Singular Number the Holy Bible to make his Reader suppose it was meant alone of that Book But the Original speaks of more Books and therefore since a Liturgy was then in use at Alexandria no doubt that was one of the Holy Books which they here falsly accused Macarius for Burning And since the Author calls them Holy not Divine Books it is more probable he meant it of the Books of Offices which were counted only Sacred than of the Scripture which they generally call Divine or Divinely inspired Books Which distinction is very evident in Eusebius where he relates how in the Persecution under Dioclesian They Burnt the Divine and Sacred Books in the Mâ—rket places (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb lib. 8. cap. 2. p. 217. In which place the Divine Books are the Holy Scriptures and the Sacred Books those which contained the Service of the Church The same Author in the Life of Constantine makes a plain distinction between these Books as being several Volums For he saith the Emperor took the Books for the explaining the Divinly inspired Scriptures and after for repeating the prescribed Prayers with those who dwelt in his Roy. al Palace (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb vit Const lib. 4. cap. 17. First he took the Bible into his Hands and then after that it seems he took the other Book wherein the usual Established Prayers were written For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Books implies more Books than one Secondly As to the Books which Constantine sent to Eusebius into Palaestine to procure for his Churches at Constantinople he calls them Those Divine Books which he knew most necessary according to the Ecclesiastical Catalogue to be prepared and used (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. l. 4. cap. 35. And this might be expounded of Books of Offices as well as Bibles but suppose we grant this Catalogue here mentioned to be the Canon of Scripture agreed on by the Church and so the Books he sent for were only the Canonical Books of Scripture His inference that the Churches in Constantine's Time had no other Book will by no means follow Eusebius lived in Palaestine where the Scriptures were first written and best understood and there the best Copies were to be had and Eusebius who lived there was the fittest Judge of them therefore Constantine sent thither and to him perhaps for no more but Bibles Not because Churches were furnished then with no other Books but because we know Constantine had prayer-Prayer-Books at home and could get acurate Copies of the Service writ out at Constantinople and need not send so far as Palaestine for those Books but it was most proper to send thither for Copies of Canonical Scripture Thirdly The Council of Carthage also doth mention a Book of the Gospels held over the Bishops Head a Book of Exorcisms to be given to the Exorcist and a Book of Lessons to be delivered to the Reader at their Ordination But doth not mention the Service-Book delivered to any that entred into Orders (k) Concil 4. Carthag can 1. 7 8. But it is too much from thence to conclude there was no Service-Book there in the year 498 because we have proved by many Testimonies which are Positive that they had prescribed Prayers there long before And he may as well argue that we have no Common-Prayer-Book in England since it is not delivered either to any Bishop Priest or Deacon at their Ordination that is there is no more done here than was there and yet both we have and they had a Book of Offices for all that Optatus S. Augustin and others before cited do fully attest it Moreover these Books of Exorcisms were Forms of Prayer and of Catechising Collected out of Holy Scripture (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril praef ad Catech. for those who were newly Converted to Christianity And such Books had been long time used in the Church before this Council though this formal delivery of them is not mentioned till this Council Orders it Fourthly As to the Persecutors not enquiring for or finding or the Christians delivering no other Books to them but only Bibles I reply the matter of Fact is not True and therefore his Consequence viz. that they had no Prayer-Books then is false Indeed the Bible was the most Eminent of all the Christian Books and the Foundation of their Faith their Worship and their Manners And in those Ages the Bible was in all Christians Hands the People Read it at Home whereas the Liturgy was only in the Priests Hands and upon the Notion they had of the necessity of concealing Mysteries from Pagans was kept very close By which means no doubt Bibles were oftner found by the Persecutors and better known to them than the Book of Offices the Dyptics the Book of Exorcisms the Book of Anthems written and composed to the Honour of Christ Yet we are sure they had these Books then though they are rarely or never mentioned singlâ— only they come under the general Titles of Christian Writings Divine Sacred or Holy Books c. and no doubt sometimes the Persecutors found and Burned these as well as Bibles For we may observe that all Authors generally speak in the Plural Number The Divine and Holy Writings and the Writings The Books of the Church in Eusebius are said to be Burnt and Destroyed by the Persecutors (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb lib. 8. cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. lib. 10. cap. 4. Why do our Writings deserve to be committed to the Flames saith Arnobius (n) Nâ—â—strâ— quidem Scripta cur ignibus merueruâ—t dari Arnob. l 4. They Demanded the Divine Books for the Fire Saith Augustin (o) Peterent divinos câ—dices exurendos Aâ—â— brevic Câ—l l. 3. So they ask the Holy Martyrs if they had any Writings in their keeping (p) Dicas aliquas Scripturas habeas â—ron An. 30◠§. 53. And the Canon of Arles is general against all that had delivered up the Holy Writings (q) De his qui Scripturas Sanctas tradidisse dicuntur Concil Arcl. can 13. An. 316. Now why should they so Constantly and Unanimously speak of more Books if there had been no Book but a Bible But further some of the Acts of the Martyrs mention Volumes of Parchment and other folded Books besides the Bible (r) Baron An. 303. §. 10. In the Acts under Zenophilus the Persecutors demanded If they had any Writings of their Law or any thing else in their Library (s) Ibid. §. 13. 14. Now they had removed the Books before they came conveying them to the Readers House where at last they found 24 great and small Volums and in another House 8 Books and 4 folded Tomes Now certainly these were not all Bibles no doubt some of them were Books of Prayers Hymns and Passions or Names at least of Martyrs Writ out as S. Cyprian had directed Another
in and secondly by a most odious Representation of that Age For the first he concludes That for Five hundred years after Christ if not more the ordinary way of Worshiping God in public Assemblies was not by prescribed Liturgies (e) Disc of Lit. pag. 181. The falshood of which Conclusion this whole Discourse hath sufficiently discovered And his not being able to produce one clear Proof That Extempore Prayer was the way of Worshiping God in public in all this Period gives me reason more justly to conclude That for Five hundred years and more after Christ that kind of Praying was not used in Christian Assemblies Because to use his own words if there had been such a Way of Praying used constantly in all Churches for so long a time together there would have been such clear Evidence of it in many of the Ancients that there might have been had as full proof thereof as of any one thing and especially when this Author and his party have been searching so narrowly in Antiquity for this and are sensible how much their Cause is concerned in it and yet here is nothing produced that is positive or express (f) Disc of Lit. pag. 179 180. However let us for once suppose that Extempore or Arbitrary Praying was the Usage of the Church for Five hundred years together or more and that then Liturgies began to be imposed This was a remarkable and mighty change in the Public Service of God the restraining of a Liberty which we must suppose the Christian Priests and People had enjoyed down from the Time of the Apostles Now this could not have been done in an Age wherein there were so many eminent Writers and so many zealous Assertors of Apostolical Usages but it must have made a great noise in the World some would have complained of and written against this daring Innovation and as our Dissenters count it bold usurpation upon Mens Consciences and manifest quenching of the Spirit But my Adversary though very quick sighted can find nothing of this Matter he hath not one Quotation to this purpose There is an absolute Silence in all Authors of these Ages none claimed this pretended ancient Right none complained that it was taken from them nor did any so much as take notice of this eminent and public Alteration which undeniably proves there was no such Change then made and shews that prescribed Forms had been used in the foregoing Ages and continued in this Century as they were before My Adversary hath noted what Seditions hapned in divers Churches and what Noise was made over all the Christian World upon a small alteration in an ancient Form and is it likely all People would be so quiet and silent when the whole Manner of God's public Service was changed at once When we charge the Roman Church with the novelty of her Corruptions we prove that Accusation by shewing That such as lived before that Corruption came in believed or practised otherwise That such as lived when it was coming in opposed it and writ against it and many refused to submit to it after it was come in as in the case of Images But in this unjust Charge no such thing is made out wherefore we conclude That Liturgies are neither a Corruption nor an Innovation but the Pure and Primitive Way of the Christians public Worship But Secondly