against this supposed grievous and fundamentall Errour because Constantinople the chief Seat of the Grecian Empire and Religion was taken by the Turks on a Whitsun-Tuesday in the year 1453. But 't is ill arguing from such an accidental circumstance and they may as justly conclude that the people of Rhodes and particularly the Knights of Jerusalem were guilty of some grievous Errour concerning our Blessed Saviour because the chief City of that Island which they had so bravely defended was at last lost upon a Christmas-day As to the state of the vitâ functi they know not well what to determine for taking for granted that the Souls of the Righteous are not in Heaven where they shall be after the Resurrection of the body they know not where to fix them But whereever that place is which sometimes they call Paradise from the words of our Saviour to the Thief upon the Cross S. Luke 23. 43. sometimes Abraham's bosome from S. Luke 16. 22. sometimes the hand of God from that of Ecclesiasticus The Souls of the Just are in the hand of God it is certainly distinct according to them from the presence of God For thus they pray in their Liturgy Remember O Lord all that sleep in hope of the Resurrection and everlasting Life and grant that they may rest where the light of thy Countenance shines forth and so in the Office of Burial O God of Spirits and of all flesh who having trampled upon Death and vanquisht the Devil hast given life to the world Thou O Lord make the Soul of thy deceased Servant to rest in the glorious in the pleasant place in the place of refreshment whence grief trouble and sighing are banisht And yet at other times as it were compelled by the force and evidence of truth they retract at least colour over this Opinion with this acknowledgment in their late Confession By which of these three names above mentioned any shall call the Receptacle of righteous Souls he will not erre provided that he believes and understands thus much that they enjoy the favour of God and are in his heavenly Kingdom and as the Church-Hymns mention in Heaven But as for the Souls of the Wicked and Unrighteous they hold that they descend immediately into Hades or Hell the place of Condemnation and of God's Wrath. They reject in words at least the Romish Doctrine of Purgatory by fire as having no foundation in Scripture and teach their people accordingly in their Catecheticall Confession and thus argue ab absurdo against it If the Soul satisfies for Sins committed in this life in such a place then by parity of reason part of the Mystery or Sacrament of Penance might be performed there which is say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary to orthodox doctrine But notwithstanding this declaration they fansy the Souls of the departed detained and shut up in most secret and unknown recesses under ground and there to be perplexed and to suffer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or grievous things and to find ease and refreshment from the Prayers and Suffrages and Oblations and Sacrifices of the living Upon this account it is that in the celebration of the Sacrament the Priest standing at the Prothesis offers several Particles of Bread one in honour of the Virgin Mary which they place on the right side of the Bread that is to be consecrated the rest in honour of S. John the Baptist the Holy and glorious Apostles S. Basil S. Gregory the Divine S. John Chrysostome Athanasius Cyrillus Nicolas of Myra and all holy Bishops S. Stephen the first Martyr S. George Demetrius Theodorus and all other holy Martyrs S. Antony Euthymius Saba Onuphrius Arsenius Athanasius of Mount Athos and all holy Monks the holy Physicians Cosmus and Damianus Cyrus and John Pantaleon and Hermolaus Sampson and Diomedes Thallaleus and Trypho and the rest S. Joachim and Anna the Saint of the day and all Saints and for his particular Archbishop and all the Clergy and for the Founders of the Church or Monastery for the living and dead where he mentions their names and for all who sleep in hope of the Resurrection to everlasting life to whom O mercifull God give pardon These are placed in the Patin and are carried to the Altar of Consecration and by reason of their vicinity to the Bread that is to be consecrated and is afterward actually consecrated partake of that blessing and sanctification 'T is manifest that this practice of the Greeks differs vastly from the ancient Rite of the Christians of the Second and Third Centuries which they would seem to imitate For they imagining that the Souls of deceased persons were not admitted into the Divine Presence but did exspectare in candida diem Judicii as Tertullian speaks their surviving friends and relations fearing lest their present condition might require it at least to shew their love and care of them brought their Oblations but this was done onely once a year laborantibus animabus refrigerium quoddam adpostulantes but they were not particular and distinct but for all together nor were they esteemed by them in the nature of satisfactory or expiatory Oblations but onely to shew the honour they bare to the memory of the holy Apostles and Martyrs in this solemn kind of pomp and at the celebration of the Holy Sacrament at which time they onely prayed to God that He would be pleased to remember them And certainly no more can well be understood by the Commemoration which follows just after the Consecration of the Elements in their present Liturgies The present Greeks too account it a great piece of Piety and Religion to visit the Graves of their dead Friends upon a set day every year and there perform several Funeral