be changed he confessed both that they were ancient and might in some manner be inculpably used but yet thought it better that they should be removed 1. because not appointed in Scripture by word or example 2. because they might be or also had been abused'to superstition 3. because the Church should partake as little as might be of the same usages with Anti-Christ Bucer Censur in Ordinat Eccles Angl. p. 458. 467. c. § 179 Upon such exceptions taken at the Liturgy as well from abroad as also by some of the preciser sort at home saith Dr. Heylin Reform Justif p. 31. and Hist of Reform p. 107. and because there had risen divers doubts for the fashion and manner of the ministration of the said Service rather by the curiosity of the Minister and mistakers than of any other worthy cause saith the Act of Parliament it self 5 6. Edw. 6.1 c. which shews what a good opinion they had of the former Book It was committed to be new corrected but by what persons we know not The Act without any such Encomium of these Reviewers as of the first Composers faith only That the King caused it to be faithfully and godly perused explained and made fully perfect Perhaps it was corrected which is one of Dr. Heylin's conjectures See before § 42. by those who were appointed by the King about this time to compose a Form of Ordination which Form the Act joined with this new Service-Book But it could not be done by the same persons that composed the former at least not by all of them because Day before this was ejected out of his Bishoprick and two more Shyp and Holbeck as I think before this deceased and Harley and Taylor were chosen their Successors The thing matters not much-Thus corrected it was presented to the Parliament and it only by them authorized to be used § 160 Which second Form besides casting out several other things that were retained in the former Among the rest Prayer for the dead and several expressions that seemed to â—â—ser the Reaâ—or Corporal Preseace in the Eucharist as the Commemoration of Saints and Prayer for the dead many Rites in the Administration of Baptisme the liberty of extream Vnction the Oblation and Prayers in the Communion which were made immediately after Consecration spoken-of before § 148 149. above all seems to have taken a vigilant special care for the altering and removing out of the former Form all those passages Which might argue any real or corporal Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ whether it be by Trans or Con-substantiation or any other way with the Symbols Whereas therefore in the Prayer of Consecration these words are in the Missal Quam oblationem tu Deus in omnibus quaesumus benedictam acceptabilemque facere digneris ut nobis Corpus Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui Domini Nostri Jesu Christi and so in the first Form of King Edward these words Hear us O Merciful Father we beseech the and with Holy Spirit and word vouchsafe to bl ✚ ess and sanc ✚ tify these thy gifts and creatures of Bread md Wine that they may be unto us the Body and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son Both the Missal and that Form ordering the person consecrating at this time to take both the Bread and the Cup into his hands Instead of this the second Form is thus changed Hear us O Merciful Father we beseech thee and grant that we receiving these thy Creatures of Bread and Wine according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ's holy Institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood omitting also the Priests touching or handling the Pattin or Chalice which is done according to Bucer's directions in his Censura p. 468. Whereby seems to be avoided the acknowledging of any Presence of Christ's Body and Blood with the Symbols of which also Bucer saith p. 476. Antichristianum est affirmare quicquam his elementis adesse Christi extra usum praebitionis receptionis For the same reason it seems to be that the Glory be to God on high c. and the Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini after the Sursum Corda the one is transferred after the Communion and the other omitted Likewise whereas in the administring of these Mysteries the Missal useth this Form Corpus Domini Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aternam and so also the first Book of King Edward the Second as it were against the apprehending of any Real Presence to the Symbols or any oral feeding on that Body removeth those words and placeth instead thereof only these Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ dyed for thee and feed on him in thy heart by Faith with thankgiving Again Drink this in remembrance c So whereas it is said in the first Form in the Player of humble access Grant us so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood in these holy Mysteries the second omits in these holy Mysteries Likewise at the end of the Communion-Service is added this Rubrick declaring that kneeling at the participation of the Sacrament is required for a signification of the humble acknowledging of the benefits of Christ given therein unto the worthy receiver and not for giving any adoration to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or in regard of any real or essential Presence of Christ's natural Body and Blood Whereas it s ordained in the Administration of the Lord's Supper that the Communicants kneeling should receive the Holy Communion which thing is well meant for a signification of the humble and grateful acknowledging of the benefits of Christ given unto the worthy receiver and to avoid the profanation and disorders which about the Holy Communion might else ensue Lest yet the same kneeling might be thought or taken otherwise we do declare that it is not meant thereby that any Adoration is done or ought to be done either unto the Sacramental Bread or Wine there bodily received or unto any real and essential Presence there being of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood For as concerning the Sacramental Bread and Wine they remain still in their natural substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry And as concerning the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ they are in heaven and not here for it is against the truth of Christ's true natural Body to be in moe places than one at one time Thus that Rubrick thought fit to be omitted in the Common-Prayer-Book of Queen Elizabeth of which see the Reason below § 179. n. 2. Accordingly the Altar was changed into a Table the sides whereof were set North and South set near the Reading-place ordered at the Communion time to be covered with a fair white Linnen Cloth the other vestments prohibited save only a Surplice for a Priest and Rochet for a
