true Catholiques the Churches and Revenues which were given by Donatists to errour and schism yet before the Heathen Temples were consecrated and purged the Christians would not use any Christian service in them And this well appeareth out of Nicephorus lib. 7. cap. 46. who reports Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour that in the wars he might have a Christian Church to say a Christian service in he built him a Church that might be carried up and down after his Camp {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ecclesiam portabilem as one cals Ships portatiles domos Now how the Christian Bishops did hallow and sanctifie the Heathen Churches particularly may be seen out of Marihnus Scotus Rhegino and Sigisbert in the year 607. by Ado and others when they speak of the Dedication of Pantheon by Boniface the fourth Note at this day Consecration of Churches is only reserved unto the Bishops and anciently there was more then one Bishop present at the consecration of a Church For Turpinus telleth to the consecration of a Church-yard in Burdeaux there were seven Bishops present and that our Yew-trees in Church-yards was the planting of the Heathens even Verstegan understands Volateran reports that about the Year 484. Pope Felix the third made a Canon that Temples should only be consecrated by Bishops and that this ceremony of consecrating and hallowing of Churches and dedicating of them was anciently used by the Heathens both by words and by hand is plain by Livy Ovid Tibullus and Cicero in many places Livy writeth Horatius Pulvillus did dedicate the Temple of Iupiter Capitoline In this second place I am to produce some of the Ceremonies or policies observed among the Heathen Flamines or Ministers which are likewise in practise at this day among the Christian Provinces That the Heathens had their Ministers or Priests nothing is more plain And the Priests of our Ancestors the Brittish Heathens and the Goths were the Druides as at large write Caesar and Tacitus And the names of our Bishops Episcopus and Pontifex were used among the Heathen For that he was called Episcopus that is overseer of others and looked unto the poor and had care of their diet is plain by the words of Arcadius the civill Lawyer in the Digests And as Onuphrius and others note by Cicero in his Epistles where he writes Pompey would have him to be Bishop of the Cities of Asia and it appeareth by the body of the common Law the office of the Primate came from the Heathen Now for Pontifex it is confessed by every one that the Christians took that name from the Heathen Ministers and so Sâ—zomenes deriveth it Rhenanus and others note the word Diocese and the jurisdiction in this kinde came from the Heathen Now as among the Christian Ministers worthily and of necessity there are degrees of the Clergy and one subordinate to another So likewise was it when our Ancestors were Pagans for they had their Pontifex and Pontifex Maximus heir Flamines and Arch-Flamines as is plain by Gratians Rhapsodie And as every particular god had his Flamine his Minister so as Gallius notes Flamen dialis Iupiters Priest was the chiefest among the rest Beda writes Coyfy was the chiefest Heathen Priest in the Kingdom of King Edwyne some of our Countrey Chroniclers that lived almost 400. years ago Ptolomeus Lucentius who wrote the lives of the Popes of Rome writes in the life of Pope Eleutherius how the 3. Proto-Flamines were converted into so many Arch-Bishopricks tell you how many Flamines and Arch-Flamines there were among the Brittans and into what Bishopricks and Arch-Bishopricks they were afterwards translated But no wise man will beleeve their particular seeing they report actions done a thousand years before their time having no former authour or authority to warrant it And the Heathen Priests had some under them which were not Priests and yet to serve in the Temples they were called Camilli as appeareth by Plutarch and Dionysius and these are in the nature of our Deacons The correspondent power of our Clergy to that of the Heathen would best appear by opening of the nature of the Heathen Pontifices To omit Livy Plutarch Alciat Alexander ab Alexandro Peter Perkins in his comment upon the rules of the common Law writeth the Heathens assigned a peculiar jurisdiction to their Pontifices namely to look into the publique and private cermonies of their Religion to defend and interpret their holy mysteries to deliver with what Altars to which gods with what Sacrifices upon what daies at which Temples praiers and offerings should be to see that every one resorted to Church and no new ceremonies to be admitted that Vows be performed Funerals decently bestowed Oaths and Faith fullfilled Holy Daies proclaimed the Gods pleased And Wolphangus Lazius particularly noteth out of Heathen Authours some the chief of their Clergy and Pontifices were to be skillfull especially in their common or Ecclesiasticall Law to judge of Marriages of Sanctuaries to consecrate Churches and places of buriall That our Clergy hath in like manner most of their particulars every man must acknowledge But to adde unto these last recited Authours