Thanks For example among the daily xviii Blessed be thou O Lord our God that removest sleep from our eyes and slumbring from our eye-lids And let it please thee O Lord our God and God of our Fathers to practise us in thy Law and to make us cleave to thy precepts and bring us not into sinne and transgression and temptation and contempt and so forth ending thus Blessed be thou O Lord that givest good graces The blessing of the Law that is the Thanksgiving to God for it is this Blessed art thou O Lord our God the King of the world that hath sanctified us with his precepts given us command concerning the matters of the Law And sweeten O God the words of the Law in our mouth and in the mouth of thy people the house of Israel And make us all and our children and our childrens children knowers of thy Name and learners of thy Law for it self Blessed art thou O Lord that teachest thy people Israel the Law So in the Blessing of wine so in the Blessing after meat And so for the resemblance of the Blessing of our Lord over the elements with these and the exigence of the businesse may we justly presume that it ran in the like form to the purpose of it And last of all herewith agreeth the practice of the ancient Church wherein for certain the Thanksgiving described afore was joyned with prayer for the effect of that which was done So saith Justine that the President sent forth PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS to God So in Tertullian de or at C. xiiii Sacrisiciorum orationes and in the next words Eucharistia stand both for the same So in the ciiii of the Africane Canons these Thanksgivings are called Prefaces to my thinking because this Thanksgiving was alwayes premised to the prayer which the Eucharist was consecrated with I will here propound that Form of Prayer which followeth after the rehearsall of the institution of this Sacrament in the place alledged of the Constitutions of the Apostles For a Prayer to the like effect is to be found in all the Eastern Liturgies Which if we compare with the Testimonies of Ecclesiasticall Writers which divers have produced to prove that the elements are not consecrated by the affirmative words of Christ as operative but by the prayers of the Church it will appear that it is the prayer whereof we now speak alwayes used in the Church to obtain of God the promise which the institution of Christ supposeth that the elements present might be deputed to the effect of becoming visible signes tendring exhibiting the invisible grace which they figure Which is that which in this matter is called Consecration as I suppose Having repeated the institution of this Sacrament out of the Gospels where we left afore it followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore mindfull of his Passion and death and rising from the dead and ascension into heaven and of his second appearance at which he is to come with glory and power to judge the quick and dead and to render to every man according to his works we offer to thee our King and God according to his appointment this bread and this cup giving thanks to thee through him that thou hast vouchsafed us to stand before thee and to minister unto thee And beseech thee that thou wouldest look favourably upon these Oblations present before thee thou God that wantest nothing and accept them to the honour of thy Christ and send down the holy Spirit witnesse of the passions of the Lord Jesus upon this Sacrifice to exhibite this bread the body and this cup the bloud of thy Christ That they which pertake of it may be confirmed in godlinesse obtain remission of sinnes be delivered from the devil and his deceit be filled with the holy Ghost become worthy of thy Christ and obtain life everlasting thou being reconciled to them God Almighty It is clearly true in the sense and language of the ancient Church which S. Ambrose saith De iis qui myst init C. ix Ante consecrationem alia species nominatur post consecrationem corpus Christi significatur Before Consecration another species is named that is the bread after it the body of Christ is signified And de Sacr. v. 4. Dixi vobis quòd ante verba Christi quod offertur panis dicatur ubi Christi verba depromta fuerint jam non panis dicitur sed corpus appellatur I told you that before the words of Christ that which is offered is called bread after the words of Christ â—â—e produced it is no more called bread it is called his body Therefore whereas in this prayer the elements are named by their kind of bread and wine it is plain that all that while they are not conceived or intended to be consecrated And what doubt can there be in that when we see a prayer follow wherein is desired that the elements may become the body and bloud of Christ And he that shall turn over the Copies of Liturgies which we have extant from the Eastern Churches shall find them to agree in this That after the institution is rehearsed out of the Gospels professing that what is presently done is in obedience to the same prayer is made first that by the holy Ghost the elements may be