came not to unhappy ends And the present Governors of this Church have had sufficient warning to have restored the Honour of God and prevented the exposing of so much of their own Shame Sins of Omission in places of great Trust are dangerous and damnable And such is frequently the State of such as joyn with them And this undoubtedly has been a continual Gratification to the Powers of darkness to have held this Nation in such Fetters so long But because the Gratifications of those Apostate Spirits arise from their Success in their attempts upon Men to involve them in Sin and Disobedience and Indignities to God and so engage them in their own state of Apostacy they cannot be well understood unless the Wickedness of what was done in this matter be farther detected and explained than is commonly apprehended For which purpose it is to be noted that it was usual with Mankind from the beginning to perform their most Solemn Transactions with all the external Declarations of their Minds that they could that is not only with Audible but also with Visible Signs and Significations not with Words only but with the conjuction of Actions and Things and the Omission of those was interpreted to be a Slight or Contempt Accordingly it was usual to make their Addresses to God and even to Princes and Prophets with Presents in Recognition of Superiority And the chief Aliments of their Lives Bread and Wine were usually part of their Offerings even at their Sacrifices This was retained by the Jews who at all their Festivals consecrated a Cake of Bread and a Chalice of Wine with Water and over it gave Thanks to God for his Creation of the World and his special Mercies to Mankind and to themselves particularly mention'd and more largly for that Celebrated at that time This is what God foretold by the Prophet Mal. 1.11 should be done by the Gentiles and this is the import of our Saviours words as often as ye do this do it in Commemoration of me whereby he appropriates this which was used before in Commemoration of several other Divine Favours to be done always from thence forward in Commemoration of his Sacrifice upon the Cross as the Compendium of all And from this Institution the Apostles and from them the Churches founded by them receiv'd it and have ever since used it as an Antitype as effectual for them to all intents and purposes as were all the Types and Sacrifices of the Jews for them before his Passion But more particularly therein may be observed 1. A solemn Recognition of the Soveraignty of God by right of Creation in the Oblation of the chief Aliments of our Lives with Thanksgivings for it and all his Divine Favours 2. The Sanctification of those Creatures by the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Prayers of the Church 3. The Oblation of the Creatures Sanctified in Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross the great Propitiation for the Sins of the World by which alone we have Access unto and Acceptance with the Father with Supplications Prayers and Intercessions for all Men according to the Apostles Exhortation 1 Tim. 2.1 So that the Oblation of the Memorials of his Son's Passion is a Solemn Actual Allegation of his Covenant v. Gen. 9.13.17 And therein is implyed 4. A Solemn Recognition of our Redemption by him Subjection to him and Obligation to lay down our Lives in Obedience to him as he did his for us in obedience to his Father and a Solemn Act of Confederation with him And lastly the Communion and Participation of these Sanctified Creatures for the Sanctification of our Souls and Bodies and Augmentation of Spiritual Life and Vigor and Special Application of all the Benefits of his Holy Sacrifice unto us And now what could be either more honorable for our Saviour or a more Solemn Engagement with him on the one side or more offensive and grievous to that Envious and Malicious Spirit on the other than to see that Passion which he had most maliciously procur'd to be so honour'd and applied to the Honour of the Holy Trinity and the Benefit and Advantage of Men and turned to his own Confusion and his quondam Vassals and their Posterity thus confederating and fortified against him And what could be a greater Gratification to him then to see all this which was so offensive and grievous and done weekly at least in all Churches and dayly in all great Churches to be thus Abolished and even what remained of it soon after almost every where neglected And this is what their Grandfather Cranmer or rather this wicked Spirit by him and in him was so subtle and industrious to abolish And this is what the present Cranmerians his Posterity have so obstinately opposed and refuse to restore notwithstanding the Publick Admonition raised and conducted by the hand of God undoubtedly into the very heart of the Chief City of the Nation notwithstanding the Fortifications of Humane Laws against it and although divers learned men have declared their Convictions of the truth of the Case in print but to no other effect than their own self Condemnation and Condemnation of the rest and plain Manifestation of what Spirit they are And here we may plainly perceive the Reason of what Mr. Mede hath well observ'd in fact That the Devil hath exercised and vented more Malice and Spight against this Holy Rite than against any other part of the Christian Religion except the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity And from hence alone it is abundantly manifest that it was the same Spirit or of the same party which secretly inspir'd and instigated Cranmar and which more openly disputed with Luther before against it And this I think is sufficient for Satisfaction to the First Question But we have not yet seen all the inveterate Spight and Malice of this Antichristian Spirit against this Holy Solemnity That could not satisfie it thus to have depraved and abolished it and deprived God the Father Son and Holy Spirit of the Honor and the Christian People of the Benefit of it unless he could prevail also to have a piece of Mockery set up in the place of it Such another as was heretofore introduced in France called Missa Sicca but soon exploded there as a dry empty barren thing but set up here upon some occasion taken from the first Book of Ed. 6. very formally in the latter inlarged with the Priests Rehersal of the Ten Commandments and a supplicatory Respons for the People at the end of each and commonly call'd the Second Service The Subtilty of the Serpent is remarkable enough in it having nothing but what is innocent and good and well accomodated to deceive the people and make them believe it as good as what they had before but being perform'd at the Altar and in the place of that August Venerable and as S. Chrisostome calls it Tremendous Sacrifice it was an Abominable Abuse both to God and Man As if a
