more but that the Creede shall follow the Gospel the reason of which order the Rationalists give at length but our Rubricke before the Creede sayes farther to wit this Creede shall be said or sung all reverently standing up importing first that at the reciting of the Creede of Constantinople not that of Nice nor that of the Apostles we must use much more reverence then at the reciting of the Epistles of the Apostles or writings of the Prophets even the same reverence wee use at the reading of the Gospell of this Durand gives a good reason Quia symbolum verbum est Evangelicum ideò stando illud audire sicut Evangelium debemus Lib. 4. fol. 60. col 3. Next our Booke imports the singing of the Creede and that according to the reasons of the Masse which at this place takes rather in that of Constantinople then the Creede of the Apostles or of Nice because it agrees better to the song by musicall voices or instruments then these so speakes Walafridus c. 22. Et notandum Graecos illud symbolum quod nos ad imitationē eorum intra Missas adfumimus potiùs quà m alia in cantilenae dulcedinē ideò transtulisse quia Constantinopolitani Concilij proprium est fortasse aptius videbatur modulis sonorum quam Nicenum quod tempore prius est Thirdly the saying or singing of the Creede is given in our Booke neither to the Priest nor to the people as the Gospel immediately before was injoyned to bee read only by the Priest and the acclamations to be said onely by the people but the Creede is to bee said neither by the Priest nor by the people but it is to bee begun by the Priest and to be sung through by the Quiristers for the mysterious reasons ye may see in Durandus after the Creede is sung the Priest bowing downe kisses the Altar as we have in Heigam pag. 162. This ceremonie Heylen in his Epistle to the King before his antidotum commends in the person of these who did fall downe and reverence with affectionate kissing of the Altar 4. The Predication The fourth part of the instruction is the predication this was a principall part of the Sacrament which was much regarded not onely by the auncients as wee may see in the order of celebration set downe by Iustine Martyr and Dionysius Areopagita as also in manifold Sermons yet extant of Cyprian Basile Ambrose Augustine and others which they delivered at such occasions but even in the later times in the second Councell of Toledo c. 2. and the first of Lateran c. 10. where strict order is taken for Preaching of the word that is as the place makes cleare for the exposition and application of the Scriptures before read to the reproofe instruction comfort admonition of the people as their present state did require This part of the Masse is acknowledged by Durand Lib. 4. fol. 224. col 2. yea in the Roman pontifical there are sundry rubricks spent upon it among the rest we have these words fol. 224. col 4. Si autem post Evangelium ut plerumque fit in curia sit praedicandum Pontifex sedet accipit mitram à Diacono tum ille qui est praedicaturus accedit ad eum pontifex benedicens ei dicit Dominus sit incorde tuo in labijs tuis ut dignè fructuose annuncies verba sancta sua tum surgit praedicator accedit ad pulpitum exequitur officiū finitâ praedicatione expectat in pulpito praedicator c. It is most cleare that in all antiquity to the very latest and most corrupt times the care not of reading only but preaching was seriously recommended to all Bishops and Presbyters as we may see in their orders of consecration yet standing in the Pontificall yet at last the ignorance and carelesnesse of the Clergy grew so great that this duty was all utterly neglected for sundry ages as we may see acknowledged by the Councell of Trent the history of it printed at London in Italian fo 165. so in the Missals of Sarum this part of the Masse is omitted and how ever the English Rubrick have an expresse command for a Sermon Evangelio lecto sequitur concio and the very Councell of Trent have strict acts for reforming the old neglect of Sermons injoyning to the B. himselfe let be to other Presbyters the dutie of preaching at least every Sunday and all holy dayes as the chiefe part of the Episcopall office to feed the Soules of their flock with the bread of the Word preached yet our Booke seems to like better of the old order of Sarum which according to the custome of these dark times did neglect Sermons so our Rubrick is conceived After the Creed if there be no Sermon directly absteining to give any injunction for Sermon at the Communion How great enemies our Bookmen are to Sermons it is shewen at large in the Canterb. self-conviction The Papists even at Trent makes it needfull to preach every Sabbath yea the Popish Princes this day who have any taste of devotion be their affaires never so weightie will have two Sermons every Sabbath so we see in the life of the late Emperour Ferdinand but our men at most will admit but of one yea they thinke that one in a moneth is enough and all that their Canons doe require and that one must be very short without any prayer either before or after What spite they carry at the preaching which this day is used in England may be seene in the words which Canterbury makes Andrewes use after his death and which himselfe useth before the Starre Chamber in his late Speech yea these men are now brought to avow in Print the great expediency to put downe preaching by bringing us back to that order which was used in England in the time of Popery where the want of our present kinde of preaching did keepe the people in their ancient simplicitie and so in that old laudable integritie and devotion see passages for all this in the Self-conviction As for the Homilies which are ordained to be read in place of Sermons their forme is taken from the Roman Breviarie which after the reading of the Lessons from Scripture ordaines the reading of many Homilies the English Liturgie also permits the reading of Homilies printed by the Reformers of Religion in these places of the Land where maintenance cannot be had for a preaching Minister but here our Booke seemes to be worse than either the Roman Breviary or the English Liturgie for the Homilies which are in the Breviary were composed of old by the ancient Fathers and these Homilies of England are most orthodox and composed by the most sound Fathers of that Church since the Reformation but our Homilies which we are obliged to receive are not yet extant and the composition of them as of all our Books is committed to the hands of that faction who of late in their printed Sermons have vented all the
Popish sentences but at the Epistles wee may sit and keepe silence of this soule superstition there can be no reason given but that wicked errour of the Papists that the doctrine of the Epistles is more base and contemptible than the doctrine of the Evangelists and so should be before it as a servant goes before to make way for his Master This wicked superstition they much increase when they command to stand also at the reading of the Creed of Constantinople by this meanes equalling an humane writ to the Gospels and preferring it much to the Epistles of the Apostles at reading whereof they permit to sit Seventhly the Predication is urged in the old Missals but in the late order of Sarum it is omitted this we follow and permit Communions to be celebrated without any Preaching a horrible evill who dispence with Preaching on a Communion day may well want it all the dayes of the yeare wee are here worse than the Papists the Councell of Trent urges Bishops to preach every Sabbath and many moe dayes our folks cry downe preaching so farre as they can and professe that it were good to have no more preaching then there was before the 18. yeare of K. Henry the eight They teach that many Ministers should be kept in their place but commanded never to preach so long as they live that some few who are suffered to preach should doe it but at some rare times once in the moneth is abundant that the reading of the Service is the onely ordinary Preaching that God hath commanded that by this means people may be brought back to that old simplicitie and so that ancient honestie which was among our fore-fathers before Luther or Calvin was borne Yet there is more ill in this part of our Book Homilies are to be framed by our Prelates and what ever is put in them we must beleeve under the paine of excommunication The Homilies of the Breviarie are composed for the most part by the old Fathers these of England by the Martyrs of that Church whose writes are very orthodox but our Homilies are