concerning the Holy Daies observed by the Christians and Heathen Thucydides notes it is a matter of necessity to have Holy daies That the Christians begin their day from midnight saith Censorinus it is common with the Gentiles And that our Clergy foretell and declare the Holy daies to the people The like was done by the Pontifices of Rome witnesseth Plutarch in Numa The Heathens call the daies which are no Holy daies profestidies yea that the Holy daies in the Gentiles Kalendar lose onely their name having upon the same daies Christian Festivities appointed for the Apostles made no Laws concerning Holy daies is known by Theodoret who writeth that the Heathen Holy daies of Iupiter Mars and the rest of the Heathen Gods were ordained among the Christians Holy daies for Peter Paul and other Saints Gregorius Nissenus in the Life of Gregory for his great actions surnamed Thaumaturgus reporteth that it was this Gregory that first made the particular conversion of the Heathen into Christian Holy daies And as among the Christians the day of the Martyrs or Saints death is the Holy day Dies martyrij Dies natalis so was it among the Heathens for by Plutarch in Camillo the Romans observe Romulas Death day for his Holy day Moreover as among the Christians before a man can be admitted into the Ministery there is enquiry made by the Superiour Clergy of his ability and worthinesse and certain times and solemnities observed at the Ordinance of the Minister So likewise was it amongst the Infidels or Ancestors For as some of the recited Authours mention the Heathen Pontifices were to be skillfull in their profession and Clergy-discipline So further it appeareth by Alexander ab Alexandro that if a man were a cripple or lame in any part of his body he could not be
A Learned DISCOURSE OF CEREMONIES Retained and used in Christian CHURCHES WRITTEN By the Right Reverend Father in God LANCELOT ANDREWS Late Bishop of Winchester a little before his Death At the Request of an Eminent Person that desired satisfaction therein Printed by the Original Copy written with his own hand Ex Pede Hercules LONDON Printed for Charles Adams and are to be sold at his Shop at the Signe of the Talbot near St Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1653. LANCELOT ANDREWES Bishop of Winchester TO THE CHRISTIAN and Candid Reader READER I Can testifie thus far concerning the Authour of this Treatise that upon speech between Bishop Andrewes and a Gentleman his neer neighbour about the Ceremonies the Bishop a while after and a quarter of a year before his death delivered this to him as a collection of his own about that subject which he had not time he said to polish and lick over Had the Authour intended it for the Presse it would no doubt have been more perfect but I thought it worthy in regard of the Authour and Argument which few have so generally handled to be published though I do not thereby avow and justifie superstitious and needlesse Rites as if the observation of them was necessary when they are imposed by Authority nor every thing else therein contained If a word be sometimes deficient or the sense imperfect I hope the judicious will impute it either to the difficulty of supplying such things in anothers work or to the speedy publication of it there being not sufficient time for viewing the Authours here quoted though some things have been amended That the Bishop was a very Learned man his Works abundantly shew Cui viro utinam Ecclesia Dei plures similes haberet praesules saith Causabone Epist. 189 I would the Church of God had more such Bishops His admirable knowledge in the learned Tongues saith the Preacher of his Funerall Sermon Latine Greek Hebrew Chaldee Arabick besides other modern Tongues to the number of fifteen was so rare that he may well be ranked in the first place to be one of the rarest Linguists in Christendome His great volume of XCVI Sermons his Conciones ad Clerum his Practicall Catechisme with his large Exposition of the Commandements and his interpretation also of the Lords Prayer speak his knowledge in Positive Divinity his Tortura Torti Responsio ad Apollogiam Bellarmini with his Theologicall Determinations shew his ability likewise in Polemicall or Controversall Divinity I shall recite one acute passage of his in his Answer to Cardinall Bellarmines Apology When the Interpreter had turned it tumulos adornemus the Cardinall changed adornemus into adoremus though some say that adoremus was in the Book falsly printed and then addes Quid hic quaeso Rex dicet Si Patres veteris Ecclesiae clamant Sanctorum tumulos adoremus The Bishop replies Dicet abesse vocali literam Cardinali fidem He would be so displeased with Scholars that attempted to speak with him in a morning that he would say he doubted they were no true Scholars that came to speak with him then That which he saith in the third Paragraph of the superfluous and wicked Ceremonies of the Papists borrowed from the Heathens is most true and abundantly confirmed in two Printed Books of that subject viz. One by Moresive a Scotchman in his Origo Papatus where he proveth after the Order of the Alphabet how the Papists have