he is so confident that Liturgies were brought in and imposed about the Year 500 that he spends 17 Pages together which is all the rest of his Book in vilifying that Age and to this end he rakes together a mighty heap of Quotations to expose the Bishops and Clergy and indeed all the People of those Times the design of which is besides the gratifying his Ill-will to the Sacred Order of Episcopacy to shew That since the Governours of the Church and the whole Age was so extreamly bad and degenerate when Liturgies first were imposed therefore they are a Corruption and the Vse of them is by no means to be approved But he hath managed this odious Charge with so much Spite and so many Fallacies That though his gross misdating the Original of Liturgies makes all this to be nothing to our Question yet I cannot shut up this Discourse till I have shewed First the weakness of this Argument suppoposing the Premisses were true And Secondly the many Fallacies and Mistakes that appear in his managing of it and in the Instances which he brings to make it out First The Argument it self is trifling and the Reasoning very frivolous upon Two Accounts For First No wise Man will say that every thing must be Evil which is begun in an ill Age No Times were worse than those wherein our Lord began to Preach the Gospel no People wickeder than the Jews at that Time The Northern Nations were bloody and barbarous cruel and persidious to the highest Degree when the Scripture was first Translated into the Gothic Tongue And King Alfred's Age was extreamly Ignorant and notoriously Vitious yet then the Gospels and other excellent Books were translated into Saxon. The Reformation it self was begun in an Age when the generality of the Clergy and Laity both were as destitute of Learning as they were of Vertue But how ridiculous would he be that should disparage the Reformation the Translating of Holy Scripture and the Gospel it self by haranguing upon the Times when these things first appeared in the World There have been many Ill things brought in even in good Times and many Good things in bad Times so that there is no Arguing from this Topic with any solidity or certainty indeed if he had proved that these Evil Men brought in Liturgies and none but Evil Men used them and submitted to them that had been something to the purpose Now this we might do as to his Dear Way of Extempore Prayer For the Directory was first set up and enjoyned here in a Time of Rebellion and Sacriledge in a Time wherein there were more vile Hypocrites and profligate Wretches under the Mask of Religion than ever were known in this Nation in any Age before which is largely made out by very many Books then Writ which beyond contradiction declare the Matter of Fact to be true (g) See Edward's Gangrena in three Parts History of Independency Mercurius Rusticus c. Yea I could prove That divers who promoted this New Way of Praying and pretended to the Gift in a most extraordinary degree were tried and upon full proof convicted of the blackest Crimes that Men or Women could possibly commit such as Witchcraft Incest and other Sins not to be named and suffered Death for them (h) Mrs 〈◊〉 in the Counteâ—n me â—heâ—â— Mâ—â—â—r Weer in Raâ—â—â— realrivus which is more concluding against Directories and Extempore Praying than any thing he urges against Liturgies But I will not insist upon so odious and ungrateful a way of Arguing Secondly There never was any Age of which the Good Men then alive did not
Orthodox way of saying that Hymn (t) Theodoret. lib. 2. cap. 24. Sozomen also relates how the Arians in S. Chrysostoms time at Constantinople being divided into two Companies Sung Hymns after the manner oâ— Antiphones adding such Responses to them as favoured their Heresy (u) Sozom. lib. 8. cap. 8. I confess the Hymns themselves were corrupted but as they were Forms and sung alternately they were agreeable to the Churches method of praising God and therefore in that they were imitated by S. Chrysostom For thus the same Historian tells us Those Christians Sang their Hymns by way of Antiphone who Translated the Bones of Bubylas the Martyr in the time of Julian (w) Sozomen lib. 5. cap. 18. And another saith The holy Virgins Sang the Psalms in that manner even in defiance of that Apostate (x) Theodoret. lib. 3. cap. 17. So also Theodosius the Younger and his Sisters arose early to recite the Morning Hymns alternately (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. lib. 7. cap. 22. Now these Antiphones which were thus Sung alternately could be no other than prescribed Forms of Praise and so was that usual Hymn collected out of those Psalms beginning with Hallelujah from whence it had the name of The Hallelujah and was Sung both in the Eastern and Western Churches so frequently that a Pagan Philosopher knew it to be a sign the Christian Worship would be set up in Serapis Temple when in the middle of the night he heard that Hymn Sung there no persons visible being in the Temple (z) Vide Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 15. pag. 426. We may also here remember what hath been said of the Trisagion which was so known a Form in the time of Anastasius the Emperor that there was a dangerous Sedition at Constantinople upon his attempting to add a few Words to it (a) Evagr. lib. 3. cap. 44. which is sufficient to satisfie us that Forms of Praise as well as Prayer were then generally used in the Christian Churches But my Adversary who overlooks all this Evidence hath picked up some few passages out of these Historians to make out his imaginary liberty of Praying First He notes out of Socrates That Athanasius Commanded the Deacon to publish the Prayer or to bid it but to Read the Psalm (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. lib. 2. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodo lib. 2. cap. 13. Disc of Lit. pag. 8. From whence he infers that the Prayers then could not be Forms Read out of a Book But this inference is easily bafled by observing the true meaning of these Phrases to publish or bid the Prayer Which is meant of the Preface to that ancient Litanick Form repeated of old by the Deacon And before he began He summoned the People to be ready with their Responses after every Period by Crying out aloud Let us Pray or Let us Pray earnestly Which Form is found in the beginning of the Greek Litanies to this very day So that this Phrase supposes a Form in which all the People bore a part and was Read or repeated by heart by the Deacon no matter whether And it was not only a Form it self but the Preface to a known Form nor is the repeating of the Prayer called publishing or bidding it but the preparation for it and the notice which the Deacon gave of it with a loud Voice Wherefore this Phrase confutes his Opinion and confirms ours Secondly He twice quotes Socrates as saying That generally in all places and among all sorts of Worshipers there cannot be found two agreeing to use the same Prayers (c) Disc of Liturg p. 89. 133. And by this he would prove that all Ministers might Pray as they pleased and that there was no agreement in using the same Prayers in any place But I will first set down the Words both of Socrates and Sozomen and then explain them The former saith And generally you cannot find two agreeing together in all places and in all the kinds of Worship as to their Prayers (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scorat lib. 5. cap. 21. The latter tells us It cannot be found that the same Prayers Psalms or Lessons were used by all at the same time (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 19. cited Disc of Lit. pag. 9. Now both these Historians are speaking not of single Congregations but of several Nations and several Diocesses among which there was not indeed so exact an agreement but that you might find some difference in some Offices Which signifies no more but only that in the Order of placing the several Parts of Worship and in the very Words of the Prayers different Countries differed so far that they could not be said to agree in all things but both the Histâ—rians suppose that in many things they did agree And Socrates gives the reason of this variety saying The cause of which diversity as I judge hath been the Bishops who in several Ages have presided over their several Churches from wâ—om their Successors did receâ—ve this variety and Writ it down for a Law to those who should come after them (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—crat ut supr pag. 698. So that these differences were not Arbitrary Variations of private Pastors proceeding from Extempore Gifts as my Adversary fallaciously pretends they were such Varieties as were Written down and prescribed by ancient Bishops in their several Diocesses as a Law and Rule for the Worship of that Diocess Which plainly shews that though there was not the same Liturgy used all the World over yet that every Country had one Liturgy which was a Law and Rule to Guide them received from their Primitive Bishops who had long before this Age introduced some things into the Liturgies for their own Churches and those under their Jurisdiction and by that means it came to pass that the Liturgies did not agree so exactly as to use the same Psalms Prayers and Lessons however not in the same Order in all places Which cleer and genuine Sense of these Authors is so far from justifying his Notion of variety of Arbitrary Prayers in single Congregations that it proves there were prescribed Liturgies every where differing only in some few things which were differently Writ down and enjoyned by the ancient Bishops who had formerly presided over these several Churches Had Socrates and Sâ—zomen been of my Adversaries side they must have told us in short that there could be no agreement in Prayers any where bâ—cause all Ministers were at liberty to Pray as they pleased Had that been the custom these Historians need not have set it down as a Memorable thing That no places agreed in all points for the Wonder would have been if they had agreed in any thing Nor could Socrates have ascribed the variety to the Orders of divers ancient Bishops he must according to my Adversaries Notion have ascribed it to the Various Gifts and Elocution of every