to be made by men whose lives are not approved and whose doctrine is knowne to be both Arminian and Popish it is not possible but such stuffe as they have vented in many Sermons will be put in our Homilies which notwithstanding we must without doubt simply beleeve unlesse we would be excommunicate Eightly The Offertory a plaine Jewish oblation going before and making way for the unbloudy and propitiatory sacrifice we have clearly In the Masse it hath foure parts so in our Book the first is Scriptures stirring up the people to offer the second an Oblation of moneys the third an oblation of bread and wine the fourth prayers upon the bread and wine to prepare it for the ensuing sacrifice In the first we goe beyond the Papists they content themselves with one place of Scripture we have fifteene or moe many of them pointing at the Jewish sacrifice yea directed to countenance the Priests greid Our Book here patronizes that vile sacriledge of the Masse-Priest who sayes his Masse for advantage for we are permitted to take to our owne use the one halfe of the offering and to employ the other halfe in what good use the Priest and the Church-warden can agree In the second part we have a plaine legall sacrifice a putting of the offered money in the Priests hand who sets it on the Altar before the Lord. In the third place we have an offering of bread and wine on the Table In the fourth part likewise prayers over the bread wine that God would accept them for the benefit of the whole Church universall both dead and living the Masse expresses particularly some dead mens names which our men doe not insert but keep them in the generall Ninthly The Canon which the Papists call the heart and head of their Masse cor vertex consists of Prefaces and Prayers Their prefaces are either ordinarie or solemne the ordinary we have word by word the solemne are ten for high times the first five for Christ-masse Pasce Pentecost Ascension Trinitie we have The other five we want but upon no necessitie The prayers are six in number the third and fourth they count the onely principall to wit the prayer of consecration and the prayer of oblation these two we have avowedly The Papists distinguish their consecration from sanctification consecration especially here they call a secret pronouncing of some holy words on the elements for their transubstantiation we avow such a secret murmuring of words on the elements for this prayer of consecration is not said that the people may heare but in it we are ordained to run from them so far as the outmost wall will suffer and then we must come to the west side of the Altar and so turne our back we must be within both the raile of timber and vaile of cloth least men should either see or heare us so we may use any language we will for God understands all and the elements none That the secret prayers over the elements are made for their conversion into the body and blood of Christ it is cleare for we take in these words of the Masse Vt fiat corpus sanguis whence all Papists this day conclude transubstantiation and which the English put out of their Booke for feare to further by them this heresie we put out the clause which stood here in the old Missals Quod est figura corporis sanguinis which did oppose this wicked heresie yea some two or three golden passages of the English Liturgie which did oppose likewise that abhomination we scrape out And to assure us more of their minde they have put in some new Rubricks to eat the remains by Communicants in the holy place to consecrate so little as can be and to cover all with a Corporall which word was never here used before the corpus was beleeved to be under the elements all this our Book hath gotten as is averred propter Sacramentarios such hereticks must we be who beleeve the body of Christ to be conteined in the heavens untill he come againe They tell us that Papists Lutherans Calvinists are fully agreed on all that is materiall in that question to wit Christs reall presence that the onely difference is about the mode and manner of presence which is but an unnecessary curious and undecidable question about the which none will contend did not the Devill foster up Puritans and Jesuits to hold in that fire yea they are now come to avow the Popish mode to proclaime the body of Christ to be received by our bodies and that corporally and to be upon the Altar so grossely that the Altar as its chaire of estate is to be adored with latria it selfe for the bodies presence on it yea that the Papists when they worship the Altar or the elements or the species that are about the body are in no case Idolaters for that
action yea that the Church of Rome doth maintaine no kinde of Idolatry The Rubricks of this part of the Masse some we take as the laying our hands on the patin and challice The Rubrick of bowing before the patin and challice or hostie thereof we have not a word but punctually our men practice it giving foure inclinaboes to the elements before the act of receiving the other Rubrick for the peoples prostration at the elevation of the hosty they cannot be against sure their practice is to bow most lowly to the place where the hostie uses to lye Tenthly The prayer of Oblation stands at the back of the consecration in the Masse and so in our Book there is in the words some changes but what we adde or detract it is for our disadvantage the maine words whereon the unbloudy sacrifice is grounded we have and if what we want of it were added we must not refuse it for they defend all this part of the Masse making no bones to professe the offering up of Christs body and blood in a propitiatory sacrifice for the benefit both of quick and dead yea in this matter of a true externall unbloody sacrifice which the Priests in the new Testament ordained by Christ after the order of Melchisedec in these words hoc facite doe offer our men within these two yeares have gone very neere as far as any of the Romish Writers Eleventhly The other foure particles of the Canon we omit but needlesly for our men defend them all as good and lawfull for the matter the things most to be stood upon are that in them the Pope is prayed for as the chiefe Bishop this now these with whom we have to doe will easily digest to count him Antichrist is but the malicious ignorance of Puritanes yea it is but their mad frensie to deny him this day the style of holinesse in the very abstract he is Peters successour that order requires one to be chiefe and first among all Bishops this honour is due to him who sits in Peters chaire that injurie was done unto him in the reformation in taking from him not onely his usurped power but even his proper right In these prayers also the B. of the diocesse is put before the King this now is not strange to the faction they print that every B. is a true Prince yea a Monarch so much more excellent than a King as the soule is more excellent than the bodie that the Emperours in dutie ought to light downe from their horse and give reverence to the Bishops yea on their knees to receive their blessing Twelfthly The third scruple that might deterre us from these prayers is that the names of the Virgin Marie and of many Saints are reckoned up by whose intercessions and merits we pray to be defended this also they defend in their prefaces to their prayers they delight to reckon up the names of these Saints they maintaine the Saints to be our Mediatours of intercession as Christ is of redemption they avow they pray to their Angel keeper and would be glad to pray to all the Saints if they were perswaded of their audience and now many means have they found out of getting intelligence to the Saints of mens estate on earth especially that glasse of the Trinitie As for merit they goe as farre in it as Bellarmine their Epigrams are famous both to Papists and Protestants Virtutum sancta speciosa caterva salutem divine ex pacto quam meruere dabunt The last scruple which might appeare in these prayers is a supplication for case to all who have dyed in faith and sleep in peace from this all the Papists deduce Purgatorie yet this passage is defended by our men as for Purgatorie they are very neere it Limbus Patrum they teach openly yea Christs descent there and lower also for the bringing up of Aristotle Plato Socrates Theseus Penelope and many Pagans The grounds of Scripture whereby we refute Purgatorie they deny the passages of Scriptures and antiquitie whereby the Papists labour to prove Purgatorie they presse on us an expiative Purgatorie wherein by the prayers of the living the sinnes