taken their superstition from the Heathens which they have long since intruded upon us for the true worship of God The other by Francis de Coy a Frenchman and translated into English but much curtailed and wronged by the Licenser and entituled The three Conformities of the Romish Church with Gentilism Judaism and ancient Heresie a Learned work and long since printed I shall onely mention a few things wherein the Papists symbolize with the Heathens and Iews They have framed their Masse after the Leviticall Morning and Evening Sacrifices and their Priests after the manner of those that were established in the ancient Law They attribute unto the Golden Hammer wherewith the Pope beateth one of the Gates at Saint Peter's in Rome called Holy at the beginning of the Iubilee that which appertaineth to the bloud of Christ Iesus and not to any others viz. the remission of sinnes more then seven hundred years before Christ the Idolatrous Romanes used Frankincense in their Sacrifices And those poor people beleeved that Janus and Vesta were well pleased to be thus served with Incense and Wine The Etymology of the Latine Word thus which is derived from the Greek to sacrifice declareth what the use of Frankincense was viz. the like to that which on this day is in request in their Massing Sacrifice The Egyptians great Idol Serapis had a Crosse in his breast and that signe was one of their holy Letters Ruffinus l. 2. c. 29. reporteth that many of the Learned among the Egyptians were the rather contented to embrace Christianity because they saw the Crosse esteemed which was before a great Ceremony of theirs The custome of running about the streets with firebrands in honour of Proserpina was turned with Christians into Candlemas daey The Sacrifice of Ceres done in the Fields with howling of women and crying of children was made a generall observance with us on Rogation week The Images of Mercury set by the High way sides were afterward converted to Crosses Whereas there was in Rome Templum Pantheon a Temple wherein all the Gods of the world were honoured The devout Fathers to take away this Idolatry did consecrate a Church unto Allhallows that that should now be converted unto all Saints that before was attributed unto false Gads The Iesuites are descended from the Carpocratians ancient Heretiques of whom Irenaeus writeth that they bragged themselves to be fellowes with Iesus and to bear rule over the Princes of of the earth The Capuchins goe bare-footed Augustine in his Book of Heresies ad quod vult Deum speaks De excalceatis and saith that they grounded themselves on this that the Lord had said unto Moses Put off thy Shoes from thy Feet which perhaps is the same place whereupon the Capuchins have grounded this custome to goe bare-footed You cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils 1. Cor. 10. 11. The Gentiles when they performed holy exercises were wont to feast in their very Temples as the same Apostle teacheth in Chap. 8. 10. when {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} dicitur quasi {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} because when they offered Sacrifice they did often invite one another See Tertul. de Idololâ—â— The Apostle calls these Feasts after the Sacrifice the Table of Devils and opposeth the Table of Devils and opposeth the Table of God to them Some conceive the Papists are therefore called Gentiles Rev. 11. 2. because they so much imitate their worship I would there was no cause for those complaints In
Alexander of Alexandro Their having of Nunnes and Women for Societies or Colledges was used amongst the Heathen as I gather out of Plutarch And that the whole swarm of Friars or Monks was first fledged amongst the Heathen at large appeareth by Learned Hospinian The Papists placing of Images in their Temples and every image to have his severall Priest their Priests to have shaven Crowns to be unmarried to have Frankincense-offerings Fasts and Feasts to have candles in them and to carry them up and down in every respect is Heathenish And to do no wrong Chemnitius in particular proveth this by variety of Authours The placing of Lights in Churches at some time is not altogether an Heathenish Ceremony although it appear by Seneca the Gentiles had it Suidas in the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} thinketh they were first used in Athenian Temples For the ancient Fathers used a kinde of light in the Primitive Church which made St Austin to write They promise to the Churches one oyl another way to solace themselves for the night-light But their burning of Tapers in their Churches at noon-day is altogether a Pagan custom as Rhenanus well observes in his Comment upon Tertullian And I take it their burning of Torches at Funerals is meerly a superfluous Ceremony of the Gentiles as appeareth by Virgil and his Commenter Servius writing upon the Funerall of Pallans Lucet via longo ordine flammarum latè discriminat agros Hierom writing of the death of Blesilla describeth the Funerall pomp of the Christians The Papists kissing of their hands as a kinde of worship in their Churches agreeth in intent with the Heathenish