sanctified to become the body and bloud of Christ and then that they may be to such effects of grace as are specified in the form rehearsed to them that communicate Onely in the Missall of the Maronites printed at Rome there be divers forms of Consecration which they call Anaphora under the Apostles names and other Eastern Doctours wherein this prayer seemeth to be wilfully changed to make them conformable to the doctrine of the now Church of Rome It was printed there for the use of that nation in the yeare MDXCIV In the ancient form of the Latine Church there seemeth not by the now Canon of the Masse but by the remembrance of it extant in ancient Church-writers to have been some difference from this and that difference seemeth to have occasioned the errour of the now Church of Rome concerning Consecration by operative words Neverthelesse the words of S. Ambrose or whosoever writ those books de Sacram. are these v. 4. Vis scire quia verbis coelestibus consecratur accipe quae sint verba Dicit Sacerdos Fac nobis hanc hostiam asscriptam rationabilem acceptabilem quod est figura corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi Qui pridie quà m pateretur Wilt thou know that it is consecrated by the heavenly words heare what be the words The Priest saith Make this Sacrifice imputable accountable acceptable for us which is the figure of the body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who the night before he suffered so forth proceeding to rehearse the institution out of the Gospel In the Canon of the Masse is added ratam or ratified Fac nobis hanc hostiam asscriptam ratam rationabilem
much to my purpose For it is plain that this is not the doctrine of the now Church of Rome when being to shew how the elements are consecrated he produceth the prayer of the Church joyned to the institution of Christ Which is to say that by virtue of Christs institution executed by the Church with prayer to God to ratifie and accept the elements presently offered to be the figure and remembrance of the body and bloud of Christ they are deputed to become this Sacrament In the Canon of the Masse these words are somewhat changed from that which is set down in S. Ambrose for they are read thus Vt nobis corpus sanguis siant dilectissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi That they may become to us the body and bloud of thy most beloved Sonne our Lord Christ Jesus And it seemeth that they were changed on purpose that this Sacrament might not be called a Figure of the invisible Grace of it But in the mean time it is manifest that here prayer is made for the effect of Christs institution in these elements and that nothing can be more crosse to this doctrine of the now Church of Rome then their own Service S. Ambrose observed that after the institution is rehearsed the elements are called the body and bloud The reason seems to be because they were intended to be deputed to become this Sacrament by prayer grounded on the institution of Christ which it is joyned with But it should seem that after the institution there followed in the ancient form of the Latine Church a prayer to the purpose though not in the terms of that which now followeth in the Canon of the Masse the close whereof is this Vt quot quot ex hac altaris participatione Sacrosanctum Filii tui corpus sanguinem sumserimus omni benedictione coelesti gratiâ repleamur That as many as shall receive the holy body and bloud of thy Sonne by participating of this altar may be fulfilled with thy heavenly benediction grace Which is plainly in lieu of the second point of that prayer alledged out of all the Eastern Liturgies desiring the like effects of grace by the means of this Sacrament upon them that communicate If any man think that the Forms hitherto described import that the ancient Church intended to consecrate the elements in the sense of the now Church of Rome that is to abolish the corporall substance of them and substitute that of the body and bloud of Christ in stead not in the true sense to depute them to become visible signes tendring and exhibiting the invisible Grace which they figure he shall much prejudice the truth which we professe The due advantage whereof hath been long since proved to be this that the errour pinned upon it is not to be found so much as in the Service of the Church where it is bred maintained Whē Prayer is made cōcerning the elements in the Canon of the Masse Vt nobis corpus fiant dilectissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi That they may become to us the body and bloud of thy welbeloved Sonne our Lord Christ Jesus These words to us make an abatement in the proper signification of the body and bloud For the elements may be said to become the body and bloud of Christ without addition in the same true sense in which they are so called in the Scriptures But when they are said to become the body and bloud of Christ to them that communicate that true sense is so well signified and expressed that the words cannot well be understood otherwise then to import not the