say so saith he they acknowledge that it is not what it was before Ibid. and that the Bread and the Wine have been changed Now we see there is no corporal change passed they must then of necessity confess the change is passed in some other regard than in respect of the Bodies from whence he concludes That they must be constrained to deny Ibid. either that it is the Body or Blood of Jesus Christ which is not to be permitted to say nor even to think or if they confess that it is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ seeing that cannot be without there was a change for the better that this change is passed Corporally Then it follows that it is passed Spiritually that is to say Ibid. Figuratively inasmuch as the Spiritual body and the Spiritual blood of Jesus Christ is under the Vail of bodily Bread and corporal Wine And to inform us clearly of his intention he adds It is not that two several things exist in the Sacrament one whereof is Corporal and the other Spiritual no but it is one and the same thing that in one regard is the Element of Bread and Wine and in another regard is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Ibid. for in regard of what we touch Corporally they be the Elements or bodily Creatures but in regard of what they were made Spiritually they be the Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ He also affirms That what we receive outwardly in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is proper to nourish the Body And from thence passing to the Examination of the second Question to wit Ibid. whether that which Believers do receive with the mouth daily in the Church by the Mystery of the Sacraments be the same Body that was born of the Virgin Mary that suffered and was buried and which sitteth on the Right Hand of God He thus explains himself These Creatures in regard of their substance Ibid. are after Consecration the same they were before they were Bread and Wine and it is visible that they remain in the same kind although they be consecrated The Change then which passes here by the power of the Holy Ghost is internal what Faith beholds doth nourish the Soul and communicates unto it the substance of Life eternal And again Ibid. The Flesh of Jesus Christ which was crucified was made of the Flesh of the Virgin Mary composed of Bones and Sinews divided by the Lineaments of Members furnished with a reasonable Soul from which it received life and motion But as for the spiritual Flesh which spiritually feedeth the faithful people it is made according to what it is outwardly of Grains of Wheat by the hands of the Baker without Bones and Nerves without diversity of Members without a reasonable Soul or exercising any Life or Motion for all that is in it which communicates Life unto us proceeds from a spiritual Vertue from an invisible Efficacy and from a divine Benediction Therefore it is quite another thing in regard of what appears outwardly from what is believed of the Mystery whereas the Flesh of Jesus Christ which was crucified is not inwardly what it appears to be outwardly because it is the Flesh of a real Man and by consequence a true Body existing in the form of a true Body It must also be considered that the Body of Jesus Christ is not alone represented in this Bread but that the Body of the faithful people is therein figured also Therefore it is that the Bread is made of divers Grains because the Body of the people is composed of many Believers and as the Bread is the Body of Jesus Christ mystically the numbers of the people which believe in Jesus Christ are therein also represented mystically and as this Bread is the Body of Believers not corporally but spiritually it is also necessary to understand the Body of Jesus Christ not corporally but spiritually So also it is commanded to mingle Water with the Wine which is called the Blood of Jesus Christ and it is not permitted to offer the one without the other because the People cannot be without Jesus Christ nor Jesus Christ without the People as the Head cannot subsist without the Members nor the Members without the Head and the Water in this Sacrament bears the Image of the People If this Wine sanctified by the Ministry of Priests were corporally changed into the Blood of Christ it would be necessary that the Water which is therein also mingled should be corporally changed into the Blood of faithful Believers for where there is one and the same Sanctification there must be also of necessity one Operation and where this is one and the same reason there will also be one and the same Mystery Now we see there is no Change made in the Water according to the Body therefore by consequence it must follow that there is no bodily Change made in the Wine All that is signified by the Water in regard of the Body of the People is taken spiritually all then that is signified by the Wine in reference to the Blood of Jesus Christ ought necessarily to be understood spiritually Besides the things which do differ in themselves are not one and the same things The Body of Jesus Christ which suffered and is risen again was made immortal and dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him he is eternal and cannot die Now this Body which is celebrated in the Church is temporal and not eternal corruptible and not incorruptible it is in the way and not in the Country they do then differ therefore they be not the same then if they be not the same how is it that they call them the real Body of Jesus Christ and his real Blood For if it be the Body of Jesus Christ and that one may truly say so the Body of Jesus Christ being incorruptible impassible and by consequence eternal It must necessarily follow that this Body of Jesus Christ which is made in the Church should be incorruptible and eternal but it cannot be denied but that it is corruptible because being broken in pieces it is divided unto Believers which receive it and being eaten with the Teeth it is swallowed down and goeth into the Belly What we do exteriorly is then another thing from what we believe by Faith what regards the sense of the Body is corruptible but what is believed by Faith is incorruptible What appears outwardly is not the thing it self but the Image of the thing and what the heart feeleth and understandeth is the reality of the thing In fine for the whole Book must be transcribed if all should be alledged that makes directly contrary unto the Doctrine of Paschas Ibid. he thus concludes the whole Treatise Let your Wisdom consider illustrious Prince that we have very clearly proved by the Testimony of the holy Scripture and by Passages of the holy Fathers
