A Parallel Comparison of the Liturgy with the Mass Book, Speech
A COMPEND OF THE PRECEDING TREATISE, in a Speech at the Generall Aſſembly of Glaſgow, 1638.
THe impoſing of the Books on the Biſhops part is an act of greater tyranny, than ever was uſed in this Nation; for ſome few men by a Letter purchaſed from a Prince to preſſe on a Nation againſt the hearts of all ranks and eſtates, contrary to many Lawes of this Church and Kingdome, ſtanding both in force and practice, three or foure Books full of novations, all to be beleeved in every poynt, by every perſon, under paine of the great Excommunication, doth caſt our ſoules, bodies, and eſtates under a ſlavery intolerable. In England, yea in Ireland to this day, as our adverſaries confeſſe, the ſmalleſt rite was never enjoyned without the conſent of a Convocation or generall Aſſembly. By this preparative the Maſſe, yea the Alcoran or Talmud will not be gotten refuſed; let all the Kingdome cry they are againſt Scripture and the Lawes of Church and State, they ſhall not be heard, if ſo ſome two or three prime and leading Biſhops will oppoſe: no barre had been left us againſt the Alcoran, let be the Maſſe-book, but the ſole will of our gracious Prince, if ſo this practice of our Biſhops had gone on.
Secondly, The ſervice Book is all for common word by word drawne out of Popiſh Ritualls, which this day are uſed at Rome. The firſt part of it is a compend of the Mattins and Veſpers in the Breviarie: The ſecond is, the ſumme of the Miſſall, the third of the Ceremoniall.
Thirdly, The Maſſe Book, which all Proteſtants of whatever name doe ſo farre abhorre that they rather would die than imbrace it, this abhominable Maſſe hath three parts; The Ordinary, which is ſung on any common day; The Temporall, which is additions or changes uſed in all Sundayes and high Feſtivals: The Sanctorall, which is the formes added to the ordinary Maſſe on the Saints dayes. Theſe three parts of the Maſſe are all ſet downe in our Booke; Out of the temporall wee have above foureſcore formes, out of the Sanctorall, about twentie, what we leave out which the Maſſe hath, may be taken in upon the ſame reaſons whereupon wee take what wee have borrowed.
Fourthly, The ordinary Maſſe is commonly divided in ſix parts; The Preparation, The Inſtruction, The Offertory, The Canon, The Communion, The Poſt Communion: Our Booke hath all theſe ſix in order.
Fiftly, The Preparation is ſubdivided in twelve portions, whereof we have ten neere word by word, the Pater noſter, the Collect, the Gloria Patri, the Cyrie Eleyſon, the Confeſſion, the Miſereatur, the Abſolution, the Angelike Hymne, the Salutation, the Oremus. The two which remaines, Ave Maria, and the Introibo ad altare, we may not refuſe upon reaſon. Stafford is allowed to print that it is puritaniſme to refuſe to the Virgin Marie theſe haile Maries which our forbeares of old wont to ſing to her; for the Introibo our prime Biſhops avow, that our Booke not onelyonly hath an Introibo ad Altare, but which is much worſe Adoremus altare.
Sixtly, The Inſtruction hath eight portions, foure principall, which we have all in the ſame order, foure of little moment, to wit, the Graduall, Halelujah, Tractus, and Sequentia. Theſe with the Popes good leave may all be omitted, as Spalato ſhews at large, and if the Pope will not diſpence therewith, we might not refuſe them on any reaſon according to our Bookmens grounds.