of the dead are put away they professe Thirteenthly After the Canon followes the Communion for better preparation thereto the Missall hath some more prayers and ceremonies the first prayer after the Canon is the Pater noster with the Preface audemus dicere the Priest having once gotten Christ the Son in his hands after the muttering of the prayers of consecration and oblation is bold with a loud voice to say Our Father It is so in our Books clearly After the Pater noster are sundry short prayers the summe whereof is in our prayer of humble accesse as for the ceremonies of breaking the host in three parts the giving the pax and so forth our men will never strain at such gnattes they maintaine the Churches power of instituting significant rites they take in worse ceremonies than those to wit surplices rotchets copes candles incense organs cornets chancells altars rails vails a reclinatorie for confession a lavatorie a repositorie also crossings coursings bowings duckings and which is worst of all crucifixes of massie silver images in carved stone and bowing of the knee before them Fourteenthly Before the communion we have a direction that the Preacher shall communicate first himselfe alone in both kinds this is the Roman order where the Priests communion in both kinds is onely required the peoples communion they count but accidentall this is the consumption wherein they put the chiefe part of the essence of the Masse we direct the people to communicate in their own order never a word of both kinds yea we seeme to make the giving of the cup to the people no wayes necessary for our men build the peoples right to the cup not on Gods word but onely on tradition they approve diverse cases of old where the people did participate the bread alone they have repositories neere the Altar for keeping of the consecrated bread to the use of the sick In the distribution the words whereby the Priest assures the receiver that he takes in his mouth the body of Christ are put directly in our Booke from the Roman order the body of Christ preserve thee to life eternall and to perswade the receiver the more he is to say Amen unto it At the receiving of the cup the same words are borrowed from the Missall the blood of the Lord Jesus preserve thy Soule and the person receiver must say his Amen The golden sentences of the English which here were put in as antidotes to the venome of transubstantiation are expurged and for them a Rubrick full of blacke venome is put in of covering the paâ—in and challice with a corporall Fifteenthly The post communion is prayers of thanksgivâ—ng which the Priest sings in the end of the Service the same in substance with our collect of thankesgiving nothing in any of these postcommunions which our men doe refuse hardly will you finde one sentence in the Masse from the beginning to the end which our Book-men will not defend as tolerable and so what we want of the full Masse it needs no more but halfe an houres writing to the Bishops Chaplaine that in the next Edition it may be put in for our full union in our service with the mother Church of Rome That the intention of our prime Bishops is Popery in grosse it may be shewen by reasons which they will not answer in haste For shortnesse I will point onely at foure other particulars to shew what seeds of Popish impietie idolatry errour heresie may be seene in our Booke for impietie they put the Sabbath day and other festivals of humane institution all in one order teaching that the fourth command of God is not the ground of the Sundayes observation that we may lawfully without offence of God doe all these things on the Sabbath which may be done on other holy dayes that is goe to publick pastimes reap corne fish take journey on horse or foot Secondly for idolatry the crosse in baptisme will lead to it for they avow from the use of the signe of the crosse in Baptisme doth follow clearly the lawfulnesse of materiall crosses crucifixes images of all kinds in the Churches for religious use yea that the religious use of images moves the heart with many pious affections especially with a deepe reverence towards the person who by the image is represented which reverence is lawfully declared by outward adoration before the Image Thirdly for grosse errour the Book tells that all baptized Infants have all things necessary to salvation and all of them who dye before the yeares of discretion are undoubtedly saved from hence our men conclude that all the Articles of Arminius doe clearly follow the totall and finall apostasie of millions from the state of regeneration and salvation the power of mans free-will to oppose resist overcome and reject efficacious regenerating and saving grace the perseverance in grace by our free-will antecedent in Gods mind to his decree of election the intention of Christ to sanctifie and save aswell the reprobate as the elect the conferring of sufficient grace to reprobates yea universally to all men c. These are the avowed doctrines from the same ground of our men without circumloquution yea from another place may be gathered the errour of justification by the works of the Law which all Protestants ever detested as a damnable heresie the Book requires the restitution of the ancient penance that by the afflictions of the body the soule may be saved then bodily penance satisfies Gods wrath for sinne See the Self-conviction so faith in the blood of Christ is not our sole justification the Papists goe no farther in this point in their injurious heresie of justification than our men these yeares past have gone and that without controlment except advancement to high honour and great benefices be counted a punishment FINIS
finde at most but some Psalmes and prayers for confession of sinnes all diverse from these in the Masse and diverse also among themselves So then wee may take all the parcells of this first part of the Masse to bee the Popes invention which either for antiquity or universalitie are not much considerable yet such peeces must bee obtruded on us for try which of them our Bookes do not beare 1. The Pater Noster The first the Pater Noster not that wherby the Apostles are said to consecrate for that followeth in the Missall and our booke also long thereafter but that which the order of Sarum puts immediately after the introitus with this our Communion beginnes it is the first words the Priest sayes at the Altar after the Roman order of the Pontificall Masse where this Pater Noster is the first speech which the Pope reades at the altar for thus doth the Pontificall printed at Lions 1542. testifie fol. 119. p. 2. Quibus indutus surgit Pontifex ad altare stans detecto capite dicit Pater Noster qui es in coelis c. And this as it seemes according to the Canon before the Breviarie rubricae generalis c. 32. Pater Noster Ave Maria semper dicuntur secretò ante omnes horas so wee see that our Matins must beginne with it and our Masse also 2. The Ave Maria. As for the second parcell the Angelike salutation Ave Maria it is not actually in our Booke but may wee not say it is in it potentially when my L. of Canterbury in whose power it will be to put into it at the next edition these passages of antiquity which will bee found expedient for our further union with other Chrians hath permitted Mr. Stafford to print at London of late the defence of the Popish use of this salutation to sing in his Poems omnis terra revibrat ave and to invey in his Prose against Puritans who have left this practise of their anceâ—â—ors These are his words towards the end of his female glorie The Puritants reject all testimonies of her worth as Haile Marie full of grace the Lord is with thee they challenge to themselves a greater measure of knowledge but a lesser of pietie then had their ancestors by disclaiming words and phrases familiar to antiquity of one thing I will assure them till they be good Marians they sâ—all never be good Christians while they derogate from the dignity of the mother they cannot honour the Son When these words are challenged Peter Heylen appointed by Canterbury to answer and Chrystopher Dow allowed in the answer hee was pleased to make doth not retract or disallow any thing in these sayings What then shall we expect from our Bishops but a Canon to injoyne those who will not bee Puritans who will not leave the pietie of their Ancestors who will not be contemners of CHRIST That they become at last so good Marians as to joyne hereafter their Ave Maria at the back of their Pater noster 3. The Oration The third part of the preparation is the