corporall substance but the spirituall use of them In the Greekish form prayer is made that the elements may be made or become or be changed or translated into the body and bloud of Christ That also among our Writers of Controversies is acknowledged to be verified and is indeed easily verified though we suppose them not to cease to be what they were but to become what they were not that is visible signes exhibiting the invisible grace which they figure To which meaning that which alwayes follows in that form directs us when prayer is made that the elements may become the body and bloud of Christ so that they which receive them may be fulfilled with the blessings of his grace Which is to say that they may become that which they are called to wit the body and bloud of Christ not in respect of the corporall substance and kind whereof they consist but in respect to the spirituall communion which they exhibit And indeed when S. Ambrose saith that after consecration the body of the Lord and his bloud onely is named and signified and expressed this also seems to import a great abatement of the proper signification of the body and bloud of Christ As being so called and named and signified to us not because the substance of their nature and kind is abolished but because it comes no more into consideration as not concerning the spirituall benefit of them that communicate Which seemeth to be the true reason why Church-writers continually call the elements by the names of that which they exhibit without such addition as might import that abatement whereof now we speak who neverthelesse otherwhiles stick not to acknowledge that the species of the elements that is in their sense not the outward appearance of the accidents as those of the Church of Rome disguise the true meaning of the Latine word but the inward nature and substance of their kind doth remain as it was It remaineth now to declare both the right purpose and true meaning of that prayer for all States of the Church which in all Liturgies that I have seen is made at consecrating the Eucharist and before the receiving of it In that which hath been hitherto represented out of the Constitutions of the Apostles as in the most of the Eastern Liturgies immediately after the Consecration hitherto described The beginning of it there is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Further we pray thee O Lord for thy holy Church from end to end which thou hast purchased with the precious bloud of thy Christ that thou wouldst keep it unmoved unwaved till the end of the world And for all Bishops that divide the word of truth aright Further we pray thee for the meannesse of me that offer to thee For the whole Presbytery for the Deacons and all the Clergy that Further for the King and Powers that they may keep peace toward us Further we offer to thee for all the Saints that have pleased thee from the beginning of the world Further we pray thee for all this people reckoning virgins widows married and infants Further we intreat for this city for the sick the banished slaves travellers and those that are at home that Further we pray thee for those that hate us and persecute us for thy name for those that are without and go astray
for us But as this Sacrament was frequented no otherwise then as the most solemn part of Gods publick Service at religious Assemblies for that purpose whatsoever was expressed more or lesse of the subject of it concerning the Creation and Redemption of the world yet in all manner of Liturgies of all Christian Churches there is none that I have seen which doth not premise this Thanksgiving and praise to God to the celebration of that Sacrament And it is very remarkable that in that distance of times and places from which we receive the severall forms yet extant with so much difference as must needs proceed from thence yet there are two particulars of it in which all the Forms that are extant agree the one the beginning of it with Sursum corda or Lift up your hearts the people answering as we use it and then to let us understand to what purpose they are exhorted to do it Let us give thanks to our Lord God specifying the Prayer which I now describe The other is the Communion of the Church militant with the fellowship of Angels in this Office expressed in the Trisagion or Seraphicall Hymne Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth for though there is much difference between Forms that are extant yet it will be hard to find any of them wherein both those have not a place which had the forms been arbitrary could not have come to passe Here a question lies to mine apprehension very much concerning this purpose whereas the Creatures of bread and wine are deputed to the effect of becoming the body and bloud of Christ to them that receive them aright by the appointment of our Lord executed by the Church how it can be conceived that by giving thanks to God to the purpose specified they are on the part of the Church deputed to such effect To me it seemeth unquestionable that the Thanksgiving wherewith our Lord