rites and pray for their Souls and after that the Priest has performed his Office and the religious part of the Ceremony is over they cover the Grave with their Napkins and Handkerchiefs and make a festival entertainment made up with part of the Colyba or boiled Wheat with mixt Fruits before mentioned with a great deal of mirth and jollity very unbecoming the Solemnity But to return to the modern Greeks The reason of this their practice is thus assign'd by Gabriel Philadelphiensis We offer these Particles for our Fathers Brothers Friends and Kinsfolks who sleep in Christ The end and design is that God would place their Souls in a bright and pleasant place in a place of rest whence grief and lamentation are banisht and send them a relaxation and deliverance from those grievous things that at present seize upon them and give them freedom and redemption from the lamentation of Hades and from tears Cyrillus Lucaris was ashamed of this superstitious practice and the idle pretension commonly used for the defence of it and therefore adds another Esset hîc referendum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
in general and that the Elements by their being blest and separated from common use are already sanctified and dedicated to God and so are in a readiness and disposition to be consecrated and made the Body and Bloud of Christ and that they are fit matter prepared and determined to this Sacramental end and purpose Therefore say they this Adoration is justly due to them Whereas after the Consecration when the Symbols are exposed and shewn to the people the Reverence is not half so great onely a little bowing of the body which is soon over But the miscarriage seem'd to me when I was present so gross and scandalous as that it needs no other confutation then the bare relating When the Priest consecrates the Door of the Bema or Chancell is shut up or at least the Veil or Curtain drawn before it the people being wholly debarred from the sight of the Priest's consecrating the holy Elements and no person of what quality soever suffered to be present but such as belong to and attend upon the holy service After the recital of several Prayers and Antiphons and the Constantinopolitan Creed the same with that which is commonly through a mistake called the Nicene Creed unless in the Article of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son which is inserted by the Latine Church the Priest proceeds to the consecration of the Elements the Deacon having fanned with a little Fan called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying softly to himself after the Quire has sung the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant Song Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest With these blessed Powers O mercifull Lord we cry aloud and say Thou art holy altogether holy and great is thy glory so is thy onely-begotten Son and thy Spirit Thou art holy altogether holy and great is thy glory who so lovest the world that thou gavest thy onely-begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life who when He had come and fulfilled the Dispensation which He undertook for us in the night in which He was betrayed or rather in which He delivered up himself for the life of the World took Bread into his holy pure and spotless hands and when He had given thanks and blessed it and sanctified it and brake it He gave it to his holy Disciples and Apostles saying here he inclines his head and laying his hand upon the Bread says with a loud voice Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you for the remission of sins likewise also after supper He took the Cup which taking up in his hand he says aloud Drink you all of this this is my Bloud of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins Afterwards he says secretly Mindfull therefore of thy saving command and of all things done for us of thy Cross Resurrection the third day Ascension into Heaven Session at the right hand of God and of thy second and glorious Coming again then with a loud voice we offer to thee thine of thine own in all things and through all things the Quire singing We praise thee we bless thee we give thanks to thee O Lord and we make our supplications to thee O God Then the Priest prays again We also offer to thee this rational and unbloudy worship and service and we beseech thee and pray thee and make our supplications to thee send forth thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these Gifts that lie before us After some Adorations and short private Prayers as O Lord who sentest thy most Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at the third hour do not O mercifull God take this thy Spirit from us and Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me which he repeats thrice to himself the Priest standing upright signing the holy Elements with the sign of the Cross three times says privately Make this Bread the precious Body of thy Christ and then Make that which is in this Cup the precious Bloud of thy Christ laying both his hands upon them changing them by thy Holy Spirit and soon after that this Sacrament may be to those who partake of them for the health and sobriety of the Soul the remission of Sins the fulness of the Kingdom of heaven and assurance in thee and not for our sin and condemnation Then it follows We offer also this rational service for those who rest in Faith for our Ancestours Forefathers Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Preachers Evangelists Martyrs Confessours Virgins and for every Soul made perfect by Faith and especially for the glorious and spotless ever-Virgin