First Collect the very name is little lesse then the Masse if we beleeve Bellarmine he counts the Collects the chiefe parts of the Masse for the which the Masse it selfe uses to be called a Collect eaedem collectae dicuntur Missae quia sunt pars quaedam eáque non minima Missae L. 2. de Missa cap. 16. This first Collect in the Missall of Sarum is the same with our first Prayer after the Pater noster to a Letter Thus speaks the Priest in the Masse Deus cui omne cor patet omnis voluntas loquitur quem nullum latet secretum purifica per infusionem S. Spiritus cogitationes cordis nostri ut te perfectè diligere dignè laudare mereamur per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Amen Missale ad usum Ecclesiae Sarisburiensis Parisijs 1555. fol. 141. And wee turne it Almightie GOD c. 4. The Introitus The Fourth part is the Jntroitus the 43. Psalme so called because sung by the Quire antiphonatim while the Priest is comming in or rather for that fourth versicle of it introibo ad altare Dei which is most chanted This is not in our Booke actually yea wâ—e think it was put out of the English expresly both for the great impertinencie of it and also the evident abuse which was made of that introibo ad altare meaning it of the ingoing of a Priest to a proper Altar for as proper sacrificing as was in the old Testament yet wee may take it virtually to be in our Booke for it 's a part of the Masse which Canterburie professeth he likes well and sayes but not truly that it is in the Church of England these are his words in his Speech before the Starre-Chamber p. 44. After the Iudaicall worship was ended as farre upward as there is any tract of a Liturgie this was the introitus of the Priest all the Latine-Church over and in the daylie prayers of the Church of England this was retained at the Reformation I thinke his Grace is mistaken in that he sayes venite was the introitus in the Latine-Church for all the Missalls I have seen of the Romish-Church which to him are the Liturgies of the Latin-Church have never venite for the introitus only in the Breviarie it is the invitatorie for the Matins and so the English retained it indeed the Greek-Church uses it for the introitus as we read in Fortunatus Antiphonarie Cap. 21 But never the Latine I grant the Papists could be content to change and take in this venite in place of their old introibo for Heigam in his exposition of the Masse approved by the Doctours of Doway printed at St. Omers 1622. p. 83. avowes that the Angels were heard to sing in Constantinople this venite adoremus for the Introitus but most falsly for all that his Author Fortunatus sayes in the forenamed place in their own edition at Paris 1610. is hunc Psalmum audivi Constantinopoli in Ecclesia S. Sophiae in principio Missae celebrari the singing of it by the Angels is Heigams false addition to Fortunatus However my Lord of Canterburie showes his good liking of the Latin introitus and albeit he mistake the Psalme yet that which wee most except against in the Latin true Introitus hee does approve of it for let bee to approve the Priests introibo ad altare he adds the convenience not only to goe in to the Altar but to adore even the Altar it selfe Domino altari ejus which he alleages the English-Book imports albeit authoritie too loose heere does not constrain the practice This is much more than the Romish introitus albeit no more than the Papists practice according to other parts of their Masse 5. The Gloria Patri The Fift part is their Gloria Patri This wee have more formally then they for according to our Rubrick iâ— must
be sung at the backe of every Psalme yea of every Hymne but the Roman Rubrick admits sundrie dispensations Breviarium Roman Rubricae generales cap. 21. In fine Psalmorum semper dicitur Gloria Patri praeterquà m c. For the matter of this Hymne let it be as old as Bellarmine can make it yet the first Author who can be alleaged for putting it in the Masse is Pope Damasus and that as Bellarmine avowes on false grounds yea the joyning of it to the back of any Psalmes seemes later let be the putting of it in the Masse but the singing of it after the fashion of our Booke is a new invention to hinder the people to sing Glorie to the Father and to the Sonne to hinder the Minister to sing as it was in the beginning to make the first the Priests song alone the second the peoples responsorie onely is the Romanists very late invention We are rold by Isidor and the rest of the old Rationalists that the answering of the people was the invention of the Italians as the Reciprocrations and Antiphonies was the invention of the Greeks but this answering of the people which in our Booke is ordained at the back of Gloria Patri is a Noveltie much later then any of these old Writers on the Masse for Walafridus cap. 25. shewes that the Hymne was no wayes divided in his dayes but in all Churches it was one passage sung without division of parts albeit with varietie the Spanish Church keeping this forme Gloria honor Patri filio Spiritui sancto in saecula saeculorum Amen Latini verò eodem ordine ijsdem verbis hunc hymnum decantant addentes tantúm in medio sicut erat in principio Berno hath the same observation So that this part of our Booke seems to follow the late Roman orders against the practice not only of all the Reformed Churches but all the ancient also yea more precise are we here than the Romanists themselves as I have said 6. The Kyrie eleison The sixt part is the Kyrie eleyson this is a very powerfull and efficacious part of the Masse Magna est istorum verborum efficacia sayes Durand the Rationalist lib. 4. on this Rubrick legitur enim quód dum beatus Basilius Kyrie eleison clamasset portae vicinae Ecclesiae sint apertae rursus cùm B. Geminianus Kyrie eleison clamaret quinque Reges conversi dicuntur in fugam unde fortè significat aliud quà m Domine miserere quod tamen nos ignoramus These so miraculous words are used in the Masse and put at the back of the song of Jntroitus mainly to obtain mercy to the Quiristers whose mind by the melodie of their song was puffed up to vaine Pride so does Amalarius shew us Kyrie eleison necessariò constitutum est à praecepteribus Ecclesiae ut cantores post finitam antiphonam deprecentur Domini misericordiam quae deprimat inanem jactantiam quae solet sequi cantores habent enim quandam exultationem propter egregiam compositionem melodiarum This was put into the Masse by Pope Gregory a Father of many other Superstitions he confesseth in his 63. Epistle of the seventh Booke that he changed the Greeke forme for it was their custome when their Priest did make the prayer for the people by way of assent to subjoyne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you have it in Morney de Missa lib. 1. cap. 7. from Sidonius Apollinaris Gregory would keepe the Greeke words he would have them thrice repeated he would make them to be said by the Clergie and the people only to answer he would have the Name of Christ put in the midst thus farre he counselleth But his successour Innocent the third tells us more that the intention of these three sentences is to call on God the Father Son and holy Ghost for to obtaine mercy for three kindes of sinne Originall Mortall and Veniall yea to obtaine from the Father mercie for sinnes of Infirmitie which are against him from the Sonne sinnes of Ignorance which are against him from the Holy Ghost sinnes of Malice which are against him Est peccatum fragilitatis per impotentiam simplicitatis per ignorantiam malignitatis per invidentiam hoc est peccatum in Patrem peccatum in Filium peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum B. Gregorius Kyrie eleison ad Missam cantari praecepit à Clero quod apud Graecos ab omni populo cantabatur This order our Booke followes the Presbyter saying let us pray Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us For the language they will make no scruple they keep latin words enough as obscure as these Greeke ones to wit Benedictus Magnificat Venite c. Andrews in his Sermon of Imaginations after the beginning maintaines the lawfulnesse of this practice in these words Some will heare no Greeke or Latine yet S. Paul feared not to use termes as strange to the Corinthians as Maranatha Belial Abba which easily he might have expounded but it liked him to retain his Libertie in this point Neither will the Papists stand much in this point to the Greek for they grant that the Greeks themselves pronounce these words in Latine So Albinus de celebratione Missae Kyrie eleison Latinè Graeci Graecè Latini