The CRANMERIAN LITURGY Or The Subtilty of the Serpent In corrupting the True English Liturgy by Cranmer and a Faction of Calvinists THat there is in the most Solemn Proper and Peculiar part of the Christian Worship anciently in all the Western Churches intitled the Mass now in English the H. Communion as it hath always been celebrated throughout the whole Catholic Church not a Sacrament only but both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament hath been the Doctrin not only of the Catholic Church in all Ages received from the Apostles and accordingly it was called Sacrificium Quotidianum but also of most of those of the Church of England who Composed the First Book of Ed. 6. and upon good Deliberation and special Consideration of the Question fitted it for that purpose moreover of divers of the most eminent for Learning in England ever since as Andrews Feild Montague Cousens Laud Mede Heylyn Thorndike Taylor Sherlock Hooper c. As may be seen or perceived in their Writings besides others who are known to have been of the same Judgment though they have left nothing in writing concerning it and others who out of Fondness for the Church whereof they were Members affecting a kind of Infallibility and preferring the Honour of it before the Honour and Unity of the Catholic Church and Peace of the World have rather cavilled at it then could in their Conscience plainly and positively deny it But Cranmer with his Calvinists who were amongst them who composed that Book being unable to carry all in that work according to his own mind in an Honest Plain Orderly way presently applied himself to do it by Craft and the Secular Power though in a Factious and Schismatical manner And a Review of that Book though but just before declared by Act of Parliament to have been composed by the Aid of the Holy-Ghost was soon presumptuously if not impiously resolved upon without any worthy cause as the next Act saith expresly And instead of an English Synod or Convocation of the English Clergy not one of them it seems but had either so much Conscience or so much Caution as not to appear in it Martin Bucer was sent for from beyond Sea and the Book was translated into Latin for him to consider and model according to his own and Master Calvin's humour ad Petitionem Archiepiscopi as far as was thought fit and like to pass Bucer did what was desired and presuming too much upon his own Judgment and perhaps the more thro' the over valuation of it by Cranmer and his Faction tho' he might mean well dismembred disordered and deformed it in the principal part as may be seen in his Scripta Anglicana but was soon after call'd to account for what he had done in another World tho' I do not find that all the Corruptions and Abuses in it are chargeable upon him and particularly that which was none of the least the Defacing and Misplacing the Prayer of Oblation of which more hereafter But he was farther imploy'd to promote the Work by writing to Mr Calvin that by his Perswasions and Authority the Protector and the King himself and other great men might be disposed for the passing it in Parliament whether the Clergy would or not And so the New Book was approved by the King the Young Head of the New Church of England and by him now grown up to fifteen and sufficiently instructed in the New Doctrin recommended to the Parliament so taken up with the Spoils of the Monasteries as left little leasure to think of Liturgies and by them imposed upon the Church and Nation without any Synod or Convocation or declared Consent or Privity of any one of the Clergy of the Church of England who is known to have had any hand in the Alterations besides Cranmer and upon mere Politick Considerations without any other just Cause as is declared by the Act it self by which it was established And this is the true Generation of this spurious supposititious deformed Cranmerian Changling which hath been hug'd by a company of ignorant inconsiderate abused People like a Bastard child by a silly abused Husband made a Bone of Dissention and ridiculously contended for in several small matters by such as were shamefully imposed upon in the greatest of all and therein very tamely and weakly complyed with such as had put the Abuse upon them an Abuse not easy to be digested or thought on without some Motion of Indignation by any intelligent person who hath any Sense of and Concern for the Honour of God of our Saviour or of his Church the true Catholic Church or any remainder of it in this Nation But in short this is matter of Fact not to be denyed and upon this matter of Fact two things are to be inquired 1. By what Spirit this might be done Whether by the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of Antichrist 2. How far or Whether at all one having Knowledge or Notice of this Abuse ought or may use this imperfect and disordered Form or comply with it by reason of any Humane Law or of his own Subscription before Notice or any Knowledge of it To which may be added a third and fourth 3. Whether the People may