V. HISTORY OF OUR LITURGI. Mine is no solitary choice, See here the seal of saints impress'd; Cunningham. THE sixteenth century opened upon a scene unequalled in the history of the world. The power of the Church of Rome was dominant through Europe. The opposition of the Albigenses had been extinguished in their blood, and all was apparently peace in Western Christendom. The institution of the Orders of St. Francis and St. Dominic had added a new element of strength to the Romish See. The members of these fraternities wandered through every land, mingling with the mighty masses of the great city, or diligently in each lonely valley seeking out "the few sheep in the wilderness," and every where they were the sworn servants of the Vatican-ready to teach its doctrines, and to do its bidding. The Pontiffs acted in the spirit of their loftiest pretensions, deposing princes, and bestowing kingdoms at their will, yet every where they seemed to be obeyed. But this universal peace, was hollow and deceptive. A day of awakening for the human mind was at hand. Learning had begun to come down from its high places, to enlighten the multitude. The remains of that literature, which ages before had called forth the plaudits of assembled Greece, or awakened the genius of Rome's noblest orators, was again taken down from the dusty shelves of monasteries; and thus "in this setting part of Time," a new audience was created to listen to the strains of Homer, or to muse over the glorious reveries of Plato Communing with the mighty dead, and dwelling upon the noble works which they had bequeathed to us—those forms of antique beauty, which were for ever the bloom of an imperishable youth-the intellect of man was quickened into action, and reason once more asserted her claims. The moral sense, too, of that generation was outraged by the sight of a pontiff like Julius, emulating the fame of a warrior, and embroiling kingdoms in his mad ambition; or one like Leo, passing life in an unbroken dream of graceful voluptuousness, and scoffing at the mysteries of our faith as long-since refuted fables. Beneath this quiet surface, therefore, the public mind was stirred up to its lowest depths. restless, eager spirit of inquiry was abroad. The question, "What is truth ?" was earnestly asked. A craving after spiritual freedom and purity was deeply felt. The successor of St. Peter stood upon a volcano, though the landscape was smiling around him, and he perceived not the beginning of its heavings. A Is it wonderful, then, when the storm at last came, and the human intellect burst the fetters by which Rome would bind it down, that a scene of wild confusion ensued? Was it not natural, that men should pass at once to the opposite extreme, and, rejoicing in their newly acquired freedom, indulge in the strangest eccentricities? It was; and therefore we are prepared to behold in that an age "'emulous of change"- -an age whose motto was "old things have passed away-all things have become new. In less than fifty years from the first controversy between Luther and Tetzel, Protestantism had attained to its highest ascendancy on the Continer.t. For the first time the love of novelty could be indulged, and this liberty was used to the utmost. The first half of the sixteenth century was the age of experiments, the fruits of which, in weal or woe, this generation has inherited. Among the other changes made-as we showed you in the last lecture—was that which related to the manner of public worship. Those societies which had abandoned the Church with her Apostolic ministry, in many cases gave up her ancient Ritual also, and trusted to have their devotions led by the extemporaneous effusions of those who might minister to them.* In this respect, as in all others in this great crisis of her history, the Church in England was enabled to act more wisely. As she had retained the Apostolic ministry which had been handed down for 1500 years, so she preserved her Ritual, only throwing out those things which were not prim. itive, but were corruptions which had gradually crept in during the darkness of the few preceding centuries. Thus our service was merely restored to its ancient purity. Each view, therefore, which we gain of the true state of feeling in those times of excitement and change, deepens our grati * The early Reformers themselves were often too clear-sighted not to perceive the evil of this step, but it was taken by their followers, and, in truth, naturally grew out of the state of feeling we have described. We will give some of their recorded opinions in favor of a Liturgy. "For so much as concerneth the form of prayer and ecclesiastical rites, I much approve that it be determined so that it may not be lawful for the ministers in their administration to vary from it; as well to help the simplicity and unskilfulness of some, as that the uniformity of all the several congregations may better appear; and, finally, that the desultory and capricious lightness of such as affect novelties may be encountered and stopped." Calvin's Letter to Protector Somerset. We account it grievous to contemn all those holy Churches which, from the times of the Apostles, and of the primitive Church, unto this day, have celebrated the public worship of God out of prescribed forms -wherefore, we blame the over-nice singularity of those men