plenty for deliverance from Sedition and for the prosperity of the Public He mentions also the Prayers for those in divers Necessities and the Thanksgivings for all the Mercies we daily receive from God (g) Ambros Com. in 1 Tim. cap. 2. Tom. 3. pag. 574. Which are the Heads of general Intercession used in all ancient Liturgies and come as near the Words of some of them as can be expected in a Commentary where he doth not cite the very Words but shew the agreement of these Forms to the Apostolical Rule In another place he refers to this Prayer briefly and notes that immediately before the Prayer of Consecration there is premised a Prayer for Kings and all others (h) Oratio praemittitur pro râ—gibus pro caeteris Id. de Sacram. l. b. 4. c. 4. p. 366. But as to the Prayer of Consecration it self He gives us the very Form of it Would you know saith he with what Heavenly Words it is consecrated Hear the very Words The Priest saith Make this Oblation ratified rational and acceptable that it may be for a Figure of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who the day before he Suffered taking Bread into his holy Hands c. Then reciting the Words and Actions of the Institution He goes on to tell us that the Priest adds Wherefore we being mindful of his most glorious Passion of his Resurrection from the Dead and of his Ascension into Heaven do offer unto thee this immaculate rational and unbloody Sacrifice this holy Bread and Cup of Eternal Life desiring and praying thou wilt accept this Oblation upon thy Heavenly Altar by the hands of thy Angels as thou didst accept the gifts of thy Servant the Righteous Abel and the Sacrifice of our Father Abraham which was offered to thee by thy High-Priest Melchisedec (i) Ambros de Sacr. lib. 4. c. 5 6. pag. 367 c. Which is an express Form and the same with the primitive Roman Canon till the New Doctrins of a Propitiatory Sacrifice and Transubstantiation compelled them to alter their old Forms to suit it with their later Opinion He also declares the Form of Administration The Priest saith The Body of Christ and Thou saist Amen (k) Id. ib. p. 368. vide Const Apostol lib. 8. cap. 20. Ubi habemus eandem Formulam He also tells us That the Lord's Prayer concluded the Office (l) Ibid. lib. 5. cap. 4. pag. 370. And concerning that Ancient Hymn the Trisagion He saith That in most of the Eastern and divers Western Churches in the Oblation of that Sacrifice which is presented to God the Father the People and the Priest with one Voice say Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts all the Earth is full of thy Majesty * Lib. de Spir. Sanct. Tom. 5. pag. 525. Moreover He mentions the old Form of the Bishops Saluting the People by Praying Peace might be with them (m) Ambr. de dign Sacerd. cap. 5. We have also in him The Form of renouncing the Devil (n) Id. de Sacr. lib. 1. c. 2 p. 354. and of Consecrating the Water in Baptism (o) Ib. lib. 2. cap. 5. pag. 359. and a Form of asking those who were to be Baptized concerning their Faith in the Holy Trinity (p) Ibid. cap. 7. pag. 360. He informs us also That the Church had ordered a Prayer for the Bishop (q) Id. Com. in Rom xv Tom. 3. pag. 331. And he prescribes the LI Psalm as a very proper Form of Prayer for a sincere Penitent to use in private (r) Tract ad Viâ—g laps T. 4. pag. 455. and recommends some Verses of the XLI Psalm as fit to be said when we go to Visit those that are Sick (s) Com. in Psal xli Tom. 2. pag 755. So that it is not only past all contradiction that S. Ambrose used and approved Forms but we might collect almost an intire Liturgy out of his Works And we have the Testimony of Walafridus Strabo who lived almost 900 year ago That S. Ambrose made not only a Communion Office but Composed all other Offices for his own Church and others which the Church of Milan retains to this very day (t) Walafrid Strab. de â—eb Ecclâ—s cap. 22. An 840. There is also other ancient Evidence that he made such a Liturgy in Card. Bona de reb Liturg lib. 1. cap. 10. but this like all other ancieâ—t Liturgies hath also been mixed with â—ome of the Modern Corruptions however his genuine Works give us Evidence enough that there were prescribed Forms of Prayer and Praise in his time Let us now examine what our Adversary hath gathered out of S. Ambrose to oppose this plain Proof First He is one of those Authors who calls the Prayer of Consecration A Mystery and this he tells us twice over (a) Discourse of Liturgy p. 28 29. But yet we have shewed that he hath actually writ it down so that it could not be his meaning That it was such a Mystery as might not be committed to Writing and that shews that our Author gets no advantage to his Cause by citing this place (b) Ambros de Fide ad Grat. lib. 4. cap. 5. Secondly He would prove that S. Ambrose counted Praying Extemporè to be praying by the Spirit and for this he quotes his Epistle to Horontianus (c) Discourse of Liturg. pag. 60. I Answer S. Ambrose is not speaking of the Public Service but of private Prayer in that place and therefore the Allegation is impertinent Besides He doth not say the Spirit furnishes us with Words and Phrases