communicate in the use of it and not be Partakers in the Guilt 4. Whether the Clergy in general and every particular person of them ought not to use in the Celebration of these Holy Misteries a more Compleat and Perfect Form notwithstanding any temporal Laws to the contrary as they will answer it to God upon the Salvation of their Souls at the last day The First of these Questions may easily be resolved upon a due Consideration of the Alterations which were made of which there are 4 or 5 Very Considerable and notoriously Contrary to the Practice of the whole Catholic Church in the three Principal parts of that Office In the Prayer for the Catholic Church the Commemoration of the Saints and Prayers for the Dead In the Prayer of Consecration that part wherein the Greek Churches and all Antiquity place the very Form of Consecration And the whole Prayer of Oblation the three former expunged and the last not only maimed of a principal part but the remainder removed from its proper place and most perversly plac'd after the Communion In all these Alterations so Considerable in themselves and moreover in respect to the Reverence which ought to be used toward the holy-Holy-Spirit of God and the regard to be had to the Honour of the State if there appear no Considerable Advantage to the State to excuse them nor any thing really for the Honour or Service of God which required them but much to the contrary with great and manifest Gratifications of the Adverse Powers the Devil and his Angels it will not be unreasonable to believe that they were made by the Importunity of Cranmer Arch-Bishop and God-father to the King and thro' the Instigation and Energy of those Powers by whom he was deluded
That there was no such Advantage to the State appears by the very Act it self Nor have I ever yet known any thing alleadged or pretended in them for the Honour or Service of God that had so much weight as deserved to be taken notice of But on the contrary in them all there is one Common Gratification of the Spight and Malice of the Spirit of Antichrist against both the Catholic-Church by contempt of the Authority of it and such a Breach and Division in it and against the Church of England in particular by making it Guilty of so execrable Schism and Seperation from the whole Catholic-Church of all Ages with great Presumption and Indignity to it by so insolently rejecting and by consequence condemning so many such Solemn Acts of her Worship and this not merely against the Church Militant but extending even to the Church Triumphant and Communion of Saints For besides all this in the Expunging of the Commemoration of the Saints there was a Special Gratification of their Spite and Malice against Them by whom and in whom by Christ residing in them they had been so often overcome and even against Christ their Head and God the Father himself For the Thanksgiving to God for the Grace communicated to them which was a Principal Fruit of Christ's Passion being a Duty to God and an Honour to Christ in the Honour done to them and a most Solemn Act of Communion of Saints answered by them in their Prayers for the Church upon Earth To have all this abolished was undoubtedly matter of much Joy and Tryumph in the whole Kingdom of Darkness And such another Special Gratification of their Spight and Malice was the Expunging of the Common Prayers of this Office for the Souls of the rest departed in the Faith of Christ and Communion of the Catholic Church by the Interruption of so Solemn an Act of the Church of Charity to them and Communion with them In the due Consecration of the Eucharist it hath always been believed in the Catholic Church that there is a Special Sanctification of the Elements of Bread and Wine by the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Prayers of the Church In the putting out therefore of that Prayer there is a double Gratification of that Malicious Spirit 1. By the Injury or Disrespect thereby done to the Holy Spirit by whom the Oblation should be Sanctified and by whose Aid the former book was declared to have been composed a special Instance of the Madness and Inconsiderateness of Schismaticks and 2. by depriving the Church of the Benefit of that Prayer and making the Consecration at least doubtfull but none at all according to the Sentiments of the greatest part of Christians at this day and generally of all anciently as may be beleived upon the Agreement of all Ancient Liturgies in what is here put out and that by Tradition from the Apostles as is affirmed by S. Basil Nor is it much to be wondered to see such Decay of Primitive Fervor and Vigor when we see such Departure from Primitive Institutions and Orders and such Neglect and Contempt of so Divine Means of Spiritual Supplies Nor was it without some particular Gratification of the same wicked Spirit that the use of the Sign of the Cross was also left off at the Consecration contrary to the Practice of the whole Catholic Church derived from the Primitive times The Victories obtained by Holy Christians over the Powers of Darkness by the Use of that Sign for which the English Reader may have recourse to Dr. Caves Lives of the Fathers and others are an Evidence of their Abhorance of it and that of the true Original of the like Abhorance in the minds of some men from what Spirit it proceeds But the Subtilty of the Serpent as well as his Malice is in none of the Alterations more remarkable then in those of the Prayer of Oblation which Bucer did not think fit to alter yet were made and designed purposely to abolish all that might import the Oblation of an Vnbloody Sacrifice And that was done as affectually as could be in this manner 1. It must not be quite taken away lest that should give occasion for some contest about it but 2. It must be exenterated and the Heart taken out and then 3. be placed after the Communion so that then the Memorials could not be offered or presented to