The principall are the Epiſtles, Goſpells, Creed, Predication. In the reading of the Epiſtles and Goſpels, we follow punctually the miſorders, the follies, the ſuperſtitions of the Papiſts, we caſt the Epiſtles ever before and the Goſpels behind, contrary to the order of Scripture, we begin at the end of one chapter and end at the beginning of another, we courſe from place to place without any reaſon oft imaginable except the free-will of ſome fooliſh Pope, who cut Scripture in patches, and coucht it in the Miſſall as his fancy led him: or ſome ſuperſtitious conceit of the day whereto he would apply ſuch Scriptures, but oft with an evident impertinency. The Acts, the Revelation, the Bookes of the Prophets, except the Pentateuch we call them all Epiſtles even as the Maſſe. We are commanded to ſtand at the Goſpells and ſay at their beginning and ending the Popiſh ſentences, but at the Epiſtles wee may ſit and keepe ſilence; of this ſoule ſuperſtition there can be no reaſon given, but that wicked errour of the Papiſts, that the doctrine of the Epiſtles is more baſe and contemptible than the doctrine of the Evangeliſts, and ſo ſhould be before it as a ſervant goes before to make way for his Maſter. This wicked ſuperſtition they much increaſe, when they command to ſtand alſo at the reading of the Creed of Conſtantinople; by this meanes equalling an humane writ to the Goſpels, and preferring it much to the Epiſtles of the Apoſtles, at reading whereof they permit to ſit.
Seventhly, the Predication is urged in the old Miſſals, but in the late order of Sarum it is omitted, this we follow and permit Communions to be celebrated without any Preaching, a horrible evill, who diſpence with Preaching on a Communion day, may well want it all the dayes of the yeare, wee are here worſe than the Papiſts, the Councell of Trent urges Biſhops to preach every Sabbath, and many moe dayes, our folks cry downe preaching ſo farre as they can, and profeſſe that it were good to have no more preaching then there was before the 18. yeare of K. Henry the eight; They teach that many Miniſters ſhould be kept in their place, but commanded never to preach ſo long as they live, that ſome few who are ſuffered to preach ſhould doe it but at ſome rare times, once in the monethmonth is abundant; that the reading of the Service is the onelyonly ordinary Preaching that God hath commanded, that by this means people may be brought back to that old ſimplicitie, and ſo that ancient honeſtie which was among our fore-fathers before Luther or Calvin was borne.
Yet there is more ill in this part of our Book, Homilies are to be framed by our Prelates, and what ever is put in them we muſt beleeve under the paine of excommunication. The Homilies of the Breviarie are compoſed for the moſt part by the old Fathers, theſe of England by the Martyrs of that Church whoſe writes are very orthodox, but our Homilies are to be made by men whoſe lives are not approved, and whoſe doctrine is knowne to be both Arminian and Popiſh, it is not poſſible but ſuch ſtuffe as they have vented in many Sermons will be put in our Homilies, which notwithſtanding we muſt without doubt ſimply beleeve, unleſſe we would be excommunicate.
Eightly, The Offertory, a plaine Jewiſh oblation going before and making way for the unbloudy and propitiatory ſacrifice, we have clearly. In the Maſſe it hath foure parts, ſo in our Book; the firſt is Scriptures ſtirring up the people to offer; the ſecond, an Oblation of moneys; the third, an oblation of bread and wine; the fourth, prayers upon the bread and wine to prepare it for the enſuing ſacrifice.
In the firſt we goe beyond the Papiſts, they content themſelves with one place of Scripture, we have fifteene or moe: many of them pointing at the Jewiſh ſacrifice, yea directed to countenance the Prieſts greid. Our Book here patronizes that vile ſacriledge of the Maſſe-Prieſt, who ſayes his Maſſe for advantage, for we are permitted to take to our owne uſe the one halfe of the offering, and to employ the other halfe in what good uſe the Prieſt and the Church-warden can agree. In the ſecond part we have a plaine legall ſacrifice, a putting of the offered money in the Prieſts hand, who ſets it on the Altar before the Lord. In the third place, we have an offering of bread and wine on the Table. In the fourth part likewiſe prayers over the bread & wine that God would accept them for the benefit of the whole Church univerſall, both dead and living; the Maſſe expreſſes particularly ſome dead mens names, which our men doe not inſert but keep them in the generall.