Mary S. John Baptist all the holy Apostles the Saint whose memory we now celebrate and all thy Saints c. Here he names several of the living and dead For the dead he says for the rest and ease of the Soul of thy Servant in the bright place whence all grief and sighing are banish'd and make it to rest where the light of thy Countenance shines Then he prays God to remember all the Orthodox Clergy and then We offer also this rational service for the whole world for the holy Catholick and Apostolick Church for all Christian Princes their Courts and Armies that God would grant them a peaceable reign that we may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty c. Several other Prayers and Responses follow together with the Lord's Prayer The Priest comes to the middle door of the Chancell and elevates the Bread which he afterwards breaks and divides into four parts and lays them down in the figure of a Cross one of which he puts into the Chalice wherein is poured again some warm water after which he himself communicates At the reception of the Cup he drinks thrice saying at the first sip In the name of the Father at the second and of the Son at the third and of the Holy Ghost The Priests and Deacons receive the Elements apart and distinctly in this form At the delivery of the Bread The precious holy and undefiled Body of the Lord God our Saviour Jesus Christ is given to thee for the remission of sins and everlasting life and at the delivery of the Cup The precious and holy Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is given to thee for the remission of sins and everlasting life This tenour of words is not always retained but admits of a variation the Priest saying sometimes I give unto thee the precious and holy Body of our Lord c. sometimes Thou receivest the precious and holy Body of our Lord c. After they within the Sanctuary or Holy place have been partakers of the Divine and tremendous Mysteries the Deacon standing at the
middle door with the Chalice lifted up in his hands invites the Communicants to approach Come hither in the fear of God with Faith and Charity He then dips a spoon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Chalice and taking out a bit or bits which are usually very small of the consecrated Bread called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or pearls soaked in and floating upon the Wine he puts it to their mouths saying to each The precious and holy Body and Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are given to thee for the remission of thy sins and eternal life or with a little alteration Thou receivest the precious and holy Body and Bloud of c. Thus the people communicate in both kinds which is the express doctrine and constant practice of the Greek Church which they ground on the words of our B. Saviour S. John chap. 6. v. 53. Verily verily I say unto you Except you that is all of you for no particular order of men being mentioned they understand this declaration universally eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud you have no life in you and on the example of the Apostles and on the history of the Institution explained by S. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians 11. Chapter It is an usual custom with them and certainly in it self highly commendable and which argues a great sense of the dignity of these Holy Mysteries that before they receive the Sacrament they ask Forgiveness one of another The Deacon begs it of the consecrating Priest who always takes care to be reconciled to any one who has a matter against him before he approaches the Altar The Priests who assist turn their heads to the right hand and to the left signifying by this gesture their desire of Forgiveness if they have offended any there present And the people who communicate every one for himself says aloud in the hearing of all before the act of receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forgive O Christians which the rest with one voice answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forgive you When the Communion is over the Priest distributes promiscuously to such as are present the blessed Bread unconsecrated For onely the upper part of the Loaf circumscribed within the Seal hence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for the Sacrament This is called by several names as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or divine bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from its being sanctified and blessed and most commonly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being given in stead of the consecrated holy Gifts or Elements to those who do not communicate to which the people ascribe great efficacy and virtue and which they oftentimes carry home and bestow upon their sick Friends thinking it as effectual if not more effectual then any Physick The sacred Solemnity is soon after concluded the Priest dismissing the people with a Blessing Thus much in the general I shall now proceed to mention several things relating to this Argument which if I had inserted in the precedent Paragraphs might have interrupted the series and order of this most solemn Administration which now lies close as to all the material parts of it and falls under one easy view As to the moment of Consecration in which the Symbols become and are made the Body and Bloud of Christ 't is certain that the Greeks herein following the authority of several ancient Writers of their Church do not hold this Divine Mystery to be perfected and consummated by or after the pronunciation of those words Take eat this is my Body the Change