proferunt Biblo patr auctar pag. 278. E. 7. After the Introitus Gloria Patri Kyrie eleison followes the Confiteor 7. The Confiteor where first the Priest confesseth his sinnes and the people say Misereatur Then the people confesse their sinnes and the Priest sayes Misereatur praying for Mercie and Absolution This Confession is generall no particular enumeration it is only of Veniall sinnes and the Absolution is not Sacramentall for the particular Confession is in secret before the Masse and to this auricular Confession the Priest pronounceth the Sacramentall Absolution Innocen lib. 2.13 Pontifex de peccatis suis cum astantibus confitetur Illud autem in hac confessione notandum est quia non in specie sed in genere confitenda sunt peccata quoniam ista confessio non est occulta sed manifesta To this Durand addes that the Psalme of Confession was put in the Masse by Pope Coelestine Rubrica de confessione Heigams exposition of the Masse cap. 22. As the Confession was generall so the Absolution is general which the Priest gives only by way of Prayer and not of Sacrament as that ego te absolvo and extendeth it selfe no farther than to the taking away of Veniall sinnes This he learned from Hugo de Sancto Victore fit communis confessio ut mundemur à peccatis venialibus fine quibus communis vita non facilè ducitur Consider whether all these three parts may be said to be actually in our Booke both the Confiteor the Misereatur and the Absolution the Confiteor and the Misereatur is twice in the Masse the Absolution but once so is it with us The Confession of
enim moralitatem vitámque activam magis quà m contemplativae sublimitatem quae in Evangelio radiat instruit Igitur morale Legis officium agit Epistola tantum distans ab eo quod in officio Missae praecedit sancto Evangelio quantum servus à Domino praeco à judice legatus ab eo qui misit illum quapropter cum legitur non injuriâ sedemus cum tamen sanctum Evangelium audimus demissis reverenter aspectihus sicunt Domino nostro assistimus Another evident abuse there is that in the Masse and our Booke the Acts of the Apostles the Revelation the Prophets any booke of the old Testament should bee called the Epistle except onely the five bookes of Moses Walafridus points at the noveltie of this corruption in these words cap. 22. Videtur autem non alias lectiones ante Evangelium fuisse tunc positas nisi tantùm Apostoli Pauli quod S. Damasus Papa ad Hieronymum scribens ostendit fortasse inprimis solius Pauli lectiones eo loco legebantur posteà autem omnibus latius augmentatis aliae lectiones non tantùm de Novo verùm etiam de veteri intermixtae sunt Testamento To this Durandus addes Epistola tamen non legitur de quinque libris Mosis quia in illis temporalia promittebantur fol. 53. A third abuse in the Epistle is that never a full passage is read but a shread beginning after the beginning of a Chapter and cutting before the end chusing out parts most impertinent for the purpose and very oft directed to colour some idle or superstitious conceit To these and other such faults the Epistles of our booke are subject as well as these of the Masse for commonly in both bookes the same passages of Scripture are set downe for Epistles as on S. Stephens day the seventh of the Acts upon Innocents day the 14. of the Revelations 1. of Lent 2. of Ioel the Tuesday before Easters the 50. of Isaiah The second is the Gospel The next portion of the instruction is the Gospel here we follow the paterne of Sarum as much as in the Epistles as the Missals reade the Gospels without any order but that which the sole pleasure of some Popes in the latter times hath given to them beginning at the end of a booke at the midst of a Chapter ending with the beginning of a booke looping every day heere and there without any reason or example of antiquity which can be showne so does our Booke follow preciselie looke for example the first foure Sundayes in Advent wherein the first Sunday our Gospel is Mat. 21. v. 1. in the second chap. 21. vers 25. in the 3. Matth. 11. vers 2. in the 4. Iohn 1. vers 19. of such coursing what reason can be given but a conformity with Sarum in times of Popery As in the matter of our Gospel we follow rhe Missall so in our formes The Epistle was contumeliously debased but the Gospel is superstitiously exalted Rupertus Lib. 1. c. 37. and from him Durand Evangelium principale est omnium quae dicuntur ad Missae officium sicut enim caput praeeminet corpori illi caetera membra subserviunt sic Evangelium toti officio praeeminet For this cause Pope Anastasius ordained that when the Gospel was in reading all should stand on their feet and that with their head and eyes bowed to the ground for reverence Anastasius Papa decrevit ut dum Evangelium legitur nullus sedeat Also the people must say before the Gospel Gloria tibi Domine and after it is ended they must say Deo gratias The reasons see in Durand Lib. 4. fol. 59. This we are injoyned twise least we should forget it both at the Communion and in the Collects Epistles and Gospels for the whole yeere we get leave to sit at the Epistle to be silent when it beginnes and silent when it ends but all the time of the Gospel we must stand and use our exclamations both at the beginning and end of it The Booke of the Gospel must stand upon the Altar to signifie that with the preaching of the Gospel ever must be conjoyned the sacrifice of the Altar and when it is to be read the Deacon must come and lift the booke from the Altar to signifie that the sense of holy Scriptures must be taken alone from the warrant of the holy Church see Heigam pag. 122. In the ceremonies and significations it seemes we must agree with Rome for wee see that among the decent furniture wherewith our Altar is adorned the text of the Gospel is a chiefe part also the necessity of the Altars and sacrifices where ever the Gospel is preached and the taking of the sense of Scripture from the hand of the Church yee may see expresse passages from Heylen Montagu and White in Canterbury-selfe-conviction Farther when the Deacon hath lifted the text of the Gospel from the Altar hee gives it to the Subdeacon to carry at his backe two waxe candles are lifted from the Altar by two Acolytes to bee carried burning before him so long as the Gospel is in reading the crosse or crucifix is also on Festivall dayes carried before the Gospel also a Censer with fire and Incense the booke is crossed and perfumed and when the lesson is ended the Booke by the Deacon is kissed the reason of all these ceremonies see in the forenamed places of Durand and Jnnocent from none of these superstitions we can be long secured Our Deacons are begun already to bee consecrate the chiefe part of their office is their Service at the Sacrament and their reading of Scripture the orders of Subdeacon and Acolytes are proclaimed to be convenient if the Church had maintenance for them by Andrewes the wax Candles are standing on the Altars already the silver Crucifix is avowed by Pocklington to have a meet standing upon the same Altar the crossings and perfumings and lights are maintained by Andrewes as Canterbury sets him forth the kissing of the Booke is now daily practised 3. The Creed of Constantinople The third portion of the instruction is the Creede of Constantinople Credo in unum c. This is put in the Masse by Pope Mark according to Durand or by Pope Damasus according to Innocentius Damasus Papa constituit utsymbolum cantaretur ad Missam Lib. 2. c. 49. or rather it was put in the Masse long thereafter for Walafridus tells that the Latines learned this part of the Masse from the Grecians and that after the Councell of Constantinople cap. 22. This Bellarmine approves de Missa Lib. 2. c. 17. as also Walafridus addition that the French and Dutch Church received not this part of the Masse till the dayes of Charlemaine and that through the occasion of the heresies of Felix This part of the Masse wee have word by word from the Missall of Sarum fol. 143. yea the Romish ceremonies about it put out of the English Liturgie wee seeme to resume the English sayes no