as soon as they had setled Christianity it self their very next care was to settle one Liturgy and probably other Provinces made the like Decree though this only for this Age be now extant in the Councils And if as he saith all things were so had here in this Country in the very beginning of their Conversion I would fain know when things were better there than when this Canon for an Uniform Liturgy was made and I desire it may be Noted that Gregory of Tours who lived within little more than â—n hundred Years of this Council assures us That many of these very Bishops had the Gift of Miracles Yet did not pretend to that Gift of Extempore Praying which our Dissenters boast of but bound themselves and all their Subordinate Clergy to one and the same Rule of holy Offices and a Man would hope this Country was not so very bad nor this Age so wicked where the Bishops were enabled to work Miracles and while many of them were Confessors and Martyrs Thus much for the Authority of this Council And as to the meaning of the Canon my Adversary leaves out one half of it and recites no further than una sit consuetudo So that his Reader may not see the unam Officiorum Regulam One Rule for holy Offices nor observe their resolution to have one Form for their Offices as well as they had for their Creed nor discern their fear of having any remarks made if there were the least variation in their Worship This was all to be clapt under Hatches Then he puts Sacrorum Ordo together whereas Ordo is joyned with Psallendi But that is no great matter if he had not also falsly expounded this Word Ordo and told us it signifies no more than the disposing the Responsals Prayers Hymns and Psalms each in its proper place which he would prove by the Council of Agatho held he saith not long after where Ordo Ecclesiae is used only for a Rubric or Directory and therefore he thinks it cannot be inferred from hence that the same Expressions were used by them that did Officiate (o) Disc of Lit. pag. 174. This is the sum of his Arguing against the plain and genuine meaning of this Canon But I shall easily shew it is all mistake For first all those Prayers which had Responsals in them must necessarily be in known Forms otherwise the People could not make certain Answers to them in their proper places and that the Hymns and Psalms were Forms also is most certain Well then according to him Ordo must be the disposal of all the Responsory Prayers and Praises together with the Hymns and Psalms in that very Form of Words in which they were prescribed into their proper places So that according to him Ordo will signifie not only a bare Rubric but a direction containing â—he Forms themselves as well as the Order of them He can except nothing but the Prayers and gives no shadow of a Reason why they should not be put into Forms as well as the Responsals Hymns and Psalms And this is certain that The Litany which was the â—ongest Prayer in all the Offices and was in use at the Time of this Council as I will shew in the next Section was a Responsory Form so that if this Ordo did dispose of that into its proper place no doubt it also contained the very Form it self and he must need Hellebore who can imagine that when the Litany and the Hymns and Psalms were all prescribed Forms other Prayers should be left arbitrary Again I hope this Canon may be allowed to expound it self and then this Order is enjoyned to be done in one manner and after one Custom there was to be no more variety in it than in their Creed which was one constant Form of Words yea it is called One Rule of holy Offices and so made that none might observe the least variety in any Church throughout the Province Therefore if we joyn Ordo to Sacrorum it can mean nothing but a Prescription both of the Order and Forms also to be used in â—â—cred Administrations And that this is generally the sense of Ordo when it is applied to Divine Offices appears in those very Councils of Agatho and â—amiers which he cites here but were not held till after the Sixth Century was begun In the former The Order of the Church equally to be observed by all is one Liturgy consisting of Antiphones and Collects with proper Hymns and Prayers for Morning and Evâ—â—ing (p) Concil Agatâ— Can. 30. Bâ—n Tom. II. par 1. pag. 555. In the latter of these Synods it signifies so also for there all the Clergy of the Province are commanded to use the same Liturgy or Order of Prayer which was used in their Mâ—tropolitan Church (q) Concil Epanu Can. 27. ibid. pag. 53. as I shall more at large demonstrate when I come to these Councils in order of Time In the mean season I will here observe that Causabâ—â— tells us the Latins call the Liturgy Ordinem agendi (r) Causab exercit 1â— ad Annal. Eccles pag. 384. and every Man knows that Ordo Romanus is the Roman Missal And it is the proper Latin Word for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we have seen used by Sozomen and others in this Age for a Liturgy (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 10. and this Order is that Liber Sacerdotalis which Vincentius Lirinensis speaks of (t) Vincent Lirin adv haeres cap. 7. pag. 12. it was called sometimes Ordinale and as Spolmâ—n defines it signified That Book wherein was appointed the manner of saying singing and celebrating the Divine Office after the manner of the Roman Church (u) Ordinale Liber quo Ordinatur modus dicendi decantandi celebrandique divinum Officium ex more Romanae Ecclesiae Spelm. Glossar pag. 440. yea after the manner of any other Church For the Missal of Sarum Composed by Osmund who was Bishop of that See is called The Ordinal of Salisbury (w) Hic quoque compâ—suit librum Ordinalem Ecclesiastici officii quem Consuetudinarium vocant Ranulf Polychron An. 1077. Item Knighton de event Angl. lib. 2. cap. 3. col 2351. and did not agree in all things with the Roman Missal Yet these Orders or Ordinals had prescribed Forms of Prayers and Hymns as well as Rubrics to shew when and where to use them I confess there are some ancient Breviaries of the old Liturgies where the first words only of the Hymns and Prayers are set down and the order in which they are to be used is directed but these are an undeniable Proof that the Forms themselves were by long use become known and familiar in those days But for any such Order as is a bare Rubric for Method and hath no Forms neither largely set down nor briefly hinted at in it no Man ever saw such a Book or any thing like it in all Antiquity only
of them was asked If he had any Writing in his House (t) Habes ergo Scripturam aliquam in domo tuâ Baron An. 303. §. 50. Another was charged to give up those Books and whatsoever Parchments he had (u) Baron An. 302. §. 120. Finally in the Examination of Irene they charge her with preserving a great many Parchments Books Tablets Codicils and Pages of Scripture which had belonged to the Christians from the beginning And she owns that since the Edict to Burn all these the Christians to their great Grief could not use them Night and Day as they had formerly done but were forced to hide them (w) Baron An. 303. §. 44. 46. Now when we consider the Christians Praying Thrice a Day at least Morning Noon and Night and see so many sorts of Books reckoned up which had belonged to them from the beginning and were used Night and Day before this cruel Edict We cannot but imagin they were the Catalogues of Martyrs the Prayer-Books and Antiphonaries Litanies and other Offices used in their Divine Service because they are reckoned up here distinct from the Pages of Holy Scripture We conclude therefore that it is a meer Dream of our Adversaries to Fancy the Christians then had no Books but the Bible since he Argues against matter of Fact his Premisses are utterly false and therefore his Conclusion falls to the ground As for his long Ramble about the Heathens tolerating very odd Opinions concerning their Gods but prohibiting new ways of Worship (x) Disc of Lit. p. 17. c. It is well known that every Country then had a several way of Worshiping their proper Gods and many of these ways were allowed and used in Heathen Rome And so was the Christian Worship under some Emperors but I grant and have proved that when Persecution came the Pagans searched for Liturgies as well as Bibles So that all his random Guesses have only given me the occasion of clearing this Point That the Christians had prescribed Forms writ in Books and Parchments folded or rolled up even under the Heathen Persecuting Emperors § 5. We are now come to Finally which one would think was his last Argument If there had been any such Liturgies they would have been made use of against the Errors and for deciding the Controversies with which the Church was exercised in those Ages wherein we are concerned especially those two that which opposed the Godhead of Christ and that which asserted the Faithful to be wi hout Sin (y) Disc of Lit. p. 22. c. Which Argument I thus turn upon himself If they were made use of against Hereticks and in these two Points and by my Adversaries own Confession then he must grant there were Liturgies in those Ages Now my Adversary himself in the same Page confesses that S. Augustin mentions the public Prayers against Pelagius and though he pretends he doth not speak of them as a Form I have under the title of Augustin before shewed the falshood of that pretence and proved that he cited and referred to the African Forms (z) Part. I. Chap. IV. §. 