custome although Prudentius and Optatus make mention of kissing of hands in the Primitive Church And this Caelius Rhod. 11. notes out of Pliny and Apuleius Lucian cals the worshipping by laying the finger to the mouth to be the sacrifice of poor men as having nothing else to offer The Learned Chief Justice of France Brissonius whom one cals Varro Galliae particularly writeth why the Papists purposely imitate the Heathens in turning on the left hand at their right Sacrifices M. Perkins noteth out of Ruffinus that pro Thoracibus Serapidis Constantine caused the Sign of the Cross to be erected in Pillars and Houses Sozomenes writeth Constantine pro laboro posuit signum crucis and hence he would have this a superfluous Ceremony of this kinde But unto this I cannot as yet subscribe Likewise where Iulius Pacius wittily notes that the whole corps of the Canon Law or Ecclesiasticall Discipline imitateth the feature and structure of the corps of the Civill Laws generally being Heathen For the common Law-Book called Decretum answereth the Pandects the Decretall the Codex For as in the Codex there are the Imperiall so in the Decretals there are the Pontificiall constitutions And as the answers of wise men that is Lawyers are reported in the Digest so the sentences of the Authours are registred in their Decretum all this I condemn not as an idle correspondency But to leave this point of our Divines I spare to prove out of Calvin their praier for the dead as an idle imitation of the Heathen That their worshiping the Reliques of their Saints and Martyrs is meer Gentilism the ancient bait of Satan And therefore generally to conclude I conceive the Jesuites the golden staves and mattocks of the Sea of Rome whose name answereth Heraclitus's Greek Name for a Bow {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is Thy Name saith Heraclitus a bow is life but thy work is death In office resemble the Heathen Priests of the Indians called Brachmanes mentioned by Ozorius He saith these Heathen Clergy-Priests also study Philosophy and the Mathematicall Arts Insomuch that by their learning and counterfeit holinesse they continue all their life time the singular contrivers of all fraud and villany For my warrant I appeal to the Catastrophe of many Houses of Nobility of this Realm acted by the Jesuites 4. Thus according to my main design I have instanced in many Ecclesiasticall Ceremonies of the Heathen which are or may be lawfully used in ours or any other Christian State For the generall in the Civill Law-Book called Digests which contains the writings of the old Lawyers which were Heathens you may reade many precepts superstitious rather then religious of their Heathen Sacrifices and Church-discipline And yet when the Emperours of Rome began after to be Christians you may perceive by the Civill-Law-Books called Codex how in many points the Emperours retain them But further to exemplifie this is a matter fruitlesse I stand not hereupon But more particularly the Ceremonies on this behalf to be recited I shall refer unto the Heathen Churches the Heathen Flamines or Ministers the Heathen people That the Heathens afore the Christians had their Temples to resort unto where they were to worship their Panism Gods no man will deny though Diogenes in his Cinique Mood held Temples unnecessary by affirming the whole world was the godly and holy Temple of the gods where he would pray and this was also the opinion of Zenon and also of our Ancestors the Saxons as appeareth by Abbas Uspergensis The Scythians by Herodotus erected Temples or Churches to none of the gods but only unto Mars But although Clemens Alexandrinus note that in the beginning superstition was the parent of all Pagan Temples they being formerly saith he the Sepulchres for men Yet Isidore well notes out of Tranquillus that when the people Heathen began to be civill their Temples were built and altered fairer both within and without Moreover the very name of the Heathen Assemblies among the Athenians and the Cities of Asia was Ecclesia which retaineth the name of the Churches among the Christians at this day Onuphrius Panvinus writeth the Church Ecclesia signifieth a Congregation And it is called Basilicon or Temple after the manner of the Gentiles And as we have Bels in our Churches so had the Pagans in theirs By Suetonius the Emperour Octavius Augustus was the first who in the highest place of the Temple of Iupiter Capitoline hanged Bels that at the ringing of their Bels the Heathens were wont to meet at their Assemblies as at Baths and otherwise is plain by Martial who writeth Redde pilam sonat aes Thermarum ludere pergis But yet you may see by a part of the canon Law called the Clementines that the Saracens in their Steeples have no Bels For the fabrick or structure of the Temples whether the Christian Temples were square and the Heathens all round with Dr Humphrey as no diversity I leave it to be enquired of the curious only I note out of Secrates the ancient and Apostolical Churches of the Christians in Antiochia in Syria were built round And out of Giraldus that the Temple of Vesta was like unto a Ball The Temple of the Sun and Bacchus is round And that Stuckius in his Comment upon Arrianus notes the Temple of
