The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 7 · Treatise · Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. How Latin was brought into the Divine Service in France and Spain.
FRom the Eaſt the Cardinal paſſeth to the Weſt, and ſaith that over all the Weſt the Service was celebrated in Latin. But this toucheth not the queſtion. For in all places where the pubick Service was in Latin, Sermons were alſo in the ſame tongue, and Latin was underſtood by women and children. It cannot be found in the antient Hiſtory that ever the Latin Service was uſed in any place where Latin was not underſtood. Thus in Gaules the Service was celebrated in Latin, becauſe Latin was become more vulgar among the Gaules then their antient tongue, which wore away by little and little; ſo that the Gaules were called Romans, and are ſo called by Gregory of Tours, and by that name diſtinguiſhed from the Franks and Burgundians, who were ſtrangers. The language of the Country was called Roman, whereas the language of the Court was Dutch, ſuch as they ſpake in Guelders and Gulick. The difference remained yet in the time of Charlemagne. For in the third Council of Tours held under his Reign, in the year of Chriſt 812. in the ſeenteenth ch. every Biſhop is commanded(a)Et ut eaſdem Homilias quiſque aperte transferre ſtudeat in ruſticam Romanam linguam, aut Theotiſcam, quo facilius cuncti poſſint intelligere quae dicuntur. to have Homilies or Sermons in two languages; In the Roman ruſtick tongue, that is, in the tongue of the common people, and in the Theotick or Tudeſk, that is, in Dutch, that all might underſtand the Sermons. Now this was the time when the Gallicane Church by the violence of that King began to receive the Roman Service, notwithſtanding the reſiſtance of the Clergy, whereas they had before the Ambroſian Service, and were in nothing ſubject to the Biſhop of Rome,
Under the Empire of Marcus Aurelius about the year of the Lord 168. Chriſtian Religion began to ſpread in Gaules, and then firſt began Martyrdoms, as Sulpitius Severus ſaith, (who was a Gaule, and lived near that time) in the ſecond book of his Sacred Hiſtory.(b)Sub Aurelio deinde Antonini filio perſecutio quinta agitata. Ac tum primum intra Gallias martyria viſa, ſerius trans Alpes Dei religione tranſgreſſa. Ʋnder Aurelius ſon of Antoninus the fifth perſecution was moved; and then firſt Martyrdoms were ſeen in Gaules, the Religion of God having paſt very late over the Alpes. In that time the Latin tongue was ſo familiar in Gaules, that it it was more uſed then the old language of Gaules, ſo that the language of the Country was called Roman, and the Gaules Romans, as we ſaid before. It is like that the Latin of Gaules was neither ſo polite nor ſo congruous as that of Rome. Wherefore Pacatus in a Panegyrick to Theodoſius, (c)Tum difficilius progenita atque haereditaria orandi facilitate non eſſe faſtidio rudem hunc et incultum Tranſalpini ſermonis horrorem.excuſeth himſelf for not ſpeaking ſo good Latin as thoſe that were born in Italy. Then the Contracts, the Pleas, and all the acts of the Law were done in Latin. The Gotthick Laws which were obſerved from the Streight of Gibraltar to the River of Loire, abbreviated from the Theodoſian Code by the Viſigoth Kings, were Latin, as Fauchet teacheth, who of all the French Antiquaries is the moſt learned.(d)Fauchet in the life of King Clovis. In the year of Chriſt 252. under the Emperour Decius (as Gregory of Tours obſerveth in the firſt book of his Hiſtory) Gratian came to Tours, to preach the Goſpel among the Pagans, Saturninus to Toulouſe, and Dionyſius to Paris, where he was Biſhop and ſuffered Martyrdom. This is he who is falſely named Dionyſius or Denis the Areopagite. Saturninus alſo was caſt down from the Capitol of Tolouſe. The language of theſe men being Latin, and the people which they preached to, ſpeaking Latin, it is no wonder that they inſtituted a Latin Service, and yet it was not after the Roman way,(c)Fauchet ibidem ch. 19. but with divers ceremonies according to the neceſſity of the time, and the exigence of the places, to tame the Pagans. Which diverſity continued till the Ambroſian Service was received in Gaules, which was obſerved there untill the time of Charlemagne, who brought in the Romon Serviee.
The Franks being entred into France, and having ſubdued it as far as the River of Loire (for the reſt as far as the Pyrenees was under the Viſigoths untill the time of Clovis, who left no part of France to the Viſigoths, who reigned alſo in Spain, but the low Languedock, which the Romans called Septimania, and a little part of Guienne) the Latin or Roman tongue was corrupted and fell from its purity; Yet not ſo, but that the Latin Divine Service was intelligible ſtill. We heard before the teſtimony of Sulpitius Severus in the life of St. Martin, relating that one of the People having taken the Pſalter in the place of the Reader then abſent, began to read the eighth Pſalm, where there is ut deſtruas inimicum & defenſorem, at which word defenſorem, the people cried out againſt one Defenſor, who oppoſed Martin's election to the Epiſcopacy.
Prosper Aquitanus writ about the year of Chriſt 450. In his firſt book of Contemplative Life, ch. 23. he preſcribeth that the Preachers language ſit ſimplex & apertus, etiamſi minus Latinus, diſciplinatus tamen & gravis, be ſimple and plain, though it be not very good Latin, yet that it be orderly and grave, that it may hinder no body, though ignorant, to underſtand it. Now he ſpeaks of the people of Guienne.
