[260] Non tam cœnam cœnant quam disciplinam Tertul. Apolog. c. 39.
[261] ברכת המזון
[262] Vid. P. Fag. in præc. Hebr.
This prayer being ended, then all the Guests which sate at the Table, with a soft and low voice, said unto themselves in this manner, Fear the Lord all ye his holy ones, because there is no penury to those that fear him: The young Lyons do want and suffer hunger, but those that seek the Lord want no good thing. Afterward, he which began the thanksgiving, blessing the cup in the same form of words as he used at the first sitting down saying; Blessed be thou, O Lord God, the King of the world, which createst the fruit of the Vine: and therewith he drank a little of the Wine, and so the cup passed round the table. Thus they began and ended their Feast, with the blessing of a cup: this cup they termed כוס הלל Cos hillel, Poculum ὑμνήσεως, A cup of thanksgiving; and both these cups are mentioned by Saint Luke; and, which is worth our observation, the word of Consecration whereby it was instituted, as part of the Blessed Sacrament in the New Testament, were added only to the last cup. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which it is shed for you. After all this, they sung[263] Hymns and Psalms, which also was practised by our blessed Saviour, Mark 14. 26. So that howsoever he used not any superstitions either then practised, or since added by after Jewes, (as the drinking of four cups of wine,[264] or the breaking of the bread with all ten fingers,[265] in allusion to the ten Commandments, &c.) yet in the beginning, and ending, we see his practice suitable with theirs. If any desire a larger discourse of these Blessings, noted out of the Rabbines, let him read P. Fagius[266] his Comment on Deut. 8. 10. From whom I have borrowed a great part of what herein I have delivered. If any shall here object, that I seem to make the blessed Sacrament of our Lords Body and Blood, a Jewish Ceremony; I answer, no: For as a kind of initiatory purification by water, was used before by the Jews of old, and no Proselite was admitted into the Church of the Jews, without this purification: yet it was no more a Sacrament to them, than Circumcision was to Turks and Saracens. Thus, neither was breaking the bread Sacramental to the Jew, but then it became a Sacrament, when Christ said of it; This is my body. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, &c. Luke 22. 19. The Jews could not say, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ? 1 Corinthians 10. 16.
[263] Scalig. de emend. Temp. lib. 6. p. 273.
[264] Moses Kotsensis fol. 118. col. 1.
[265] Sebastian Munster. Mat. 26.
[266] It. præc. Hebr. per Fagium editas.
The last thing considerable in their Feasts, is their gesture. In the days of our Saviour it is apparent,[267] that the gesture of the Jews was such as the Romans used. The table being placed in the middest, round about the table were certain beds, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes more, according to the number of the guests; upon these they lay down in manner as followeth. Each bed contained three persons, sometimes four, seldom or never more. If one lay upon the bed, then he rested the upper part of his body upon the left elbow, the lower part lying at length upon the bed: but if many lay on the bed, then the uppermost did lie at the beds head, laying his feet behind the second’s back: in like manner the third or fourth did lye, each resting his head in the others bosom. Thus John leaned on Jesus bosom, John 13. 23. This first is an argument of special love towards him whom the Master of the house shall take into his own bosome, John, he was the beloved Disciple. Secondly, an argument of parity, amongst others, resting in one anothers bosom. Many shall come from the East and West; and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, Mat. 8. 11. And where shall they sit? In Abraham’s bosom, Luke 16. 22. that is, they shall all sit at the same table, be partakers of the same glory. Thus Christ, he was in the bosom of his Father, John 1. 18., that is, in the Apostles phrase, He thought it no robbery to be equal with his Father. Their tables were perfectly circular, or round, whence their manner of sitting was termed[268] Mesibah, a sitting round; and their phrase of inviting their guests to sit down, was, Sit round: We will not sit round until he come hither, 1 Sam. 16. 11. Again, Thy children shall be as Olive-plants round about thy table, Psal. 128. 3. This custom of lying along upon a bed, when they took their meat, was also in use in Ezekiel’s time; Thou satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, Ezek. 23. 41. And[269] whether this were the custome of the ancient Hebrews, I leave to be discussed by others. But unto this also doth Amos allude; They laid themselves down upon cloaths laid to pledge by every Altar, Amos 2. 8. that is, the garments[270] taken to pledge they use in stead of beds, when at their Altars they eat things sacrificed to Idols: Yea, the plucking off their shooes when they went to table, implieth this custom of lying at the Table, to have been very ancient. The plucking off their shooes seemeth to have been generally received, when they were in Egypt; for this cause is it that they had a strict charge in eating the Passover, to have their shooes on their feet, for greater expedition. The reason why they usually pluckt them off, was, for the clean keeping of their Beds on which they lay. Here, seeing the rule of observing the Passover requireth, that it should be eaten with their shooes on their feet, which argueth rather standing than lying upon a bed: it may be demanded, Whether Christ transgressed not against the first Institution thereof, in the manner of his sitting at the table? Tremelius answereth thus; and, in my mind, fully:[271] We must know, saith he, that Exod. 12. it was commanded, after what manner they, ready to depart out of Egypt, should eat the Passover at that time; for the necessity of that time so required, namely, an hasty eating thereof; but afterward, in the Law, where it is commanded that this Ceremony of the Paschal should be renewed every year, those words are not added. Wherefore all the Hebrew Doctors, both ancient and modern, do teach with one joynt consent, that the Commandment of sprinkling the door-posts with blood, of having on their shooes, of girding their loyns, of taking staves in their hands, and eating the Lamb in hast; did not extend it self to the generations following, but only to have concerned that very night, wherein they departed out of Egypt:[272] Yea, it was an ancient tradition amongst them, that when they did in after-times eat the Passover, they would sit down, or lean upon a bed, as our Saviour and his Disciples did, in token of their deliverance obtained.
[267] Voces quibus usi sunt Evangelistæ sonant accubitum non sessionem, ἀναπίπτειν, Luk. 22. ἀνακεῖσθαι; Mat. 26. Κατακεῖσθαι, Luc. 14. ἀνακλιθήναι, Mat. 14.