A Parallel Comparison of the Liturgy with the Mass Book, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of the Maſſe, and the parts of it in Generall.
The Papiſts call the Maſſe their Liturgy or their Service-Booke.THat yee may behold the generall accord, if not identitie of our Liturgie and Service Booke, with the Maſſe: conſider firſt the words, and then the matter; for the words, the Papiſts moſt gladly will call their Maſſe by the name of our Service and Liturgy. And wee muſt make no queſtion to call our Liturgy or Service by the name of their Maſſe, for the accord of Papiſts to our name, ſee the Ieſuit Sainctes in his Liturgy. pag. 8. printed at Anwerp. 1560. profeſſing that the moſt convenient name which can be given to the Maſſe, is that of Liturgy and Service. Si placet Miſſah Hebraeorum ad Graecos traducere, quo id facias aptiſſimè, non aliud quàm Liturgias nomen comperies, contra ſi liturgiam Graecorum vis ad linguam ſanctam revocare per Miſſah id cures neceſſe est. Si Latinè utrumque poſtulas nullum quàm officij nomen ſignificantius habebitur quo Latina Eccleſia cum agitur de ſacrificio ſaepè delectatur.
The Prelaticall men call their Liturgy the Maſſe.For our contentment to take their name of Maſſe to our Service, ſee Pocklington, Sunday no Sabbath, ſubſcribed by Canterburies Chaplaine about the midſt, where from a ſuppoſititious teſtimonie of Ambroſe, he will have the ſaying of their ſecond ſervice at the Altar, to be juſt the ſame with that which that Authout calles Miſſam facere caepi dimiſſis catechumenis, that none but Schiſmaticks will denie their harmonie with the ancients in this Miſſification: but it is not onelyonly that part of the Liturgy which they have of late begun to call the ſecond ſervice, to which they will give the ſtyle of Maſſe, as Cozens uſed to doe long agoe in Durham, where the former part of the Communion hee was wont to call the Matins, and the latter the Maſſe, as ye may ſee in Smarts Sermon printed at Edinburgh 1628. But the whole Service Pocklington will ſtile with the name of Maſſe in the foreſaid Sermon towards the end; where this ſuppoſititious teſtimony of Auſtin, quidam cogunt ſacerdotem ut abbreviet Miſſam, & ad eorum libidinem cantet, he tranſlates, ſome force the Prieſt to curtall Divine Service, or to ſay or ſing it after their phanſie. Biſhop Montagu in his Antidiatribae pag. 10. makes no ſcruple of the Maſſe ſo farre as concernes the word; yea, and the matter too, if ye put a commodious ſenſe upon it. Miſſam ipſam non damnamus quoad vocem quippe cùm nihil impietatis habeat, ſed neque Miſſae foreign ſano ſenſu intellectum. In the words here betwixt the parties you ſee a perfect agreement.
Our men approve the matter of the Maſſe.In the matter, conſider if there be any diſcord of importance, the Engliſh not refuſing to approve the Maſſe, the Papiſts not refuſing to approve the Liturgie. For the firſt, Pocklington in his Altar neere the end is approved by Canterbury to profeſſe upō a very falſe alleagence, that K. Iames would like well enough of the Maſſe, if the Prieſt would ſhrive it of Tranſubſtantiation: now any may defend that Tranſubſtantiatiō cannot be inferred by any ſound reaſō from any part of the Maſſe as it is read at Rome, or if it be inferred from any paſſage therin, then from theſe mainlie which of late have beene put in our Booke: ſo that they who like of the Maſſe, if it wanted Tranſubſtantiation may like of it as it ſtands this day at Rome; for Tranſubſtantiatiō cannot be deduced from the words of it, but by the gloſſes of the interpreters, which may agree as well to the words of our Service, as to theſe of their Miſſall how ever Tranſubſtantiation it ſelfe will not deterr us from the Maſſe: here Montagu imbracing that word as well as the other of the Maſſe, Antidiat. p. 10. De vocibus dixi ne miſſae quidem imò ne tranſubſtantiationis certamen moveremus. And how farre hee is from the matter of Tranſubſtantiation wee will finde hereafter; here onelyonly marke how neere hee drawes the Romiſh Maſſe and Engliſh Liturgy in his recuſancie. p. 1. [Our ſervice is the ſame in moſt things with that in the Church of Rome, the differences are not great, nor ſhould make any ſeparation] how ſmall a difference they put betwixt their ſervice and the Maſſe, ſee the Letter of the King and his Councell in King Edwards dayes, Acts and Monuments, vol. 2. p. 667. [As for the ſervice in the Engliſh tongue, it perchance ſeemes to you a new ſervice, and yet indeede it is no other but the old, the ſelfe-ſame words in Engliſh which were in Latine, having a few things taken out. If the ſervice of the Church was good in Latine, it remaineth good in Engliſh; for nothing is altered, but to ſpeake with knowledge, that which was ſpoken with ignorance.]