Ninthly, The Canon which the Papiſts call the heart and head of their Maſſe, cor & vertex, conſiſts of Prefaces and Prayers. Their prefaces are either ordinarie, or ſolemne: the ordinary we have word by word; the ſolemne are ten for high times; the firſt five for Chriſt-maſſe, Paſce, Pentecoſt, Aſcenſion, Trinitie, we have: The other five we want, but upon no neceſſitie. The prayers are ſix in number, the third and fourth they count the onelyonly principall, to wit, the prayer of conſecration, and the prayer of oblation; theſe two we have avowedly. The Papiſts diſtinguiſh their conſecration from ſanctification; conſecration, eſpecially here, they call a ſecret pronouncing of ſome holy words on the elements for their tranſubſtantiation, we avow ſuch a ſecret murmuring of words on the elements, for this prayer of conſecration is not ſaid that the people may heare, but in it we are ordained to run from them ſo far as the outmoſt wall will ſuffer, and then we muſt come to the weſt ſide of the Altar, and ſo turne our back, we muſt be within both the raile of timber and vaile of cloth, leaſt men ſhould either ſee or heare us ſo we may uſe any language we will, for God underſtands all, and the elements none. That the ſecret prayers over the elements are made for their converſion into the body and blood of Chriſt it is cleare, for we take in theſe words of the Maſſe, Ʋt fiat corpus & ſanguis, whence all Papiſts this day conclude tranſubſtantiation, and which the Engliſh put out of their Booke for feare to further by them this hereſie; we put out the clauſe which ſtood here in the old Miſſals, Quod eſt figura corporis & ſanguinis, which did oppoſe this wicked hereſie, yea ſome two or three golden paſſages of the Engliſh Liturgie which did oppoſe likewiſe that abhomination we ſcrape out. And to aſſure us more of their minde they have put in ſome new Rubricks, to eat the remains by Communicants in the holy place, to conſecrate ſo little as can be, and to cover all with a Corporall, which word was never here uſed before the corpus was beleeved to be under the elements, all this our Book hath gotten, as is averred, propter Sacramentarios; ſuch hereticks muſt we be who beleeve the body of Chriſt to be conteined in the heavens untill he come againe. They tell us that Papiſts, Lutherans, Calviniſts are fully agreed on all that is materiall in that queſtion, to wit, Chriſts reall preſence, that the onelyonly difference is about the mode and manner of preſence, which is but an unneceſſary, curious, and undecidable queſtion, about the which none will contend, did not the Devill foſter up Puritans and Jeſuits to hold in that fire, yea they are now come to avow the Popiſh mode, to proclaime the body of Chriſt to be received by our bodies and that corporally, and to be upon the Altar ſo groſſely, that the Altar as its chaire of eſtate is to be adored with latria it ſelfe, for the bodies preſence on it, yea that the Papiſts when they worſhip the Altar or the elements or the ſpecies that are about the body, are in no caſe Idolaters for that action: yea that the Church of Rome doth maintaine no kinde of Idolatry. The Rubricks of this part of the Maſſe ſome we take, as the laying our hands on the patin and challice. The Rubrick of bowing before the patin and challice or hoſtie, thereof we have not a word but punctually our men practice it, giving foure inclinaboes to the elements before the act of receiving: the other Rubrick for the peoples proſtration at the elevation of the hoſty they cannot be againſt, ſure their practice is to bow moſt lowly to the place where the hoſtie uſes to lye.
Tenthly, The prayer of Oblation ſtands at the back of the conſecration in the Maſſe, and ſo in our Book, there is in the words ſome changes, but what we adde or detract it is for our diſadvantage, the maine words whereon the unbloudy ſacrifice is grounded we have, and if what we want of it were added, we muſt not refuſe it, for they defend all this part of the Maſſe, making no bones to profeſſe the offering up of Chriſts body and blood in a propitiatory ſacrifice for the benefit both of quick and dead, yea in this matter of a true externall unbloody ſacrifice, which the Prieſts in the new Teſtament ordained by Chriſt after the order of Melchiſedec in theſe words hoc facite, doe offer: our men within theſe two yeares have gone very neere as far as any of the Romiſh Writers.