1. c. 10. Isidore of Sevil The reading of the word of God is of no small profit unto those which hearken unto it therefore when one sings all must sing and when one prays all must pray when one reads let all hearken It is the same thing in keeping silence for although some one supply at reading let him be cuntent to worship God and having made the sign of the Cross let him hearken attentively there is a time to pray when all do pray to pray in private there is also a time do not lose the reading under pretext of prayer because one cannot always have the opportunity of reading whereas one may pray when they will therefore the Deacon with a loud voice commands silence to the end that whether we sing or read unity may be kept by all and that what is preached unto all may equally be heard by all Lib. 3. c. 9. Amalarius treating of Divine offices The prayer of the Priest is called by the one and the other name that is by the name of Blessing and by the name of Prayer the Apostle saith of blessing if thou bless in the spirit how shall the ignorant know to say Amen seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest S. Ambrose calls this Benediction a prayer saying for the ignorant hearing what he understandeth not knoweth not the scope of the prayer and saith not Amen that is so be it to the end the benediction should be confirmed for the confirmation of the prayer is compleated by those which say Amen Cassander in his Liturgies cites these words out of an antient Manuscript of the Roman order Cap. 36. of the Ordination of Readers The benediction of Readers O Lord Holy Father O eternal omnipotent God be pleased to bless these thy servants N.N. to perform the office of Readers to the end that being diligent in reading they may be fit to declare the word of Life and to instruct the people in things to be understood by the distinction of the Spirit and of the Voice And the Roman Pontifical Imprinted at Venice Anno 1582. speaking of the Ordination of Readers Pontif. Rom. p. 8. The Reader must read what he doth preach and that he sing the Lessons c. Study therefore to pronounce distinctly and clearly without Lying or any fraud the Words of God that is to say the holy Lessons for the Instruction and Edification of Believers to the end that the verity of Divine Lessons may not be corrupted through your negligence to the prejudice of those who hear and believe with the heart what you read with the mouth to the end you may teach your Hearers both by your word and example Now let us come to the Celebration of the Eucharist to see also if it was not done in a Language understood by the Communicants In the first place all the antient Liturgies are full of the Answers of the people who could not have answered if they had not understood what the Priest said in officiating and in celebrating and the thing is so evident that there is no need to produce many Proofs of it there 's no need but to look into the Liturgies which we have to see if the people do not therein often speak for instance St. Cyprian informs us and all the Liturgies after him That the people were prepared unto the Communion by this warning Lift up your hearts and the people answered We lift them up unto thee O Lord. From thence it was that Gregory of Nazianzen said of Nonna his Mother in his 13th Oration That her voice was never heard in the holy Assemblies excepting at the necessary and mystical words Secondly Tertullian Cornelius Bishop of Rome St. Cyrill of Jerusalem and several others do teach That the Communicants answered Amen in receiving the Sacrament therefore of necessity it must needs be that they spake to them in a Language which was understood by them In the third place it was antiently the custom amongst Christians that when the Pastor had made an end of the Prayer wherewith he consecrated the Eucharist all the people joyning their Vows were wont to say with a loud voice Amen that is to say So be it So be it done an evident sign that the Prayer of him who consecrated was understood by them This is what may be seen in Justin Martyr's second Apology whose Testimony shall suffice in so evident a matter to add another which not only justifies the Language to be understood of the people in the Celebration of the Eucharist but also in the Administration of Baptism It is of Denys of Alexandria in a Letter which he wrote unto Sixtus Bishop of Rome wherein he speaks of one of the Brethren who was present with others at the Assemblies of the Church and who was supposed of a long time to have been a Believer that is to say to have been Baptized Apud Euseb hist Eccles l. 7. c. 9. he saith then of him That he had assisted at the Baptism of those which had of late been Baptised and that he had heard their Questions and their Answers afterwards speaking of the Eucharist He had saith he often heard the Prayers and answered Amen with the rest And I am apt to believe that St. Paul alluded unto this custom when he saith in the fourteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians In Cap. 14.1 ad Coriâ—â—h If you bless with the Spirit how shall the Ignorant say Amen unto your Prayers for he knoweth not what you say And I find that the Deacon Hilary in St. Ambrose his Works doth judge that the Apostle doth there hint at some amongst the Jews who to make themselves the more considerable sometimes used the Syriack Tongue and oftener the Hebrew in Sermons and at the Oblations in presence of the Greeks Venerable Bede observes in his Ecclesiastical History That the unity of the Faith was kept in England in five Languages by five several Nations the English Britans Scotch that is Irish the Picts and the Latins And what he saith of the unity of the Faith ought if I mistake not to be understood also of the unity of Worship in essential things for as each of those Nations retained the unity of the Faith in their own Language which was very different from each other so they had the service and Worship in their own Language The Reader may take notice if he please That Bede departed this Life about the middle of the Eighth Century and if from the Eighth we pass to the Ninth Century we shall find the Sclavonians celebrating Divine Service in their Mother-Tongue which was allowed them by the Pope at the request of one Cyrill who had been instrumental in their Conversion Aeneas Sylvius afterwards Pope under the name of Pius the second thus relates it in his History of Bohemia Hist Bohem. c. 13. It is said that Cyrill being at Rome desired the Pope that he might be suffered to say Divine Service