what-ever it be not being made according to S. John Damascen but by the descent and illapse of the Holy Spirit upon the Gifts or Elements placed upon the Altar Therefore in order to the completion of this Sacrament they adde Benediction and Prayers in which they do explicitely implore the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit of God the Priest after he has recited the words of our B. Saviour in the Institution invoking God in these words Send thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these holy Gifts lying before us and after a little pause having three times made the sign of the Cross adding which I purposely repeat Make this Bread the precious Body of thy Christ and that which is in this Cup the precious Bloud of thy Christ then with his hand lift up and held over them changing them by the Holy Spirit These are the formall words of the Liturgies of S. Chrysostome and S. Basil now in use It is of no great moment what some object that the last words of all changing them by thy Holy Spirit are omitted in several ancient Manuscript Exemplars for the same thing that is that the Elements become sacramental by the intervention and descent of the Holy Spirit is said expresly in the short prayers which precede which are confessedly ancient and free from any interpolation Thus in their Confession of Faith 't is positively asserted that the Change is made by the operation of the Holy Spirit of God whom the Priest invokes at that time consummating this Mystery and praying Send thy Holy Spirit upon us and c. For after these words there presently follows a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of this change I am next to speak 'T is most certain that the doctrine of Transubstantiation by virtue of which according to the fancies of the Romanists the natural substance of the Elements is supposed to be annihilated and wholly destroyed the Species or Accidents onely remaining was not admitted in the Greek Church till of late years there being nothing in their Liturgies tending that way onely that a Change is made and that the Elements after consecration become the Body and Bloud of Christ which no Christian of what Communion soever does doubt of in the least And this they thought fit to express by the names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without determining the manner of the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament For that these words do not infer such a substantial Change that is that the Elements notwithstanding their Consecration retain their essence and nature though they are as they are justly said to be the Body and Bloud of Christ is clear not onely because at the same time they are acknowledged in the Liturgy of S. Basil to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antitypes and representations of his holy Body and Bloud but because the person baptized is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to be changed and so of the Water which cannot be understood of a natural change and in the Office of Baptism they pray that the water may be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the power and operation and access of the Holy Spirit And so the like they say of the Oyl used at that time Which very manner and form of words being used of the
Elements of Bread and Wine that they are sanctified and consecrated and become the Body and Bloud of our Saviour by the power and operation and descent of the Holy Spirit upon them can no more infer a substantial change in the one then in the other There is no mention made of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any Liturgy Creed or Prayer the word being wholly new and altogether unknown till the latter end of the last Century when it was first used as I hope I may pardonably conjecture by Gabriel Archbishop of Philadelphia in his Treatise of the Seven mysteries who though otherwise a zealous defender of the Rites of the Greek Church yet living at Venice and not unacquainted with the niceties and subtilties of the Latine School-men might easily be wrought upon to bring in this new word in a way of compliance with the Doctrine of Rome of which Jeremias Patriarch of Constantinople who made him Archbishop seems to be utterly ignorant For he far more agreeably to the rules of modesty and truth in his Declaration of the Faith of the Greek Church in the matter of the Sacrament in his Answer to the German Divines says onely thus much that the Catholick Church believes that after the Consecration the Bread is changed into the very Body of Christ and the Wine into his very Bloud by the Holy Spirit without defining more particularly the nature and manner of the Change Nor do I find that this word began to be of common use at least in the publick and authentick Writings of the Church for several years after For the two Synods that were held at Constantinople on purpose to condemn and anathematize the Confession of Faith published by that great man Cyrillus Lucaris Patriarch of that See the one under his immediate Successour Cyrillus of Berrhoea in the year 1638. the other under Parthenius in the year 1642. seemed to abstain religiously from the use of it each of them onely declaring that the Elements by the blessing of the Priest and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them became the true Body and Bloud of Christ Afterward indeed in the year 1643. there was a Confession of Faith made in the name of the Eastern Church in the way of Question and Answer in the lesser Russia approved of by Parthenius and the three other Patriarchs and several Metropolitans though not