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A66394 A discourse concerning the celebration of divine service in an unknown tongue Williams, John, 1636?-1709. 1685 (1685) Wing W2702; ESTC R1943 35,062 62

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A DISCOURSE Concerning the CELEBRATION OF DIVINE SERVICE IN AN Unknown Tongue LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard M DC LXXXV ADVERTISEMENT CArdinal Hosius Sanders Epist Cler. Gall. Extract ex Regist Fac. Par. Procez c. quoted in this Tract by the page refer to a Book called Collectio quorundam gravium Authorum qui Sacrae Scripturae aut divinorum officiorum in vulgarem Linguam Translationes damnarunt c. printed at Paris 1661. The Quotation page 2. though out of Sixtus Senens are the Words of Ambrosius Compsae who severely condemning Cajetan for the aforesaid Saying It is better c. gives this as a Reason that that Opinion primò à Diabolo inventa est ERRATA PAg. 1. Marg. lin 3. for 1 read 2. p. 8. l. 20. r. were often p. 21. marg dele In Genes Lit. L. c. 8. in Ps 99 p. 25. l. 26. dele little p. 28. l. 1. after together r. for Conjuration p. 45. marg l. 9. dele i. p. 48. l. 26. r. Sfentopulcer A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE CELEBRATION OF Divine Service IN AN Unknown Tongue UPon this Argument the Church of England doth fully declare it self in these Words It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God and the Custome of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayers in the Church or to minister the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood of the people But if we consult the Doctors of the Church of Rome about it we shall find them as in most other points differing extreamly amongst themselves Mercer a very learned person and Professor of Hebrew at Paris is so free as to say Temerè fecerunt c. They amongst us have done rashly that brought in the Custome of praying in an Vnknown Tongue which very often neither they themselves nor our people understand And Cardinal Cajetan saith Melius est c. It is better for our Church that the publick Prayers in the Congregation be said in a Tongue common to the Priests and people and not in Latin Others of them are of another Mind and say that the having Divine Service in a Tongue known to the people is new and prophane and the Doctrine requiring it Diaboli calliditatem sapit smells of the craft of the Devil And that the Church in making use of the Latin Tongue therein received it by inspiration from the Holy-Ghost as a late Author saith With what consistence soever the former sort may speak to Truth and Reason yet I am sure the later speak with consistence enough to the Opinion Declarations and Practice of their Church as is evident from the Council of Trent the present Standard of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome which I find thus Englished to my Hands by a noted person of their Church Though the Mass contain great instruction for Gods faithful people yet it seemed not expedient to the Fathers of the Council that it should be celebrated every where in the Vulgar Tongue Wherefore retaining in all Churches the antient Rite or rather in all places the antient Rite of every Church approved by the Holy Roman Church the Mother and Mistress of all Churches lest Christs Sheep should hunger and the Children asking Bread none should be found to break it to them the Holy Synod commands Pastors and all that have care of Souls that during the celebration of Mass they should frequently either by themselves or others expound some part of those things which are read in it and among other things let them explain the Mystery of the most Holy Sacrifice the Words are Some Mystery of this Holy Sacrifice especially on Sundays and Feasts And they conclude If any one shall say that Mass ought to be celebrated only in the Vulgar Tongue let him be Anathema To this I shall add for a conclusion the Judgment of the late Pope Alexander the Seventh in a Brief he sent to the Clergy of France about a Translation of the Missal into that Language at that time newly published in which he saith that Some Sons of Perdition had arrived to that madness as to Translate and Publish it c. A Novelty we abhor and detest as the Seed-plot of disobedience rashness sedition and schism and of many other evils and therefore that French Missal or what shall hereafter be published in any other manner we condemn reprobate and forbid From all which we may perceive what an evident repugnancy there is betwixt the Doctrine of the Church of England and that of Rome in the matter before us And therefore for the better understanding the Case and discerning which is in the Right and which in the Wrong I shall discourse of it in the following order First I shall consider the Phrase an Vnknown Tongue Secondly I shall enquire into the lawfulness and expediency of celebrating Divine Service in a Tongue not understood by the People For so much is affirmed by the Council of Trent and denied by the Church of England Thirdly I shall enquire whether the celebrating Service in a Tongue not understood by the people hath been the antient custome of every Church For so much also is affirmed by that Council and denyed by the Church of England Fourthly I shall consider whether the Provision made by the foresaid Council of having Some part of the Mass expounded be sufficient to countervail the mischief of having the whole in a Tongue not understood by the people and to excuse that Church in their injunction of it Fifthly I shall enquire whether upon the whole the publick Service of God ought not to be celebrated in a Tongue vulgarly understood Which Proposition whosoever holds is anathematized by the foresaid Council And yet is owned by the Church of England SECT I. Of the Phrase Service in an Unknown Tongue Toward the fixing the sence of this Phrase we are to observe I. That there is the Vulgar Tongue of a Country which is universally understood by the Natives of what rank or quality soever Such was the Latin Tongue formerly in Rome such now is English with us Before we dismiss this it is to be further considered 1. That there are different Dialects or wayes of expressing and pronouncing the same Tongue which differences of Words or pronunciation do not so alter the Tongue but that throughout under all these variations it agrees in much more than it differs so that he that speaks the one is generally understood by him that useth the other Such anciently were the different Dialects of the Greek Tongue well known to the learned And such are the Northern Southern and Western wayes of speaking amongst our selves in this Nation 2. Where there are these different Dialects there generally is one way of speaking which either from the eloquence or fashionableness of it so far prevails as to be the Standard of the Tongue and to be used in Writing Books Letters c. and is understood