points of Arminianisme and the farre most and grossest poynts of Popery if not all without any exception as the Self-conviction makes good when they have stuffed their Homilies so full as they thinke good of Arminianisme and Popery we must approve subscribe and use them daily as the publike doctrine of our Church or else be excommunicate as rebellious schismaticks without any remedy for the composers of these Homilies take to themselves in this act the title and authoritie of our Church representative whose dictates must be embraced under the highest paines both civill and spirituall Yea beside the burthen of Homilies it seemes we must lay downe our back to beare the Legends also whether they be of gold or of lead or of drosse for as the Breviary puts their fabulous Legends and Martyrologies at the back of their Homilies so our Bookmen are beginning to print the great conveniency of reading in the Church to the people the lives and histories of the Martyrs see Quaeres The foure lesse principal parts of the Instruction As for the foure lesse principall parts of the Instruction to wit the Graduall Halelujah tractus and sequentia which are sung betwixt the Epistle and the Gospell the Papists will grant that they are put in onely of late to hold up the musicall harmony and so may well be omitted yea they are discharged by the Councell of Toledo and came in only by custome heare Walafridus Confession of the Graduall and Halelujah as for the tractus sequentia they were not heard of even in his dayes cap. 22. Responsoria halelujah quae ante Evangelium cantantur deinde adjuncta videntur prohibita canonibus Hispanorum in illis enim jubetur ne aliquis hymnus inter lectionem Apostolicam Evangelium in ordine Missae ponatur ex quo intelligitur id aliquos tentasse tunc temporis sed propter novitatem rei studium eorum non fuisse receptum quod tamen postea usu Romano commendatum ad omnes Latinorum pervenit Ecclesias This Bellarmine cannot deny de Missa l. 2. c. 17. yea all the foure parts are of so small importance that the Papists themselves would be quit of them so speaks Spalato of them as they stand in the Breviary l. 7. c. 12. art 96. Antiphonae responsoria versiculi ejusmodi minuta quae ut puto cantus modulationis gratia intermisceri lectioni solita fuerunt ad tollendum fastidium ubi Musicae locus non est non videntur necessaria impediunt enim cursum piae utilis lectionis This Spalato did learne from Cardinall Quignonius who did print the same advise with the good liking both of Pope Paul the third and Clement the seventh The Cardinalls words are these in Spalatoes next section giving a reason why in his Breviary he put out all these foure things which were in use to be sung betwixt the Epistle and the Gospel Versiculos responsoria capitula omittere idcirco visum est quoniam cum introducta sint ad cantus potissimum modulandos legentes saepè morentur cum molestia quaeritandi locum relinquere voluimus nec enim ad precandum cuncta salubria utilia congeri debent ne clerici graventur iniquiori pondere yee see how with the Pope and Cardinalls good leave we may leave out of our Book all these particles in hand But suppose that the Pope this day would be more precise and require strictly the use of them all our men would easily yeeld to this his rigorous importunitie for consider 1. The Graduall if in all these foure parts of the Masse there be any thing which their stomacks could not well digest the graduall or responsory is nought but two verses of a Psalme sung on the gradus or steps of the Altar the first by two Querister boyes in their Surplices the other in way of answer by the whole Quire as we see on the first Sunday of Advent where the graduall is the third verse of the 25 Psalme Vniversi qui te exspectant non confundentur Domine the Versicle responsory to this is the fourth verse Vias tuas Domine notas fac mihi semitas tuas edoce me 2. The Halelujah The Halelujah is nought but this Hebrew sentence which we reade oft in Scripture used on festivall dayes 3. The tractus The tractus is but a line of other Scriptures which on fasting dayes in times of sorrow is put in the place of Halelujah and sung tractim heavily laserly in sad grave and long notes as the first Sunday of Lent the tractus is the first verse of the 91 Psalme Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi in protectione Dei coeli commorabitur The versicle or responsory is the second verse of that same Psalme Dicet Domino susceptor meus es tu refugium meum Deus meus sperabo in eum 4. The sequentia The sequentia or prosa is a song of praise put at the back of Halelujah a long rithme in prose used at some few high festivals invented first by Nocherius a dutch Abbot and put in the Masse by Pope Nicolaus as Durand tells us l. 4. fol. 56. col 3. Here is nothing which our men will oppose as in that famous sequency of Pentecost S. Spiritus adsit nobis gratia quae corda nostra sibi faciat habitacula expulsis inde cunctis vitijs spiritalibus c. In some of their sequencies I grant there are contained praises of the B. Virgin and other Saints but no wayes so grosse as these which followes in the Canon and are defended by our men as lawfull as shortly wee shall heare So then the foure little and lesse principall parts of the Instruction will not be refused by us upon any reason if wee keepe the grounds of our Book when ever it shall be the will of our Clergy to put them in with the other foure large and principall parts of the same Instruction CHAP. IV. Concerning the Offertory and Exhortations HAving gone thorow the two first members of the Masse the Preparation and Instruction and the twelve portions of the first with the eight portions of the second and so the first twentie parts of the Masse as it lyes in the old Missall of Sarum and having shewed how that all the principall of these twenty parts are actually in our Book and the rest to the very least virtually we come now to the Offertory The Offertory this in the Masse followes the Gospell and the Creed the reason of the connexion Pope Innocent gives it in these words Ordo conveniens est ut post praedicationem Evangelij sequatur fides in corde laus in ore fructus in opere fides in symbolo laus in offertorio fructus in sacrificio quapropter offerenda cantatur quia sacrificium laudis offertur Mysteriorum missae l. 4. c. 53. These words Durand transcribes This order our Book followes precisely after the Creed shall
follow the Homily and after it the Presbyter shall earnestly exhort the people to remember the poore saying or singing these sentences This part of the Masse was not in use in the primitive Church so does Walafridus testifie c. 22. Offertorium quod inter offerendum cantatur quamvis à prioris populi consuetudine in usum Christianorum venisse dicatur tamen quis specialiter addiderit officijs nostris apertè non legimus cum verè credamus priscis temporibus patres sanctos silentio obtulisse vel communicasse quod etiam sabbathe Pasche nos hactenus observamus sed sicut supra dictum est diversis modis partibus per tempora decus processit Ecclesiae usque in finem augeri non desinet That this was a part of the Masse which of late times had been put in wherewith antiquitie was not acquainted Berno confesses in the very same words of Strabo Honorius gives the invention of this portion to Gregory the father of many moe innovations of the Church Gemma animae l. 188. Offertorium Gregorius Papa composuit ad Missam cantari statuit This is said not onely of the singing and musick of the Offertory but of the composition of the very matter of it we grant long before the custome was to make offrings or publike gifts of bread and wine and yet never before the old Agapae were abolished which were in use after Tertullians dayes but we say withall that the Offertory as it is now in the Masse and as our Book translates it hence seemes to be an invention farre later than Gregorius dayes for in his dayes that Canon of the third Councell of Carthage which we see standing in the decret de consecrat 2. Can. in Sacramento or rather that fift of the Canons called Apostolick injoyning nothing to be brought to the Table but bread and wine and all other gifts to be brought to the house of the Bishop these Canons were then in use no moneys then were set on the Table by the hand of the Priest that it was so the Roman order puts it out of question this order is not alleadged to be composed before Gregory yea the barbarismes of it will make it many ages later and yet even in it no money offered onely bread and wine out of the which the elements for the Sacrament were taken The first that seemes to have admitted the offering of money at the Altar expresly against the old Canons and customes seemes to have bin that good man Hildebrand Gregory the 7. for to him does the Canon Law de consecrat dist 1. ascribe the Canon Omnis Christianus injoyning all Christians to bring some thing to offer when they come to the Masse drawing that which before was onely bread and wine to aliquid money or what ever