it that is either to oblige the people to adore it or for some other reason The first that I can find who explained the cause and reason of this Elevation was German Patriarch of Constantinople in his Theory of Ecclesiastical things where he very curiously inquires the mystical reasons of what was practised in the Church and particularly in the celebration of Divine Mysteries a Treatise which most Authors attribute unto German who lived in the VIII Century and some unto another of the same name who was Patriarch in the XII After all the Author of this Theory being come unto the Inquiry of this Elevation crept into the Church about the VI. Century doth sufficiently give to understand that it intended not the adoration of the Sacrament but only to represent the Elevation of our Saviour upon the Cross Germ. Constantinop in Theor. t. 12. Bibl. Patr. p. 407. and that was its lawful and genuine use and end The Elevation of the pretious body saith he represents unto us the Elevation on the Cross the Death of our Lord upon the Cross and his Resurrection also As for the Latins the first that I remember who bethought himself of finding out a Mystery in the same Elevation was Ives of Chartres at the end of the XI Century but all the Mystery that he therein found was no more than had been found by this Patriarch of Constantinople near 300. years before him When the Bread and the Cup saith he are lifted up by the Ministry of the Deacon Ivo Carnens Ep. de Sacrif Miss t. 2. Bibl. Patr. p. 602. there is Commemoration made of the lifting up of the Body of Christ upon the Cross And as this is the first among the Latins who in the Elevation of the Sacrament hath discovered the Mystery of the Elevation of our Lord upon the Cross so also is he the first of the Latin Church if I mistake not who hath writ of this Elevation for there is no mention of it neither in S. Gregory nor in S. Isidore of Sevil who both flourished in the beginning of the VII Century nor in Amalarius Fortunatus nor in Rabunus Archbishop of Mayence nor in Walafridus Strabo nor in the pretended Alcuin Authors partly of the IX and partly of the X. Century although they all of them wrote of Divine Offices and indeavoured to discover the Mystical significations of all things practised in Religion in their times and especially in the Sacrament unless it were Gregrory the first who only left a Liturgy for the Celebration of the Sacrament It s true that at the end of Rabanus his first Book of the Institution of Clerks there is seen a Fragment by way of supplement wherein mention is made of the Elevation whereof we treat but against the truth of the Manuscripts wherein this Fragment is not to be found besides what the thing it self evidently declares that this Famous Prelate was not the Author of it Moreover the Author whosoever he was with German and Ives of Chartres refers the Elevation he mentions unto the Elevation of the Body of Jesus Christ upon the Cross The Elevation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ by the Priest Adject ad Raban l. 1. de offic Bibl. patr t. 10. p. 586. Hug. de St. Victor l. 2. c. 28. de Miss observat Bibl. Patr. t. 10. p. 1408. and by the Deacon imports saith he his Elevation on the Cross for the salvation of the World Hugh of St. Victor an Author of the XII Century discourseth no other wise of this Mystery The Priest saith he after the sign of the Cross lifts with both hands the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and a little after lays it down which signifies the Elevation of Jesus Christ on the Cross and his laying down into the Grave The Learned of the Communion of Rome agree in all this with the Protestants and James Goar of the Order of preaching Fryers in his Notes upon the Ritual of the Greek Church observes Goar in Eucholog p. 146. n. 158. That it is not certainly known when the lifting up the Host was joyned unto the Consecration in the Latin Church and rejects the Opinion of Durandus who maintained it had never been separated from it and he proves his by the silence of the Writers above mentioned unto whom he joyns the Author of the Micrologue who lived by every bodies confession in the XI Century and the Roman Order which some suppose was writ at the same time And he saith that both these speak of the Elevation of the Oblation Ord. Rom. t. 10. Bibl. patr p. 15. which is true as to the Micrologue but as for the Roman Order it indeed makes mention of the Elevation of the Cup by the Deacon for as for the Elevation of the Host that is to say the consecrated Bread by the Bishop Goar ubi supra I find no mention thereof in the whole Book howsoever Goar gives to be understood that the Elevation spoken of by these two Authors tended not unto Adoration when he observes that it was not joyned unto Consecration but that it was made at the end of the Canon very near the Lords Prayer Hugh Maynard Hug. Menard in Sacram. Greg. p. 373 374 375. a Benedictine Fryer explains himself so fully in his Notes upon Gregory the first in his Book of Sacraments that nothing more can be said than what he hath written Now saith he in the Latin Church as soon as the Bread and Wine is consecrated they are lifted up that the people there present might adore them which practice I do not judge to be antient seeing there is no mention thereof to be found in our Books of the Sacraments Printed nor Written nor in Pamelius nor in the Roman Order nor in Alcuin Amalarius Walafridus Rabanus who have fully explained the Order of the Mass nor in the Micrologue who hath also very exactly laboured in the same Subject Afterwards this learned Fryer observes that it is clearer than the Sun at Noon day if the XV. Chapter of the Author of the Micrologue be considered who would not have failed to have writ of this Ceremony had it been used in his time that is in the XI Century because he makes mention of lifting up the Bread and the Cup together before the Lords Prayer which also appears more at large in the twenty third Chapter of the same Treatise Nevertheless he excepts the Mozarabick Office wherein mention is made of two Elevations of the Host one of which is made presently after Consecration and the other after these words Let us declare with the Mouth what we believe with the Heart but at the same time he saith by Parenthesis if nothing hath been added and to say the truth there is great likelyhood that it is an addition made since the introducing into the Latin Church the custom of lifting up the Host immediately after Consecration that it might be