Almoſt in the ſame time lived Sidonius Apollinaris Biſhop of Clermont in Auvergne, who had maryed the daughter of the Emperour Avitus, by whom he had children. This man who writ all his Epiſtles in Latin, preacht alſo in Latin. In the tenth Epiſtle of the ſecond book(f)Ut niſi vel pauciſſimi quique meram Latiaris linguae proprietatem de trivialium barbariſmorum rubigine vindicarint, eam brevi abolitam defleamus. he complaineth, that in his time among the vulgar the purity and property of the Latin tongue decayed, and degenerated into barbarouſneſs. And in the Epiſtle to Pope Perpetuus (g)Quae Epiſtola eſt 9. lib. 7.(for then all the Biſhops that were a little more reſpected then the ordinary Biſhops, were called Popes) there is a Latin Sermon made by the ſaid Sidonius unto the People of Bourges, a certain proof that the people of Bourges underſtood Latin.
Now although the mixture of Viſigoths and Franks among the people of Gaules had altered the Latin tongue, yet the Latin could not be rooted out of the land. And the Frank Kings whoſe language was Dutch of Guelders, to comply with their people learned Latin, as Fortunatus witneſſeth, ſpeaking of King Aribert,
Cum ſis progenitus clara de gente Sicamber,
Floret in eloquio lingua Latina tuo.
But by the lapſe of time Latin being corrupted in Gaules, and the Tudesk language aboliſhed, the Roman was ſo altered that it became another tongue the Latin. And already in the time of the ſecond race of our Kings the tongue of the Country was no more Latin. And yet through the negligence of Biſhops and the ignorance of the people, no care was taken to put the Divine Service in the vulgar tongue. We find that then the ſtudy of Biſhops was to adorn Churches, lay up relicks, and provide Singing men with ſtrong and clear voyces to ſing the Service with Art, and fill the vaults of the Quires. Images were not yet received in France, nor the celibat of Clarks, nor Purgatory, nor Roman Indulgences. But the Wars of the French in Italy againſt the Lombards in the time of Pepin, and of his ſon Charlemagne, cauſed a ſtrict League of the Kings of France with the Biſhop of Rome, who was a mortal enemy to the Lombards. Whence it came to paſs that Pepin, and after him his ſon Charles, and Lewis the Meek ſon of Charles, made great preſents unto the Biſhops of Rome, and gave him all the Lands and Poſſeſſions which the Pope now enjoyeth in Italy, yet reſerving the Soveraignty to themſelves. Charles addeth to his liberalities this favour, that at the requeſt of Pope Adrian the I. he baniſht the Ambroſian Service out of his Kingdom,(h)See Durand in the fifth book of the Rational, ch. 2. And Fauchet in the ſeventh book of French Antiquities. an. 796. and eſtabliſht in France by force and againſt the will of the French Clergy the Gregorian or Roman Office. By this change the Latin tongue in the publick Service was fully eſtabliſht. For that which was done before only by the negligence of the French Biſhops, was done ſince that time by a Law, as the bondage increaſed from age to age. It would be now a crime of Hereſie, and a manifeſt rebellion againſt the Papal Sea, to call for the Divine Service in another tongue then the Latin or Roman. And I know not whether it was by hazard or by conjecture, or by inſpiration, that Ireneus in this word(i)foreign Latin found the name of Antichriſt and the number of 666.
The like things happened in Spain, where the Latin tongue was become ſo frequent and ſo familiar, that in the time of the Emperours Domitian and Trajan, and long after them, it was as familiar in Spain as at Rome, ſaving only in Arragon, and in the Cantabrian mountains, (now Beſcay) and in Gallicia. Seneca and Quintilian and Martial excellent Authors of the Latin tongue, were Spaniards. Martial's Parents were Fronto and Flacilla, which are Roman names, as alſo the names of Martial and Quintilian; an evident ſign that the language of the Country was Roman. No wonder then that when Chriſtian Religion was received in Spain, the ordinary Service was Latin. Which yet was not after the way, nor by the order of the Biſhop of Rome, who indeed was reſpected there for the dignity of the City, but yet had no power or juriſdiction in Spain.
In the year of Chriſt 408. Genceric King of the Vandals conquered Spain over the Roman Empire, and ſoon after left it, to paſs into Africa, quitting the place to the Viſigoths, who reigning before in Aquitaine made themſelves Maſters of Spain, in the year of Chriſt 417. The Laws of theſe Viſigoths were Latin, and though their language was Gotthick, they were well acquainted with Latin. Wherefore alſo their Councils and general Aſſemblies ſpake Latin. The ordinary Office or Service of the Orthodox Spaniards (for the Viſigoths were Arians at the firſt) was called the Mozarabick or Toletan Office, of which an abridgement is extant in Iſidorus in the book of Eccleſiaſtical Offices. This Iſidorus born at Sevil, writ about the year of Chriſt 630.
In the year 713. the Saracens aboliſhed the Kingdom of the Goths in Spain, killed their King Roderick in battel, and baniſhed Chriſtian Religion out of moſt part of Spain. They held Spain for many ages, till the reſidue of the Chriſtians which were fled into the mountains, having taken vigour again, in the end expelled the Moors, reſtored Chriſtian Religion to Spain, and ſet up many little Kingdoms. Their Service was ſtill Latin according to the ancient form, although by the Mixture of the Saracens with them, they had loſt the ordinary uſe of the Latin tongue. Their Office was the old Mozarabick Office which remained in Spain till about the year of Chriſt 1080.(k)Vide Roderic Archiepiſ. Toletan. lib. 2. c. 25, et 26. when King Alphonſus to pleaſe Pope Gregony the VIII. did with open force and againſt the will of the States of the Country eſtabliſh the Roman Office in Spain. Then the Latin tongue which before was uſed by cuſtom, was eſtabliſht by a Law, And ſo remaineth to this day.