Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 12 · Testimony 2
❧Testimonies out of S. Hierome, vponupon that place of Paule: Quomodo qui supplet locum idiotae, &c.
PEr illum, saith S. Hierome, qui supplet locum ideotae, Hieronimus.laicum intelligit, qui nullo gradu ecclesiastico fungitur. It is the lay men saith he, whom Paule here vnderstandeth to be in the place of the ignoraunt man which hath no Ecclesiasticall office. How shall he answer Amen to the prayer that he vnderstandeth not?
¶And a little after vponupon these wordes: Nam si orare lingua, &c.
Hoc dicit, quoniam si quis incognitis alijs linguis loquatur, mens eius non ipsi efficitur sine fructu, sed audienti. Quicquid enim dicitur ignorat. This is Paules meanyng, saith Hierome. If any man speaketh in strange & vnknown tongs his mynd is not to hymselfe without fruit and profite, but he is not profited that heareth hym.
And in the end of his commentary vponupon the Epistle to the Galathians, he saith thus:
Quod autem (Amen) consensum significet audientis, &c. That (Amen) signifieth the consent of the hearer, and is the sealing vp of the truth, Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinths, teacheth, saying. But if thou shalt blesse in spirit, who supplieth the place of the ignorant? How shall he at thy prayer aunswere (Amen) seeyng he knoweth not what thou sayst? Wherby he declareth, that the vnlearned man cannot aunswer, that that which is spoken, is true, vnlesse he vnderstand what is sayd.
The same Hierome sayth in the Preface of S. Pauls Epistle to the Galathians, that the noyse of (Amen) soundeth in the Romane church like an heauenly thunder.
Basil. ho. 4. hexam.As Hierome compareth this sound of common praier to thunder, so compareth Basill it to the sound of ye sea, in these words: If the sea be faire, how is not the assembly of the congregation much fairer, in the which a ioyned sound of men, women and childrē, as it were of the waues beatyng on the shore, is sent forth in our praiers vntounto our God.
Chrisostome in i. ad Cor. cap. 14.Cum populus semel audiuit, foreign, statim omnes respondent Amen.
When the people once heare these words (world without end) they all forthwith answer,Idemeodem loco, in illa verba si ingrediatur infidelis, aut indoctus. Amen.
And the same writer vponupon the same chapter, vppon these words: How shall hee that occupieth the roume of the vnlearned: say Amen. En rursus amussi (quod dicitur) saxum applicat, ecclesiae aedificationem vbi que requi…ens. &c. Behold againe, he applieth the stone vntounto the squire (as the Prouerbe is) requiring the edifieng of the Congregation in all places. The vnlearned he calleth the common people, and sheweth that it is no small discommoditie, if they cannot say, Amen.
And agayne the same Chrysostome: Quin & in precibus viderit quis populum multum simul offerre, An other argument out of Chrisostome.tum pro energumenis, tum pro poenitentibus. Communes enim preces & a sacerdote & ab illis fiūt, & omnes dicunt vna orationē, orationē misericordia plenam. Iterum, vbi excluserimus a sacerdotalibus ambitibus eos qui non possunt esse participes sanctae mensae, alia sacienda est oratio, & omnes similiter surgimus, &c. That is, yea in the prayers you may see the people offer largely, both for the possessed and the penitents. For the Priestes and the people pray altogether commonly, and all one prayer, a prayer full of mercy and pity. And excl…ding out of the Priests limites all such as cannot bee pertakers of the holy table, another prayer must be made, and all after one sort lye downe vppon the earth, and all agayne after one sort ryse vp together. Now when the peace is geuen, we all in lyke maner salute one another, and the Priest in the reuerent mysteries wisheth well to the people, and the people vntounto hym, for Et cum spiritu tuo is nothing els but this. All things that belong to the sacrament of thanksgeuing, is common to all. But he geueth not thanks alone, but all the people with hym.
Hereby it may appeare, that not the priest alone communicated nor prayed alone, nor had any peculiar prayer, but such as was common to them all, such as they all vnderstood, & all were able to say with the priest, which could not hauehave bene, if he had vsed a straunge tong in the ministration of the sacraments.
Dionisius.Dionysius describing the maner of the ministration of the Lordes supper, sayth: That hymnes were said of the whole multitude of the people.
Cyprian sayth: The priest doth prepare the myndes of the brethren,Ciprianus ser. 6. de or. dominica. with a preface before the prayer, saying: Lift vp your hartes, that whiles the people doth aunswer, we hauehave our hartes lifted vp to the Lord, they may be admonished that they ought to thinke of none other thing then of the Lord.