you cannot understand then you may now say unto me seeing you have commanded us to believe explain unto us what it is to the end we might understand for this Thought may be in every body's Mind We know of whom Jesus Christ our Lord took Flesh to wit of the Virgin Mary we know he was nursed in his Infancy that he was fed that he grew that he attained the Age of Manhood that he suffered Persecution of the Jews that he was nailed to the Cross that he there died and was buried that he rose the third Day that he ascended into Heaven when he was pleased to go thither that he lifted up his Body from whence he shall come to judg the quick and the dead and that he is now sitting on the right Hand of the Father How then is the Bread his Body and the Cup his Blood Brethren these things are called Sacraments because one thing is what we see and another is that we understand that which is seen is a bodily Species that which we understand hath a spiritual Fruit If then you would know what the Body of Jesus Christ is hearken to St. Paul the Apostle which said unto Believers You are the Body of Jesus Christ and his Members your Sacrament is laid upon the Lord's Table and you there receive your Mystery You say Amen unto what you are and you thereto subscribe by your Answer It is said unto you The Body of Jesus Christ and you answer Amen be Members then of Jesus Christ that your Amen may be true But why all this to the Bread let us not add here nothing of our own but let us farther hear the same Apostle speaking of this Sacrament We which are many are one Bread and one Body understand this and rejoice for here is nothing but Unity Piety Charity one Bread and one Body although we be many Observe that the Bread is not made of one Grain but of many When you were exorcised you passed as it were under the Mill when you were baptised you were as it were kneaded and when you received the fire of the Holy Ghost you were baked like Bread Be then what you see and receive what you are See here what the Apostle hath said of Bread whereby he sufficiently shews without repeating it what we should believe in regard of the Cup for as to make this visible Species of Bread several Grains are reduced into one Body to represent what the Scripture saith of Believers they were but one Heart and one Soul in God It is also the same of Wine consider how it is one several Grapes are in a Bunch but their Liquor is mingled all into one Body so it is Christ hath represented us so it is he hath made us his and that he hath consecrated upon the holy Table the Mystery of Unity and of our Peace So it was they instructed in the ancient Church the new Baptised they were told that what they see upon the Holy Table was Bread and their own Eyes were called to witness this Truth They were taught that this Bread was the natural Body of Jesus Christ as it was his mystical and moral Body that is to say his Church because it is the Sacrament both of the one and the other and that in the Sacrament must carefully be distinguished the Substance of the Symbols which are visible and corporeal from the Benefit which accrues unto the believing Soul and which is a Thing invisible and spiritual that faithful Believers are although for mystical Reasons the very same thing which they see upon the mystical Table that is to say Bread according to what the Apostle saith we are one Bread and that they do receive truly that which they see mystically Now let the Reader judg if these Catechisms and these Instructions are for the Use of Roman Catholicks or for the Use of Protestants as for my particular I 'le pass unto a new Consideration CHAP. VIII Proofs of the Doctrines of the Holy Fathers drawn by Protestants from some Customs of the Ancient Church THere are two sorts of Language used in the Society and Commerce of Men to communicate unto each other their Thoughts and Intentions I mean Words and Actions The Language of Actions is silent indeed yet nevertheless very intelligible because Actions I speak of those authorized by publick Use are for the most part as significant as Words It is not then to be thought strange if we do relate what Inferences the Protestants draw from certain Customs which were practised by the ancient Church and which we have at large established in the first Part Therefore we will look upon them in this as established and will content our selves in barely mentioning them one after another to infer from each of them what may lawfully be deduced In Africa in St. Austin's time they communicated after Meat Thursday before Easter and in several Churches in Egypt every Saturday in the Year at Evening after having made a good Meal Without speaking of the Church of Corinth in St. Paul's time where some think the same was practis'd what Belief could those People have of the Sacrament of the Eucharist It is no very easie matter to think that they believed it to be the Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ and his Flesh it self else it must be confessed that they were guilty of an horrible Profanation to lodg in a Stomach full of Meats and it may be sometimes even to excess the precious Body of the Saviour of Mankind the only Object of their Worship and Adoration Nevertheless none of the ancient Writers have condemned this Practice those which have treated of it have spoken as of an innocent Custom which had no hurt in it and which moreover was authorized by the Example of Jesus Christ himself Therefore when the third Council of Carthage commanded to celebrate the Sacrament fasting it excepted the Thursday before Easter whereon it permitted to participate every Year after the Meal An evident Proof say some that there was no Crime in this Custom whereas it would have been intolerable if they had believed then the same of the Sacrament as the Latin Church now doth belive of it Therefore no Body can justly blame the Severity of its Laws when it is so strictly prohibited to communicate otherwise than Fasting The ancient Church for a long time used Patens and Chalices of Glass and we do not find that these first Christians ever made any difficulty of putting the Sacrament in Glass-Chalices nor that they were ever blamed that did it On the contrary some of those which used this Practice were commended for it nevertheless we cannot say that these ancient Believers were less circumspect than we are in the Celebration of the Sacrament Wherefore then was it that they feared not so much spilling of it in that Occasion as the Latin Church hath done some Ages past Let this Difference be well considered for saith the Protestant I am much deceived if