published till the year 1662. wherein together with this new word they establisht the doctrine of Transubstantiation After these words the Prayers above mentioned there presently follows a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Transubstantiation and the Bread is changed into the true Body of Christ and the Wine into his true Bloud the Species which appear onely remain and this according to the Divine dispensation But if we reflect upon the state and condition of the Greek Church at that time and consider by what arts and by whose assistence Cyrillus Lucaris was first deposed by the Turks and afterwards strangled and his ingratefull Successour advanced into his throne it will cease to be a matter of wonder to us that this man who had studied Philosophy in his younger days under the Jesuits at Galata and was wholly governed by them whose end too was as dismall as his Predecessour's he being banisht to Tunis and there by order of the Port strangled and the rest of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Latinizing Bishops should renounce the Faith of their Ancestours and determine thus boldly And how they have been wrought upon since in the Synodus Bethleemitica to come up more fully to this and several other Tenents of the Roman Church shall appear hereafter The Romanists are now aware that there is no hope and likelihood of reconciling Greece by blustring and force and therefore they betake themselves to closer arts and methods of subtlety the Greeks bred up in the College of that Nation at Rome especially after they have finished a course of study being sent into Turkie upon a design of working an Union and of reducing their Countrymen from the scandal and guilt of Schism and Heresy who are permitted to dissemble their Communion and oftentimes are advanced to great Dignities in the Church to whom being men of great eloquence and wit and learning and policy I believe these Alterations are chiefly to be ascribed In the mean time let the Zelots of the Roman Church triumph that the present Greeks declare absolutely for them we need not envy them a victory which they have gained by such base and treacherous Arts not to say Bribery But however this is one great argument that the opinion of Transubstantiation is wholly new among them that they have not much studied the point but heedlesly take it upon trust with an implicite faith For when their Bishops and Priests are urged with the horrid and monstrous consequences of it fully made out from Scripture and Philosophy they stand amazed and return no other answer but this that it is a great Mystery and not to be disputed 'T is certainly a great an holy a venerable Mystery this we most readily and heartily acknowledge but how much better had they consulted the honour of the Christian Religion and the peace of the Church had they not proceeded so boldly and blindly to such a peremptory definition The Greeks use Leavened bread in the Sacrament which practice of their Church they defend with great fierceness as if our B. Saviour had clearly and in express terms forbad the use of Azymes For so they interpret the words of the Institution that Christ said of Bread not of Azyme that it was his Body as if there could be no Bread truly and properly so called without a mixture of Leaven in it But that which they most rely upon is an imagination that our Saviour in the celebration of the Passeover anticipated the usual time of the Festival and kept it a day before which they think may be proved from S. John 18. chap. v. 28. and chap. 19. 14. that is Lunâ decimâ tertiâ or the thirteenth day of Nisan at the evening and consequently that he used leavened bread And some of the Greek Writers who managed this controversy formerly were so ridiculously impudent as to assert that there was a piece of that very leavened bread which our Saviour at his last Supper consecrated reserved among other Reliques in the Chappell belonging to the Emperour's palace in Constantinople at what time that City was taken by the Latines While they urge the necessity of using Leavened bread in the Sacrament with an intemperate not to say an unreasonable zeal against the Latines whom they therefore reproach with the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Azymites and aggravate as a horrid and grievous defect and fault the quality of the Bread whether leavened or unleavened being in it self a matter of small moment and meer indifference and no way essential to the Sacrament the Schism upon the
runs thus Thou O Lord remit pardon and forgive the Sins committed by thy Servants again Be pleased to absolve thy Servants according to thy word again Do thou pardon as being our good and gracious God again Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ pardon all these Sins which thou hast confest before him to my Meanness and those which thou hast forgotten again Thou O Lord pardon this thy Servant all those Sins which he hath committed by me thy poor unworthy Servant and be reconciled to him and unite him to thy Holy Church again God pardon thee by me who am a Sinner that is by my Ministery and sometimes very briefly in the vulgar language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou pardoned or absolved Out of this great variety it is most clear and evident that the sentence of Absolution is not pronounced by the Priest who is the onely Minister of this sacred Rite in his own proper person much less judicially but onely in the way of supplication or deprecation So that we may here justly conclude this form My Meanness absolves thee or the other which is more plain and express I