Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

SECTION XIX.

The ANTIENT LITURGIES till extant prove that the primitive Chriftians, who were probably inftructed by uninterrupted TRADITION from the Apostles, confidered the Eucharift, with refpect to the BENEFITS annexed to it, in the fame Light as it is reprefented in this Treatife.

IN acquiring a juft idea of the primitive doctrines concerning the Eucharift, confiderable regard should be paid to the prayers in the antient Communion Ser vice, or Liturgies of the Greek, the Latin, and the Oriental Churches. Those prayers certainly contain the opinions of very early ages; which, it is not at all unreasonable to conclude, were handed down to them by tradition from the Apostles.

It is true, indeed, that thefe Liturgies are not thought to have been compofed by the perfons whofe names they bear, They appear to me to be compilations

from

from preceding prayers or Liturgies; and to have had a name given to them, not with fo much attention to truth as to convenience and popular attraction. Selections and compilations have often paffed under one name; thus we fay, the Poems of Dodfley, the Grammar of Lily, the Fables of fop; though in each of those books there is little of the author to whom the whole is attributed. The antient Liturgies were not national, but merely adapted to the use of separate focieties or churches, formed under fome favourite bishop or fpiritual paftor; who compiled fuch prayers as he approved from more antient collections, and then gave them a general name from fome particular prayer, which tradition attributed to an Apostle or Saint of earlier times. The Apoftles' Creed is not thought to have been compofed by the twelve Apoftles, in the form it now ftands in; although the articles were probably delivered to the first converts, and although it contains a fummary of the Apoftles doctrine.

We

We have ftill extant Liturgies under the names of St. James, St. Mark, St. Chryfoftom, St. Bafil, of Neftorius, Severus, and others; all of early ages, but the most antient is the Clementine. This, however, is not thought prior to the fifth century; I mean in the order and form in which it now ftands; for there is reafon to believe that fome of the prayers in it were handed down partly by memory and partly by writing, from the age of the Apostles, and perhaps from St. Clement.

Liturgies, or forms of prayer used at the Sacrament by congregations of Chriftians, ten, twelve, or fourteen hundred years ago, are not only great curiofities, but certainly convey the ideas which the early Chriftians entertained on points of doctrine.

In the Clementine Liturgy, about fourteen hundred years old, the bishop officiating at the Eucharift fays: "Send down thy Holy Spirit, that all who fhall partake of this bread, the body of thy Christ, and this cup, the blood of thy Chrift, may be confirmed in godliness; may receive

REMISSION of their fins*, may be delivered from the devil and his wiles, may be FILLED with the HOLY GHOST, May be made worthy of thy Chrift, and may obtain EVERLASTING LIFE.”

In the Liturgy attributed to St. James, are thefe words: "Send down, O Lord, thy most Holy Spirit upon us, that all who are partakers of this bread and this cup may obtain REMISSION OF THEIR SINS, and ETERNAL LIFE, and be fancti: fied in foul and body."

In St. Mark's Liturgy it is thus written: ec We pray and befeech thee, O thou gracious Lover of Mankind, fend down from thy high and glorious habitation, the very Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, the Lord and giver of Life, who is everywhere prefent. Send upon us and thefe loaves and thefe cups, this thy Holy Spirit, that they may be to us, and to all that partake of them, for faith, for fobriety;

Για οι μεταλάβοντες αυτος ΑΦΕΣΕΩΣ ΑΜΑΡΤΗ MATON TUXWI. Apoftol. Conftit. lib. 8. c. 12. p.407. Again, aged apagtion Lib, 8. c. 14. p. 416.

for

for healing, for temperance, for fanctification, for the renewing of foul and body and fpirit, for communication of the bleffing of eternal life and incorruption, for the glorifying of thy holy name, for the REMISSION OF SINS."

The Liturgy of St. Bafil, as used in the Alexandrian Church: "We finners, and thy unworthy fervants, pray and befeech thee, O gracious Lord, the Lover of Mankind, and we worship thee, that through thy good pleasure thy Holy Spirit may come upon us thy fervants, and upon these thy gifts here fet before thee, and make them the Holy of Holies; and make this bread to become the body of our Lord God and Saviour, Jefus Chrift, for the REMISSION OF SINS, and eternal life to thofe that partake of it; and this cup, the precious blood of the New Testament of our Lord God and Saviour Jefus Chrift, for remiflion of fins and eternal life to thofe that partake of it."

The Ethiopic Liturgy: "Send thy Holy Spirit and Power upon this bread and this cup, and grant that they may be

to

« ForrigeFortsett »