A Parallel Comparison of the Liturgy with the Mass Book, Chapter 4

A Parallel Comparison of the Liturgy with the Mass Book · Chapter 4

p. 29CHAP. 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 & uſ que 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 p. 30Papa compoſuit, & ad Miſſam cantari ſtatuit, This is ſaid not onelyonly 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, onelyonly 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 onelyonly 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 p. 31our 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 onelyonly 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 onelyonly 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 p. 32uſe 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, onelyonly 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. ponet que manus ſuper caput hoſtiae & acceptabilis erit & in expiationem proficiens.

The third part of the Offertory.The third and maine portion of the Offertory, is the placing of the bread and wine upon the Altar, the offering of them up to God, even before the conſecration with certaine prayers to be a peace offering, that ſo they may be fitted for the matter of the Propitiatory ſacrifice following; of this oblation thus ſpeaks Heigam, p. 175. [The Prieſt having placed the bread and wine in a readineſſe to be conſecrate, he requireth the holy Trinitie to accept his oblation] and Bellarmine de Miſſa, l. 2. c. 17. Illa prior oblatio praeparatio fuit ad poſteriorem oblationem in qua proprie ſacrificium conſiſtit, quapropter rectè dicitur praeparatum ſacrificium quando materia ſacranda Deo per quandam oblationem eſt dedicata.

To this offering of the bread and wine on the Altar the Romiſh Church in the late and worſt times detorted all what was ſaid in a good ſenſe of the peoples offerings, in this they put the maine part of their Offertory, almoſt neglecting all other things to which the terme of offering was wont to be applyed, and by this offering made p. 33way for that more wicked oblation which follows in the Canon; the Church of England deteſting this abuſe plucked it up by the root and put it far away from their Booke, but our men have put it onus in expreſſe termes and in ſuch a place that the ſubſequent prayer for the Church muſt mainly be applyed to it [and the Presbyter ſhall then offer up and place the bread and wine upon the Lords Table that it may be ready for this ſervice (or on the Altar that it may be ready for that ſacrifice, this is now the more ordinary ſtile of our Booke-makers) and then he ſhall ſay let us pray.]

The fourth part of the offectory.The fourth part of the offertory is a number of prayers ſaid upon the bread and wine, not for conſecration nor oblation, but for acceptation of God to bee the matter of that following ſacrifice of theſe prayers there are five publike 1. ſuſcipe ſancte Pater, &c. pronounced on the bread that God would take it for a ſacrifice, which the Prieſt offereth for himſelfe, for all Chriſtians dead and living that it may profit them. The next is offerimus tibi Domine an offering of the Cup with a deſire that it may goe up in a ſweet ſmelling ſacrifice for the ſinnes of the world. The third is ſuſcipe ſancta Trinitas a requeſt for both the bread and wine conjunctly, that they may be a ſacrifice for the memory of Chriſts reſurrection, and for the honour of the bleſſed Virgin and all the Saints that have pleaſed God from the beginning of the World. The fourth veni ſanctificator a requeſt to the holy Spirit to come and fill with his fire the hearts of the faithfull: The fift in ſpiritu humilitatis a deſire in the ſpirit of humility and contrition to bee accepted with the ſacrifice they are preparing for God.