but helps us to apply our Minds to pray and keeps out Carnal thoughts making us content with such things as we naturally wish to be quit of because they are for our good And both here and elsewhere he explains that Phrase of the Spirits helping our infirmities Rom. viii 26. to be meant of the Spirits giving us such patience that we shall not desire to be presently freed from our Afflictions (d) Ambros ad Horont lib. 5. ep 4. pag. 290. Com. in Rom. viii Tom. 3. p. 293. which is nothing at all to his Notion of Extempore Prayer In another place He expounds those Words Praying always in the Spirit to signifie Praying with a pure Conscience and a sincere Faith which he who prays by a Form may do (e) Com. in Ephes vi p. 516. And certainly he who knew it was always his Duty to pray by or with the Spirit and yet used and approved a Form must believe it possible to pray in or by a Form and yet to pray by or with the Spirit Thirdly My Adversary objects a Passage out of S. Ambrose his Epistle to his Sister Marcellina viz. That while he was Celebrating he heard that the Arians had seized upon one Castulus just as he was performing the general Collect whereupon he ordered the Prayer suitable to that Occasion which one that had
Orthodox and Heretics agreed in the use of Forms none so much as thought of Extempore Prayers no Nation pleaded for expected or enjoyed such a Liberty nor did any of the Clergy or Laity complain That the imposing there Forms was an Innovation or hindrance to their Gifts or an invading of their Christian Liberty § 12. There is nothing clearer in all History S. Gregor Mag. Episc Roman An. Dom. 590. than that there was a Canon or Form of Consecrating the Communion at Rome long before the Time of S. Gregory the Great The very Words of it have been produced out of S. Ambrose his Book of Sacraments An. 374. and we have proved it cited by the Author of the Questions out of the Old and New Testament who writ in the Fourth Century We have also brought in the plain Testimonies of Innocent Celestine Leo Gelasius and Vigilius all of them Bishops of Rome long before Gregory's Time And we now add That Johan Moschus declares there was a certain Form of the Canon at Rome in the Time of Pope Agapetus who lived An. 535 (y) Joan. Mosch pratum Spirit cap. 150. Bib. Patr. Tom. pag. 1121. And that the Lord Du Plessis whom my Adversary cites often shews very largely that there was a Canon of the Mass at Rome which was very pure and Orthodox before Gregory's Time yea he sets down divers parts of it and assures us it was common to all both Priests and People (z) Mornay of the Mass Book I. Ch. 7. pag. 53. And John the Deacon who writ S. Gregory's Life saith That he corrected the Gelasian Book for the Communion-Office taking away some things altering some few and adding other things to explain the Gospels putting it all into one Volume (a) Johan Diac. vit Gregor lib. 2. cap. 17. Which shews there was a Canon before written down in the Gelasian Book which S. Gregory only altered in some few things and it doth not appear he added any more to it except these Words O Lord order our days in thy Peace deliver us from Eternal damnation and make us to be numbred among the Flock of thine Elect For these are the only Words that all Writers say were of his Making and which he added to the Canon (b) Johan Diac. ut supr Item Pedae histor lib. 2. cap. 1. p. 53 Naucler Gener. 20. pag. 743. ita Platina vit Greg. pag. 82. wherefore he was only the Corrector of the Old Canon not the Maker of a New one And whereas some Authors of later Times ascribe the Composing of the Roman Offices to him we have seen it is usual in most Writers to call such as only corrected and reformed Liturgies The Authors of them by which they mean no more than those who published them in a more compleat Form than before But my Adversary who can prove any thing undertakes to make out two difficult things in relation to this Pope Gregory First That there was no Form of Consecration at Rome before his time Secondly That when another had made this Form he did not impose it on others (c) Disc of Lit. pag. 83 84 85 86 87. The former of these Assertions he proves from a Passage in Saint Gregory his Epistles which the ignorant editor of the Discourse of Liturgies hath put into a wrong Page But I shall cite it at large and then will examine the true meaning of it We therefore say the Lords Prayer immediately after the Prayer of Consecration because it was the custom of the Apostles with that Prayer alone to Consecrate the Host and it seems to me very inconvenient that we should say over the Host that Prayer which a Scholastical Man had composed and not say that Form which our Lord himself composed over his Body and Blood (d) Ut precem quam Scholasticus composuerat super Oblationem diceremus c. Greg. Epist 63. lib. 7. pag. 230. Now from hence he gathers that Scholasticus is a Mans Name who was Contemporary with S. Gregory and since he affirms this Scholasticus composed the Canon therefore the Canon as he pretends could not be made before Gregory's Time The weakness and mistakes of which Inference we shall easily perceive