Apostol l. 8. c. 12. the Oblations unto the Bishop having a Priest on each hand of him and a Deacon at each end of the Altar with Fanns to hinder any Fly or other little Creature from falling into the Cup Then the Bishop with the Priests pray unto God with a low voice then he puts on a rich Vestment and standing by the Altar he makes the Sign of the Cross and saith unto the People there present The Grace of God Almighty the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Communication of the holy Spirit be with you all and those which be present answer with one accord And with thy Spirit The Bishop saith again Lift up your hearts unto which the People reply We do unto the Lord and the Bishop Let us give thanks unto the Lord It is just and right say the People After which the Bishop addressing himself unto God saith That it is just and right to praise him shewing in a long Discourse the motives and reasons of this praise taken either from the Nature of God and his works whether of the Creation and Preservation of his ancient People or from the redemption and sending Jesus Christ into the World for our Salvation which discourse he concludeth by the History of the Institution of the Sacrament from whence he proceedeth unto the Consecration after the manner of the Greeks And this is in short the substance of the preparations which this Liturgy doth propose unto us on the part of him which doth Celebrate Dionys Arcopag de Eccles Hierarch c. 3. In that of the pretended Dennis the Arcopagite the Bishop makes his prayer near the Altar causeth Incence to be burnt and goeth round the place of the Assembly returning unto the Altar he beginneth to sing Psalms all the Clergy singing with him After which the Deacon readeth some part of the holy Scriptures which being ended the Catechumeny the Energumeny and the Penitents are made to go out Then the chief amongst the Deacons together with the Priests put the Bread and Cup of blessing upon the Altar After a general Hymnologie of all the Church the Bishop prayeth gives the blessing unto those which are present which salute each other and having with the Priests washed his hands he Consecrates the Divine gifts But because one of the circumstances of this preparation is the burning of Incense let us endeavour to discover as near as may be the time when Christians first began to introduce this Ceremony into the service of their holy Religion Tertullian who wrote at the end of the second Century and the beginning of the third doth sufficiently testifie that Christians in that time were wholly ignorant of the use of it and that perfumes were not used in their Worship for speaking of prayers which they presented unto God for their Emperors Tertull. in Apolog. c. â—â— See Athanag who reiects it besore Tâ—rtul in Apol. for Christian p. 13 and Clement Alexandrin in his Stromates p. 717. 719. I cannot saith he demand these things but of him who I know will grant them unto me as it is he only in whose power it is to grant them it is unto us only that he will give them because we are his faithful Servants which adore and Worship him alone and offer unto him the fattest and best Sacrifice which he hath commanded to be offered unto him to wit prayer proceeding from a chaste body a pure Soul and from the holy Spirit and not grains of Incense of small price not drops of that Arabian Tree not two spoonfuls of Wine nor the blood of an Oâ— ready to dye of Fat. And in the same Treatise he declares That if the Christians made any use of Incense it was in burying of their Dead Id. ibid. c. 42. Vide de Idolat c. 11. ad scapul We do not buy any Incense saith he if the Aratian Merchants do complain let them know that there is more of their Commodities employed and with greater profusion in burying Christians then in perfuming the Images of the Gods And elsewhere he makes the true use of Incense to consist in driving away ill Odours Id. de coron c. 10. When I go into any place saith he and smell an ill savour that offends me I cause a little Incense to be burnt but not with the same Ceremony the same disposition nor the same pomp Advers Gent. l. 7. as it is burnt in the Temples of Idols Arnobius at the end of the third Century if not the beginning of the fourth doth in such sort press the Gentiles for their causing Incense to be burnt unto their Gods that there is no likelihood he would have treated them as he did if the Christians had used it in any of their Ceremonies and especially in the Celebration of the Eucharist or at the least he would have represented that there was very great difference betwixt the one and the other in regard that what the Gentiles did unto the honour of Idols Christians did unto the Honour of the true God He doth nothing of all this he contents himself in deriding the blindness of the Gentiles and to shew them that it was ridiculous in them to undertake to offer Odours and Perfumes unto their Gods And Lactantius Epitom c. 2. his Disciple doth he not positively say That God doth not require of us neither Sacrifices nor Perfumes Orat. ad coetum c. 12. And Eusebius introduces the Emperor Constantine saying That the Sacrament is a sacrifice of thanksgiving wherein is not desired neither a smell of Incense nor a burning Brand. St. Austin himself who died in the year 430. seems wholly to reject the use of Incense in God's Worship In Psal 49. We saith he are in safety we are not obliged to travel into Arabia to get Incense we do not cause the greedy Merchant to unfold his Ballots In Psal 50. God requires of us a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving And elsewhere Do not make provision of Perfumes which comes from without but say O God what I dedicate unto thee is in my heart with the praises which I will render unto thee And if I mistake not In Psal 65. St. Hillary understood it so when he said We are informed in the Book of the Psalms what is meant by Perfumes Let my prayer come before thee like Incense signifying that by Perfume is to be understood Prayers St. Ambrose in his Commentary upon the Gospel according to St. Luke speaketh of perfuming Altars in expounding what is said of Zacharias the Father of St. John Baptist That his Lot fell to offer Incense But because he saith in the same place that Jesus Christ is sacrificed which cannot be literally true all Christians confessing that he is not really sacrificed in the Eucharist I suppose the safest and best way is mystically and in a spiritual sense to understand St. Ambrose his Discourse especially seaing the Declaration which St. Austin