The Papiſts approve the matter of the Liturgy.Thus doe the Engliſh Prelates judge of the matter of the Maſſe, heare what the Papiſts ſay of the matter of the Liturgy. Pope Pius the fourth is ſaid to have offered his approbation to the Liturgy. For this ſee Mortons appeale, p ult. alſo Cambden his life of Queene Elizabeth, p. 46. in theſe words. The Pope, Pius-quartus ſent unto her Vincentio Parpalia, Abbot of S. Saviors with ſecret inſtructions and letters of flatterie, the report goes that the Pope gave his faith that he would confirme the Engliſh Liturgy by his authority, ſo as ſhee would joyne herſelfe to the Romiſh Church, and acknowledge the primacie of the chaire of Rome; yea, and that certaine thouſand crownes were promiſed to thoſe that ſhould procure the ſame. The Councell of Trent was nothing oppoſite to this offer of the Pope, for about that ſame time being conſulted by the Popiſh Nobility of England, if it was lawfull for them to countenance the Liturgy, they did no waies diſcharge or give any ſigne of diſallowance to this fact albeit they would not give any act of their approbation when there was no condition of advantage propounded to them. Yea long thereafter Pope Gregory the 13. repeated the offer of Pius to the Queene of approving the Liturgy upon her admiſſion of his Primacie, for this ſee the late Biſhop of Canterbury, Doctor Abbots in his expli…at…o illuſtrium quaeſtionum c. 4. p. 112. Cùm teſtibus Pontificijs magnates aliquot nobilèſque Anglicani per legatos inea quaeſtione Concilium Tridentinum interpellârint prae memoriae lapſu aut oblivione patres non omiſerunt, quin potiùs credo per conniventiam quandā tacitos praeterijſſe proſpicientes quam incommodum futurumeſſet tot tantiſque ſuarum partium aut carceris aut exilij moleſtiam faceſſere, & neſciebant an ali quis venturus eſſet Pontifex, qui jacturâ ſuae partis deliberatè perpensâ ad damnum reſarciendum liturgiam Anglicanam poſſet approbare & confirmare, id quod à Papa Gregorio 13. Reginae oblatum fuiſſe modò titulus ſupremae gubernationis Romanae ſedi redderetur, pervagato hominum & magnorum ſermone jactitatum aliquando ſignificat Houlettus num verè illud an falsò neſcio, at ſolet ex indulgentia ſua ſanctiſſimus Pater quae videntur duriora nonnunquam concedere quo faciliùs ſecreta ſui cordis deſideria ampliſſimè conſequatur. By theſe teſtimonies it is cleare, how neere the Papiſts thinke the Liturgy drawes to their Maſſe, and how neere the Prelates think the Maſſe to come to their Liturgy both in words and matter. But it will be more manifeſt how litle either of the parties are deceived in this their judgement, If wee will cut both the Bodies of the Maſſe and Liturgy in ſmall parts, and ſo lay limbe to limbe, and member to member, here will the analogie or diſproportion, the agreement or diſagreement, the diverſity or identitie appeare to the eye of any common beholder.
