is in this Church alone that there exist any to return to that Church whose principles alone are clear, definite, and decided principles. It is steady, unvarying, and clear. Without such prineven for this very reason, that, hating religion ciples, it is alike morally and physically imposas these men do, they direct all their efforts sible, that there should exist either any sta and employ all their talents, irony, and wit, to bility or any unity of faith, any fixed convicoverturn Catholicity, heedless of Protestant-tions or any wise security. Without them, ism with its thousand sects and inconsisten-men must wander forever bewildered and forcies. lorn, like Noah's dove, "which found no rest

Men may reason as they please, but no pro-for the sole of her foot." It is true, indeed, position can be more philosophically or more that men may, without them, coalesce for some manifestly true, than that the leading princi-length of time; and the zeal of fanaticism and ples of the Reformation, the boasted preroga- (the exertions of a richly paid clergy may long tives of Christian liberty, whenever or where- continue to keep up and preserve certain ver they are adopted and followed up with con-established forms of worship. But, gradually, sistency, must always and do always conduct as it is already the case in most of the Reformthe mind to error; leading it from illusion to ed Churches, these forms will alter, and like illusion, from precipice to precipice, until at shadows melt away. "For," says Mr. Secre length they plunge it into the abyss of Socin-tary Knox, ❝ incalculable vacillation is the natuianism or infidelity, or else into a state of com-ral effect of the leading principles of the Reforplete indifference. "The thing," says the can-mation." These principles, indeed, besides did Mr. Nightingale, "is lamentable. But being thus the sources of "incalculable vacilthere is no way to prevent it, so long as the prin- lation," are, moreover, levers too powerful to ciple of the Reformation remains." The great be controlled, and which must in time overturn evil of Protestantism is this, that rejecting the the establishments themselves which are foundprinciple of authority, it proclaims and rendersed upon them. If, therefore, stability of belief every individual free and independent, and of and unity of faith be the necessary qualities, course the easy dupe of his own weaknesses, as they no doubt are, of real and true religion; prejudices, or passions. It is a state of nature, (or if wise conviction and calm security be the wholly incompatible with any notion of Chris-properties, as they equally are, of Christian tian unity, or even of religious society. Pro-happiness, then it is manifest, that these blestestantism is frequently compared to a maze or sings can no where be assuredly found and enlabyrinth without a clue. I should say that {joyed, but within the sanctuary of that Church, it might be still more aptly compared to an whose principles are alone fixed and unvariaocean without a shore, a sea without either ble. "La Religion Catholique," says the eloanchorage or port; no star to guide the bewil-quent Terasson, "est une religion d'autorité : dered mariner, no landmark to point out his way. Hence he is tossed about by every wind of doctrine, the sport of his own self love, prejudices and illusions.

To prevent the above evils, there is but one remedy, but a remedy, alas, which in these days the Protestant is little disposed to adopt. It is,

et par cela même, elle seule est une Religion de certitude et de tranquillité." Even the above cited Mr. Knox, although a Protestant, after stating the unfixedness of the principles of Protestantism, adds: "And therefore the pru dent man gladly listens to the voice of the Catholic Church."

A

LITURGIES OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH.*

From Doellinger's History of the Church.

century we learn that permanent liturgical forms and customs were then in use: they were, for a long time, delivered orally from one priest to another, and the laws of Justin

learn and to teach these forms. In what age liturgies were first committed to writing, it is now impossible to determine; it was perhaps in the third century: this is certain, that it was not so late (the fifth century) as some modern writers have erroneously stated. St. Jerome ascribes to St. Hilary of Poitiers a book of mysteries, that is, a codex of the sacraments and liturgies. St. Paulinus of Nola

CERTAIN order of worship, a series of prayers and ceremonies, which accompanied the oblation of the holy sacrifice, was, as we learn from the writings of St. Paul, instituted by the apostles. By this means aian even commanded bishops and priests to conformity, in the different Churches, in the principal parts of their liturgies, in the order of their liturgical acts, and in their prayers, was almost necessarily established. Still there existed a freedom in the introduction of new forms: a zealous priest, yielding to the impulse of his piety, might introduce new prayers when offering the sacrifice, or he might abbreviate or lengthen those which had before been in use; but the bishops principally, pre-compiled a sacramentarium; according to St. serving indeed the essential parts of the liturgy, might change or institute others. In a very early age, however, the suffragan Churches were accustomed to conform to the liturgy of their metropolitan, and this practice was enforced as a law by the synods of Vannes in 461, of Vagde in 506, and of Epaone in 517. The fourth synod of Toledo, in 633, commanded that in the whole of Spain one and the same liturgy should be observed.