Mercury was square and of Cubick-figure As we have no Images in our Temples so likewise was it used of many Heathens Among the Romans their holy and ancient King Numa by a Law banished Images or Idols out of their Temples Tacitus reports the Germans likewise would not represent the gods by Images and Strabo and Herodotus shew how the Persians for their gods neither made Altars nor Images And Eusebius writes the people called Caes by a speciall Law forbad the worshiping of Images To wade a little further the Gentiles having their Temples and Churches for their poeticall gods Christianity being received by consent of the Emperours and Civill Magistrates it is to be seen whether those Ethnick Churches were all demolished and new ones built of the Christians That many of the Heathen Churches were utterly ruinated many Historians and Fathers witnesse Among others St Ierom writing against Jovinian telleth of the destruction of the famous Temples of Iupiter Capitoline And in his Comment upon the Galatians his words are these Vacua Idolorum Templa quatiuntur And in the Theodosian Codex you may see a particular Rescript made by the Emperour Theodosius the younger That the Panism Temples in the East should be pluckt down they being fit to be the Dens of Devils or unclean spirits And their subversion of the Idols Temples is the reason that by the canon and common Law Ius aedificationis is a speciall cause that giveth the patronage or advowson of the Church unto a Lay-Patron But yet without controversie when Kingdoms and States turned from Idolatry or Paganism to Christianity and that in short time so powerfull was the holy Ghost many of the Heathen Temples were not overthrown But of necessity after some Ceremonies accomplished were used for Christian praiers and Assemblies By means whereof the alteration in the State was not so great the temporall world with Democritus being not to be new made ex atomis and men sooner and easilier embraced publique Christian Religion And this is the reason that by the Common Law of England a man may be said to be Patron of a Christian Church although he never built it if he only endow the Church with Revenues And as in forreign Countries the Emperor Honorius about the year 400. made a Law restraining the heat of the Christians against the Wals and stones of the Gentiles Temples The words of the Rescript are As we forbid their Sacrifices so we will the ornament of their publick works be kept And the first Christian Emperour Constantine made a Law against them which pluck down the Tombs and Monuments of the superstitious Heathens And those Laws methinks in forreign Countries gave some warrant for retaining Heathen Ceremonies So in our Country of England it is notorious by the Epistles of Pope Gregory himself who sent our Austin the Monk That although Pope Gregory in his Epistle to the King of England writ that ancient Pagan Temples in England might wholly be destroied yet afterwards the same Pope better advising that somewhat was to be yeelded unto them that were weak in faith as the Apostles did he writeth a peculiar Epistle to Miletus one of the first Apostles or Bishops of the English-men and expresly willeth that the Temples of the Idols in England be not destroied but that they be hallowed and sanctified and turned into Oratories for Christians And as in generall for other Countries this appeareth by Theodoret so now it is a work of some difficulty to shew you in particular what Christian Church at this day standing was anciently the Temple of such an Heathen god In Rome by full ample authority it is plain as by Beda in his severall Books by Ado by Paulus Diaconus and others that Pantheon the Temple in Rome for all the Heathen gods was given by Phocas the Emperor about the 5. year of his Reign unto Pope Boniface the 4. and by the said Pope dedicated to the honour of our Lady and of all Martyrs It is now called the round Church of our Lady And the shape and antiquity thereof is pourtraied lively in the first description of Ianus Outerus his ancient descriptions whose works may please a man that delighteth in this point Dion writes in the Reign of the Emperor Titus when Rome burnt by the space of 3. daies that the Temple Pantheon was burnt but Eusebius saith In the 13. year of Trajan Pantheon was burnt with a Thunderbolt howsoever it was reedified by the Heathen Emperours It is evident by Beda that we had a Pantheon in England it stood in a Town in York-shire now called Godmanham this Temple among our Ancestors the Pagan Saxons was called Godmandingham and was totally burnt by the people of Northumberland when at the preaching of Paulinus King Edwyne of an Idolater became a Christian Beda writes the Heathen person or Flamine Coysi was the first qui injecta lanceâ prophanavit sum omnibus septis suis succendit burnt the very wals of the Church yard Pope Gregory writeth in his Dialogues that Pope Benedict translated the Church of Apollo into the Oratory of S. Martins And Cardinall Bellarmine sheweth that at this day the Church of St Cosme and Damiano in Rome was the