in the Gospel is said to have celebrated this Sacrament at his last supper contained also Prayer to God for the effect to which the elements when they became this Sacrament are deputed And that the Church upon his example hath alwayes frequented his institution with the like rehearsing his institution out of the Gospel and praying for the effect of it at the present after the Thanksgiving hitherto described And so whereas in the sense of the Church of Rome the elements are consecrated that is transubstantiated into the body and bloud of Christ by rehearsing the affirmative words of Christ This is my body this is my bloud as operative In the true sense of the Church they are consecrated that is deputed to be this Sacrament and to the effect of it by the Prayer of the Congregation grounded upon the institution of Christ and the promise which it implyeth Let me suppose in the first place that the elements by being deputed to become this Sacrament are not abolished for their substance nor cease to be what they were but yet begin to be what they were not that is visible signes not onely to figure the Sacrifice of Christ his Crosse which being so used they are apt to do of themselves setting the institution of Christ aside but also to tender and exhibite the invisible Grace which they represent to them that receive For though no man can receive the body and bloud of Christ that is not disposed with a living Faith to receive the same yet on Gods part it is undoubtedly tendred to those that are not so disposed otherwise how saith the Apostle that those that eat and drink unworthily are guiltie of the body and bloud of Christ as not discerning the same And otherwise how saith our Lord of the elements at the instant of delivering them this is my body this is my bloud in the present tense Let me suppose in the second place that our Lord in celebrating this Sacrament made use of the received custome of his people which was as still it is in receiving all good things at Gods hands to premise Thanksgiving or Blessing as they call it before they used them In particular at Feasts before supper was done they took bread and broke it and gave it about and the cup of wine likewise having blessed God for the use of those excellent creatures Upon solemnities and particular occasions mention was made of that which the time required This is the ground of those two points of the Thanksgiving discussed afore the use of those creatures and the redemption of the world which our Lord specified upon the exigenc◠of the generall custome and the particula◠occasion and the Primitive Christians according to Justine Martyr frequented upon his example But as in the like case at the miracle of the Loaves when it is said that our Lord looked up to heaven and blessed Matt xiv 19. or gave thanks as it is John vi 11. i◠cannot be doubted that besides blessing God for his creatures he prayed also for the purpose of that which he intended to do No more is it to be doubted that the Thanksgiving which he made over those elements for that which they represented contained also Prayer that by them it might be communicated to his disciples The tenour and consequence of our Lords words requires no lesse For that which is affirmed must be true before it be truly affirmed and the processe of this action blessing and delivering the elements and commanding to receive them as his body and bloud importeth that he intended to affirm that so they were in the true sense which the words import at the instant of delivering them And by what consequence could his disciples conceive them to be deputed for signes to exhibite his body and bloud upon his giving of Thanks over them for the redemption of the world unlesse we suppose his Thanksgiving whereof the Gospel speaketh to contain also Prayer that they might become effectuall to that purpose And herewith agreeth that of the Apostle Every creature of God is good and none to be rejected being received with Thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer For here the Thanksgiving wherewith the creatures are sanctified to the nourishment of our bodies containeth also prayer grounded upō the Word of God whereby he appointeth them for that purpose Accordingly therfore the Thanksgiving wherewith these elements were sanctified by our Lord to be the nourishment of the soul must contain prayer not grounded upon the institution of God to that purpose because the act of Christ for the present went before his institution for the future but as joyned to his command grounding a word of promise to the Church whereupon it was to do likewise And herewith agree those Forms of Thanksgiving or as they call them Benedictions which the Jews at this day practice from very ancient time as they pretend For the foot and close of divers the most remarkable of them is with prayer for the blessing of God upon that wherefore they give
