafion, not the Ser- , « ; penfs. The Author of the Conftitutions there fore feems to have made here either a very great Miftake, or a very great Reflection : for I may challenge our Tranflator to maintain the word Serpent is fynonymous to that in the Scripture Account, or, as we Jay, " all one " in the Greek" Nor can I fee how he will excufe his Hagiographer but by alledging his thoughts were altogether intent upon that An tient Habitation of Paradifee : Yet neither will this be found becoming a Synod of the Apoftles ; fince the Author of the Epiftle to the He brews makes it the Praife of the Patriarchs, that " They were not mindful of the Country " from whence they came out ; but defir'd " a better Country, that is, an Heavenly." ** ch.xi. For Chriftians therefore, to whom are the ir, \6< N 2 great j»5 __VDISCn_riSITION^0» great and glorious Promifes of the Gofpel, who are declar'd Heirs of God, and joint-Heirs with Chrift, to be ever dreaming in their Dei votions of that Earthly Paradifie, whence their firft Parents were ejected, is fomething fo ve ry unworthy their High Calling, fo mean and low, that 'tis with the utmoft concern I fee them countenanc'd in their fimplicity by thofe of whom we might hope better things. But to proceed. The Second Authority which the Conftitu tions f pretend to produce from Scripture in fupport of Eaftward Adoration, is from the fifth Chapter of the 2d Book of Chronicles j where,.1 they tell us, " it is written, that " after the Temple of the Lord was fi- " nifh'd by King Solomon, the Priefts, and " the Levites, and the Singers flood up to- «'' wards the East praifing and thankiflg " God, &c." But this erroneous Verfioh has been fo throughly confuted by Mr. Selden, t that I need only refer the learned Reader to what he has there wrote on this occafion, tranftating for the fake of others his Intro duction and Conclufion. " The Cuftom " of Praying towards the East", fays this truly learned Gentleman, " is awkwardly " enough deriv'd to the Chriftians, in the « Clementine Conftitutions,4 -4 DISQUISITION 0^0 word -, if we eaft but half an eye upon the fSeeEzeki Vifion of Ezekiel above-cited , t where the ch.8.verf Change of the Kebla is reckon'd' amongft the lomZriCh 'bigheft Abominations of the Temple, we fhall w/v/jer. need no other Argument to conclude, that the xxxii.33. Prophet and the Confiitutioner were not con ducted by the fame Spirit, t Thus may the Doctrine of the Kebla be . the happy means of Conviction even to their Tranftator himfelf of the grofs Impofture of his fo much idoliz'd Conftitutions call'd Apoftolical: "which (fays the judicious as well as learned Mr. Selden) " are to be feen in ev'ry Shop " with that fplendid Tide much better known " than trufted." * Let us now return to the Obfervations of the Anato?nift, in relation to the Cafe laft be fore us. He farther proceeds to remark, that *' to infer a Practice ought for ever to be con- " tinued in the Church, becaufe fome of the " Fathers have thought it an Apoftolical Tra- " dition, is an Inference that blackens the " Reformation in general ; all the reform'd " Churches having dropt many Ceremonies, " which upon the Authority of the Fathers " go under that Denomination." And again: adorare ad Orientem ; 8tc. Ideo Hsretici erant. Jof.Scalig. Elenc.Trih&r. Cap. 20. p. 309. * Ut Conftitutionibus Clementinis illis 8c Apoftolicis nuncupatis minime fubnitamur, quae paflim cum Titulo ttla fplendido fed parum credito proftant. Ubi fupra. " That Worfhiping towards the E as t. 9$ ** That fuch Inference in a very particular " manner impugns, the 34th Article of the " Church of England ; which exprefly fays of the Traditions of the Church, viz. of Rites and Ceremonies, " It is not neceffary they be in " all Places one or utterly like, but that ' " they may be changed" That laftly ; " Such " Inference arraigns and condemns the Prac- " tice of the whole Catholick Church of Chrift, " which has laid afide not only Ceremonies " and Inftitutions call'd Apoftolical by 3 or 4 " Fathers, but alfo fuch as we know by Scrip- " ture itfelf, or at leaft have no room to " doubt, were actually deriv'd from the A- " poftles. I need only inftance, fays he, the " Kifis of Peace, and the Order of Deaconeffes, " both which, as Bifhop Burnet obferves, " were the Practices of the Apoftolical Times: " but when the One gave occafion to Ralle- " ry, and the Other to Scandal, all the World " was, and ftill is, fatisfied with the Reafon " of letting them both fall." The Anatomift alfo fubjoins,that " the late " learned Dr. Rogers feems to go yet far- " ther, when he fays, that the earlieft and " beft Ages of the Church did not think the " Rules given by the Apoftles perpetually " binding, notwithftanding the Divine Direc- " tion by which they were prefcrib'd." — My Friend might here have added The Rational Illuftrator of our Common-Prayer- Book fcruples not abfolutely to declare, and that upon no lefs occafion than our Pofture at o6 A DISQUISITION at the Communion, " The^Exdmple of the A* " poftle does not bifid us." t — " But of this, he concludes, " there can be no more pro- «:' per Judge .than that learned Prelate, from " within whofe Jurifdiction the contrary Doc-, " trine dates its prefent Rife ; and to Him " you may appeal." $ , Thus far the Anatomift ; of all which the Kebliftj thought it their beft way not to take the leaft Notice in their Reply : Their nominal Author indeed, by dedicating it to the Bifhop of Oxford, feems to join Iffue with what was laft propos'd, of appealing to his Lordfhip's De- terminatioti : For whofe decifive Judgment in the Cafe, we need only turn to his Difcourfe of Church Government ; where, amidft many other Paffages to the fame Purpofe, we have This : m «*»- " It is manifeft that the Church *' hath exercis'-d this Authority in fome Cafes tc with Univerfal Approbation, even to the lay- «' ing afide of Apoftolical Uf ages." * Had our Keblifts been aware that his Lord fhip had ever thus exprefs'd himfelf, 'tis pro bable he would not have been one of the firft of his Order they would have chofe for a Pa tron ||. Nor will they be able to fhelter themfelves under the Protection they have pre- f Ch.*6". SecT:. 23. in Margine. £ Anatomy of the Kebla, .*. 47. * P. 328. || The Kebla, Part. II. Or farther Defence of Eaftward Adoration, &c. was infcribed to the Bifhops of London and, Oxford, 1720. 1 tended Worfyiping towards the E A s T; 97 tepded from Dr. Hammond; who in the Con clufion of what he may feem to have faid to the contrary, exprefly reftrains himfelf to Doctrines, not medling with Ceremonies t. ' To be therefore no farther tedious upon this Efeard ; I leave it to Thofe, who, in a Difpute relating to Ceremonies only, have pre- fum'd publickly to maintain, that " If the " Church of England has departed from the " Catholick Apoftolick Church, ihe ought " to reform, to it:" I leave it to themfelves, I fay, to fhew why inftead of that fuperior RefipeCi they claim as of all others the beft affecled to the Church of England, they ought not rather to be regarded as Enemies, in Point of Judgment, to its Conftitution, and, in Fail, iMPUGNERSof fx's Eftablifhment: Since there is perhaps no one Principle of Reformation She has more infifted upon, Or roc-re purfifed than Thjs, " That the Forms of Divine Wor fhip are alterable, and .that every Particular or National Church has a difcretionary Power to chufe its ozpn .Ceremonies. But I fhall now proceed to confider the other Branch of this Argument, which re- fpects the Prefent. Custom or Practice of the Church, as urg'd in favour of Eaftward Adoration.- " The Practice of the Church fay thofe of the other Side, (meaning ihe now current Practice of the Church (^England) f Pradt.Catech. L.2. Seft.i. O " is 98 A DISQUISITION upon " is againft. you." And, fays a Mafter in Ifrael, fpeaking upon the Subject Of Ceremo nies difcontinued in our Rubrics, but not in Practice, " The Voice of Cuftom is in " many Cafes the Voice of the Law*. " But I would gladly have ask'd this worthy Divine, whether he did himfelf believe it to be fo in the Cafe before him : If not, 'tis plain he fpake befide the Purpofe : or that he fpake with a Defign, (which is much worfe) to amufe and impofe upon his Readers, by leading v them in to falfe Conceptions of Law in the Point de pending, in order to propagate his own law- lefis Notions : A Practice, in my humble O- pinion, much more worthy of the fb much detefted Elzeus, thsn a True Son of the Church of England. But if he did really believe the Voice of Cuftom, in the Cafe he was fpeaking . of, to be the Voice of the Law, I would then have ask'd him, which way he conceiv'd Cuftom to be Law, when contrary to a Law made to break that Cuftom ? Why are we not told in plain Terms, The Parliament may enact what they pleafe, 'tis Cuftom makes the Law ? I must own there are fome very great Au thorities which feem to efpoufe this Paradox : and tell us, " Contemporary Practice is the " beft Expounder of any Laws." But if fo, it may fure be juftly enough faid, bad is the beft. Let Men but 'make' a general Practice * Beauty of Holinefs, p. 141. 