absolve thee from all the Sins which thou hast confest before God and before my Vnworthiness or the third I pardon all thy Sins to be upstart and novell and borrowed from the Latines whom they love to imitate in most things This authority of the Church in inflicting and relaxing Censures is generally esteemed sacred venerable and divine and consequently of great efficacy and does very much conduce as I have intimated before to the preservation of the Christian Religion among them For fear of these Censures they are not onely affrighted from the commission of those Sins which would bring a scandal upon their holy Profession this argument prevailing more with slavish and degenerous minds then considerations of modesty or the loveliness and agreeableness of Vertue to humane nature but from running to the Turkish Judges for justice For they look upon the person to be in a most desperate condition and as undone for ever in the other world who dies unabsolved from the sentence of Excommunication that was canonically past upon him Such great power has the dread and reverence of Ecclesiasticall Authority over this querulous and contentious people If any person happen to die before the Excommunication be taken off the general belief is that his body feels the sad effects of it in the grave and quickly becomes black the bloud no way clotted or dried up notwithstanding its stagnation and all the parts remaining entire in their natural posture without the least alteration and this for ten or twelve months after or longer except that the skin hardens and swells like a drum whence the person is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that this is caused by the Devil 's entring into it Stories pass current among them of the walking of their Ghosts especially in the night-time not onely in the Church-yards but in the Streets and knocking at the doors of the houses and calling them by their names The Greeks are so timorous and superstitious herein that they will not answer any one in the dark at the first call though they know his voice never so well for fear it should be this Spirit for then they look upon themselves as dead men and fall into an irrecoverable melancholy This opinion is so rooted in their minds that there is no perswading them to the contrary They will tell you of matter of fact how several graves have been opened and the bodies found undissolved though I could not hear of the success of the experiment notwithstanding my diligent enquiry But I found the Priests equally credulous not so much out of design to keep the poor people in awe of the Church-censures as out of weakness being led away with the same popular errour The Bishops accordingly in their Briefs when they forbid any thing to be done threaten the transgressours that they shall be separated from God and cursed and deprived of the use and benefit of the Sacrament and after death their bodies shall swell and be undissolved And this latter is inserted in the sentence of Excommunication to adde to the horrour and terrour of it At the same time they will tell you that as soon as the Dead person has been absolved at Constantinople by the Patriarch or by the Bishop of the Province the body though buried in some of the Islands in the Arches or at what great distance soever immediately corrupts and dissolves and crumbles into ashes This indulgence is procured and granted to the Dead and read over his grave with several Prayers to the same purpose They have the same fearfull apprehensions of an evil Spirit called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they pretend to be let loose the twelve days of the Christmas-Solemnity and possess Children born within that space during which time also the little Boys and Girls dare not go abroad in the night-time for fear of meeting this Hobgoblin but hasten home before Sun-set The Turks seem to be infected with the like Superstition for they will scarâ—e venture to Sea till after the waters are blest by the Christians that is till after the Twelfth day the Festival of the Baptism of our Saviour when that Ceremony is performed grosly imagining that in their voyage they shall be met and sunk by a brazen Ship They usually also fright their Children with stories of Apparitions and Spectres which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word properly denotes any thing drest up in an odd ridiculous shape and habit All clandestine Espousals are severely forbidden and therefore they are never lawfully done but before witnesses and sometime to ratify and confirm them the more before a Priest At such time they go to Church and standing before the middle door of the Chancell the Priest having made the sign of the Cross upon their heads delivers lighted Tapers into their hands and descends with them into the body of the Church where after some Collects he produces two Rings the one of gold the other of silver which before had as it were been consecrated by being put upon the Altar and gives the former to the Man and the latter to the Woman repeating these words thrice The Servant of God such a one espouses the Servant of God such a one in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost now and for ever Amen Which form mutatis mutandis he turning toward the Woman uses as often Immediately after the Paranymph or Bride-man takes the Rings from off their fingers and makes an exchange the Priest then joyning their hands And this is done as well that the Woman might not too much resent the inferiority of her condition represented by the Ring of the less noble metall as to signify that she is to be admitted into an