Eleventhly, The other foure particles of the Canon we omit, but needleſly, for our men defend them all as good and lawfull for the matter, the things moſt to be ſtood upon are that in them the Pope is prayed for as the chiefe Biſhop: this now theſe with whom we have to doe will eaſily digeſt, to count him Antichriſt is but the malicious ignorance of Puritanes, yea it is but their mad frenſie to deny him this day the ſtyle of holineſſe in the very abſtract, he is Peters ſucceſſour, that order requires one to be chiefe and firſt among all Biſhops, this honour is due to him who ſits in Peters chaire, that injurie was done unto him in the reformation, in taking from him not onelyonly his uſurped power but even his proper right. In theſe prayers alſo the B. of the dioceſſe is put before the King; this now is not ſtrange to the faction, they print that every B. is a true Prince, yea a Monarch, ſo much more excellent than a King as the ſoule is more excellent than the bodie, that the Emperours in dutie ought to light downe from their horſe and give reverence to the Biſhops, yea on their knees to receive their bleſſing.
Twelfthly, The third ſcruple that might deterre us from theſe prayers, is that the names of the Virgin Marie, and of many Saints are reckoned up, by whoſe interceſſions and merits we pray to be defended this alſo they defend; in their prefaces to their prayers, they delight to reckon up the names of theſe Saints, they maintaine the Saints to be our Mediatours of interceſſion, as Chriſt is of redemption, they avow they pray to their Angel keeper, and would be glad to pray to all the Saints, if they were perſwaded of their audience, and now many means have they found out of getting intelligence to the Saints of mens eſtate on earth, eſpecially that glaſſe of the Trinitie. As for merit they goe as farre in it as Bellarmine; their Epigrams are famous both to Papiſts and Proteſtants, Virtutum ſancta & ſpecioſa caterva ſalutem, divine ex pacto quam meruere dabunt. The laſt ſcruple which might appeare in theſe prayers is a ſupplication for caſe to all who have dyed in faith and ſleep in peace; from this all the Papiſts deduce Purgatorie, yet this paſſage is defended by our men; as for Purgatorie they are very neere it, Limbus Patrum they teach openly, yea Chriſts deſcent there, and lower alſo, for the bringing up of Ariſtotle, Plato, Socrates, Theſeus, Penelope, and many Pagans. The grounds of Scripture whereby we refute Purgatorie they deny, the paſſages of Scriptures and antiquitie whereby the Papiſts labour to prove Purgatorie, they preſſe on us, an expiative Purgatorie wherein by the prayers of the living the ſinnes of the dead are put away they profeſſe.
Thirteenthly, After the Canon followes the Communion for better preparation thereto, the Miſſall hath ſome more prayers and ceremonies; the firſt prayer after the Canon, is the Pater noſter, with the Preface audemus dicere, the Prieſt having once gotten Chriſt the Son in his hands after the muttering of the prayers of conſecration and oblation, is bold with a loud voice to ſay, Our Father: It is ſo in our Books clearly. After the Pater noſter are ſundry ſhort prayers, the ſumme whereof is in our prayer of humble acceſſe; as for the ceremonies of breaking the hoſt in three parts, the giving the pax, and ſo forth, our men will never ſtrain at ſuch gnattes, they maintaine the Churches power of inſtituting ſignificant rites, they take in worſe ceremonies than thoſe, to wit, ſurplices, rotchets, copes, candles, incenſe, organs, cornets, chancells, altars, rails, vails, a reclinatorie for confeſſion, a lavatorie, a repoſitorie, alſo croſſings, courſings, bowings, duckings, and which is worſt of all, crucifixes of maſſie ſilver, images in carved ſtone and bowing of the knee before them.