S. Augustine, Quid hoc sit, intelligere debemus, &c. What this should be we ought to vnderstand,Aug. in Psal. 18. that we may sing with reason of man, not with chatting of birdes. For Ousels and Popiniayes, and Rauens, and Pies, & other such like birds are taught by mē to prate they know not what. But to sing with vnderstanding, is geuen by Gods holy will to the nature of man.
The same Augustine. There needeth no speach when we pray,Aug. de magist. sauing perhaps as the priestes doe, for to declare their meanyng, not that God, but that men may heare them, and so being put in remembraunce by consentyng with the priest, may hang vponupon God.
To these testimonies of the auncient writers, we will ioyne one constitution of Iustinian the Emperour, who lyued 527. yeares after Christ:Nouel. const. …13. Iubemus vt omnes Episcopi pariter & Praesbyteri. &c. We commaund that all bishops & priests do celebrate the holy oblation, and the praiers vsed in holy Baptisme, not speaking low, but with a cleare or loud voyce, which may be heard of the people, that thereby the mynd of the hearers may bee stirred vp with greater deuotion, in vttering the prayses of the Lord God. For so the holy Apostle teacheth in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, saying: Truly if thou onelyonly blesse or geue thanks in spirit, how doth he which occupieth the place of the vnlearned, say the Amen, at the geuing of thanks vntounto god? for he vnderstandeth not what thou sayest. Thou verily geuest thanks wel, but another is not edified. And again, in the Epistle to the Romains he sayth: Corde creditur ad iustitiam, ore autem fit confessio ad salutem, with the heart a man beleeueth vntounto righteousnesse, and with the mouth confession is made vntounto saluation.
Therfore for these causes it is conuenient, that amōgst other prayers, those thinges also which are spoken in the holy oblation, be vttered and spoken of the most religious bishops and priests vntounto our Lord Iesus Christ our God with the father and the holy Ghost, with a lowde voyce. And let the most religious priests know this, that if they neglect any of these things in ye dreadful iudgement of the great God and our sauiour Iesus Christ, neither will we when we know it, rest, and leaue it vnreuenged.
¶Out of this constitution of Iustinian the Emperour, three things are worthy to be noted.
First, that the common prayer and ministration done with a lowd voyce, so as may be heard and vnderstanded of the people, is a meane to stirre vp deuotion in the people, contrary to the common assertion of Eckius & other aduersaries, who affirme that ignorance maketh a great admiration and deuotion.
Secondly, that Iustinian maketh this matter of not ordering common ministration and prayers, so as it may be vnderstanded of the people, not a matter of indifferencie, but such a thyng as must be answered for at the day of iudgement.
Thirdly, that this Emperour beyng a christian Emperor, doth not onelyonly make constitution of Ecclesiasticall matters, but also threateneth reuenge and sharpe punishment to the violaters of the same.
These are sufficient to prooue, that it is agaynst Gods word, and the vse of the primitiue church, to vse a lāguage not vnderstanded of the people, in common prayer & ministration of the sacraments. Wherfore it is to be meruailed at, not onelyonly how such an vntruth and abuse crept at the first into the Church, but also how it is maintayned so stifly at this day, and vponupon what ground these that will be thought guides and pastors of Christes church, are so loth to returne to the first originall of S. Pauls doctrine, & the practise of the primitiue catholike Church of Christ.
❧The God of pacience and consolation, geue vsus grace to bee lyke mynded one towardes another in Christ Iesu, that we all agreeyng together, may with one mouth prayse God the father of our Lorde Iesus Christ, Amen.
Iohn Scory.
Rich. Coxe.
Dauid Whitehead.
Edmund Grindall.
Iohn Iewel.
Rob. Horne.
Iohn Aelmer.
Edmund Gest.
And the same beyng ended with some likelyhood as it seemed, that the same was much allowable to the audiēce: certaine of the Bishops began to say contrary to their former aunswer, that they had now much more to say to this matter, wherein although they might hauehave bene well reprehended for such maner of cauillation: yet for auoidyng of any more mistakyng of orders in this colloquy or conference, and for that they should vtter all that which they had to say, it was both ordered & thus openly agreed vpō of both partes in the full audience, that vponupon the monday folowing, the bishops should bring their minds & reasons in writyng to the second assertion, and the last also if they could, and first read the same: and that done, the other part should bring likewise theirs to the same. And beyng red, ech of them should deliuer to other the same writings. And in the meane tyme, the Bishops should put in writyng, not onelyonly all that which D. Cole had that day vttered, but al such other matters as they any otherwise could thinke of for the same, and as soone as they might possible, to send the same booke touching that firste assertion to the other part, and they should receiue of them that writyng which Mayster Horne had there read that day, and vponupon Monday it should be agreed what day they should exhibite theyr aunsweres touching the first propositiō. Thus both partes assented thereto, and the assembly was quietly dismissed.