5. The celibacy of the clergy was abolished.55 With these modifications the religion of Rome became that of the church of England. And to this day, her ritual, crudely formed in the infancy of protestanism, which Milton denominates" an extract of the mass translated," continues with little variation to be the liturgy of the whole Episcopal church in England and America. Like the ancient liturgies, it was prepared for a priesthood who were too ignorant to conduct religious worship with decency without it. Even the book of homilies was drawn up at the same time, “to supply the defect of preaching, which few of the clergy at that time were capable of performing."56 Multitudes in the kingdom were strongly attached still to the Roman Catholic religion. It was a politic measure to conciliate these as far as possible. For various reasons, the Reformers sought to make a gradual, rather than an abrupt departure from popery. The liturgy accordingly had then, and still retains many popish affinities. These are seen in the canonizing of saints, and celebration of saint's days; in the absolution by the priests, modified so as to unite the Protestant idea of forgiveness of sin by God alone, with the popish absolution by the priest; in the endless reiterations of the Lord's prayer; in the inordinate prominence that is given to liturgical forms; in the qualified and cautious phraseology of the communion service, and the special care that all the consecrated bread and wine shall be eaten and drunk, So that none of it shall be carried out of the church,-a point upon which the papists are ridiculously superstitious.57 These 55 Constitutional History, Vol. I. pp. 116–126. 56 Neal's History of Puritans, 1. p. 90. Hetherington's History of Westminster Divines, p. 21. 57 In the amendment of the liturgy, under Elizabeth, "the words used in distributing the elements, were so contrived as neither to of fend the Popish, or Lutheran, or Zuinglian communicant."-Hallam's Const. Hist. Vol. 1. p. 150 note. Very catholic and accommodating, surely! popish tenets are seen particularly in the baptismal regeneration of the liturgy, by which the child becomes "regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's church. ... We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption." The order of confirmation is so conducted as to confirm one in the delusion, that he has become "regenerate by water, and the Holy Ghost,” through the instrumentality of this rite, rather than by that grace which is the gift of God. The burial service, also, is exceedingly objectionable. "Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, of his great mercy, to take unto himself the soul of our deceased brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is said of every one alike, however profligate his life, however hopeless his death. In the American service, instead of this, at the grave is said or sung, "I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, 'Write, from henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors."" Rev. 14: 13. The practical influence of this service is apparent from the following remark of Archbishop Whately. "I have known a person, in speaking of a deceased neighbor, whose character had been irreligious and proffigate, remark, how great a comfort it was to hear the words of the funeral service read over her, because, poor woman, she had been such a bad liver.' "'58 Without controversy, a temporizing policy guided the early Reformers in the preparation of the English prayerbook. However many of the Episcopal church may repudiate the semi-popish delusion of Puseyism, which has come up over the length and breadth of our land, it is indirectly 58 Errors of Romanism, p. 55. supported, if not plainly taught, in her ritual. The English reformers attempted a sinful compromise with the corruptions of the church of Rome. In the language of Macaulay, "The scheme was merely to rob the Babylonian enchantress of her ornaments; to transfer the full cup of her sorceries to other hands, spilling as little as possible by the way. The Catholic doctrines and rites were to be retained in the church of England."59 The great effort of a large party in this church at present is to reinstate these popish doctrines and rites-an effort which Roman Catholics regard with the deepest interest. The celebrated Dr. Wiseman expresses, in the liveliest terms, his gratification at "the movement" of the Oxford Tractarians "towards Catholic ideas and Catholic feelings." He has "watched its progress with growing interest," because he " saw in it the surest guarantee and principle of success. The course which we (papists) ought to pursue seems simple and clear, to admire and bless, and, at the same time, to second and favor, as far as human means can, the course which God's providence has opened, and is pursuing; but to be careful how we thwart it. It seems to me impossible to read the works of the Oxford divines, and especially to follow them chronologically without discovering a daily approach towards our holy church, both in doctrine and affectionate feeling. Our saints, our popes, our rites and ceremonies, offices, nay, our very rubrics are precious in their eyes, far alas beyond what many of us consider them."60 59 Review of Hallam's Constitutional History. See in the Appendix a further illustration of this. 60 Cited in Rev. H. H. Beamish's Letter to Dr. Pusey, p. 9. CHAPTER XII. PSALMODY OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. THE singing of spiritual songs constituted, from the beginning, an interesting and important part of religious worship in the primitive church. The course of our remarks on this subject will lead us to consider, I. The argument for Christian psalmody as a part of religious worship. II. The mode of singing, in the ancient church. I. Argument for the psalmody of the primitive church. 1. From reason. Praise is the appropriate language of devotion. A fervent spirit of devotion instinctively seeks to express itself in song. In the strains of poetry, joined with the melody of music, it finds an easy and natural utterance of its elevated emotions. Can it be doubted, then, that that Spirit which was shed abroad upon the disciples after our Lord's ascension, would direct them to the continued use of the sacred psalmody of their own Scriptures, indited by the inspiration of the same Spirit? Is it unreasonable to suppose, that the glad spirit with which they continued praising God, might direct them to indite other spiritual songs to the praise of their Lord, whose wondrous life and death so employed their contemplations, and whose love so inspired their hearts? The opinion has been expressed by Grotius, and is supported by many others, that we have, in Acts 4: 24-30, an epitome of such an early Christian hymn to Christ.1 2. From analogy. The singing of songs constituted a great part of the religious worship of all ancient nations. In all their religious festivals, and in their temples, those pagan nations sung to the praise of their idol gods.2 The worship of the Jews, not only in the temple, but in their synagogues and in their private dwellings, was celebrated with sacred hymns to God. Many of the loftiest, sweetest strains of Hebrew poetry were sung by their sacred minstrels on such occasions. Christ, himself, in his final interview with his disciples, before his crucifixion, sung with them the customary paschal songs, at the institution of the sacrament ;3 and, by his example, sanctified the use of sacred songs in the Christian church. All analogy drawn from other forms of religious worship, pagan and Jewish, requires us to ascribe to the primitive Christians the use of spiritual songs in their public devotions. 3. From Scripture. The same is clearly indicated in the writings of the New Testament. Without doubt, in the opinion of Münter,4 the gift of the 1 Comp. Augusti, Denkwürdigkeiten, Vol. V. 248. Theocritus, cited by Gerbert, Musica Sacra, T. 1. 3 The collect for such occasions is comprised in Psalms 113–118, the first two before the paschal supper, and the remainder after it. The theory has been advanced, but without reason, that Christ himself indited the hymn on this occasion. Neither is it necessary to suppose that all the hymns above-mentioned were sung by him and the disciples at this time. 4 Com. Münter, Metrisch. Uebersetz. der Offenbar. Johann. Vorrede, S. 17. |