21. Again my Adversary in the next Page produces a passage out of Eusebius to shew that Artemon an Heretick who held Christ was a meer Man was confuted by those Hymns which were composed by the Brethren in the beginning of Christianity wherein Christ was praised as very God (a) Disc of Lit. pag. 23. Now Hymns were a great part of the Christian Liturgy and therefore my Adversary hath utterly spoiled his own Argument and proved that some parts of Liturgy were used to confute both the Heresies he instances in And since he Argues negatively one or two positive Examples are enough to confute him if there were no more But I have shewed and must not tire my Reader with that kind of Repetition which I blame in him That divers other Fathers did use the words of the public Liturgies against these and other Heresies so doth Optatus Milevitanus cite them to confute the Donatists (b) See this Hist Part. I. Chap. 4. §. 10. S. Augustin to convince the Pelagians (c) Ibid. §. 21. pag. 228. S Hierom brings in the Gloria in excelsis to expose the same Hereticks (d) Hieron cont Pelag. lib. 2. pag. 447. Celestin cites the Prayers for all Men (e) See Part. II. Chap. I. §. 5. and Petrus Diaconus in Fulgentius the Prayer of Consecration to decide the Controversies of their Times (f) Ibid. Chap. II. §. 3. So that his Antecedent is a notorious Falshood confuted by his own Confession and by matter of Fact and therefore his Consequence must be false Yea from these and other instances we firmly prove that there must be Liturgies in those Ages in written Forms and certain words which were generally owned to be of great Antiquity and Authority at the time when they were produced in Controversies of Faith because Extempore Prayers cannot be cited at all and Novel Inventions must have been quoted to little purpose against obstinate Hereticks who openly opposed the Faith of the Church But some perhaps may wonder there are not more passages cited in the three first Ages against the Hereticks of those Times our of Liturgies To which I answer There are but very few Writers of these Ages and of those who did write few of their works are come to our hands and their Arguments are generally so obscure that probably they may more frequently refer to their Liturgies than we can easily observe Besides the Church was then unsetled and it is probable those Hereticks who opposed its Doctrins would not allow its Liturgy for a competent Judge as we see in Paulus Samosatenus who despised the Solemn Forms of Praise used at Antoch as being made not long before his Time and therefore the Fathers of those Ages cited not the Liturgies so often as they of the Fourth and Fifth Century did when the long and Universal use of them had given them a greater Reputation and a firmer Authority However in the Second Century we have shewed that Irenaeus brings in some Hereticks arguing from the Churches Forms (g) See Part. I. Chap. II. §. 3. which proves prescribed Forms were then used as clearly as if they had been cited against Hereticks We have also proved that Gregory Thaumaturgus made a Liturgy in the midst of the Third Age (h) Ibid. Chap. III. §. 5. and by divers other Evidences we have shewed there were Liturgies in these first three Centuries which Point being fixed we need not enquire nicely how often they were cited against Hereticks who for any thing I know in those early Times valued a passage of the Liturgies then in use no more than our Dissenters do a Proof from our common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book But we see in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries in both which he affirms they had no Liturgies there are Quotations good store out of the public Forms which is enough to
the Sybils Books their extraordinary Ritual had also a Liturgy sent to them in Writing by Apollo He also mentions a Public Table wherein their usual Prayer was writ and saith That Scipio reformed their Common-Prayer-Book (q) Ibid. p. 124. We leave him or his Friends to reconcile these Contradictions But being sure the Heathens did conceal their Mysteries and yet write them in Books and read them out of them He must infallibly grant That the Christians might both conceal their Mysteries and yet write them in Books also and read them out of them and if the Christians as he saith learned of the Heathens to conceal their Administrations they might also learn of them to write them in Books and deliver those Books to the custody of the Clergy to keep them from the sight of such as were not Initiated And this sufficiently shews the weakness and falshood of his Consequence viz. That the Christians could have no Written Liturgies because they concealed their Mysteries from the Uninitiated But since he hath filled so many needless Pages upon this Subject I will give some short Touches upon all that looks like Objection in each of them First He discourses as if this Silence and concealing of Mysteries were to be restrained especially to the Fourth and Fifth Ages (r) Disc of Lit. pag. 28. And the two Authors which furnished him with these Quotations Dailé (s) Dail de object cult lib. 2. cap. 25. and Chamier (t) Chamier Panstrat Tom. 4. lib. 6. cap. 8. both say This sort of Niceness did not begin till the Fourth or Fifth Age. Now if this be so and his Quotations generally fall within this Period then for all this doughty Argument the Chrians might have Written Liturgies for Three hundred years or more at the first since they did not endeavour in those first and best Times to conceal their Mysteries as these Men think Therefore we may have Precedents of prescribed Forms in the first Ages though all this were true Secondly Their calling the Sacraments Mysteries did not hinder them from Administring them in an audible Voice before the Faithful every day and therefore this doth not prove That they durst not commit them to Writing for daily reading or speaking these Words in public with so loud a Voice that all the Faithful might hear and answer was much more a publishing them than Writing them in Books committed to the custody of the Clergy So that all that Margen which he heaps up (u) Disc of Lit. pag. 29. only proves That they concealed them from the Unbaptized who were turned out when these Mysteries began as well as kept from seeing the Books and so remained ignorant of the Solemn Words but the Faithful were so well acquainted with the very Phrases and Expressions that if the least hint were but given them in a Sermon before a promiscuous Auditory it put them in mind of that Passage in the Offices which the Preacher hinted at Which undeniably proves they were known and usual Forms and being such they must of necessity be written down otherwise such Variations would have been made that no Appeal could have been made to the Faithful concerning any part of the Office because no Extempore Man now can appeal to his Congregation for his Words or Phrases used some time before Therefore they were Mysteries only with respect to the Uninitiated but well-known Forms to the Faithful and written down to prevent all Variation Thirdly As to the tedious Proofs of the Gentiles Secrecy (w) Disc of Lit. pag. 30 31 32 33. I have noted that he owns they writ down these Mysteries and pag. 32. he saith That the Romans had a Book of their public Rites as old as King Tarquin 's Time and that Valerius Max. mentions one who was punished for letting an unconcerned Person Transcribe it Which shews how impertinent all these Quotations are to prove his Point which is That Mysteries must not at all be committed to Writing Indeed fearing this Consequence he adds in the next Page 33. If they did commit them to Writing it was in such a Character as none of the Vninitiated understood But then he makes out nothing but that the Egyptians described their Mysteries in such unintelligible Hieroglyphicks which doth not prove that either Greeks or Romans writ them in such Figures much less doth it shew that the Christians used any Hieroglyphicks to conceal their Mysteries and therefore there is no reason to argue from that Custom peculiar to Pagan Egypt as if we might learn the Christian Usage from thence Fourthly The excluding the Catechamens from hearing the Prayers and refusing to recite any Phrases of them in a Sermon made to a promiscuous Auditory which he speaks of (x) Disc of Lit. pag. 35 36. are very good Arguments That these Offices were celebrated by prescribed Forms which Words had they been suffered daily to hear in the Church when the Administration was performed or had often heard them in Sermons they might easily learn and remember them And it was because they were prescribed constant invariable Forms that they durst neither let them stay in the Church when they repeated them nor openly mention them in a Sermon Had they Officiated variously and in his Extempore way they might have stood by for Seven years and heard the Sermons in which some part of them was referred to and there had been no danger of their learning them And since we see the Heathens did write down their Mysteries and make them known to the Initiated the Christians might do so also and yet keep them secret enough from the Unconverted or Unbaptized for they might as well keep them from seeing their Books of Mysteries as to turn them out of the Church to prevent their hearing them And his instance of the Creed pag. 37. proves this for the Creed was written down and expounded in the Time of Cyril and Ruffinus and yet then and long after it was kept secret from the Catechumens till some small time before the Day of their Baptism therefore every thing that was written was not published to the Uninitiated Fifthly Baronius doth not say the Primitive Literae formatae were not drawn up in Writing Spondanus indeed his Epitomator doth say something to that purpose (y) Disc of Lit. pag. 38. c Spondan â—pit An. 325. H. 44. but Baronius himself only saith That the Council of Nice would not put the Words of these Formed Epistles the private Cognizances by which Stranger-Christians were known to be Catholics where-ever they came into the Canons of their Council But he adds They agreed upon a Form there and setting down what it was he saith Such was the Form prescribed by the Fathers for these Formed Epistles (z) Baron An. 325. §. 166 167. pag. 32â— But still it was a Secret writ down then but not published among the Canons for fear the Hereticks might get Copies and deceive the Catholic Bishops thereby Which