materiall Heathen Temples of Castor and Pollux And Ado writeth In the Year 425. Pope Sixtus turned the Temple of God Bacchus in Rome into the Church of our Lady But for England to omit out of Ziphilin the Abridger that anciently the Brittains worshipped commonly in the Church of God Victory as many Learned men have reason to conjecture S. Pauls Church in London to have been the Heathen Temple of Diana For that the adjacent and skirtbuildings unto the Church are called the chambers of Diana As also that in Edw. 1. time as our Chroniclers report in Pauls Church-yard were digged up an innumerable number of Oxeheads which the Learned know were anciently the Sacrifices unto Diana So certain I am that S. Peters Church now called Westminster Abby was anciently the Temple of Apollo For so it appeareth by one of the Charters of King Edgar made to Westminster Abby and this is also recited in Sulcardus Book an Authour that lived near William the Conquerors time And in the Legier Book of St Albones it is written in the life of St Eadmerus the 9. Abbot of St Albones who lived in the time of our King Edward the Martyr that in digging for a Foundation about Albones Abby was found a Book written in the Brittish Tongue And that of the first part discoursed of St Albones the second part treated of the Idolatry of the Citizens of St Albones Verulamij unto the Sun and unto Mercury Hence I conceive probably the ancient Churches of St Albones were dedicated to the service of the Sun and Mercury their gods To proceed as lawfully the civill and supream Magistrates gave the Temples of the Heathens to the Christians as well St Austin notes in one Epistle that the Christian Emperours did passe over to the
a Pontifex Therfore Marcus Sergius being lame he was not suffered to be a Pontifex So Dionysius Halicarnasseus observs Metellus being a Priest and losing his eyes he was put out of his Priesthood So Gellius notes their Vestals were rejected if they wanted wit or beauty The time appointed for their ordination or initiation as Apuleius writeth was called Dies natalis sacrorum The Ceremonies that were used when the Heathen Ministers were made are in part described by Erasmus in his Book called Lingua where he writes their afflatus and exorcismos Nay as amongst our Clergy imposition of hands is almost essentiall to the office of a Minister so you may see how Livy treating of the Ordination of Numa to be Pontifex delivered upon Numa his head hands were laid ab augure sacerdote Iulius Pollux in his Onomasticon discourseth of the manner of the Ministers ordaining and ordained As at the making or electing of a Christian Minister no Simony is to be be used so is it plain by Dionysius Halycarnasseus no reward was to be given for the making of Heathen Priests And as the Minister under the Gospel may be deposed or resign so that the Heathen may be degraded I have already shewed That he might resign is shewed you by Cicero in his Brutus where Augures might resign their Sacerdotium and Livy writes their Vestals after they were 30. years old might give over their order And as long as our Ministers continue of the Clergy we know they have many priviledges above the Laity So likewise that the Heathen Ministers had is plentifully to be proved out of Aristotle out of Caesar out of Plutarch in Camillo Not unpolitickly therefore doth Cardinall Baronius in one of his Tomes perceiving the argument of the Scriptures to prove the Popes Supremacy are but straws at large maintain the Superiorities and Preheminencies of the Bishop of Rome to be due unto him Insomuch as he noteth at the conversion of the Emperor of Rome from Paganism unto Christianity the priviledges of the Heathen Pontifex Maximus were at last transferred by the Emperour unto the Pope of Rome Again look into the manner of the government and behaviour of the Heathenish Priests or Sacrifices in their prophane Churches and you shall see their good orders are not refused by the Christian Clergy For you may learn by Valerius and Philostratus that it is common to the Christians with the Gentiles to use a white garment upon their bodies in their charges because the AEgyptians brought no kinde of woollen garment into the Temple Gyraldus in his Syntagma notes that they were called Linigeri more particularly the Priests of the Heathen Egyptian God Isis wore linnen Surplices as witnesseth Nicolaus Leonicenus and Apuleius in his Golden Asse Alexander ab Alexandro reports the Priests of Arabia were clad in linnen garments having Miters on their heads And generally that other Heathen Priests did so may appear by Virgil who writeth fontemque ignemque ferebant vestiti lino Servius in his Comment calleth the Surplice a pure religious garment To proceed As our Ministers are bare-headed in the Saying of Service so generally was it used amongst the Heathen Priests as appeareth by Macrobius And that God AEsculapius was worshiped bare-headed Plautus may witnesse Quis hic est qui aperto capite AEsculapium salutat Brissonius notes the manner of the Heathen Priests being covered to sacrifice obnâ—â—ato capite came first from the Romans So is the opinion of Servius writing upon