might be for the use of the poore Priest but what ever Pope hath been the inventor of this kinde of Offertory which this day stands in the Missall and in our Book it is one of the Jewish ceremonies if we will beleeve Durand l. 4. fol. 65. Ritus igitur synagogae transivit in religionem Ecclesiae sacrificia carnalis populi translata sunt in observantiam populi spiritualis The first part of the Offertory This Offertory may be subdivided in foure portions the first is passages of Scriptures sung or said for the encouragement of the people to contribute In this portion our Book seemes to goe beyond the Missall in corruption in three respects first in the needlesse multiplication of passages to the number of sixteene recommending in the posterior Rubrick the saying not onely one of them but of them all whereas the Missall eschewing here tediousnesse beside its custome is content with one passage alone as Durand remarks l. 4. fol. 62. Secondly the passages of the Missall doe no wayes savour for the farre most part of a Legall Jewish or any proper Oblation neither does the English passages looke that way but the passages which our Book here doth use as may be seene in the first five set in the forefront all out of the old Testament carries directly to a legall oblation Thirdly how ever the avarice of the Romish Clergy be notorious and their purpose in this part of the Masse to draw money from the people to their owne purses be well knowne yet they are not so impudent as to make a profession in their Booke of such a base designe but our men think no shame to avow their designe to intervert the peoples oblations and to spoyle the poore of their almes for all the Scriptures which are said for the Offertory where one is for an almes to the poore three are expresly directed for a gift to the Church and the Priest however some of the same Scriptures be used in the English yet all their Rubricks hinder this abuse and misapplication and doe not permit the Clergie to take up for themselves what was given onely for the poore but our Rubrick is expresse for the giving of the one half to the Presbyter and the other half to any pious or charitable use that the Priest thinks meetest the Church fabrick or what else though the poore should sterve The second part of the Offertory The second portion of the Offertory is the offering up to God the moneys given by the people this I thinke is the daily practice of the Masse Priest yet I find not any thing in the Missall or Expositors of it old or new except some thing in Durand which looks that way the English Book hath nothing of this but all which is given is directed as a simple almes to be put in the poore mans box and without further ceremony for the poores use alone but our Book here hath a faire and cleare Jewish peace offering for as the people under the Law did give their offering not to God directly but first to the Priest and he did not offer it to God but upon the Altar so here the Deacon having taken the oblations from the people gives them in their name to the Priest and he sets them upon the Altar or Table there to be presented before God this ceremony is borrowed from the Missall by way of analogie for there the plate with the offering of the bread must be presented by the Deacon to the Priest and he must place it before God on the Altar Take it in Durands words l. 4. fol. 64. Subsequenter Diaconus ipse patinam cum hostia Pontifici repraesentat Pontifex seu sacerdos hostiam collocat super altare The mysteries hid in these actions see in the place onely he shewes a reason why it is necessary that the Deacon must put these oblations in the holy hands of the Presbyter fol. 66. Sacerdos oblationes manu tangit repraesentans illud Levit. 1. 4. ponetque manus super caput hostiae acceptabilis erit in expiationem proficiens The third part of the Offertory The third and maine
After the Prefaces follow the Prayers these altogether goe under the name of the Canon the action the secret our adversaries brag much of the antiquity and holinesse of these prayers but the more advised of them as yee may see in Field Append. ad lib. 3. c. 1. doe astrict the spiration of antiquitie and holinesse but to a small part of these for how ever the Jesuits please to magnifie to the skies this Canon yet they which understand it much better then the best of them confesse that it is but patched like a beggars pall of a number of clouts by diverse hands oft without discretion Pope Innocent l. 3. c. 9. and Durand from him Secreta quae secundum diversos canon actio nominatur non tota simul ab uno sed paulatim à pluribus ex eo quoque perpenditur fuisse composita quod ter in ea sanctorum commemoratio repetitur in secunda quippe commemoratione supplentur qui de primitivis Sanctis deesse videbantur in prima And in the next Chapter Traditur quod Gelasius Papa quinquagesimus primus à B. Petro qui fuit post Sylvestrum per 160. annos Canonem principaliter ordinavit herewith does Honorius in gemma Animae c. 90. agree Canonem Gelasius Papa composuit c. subjoyning the names of a number of Popes who put to their proper additions to this cento this same doth Walafrid cap. 22. and divers of the old Rationalists All the Canon as it lies in the Masse our Book does not borrow neither was it necessary for the kinde mother Church of Rome can well dispence with some difference yea with a greater varietie than is betwixt our Book and theirs in this part take Bellarmines caution for this benignitie de Missa l. 2. c. 18. Neque negamus verba Canonis diversa fuisse etiam hodie esse apud Graecos apud quasdam Latinorum Ecclesias neque cogit Romana Ecclesia ut Chemnitius mentitur ut omnes Canonem Missae Romanae tanquam necessarium omnino ad Eucharistiam consecrandam servent nam in ipsa urbe Roma alibi per Italiam videmus Romano Pontifice consentiente à Graecis retineri Liturgiam Basilij Chrysostomi Ambrosianam Mediolani quam dicunt Mosarabam Toleti in Hispania Our men take in expresly the principall members of this portion these things which the Papists doe most love and the Protestants most abhorre and what they omit they shew their good liking of it all without balking any one line For the demonstration whereof consider that the prayers of the Canon use to be divided in a number of parts in five six seven eleven twelve in moe or fewer as Authors are pleased diversly to conceive we shall take them up in six parts The worst parts of the Canon are in our Book The third and fourth onely are the principall even those pieces whereby alone the consecration and oblation of the great sacrifice is performed for here alone it is Vbi sacerdos accedit ad Dominici corporis consecrationem according to Durand l. 4. fol. 73. Of these parts it is that Innocent exclaimes l. 4. c. 1. Ecce nunc ad summum sacramenti verticem accedentes ad ipsum cor divini sacrificij penetramus These parts he calls the heart of that wicked body of the Masse this unhappy heart the English had pulled out that the Serpent might never againe revive among them but our men with an high hand and open face professe the restoring of the life and putting in again the heart in the body of that dead hydra They put up in capitall Letters their prayer of consecration and memoriall of oblation and set down at the back of the same Rubrick the same words which the Missall uses for their transubstantiation and to the other the same words which they use in offering up their unbloody propitiatory Sacrifice who ever can cleare our Booke of these abhominations must cleare the Missall of them for these places of the Missall whence alone or at least farre most directly and principally the Papists do inferre these their capitall errours the same places are expresly set downe in our Book without any circumlocution Wee have borrowed the Popish consecration A Rubrick for consecration alone without any further addition in these dayes had been obnoxious to suspicion of an evill intent our Book-men knew that however the tearme of consecration uses not so much to be stood upon yet that the Romish Church does use it in no other sense than to demurmurate a number of words on the elements for their transubstantiation into the body and blood of Christ and not as we doe for the sanctifying of the Elements or applying them to the holy and sacramentall use by reciting â—he words of Christs institution to the people not to the dead elements Durands doctrine is this day common among our Adversaries Dicimus illud non consecrari sed sanctificari differt autem inter haec nam consecrare est consecratione