complain as much degenerated and represent as worse than any of those that went before it which is very learnedly proved and the Reasons of it shewed in the ingenious Apology of Dr. Hakewell (i) Hakewel's Apol. Book 4. chap. 1. §. 1 2. Now though the Zeal of the Complainers and their good Design may go far to excuse them and the general Depravity of too many in all Ages make these Invectives to be in a great measure true yet it is very weak or malicious from these Pious Complaints heaped up together without any mention of what was good to pretend to give a just Character of any one Age For I will undertake by this fallacious Method to represent any Age since our Saviour was born as ill as he hath done this wherein he by mistake supposes Liturgies did come in But I rather choose to Answer him with the excellent Remarks of Seneca who told Lucilius You are mistaken my Friend if you think Luxury and neglect of Good Manners which every one objects to his own Times are peculiar to our Age These are the Faults of Men not of Times No Age hath been free from Crimes and if you could judge of the Badness of any Times by this I blush to say it but it is true there were never bolder Wickednesses done than in Cato 's Age (k) Erras mi Lucili si existimas nostri seculi esse vitrum luxuriam negligentiam boni moris alia quae objicit quisque suis temporibus Hominum sunt ista non temporum c. Senec. Ep. 97. pag. 177. And again he saith Our Forefathers complained of this we complain of it and our Posterity will complain of it also (l) Hoc majores nostri questi sunt hoc ros quâ—râ—mur hoc pesteri nostri querentur Senec. de benef lib. 1. cap. 19. I shall add to this the like account which one of our own VVriters gives of this way of Arguing which some of the Romanists used against him I mean the Pious and Learned Bishop Juel We know saith he that in the Times of the Apostles there were Christians who made the Name of our Lord be blasphemed and abused among the Gentiles The Emperour Constantius in Sozomen complains That many were worse after they became Christians than ever they were before Cyprian also in a doleful Discourse sets out the Corruptions of his own Times thus That Discipline saith he which the Apostles delivered is corrupted by Idleness and a long Peace All study to enlarge their Patrimony and forgetting both what the Believers under the Apostles did and what they always ought to do mind nothing but to gratifie their insatiable desire of increasing their Estate There is no Religion in the Priests no sincere Faith in the Deacons no Charity in their Deeds no regularity in their Manners Men disguise their Beards and Women paint their Faces And before him Tertullian saith O how miserable are we who are called Christians and yet to this very hour act like Pagans under the Name of Christians (m) Juelli Apologia pag. 65. By this and much more which might be added upon the same Subject it appears to be a poor shift and woful piece of Sophistry to pick up all the Complaints of any one Age made by Good Men thereby to disparage that Time and expose those Institutions which were then begun or continued at this rate we see the best Ages and wisest Practices may be misrepresented by any one whose interest it is to reflect either upon the Persons or Things relating to any Century since our Saviour's Days In the next place we will consider his managery of this Argument which looks so big upon unwary Readers and this we will examine first in the general and then in the several particulars First In the general He assigns the Year 500 or some time after that for the true Point when Liturgies began to be imposed but the poor Gentleman was so blinded by his Prejudice and so rash in the choice of his Instances by which he would make out the corrupt state of that Age wherein he supposes Liturgies first came in that all the particular Authors cited in these 16 or 17 Pages except S. Gregory quoted in the last Page were dead before the Year 500 or at least writ before that Period of 500 Years after Christ which falls in the Year of our Lord 533 Which will be best made out by a particular Catalogue of his Authors and their Ages in this Order Damasus An. Dom. 366 cited pag. 192 Basil An. Dom. 30 cited 192 Nazianzen An. Dom. 370 cited 192 S. Ambrose An. Dom. 374 cited p. 192 193 Theophilus Alex. An Dom. 385 cited p. 194 S. Augustin A. D. 396 cited p. 184 185 196 S. Chrysostom A. D. 398 cited p. 181 182 183 186 187 193 198. Aurelius Carthag A. D. 401 cited p. 195 Isidor Peleusiota A. D. 412 cited p. 182 185 186 187 193 195 Zosimus Papa A. D. 417 cited pag. 189 Theodoretus Hist A.D. 423 cited p. 184 Socrates Hist An. Dom. 440 cited p. 188 Prosper Aquitan A.D. 444 cited p. 190 191 Concil Chalcedon A.D. 450 cited p. 196 Leo Imperator An. Dom. 460 cited p. 197 By this Table it appears that the eldest of his Authors lived in the middle of the Fourth Age and the last in the middle of the Fifth the first was 134 years and the last 40 years before the Year 500 So that unless they had the Spirit of Prophccy they could not give any account what would be the state of the Church in that Age which he designs to expose And therefore all this is random Shot or aimed at a wrong Mark and can serve no other end but only to gratifie those who take pleasure in hearing of the Ignorance or Vices of the Clergy For if that Age which these Authors describe were not the Age when Liturgies were first imposed then all this Harangue is wholly impertinent to the matter in question Only thus much perhaps we might infer from it That if these Centuries which my Adversary hath so blackned were before the imposing of Liturgies then he no doubt believes there were no other Prayers used at that time but such as were either Arbitrary or Extempore whence it will follow that all these proud tyrannical ignorant vicious superstitious and scandalous Priests and Bishops according to his calculation prayed Arbitrarily and Extempore which will be as little for the credit of his Method of Praying as he meant it should be for the honour of our Way I have only one thing more to add viz. That in other parts of his Book and in a better humor he gives a tolerable good Character of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries which he so grosly disparages here for he saith Many there were excellently accomplished in the Fourth Age and some till about the middle of the Fifth So that it would be much for the Credit of Liturgies if they could be found
be trusted with making Extempore Prayers and therefore it seems necessary that these Bishops should have Forms prescribed which they either Read or got them by Heart and if so then such Forms were used above 50 years before the Period he assigns As for his last Instance of Leo's not admitting any one to be a Bishop unless he were perfect in the Psalter I observe that this Emperor intended to prevent that Scandal which had been given by those few unlearned Bishops in former Times and therefore would have none admitted but such as well understood the Psalter which was a great part of the Liturgy and part of it to be Read every day among the Prayers so that it is very probable that the usual Forms of public Prayer were put into one Volume with the Psalter as our Common Prayer is at this day And I understand the Historians meaning to be That Leo would admit no Man into any Order of the Clergy who was not perfect in the public Book of Offices (k) Theodor. Lector Col. lib. 1. p. 182. and if it be so Expounded then it proves a constant and common use of Liturgies An. 460. However it is well known that whatever was the lowest measure for qualifying a Man to be Ordained there were very many Learned Clergy-Men in that Age Yea and in the following Century also But if the Church were so depraved as he represents it some time before and a little after the year 500 We have sufficiently shewed it doth not hurt the cause of Liturgies which were certainly come into use many Ages before And thus I will dismiss these Fraudulent and Invidious Reflections upon the Fourth and Fifth Centuries desiring the Readers Pardon for following my Adversary in so Tedious a Digression CHAP. V. Of the Agreement of the Reformed Churches in the Approbation and use of Liturgies § 1. THere remains nothing now to make out prescribed Forms of Prayer to be agreeable to Vincentius Lirinensis his Golden-Rule that is to have been used always by all Churches and every where (l) Vincent Lirin contra Haeres cap. 3. pag. 6. But only to prove the Reformed Divines do generally allow and commend Liturgies and all the Eminent Protestant Churches use them Now since the Learned and Pious Promoters of the Reformation did so narrowly examine into and so Unanimously reject all those Doctrins and Practices of the Roman Church which did not agree to Holy Scripture and pure Antiquity and yet none of them did ever reckon prescribed Forms among those Corruptions but approved and established them in those Churches which they had reformed we may conclude That Set Forms of Prayers and Liturgies are ageeable to Gods Word and to the usage of the best Ages of the Church And we have at this time a more particular reason to make out this Consent of all setled Protestant Churches as to the use of prescribed Forms Because our Adversaries are perpetually calling upon us to conform our selves to the Example of Foreign Reformed Churches and pretending that to allow their way will be a certain means to unite all Protestants both at home and abroad We confess the end is a thing at this Juncture very desirable but that which they suppose is so far from being a probable means to obtain it That if