3 of Worfhiping towards the TL a st. 99 of breaking the Law, and,, at this rate, the Law itfelf will come into it. I cannot there fore but admire the Policy, as well as Hypo- crifiy, of the Popifhly affected Clergy, above- related by Fox, when the Reformation firft took place. And what has been fo well ob ferv'd by a certain modem- Writer, might be, urg'd with ftill greater reafon: viz. "What " have avail'dall ourfumptuary Laws? What " all thofe againft Gaming and Duelling? " What thofe againft Bribery ? Only to de- il monftrate, how much more Force there is " jn Luxury and Vanity and Avarice, than " there is in Laws with all their Penalties?" What have they avail'd indeed, may we add, if contemporary Practice has eftablifh'd thefe Iniquities as by a Law ? I Have fomewhere read a very memo rable Remark of Mr. Hales of Eaton, not foreign to our prefent Purpofe. " The main *' Foundation, fays He, that upholds this *' Form of Action now in ufe, is Church- ' ' Cuftom and Church-Error : Now for Church- '-' Cuftom ; it is generally too much abus'd : " for whereas naturally ' the Necefftty of the " Thing ought to give Warrant to the Prac- " lice of the Church, I know not by what de- " vice Matters are turn'd about, and the " Cuftomary Practice of the Church is alledg'd " to prove the Necefftty of the Thing." But I, after all, can by no means grant .. that the Practice of the Church, properly fpeak ing, is againft me : becaufe I think it highly reasonable, as Times go, there fhould be a O 2 Di- .oo ^DisQiiisitid^ Diftinction allow'd betwixt the Practice of too many Churchmen, arid the Practice of the Church : for, let Men practife what they pleafe, that only ought to be regarded as the Practice of the Church, which is according to the eftablifh'd .Ruks of the Chufch : confo nant to what ifH^n the very firft Leaf of the Common-Prayer Book concerning Cere monies ; viz. " That Thofe only ought \o " be underftood to be according to the TJfe " of the Church of England*. -which are ap- " pointed in that Book." This might be il- luftrated by fuppofing it only poffible, that in all Cafes the Practice of Chriftians may not be the Practice of Chriftianity. One would have imagin'd, cdnfidering the great Affection profefs'd by fome People for our Common-Prayer Book, they might have been content to allow it that Prerogative which itfelf claims, and our Laws have cOn- firm'd: viz. to be bur only Ritual, and that its Rubrics fhould ftand as the Ne plus ultra of our Ceremonies: But Experience fhews us that, when People have 'got a Habit of being over-ceremonious, whether in Church or out, it is no eafy Matter to break them of it. As therefore the chief Root and Sup port of this Evil is Custom, I will beg my Reader's Patience, now my hand is in, for fome few general Obfervations more upon that Head. I Shall begin from Scripture. The di vine Legiflator Mo/fo injoins, " Thou fhalt " not follow a Multitude to do Evil." And 'tis Wofffjif^ fdwafdlfhe E A St. iqj 'tis well bbferved df our SaViouf by Teriulii'ak, that " HeftiPd Himfelf Truth, riot. Cus- " tom." St: Cyprian fpeaks to this effect— " Cuftom without Truth, or Right on its fide, " is no more than a long Continuance in " doing Wrong ; let us therfefdre leave that " which is Wrong, and follow that which is " Right." Confonant to which alfo is the Saying of St. Bernard, " Our Judgment of *' what is Right, and not the Privilege of " Cuftom, ought to be our Guide." T o defcend from the Fathers of the Pri mitive Church to thofe of our own : In What did ohe Principal Branch of our Reformation confift, but in rejecting-, and by lawful Au thority abolifhing, an incredible Number of Rites and Ceremonies, i. e. r'eceiv'd Cuftbms, of the Church ? And in maintenance of this Pro ceedings, and purfuance Of the fame Princi ple, that learned Body of Men (fome where of were the beft Civilians and C'anonifts of the Age) to whom was committed the Reforma tion of our Ecclefiaftical Laws, have thus de- liver'd their joint Senfe of the Matter under the Title Consuetudo : " Thd' the Autho- *' rity of Cuftom and Antient Ufeage be riot con- " temptible ; neverthelefs ought it hot fo far " to influence us, as to fuperfede either Rett- " fon or Law." And again : " Cuftom is- of " no force againft Law or Reafidn." But that I may not be faid to fhelter my felf under the Authority of a Set of Men partial to my Caufe ; Hear what the moft irrefragable Dr. Heylin fays, even in his An- tidotum loa A DISQUISITION updn tidotum Lincolnienfe* : " If the prefent Law «« be contrary to the Antient- Practice, the •«6 Antient Practice muft give way ; and the .