Nazianzen, St. Basil wrote an order of prayers or a liturgy; and the perpetual tradition of the Greek Church ascribes its liturgies to him and St. John Chrysostom. It is probable that, as Proclus states (437), these fathers reduced the more ancient liturgies into a shorter form. The order of the liturgies, in the four first centuries, may be gathered from the scattered notices in the writings of those times, independently of the liturgies themselves. It was in substance the following: the bishop offered the sacrifice, assisted by the priests and deacons. The liturgy commenced with the salutation, "The Lord be with you :" then followed the reading of the sacred Scripture; in the east, from the prophets and apostles, as we are told by St. Justin; in the west, generally from the apostolic epistles; a psalm was lii, Liturgicon Ecclesiæ Latina; Colon. 1751, 2 sung and the Gospel read. The bishop then vols. 4to. Mabillon, De Liturgia Gallicana; addressed to the people his discourse or homParis, 1729, 4to.-Leslei, Missale mixtum, dic-ily. When the catechumens and penitents tum Mozarabes; Romæ, 1755, 2 vols. 4to.-Jos. Al. Assemani, Codex Liturgicus Ecclesiæ Uni-had been dismissed, and the faithful alone verse; Romæ, 1749-66, 13 vols. 4to.

In the first ages of the apostles, and for some time after them, it does not appear that any prescribed liturgy had been established. From the writings of the fathers of the second

*The Liturgy of the Apostolical Constitutions, in Cotelerii Patres Apostolici, tom. i.; Amstel. 1724.-Renaudot, Liturgiarum Orient. Collectio; Paris, 1716, 2 vols. 4to.-Muratori, Liturgia Romana Vetus; Venet. 1748, 2 vols. folio.-Pame

were present, the prayers destined for them were repeated. The altar was now covered with linen: the bishop and the priests at the altar washed their hands, and the faithful (in

Grancolas, Les anciennes Liturgies, et l'ancien Sacramentaire de l'Eglise; Paris, 1704, 3 vols.P. Le Brun, Explication de la Messe, contenant les dissertations historiques et dogmatiques sur les Liturgies de toutes les Eglises; Liege, 1778, 8 vols.-A Kraser, De Apostolicis necnon anti- the east and in Gaul) gave to each other the quis Ecclesia occidentalis Liturgiis; Aug. Vin-kiss of peace. All present then made their del. 1756.-F. Lienhart, de antiquis Liturgiis et de Disciplina Arcani.

offerings. The bread to be consecrated, and

gies on account of changes introduced by them into the liturgies which had existed before their time.

I. THE ORIENTAL LITURGIES. The most ancient liturgy that has come down to us is contained in the eighth book of the apostolical constitutions, and is distinguished by the ancients as the liturgy of St. Clement: it appears to have been committed to writing about the commencement of the fourth century, and may be judged, from nearly the whole of its contents, to belong to the third: only the mention of the hypodiaconi would seem to indicate the fourth century. Distinguished by the length of the prayers, which in the later litur

the chalice containing wine and water mixed, were presented to the bishop. Before and after the preface many prayers were said-for the bishop and the clergy, for the emperor and the empire, for the preservation of peace, for the public necessities, and for all those who had died in the communion of the Church. Commemoration was made of the martyrs, particularly of those who had been members of that community. The preface began with the words "sursum corda," and ended with the "sanctus." At the consecration, during which the sign of the cross was employed, the words spoken by our Lord, when instituting the eucharist, were repeated: to these were added a prayer of thanksgiving, and angies are short, it coincides almost entirely invocation to the Almighty God that he would change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. After the prayer of the canon, the faithful answered, "Amen." The hosts were divided for the communion, and the Lord's prayer was recited, after which the bishop blessed the people with upraised hands. In the Italian and African Churches the salutation and kiss of peace were now given. After the exclamation, "Holy things for those that are holy," the veil which had before concealed the sacred mysteries was removed: the bishop first partook of the sacrifice, andμovies and Ties and the symbol which then distributed to the faithful the body of the Lord, whilst the deacons administered the chalice. All adored when receiving the divine body: the bishop said, "The body of the Lord," and the communicant answered, "Amen." A prayer of thanksgiving concluded the liturgy; the bishop saluted the people, as at the beginning, with these words, "Peace be with you;" to which they replied, “And with thy spirit.”