we should cast off our prescribed Forms and set up their Extempore and Arbitrary way of Praying we should act contrary to the Judgment of the best Protestant Writers and to the Practice of the most famous Protestant Churches every where but by continuing the use of our excellent Liturgy and binding all our Clergy to it we follow the advice and example of all our Sister Churches And can they imagin that to oblige a few obstinate and singular leading Men and their Ignorant and Enthusiastical followers we will bring such a reproach upon our Church as to cast away that Method of Praying which is so consonant to Scripture and Antiquity and so agreeable to the Opinion and practice of the best Protestants It would be madness in us to do this and it is little less in them to expect it However because some of them are to this day deluded with this gross mistake That prescribed Forms are some of the remains of Popery and a Liturgy established is not allowed in other Protestant Churches I shall conclude this Discourse with some few proofs of the Opinion and Practice of the most Eminent Divines and Churches of the Reformation both Foreign and Domestic and that in relation as well to Liturgies in general as to our Liturgy in particular when I have first observed that the Learned and Industrious Mons Durell hath Collected a great number of these Testimonies some of which I have here inserted and added others of my own observation referring the Reader for fuller satisfaction to his elaborate Book (m) Durell View of the Gov. and public Worship of God in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas Print Lâ—nd 1662. I begin with the Lutheran Churches among whom the Reformation first began and who at this day do far exceed in number the Churches which follow Calvins Method and afford the greatest number of Foreign Protestants § 2. And First for Luther himself There is no Man can or dare Question his Approbation of Liturgies and prescribed Forms of Prayer it being well known that he appointed such Forms for all those Churches which he Reformed and in his works we have a Form of Common Prayer for the Church of Wittenburgh drawn up by himself out of the mass-Mass-Book but so as to leave out that which he thought to be Superstitious and Corrupted (n) Forma Mist pro Eccles Wittenburg Ep. Luther Tom. II. p. 384. And all the Churches of his Communion at this day have and use a Liturgy containing Collects Epistles and Gospels for every Sunday in the year And also Set Forms of Hymns and Canticles Prayers and Litanies together with prescribed Offices for all other parts of Ecclesiastical Ministrations for Baptism and the Lords Supper for Matrimony Visiting the Sick Burying the Dead c. One of which lately Printed in a large Quarto in the Danish Tongue imposed on and used in the Churches of Denmark was lately shewed and in divers places intepreted to me by an ingenious Pastor of that Country Mons Ivarus de Brinch who came over with the Forces into England the last Winter An. 1689. And besides the Agreement between our Collects Epistles and Gospels and theirs I observed that their Litany is almost Verbatim the same with ours And the Churches in upper Germany which are Lutheran have all such Liturgies I have one Book Dedicated to Joachim Marquesse of Brandenburgh Collected by Christopher Cornerus Printed at Leipsick An. 1588. with this Title The select Canticles of the Old and New Testament with the pure Hymns and Collects which are wont to be sung in the Orthodox and Catholic Church He means of the Lutherans who do all to this
illiciti sunt omnes sunt actus bellici sive in personas sive in res Grot. de jur Bell. Pac. lib. 3. cap. 21. §. 6. I shalâ— not question the Character oâ— Learned and Judicious which the Title Page bestows upon the Deceased Author because he whâ—â— was so Learned to make these Collections was so Judicious to suppress them so long as he lived But though I know not the Publisher I am sure he can make claim to neither of those Characters His want of Learning appears in leaving divers Quotations in a wrong place where they have no reference to the Text and several References in the Text to Passages in the Fathers which because the Author did not the Editor could not cite as also in such gross Mistakes both of the Names and Tracts of the Ancients as made it very difficult to guess at the intended Quotations And his want of Judgment appears in his being so hasty to publish these indigested Collections at this unseasonable Juncture that he took no Time nor Care to fill up the imperfect Periods nor cut off the nauseous Repetitions nor to clear the blundered Sentences of this Discourse which ought rather to be styled a Discourse against than concerning Liturgies Had this been a time when their Way of Worship was not Tolerated or when Ours was imposed on them by Penalties there had been some Excuse for this Attempt to prove Forms of Prayer Novel and Vnlawful Had we begun to provoke them by exposing their Extempore Prayers as we could easily do that had been a fair Apology for this daring Vndertaking but when all our Pens for some years past have been employed against the late bold and dangerous Emissaries of the Roman Church who were rather encouraged than opposed by some of these Gentlemen at This Season to become the Aggressors is ungrateful and inexcusable Though their Way be not established but barely permitted as Divorce was to the Jews and for the same Reason too (c) Matt. xix 8. Possum dicere quod permittitur bonum non est Tert. ad uxor lib. 1. pag. 163. yet we have not been willing to bend our Force against it while there seemed any hopes of a successful Treaty But they without any sense of Honour in requital to our Civility have not been content to vindicate their barely permitted Novelties but have attacked our Legal Way of Worship while it is guarded by Laws and is the Public Religion of our National Church 'T is true if this great Searcher of Antiquity had made any New Discoveries to clear the practice of Extempore Praying to have been the constant Vsage of the Primitive Church the Editor had been pardonable for obliging this Age with so rare and as yet so unheard of a Notion But since this Author who to use his own Words seems to have been the best acquainted with the Fathers of any of his Stamp makes no discovery by that Diligence which hath ransacked all the Corners of Antiquity for it (d) Disc concerning Liturgies pag. 180 181. but a few forced Phrases and Irregular as well as Extraordinary Facts to justifie their Prayers but uses the meanest of Artifices to disparage Ours jealous yea judicious Men will be apt to conclude That Conscience is not the only motive to this party for Dissenting nor Indulgence theiâ— only Expectation because they cannot take satisfaction in the Enjoyment of their own Worship unless they may disturb and expose Ours In this Case the sober Dissenters will certainly excuse us for thiâ— necessary Self-defence And ouâ— Friends would justly censure us as the Betrayers of our Establishment if the vain hopes of gaining Men of such a Temper should make us silent under so heavy a Charge For this Discourse pretends to shew That Liturgies are a late and Corrupt Way of Worship and that Prescribed Forms were invented in the Ages of Ignorance and Superstition and have been supported â—y the Laziness of the Clergy and â—he Decay of true Devotion but both Liturgies and all Forms hinder the Pastors from exercising their Gifts and the People from being edified by the Divine Service But all this is not proved by Arguments a pompous shew of Antiquity and a Margen filled with Quotations is the Medium to make out this severe Indictment And possibly those of the Authors Principles who are generally Strangers in the Fathers may think he hath mighty Evidence of his side while those who are skilled in the Primitive Writers may easily discern at first Reading that his Instances are generally false or impertinent and his Inferences forced and fallacious This I have shewed in the following Papers particularly and shall only now make a few general Observations to take off the Advantages which he seems to have by these numerous Allegations First His Testimonies are not so many as they may appear to an hasty and careless Reader because He often repeats the same thing twice yea thrice over in several parts of his Book Thus the same places of S. Augustin are transcribed often as about correcting Prayers (e) Disc of Lit. pag. 48 113. about Barbarisms and Solecisms (f) Ibid. p. 5. pag. 142. about Praying in an House infested with Evil Spirits (g) Ib. p. 66. pag. 121. And He quotes one Passage in Celestine's Epistles thrice (h) Ibid. p. 6. p. 29 138 in like manner he hath dealt with the same places of Justin Martyr S. Basil Innocentius and almost all other Fathers who he thinks have any thing which sounds to the discredit of Liturgy Secondly His Testimonies are not so weighty as might be imagined at first sight because wherever his Margen is very full it is always to prove something which no Body will deny and which is nothing to the purpose As about the Ancients delight to conceal their Mysteries (i) Disc of Lit. pag. 28 29 34 35 36 42. about the Laying on of Hands in divers Offices (k) Ib. p. 51 52. about the Variety of Expressions in the Fathers who only occasionally speak of Baptism (l) Ib. p. 95 c. or of the Renunciation of the Devil (m) Ib. p. 106 107. Now this arguaes a great scarcity of Testimonies concerning the Public and Solemn manner of making Prayers in Christian Assemblies which is the only Point in question Thirdly His Evidence is by no means clear and intelligible and He seems to design it should not serve to inform but amuse because he hath jumbled all Antiquity together and thrown it into confused Heaps placing the later Fathers often before the former and mixing the first last and middle Ages together without any order or coherence yea and citing the same Father in little parcels in sundry and distant places of his Book So that it is almost impossible from him to learn the true Sense either of any Age or any Ancient Writer because those Matters which should help us to judge of this are so designedly