What are the parts of the Maſſe.The moſt received diviſion of an whole is into parts eſſentiall, integrall or ſubjective, to finde the eſſentiall parts of the Maſſe actually, and in expreſſe words in our ſervice is no great labour: For to the eſſence of the ſacrifice of the Maſſe are required but two things, or three at the moſt, according to Bellarmine de miſſa, Lib. 1. c. 27. To wit, the conſecration, the oblation not before nor after but in the conſecration, and thirdly the conſumption in the Prieſts receiving alone in both the kinds, theſe will be all found as expreſſely in our Booke as in the Miſſall as heereafter ſhall be ſhewed.
The ſubjective parts of the Maſſe are the divers kinds and ſpecies of the Maſſe, for of Maſſes ſome are ordinary and daylie, ſome extraordinary and ſolemne, and theſe againe of a great number according to the-ſeverall feſtivities wherein and diverſe ends for which they are celebrated upon theſe ſeverall ſorts of Maſſes, the greateſt part of the Miſſall is ſpent, and upon theſe likewiſe more then two parts of our Booke are conſumed.
But the parts of the Maſſe moſt cōmonly ſpoken of are the integral of the daily & ordinary Maſſe, with theſe let us begin, & that with thoſe which are principall. The neceſſary ceremonies or circumſtances eſpecially the univerſall ones wch run along the whole body of the Maſſe, ſuch as the Prieſt, the altar, the veſtments, the croſſings, the perfumings, &c. may well receive the names of parts, at leaſt the large & frequent Rubricks concerning them, but becauſe theſe are but ceremonies & at beſt but among the integral parts leſſe principall, we wil let them alone till we have firſt conſidered theſe which are confeſſed by all to bee moſt principall members of this unhappie body, of theſe more or fewer are made according to the diverſe conceptions of writers. Innocentius reduceth all to three heads, Bellarmin to foure, Durandus to five, Thomas to ſixe.
Bellarmines foure parts de Miſſa. lib. 2. c. 21. are firſt Miſſa Catechumenorum, the part of the ordinary Maſſe whereat the Catechumeni might have bin preſent: ſecondly, the Offertory thirdly, the Conſecration or Canon: fourthly, the Communion. Our Service at the Communion hath all theſe parts in the ſame order, the firſt part in the Engliſh, ſeemed not cleerely enough diſtinguiſhed, for there followed no mention immediately of an offertory, nor at all of a conſecration, but in our Booke all are clearely profeſſed and in England now alſo are like to be better conſidered, for the Miſſa Catechumenorum by Canterburies men is called the firſt Service, performed in the body of the Church, the reſt as the Miſſa fidelium is called the ſecond Service, and appointed to bee officiate onelyonly at the Altar, and that in the Quire, none preſent but onelyonly Communicants, expreſſely againſt the old Canons and Cuſtomes o… that Church, which now no man but a Schiſmaticke muſt challenge; for this ſee Pocklington in his Sunday no Sabboth about the middeſt [dimiſſis catechumenis miſſam facere caepi. Saint Ambroſe beganne the ſecond Service as our Church calls it, at the Altar, having before finiſhed the firſt Service in the body of the Church, no man will goe about to put away this ſweet harmony which our Church ſtill keepes with antiquitie but Schiſmatickes.]
But paſſing the diviſion or Bellarmine, wee will follow that of Thomas in his third p. quaeſt. 83. art. 4. in corp. as ſerving more to cleare that blacke body which hath indeede much neede of clearing, as being the moſt miſtie and darke piece that ever my hand touched. He drawes it to ſixe heads, the firſt he calles a preparation, the next an inſtruction, the third an offertory, the fourth a conſecration, the fift a participation, the ſixt a Thankeſgiving: all theſe we will goe through in order.