Service of God observed from the beginning of the Church And because they contain matter of Supplication for the diverting of Gods judgements and obtaining of his blessings nothing could be more sutable then to adde them to the daily Morning Service on Wednesdayes and Fridayes as the exercise of that continuall humiliation before God to which the observation of these dayes was intended to the unspeakable benefit of the Church and the continuall discharge of those most excellent offices of Fasting Prayer Alms among Christians It is past mine apprehension to imagine wherein any man will pretend to fault the act of Confession of sinnes in the Publick Service of God before celebrating and receiving the Eucharist For if Repentance be a disposition requisite to make men capable of the grace which it exhibiteth shall it not be exercised at the Publick Service of God which our common profession acknowledgeth so necessary rather then onely presumed to be performed in particular And if it prove by the verdict of all consciences to be darkned from time to time by the intercourse of daily offenses joyned with unthankfulnesse and unfruitfulnesse is not that Order for the edification of the Church which reviveth and refresheth and inlighteneth it at so solemn an act of religious Service as this Sure I am that whosoever will lay his hand upon an honest heart shall not say that the form which we use is taken out of the Masse when he considereth that which the Reformation teacheth and professeth of free pardon of sinnes through Christ to be so comfortably expressed in it And seeing it hath been shewed afore that in the practice of the Ancient Church to them which for notorious or acknowledged offenses were under the state of Penance the means of forgivenesse was partly ministred in the publick Prayers of the Church and the Ministers of it what can be more sutable to this practice and the grounds of it on behalf of those that acknowledge themselves sinners but are not reduced by the Church under that discipline then that prayer or blessing wherein he that celebrateth the Eucharist imploreth that Grace on their behalf at Gods hands To me it seemeth that the rehearsall of the Decalogue in the beginning of that which some still call the latter Service together with the answers of the people craving pardon and grace to observe them for the future is to the very purpose of this Confession of sinnes and to actuate our repentance by calling to mind our offenses by retail though it is in the Order of our Service somewhat removed from it as being thought fit for other reasons to be used when the Eucharist was not celebrated Notwithstanding were it left to my choice I confesse I should think the most proper place for this Confession of sinnes to be that which it holdeth in the first Edition of Edward VI. after the consecration of the elements and before receiving them with that prayer which beginneth We do not presume after the same For the reason why it hath been otherwise ordered seemeth to have been to avoid offense lest it might be thought to import Transubstantiation in those words spoken after Consecration So to eat the flesh of thy dear Sonne Jesus Christ and to drink his bloud The cause of which offense if any such may be imagined seemeth to me utterly voided in the words added there so to eat the flesh of thy dear Sonne Jesus Christ and to drink his bloud IN THESE HOLY MYSTERIES Thus much let me be bold to affirm that it would be a great fault in the Church to celebrate this Sacrament without something answerable to that Thanksgiving wherewith it was first instituted by our Lord and practised by the whole Church Suppose it contain no mention of the Creation and the blessing of Gods creatures because as hath been said it seemeth to have been practised heretofore in relation to mans bodily sustenance wherewith it was instituted practised at the first Without Thanksgiving for the redemption of the world it is not duly received therefore with it it is duly celebrated Of this Thanksgiving for the redemption of the world there is due remembrance in the very end of the Exhortation from those words And above all things therefore it seemeth that the Preface wherein that Thanksgiving is contained and expressed after Lift up your hearts had followed very seasonably after remembrance of the cause and ground of it But the substance of that which is done is alwayes the same Further how little soever the grace of Gods goodnesse depend on that which by man is ordered for the fittest and though it is not pretended that any Law of God in the Scriptures inacteth this Sacrament to be celebrated with that Thanksgiving from which it is called the Eucharist or that Prayer for the effect of Christs Institution at the present which is the close of it yet since it hath been shewed that so this Sacrament hath been celebrated from the beginning of the Church and that for so good reasons upon our Lords example at the institution of it and since this course so much concerns the edification of the Church it seemeth altogether requisite that the Elements be not supposed deputed for such a blessing to the Congregation by the mere act of receiving them to such purpose but should be actually