short account of the general Litany made by the Deacon for the whole World and every part of it for Priests and Princes for the Bishop and the Emperor and the Peace of all (b) Id. ibid. and also the Form of the Bishops Blessing and of the final Prayer (c) Id. ibid. pag. 45 probably to be used in ordinary Assemblies In these Constitutions we find private Christians enjoyned to say the Lords Prayer as a Form thrice in a Day (d) Ibid. lib. 7. cap. 25. and we have Forms drawn up for their use both before and after the Sacrament (e) Ibid. cap. 26.27 and upon divers other occasions (f) Ibid. cap. 34 35 c. There is also an Office of Baptism with Forms of Renunciation of the Devil and confessing the Faith as also a Form for Consecrating the Water c. (g) Ibid. cap. 41 42 43. An Office for the Ordination of a Bishop (h) Lib. 8. cap. 3. and also for the Ordaining Priests and Deacons c. (i) Ibid. cap. 24 25. But most particularly there is the Office at the Communion with all those Forms used at those most Solemn Assemblies (k) Ibid. lib. 8. 〈…〉 5. ad 〈…〉 That is to say The Litany said by the Deacon for the Catechumens the Faithful answering to each Petition Domine miserere with the Bishops Prayer for them The like Litany and prescribed Prayers for those that were possessed those who were to be Baptized and for the Penitents And after these were all gon out there is also prescribed a Litany by the Deacon and a Prayer by the Bishop for the Faithful After which follows Forms prescribed for the Salutation the first Benediction the offering of their Gifts the invitation the Preface Lift up your Hearts c. The Hymn called Trisagion to be sung by all the People And also a Form for consecrating the Elements An intercession for all Estates of Men The order for receiving and saying Amen when they do receive The singing of the xxxiv Psalm O tast and see how Gracious the Lord is Finally there is a public Form of Prayer after the Communion and the concluding Benediction with many other Forms on other less Solemn occasions Particularly there are Forms for Morning and Evening Prayer as our Adversary confesseth (l) Disc of Liturg. pag. 162. Marg. Now if all this will not amount to a Liturgy then there is no such thing in the World and if it be a Liturgy then prescribed Forms must needs be used when this Author writ yea and long before otherwise he could not have pretended that the Apostles were Authors of these Forms his very pretending that shews that those of that Age had lost the memory of the first composers of these Forms and this Author took advantage from their Immemorial use to ascribe them to the Apostles Now our Adversary being aware of this though he dare not deny these Constitutions to be good Evidence for that time wherein they were written yet labours to disparage and baffle this clear Witness by several Crafty Cavils and Objections First He thrusts this Writer down above one whole Century and pretends he lived in the end of the Fifth or the begining of the Sixth Age (m) Disc of Liturg. p. 110 111. But this is most notoriosly false as may be proved First Because the Fathers of the Fourth Century cite it as a known Book in this Age. Secondly Because the matter of these Forms are exactly agreeable to the Doctrin and Practice of the Third and Fourth Centuries For the first point Athanasius reckons this Book which he calls the Doctrin of the Apostles among those which the Fathers allowed â—o be Read in the Church therefore it was extant long before his time (n) Athan. Epistol ad Ammam Monach Eusebius also computes it among those Writings which though they were not Canonical Scripture yet were approved by the Ancients and distinguishes it from the Books which the Hereticks had Forged (o) Euseb Hist lib. Cap. 19. pag. 71. S. Cyril in the middle of this Century cites that passage about the Phaenix out of it and ascribes â—t by name to Clemens (p) Cyril Catech 18. p. 213. Collat. cum Constit Clem. lib. 5. cap. 8. which he would not have don if it had not been then accounted an approved Book and well known to those of his Age. Epiphanius quotes it very often in his Book against Heresies by the express name of the Apostolical Constitutions as an Author of eminent Credit and whose Testimony was sufficient as to what was a Primitive usage (q) Epiphan Panar lib. 1. Tom. 3. Haer. 45 Lib. 3. Tom. 1. Haer. 75. and he gives this Character of them That many doubted of them but did not reject them For saith he all regular Order is contained in them and there is nothing contrary either to Faith or Worship or to the Rule of Church Government (r) Epiphan Ibid. lib. 3. Tom. 1. Haer. 70. that is they contain all necessary directions as to Doctrin Divine Offices and Discipline Now if this Book had this Reputation in this Fourth Century we must believe it was written sooner and we may well allow it as good Evidence for Matter of Fact at least in this Age where we are content to place it and we hope our Adversaries will not be able to except against our modest assignation of the Constitutions to the later part of this Century because Mr. Cook thinks their true Author was Contemporary with S. Basil who died An. 378 (s) Discou se of Lâ—turg p. 110. Maâ—g And Monsieur Dailé reckons these Constitutions among the most ancient Books which are Apocryphal and confesseth They were published soon after the year of Christ 330 and therefore he cites them as good Evidence for the Usages of this Century and the former (t) Dâ—â—le p aefat ad l â—run de Relig. â—â—â—tus obj â—o pâ—oâ—eâ—nem for which reason he must allow them to be a sufficient Witness for the use of Forms and Liturgy in these two Ages And truly Secondly We may prove this Book to be at least thus ancient by the Matter of it which is Primitive pure and pious and the Forms are taken out of Scripture or the Writings of the most genuine Fathers and are proper to the several occasions and agreeable to the Opinion and Practice of these Ages being free from those grosser Corruptions of the later Times such as Invocation of the Virgin Mary the Saints and Angels Adoration of Images Crosses and Relicks the Sacrifice Propitiatory of the Mass the Popes Infallibility and Supremacy with such like Yea this Liturgy being allowed to have been used in this Century and not mentioning any of these things is a good proof That they are all notorious Corruptions and Innovations there is nothing but some Charitable Prayers for the Dead without any respect to Purgatory which can be excepted against in
one thing in this Canon which makes it more than probable that the Prayers for the Faithful were Forms and that is the Reason why as this Canon speaks they dismissed the Catechumens which seems to be for fear by daily hearing these Forms they should remember the Phrases of these Mysteries and discover them to profane and common Ears For if these Prayers had been Extempore and the Phrases varied every day as my Adversary pretends the Catechumens might safely have stayed there it being impossible they should so learn or remember those various Expressions as to relate them to any body after they were gone home Finally Why should we not believe this Order was the Method of the public Forms of Prayer there being the same Order exactly observed in all those Ancient Forms which are extant at this day and not one word that intimates any such thing as an Extempore Prayer or frequent variation of the Forms either in this Council or in any Father or Council about this time And this may suffice for these Canons which after all his shuffling Objections are good Evidence for a stated Liturgy in this Age. Optatus Milev An. Dom. 368. § 10. Optatus Milevitanus though he writ on a different Subject yet he hath divers Expressions which suppose and imply that there was in his time a Liturgy used in Africa For he mentions the Peoples joyning with the Priest in the Divine Service and blames the Donatists for shutting the mouths of all Christian Nations and forcing all the People to be silent (u) Optat. Milev lib. 2. pag. 47. which shews they used alternate Singing and Responses among the Orthodox and that Method cannot be but by Form Yea he declares there were some certain Words so established and enjoyned by Law in the celebration of the Sacrament that the Donatists themselves could not pass them by (w) Illud legitimum in Sacramentorum mysterio praeterire non posse Id. ibid. pag. 53. and from their using these Words he draws an Argument against their Schism which he could not have done if they had not been fixed and a Set Form My Adversary mistakes this passage and fancies that Optatus refers to the Prayer of Consecration which could never be omitted (x) Discourse of Liturgy p. 61. but the holy Father explains himself in the same Page and shews us that he means the Prayer For the Holy Catholic Church You say saith Optatus that you offer for that One Church which is diffused over the whole World (y) Offerre vos dicitis pro una Ecclesia quae sit in toto terrarum orbe diffusa Optat. ibid. Thus he saith the Orthodox prayed and this was so established that the Donatists in this exceeding our Dissenters that they had not thrown off the Churches Forms could not omit it And thus the Learned Fr. Baldwin expounds it He means saith he that Solemn Form of the Canonical Prayer in which it is said We offer unto thee this Sacrifice for that One Church which is diffused over all the World (z) Fr. Bald. notis in Optat. pag. 185. Which Words also are in the Mystical Prayer set down by the Author of the Apostostolical Constitutions (a) Constit Apostol lib. 8. cap. 13. cap 18. and are found with little variation in that very Prayer in all the ancient Liturgies Now by Legitimum Optatus cannot mean