hath made who is later then him Therefore I make no question but the answer of the Martyrs Fostin and Jovita made unto the Emperor Adrian as Molanus reports it in his Supplements of Ussuard's Martyrology is forged and false for after the railing Speeches which they make against the Emperor and speaking unto his person he makes them say Die Feb. 15. We will cause no Incense to be burnt to the honour of thy Gods but we offer continually Incense and Sprinkling unto God our maker We find in the Library of the Holy Fathers a prayer of St. Hypollitus touching the end of the World and Antichrist Besides the title of Martyr they also give him that of Bishop and at this time they will needs have him to be in the first place Bishop in Arabia and afterwards Bishop of Port in Italy although St. Jerom doth witness in his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Writers That he could not find of what place he was Bishop If that prayer was really of Hypollitus it may seem to intimate that the Greek Church in his time that is to say in the third Century used Perfume and Incense in its Service and Worship for speaking of the harm which Antichrist shall do at the end of the World he saith amongst other things That the Churches shall mourn and lament Bibl. Paâ—â—â— 2. Graeco Lat. because there shall be no more Oblation nor Incense nor Worship pleasing unto God Not but it may very well be said that the Author designed only to represent the Worship of Christians by terms borrowed from the service of the Law without being necessary to infer That they did really employ Incense and Perfumes in the Worship of God But if we should take what he saith in a literal sense I do not suppose there could any great stress be laid upon it And to speak the truth there are so many things in this small Treatise which are so unworthy of the true St. Hypollitus that I should be very loth to attribute them unto him St. Jerom its true reckons amongst his Works a Treatise of Antichrist but it is evident it cannot be the same which is now extant for it is entituled A Prayer of St. Hypolitus Bishop and Martyr of the End of the World of Antichrist and of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Moreover the same S. Jerom in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers observes That he had made a Sermon in the praise of Jesus Christ and that the Author saith in this Sermon That he repeated it in the presence of Origen Now it is most certain that in Origen's time the Greeks knew not what Perfumes and Incense meant in their Worship for Expounding these words of Levit. 24. Thou shalt put pure Incense upon each Row that is to say of the Shew-bread he speaks in such a manner as sufficiently sheweth that Christians had not then admitted the use of Incense into their Worship Hom. 13. in Levit. c. 24. tom 1. p. 106. I. Do not imagine saith he that Almighty God hath commanded nor appointed in his Law to bring him Incense from Arabia but this is the Incense which he requires Men should offer unto him and wherein he findeth a sweet smell and savour to wit Prayers proceeding from a pure heart and from a good Conscience the sweet smell whereof ascends up unto him I allow that Origen here departs a little from the literal sense in respect of the Law but his language doth clearly evidence that Incense and Perfumes were not then received into the Worship of the Eastern Christians Let us then own that this use was introduced into the Greek Church after Origen's days who departed this life towards the latter end of the third Century and by consequence the Canons which falsly bear the Apostles names have been made since that time seeing therein it is ordained to offer Perfumes for the Celebration of the Sacrament And because it appears by the prayer of the Emperor Constantine at the Assembly of the Saints or in the Church of God whose words have been already alledged that even the Eastern Christians did not use Perfume in the Celebration of their Eucharist for the greatest part of the IV. Century at least when they celebrated it at the Tombs of Martyrs I cannot tell but it ought to be granted that the fourth pretended Canon of the Apostles was made since Constantine's time who departed this life in the year of our Lord Canon Apost 4. 337. for see here what it enjoyns That nothing else should be offered at the Altar but of the first Ears of Corn Grapes Oyl for the Lights and Incense for the time of the holy Oblation And as it is the first testimony of the Greek Fathers wherein there is mention made of Perfume in the celebration of the Sacrament that of Hypollitus not being to be credited and being moreover capable of being conveniently interpreted of an Allegorical Perfume it must be granted that the Latins received the use of Perfumes later into their Worship than the Greeks seeing St. Austin doth not make any mention of it in the V. Century for I take little heed of the second Decretal of Soter wherein Women are forbidden to bring any Perfume unto the Altar because this Decretal and all them of the other Popes until Siritius are the Works of an Impostor When I say that the Latins have received the practise of Incense and Perfume later than the Greeks I conclude that these latter followed the Ordinance of the pretended Canon of the Apostles which in all appearance was not made but very forward in the IV. Century And nevertheless it is not certain that the Greek Church put this Ordinance in execution presently after it was made In fine the first true and candid passage of Antiquity after the fourth Canon of Apostles wherein there is mention made of offering Incense or as it is in the Greek good Odours Act. 3. Concil Chalced. is a Request of Ischyrion Deacon of the Church of Alexandria presented unto the Council of Chalcedon assembled Anno 451. against Dioscorus his Bishop Act. 5. t. 4. Con. cil p. 102 103. and afterwards at Constantinople under Agapet and under Menna in the Year 536. there is mention of assembling in the Church with Flambeaus and Perfumes but it is not positively affirmed that it was to celebrate the Eucharist no more than the action of the Friar Zozimus Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 7. reported by Evagrius in his Ecclesiastical History saying That after having deplored the ruin of Antioch which he had foretold he demanded a Senser and having filled the place where he was with Perfume he bowed himself to the ground to appease the wrath of God by his prayers The same Historian speaking of the Presents which Chosroes King of Persia offered unto the Martyr Sergius Ibid. l. 6. c. 20. he forgets not to speak of a Golden Senser for celebrating of the Sacrament which