Fourteenthly, Before the communion we have a direction that the Preacher ſhall communicate firſt himſelfe alone in both kinds, this is the Roman order, where the Prieſts communion in both kinds is onelyonly required, the peoples communion they count but accidentall, this is the conſumption wherein they put the chiefe part of the eſſence of the Maſſe, we direct the people to communicate in their own order, never a word of both kinds, yea we ſeeme to make the giving of the cup to the people no wayes neceſſary, for our men build the peoples right to the cup not on Gods word, but onelyonly on tradition; they approve diverſe caſes of old, where the people did participate the bread alone, they have repoſitories neere the Altar for keeping of the conſecrated bread to the uſe of the ſick. In the diſtribution, the words whereby the Prieſt aſſures the receiver that he takes in his mouth the body of Chriſt, are put directly in our Booke from the Roman order, the body of Chriſt preſerve thee to life eternall, and to perſwade the receiver the more, he is to ſay Amen unto it. At the receiving of the cup the ſame words are borrowed from the Miſſall, the blood of the Lord Jeſus preſerve thy Soule, and the perſon receiver muſt ſay his Amen. The golden ſentences of the Engliſh which here were put in as antidotes to the venome of tranſubſtantiation are expurged and for them a Rubrick full of blacke venome is put in of covering the pa…in and challice with a corporall.
Fifteenthly, The poſt communion is prayers of thankſgiv…ng which the Prieſt ſings in the end of the Service, the ſame in ſubſtance with our collect of thankeſgiving: nothing in any of theſe poſtcommunions which our men doe refuſe; hardly will you finde one ſentence in the Maſſe, from the beginning to the end which our Book-men will not defend as tolerable, and ſo what we want of the full Maſſe, it needs no more but halfe an houres writing to the Biſhops Chaplaine, that in the next Edition it may be put in for our full union in our ſervice with the mother Church of Rome. That the intention of our prime Biſhops is Popery in groſſe, it may be ſhewen by reaſons which they will not anſwer in haſte.
For ſhortneſſe, I will point onelyonly at foure other particulars, to ſhew what ſeeds of Popiſh impietie, idolatry, errour, hereſie, may be ſeene in our Booke; for impietie, they put the Sabbath day and other feſtivals of humane inſtitution all in one order, teaching that the fourth command of God is not the ground of the Sundayes obſervation, that we may lawfully without offence of God doe all theſe things on the Sabbath which may be done on other holy dayes, that is, goe to publick paſtimes, reap corne, fiſh, take journey on horſe or foot. Secondly, for idolatry, the croſſe in baptiſme will lead to it, for they avow from the uſe of the ſigne of the croſſe in Baptiſme, doth follow clearly the lawfulneſſe of materiall croſſes, crucifixes, images of all kinds in the Churches for religious uſe, yea that the religious uſe of images moves the heart with many pious affections, eſpecially with a deepe reverence towards the perſon who by the image is repreſented, which reverence is lawfully declared by outward adoration before the Image. Thirdly, for groſſe errour, the Book tells that all baptized Infants have all things neceſſary to ſalvation, and all of them who dye before the yeares of diſcretion are undoubtedly ſaved, from hence our men conclude that all the Articles of Arminius doe clearly follow the totall and finall apoſtaſie of millions from the ſtate of regeneration and ſalvation, the power of mans free-will to oppoſe, reſiſt, overcome and reject efficacious regenerating and ſaving grace, the perſeverance in grace by our free-will antecedent in Gods mind to his decree of election, the intention of Chriſt to ſanctifie and ſave aſwell the reprobate as the elect, the conferring of ſufficient grace to reprobates, yea univerſally to all men, &c.
Theſe are the avowed doctrines from the ſame ground of our men without circumloquution, yea from another place may be gathered the errour of juſtification by the works of the Law, which all Proteſtants ever deteſted as a damnable hereſie, the Book requires the reſtitution of the ancient penance, that by the afflictions of the body the ſoule may be ſaved, then bodily penance ſatisfies Gods wrath for ſinne;See the Self-conviction. ſo faith in the blood of Chriſt is not our ſole juſtification; the Papiſts goe no farther in this point in their injurious hereſie of juſtification, than our men theſe yeares paſt have gone, and that without controlment, except advancement to high honour and great benefices be counted a puniſhment.
FINIS.
End of the text · Robert Baillie, A Parallel Comparison of the Liturgy with the Mass Book (1641)