transubstantiare sanctificare est sanctum reverendum efficere ut patet in aqua benedicta Wee are injoyned in consecrating to turn our backs to the people and so by consequent to whisper in what language we will A Rubrick for consecration alone then had been suspicious especially here where the English yea no reformed Liturgie had any formes of consecration but now while to their consecration they will adde a clause of the Ministers posture in this act commanding him during the time of consecration to leave the former stance he was injoyned in the first Rubricks to keep at the North end of the Table to come to such a part of the Table where he may with more ease and decency use both his hands the world will not get them cleared of a vile and wicked purpose The Papists will have their consecration kept altogether close from the eares of the people for many reasons especially that by ignorance of their words reverence may be conciliate to them and the people may not be able to get them by heart and to profane them which some Shepheards once did to their great hurt for they pronounced the words of consecration on the bread of their dinner in the fields with intention to doe what they did see oft the Priest to doe in the Temple by this pronunciation their bread before their eyes was transubstantiate into flesh and fire from heaven came downe which destroyed that flesh and them at least stroke them dead for a time whereupon it was decreed that the whole Canon thereafter not onely should be in a tongue unknowne to the people but also should be whispered so secretly that no man but the Priest alone should heare one word of it This history is set downe in such a number of the Popish writers that I need make no citations onely the reformed Church counts the secret murmuration of their Canon and words of consecration a very vile and wicked
onely in one thing we follow the English order in singing their Gloria in excelsis which the Masse had long before as we shew in the proper place After all while the Priest puts off his cloths there are read sundry Psalmes and Scriptures and prayers none whereof our men will get refused and all is closed with the Bishops or Priests blessing the same which we use as for the first part of it it was in the Masse before the giving the pax or peace to the people but the last part the Masse so expresseth it Benedictio Dei patris omnipotentis descendat super nos maneat semper in nomine Patris Filij Spiritus Sancti Amen which we turne The blessing of God Almightie the Father Sonne and holy Ghost be amongst you and remaine with you alwayes Amen Nothing in the Masse at all which our men will not imbrace if it were pressed on them by authoritie It remaines that wee should paralell with our Booke the accidentall parts of the Masse so to call them the most of these we have actually their vestments hoods surplices rotchets miters copes of all colours filled with numbers of images palls corporalls challices patins offertory basins wax candles vailes railes stalls lavatories repositories reclinatories bowings duckings crossings kissings coursings perfumings These wee have already and what of the ceremonies we want it were easie to fetch testimonies from our parties writs for their lawfulnesse or at least to shew the necessitie of taking them when ever they shall be imposed by our Bishops upon as good grounds as we have taken the rest As for the parts subjective the diverse kinds of Masses our Book hath enough of them it spends 78 leaves on them alone it hath of them above an hundreth and seven all borrowed from the Missall almost word by word some from the Sanctorall but most from the temporall the changes that are be not considerable What in the particular Masses the order of Sarum joynes to the Collects Epistles and Gospels to wit the Office Oration Tractus Sequentia Communio post Communio there is no syllable in them to my memory which crosseth the wrins of our partie but my present wearinesse and necessary a vocation to other studies also the hopes now we heare by the great mercy of God and goodnesse of our Prince to be quite of this unhappy Book suffer me not to proceed any farther I must also upon the same reasons leave at this time my iâ—â—ended Paralell of the Breviarie with our Mattins and Even-song also the Ceremoniall with our Order of Baptisme Putrification Buriall c. in all these will be found betwixt the Romish Orders and our Book too great an identitie A COMPEND OF THE PRECEDING TREATISE in a Speech at the Generall Assembly of Glasgow 1638. THe imposing of the Books on the Bishops part is an act of greater tyranny than ever was used in this Nation for some few men by a Letter purchased from a Prince to presse on a Nation against the hearts of all ranks and estates contrary to many Lawes of this Church and Kingdome standing both in force and practice three or foure Books full of novations all to be beleeved in every poynt by every person under paine of the great Excommunication doth cast our soules bodies and estates under a slavery intolerable In England yea in Ireland to this day as our adversaries confesse the smallest rite was never enjoyned without the consent of a Convocation or generall Assembly By this preparative the Masse yea the Alcoran or Talmud will not be gotten refused let all the Kingdome cry they are against Scripture and the Lawes of Church and State they shall not be heard if so some two or three prime and leading Bishops will oppose no barre had been left us against the Alcoran let be the Masse-book but the sole will of our gracious Prince if so this practice of our Bishops had gone on Secondly The service Book is all for common word by word drawne out of Popish Ritualls which this day are used at Rome The first part of it is a compend of the Mattins and Vespers in the Breviarie The second is the summe of the Missall the third of the Ceremoniall Thirdly The Masse Book which all Protestants of whatever name doe so farre abhorre that they rather would die than imbrace it this abhominable Masse hath three parts The Ordinary which is sung on any common day The Temporall which is additions or changes used in all Sundayes and high Festivals The Sanctorall which is the formes added to the ordinary Masse on the Saints dayes These three parts of the Masse are all set downe in our Booke Out of the temporall wee have above fourescore formes out of the Sanctorall about twentie what we leave out which the Masse hath may be taken in upon the same reasons whereupon wee take what wee have borrowed Fourthly The ordinary Masse is commonly divided in six parts The Preparation The Instruction The Offertory The Canon The Communion The Post Communion Our Booke hath all these six in order Fiftly The Preparation is subdivided in twelve portions whereof we have ten neere word by word the Pater noster the Collect the Gloria Patri the Cyrie Eleyson the Confession the Misereatur the Absolution the Angelike Hymne the Salutation the Oremus The two which remaines Ave Maria and the Introibo ad altare we may not refuse upon reason Stafford is allowed to print that it is puritanisme to refuse to the Virgin Marie these haile Maries which our forbeares of old wont to sing to her for the Introibo our prime Bishops avow that our Booke not onely hath an Introibo ad Altare but which is much worse Adoremus altare Sixtly The Instruction hath eight portions foure principall which we have all in the same order foure of little moment to wit the Graduall Halelujah Tractus and Sequentia These with the Popes good leave may all be omitted as Spalato shews at large and if the Pope will not dispence therewith we might not refuse them on any reason according to our Bookmens grounds The principall are the Epistles Gospells Creed Predication In the reading of the Epistles and Gospels we follow punctually the misorders the follies the superstitions of the Papists we cast the Epistles ever before and the Gospels behind contrary to the order of Scripture we begin at the end of one chapter and end at the beginning of another we course from place to place without any reason oft imaginable except the free-will of some foolish Pope who cut Scripture in patches and coucht it in the Missall as his fancy led him or some superstitious conceit of the day whereto he would apply such Scriptures but oft with an evident impertinency The Acts the Revelation the Bookes of the Prophets except the Pentateuch we call them all Epistles even as the Masse We are commanded to stand at the Gospells and say at their beginning and ending the