that these Words were enjoyned by the Law of Christ because this Form being not enjoyned by any Scripture therefore it must signifie a Form enjoyned by the Laws of the Church which in that Age did so strictly enjoyn this very Prayer that it seems None might omit or pass it by And there is another Form of Ecclesiastical Appointment in the same Author brought in with the same Preface You cannot omit saith he again to the Donatists that which is established by Law for certainly you say Peace be with you (b) Et non potuistis praetermittere quod legittimum est utique dixistis Pax vabiscum ic lib. 3. pag. 73. Now this was the Form of Episcopal Benediction we have it in all old Liturgies and it is plain by Optatus his raising an Argument from these Words That the African Church had them in their Liturgy which was so firmly established that none could omit any part of it No not so much as alter the order For Optatus again saith After you have absolved the Penitents presently you turn to the Altar and cannot omit the Lords Prayer (c) Mox ad altare conversi Dominicam Orationem praetermittere non potestis Idem lib. 2. pag. 57. So that the very order of repeating the Lord's Prayer at the Altar in the beginning of the Prayers for the Faithful which was but of Ecclesiastical Institution could not be changed Moreover we find in Optatus That there was a Rumor spread upon the coming of some from the Emperour that Alterations would be made in the Communion Service which startled the People but they were quieted again when they saw The Solemn Custom and wonted Rite observed and discerned that nothing was changed added or diminished in the Divine Sacrifice (d) Cum viderent in divinis Sacrificiis nec mutatum quicquam nec additum nec ablasum Id. lib. 3. pag. 75. From whence it appears there was a known Form for the Communion an Office so well understood by the People that they could perceive when it was altered in any particular So that doubtless those Christians were not used to variety of Phrases nor accustomed to the Extempore Man's Fancy to celebrate in a longer or shorter Form as he pleased Again he repeats the very Form of Exorcising those who came to be Baptized (e) Maledicte exi foras Optat. lib. 4. pag. 79. and the Form of the Responses when they renounced the Devil and repeated their Creed at Baptism (f) Id. lib. 5. pag 86 89. And when we put all this together concerning known Forms of Words which could not be altered nor omitted and were enjoyned by Law we may conclude they had a written Liturgy in Africa in his time And it is very probable that this Book of Prayers was one of those Books in the Plural Number which the Donatists as he complains took away from the Holy Altar from whence the Peoples Prayers were wont to be sent up to God (g) Idem lib. 7. pag. 98. And since they had a written Form as the Fore-cited passages shew it is probable that the Liturgy as well as the Bible was then lying upon the Altar Epiphanius An. Dom 369. § 11. We can expect no great account of the Sacred Forms in Epiphanius since he is so very nice in speaking of Mysteries that he will not repeat the Words of our Saviour's Institution but thus expresses them He took these things and giving Thanks said This is that of mine c. (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—â—phan in Anâ—orat p. 432. And he reckons it
against this evident Truth And the first is a manifest Falshood viz. That no ancient Author mentions it (d) Disâ—ourse of Litu g. p. 162 c. For we have seen many of the Ancients do attest it Secondly He saith Many Words Rites and Persons are spoken of in it which cannot belong to S. Basil 's time To which I Answer That the Modern Copies now extant have many late Corruptions in them and we do not defend any one of these but if these be cast out there remains many primitive pious and excellent Forms of Prayer and Praise which are very agreeable to the genuine Works and to the uncorrupted Age of S. Basil and these are all the Passages in it that we defend and account to have been the Composure of S. Basil And if there were but Five Pages of this kind that suffices to make out my Position viz. That S. Basil made a Liturgy and that these Forms of Prayer were generally used in public in his time but the Reader who will peruse this Liturgy will find the far greatest part of it to be holy pure and primitive Forms and the Prayers Responses Hymns and Doxologies most of them both for Matter and Style agreeable to this Age and attested by the Writings of the Fathers both of this and former Centuries As to the Persons mentioned in this Liturgy who lived after S. Basil their Names were taken out of Modern Manuscripts Copied from some Liturgy which was in use in those later Ages wherein such Persons lived But though these Names were not in S. Basil's Original yet they do no more prove He never made the Original Liturgy ascribed to him or that he made no Liturgy than our praying for the present King and Queen or our having Offices for the Fifth of November and the 30th of January prove That the Main substance of the Common-Prayer-Book was not Composed in the Time of King Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth So that I cannot but blush at such Learned Men as for want of better urge such trifling Sophistry for Arguments Thirdly My Adversary objects That divers Learned Protestants count this Liturgy spurious To which I Answer That Many also count the main of it to be genuine but all Learned Protestants except my Adversary do grant enough for my purpose viz. That S. Basil did make a Liturgy which sufficiently proves the Use of Liturgies in This Age. Du Plessis himself out of whom my Adversary steals most of his Arguments confesseth There is some appearance and likelyhood that Basil and Chrysostom did ordain a prescript Form of the Administration in their Diocesses (e) Mornay of the Mass Book I. Chap. 6. pag. 50. The Learned Rivet will not affirm that it is wholly spurious though he think as we do that many things were added to it and some things altered afterward (f) Riveti censur pag. 310. And Causabon as we noted before accounts these Liturgies partly false and partly true (g) Causab exercit in Baron xvi p. 384. with these also the Famous Salmasius though no great Friend to ancient Forms doth agree (h) Salmas contra Grot. op posthum pag. 254. Bishop Bilson cites many Passages out of them and justifies them to be authentic so far as they agree to the genuine Works of S. Basil and other Fathers of that Age (i) Bilson Christian Subject part 4. pag. 437. And to name no more Chemnitius saith He will not deny but Basil and Chrysostom did make some such form of Prayer but he saith That what we read now under their Names is not all genuine sincere nor certain (k) Chemnit exam Concil Trident. part 2. pag. 191. Which we freely grant because it follows that some of that which now goes under their Names is genuine sincere and certain Fourthly He urges the many Corruptions which are in the Modern Copies such as praying to Saints and the Blessed Virgin Prayers for the Dead c. to which we have given an Answer before and shall now only say That these are added to the old Form and a judicious Antiquary may easily distinguish these Novel Additions from the old Primitive Forms which are not to be cast away because some have added Corruptions to them We do not justifie but reject these Additions and there is enough besides to prove our Position therefore I will only add that in these Liturgies there are many Passages which condemn the present Doctrins of the Roman Church and it would be pity to cast away these because of some Dross mixed with them which when we have separated the pure Primitive Silver will remain I conclude therefore That S. Basil made a Liturgy and that the Christians in his Days used to pray by prescribed Forms § 16. The Books which pass under the name of Dionysius Areopagita Dionysius Areopag or rather Apollinaris Laod. An. Dom. 370. and especially that of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy have in them many Indications of a Liturgy but were writ in this Age as is supposed by Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea who was a great Friend of S. Basil's and hath been noted not only for his High-flown Style but also for putting out Books under the names of the most Ancient Fathers (l) Dr. Caves Apostol life of Dionys Areop num 13. c. But whether he were the Author of them or no doubtless they must be ancienter than the sixth Century because many of the Rites here expounded were disused before that time and because there is express mention of them as cited by S. Cyril of Alexandria who lived in the beginning of the fifth Century (m) Liberati Brev. cap. 10. apud Bin. Tom. 2. par 2. pag. 182. Script An. 553. However Liberatus who Records this and allows Dionysius his Works to be good Evidence lived in the middle of the sixth Century and if these Books had been writ but little before it had been Ridiculous to have urged them for Evidence in dispute S. Gregory also the Great who lived in the same Century wherein Dailé pretends these Books were writ cites the celestial Hierarchy under the name of Dionysius Areopagita and calls him an Ancient and Venerable Writer (n) Greg. Mag. hom 34. in Evang. p. 138. yea in the very beginning of the sixth Century this Book is cited under the name of Dionysius by two Writers of the Greek Church (o) An. 527. Leont Byzant contr Nest lib. 2. Anastas Sinaita Anagog contempl in Hexam lib. 7. and Maximus writ Scholias upon these Books Anno Dom. 640. Wherefore this Author having such Credit and being mistaken for the true Dionysius in the fifth and sixth Ages could not live in later times than these wherein we now place him and we desire no more than our Adversary allows viz. that he may have Credit in reporting the usages of his own time p (m) Disc of Liturg. p. 39. Now though this Author is so very fearful of discovering Mysteries an evident