318. Of the care which should be taken in receiving of the Eucharist In reading this Title it came into my mind that the Fathers of the Council might haply have comprised Auricular Confession in the preparations which they commanded yet nevertheless I do not find therein any such thing they only warn That a great deal of care must be taken in participating of the Body and Blood of our Lord and take care that we do not abstain from it too long lest that should turn unto the ruin of the Soul and that if one partake thereof indiscreetly we should fear what the Apostle saith Whosoever eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh his own Damnation A man ought therefore to examine himself according to the Command of the same Apostle and so eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup that is to say to prepare himself for the receiving of so great a Sacrament in abstaining some days from the works of the Flesh and in purifying of his Body and Soul Hincmar Arch-Bishop of Rhemes who died towards the end of th IX Century useth the same method when he represents unto Charles the Bald the Preparations necessary for worthy receiving the Sacrament Opusc 1. c. 12. t. 2. p. 101 102. He desires that every one would judge himself to the end that the trial being made in the heart the thought should serve for an Accuser the Conscience for a Witness and fear for an Executioner Then that the blood of the Soul should fall by tears And in fine that the Understanding should give such a sentence that a man should judge himself unworthy of participating of the Body and Blood of our Saviour And several other things which he proposeth without speaking any thing of Confession But by degrees Confession established it self infensibly amongst the Christians of the West and at length Innocent the Third authorized it by a Decree at the Council of Lateran in the Year 1215. at which time the Albigensis and Waldensis had separated themselves from Communion of the Latins The most part of all Christian Communions have no such Law as the Latins that obliges them unto Confession before receiving the Communion for example the Abyssins or Ethiopians the Armenians the Nestorians Confession 't is granted is used in the Greek Church which is of a large extent but it is so little practised that their Bishops and Priests do scarce ever confess De concord l. 4. c. 2. as Arcudius a Greek Latinized doth inform us And as for the Protestants every body knows they have found this Yoke of the Latins too heavy to bear But if the holy Fathers have not hitherto demanded private Confession before coming unto the Table of our Lord they do require other dispositions without which they forbid us approaching unto it It is in this sense that St. Chrysostom condemning the practise of those which came unto the Sacrament as it were by Rancounter and by custom at certain times which they looked upon to be more solemn he sheweth them that it is not the time that makes us any thing the more worthy to receive but that it is the purity of the Soul the holiness of our life the innocence of our Conversation Chrysost Hom 3. in c. 1. ad Ephes p. 1050 1051. It is not saith he the Epiphany nor the Lent that renders us worthy to approach unto the holy Sacrament it is the sincerity and purity of heart therewith draw near at all times and without them never come unto it Consider with what care and with what respect the Flesh of Sacrifices was eaten under the Law What caution did they not use what trouble were they not continually at to purifie themselves to that purpose And you approaching unto a Sacrifice which the very Angels behold with a religious reverence you think it is sufficient to prepare your selves unto so solemn an action by governing your selves according to the course of the Season Consider the Vessels which are employed for the Celebration of this Sacrament how clean they be how bright and shining they be yet nevertheless our Souls should be cleaner more holy and more resplendent than these Vessels seeing that it is only for us that they be prepared And in another place speaking of seldom and often receiving the Sacrament Id. Hom. 17 in Ep. ad Heb. p. 1872. We regard not saith he neither those which communicate often nor those which communicate seldom but those which communicate with a sincere Conscience a pure heart and an unreprovable life Let those that are in this condition always draw near and those which are not let them not so much as once draw near because they only draw upon themselves the wrath of God and make themselves worthy of Condemnation of pains and of punishments which should not seem strange unto us for as Meats which are wholsom of themselves being received into a diseased Body there causeth a disorder and an entire corruption and becomes the Original of some disease so it is the same of these terrible and venerable Mysteries when they be received into Souls which be indisposed And because the holy Fathers considered that this august Sacrament which giveth life unto some gives death unto others that is to say unto those which receive it unworthily and that if it be full of consolation unto holy Souls it is also full of terror unto the wicked They have spoken of it as of a terrible and fearful Sacrament because according to the saying of the same St. Chrysostom Whilst the death of Jesus Christ is celebrating Hom. 21. in Act a dreadful Sacrament is represented God gave himself for the World From thence came the Exhortation addressed unto the people in the ancient Liturgies to call them unto the Communion Draw near with fear August l. 3. de doctr Christ c. 16. in Ps 21. Hom. 2. Id. qu. super Evang l. 2. q. 38. p. 152. t. 4. And in fine should not we be seized with a holy fear accompanied with a very great respect to participate of the death of our Saviour to eat his Passion in eating his Supper as St. Austin speaks and to lick as he saith again his Sufferings in the Sacraments of his Body and of his Blood But if this warning was given unto Communicants they were told also in inviting them unto the holy Communion Holy things are for the Saints Whereupon St. Chrysostom makes this reflection When the Deacon cries Hom. 17. in Ep. ad Hebr. Holy things are for the holy it is as if he said Let not him draw near which is not holy he doth not say only him which is free of sin but him that is holy for it is not barely the remission of sins which renders a man holy but it is the presence of the Holy Ghost and the abundance of good works And St. Cyril of Jerusalem Mystag 5. The holy things saith he are proposed to be sanctified by the