who would cast out all prescribed forms from divine worship." Letter from the Walachrian Classis of Zealand to the assembly of Divines in London, 1646. Any one may satisfy himself, from a view of all the particulars, that in the ancient Church, the whole of divine worship was administered by prescribed forms. The question is, whether every minister should have liberty of obtruding private prayers, which he has himself composed, with which no one else is acquainted, and to which the Church is unaccustomed, instead of forms matured with grave deliberation by the servants of Christ, revised by the higher officers of the Church, and approved by the Synod. This liberty we do not grant." Preface to the Agenda or Book of Common Prayer in the Reformed Churches of Poland and Lithuania. Dated at Thorn, A. D. 1636. tude to that kind Providence whicn so plainly led our Mother Church "in the way wherein she should go,”-overruled every thing for good-and prepared her to be in all ages "the Witness and Keeper” of the Truth. This evening, then, we will endeavor to go back to the early ages of the Church, and show you the origin of our Liturgy-the different changes through which it passed, as it was gradually compiled in the course of centuries, until it finally assumed the form in which it now is in our Prayer Book. It will surely be interesting to us as Churchmen, te know from whence came this precious legacy, which, while it ministers to the spirituality of those who now unite in its ser. vices, has performed also the same holy office for many generations of the saints who have gone before us. There is another object, also, to be answered by this investigation. We are often told that the Church in England, from which our own is derived, was founded by the Romish Church, and has merely seceded from her, while our Prayer Book is nothing but an alteration of the Romish Breviary. I trust that the historical inquiries into which we shall be led in this Lecture, will demonstrate to your satisfaction, that neither of these charges is correct-that the British Church existed, pure and independent, centuries before the Bishop of Rome had any authority in that land, and that her Ritual is derived from the Primitive Liturgies which were in existence during those early ages, in which corruption had not yet begun to invade the Church of Rome. Let us look, then, at the origin of the Church in that island. Is she indebted to Rome for her existence? So far from this being the case, we know that the Christian faith was professed in Britain even in the Apostles' days, and when the Church of Rome herself was but in the feebleness of her infancy. While the Pantheon was yet filled with its multitude of gods, and day by day there ascended the smoke of sacrifice to the Capitoline Jupiter-when Christianity in Rome was only recognized as a "pernicious superstition," the adherents of which were doomed to the fire and the stake, even then, the name of Christ was honored on the banks of the Thames, and prayers went up to Him in the strange *Tacitus, Annal. xv. 44. tongue of those on whom Cicero poured his contempt when he wrote to Atticus,* and who formed the subject of his jest with Trebatius, as he warned him against a horde of Celtic barbarians. This fact is fully proved by the testimony of ancient writers. Gildas, a native of Britain, and Abbot of Bangor, speaking of the birth of our Lord in the days of Tiberius, and the fatal victory of the Romans over Boadicea, which took place about the middle of the reign of Nero, says "In the mean time”—that is, in the interval between these two events-" Christ, the true Sun, afforded his rays-that is, the knowledge of his precepts—to this island, shivering with icy cold." Eusebius, when showing that the Apostles "preached their doctrine in the remotest cities and countries," adds particularly, "that some passed over the ocean, ἐπὶ τὰς καλομένας Βρεττανικὰς νήσους, those which are called the British islands."§ Tertullian, A. D. 190, says—“ There are places in Britian inaccessible to Roman arms, which were subdued to Christ."|| Origen, A. D. 230, writes, "When did Britain, before the coming of Christ, unite in the worship of one God?"¶ and again, "The power of God our Saviour is ever with them in Britain, who are divided from our world."** And, to give one more authority, St. Chrysostom says "The British Islands, situated beyond our sea, and lying in the very ocean, have felt the power of the word, for even there churches are built and altars erected."++ The unvarying tradition of the early Church points out the Apostle Paul as the one by whom the doctrines of the Cross were preached in that land. Clemens Romanus and Jerome speak of his travelling "to the utmost bounds of the West" of his "preaching as far as the extremity of the earth" and "preaching the Gospel in the western parts expressions which Stillingfleet has fully shown from other writers were always used in that age with reference to the * Ep. ad Att. iv. 16. + Ep. Fam. vii. 7. 11. Stillingfleet's Orig. Brit. p. 4. According to Usher, (Brit. Eccles. Antiq. p. 278,) Gildas wrote his history about A. D. 564. To this Du Pin agrees, (Eccles. Hist. Cent. vi.) and also Collier, (Eccles. Hist. lib. 1 p. 61.) § Dem. Evang. lib. iii. cap. 7, ». 112. Paris, 1628. Adv. Jud. c. 7. In Ezek. Rora. iv. tt Tom. vi. p 635. |