if we consider the occasion and the sense of these Words S. Gregory was accused for imitating the Custom at Constantinople In ordering the Lords Prayer to be repeated immediately after the Canon and these Words are his defence of his bringing in this Custom Now doubtless it had been more rational to object his setting up a New Canon made by a late obscure Author if he had done any such thing than to alledge his only adding the Lords Prayer to it and if he had first brought in this Canon of Scholasticus that had been an imitation of Constantinople too so far as it was a Canon for they had long used the Canon of S. Basil and that of S. Chrysostom there but of this the Objectors take no notice which makes it probable that the Canon was setled long before it was a Prayer which he found and added the Lords Prayer to it But my Adversary urges S. Gregory's Saying That the Apostles only Consecrated with the Lords Prayer and therefore Scholasticus his Canon must be composed about S. Gregory's Time Why so was there not above Five hundred years between the Apostles and S. Gregory If this Canon were not extant in their Time might it not be made in some of the intervening Ages and yet be long enough before S. Gregory And indeed there is a Mistake as learned Men think in the Popes premises for he is supposed to refer to S. Hierom who only saith Christ taught his Apostles that the Faithful might daily say in the Sacrifice of his Body Our Father (e) Hieren adv Pelag. Tom. 2. pag. 469. But neither he nor any Ancient Writer before this Gregory did ever affirm That the Apostles themselves used no other Form of Consecration but only the Lords Prayer it being generally believed they used the Words of Institution recorded in the Gospel and the Lords Prayer when they Consecrated to which long before S. Basil's and S. Ambrose his Time as we have shewed other parts of the Canon were added And for the Roman Canon whatever Du-Moulin and my Adversary say (f) Disc of Lit pag. 84 85. Du-Plessis and other both ancient and modern Writers do agree That several of the old Popes made the several Parts of it in divers Ages long before the Time of Gregory (g) Mornay of the Mass B.I. Chap. 6. p. 44. But Gelasius gathered together all these Additions and put them into that Form wherein Gregory found it and he as Cassander thinks is called by the Title of Scholasticus because he was first a Scholastical Man before he was chosen Pope (h) Gelasius ex Scholastico Papa factus Exp. vet Miss ap Cassand de Liturg. lib. 1. And if this be so as it is very probable then
Scholasticus is not any Mans proper Name but a Title used in that Age for any Learned and Well-read Man and so applied to Gelasius who lived near an Hundred years before S. Gregory So the word Scholasticus is taken I am sure in many ancient Authors (i) Aug. Tract 7. in Johan Hieron de vir illustr Salvian praef ad libr. de gub Dei ap Bon. rerum Liturg. p. 557. And in that Sense of an elegant and learned Man it is that we find Capitolinus use it (k) Capitolin in vit Maximin junior and so doth Sulpitius Severus (l) Sulpic. Sev. dial 1. and Macarius (m) Macar hom 15. so Suidas calls Agathias by the Title of Scholasticus (n) Suid. in Agathiâ and Prudentius is called Hispaniarum Scholasticus by Walafridus Strabo (o) Walafr Strab. de reb Eccles cap. 25. yea Synesius long before gives that Title to a learned Friend of his (p) Synes op 155 156. and Elpidius hath the Name of Scholasticus in Leontius (q) Leont Mechan de Arat. sphaer Which is enough to prove That for divers Ages this had been a Title and in S. Gregory he plainly opposeth a Prayer composed by a Divine Person such as the Lords Prayer is to one made by an human Author by a Learned and Scholastical Man by which he means either in general all the old Popes who first put in the several Parts or rather Gelasius who setled the Canon made up of those Parts and so may be said to be the Author thereof And thus all my Adversaries dreams of a Man called Scholasticus contemporary to S. Gregory fall to the ground But still he persists in this Notion and saith Bellarmin thinks it is not improbable that Scholasticus was a Mans Name then alive I Reply Bellarmin (r) Bellarm. de Miss lib. 2. c. 19. only recites this as Chemnitius's Opinion but disputes against it and yet adds if he should yield this to gratifie his Adversary it would not follow that the Canon was made by him because S. Gregory's Words may be expounded not of the Canon but of some lesser Collects of later composure used in the Communion-Office and then adds Vtraque probabilis both Opinions viz. of the Canon being made by an ancient Learned Father entituled Scholasticus and of the Words signifying other Prayers are probable But my Adversary wilfully perverts Bellarmin as if he affirmed it was probable that Scholasticus Author of the Canon lived in Gregory's Time which the Cardinal utterly and with good Reason denies because there was a Canon at Rome divers Ages before and that which Gregory here speaks of was writ down by Gelasius before the End of the last Century And here let it be noted That though S. Gregory prefer the Lords