the second of the AEneids and this is formerly noted by Polidore Virgil out of Plutark But saving savour I take it all Saturns Priests though Romans were uncovered at their time of Service or Sacrifice For so I learn cut of Plutark because he was the God of Time and discovereth and laieth open concealed truth And I remember out of Alexander ab Alexandro that all the Priests of Hercules Honoris Opis did sacrifice bare-headed He saith that AEneas was the first that invented any Priest should sacrifice covered or with a vail upon his face lest their ears and eyes might withdraw them from doing their office Hence Vâ—â—â—o his Etymology of Flamen is justified namely that in Italy he was so called quia Capite velato erat Again As the Christian Ministers are not to suffer prophane or excommunicate persons to come into our Churches or Sacraments so likewise would not the Heathen Clergy-men For as in generall appeareth by Theodoret and Sâ—zomenes that the Gentiles would not admit Christians to their service unlesse they renounced their Religion and appeased their Daemones {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the drivers away of evil which also Iulian commanded Athenaeus notes Demophron would not admit Orestes ad Choufestum because he was an unsanctified person and so in particular at their Eleusine and other Sacrifices the Heathen Priests cried {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which words were used by Callimachus in his Hymn and by Lucian These words exclude especially three sorts of persons Atheists Christians and Epicures Vives notes out of Servius the words of Virgils verse procul O procul este prophani were taken from the Heathen Pontifices which is also further evident out of Alexander ab Alexandro who writeth when the people came to sacrifice the Pontifex or Flamine asked them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the people answered {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} many and good men Suetonius saying to this purpose is familiar concerning Nero The Cryer using in their Temples at sacrificing times to cry that wicked and ungodly persons must not presume to offer sacrifice Moreover as we using to preach in our Churches so the very Heathen Priests inlightned only by naturall reason made morall exhortations unto the people For Diodorus Siculus writing that among the AEgyptians when the King did offer sacrifice with his Ball the Priests out of holy Books after he had praied for the health and prosperity of the King and State delivered the counsels and actions of excellent men by which the King was warned to use his authority and command godly and justly according to the example of others He did further entreat saith Diodorus of their piety towards their God and Religion And for that purpose I gather out of Valerius Maximus that the people which were to approach to the Heathenish Altar were commanded by the Priests to lay aside out of their minde all former hatred and malice or else not to approach Likewise the Heathen Priests had musick in their Temples in the time of Service Wherefore for the generall to omit Livy and Valerius Maximus In particular Suetonius notes it is a wonder in Tiberius Caesar for offering Sacrifice unto the gods without Musick Now as the Christians use in their Churches particular Psalms Hymns and Prayers for set and Festivall daies and this Giraldus sheweth in some part that upon chief and speciall daies the Heathen had their particular Verses Praiers and Hymns
But more particularly Iulius Pollux writing {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} namely the speciall Psalmes if I may so speak and to what gods they were due It is worth the remembring how the Papists if a Bishop or Abbot be canonized and die they have a glorious and speciall Antiphoneme which begins Ecce Sacerdos Magnus but if the Emperour or King be canonized his Antiphoneme is but the ordinary one for a Father This last I learn out of a Treatise called Salome and Bisance And as for the bounding of the Meares of Parishes our Clergy-Priests on their Rogation week go on Procession So likewise did the Heathen their perambulations for this purpose were called Ambarvalia And it appeareth by Livy that the Heathen Clergy might not be present at the sentence of death And Iosephus notes that Pontifex Maximus might not behold a dead body and at this day that this is and hath been the custome of our Clergy is full apparent To conclude this particular with the nature of the coercive power used by the Heathen Priests Iulius Caesar at large delivereth of the Heathen Clergy of this Island and of France namely the Druides if any private or publick person would not stand to their Decrees and Orders they used to forbid him their Sacrifices which saith Caesar among them is a most grievous punishment for the party so interdicted is not onely accounted a detested person and men are to shun his company but neither shall he be capable of any honour or shall sue for his own right Hence by good probability came the excommunication used by the British Clergy anciently and continued by our English Clergy at this day seeing the