The ſecret prayers are diverſe at the Prieſts diſcretion, the moſt common is this ſhort ſhred for the Church. Eccleſiae tuae quaeſumus Domine unitatis & pacis dona concede, quae ſub oblatis muneribus myſticè deſignantur. I find alſo in Sarum joyned to theſe prayers, this ſhort preface, fol. 144. Hostias & preces tibi Domine offerimus. Theſe ſecrets or this Secretella as Durand ſtyles it, are the principall and chiefe prayers of the offertory and the onelyonly p. 39prayers, which were in uſe of old in the Maſſe; theſe we ſee put in the boſome of our offertory prayers word by word with the forenamed preface, whereof Sarums Rubricke ſayes Notandum quod in omnibus Miſſis pro corpore praeſenti & in anniverſarijs cujuſcunque fuerint & in trigintalibus dicitur hoſtias & preces, fol. 144. So wee begin our prayer, [we humbly beſeech thee to accept our almes (called immediately before oblations) and to receive theſe our Prayers which we offer unto thy divine Majeſtie, beſeeching thee to inſpire the univerſall Church with the Spirit of truth, unity, and concord, &c.] As for the firſt five publike prayers, they may bee well left out of our Booke, for they are not in the old Miſſalls, Bellarmine grants they were all invented of late, and are not to be found in any of the old expoſiters of the Maſſe, quinque autem illae orationes ſuſcipe ſancte Pater, &c. neque antiqua admodum ſunt neque in Romana Eccleſia ante quingentos annos legebantur, unde etiam Walafridus, Rupertus, Amalarius Alcuinus imo etiam Innocetius tertius & alij veteres non meminerunt illarum orationum ſed tranſeunt ab offertorio ad ſecretas: yea they are of ſo little conſequence, that the preſent Miſſals take one or two of them as they pleaſe at the Printers diſcretion. Sarum printed in a faire edition at Paris 1555. hath only two of them, ſuſcipe ſancta Trinitas & inſpiritu humilitatis; ſo though wee ſhould have omitted them in our Booke it would have beene no ſacriledge againſt the Maſſe, albeit no neceſſity obliges our Booke men to omit any of them, three of them for their matter containe no ſcruple for them to ſticke on, what inconvenience ariſeth from the matter of the other two concerning the honour of the Saints and Prayers for the dead we will ſee hereafter when we come to the Canon, that they make no bones of ſuch things, but ſwallowe them all downe, being a little ſweetned and mollified with their commodious interpretations.

We make a ſacrifice in honour of the Saints, and for benefit of the dead.Yea in the ſame verie place they ſeeme to make direct way for the worſt abſurditie in the Maſſe prayers, to wit, the offering of the ſacrifice of Bread and Wine in honour of the Saints, and for benefit of the dead, for in that p. 35our Offertory prayer longer alone than all the ſixe prayers in the Roman Offertory, after the hoſtias and preces which Sarum commands never to be heere omitted, and the ſecretall, Eccleſiae tuae quaeſumus, the onelyonly offertory prayer in the Elder Miſſals, and after the petitions, for the King, his officers, the Clergy, and their flockes, & for thoſe in affliction, taken all for their matter out of the Letany as ye may reade it in the Sarum office of the Virgin Mary, fol. 124. after all this our Booke ſubjoynes theſe new additions to the Engliſh Liturgy, ſhowing that in this ſame offertory they will have the Saints highly honored, the wonderfull grace and vertue which hath appeared, and been declared in theſe Saints who in their ſeverall generations have beene the lights of the world, proclaimed heere to Gods praiſe: What ſay the Papiſts more for the honour of the Saints in their offertory, the ſpecifying of this generall with the particular names of the Virgin Mary, of the Prophets, or Patriarches, Apoſtles, or Fathers or any men or women who were knowne to have beene the lights of the world in their ſeverall generations will bee nought againſt the grounds of our Booke-men, who now are heard oft in their publike prayers and thankeſgiving to particularize theſe names with great diſdaine and contempt of the ſcandall which they know the ſimple takes at this their practiſe.

As for the other point, the offering of theſe oblations and prayers for the benefit, not onelyonly of the quicke but of the dead; wee ſee that after they have commended their oblations to bee mercifully received of God, and put to their back, prayers for the good of the living in all degrees and callings, they immediately ſubjoyne not onelyonly their thankeſgiving, but their prayers and ſupplications for the dead, even for the ſalvation of their Soule [that we and all they may be ſet at the right hand of thy Sonne] and the dead (for which among the reſt of the myſticall body of Chriſt this ſalvation is ſought) are diſtinguiſhed expreſſelie in two rankes: one are ſtiled Saints who had wonderfull grace, and were the p. 36lights of the world in their ſeverall generations, others of farre inferior qualitie, onelyonly Gods ſervants who are dead in faith, and now reſt from their labour, the meeteſt deſcription that can bee of the faithfull in Purgatory as they are diſtinguiſhed from the canonized Saints in heaven if we will beleeve Bellarmine: As then the Maſſe referred their oblation of bread and wine, and their offertory prayers upon it to the honour of the Saints in heaven, to the benefit of the living and good of the faithfull who are dead in what ever place they be, whether in heaven, or elſe where, ſo does our Book, but no wayes the Engliſh, for in this place they paſſe the honour of the Saints, they ſpeake not of the benefit of the dead, and the bleſſings they crave to the living have no reference at all to the oblation of bread and wine, for they have plucked up by the root that peſtiferous weede, which yet our men have planted againe in the old place, and put to the back of it our offertory prayer after the manner of the Maſſe, ſo that theſe benefits craved in that prayer either for quick or dead ought not to be excluded from a relation yea dependance from the preceding offering of bread and wine to which they are annexed. See B. Forbes in the ſelfe conviction, taxing the Church of England who by Bucers advice did put out the words which import prayer for the dead, which he moſt earneſtly labours to have againe reſtored as they were in the old Miſſall.