person that having been baptized by Hereticks upon the hearing the Questions and Answers at the Baptism of the Orthodox questioned his own Baptism But saith he we would not rebaptize him because he had for a good while held Communion with us in the Eucharist and had been present at our giving of Thanks and answered Amen S. Basil who flourished about the year 370 putting the Question How the Spirit prays and the Mind is without Fruit answers It is meant of those that pray in a Tongue unknown to them that hear For when the Prayers are unknown to them that are present the mind is without Fruit to him that prays c. And as to the Practice of the Church in the publick Service he declares That the people had the Psalms Prophets and evangelical Commands And when the Tongue sings the Mind doth search out the sence of the things that are spoken And he relates how the Christians used to spend the Night in Prayers Confessions and Psalms one beginning and the rest following And that the noise of those that joyned in the Prayers was like that of the Waves breaking against the Shoar With him we have S. Ambrose agreeing that lived much about the same time who saith It is evident that the Mind is ignorant where the Tongue is not understood as some Latines that are wont to sing in Greek being delighted with the sound of the Words without understanding what they say And again the unskilful hearing what he doth not understand knows not the conclusion of the Prayer and doth not answer Amen that is it is true that the Blessing may be confirmed For by those is the confirmation of the Prayer fulfilled that do answer Amen c. And he doth shew what an honour is given to God what a reverence is derived upon our Religion and how far it excells the Pagan that he that hears understands and that nothing is in the dark And he saith This is a symphony when there is in the Church a concord of divers Ages and Vertues that the Psalm is answered and Amen said c. Toward the latter end of the same Century lived S. Chrysostome who saith That the people are much concerned in the Prayers that they are common to them and the Priest that in the Sacrament as the Priest prays for the people so the people for the Priest And that those Words and with thy Spirit signifie nothing else And what wonder is it That in the Prayers the people do talk with the Priest And elsewhere he saith That the Apostle shews that the people receive no little damage when they cannot say Amen To conclude Bellarmin saith That in the Liturgy which bears this Fathers name the parts sung by the Priest Deacon and People are most plainly distinguished To him let us add S. Jerom his cotemporary who declares that at the Funeral of Paula in Jerusalem the multitude did attend and sung their Psalms in Hebrew Greek Latin and Syriack according to the Nations they were of And we are further told That at Bethlem there resorted Gauls Britains Armenians Indians c. and there were almost as many Choirs of Singers as of Countries of a different Tongue but of one and the same Religion And the same Father tells us That at Rome the people sounded forth Amen like to the noise of Thunder Next let us consult S. Augustine of the same time who saith That no body is edified by what he doth not understand And That the reason why the Priest lifts up his Voice in the Church when he prayeth is not that God but the people may hear and understand and joyn with him And that whereas the Bishops and Ministers of the Church were sometimes guilty of using barbarous and absurd Words that they should correct it that the people may most plainly understand and say Amen And elsewhere as has been quoted before exhorts that they be not as Parrots and Pies that say they know not what Thus far our Authorities do proceed with little interruption For Bellarmin doth grant That not only in the times of the Apostles all the people were wont to answer in Divine Offices but that the same was a long time after observed both in the Eastern and Western Church as is evident from S. Chrysostome S. Jerom c. Now having derived the Title thus far for above 400 years we need not be much solicitous for what was introduced afterwards but yet for a farther confirmation I shall add some Testimonies of a later date Such is that known Edict of the Emperour Justinian who dyed Anno 565. in which it is thus enacted We command all Bishops and Priests to celebrate the holy Oblation and the Prayers in sacred Baptism not in a low but such a Voice as may be heard by the people that thereby their Hearts may be raised up with greater Devotion and Honour be given to God for so the Holy Apostle teacheth in the first to the Corinthians For if thou only bless with the Spirit c. To this I shall add that of Isidore Hispalensis that lived in the end of the fifth Century who saith That it behoveth that when it is sung in the Church that all do sing and when Prayers are offered that all do pray and when there is reading that all do read and silence being made that all hear This is also agreeable to the former Opinion of the Church of Rome it self and for proof of which what can we desire more than the Declarations of Popes and Councils and this we have For we read of a permission given by the Pope to the Moravians at the instance of Cyril who had converted them and other Nations of the Sclavonians to have Divine Service in their own Tongue and that he and the Conclave were induced to it when not a few did oppose it by a Voice from Heaven that said Let every Spirit praise the Lord aud every Tongue confess to him as Aeneas Sylvius afterward Pope relates And Pope John the VIII not long after in Anno 880. writes thus to Sfento opulcer a Prince of the Sclavonians We command that the Praises and Works of our Lord Christ be declared in the same Sclavonian Tongue For we are admonished by sacred Writ to praise the Lord not only in three but in all Tongues saying Praise the Lord all ye Nations praise him all the people And the Apostles filled with the Holy Ghost spake in all Tongues And S. Paul admonisheth Let every Tongue confess and in the first to the Corinthians he doth sufficiently and plainly admonish us that in speaking we should edifie the Church of God Neither doth it hinder the Faith or Doctrine to have the Mass sung or the Gospel and Lessons well translated read or other divine Offices sung in the same Sclavonian Tongue because he who made the three principal Tongues viz.