The liturgies which were used by the principal Churches were called by the name of the founder of the Church, or of one of its most celebrated bishops. Thus the liturgy which was observed in the Church of Jerusalem was named the liturgy of St. James; that of Alexandria the liturgy of St. Mark; that of Milan the liturgy of St. Ambrose; and that of Constantinople the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom although it is probable that both St. Ambrose and St. John were, in a later age, designated as the authors of these litur

with the liturgy of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, as he taught it in his mystagogic catacheses. The mention that is made in it of Evodius, bishop of Antioch, who is always named with St. James and St. Clement, would lead us to conclude that this liturgy was used at Antioch or in some church of the patriarchate.

The liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem or of St. James, by which name it was cited by the Trullan synod in 692, has received several additions of later times, which however are all antecedent to the reign of Justinian (the

was received in the liturgies in 519). The liturgy of St. Cyril is distinguished only in these points, that it prescribes the washing of hands, which is omitted in the former, and passes over the kiss of peace at the oblation. The liturgy of St. James was observed by many Churches, particularly the Syrian, until the liturgy of Constantinople began to prevail among the orthodox Syrians; and even then the liturgy of St. James was used on his festival, the 23d of October. The Church of Constantinople had, in an early age, two lit urgies: the one, that of St. Basil, which exists also in a Syriac and Coptic imitation, is in its present form much altered; for the prayer, which was extracted from it by Petrus Diaconus in 520, is found in it at present, greatly mutilated: the other, that of St. John Chrysostom, is, with the exception of some changes, the original liturgy of the Church of Constantinople, which Leontius ascribes to the apostles: it did not receive the name of

the holy archbishop before the eighth century. Lord's prayer, which had hitherto been reThe liturgy of St. Mark, or of the Church of peated after the breaking of the host, to the Alexandria, called also the liturgy of St. Cyr-place which it now occupies, and added to il, which was first written in Greek, and after-the prayer Hanc igitur, the formula diesque wards translated into Coptic and Arabic, is, nostros in pace disponas. From the year 600 according to all authority, the true ancient it has preserved its present form entire. liturgy which was in use in Egypt before the 1. The most ancient sacramentary of the Monophystic schism, as the Catholics there Church of Rome (the Sacramentarium Leonicontinued to observe it, after the time of Dios- anum of Muratori), of which the latest edicorus. Besides this, the Egyptian Jacobites tions are of the fifth century, in which there used two others, of which one bore the name is commemorated no festival of a confessor, of St. Basil, the other that of St. Gregory Na- ) and in which not the Vulgate but the old Italic zianzen. The Ethiopians derive their twelve version of the Scriptures is used, has been by Liturgies from the Egyptian Jacobites; two of some attributed to Pope Leo I., but it is more these, one named the liturgy of Dioscorus, probable that it was compiled by some private and the other of Jesus Christ, were written in hand a short time before Pope Gelasius. 2. an early age, probably before the end of the The sacramentary of Gelasius is a collection fifth century. The Nestorians have three of liturgical formulas, many of which are of Syriac liturgies: the ancient liturgy of the the earliest age of the Church, others are of Syrian Church, or, as it is called, of the the time of Pope Leo: to these Gelasius added apostles; the liturgy of Theodore, or of the some prayers and prefaces. In its present Church of Mopsueste, which is spoken of by form it has received many additions of later Leontius as infected with the errors of Theo- times. 3. The sacramentary of Gregory the dore; and the liturgy of Nestorius, which Great is the Gelasian, changed by St. Gregory was introduced into the Church of Constan- by the addition of some prayers, and by the finople with the changes favorable to the doc-omission of others, and arranged in a different trines of Theodore and Nestorius. The Ar-order: copies of this sacramentary have been menians also have a liturgy peculiar to them-made very unlike the original by many and selves, rich in most beautiful prayers and of a modern interpolations. The Ordines of the high antiquity.