We make any offertory without a Communion.There is a Marginall Rubricke added alſo to our offertory prayer which is moſt ſtrange [when there is no communion theſe words ſay they ſhall bee left out] I remember not that ſuch groſſeneſſe in the Miſſall is expreſſed, it is I grant their doctrine and daily practiſe to offer the ſacrifice of their Maſſe for the preſent and abſent, for the quicke and the dead without any Communion, for the preſence of a congregation to celebrate the Sacrament, or to offer the ſacrifice of Chriſts body and blood, they doe noe waies require, and farre leſſe any communion, the preſence of the congregation they thinke merely accidentall and needleſſe to the perfecting of the p. 37Maſſe and their communicating much more, for the Prieſts conſumption to them is all, yet they ſay not ſo much in their booke, but contrarie waies in all their Maſſes there are expreſſely Rubrickes for a Communion and poſt communion as wee ſhall heare; ſo it is very ſtrange that our men heere were not content to have made ſo many additions except this caipſtone had been put on, that all the former ſervice that the oblation of the bread and wine by the Presbyter on the Altar may well be done without a communion, yea without any congregation aſſembled for ſuch an end, charity it ſelfe cannot bee offended by imputing to theſe mens ſences which their words doe ſo clearely beare, that hardly can any other expoſition be put on them.

Our exhortations are needleſſe.After the offertory are ſubjoyned in our booke 3. large exhortations, which are not in the Maſſe, but in the Maſſe there are ſundry exhortations & praiers w^ch wil be found meeter for this place then any of theſe three, the firſt ſeemes to be altogether needleſſe and ſcornefull, it is ſpent in a multitude of words, obteſting all to communicate, at that time there is none preſent who miniſters any ſuch atteſtations, non-communicants are put to the doore at leaſt in the end of Miſſa Catechumenorum before the offertory, the Curate in the morning or night before tooke up the names of all Cōmunicants as it is in the firſt Rubrick of the Communion, & before this exhortation he did ſee in the offertory the faces of all Communicants, theſe who gave up their names in the morning, and preſently did contribute their offering as Communicants, neede not be earneſtly obteſted to come to the Table, and others they are none preſent, or if they were any according to the cuſtome of the Church and command of the former Rubricke, they might not be admitted.

The next exhortation is as unreaſonable to wit, to bee reconciled with their neighbours, to make ſatisfaction for wrongs, to come to a Miniſter to disburden their conſcience, or as they doe now directly expound that paſſage to make their auricular confeſſion in the eare of the Prieſt; theſe things at that time and place are not p. 38poſſible to bee done without marring the whole action, and ſo ought not then to be exhorted unto: As for the third, how good and pertinent ſo ever, yet may it not well be omitted, that in it alone wee ſhould not breake our uniformity with the Roman Catholike Church, which in all the reſt of our booke wee have ſo carefully kept, and if we will in this be ſtubborne, the Papiſts will eaſily diſpenſe with it, for in it nought is contrary to the tenets of their Church.

After the exhortations followes the invitation to repentance, the generall confeſſion and abſolution with the grounds of comfort, this is nought but that ſecond confeſſion of the people and their abſolution which the Maſſe puts at the backe of the Prieſts confeſſion in the introitus as we before noted.