*« Law fhall carry it." And again, in an other Tract, when his Judgment was moft mature : " I think, fays He, no Man will «' affirm that Cuftom fhould be kept, ox heard, «»¦ when it is againft Law." But, in fhort, I do not know any Two Men that have fpoke with lefs Reverence pf, or (if I may fo exprefs myfelf) have more ficnuted, the Authority of Cufiom than Dr. Biffe and Mr. fVheatly themfelves, when the Practice is not after their own hearts. Thus, as to the Cafe of aClual Prayer for the King before Sermon, the Doctor, in the 156th Page of his Beauty, frankly tells us this Piece of his Mind : " We " hope that the Friends both of our Church ' «* and Liturgy will approve the Refolution of ** thofe, who, purfuant to the late Injunctions,. " chufe rather to return to the former Ufage *' enabled by Authority, than to go on in an " Error crept in only by Connivance'' And fome Pages after, fpeaking upon another Oc cafion ; " This too general Cuftom, fays he, " hath not the leaft Apology for itfelf, but - *c that it is a Cuftom : It is doubtlefs a Dif- " fervice to the Worfhiper, as well as a ««¦ Diforder to the Worfhip." Might he not have faid the fame of a certain other Cuftom ? The ingenious Mr. Wheatly alfo, with an Air of Triumph, or at leaft of Ovation, thus * ?• 91- con- Wbtfhiping towards the East. 103 concludes his celebrated Tract for Bidding of Prayers " I think therefore I may fairly " beg leave to be difmifs'd, and leave thofe " Gentlemen the Plea of Cuftom, who have *" no other Argument to vindicate their Prac- " tice." So that we fee, after all, Cuftom goes by Favour ; and thofe, who have been moft fond of it in one Cafe, can put as great a Slight upon it in another when they do not like its Countenance. For my own Part, I fcarce know where to find any Thing -more depre ciating, or derogatory to its Authority, than what thefe Two eminent Divines have here furnifh'd me with ; unlefs I fhould make a Tranfition to our Poets ; amongft whom a noble Peer of noble Senfe hath left us this immortal Diftich, " Custom, which often Wisdom over-rules, " And only ferves forREASON totheFooLs." The firft Line of our Poet was verified, with a witnefs, by the Council of Constance ; when, as Dr. South relates *, " They 'decreed, " with a non obftante to Ch rift's exprefs Infti- " tution of the bleffed Sacrament in both *' Kinds, that the contrary Cuftom and Practice, " of receiving it only in one Kind, ought to be " accounted and obferved as a Law :" and This upon Pain of Excommunication. Who can deny but that this Decree breaths the True Sermon againft Lying. Spirit 164 A DIS QUI S I T I Q M ^_# Spirit of True u„'.- But 'tis .time tP this Se'Ctien. -. SECTION IV. I Come now briefly to exhibit to the View of the Publick a Sketch pf tfie infidious aadper&iciqus Confequences., both t,o our Church and State, of the Practice inquir'cl jn,to : and alio rnpre effe&ually to point out the rhoft proper and natural Remedy for .tjbue fame. And firft; if jWe confider it with regard to Superstition, it is fcarcely poffible to imagine what fond ridiculous JDjotians Man kind has been led into by ripe Fantaftick Con ceit of a Kebla, or the Propriety of having regard to a peculiar Ppint of the Heavens in Prayer, &c. In my former Part f I had occafion to obferve that, according to this Principle, .'-' a Man, to be ,critiqal in his.De- " votions., had n,eed of a Carx> as well as " a Calendar-; and, to ,fteer his Vow* a- " right, -fhould pray? as well as fail, by " Needle arid Compafs" Thjs was prefently exclaim'd againft as a profane, if not blafi- fkemm? Imagination ,of my own FJeart : Y^t ihave-Jjfince found, I had imagin'dnothing but ¦what it was natural to imagine in the Cafe, ibeing weU .ftffur'd, 'tis very common with the t P- 43- Turks tPorfhipihg towards tfafcik f. j 65 Turks and Perfians to carry about them what j$ey call a Kebleh-Noma *, i.e. a Pocket- Cpmpafis, to direct them how to place themfelves exactly when they go to Prayers. . And indeed it behov'd them well to be hot a little careful in this particular, fince^ ac cording to the current Orthodoxy of their Country, the Kebla was one df the firft Things they would be called to > account- for in the next World: " So foon", faith Father Simon in his Critical Hiftory of the Belief arid Cuftoms of the Eaftern Nations, " as any one is dead' " and buried, Two of the greateft Angels,- " of which: the One is call'd Munzir, the^ " Other Nekir, come and interrogate the dead " Perfon, asking what Belief he has coricern- ^ ing God and the Prophet'; the Law and "' the KeMa, that is to fay,' to what Side one, '* is to turn in praying to God ? The Juft are. " then to anfwer,-— Our God is He that created " all Things : Our Faith is the Muffulman or.