Roman Church serve to complete the forms of prayer in these sacramentaries: these ordines describe the rites and the order of the liturgi

II. LITURGIES OF THE WEST. The popes Innocent I. and Vigilius derive the substance of the Roman liturgy from apostolical tradi-cal ceremonies: the most ancient of them, tion. But if the conjecture of St. Gregory the Great, that in the consecration the apostles added nothing to the words of institution but the Lord's prayer, be correct, we must place the origin of the prayers which follow the consecration in the canon in the second or third century. The same pope speaks also of a prayer which accompanied the words of consecration, which was composed by a scholasticus, or learned ecclesiastic. But however these things may be, this is certain, that the Roman canon of the mass existed in the beginning of the fifth century in almost the same form in which we now read it. Leo the Great added the words sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam, which Gelasius transcribed in his Sacramentarium. In 538 Vigilius sent it into Spain. Gregory the Great transferred the VOL. 1.-No. 5.

published by Mabillon, are of the seventh century. The form of the African liturgy appears to have corresponded in general with that of Rome : it had some prayers peculiar to itself, and the lessons from the Old Testament. The liturgy of the Church of Milan, or the Ambrosian, is, in its chief parts, more ancient than the time of St. Ambrose : it departs in many points from the Roman, and approaches near to the oriental liturgies. How far St. Ambrose changed it is not known: only this is certain, that he introduced the alternate singing of hymns and psalms according to the usage of the east. The Ambrosian liturgy has three lessons, one from the prophets, and the Greek form of consecration; the Lord's prayer is recited after the breaking of the host, and the Agnus Dei is said only in masses for

20

sent by Pope Vigilius; but it was superseded, according to the decree of the above mentioned synod of Toledo, in 633, by the GothicSpanish liturgy, which from the time of the dominion of the Arabs in Spain was named the Mozarabic, as the Christians who lived

the dead. Another liturgy is contained in the six books of the sacraments, which have been erroneously ascribed to St. Ambrose: they are of an age more modern. The Church in which this book was compiled followed, for the most part, the Roman liturgy: it had, however, some peculiarities, such as the wash-amongst the Arabs were called Mostarabes. ing of the feet of the neophytes.

In this liturgy there is no admixture of the The liturgy of the Church of Gaul was, as Roman or Ambrosian rites, whilst there is not the first founders and bishops of this Church another of the Gallic liturgies without them. came from the east, of oriental origin. It had It is throughout rich in the abundance of its one lesson from the Old Testament, a canon, prayers: it mentions daily communion, the which changed with the mass, and which was elevation of the host, at the time of its being much shorter than the Gregorian: at the com- broken, that it might be seen by the people; mencement of the masses of the saints their and another division of one half into nine acts were recited. We have, as monuments of parts in commemoration of the nine mystethis liturgy, four missals or sacramentaries:ries of our Lord-his incarnation, birth, cirthe Gothic-Gallic, which was in use in the cumcision, epiphany, his passion, death, resurGallic province of Narbonne, which was sub-rection, glory, and dominion. Like the anject to the Goths; it is of the seventh or commencement of the eighth century; the Frank, in which there are many things corresponding with the Roman liturgy, and is of the eighth century another Gallic, which belongs to the beginning of the ninth century; and, lastly, that which has been discovered at Bobbio, and which is of the seventh century. This is probably the ancient Irish liturgy, the Cursus Scotorum, which St. Patrick received from the Gallic bishops Germanus and Lupus, and which he took with him into Ireland: for a century it was the only one in use in that country; and even in a later age, when others had been introduced, it was preserved by the order of monks founded by Comgall, and by the followers of St. Columban; it appears to have been taken by the latter to Bobbio.

cient Gallic liturgies, it has a lesson from the Old Testament together with the epistle, and a lesson of the acts of the saints on their festival days: in the Gallic liturgies the place of the preface is supplied by the longer contestatio or immolatio, in the Spanish by the inlatio, and by a different one in every mass: instead of the canon of the Roman mass, they have the prayer of praise and thanksgiving, the post sanctus, after this the sacramental words, and then the short formula post mysteria or post secreta, which is different in different masses, and in the Spanish liturgies is called the post pridie. Lastly, between the Lord's prayer and the communion there is a solemn benediction, which also varies in its form. The great similarity of these liturgies explains to us why Charles the Bald, when he wished to learn the ancient Gallic rite, caused mass, according to the rite of the Church of Toledo, to be celebrated in his presence. [TO BE CONTINUED.]

In Spain the synod of Braga, in 561, decreed the introduction into the Church of Galicia of the canon of the mass which had been

BENEDICTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.*

HARK! stealing on the quiet evening air,

Come the sweet tones of silvery melody,

Waking the echoes with their chiming peal,

And pouring through the vale their fullest notes;

* We return our thanks to the author of these lines, and hope that he will favor us with other effusions of his pen. ED.