and formally deputed by remembring the Institution of our Lord and by the prayer of the Church professing the execution and begging the blessing of the same which I suppose is called Consecration among us Gregory the great and Isidore tell us that the Apostles and S. Peter by name celebrated the Eucharist with the Lords Prayer alone but that alone must be understood to except other accessories to the manner of celebrating consisting in the Eucharist or Thanksgiving whereof the Prayer of Consecration was the foot and close Rabanus de Instit Cler. lib. 32. Cum benedictione enim gratiarum actione primùm Dominus corporis sanguinis sui Sacramenta dedicavit Apostolis tradidit quod exinde Apostoli imitati fecere successores suos facere docuerunt quod nunc per totum Orbem terrarum generaliter tota custodit Ecclesia For our Lord at first initiated and delivered to his Apostles the mysteries of his body and bloud with blessing and Thanksgiving which thence the Apostles imitated and did and taught their successours to do and which now the whole Church generally observeth all the world over That which hath been said is enough to show that it was alwayes celebrated with this Thanksgiving the foot whereof as hath been shewed was the Prayer of the Church for the effect of the Institution of our Lord at the present Where are they now that take upon them to say that all our Service is taken out of the Masse how will they discharge themselves in this most eminent point or how will they be able to digest this untruth which the least insight of the Masse will thrust
Lords day on neither whereof they fasted Neverthelesse in other places this reason prevailed not By Tertullian it appeareth De Orat. C. xiiii that in his time and the parts where he lived the Eucharist was celebrated on dayes of Fasting And in the same place he disputeth against those that forbore the Kisse of Peace used in some places afore receiving the Eucharist in some places after it Conc. Laod. Can. xix Innocent I. ad Docent 1. upon dayes of Fasting which was an observance of Fasting-dayes derived from the Synagogue where their fashion was not to salute one another when they fasted Maimoni Taanioth C. iii. n. 8. C. v. n. 11. And S. Basil Epist cclxxxix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet we communicate foure times a week Lords dayes Wednesdayes Fridayes and Sabbaths and on other dayes if the memory of a Martyr fall out In fine certain it is which S. Augustine delivereth in this point Epist cxviii Alia quae per loca terrarum regionésque variantur sicuti est quòd alii jejunant Sabbato alii non alii quotidie communicant corpori sanguini Dominico alii certis diebus communicant alibi nullus dies intermittitur quo non offeratur alibi Sabbato tantùm Dominico alibi tantùm Dominico siquid aliud hujusmodi animadverti potest totum inquam hoc genus rerum liberas habet observationes Other things which change according to places and countreys of the world as that some fast on Saturday some not some participate every day of the Lords body and bloud some receive on certain dayes in some places no day is intermitted but it is celebrated otherwhere onely on the Sabbath and Lords day otherwhere on the Lords day alone and if any thing else of this sort can be observed all matters of this kind I say are of free observance This indifference or this difference notwithstanding we shall perceive the whole custome of the Ancient Church was to celebrate the Eucharist if not every day yet upon all Lords dayes if not rather by consequence upon all Festivals or all dayes of more solemn Assemblies as the Crown of the Service for which they assembled both upon example of the Primitive time The practice of them that celebrated and received the Eucharist every day standeth upon the example of the Primitive Christians at Jerusalem Of whom when it is said that they continued constant in the doctrine of the Apostles and communion and in breaking bread and prayers and that continuing with one mind in the Temple and from house to house they did eat their meat with gladnesse and singlenesse of heart to what purpose shall we imagine that Breaking bread and Communion is mentioned besides the Service of the Temple but to signifie the Service of the Eucharist proper to the Faith of Christians in which they communicated among themselves as with the Jews in the Service of the Temple knowing that at the first it was used at meals as it was instituted among Christians This notwithstanding in other places it seemeth the Eucharist was celebrated but upon Lords dayes as well in the times of the Apostles as in the Church that succeeded Acts xx 7. On the first day of the week the Disciples being assembled to break bread that is to celebrate the Eucharist as the Syriack translateth it Here the first day of the week seemeth to stand against the rest in terms of difference as if upon other dayes they did it not And that is the day which S. Paul appointeth the Church of Corinth as he had done the Churches of Galatia to make their Collections for the poore