punishment and effect thereof is so lively described as if Caesar had been an authour of our age For our Excommunication whether it be hominis or Canonis the former may be Clavis Ecclesiae errans saith our Register the later not Doth not onely barre the excommunicated person from entring into the Church at Service time and intimate a man not in osculo communicare cum Excommunicato as it is in the canon Laws which is the reason Cyprian cals excommunicated persons abstenti because men refrain their company but also it seems unto this day by the Canon Laws of this Land an excommunicate person cannot bring an action or implead any other for his right untill he be absolved I note out of Sophocles Oedipus that they which killed King Lucins were excommunicated which took the same effect with the Druids Excommunication And for this also saies Plato in his 9. and 10. Book De Legibus Pope Innocent the 4. calleth Excommunication the sinew of Ecclesiasticall Discipline The Canonists account Excommunication to be the Keys of opening and shutting which Christ gave at his departure to his Disciples But the Vulgar came not by many hundred years by the travell and employment and mission of this good Thunderbolt it is become Brutum or Salmoneum fulmen In the last place I am to speak of the Religious Ceremonies of the Ethnick people in their Churches that they are answerable to ours It is evident by Tertullian Clement Apuleius and Servius upon Virgil that the Heathens in their Churches at the time of their service praying or sitting looked into the East but the Jews in their Churches as appeareth by St Ierome praying looked into the West and yet we follow the Gentiles custome and build our Churches to that purpose as the Heathens did For Viâ—ruvius the Heathen Architect commandeth that the face of the Temples be built in the West that they which pray may have their faces looking into the East St Bazils opinion then that an Apostolicall tradition of the Christians to pray looking into the East is not absolutely currant Caelius notes Hermes Trismegistus praying looking upon the South the Jews looked upon the West the Christians saith he looked into the East which they learned of Pythagoras as holding with Ptolomy the motion of the Sun cometh from the East I reade in Athanasius that the Apostles appointed the Christian Churches to be built to the East that in praying they might behold Paradise But to quit Tho. Aquinas his third reason why the Christians in praying look into the East I fancy the reason of our praying into the East set down in the particular describer of the City of Ierusalem the Christians in Europe saith he at their praiers looking into the East behold the Countrey where Christ was conversant on earth and in so beholding may behold the face of Christ upon the Crosse looking upon them Yea the Heathens in their prayers not only looked as the Christians and praying held up their hands toward Heaven as Livy sheweth Camillus praying and Virgils Tendens ad sydera palmas intimateth but also in some points praied as we do To omit their joynt order and decency of prayer out of Plutarch Ne Caledonij suis Tragedia renovetur And Iamblicus the Scholar of Porphiry as in generall he writeth of the force of prayer so in particular he concludes all their sacrifices and Religion are better joyned and perfected by Vows and Prayers yea the wisest of the Heathens as Marsilius Ficinus notes upon Plato's Alcibiades praied devoutly and in spirit Flagrantia animi offering up their Vows without any Characters which were invented to stir up their affection by Orpheus and Zoroastes And Alexander ab Alexandro writes the Heathen man which praied first did confesse himself a sinner that I observe out of the Apopthegm of the Heathen Lacedemonian to God and not to the Priests which the Heathen Pontifex there confessed And that in their praiers Alexander ab Alexandro notes they thanked the gods for benefits received and desired aversions of evils Yea the Heathens used to pray in their Churches for the afflicted in body and minde as the Christians doe For it appeareth by Lucian if any were hurt he would sacrifice to the gods to be relieved And by Plutarch not only Sacrifices were used among the Heathen for the health of Pompey but also Cities celebrated Holy-daies in their Temples for receiving great benefits of their gods as the health of Pompey And the praier of Arianus the Scholar of Epictetus as Lucian notes when he would call upon the gods was in these words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Lord have mercy And as I reade Arrianus Book called Peri-plus a phrase of his is but now God willing And that Si Deus voluerit ought to be the praier of the Christians appeareth by Iam. 3. And if the Heathen praiers were not conformable for the present state the Heathen Magistrates caused them to be amended And this I learn out of Valerius that Scipio Africanus the publick praier being that the gods would make better and more ample the state of Rome he said They are already great enough and devised the form of praier to be that the gods would continue and preserve the state of Rome Again as the