God which were eaten and drunk by the people whereby the business was efectually done And yet this was not enough but 4. Another Prayer must be added to be used the one or the other at discretion that so none might be obliged to the use of so much as that and they who understood the Mystery of it needed not to be troubled with any relick of it or the Spirit which inspired them with the Memory of a thing so offensive to him And yet was not all this enough but after all even the Lords Prayer it self must also be displaced contrary to the use of the Catholic Church in all Ages that so all the Prayers of this Church might be Schismatically separated and set at a Distance from the Memorials of our Saviours Sacrifice upon the Cross through which alone they have Acceptance And if from the beginning of this Service we do but take notice how the Special Confessions in use in the Greek as well as Latine Churches are by a very formal General Confession and Absolution superseded and brought into disuse we may observe the same Subtilty from end to end throughout Such is the Subtilty of Schismatical Superstition inspired by a Spirit of Delusion and imposed upon inconsiderate People under a false Cover of Zeal for God against Superstition Nor are the Gratifications less remarkable than the Subtilty The Matter of Fact is plain in the Books and the Design not only easily perceivable in the Alterations but moreover owned and expresly affirm'd in the Charge and Allegations of the Scotish and English Calvinists who better understood the Mystery of all than the Clergy of the Church of England did or were willing for shame to acknowledge against Archbishop Laud for restoring it And had it been a Fault he had been really guilty of it but was really guilty of Preferring the Honour of his particular Church before the Honour of our Lord and his Catholic Church and not faithfully and plainly setting out the Truth and indeavouring in the proper and regular way of a National Synod to have it restored at home And therefore while he thought to do the Work and save his Life in the Cranmerian way of a Crafty Trick he was suffered to lose both his Design and it too It is not a light matter to corrupt the Solemn Worship of God or for those in place of Authority knowingly to connive at such Corruptions Nor are matters of true Religion to be promoted by Tricks and underhand Dealings I know none of the known Actors in the Cranmerian Corruptions who liv'd long after or
Tenant should with great formality present to his Lord at a great Feast at his own Table for a Basket of choice Fruit an Empty Basket And yet is this Abuse of a shadow continued very formally in most Churches in England and the Substance neglected A very pleasant Spectacle undoubtedly to Troops of Apostate Spirits and a special Invitation and Gratification to them to come and attend such a Service in the place of the Good Angels who offended at such an Abuse are most likely to withdraw their Presence The Indignity done to God and to our Saviour in this is greater than I think fit to inlarge upon but there is one thing I think fit the People should be admonished of The Christian Church as I take it hath always looked upon this Holy Solemnity as a Representation upon Earth in the best manner Mortals can perform it of what our Great High Priest doth for us in Heaven in a Divine and Spiritual manner And how can they expect the Compleat or indeed any Benefit of what he doth there who set up such a lame Service and Abuse of it here I do much suspect that both the Greek and Latine Churches for 1200 years last past have suffer'd much for their Curtelling a Considerable part of this Office as may easily be perceived by comparing all their Liturgies now in use with that most ancient Form in the Constitutions and the most ancient Usages of the Jews And what these incorrigible Cranmerians have farther to expect they may do well to consider There remains still a Considerable part of the Subtilty of the Serpent for Securing by the Power of the Beast the Advantages he hath gotten by the Treachery of the False Prophet and Unfaithfulness of the Whore but what hath been observed already being abundantly sufficient for a ground of Answer to the remaining Questions the Consideration of this may be more seasonable upon another occasion as the Cranmerian Heresy or c. Since therefore both the Subtilty and the Malice of the Adversary the Devil is so manifest in the Alterations aforesaid against this Holy Ordinance and there in against the Holy Trinity the Sacrifice of our Saviour upon the Cross the Communion of Saints the Holy Catholic Church and the Church of England in particular the Answers to all the remaining Questions are very easy plain full and yet Short That all who have any regard to their Baptismal Covenant and the Renunciation therein of the Devil and all his works to the most tremendous Denounciations of our Saviour the Admonitions of his Apostles after his Ascension or the Salvation of their own Souls must abstain from all Communion or Participation in these Corruptions and Abuses after Notice of them be they of the Clergy or Laity And if they be Priests must celebrate this Holy Sacrifice as often as they can have a competent number of qualified Communicants in the compleatest Form they can procure such as The first book of Ed. 6. The Scotch Liturgy The Liturgy of the Ancients represented in English Forms or some Translation out of the Ancient Forms or Composure according to them Notwithstanding any temporal Laws Cannons or Subscription to the contrary And if of the Laity have recourse to such as do so and abstain in the mean time and employ so much the more time in Prayer to God who is not tyed to his own Ordinances to supply by his Grace their want of Opportunity and to restore his H. Worship to its due Integrity and Frequency in Publick and to provide for them at least in private in the mean time FINIS