which Tertullian sheweth was done at their Assemblies 1. Cor. xvi 2. Tertull. Apolog. C. xxxix and in Plinie's Epistle concerning the Christians of his Government Quòd essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire That they were wont on a set day to assemble before light What day but the Lords day can we think might be Set for this purpose Justice Martyr for certain mentioneth no other Assemblies of Christians but on the Lords day in the place aforenamed And in the Constitutions of the Apostles ii 58. where he exhorteth to Assemble every day morning and evening as was said afore the Eucharist is mentioned to be celebrated but upon Lords dayes as it followeth afterwards Plinie's words in that place are these at large Epist xcvii l. x. Quòd essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carménque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem séque Sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed nè furta nè latrocinia nè adulteria committerent nè fidem fallerent nè depositum appellati abnegarent His peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse rur súsque coeundi adcapiendum cibum promiscuum tamen innoxium The Christians confessed that they were wont to assemble on a set day before light and to sing praise among themselves to Christ as to God and to tye themselves upon a Sacrament not to any wickednesse but not to commit thefts robberies or adulteries not to falsifie their trust or deny a thing deposited being demanded This done that their custome was to depart and meet again to eat together but in a vulgar and innocent sort Grotius of late upon Matth. xxvi 25. seemeth to conceive that at the beginning the Eucharist was not celebrated but at meals as it was instituted by our Lord. And that so it was celebrated not onely under the Apostle as Acts xx 11. 1. Cor. xi or under Ignatius but in Justine Martyr and Tertullians time appeareth by their words Justin Dial. cum Tryph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore that Prayers and Thanksgivings made by the worthy are the onely complete Sacrifices and acceptable to God I also affirm for these alone Christians also have received order to perform and that upon remembrance both of their dry and moist nourishment at which there is also remembrance of the Passion which God by God himself suffered The like Apol. ii the words shall follow afterwards Tertullian de Cor. c. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum in tempore victûs omnibus mandatum à Domino etiam antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quà m Praesidentium sumimus The Sacrament of the Eucharist commanded by our Lord both to all and at meat time we receive also at our Assemblies afore day but at no mans hands but our Presidents They are the words whereupon he groundeth For Tertullian reckoneth it among Traditions that is Customes of the Church not commanded in Scripture Which notwithstanding nothing hindereth but the same might be practised in the Apostles time and remembred in the Scriptures To which opinion I rather incline Otherwise whence should the Custome rise in Justine and Tertullians time to celebrate the Eucharist at their Morning Assemblies when it was still in use at Supper time in their Feasts of Love That is it which Ignatius calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ancient translation
Priests use to make supplication for all praying for the Kings of this world that they may hold the Nations subject that settled in peace we may be able to serve our God with tranquillitie and quiet of mind Praying also for those that are trusted with high power that they may govern the Common-wealth in justice and truth with abundance of all things that the trouble of sedition being removed gladnesse may succeed When he calleth it The rule of that Service which their Priests ministred it is plain he understandeth the words of the Apostle concerning the Prayers which were made at the Lords Board at celebrating the Eucharist Besides the brief which he relateth containeth the chief particulars of that form produced out of the Constitutions of the Apostles So S. Augustine Ep. lix in the words partly related afore partly to be related afterwards acknowledgeth the whole Order of the Service which the Eucharist was celebrated with to be prescribed in these words of the Apostle But this purpose to prove there needs no great dispute The generall Custome of the Ancient Church gathered from the marvelous agreement of all ancient forms of Service that remain speaks aloud That this Prayer for all men at the Eucharist whereof we speak comes from the Order of the Apostle It seemeth therefore to me most probable that the meaning of the Apostle is this and so was understood and practised by all the ancient Church that at the celebration of the Eucharist Supplications and Prayers be made for all men for Kings c. For it is nothing forced or strained to take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Thanksgivings in the same sense in which it stands in the passages of Clemens