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TO beginne at the opi∣nion that holdeth the necessitie of Sitting: it may bee presumed that our Sauiour and the Apostles obserued the same Ge∣sture and position of the body, at the celebration of the Sacrament, that hee vsed before at the Paschall Supper. That Gesture is expressed by the Greeke words, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifie not our forme
of sitting, called in that tongue 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but a certaine kinde of lying and stretching downe of the bodie: for men of ranke and quality in these dayes, sate not as we doe at Tables: but lay at them on beds of repose, not appointed for sleeping, but for resting and easing of their bodies, while they were at meales: Where∣vpon they did not commonly lye downe, before that they had washed their feet, if they were bare-footed. Plautus in Persa, locus hic tuus est, hic accumbe, ferte aquam pedibus. This is thy place, come lye downe here, bring water to his feet; and if they were shooed, they did put off their shooes, and layd them by, One tel∣ling how hee went to table, saith, Deposui solcas, I laid my shooes by. They lay on their left sides, with their brests towards the table, hauing the rest of their body stretched downe on their beds; as we reade in the sixt of Amos: not euen downe, as when
they went to sleepe, but inclining to the back-side of the beds, that they might make place one to another: For as wee sit one by another, side to side; so they lay with their backs to∣wards their neighbours bellies, lea∣ning their head and shoulders at their brests. So Iohn lay on our Sa∣uiours bosome: when they drew vp their legges a little, their feet did ea∣sily reach to the back-side of the beds, whereat the seruants stood, as is manifest by these Verses.
Omnia cum retro pueris obsonia tradas, Cur non mensa tibi ponitur a pedibus.
Seeing, saith the Poet, that thou giuest all the dishes back ouer to the seruants: why doest thou not rather set the table it selfe behinde at thy feet, where the seruants stand? On such a bed, our Sauiour lay in the house of Simon the Pharise, when the sinfull woman stood behinde him, and washed his feete with her teares, and dryed them with her
hayres. And so did Mary Magdalen stand and anoint them: their Stan∣ding sheweth, that his feet lay some∣what high aboue the ground, for the beds had a height proportionall to the tables whereat they lay. Aeneas lay vpon an high and stately one, In∣de toro Pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto, their standing behinde, sheweth that our Sauiours feete lay back towards the outside of the beds, where they stood. Hereby it seemeth most pro∣bable, that after the first Supper, or rather the first seruice of the Pas∣chal Supper, our Sauiour did rise a∣lone, and went about the backside of the beds whereon the Apostles lay, and washed their feet, they lying still at table, as the women did his: for in Iohn no mention is made, ei∣ther of their rising, or lying downe againe; but of our Sauiours onely. This was the Table-Gesture vsed by the Iewes, as is manifest by the sixt of Amos, verse 4, 5, 6. by these Hi∣stories
of our Sauiour, and by the words 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. which signified to lye and leane downe, either on a bed, or on the ground: for on the ground they lay, who had no standing table to eate at; as the multitudes whom our Sa∣uiour fedde miraculously in the De∣sart. And these Oppressors, and Ido∣laters, whom Amos reprooueth, Chap. 2. verse 8. in these words, They lye downe vpon cloathes layed to pledge by euery Altar, and drinke the Wine of the condemned in the house of their God. After this manner the Christi∣ans are forbidden to lye downe in Idoleio, in the Idol Chappell, and eate their sacrifices. Thus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1. Cor. 8. 10. is to bee interpret by Amos words. As to the table of Di∣uels, mentioned in the tenth Chap∣ter, it is not to bee taken for a mate∣riall one, standing in the Idols tem∣ple; but for the thing sacrificed to the Idol, which the Idolaters broght
home to their own tables, and there∣vnto inuited the Christians, who are forbidden wittingly to eate thereof, 1. Cor. 10. verse 21. 25, 26, 27, 28. This was the gesture vsed in those dayes at meate, whether it was re∣ceiued at table, or on the ground; not by the Romanes onely, but by many other Nations, who did imi∣tate them, as Philo Iudaus thinketh in his booke De vita contemplatiua, which custome the Iewes seeme to haue had long before their conuer∣sing with the Romanes, as it is cleere by the prophesie of Amos. And lear∣ned men hold with great reason, that it is the most ancient of all Table-ge∣stures: for before the vse of materiall tables, men behoued to receiue meat; and except the gesture vsed by vs, there could bee none more commo∣dious then this gesture of lying and leaning. The Turkes sitting on the ground with their legs plat, is not so commodious. The knowledge of
these things are not vnprofitable for vnderstanding of the Historie where they occurre; and are to be obserued against those, who affirme that this Lying differeth only frō our Sitting in this; that wee sit with our bodies vpright; they sate with some inclina∣tion, & leaning: For the contrary is manifest by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that signifyeth Sitting, from the which commeth, that signify∣eth the first place of Sitting in the Synagogues, differing from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that signifyeth the first and most honourable place of Lying at Banquets: For in the one they Sate, and in the other they Lay. So both the gestures were in vse, but in diffe∣rent actions. Lying at Banquets, called in Latine accubitio and accubi∣tus, because they Lay, and Leaned on their elbowes, Sitting in Iudge∣ment, in Counsell, and in many o∣ther actions. Finally, the feasters stretching downe of themselues on
the beddes, Amos 6. Verse 4. The shooes putting off, the washing of the feete, that the bed should not be defiled, doe euidently euince, that they sate not on Benches, and on Chayres as we doe, with their feete at the ground. That our Sauiour did vse this gesture at the Paschall Supper, is manifest by Matthew, Marke, and Luke, who testifie that he lay downe thereto: and Iohn, that he rose vp from it, and hauing wa∣shed the Disciples feete, lay downe againe. And it may bee presumed, that he retained the same gesture at this Sacrament: For the Apostles being eating, Hee tooke bread, and when hee had giuen thankes, procee∣ded in the action. Now, in our times, to this gesture of Lying, Sitting hath succeeded: and therefore our Vulgar Translators of the Bible, for the ca∣pacitie of the people, vse the word of Sitting, which is our Table-ge∣sture, for that which in the Originall
is Lying, and was the Table-gesture vsed of old.
This gesture of Sitting, I will not deny to haue beene lawfully vsed in our Church heretofore, at the recei∣uing of the Sacrament; but that it should bee onely vsed as necessarie, the best, the most decent, and that it may not be changed, I hope, no rea∣son, antiquitie, nor Scripture shall enforce.
Mat. 26. 20.
Mar. 14. 18
Luk. 22. 14
Ioh. 13. 12.
Ioh. 13. 23.
Luk. 7. 38.
Ioh. 12. 3.
Iohn 13. 4. & 12.
Luke 9. 14.
Mat. 23. 6.
Luke 9. 14.
Mat. 26. 26