The Antibarbarian, Treatise · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. That in the Primitive Church every one prayed in his owne tongue.
WEe have alreadie in the firſt Chapter alledged many of the Ancients, who derided the ſuperſtition of thoſe that thought that prayers in a barbarous tongue have more efficacie in them.
Origen in his 8. booke againſt Celſus: aforeign.The Grecians in their prayers uſe Greeke words, and the Romans the Romane language, and ſo every one according to his tongue prayeth unto God, and praiſeth him, as hee is able. Note that he ſetteth not downe only his opinion, but that hee ſheweth forth the cuſtome and practiſe of the Chriſtian Church.
Chryſoſtome in the Homilie 35. upon the firſt to the Corinthians:bforeign, If any one ſpeake onelyonly in the Perſian tongue, or in any other ſtrange tongue, not knowing what hee ſaith, he ſhall be a barbarian to himſelfe, and not onelyonly to another man.
Hierome in his 18. Epiſtle to Marcella: cIn tota Chriſti villa tota ruſticitas eſt. Extra Pſalmos ſi…entium eſt Quocunque te vertetis arator ſtiuam tenens alleluia decantat: Sudans meſſor Pſalmis le avocat: & curva attondens vites falce vinitor aliquid Davidicum canit.Thorow out the whole Cittie of Ieſus Christ they are all countrey ſwaines. Without Pſalmes there's not a word ſpoken: which way ſo ere thou turnest thee, the very husbandman holding the plough ſings praiſes to the Lord: and the reapers and the ſweating harvest-men withdraw themſelves aſide with Pſalmes: and the vine-dreſsor with his hooked vine-knife ſhragging his vines, ſings ſomething out of David. This is not, nor cannot be done by the common people of the Church of Rome, that have no minde to ſing at the Cart, or in their ſhops Latine Pſalmes which they underſtand not, and where to ſing Pſalmes in Engliſh is a badge of hereſie.
The ſame Father in his Epitaph of Paula, ſaith that at the performing of the funerall rites of Paula, Pſalmes were by courſe ſung in the Hebrew, the Greek, in the Latine, and in the Syriack tongue, Hebreo, Greco, Latino, Syroque ſermone Pſalmi in ordine perſonabant. Every one ſinging according to the language of his owne countrey.
And not to wearie the Reader with a multitude of paſſages in a matter ſo evident: Thomas himſelf the Angelicall Doctor, whom the Pope hath made a Saint, in his Commentarie upon the 14. Chapter of the 1. to the Corinth: in the 4. Lect: hath theſe words: It is a thing certaine, that he that prayeth and underſtands what he ſaith, profiteth more then he, which prayeth onelyonly with the tongue, but underſtandeth not that which he ſaith, for he which understandeth is edified, both in his understanding and in his affection, but his underſtanding that underſtands not, receiveth not any fruit whereby to bee edified. And in the ſame Lect: hee acknowledgeth that the Primitive Church prayed in the vulgar tongue, but that this courſe was changed afterward.
It would be a very pleaſant conceit to bring in the Virgin Mary, or Elizabeth her Cozen, ſaying their houres in a barbarous tongue and not underſtood, turning over a chapelet, prayer of beads or Roſarie: according to the cuſtome of the Church of Rome, who ſay their howres by dropping downe the graines of a conſecrated paire of beads. The good women rub theſe their beads againſt the feet of an image; they bring from Rome cheſts full of hallowed graines, Conſecrated by the Pope, which are ſold dearer, becauſe they have more virtue. M. the Cardinall du Perron comming backe from Rome, brought backe with him a budget full of hallowed graines, every of which graines filed on a paire of beads had that vertue, that but kiſſing of it, one might purchaſe an hundred yeares of pardon; but this priuiledge was but onelyonly for the French: one might ſee ſilly women ſaying their Pater-noſters in Latine, in their way going to market, and the Spaniſh talking and conferring of affaires, turning over faire and ſoftly the graines of their beades, ſaying at every graine a Latine prayer, which is to bee repeated fiftie times over, blending the Paters with the Aves, and by ſaying five Aves, for one Pater-noſter; for the vertue of prayers now adaies conſiſts in number, repeated over in the ſame words not underſtood: And the poore people, when they ſay their Ave thinke they pray to the Virgin Mary; whereas indeed they pray for the Virgin Mary. At the end of all this, there is ſaid, It is the Church, &c. and It is an Apoſtolicall tradition. For this word Church is become a cloake to cover a multitude of abuſes.