and Ignatius alledged afore for the Celebration of the Eucharist for the whole action and all the Prayers which it was celebrated with And otherwise the consequence of the Apostles words will be altogether impertinent For in the common and generall sense of this word Thanksgiving it is not proper to exhort that giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and so forth that we may lead a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie But it is proper to exhort that Supplications and Prayers be made for all men for Kings and the rest that by the means of their rule and government we may lead a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie And it is proper enough to exhort that Thanksgivings be made for all men to that purpose understanding by Thanksgivings that action of celebrating the Eucharist part whereof are those Supplications and Prayers And thus as in lieu of spirituall graces in Prayer which were used to make Supplication for the necessities of all members and states of the Church under the Apostle according to S. Chrysostome alledged afore Prayers afterwards in most parts of the Church were indicted by the Deacon and made by the people which for the manner and substance both were conceived afore to be the Originall of those that since have been called Litanies So neverthelesse to give effect to this rule of the Apostle it seemeth to have been an ancient and generall custome of the Church to make Supplications and Prayers at the Lords Board at celebrating the Eucharist though much to the same purpose with the former for all states of men but of the Church in particular And this nice observation if it may take place will be of great consequence to out the Church of Rome of all pretense of the Sacrifice of the Masse in the sense of the ancient Church and in particular in the style and tenour of the Liturgies themselves which for the great agreement between themselves with the style of the most ancient Church-writers seem to contain and expresse it For it is manifest that it is called an Oblation or Sacrifice in all Liturgies according to the style of the most ancient Church-writers not as consecrated but as presented and offered whether by the people as the custome was to him that ministred or by him that ministred to God to be consecrated as aforesaid It is the style of the form produced out of the Constitutions of the Apostles We offer unto thee this bread and this cup beseeching thee that they may become the body and bloud of Christ to the souls health of them that receive or to that purpose Thus farre there is no pretence of the Sacrifice of the Masse which supposeth the body and bloud of Christ present as the subject of it True it is that the style of this Prayer whereof we speak in divers points of divers Liturgies runs in the terms of we offer unto thee for such and such for this and that But it is to be observed that this Prayer came not after the Consecration in all Liturgies and according to the custome of all Churches to give occasion to think that the meaning is to offer Christ there present by consecration for the said persons and causes but went afore it in divers as hath been said the purpose of it being to execute the Apostles exhortation to make prayers supplications and intercessions for all men at celebrating the Eucharist Besides it is no where said we offer unto thee the body and bloud of Christ for such persons and causes but it is divers times said we offer unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this reasonable service and what is that but these Prayers For in the form alledged it is said at some points we pray thee for the Church and for the King at others we offer unto thee for this people and for the weather and fruitfull seasons and shall we not think them both to stand in one sense It hath been shewed that this Prayer is the practice of the Apostles exhortation to make Prayers and Supplications Thanksgivings for all men And it hath been declared that the meaning of his exhortation is that at the celebration of the Eucharist such Prayers and Supplications be made Therefore when it is said by name in the form related out of the Constitutions of the Apostles we offer unto thee for this people we offer unto thee for the weather and fruitfull seasons what should hinder the meaning to be according at this celebration of the Eucharist in confidence that thou hearest thy Sonne for us at this remembrance of his death and in obedience to thine Apostle we pray unto thee for such persons and causes as it is in expresse terms in the Liturgie of the Indian Christians Hâc enim horâ quâ Patri tuo Sacrificium offertur rogo majestatem tuam miserere omnium creaturarum For at this houre when Sacrifice is offered to thy Father I pray thy Majestie have mercie on all creatures And thus so often as we reade in Church-writers of offering for such and such persons and causes the meaning is that they offered the elements in which the Eucharist was to be celebrated that with it they might pray for those persons or causes