Prayer whose Authority was Divine before this Prayer of Ecclesiastical and Human Composition yet he gives great regard to it for he calls the Elements only The Host or The Oblation before this Canon be repeated but after the pronouncing this Prayer over it he calls it Christs Body and Blood Which shews That he thought the Consecration was made by this very Prayer though it were only an Human Composure And this was not his Opinion alone but was believed generally in that Age as may appear by the Case of Januarius proposed to Gregory who was sometimes taken so ill even at the Sacrament that he was a great while before he could go on at the same place of the Canon where he left off which made many doubt whether or no they might receive the Communion from him because they feared that a Mistake in this Prayer would make the Consecration null (s) Gregor Epist 56. lib. 11. pag. Now it is no way probable that a Prayer lately made by an obscure and private Man should so suddenly gain the reputation of being a necessary part of the Office And therefore we may conclude this first Assertion of his to be false and no way deducible from S. Gregory's Words since it opposes so much Reason and so great Authority But Secondly Whoever made this Canon or whensoever it was made my Adversary saith That S. Gregory was not for imposing it which he hopes to prove by his not imposing this Canon upon Augustine the Monk whom he had sent to Convert the Saxons then in this Island For he advised him to a Course inconsistent with any restraint Now all this is to insinuate that it is ill done of our Church to impose her Liturgy upon her own Clergy because as he pretends Bede saith S. Gregory did not impose the Roman Canon on Austin the Monk An heavy Charge this and well proved as we shall see by the true Quotation of Bede's Words half of which my Adversary hath left out Augustine had enquired why since there was but One Faith there were divers Liturgies and in this case which he should chuse to establish here And Bede thus relates S. Gregory's Answer Your Brotherhood knows the Custom of the Roman Church in which you were brought up but I am content that whatever you can find in the Roman the Gallican or any Church which may best please Almighty God you do carefully chuse that here He fraudulently draws a Line But Bede goes on thus And infuse into your New Converted Church of England by a special Institution what you so gather from several Churches Here he comes in again For things are not to be beloved for the places sake but places are to be beloved for the good things that are there wherefore out of every Church choose such things as are pious religious and right Here he concludes but S. Gregory goes on and gathering these into one Collection deposit them for Customs in the Minds of the English Never was poor Author so mangled to serve an ill Cause two long Sentences left out one in the Middle and another at the End to find out which base and disingenuous Fallacy I desire the Reader will compare Gregory's full Answer as it is Recorded in Bede and Sir Henry Spelman (t) Bed hist lib. 1. cap 27. Spelm. Concil Vol. l. pag. with his circumcised Citation thereof (u) Disc of Lit. Marg. pag. 85◠and then he will discern his Fraud in concealing the directions for Augustin to make a special institution of the things he had so Collected into one Body of a Liturgy and then by a New Form daily to be used to fix them in the Minds of the English by a Custom Which utterly overthrows his pretended Liberty For S. Gregory supposes every Church had a Written Liturgy which Augustin might read over and compare And he advises Augustin to read over the several Liturgies of several Churches the Roman the Gallican c. and out of all these to compose One Form and then to enjoyn it on the English and by daily use to accustom them to it This is all the Restraint that is practised now Our Reformers did read over all
which assures us they were Forms of Prayer And that Common-Prayer properly signifies such a Form in which both Minister and People have their several parts Of this Litany or Common-Prayer there are divers Petitions mentioned in S. Augustin upon occasion and though being writing Letters he doth not always cite them in the same Words yet the Phrases are so very much alike and the Sense and Order of them is so exactly the same that we may be sure he alludes to some known Form Thus he saith in one of the places afore cited the Church prays That Faith may be granted to unbelievers that Idolaters may be delivered from their ungodly Errors that the Vail may be taken away from the Hearts of the Jews so that the light of Truth may shine unto them that Hereticks may by Repenting receive the true Faith that Schismaticks may be restored by the Spirit of Charity that the lapsed may partake of the remedies of Repentance and that the Catechumens being brought to the Sacrament of Regeneration may have the Treasures of Heavenly mercy opened to them (k) Aug. de Eccles dogm cap. 30. p. 46. ut supra f In another place he describes so many of these Petitions more briefly as concern his present Question The Minister saith