in the time of Persecution and being assisted by the Recommendations of Martyrs would needs communicate before they had accomplished the time of their Penance doth all he can to exaggerate the crime of these over-hasty persons and to justifie his severity and his rigour yet nevertheless he doth not touch far or near the point of Adoration which however would have vindicated the justice of his Conduct and the temerity of those insolent persons But besides we are so far from finding any thing in the Writings of these ancient Doctors above-named that doth in the least favour the Adoration which we examine that on the contrary they therein deliver certain things which have been already cited elsewhere as do absolutely alienate from the Spirit of Communicants all thoughts of Adoration as when St. Ireneus represents the Oblation of the New Testament by an Oblation of Bread and Wine of the first Gifts of God which gives us Food of the first of his Creatures Clement of Alexandria That what Jesus Christ gave his Disciples to drink was Wine that the Eucharist is divided into several parts that each Communicant takes a part and that one eats sufficiently of the Bread of the Lord. Tertullian That the Eucharist is a figure of the Body of Jesus Christ St. Cyprian That what our Saviour did call his Blood was Wine And Origen that the Eucharist is Bread in substance that according unto what it hath of matter it descends into the Belly and from thence into the place of Excrements The Adoration now in question doth not appear in the Liturgies which go under the names of St. Peter St. James and St. Mark nor in that which is in the Book of the Apostolical Constitutions nor in the Writings of the pretended Dennis the Arcopagite which hath treated expresly of the Celebration of the Sacrament It must be confessed that it is a wonderful thing if this religious Adoration had been in use that neither one nor another should say any thing of it the action being of moment sufficient not to be forgotten in such ample and exact descriptions as those be which are contained in these Liturgies for as for that Apostrophe which is read in the Liturgy of the forged Dennis the Arcopagite Hierarc Eccl. c. 3. p. 245. O most divine and holy Sacrament unfolding the Vails of Mysteries wherewith thou art symbollically environed discover thy self clearly unto us and fill the eyes of our Understanding with thy marvellous and always resplendent Light This Apostrophe I say if we believe the Protestants makes nothing for the Adoration of the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament no more than doth this other of St. Ambrose unto Baptism the first Sacrament of the new Covenant Tom. 3. in Luc. lib. 10. c. 22. O Water which hast washed the Earth sprinkled with humane Blood that the figure of Sacraments should precede O Water which hast had this honour to be the Sacrament of Jesus Christ Establish the Adoration of this Symbol of our spiritual Regeneration Nor this which is made unto the Chrism in the Roman Pontifical the Adoration of this Ointment or Liquor Part. 3. de offic fer 5. in coen Domin I salute thee O holy Chrism These are Apostrophes and discourses addressed unto inanimate things as if they had life and unto signs as if they were the things themselves which they signifie and which they represent and instead whereof they are in a manner set as they communicate unto us all their vertue and all their efficacy It is just so Pachymeres understood the Apostrophe of the pretended Arcopagite in his Paraphrase of his Writings even alledging to make good his Interpretation the like Apostrophe of Gregory Nazianzen unto the Christians Easter In locum Dionysii p. 268. He speaks saith he unto it as if it were alive and that very properly As also the great Divine Gregory But thou O great and holy Easter And he gives this reason for it that as well Easter as the Sacrament do represent and are Jesus Christ sacramentally For adds he our Easter and this holy Mystery is our Lord Jesus Christ himself unto whom the Saint directs his discourse to the end that he should open the Vails and that we might be filled with his excellent Light In fine Pachymeres had reason to back is Interpretation with the example of Gregory Nazianzen who speaks unto Easter as if it were endowed with sense and reason O Easter saith he great and holy Easter Orat. 42. p. 696 the Purifier of all the World I speak unto thee as if thou wert alive according to the Translation of Billius very agreeable unto the Original and that is the reason that his Commentator Nicetas makes this Observation These words O great Easter have reference unto the Feast it self as if it were alive Which is so much the easier done because in these sorts of occasions he that speaks lifteth up his thoughts unto the Object signified after the same manner as he directs his speech unto the sign which represents it and unto which he attributes things which do not agree properly but unto him which is represented as in this place where Gregory Nazianzen applies unto the Feast that which is due but unto Jesus Christ only I mean the washing away the sins of the World but he attributes it unto the Feast as unto the day whereon the thing was done even as when the Latins say unto the Crucifix That it hath reconciled them unto God although they confess That it is unto the Crucified alone that they are obliged for these benefits St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Catech. Myst 5 Serm. 83. de divers Austin have been careful very exactly to explain unto their Neophites or new Baptized the principal things which were practised in this divine Service And they observe that after Consecration of the Symbols the Lord's Prayer was said and the Priest cried Sancta sanctis Holy things be for the Holy the Believers gave unto each other the Kiss of Peace and they were invited unto the Communion by these words which were sung Taste and see how good the Lord is As soon as the Consecration is ended saith St. Austin we say the Lord's Prayer which you have learned and said after this Prayer is said Peace be with you and Christians give each other the holy Kiss They were also told of Sursum Corda Lift up your hearts of Gracias agamus Domino Deo nostro Let us give thanks unto the Lord our God and of the washing of hands but amongst all these Instructions I do not find any one touching the Adoration of the Sacrament It is true St. Cyril will have his Communicant approach unto the holy Table not with hands stretched out nor his fingers open but in supporting the right hand with the left that he should receive the Body of Jesus Christ in the hollow of his hand or as he speaks some lines before The Antitype of the Body of