he prays For unbelievers that God would convert them to the Faith for the Catechumens that God would inspire them with the desire of Regeneration and for the Faithful that by his Gift they may persevere in that which they have begun (l) Idem ad Vital Epist 107. pag. 102. H and a little after The Faithful pray for themselves that they may presevere in that which they have begun (m) Id. ibid. pag. 103. H. eadem verba iterum ibid. p. 104. I. which Sentence is twice mentioned in one Epistle where also he saith When do you hear Gods Minister Praying with a loud Voice That God would make the unbelieving Gentiles come over to the Faith and do not answer Amen (n) Id. pag. 104. G. And in another Book When did not the Church use to Pray That unbelievers may believe And for the Faithful that God would grant they may persevere in him even to the End To which saith he the People answer Amen (o) Aâ—g de 〈…〉 7. â—â—g â—â—â— Now my Adversary makes it an Argument against Liturgies that S. Augustin here speaking of the same Prayers cites them in various Words (p) Disc of 〈◊〉 pag. 21 22. But I have already observed he is writing Epistles and doth not pretend to quote the very Words but yet he describes the things Prayed in Phrases so very like each other that we may be sure he referred them to a common Form the Words of which were so well known that he need not strictly tye himself to repeat them As if I were writing to two several Persons and should prove the Church of Englands Charity by saying in one Letter that on Good Fryday she prays for the Conversion of Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks and in another Letter by saying she Prays that God would convert the Jews convince the Turks and make Infidels and Hereticks become true Believers Supposing those I writ to were well acquainted with the Collect for Good Fryday None but such an Arguer as I have to deal with would gather from thence That the Church of England had no prescribed Collect for this day and this occasion And there is the less regard to be given to this Scruple because there are so many other clear Proofs in S. Augustin that there were certain Forms in his Time in the African and in other Churches He tells us That all Nations Grecians Latins and Barbarians used that Form Lord have mercy upon us (q) Aug. Pascentio Ep. 178. pag. 164. Now this we know was the Response in the ancient Litany And that same Preface before the Trisagion which we have anciently met with in S. Cyprian and many others is often mentioned and expounded in S. Augustin's Works So often as the Priest saith Lift up your Hearts the Spiritual Man can boldly and safely say We lift them up unto the Lord (r) Ei quoties Sacerdos dixerit sursum corda securè fidelitèr dicunt se habere ad Dominum De Temp. ser 54. pag 153. In another place Our Heart saith he is in Heaven and therefore it is not without cause that we hear those Words Lift up your Hearts (s) Id Com. in Psal 148. pag. 377. And again to shew it was of universal as well as daily use he saith All Mankind throughout the World do daily as it were with one Voice answer That they lift up their Hearts unto the Lord (t) Quotidiè per universum orbem genus humanum unà penè voce respondet sursum Corda se habere ad Dominum Id. de verâ Relig c. 3. p. 158. Moreover he gives us as clear Testimony of the rest of this Preface You know saith he to Dardanus in what Sacrifice it is said Let us give Thanks to our Lord God (u) Aug ad Dardan ep 57. pag. 57. and the like he writes to Honoratus (w) Id. ad Honorat ep 120. pag. 124. To which the Answer was then as it is now in our Common-Prayer It is meet and right so to do For thus S. Augustin discourses That which is said in the Sacrament by the Faithful Lift up your Hearts And We lift them up unto the Lord is intimated to be the Gift of God and therefore the Priest admonisheth those to whom he had spoken To give Thanks to our Lord God and they Answer It is meet and right (x) ut Gratias agant Domino Deo nostro Et dignum justum esse respondent Aug. de bon persev lib. 2. Tom. 7. p. 276. Item Aug de bono videit cap. 16. There can be nothing plainer therefore than that this very Form was used in the very same Words both in the Eastern and African Churches and it was also used in the Western Church so exactly in the same Form that we may justly look upon this as a piece of Primitive Liturgy which no Church presumed to alter He also speaks of a Prayer of Consecration by which the holy Elements were blessed The Petitions of which were concluded almost in every Church with the Lord's Prayer (y) Quam totam petitionom fere omnis Ecclesia dominica Oratione concludit Aug. Paulino ep 59. pag. 62. and he tells us that the Sacrament was delivered to the Faithful in these Words The Body or The Blood of Christ to which they always answered Amen (z) Aug. de verb. Ap. Ser. 31. pag. 87. enar in Psal 32. pag. 49. which very Form had been used in Africa ever since Tertullian's Time as we shewed before and we have also found it in the Eastern Churches and at Milan as well as here Finally He mentions a certain Vow in the Post-Communion wherein the Faithful do