Sacrifice being thus dis-avowed by King Edward's Reformation and no benefit acknowledged of this high Service save to the Communicants in their receiving it and in the Priests distributing of it to the people in the next place the Priest was prohibited the celebration thereof whensoever there were no other Communicants besides himself Tho this communicating of the Priest alone is no designed but a casual thing as hath been said and can only be charged upon the peoples neglect and fault who having the same need thereof and benefit thereby as the Priest might being many at least by turns accompany him in the dayly breaking of that celestial Bread if it were so hainous a thing for him to feed thereon alone rather than that this the most honorable part of the divine Service should be discontinued in the Church See before §. 118 contrary to the former universal practice of Christianity and also the late judgment under Henry the Eighth of the English Clergy It was ordered therefore that all those called private Masses should be suppressed add that on the Litany-days Wednesdays and Frydays and all other solemn days of worship when there was none disposed to communicate with the Priest he after the Litany ended should put upon him a plain Albe or Surplice with a Cope and say all things at the Altar appointed to be said at the Celebration of the Lord's Supper See K. Edw. first Common-Prayer Book Rubifol 133. until after the Offertory and then letting alone the foresaid Celebration add one or two of the Collects which are annexed to the Communion and then turning him to the people shall let them depart with the accustomed Blessing § 153 And thus first began the Christian Sacrifice See the first Com. Prayer Book of Ed. 6. fol. 133. that never ceased formerly in the Church every day or at least on all solemn days to be offered by certain degrees to be omitted in this purified Church the practice thereof decreasing from once a day to once a week from once a week to once a month from this to once a year and of late in many Churches not to be had at all Tho they who in these days of King Edward made the first breach upon the Church's former practice as it were foreseeing this evil endeavoured in some part to remedy or prevent it by enjoyning That in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches where they suppose that there should be still dayly Communion See King Edward 's first Common-Prayer-Book Fol. 113 compared with Fol. 123. there should always in them some communicate with the Priest that ministreth And that in Parish-Churches whereas the Parishioners of every Parish were ordered in such a course as they were wont to find the holy Loaf formerly now to offer every Sunday at the time of the offertory the just valor and price of the holy Loaf with all such money and other things as were wont to be offered with the same out of which the Pastors were to provide sufficient Bread and Wine for the weekly Communion In these Parish-Churches I say it was enjoyned that some one at the least for one besides the Priest was as yet sufficient of that house in the Parish to which by course it appertained to offer for the charges of the Communion should on that Sunday receive the Holy Communion with the Priest Which saith the Book may be better done for that they know before when their course cometh and may therefore dispose themselves to the worthy receiving of the Sacrament And by this means the Minister having always some to communicate with him may accordingly solemnize so high and holy mysteries with all the suffrages and due order appointed for the same But in the second reformed Book these Orders are relaxed the weekly offering by turns for the charges of the Communion now remitted the Celebration of the Lord's Supper or Communion required in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches every Sunday and that in Parish-Churches it should be celebrated at least three times in a year and that it should be celebrated in no place at no time unless there be three to communicate besides him that officeates By which when none or only fewer than three offered to communicate with the Priest he was necessitated to omit this Service as well in Cathedral as Parish-Churches notwithstanding any Injunction of frequentation But the first Innovators might have prudently discerned that when as the Celebration of this Service thus would depend only on the peoples devotion either a reception of the mysteries by the Priest alone must some times be permitted or this Sacrifice many times omitted There are two Injunctions indeed wherein these Reformers seem to have endeavoured to some degree the preservation of the former Devotion of the Clergy in Prayer and Communion The one See the Rub. after the Communion this forementioned That in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches where be many Priests and Deacons they-should all receive the Communion with the Minister every Sunday at the least except they i. e. some not all of them had a reasonable cause to the contrary See the Pâ—â—face to the Com. Prayer Book The other this for saying their office dayly as formerly That all Priests and Deacons shall be bound to say dayly the Morning and Evening Prayer yet how short this in respect of the office they quitted either openly in the Parish Church or Chappel if at home and not being otherwise reasonably letted or privately except they be let by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause But here also the two exceptive Clauses annext Except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary in the former and Except they be let by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause in the latter have rendered these Injunctions as to the general without vigour and effect or practice in this Church Which the Prudence of those who contrived the Scotch Liturgy well observing thought fit thus to qualify the latter Exception See the Preface to the Scotch Liturgy Of which Cause say they if it be frequently pretended they are to make the Bishop of the Diocess or the Arch-Bishop of the Province the Judge and Allower § 154 Aad Invocation of Saiats expunged out of the Litanies Besides the Sacrifice of the Mass thus removed out of the second new Form of the Communion the Invocation and Suffrages of the Saints were also expunged out of the publick Litanies When-as even in the first English Litany put out under King Edward after O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity c. have mercy upon us it followed thus Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God our Saviour Jesus Christ Pray for us All holy Angels and Arch-Angels and all holy orders of blessed Spirits pray for us All holy Patriarchs and Prophets Apostlet Martyrs Confessors and Virgins and all the blessed company of Heaven Pray for us Likewise in the Parliament-Act 3 4. Edw. 6.10 c. it is commanded That in
Bishop and to take away all Superstition the Communion Bread appointed to be such as is usually eaten at the Table but the purest of that sort that can conveniently be had See the Rubricks of King Edward's secondCommon Prayer-Book Fol. 126. And Visita S ck Fol. 22. And lastly whereas the first gives caution § 161 that so much Bread and Wine shall be consecrated Where Concerning the reduction of somethingâ— touching this Presence made in the new Liturgy for Scotland to K. Edw. frâ—st Form as shall suffice for the persons appointed to receive the Holy Communion except some shall be reserved for the Communion of the Sick The second omits any such caution ordering only that the Curate have the remains to his own use But the new Liturgy composed for Scotland well discerning what these alterations aimed at reduceth all things to the former way restores those words in the Consecration with thy holy spirit and word c. that They may be unto us the Body c. ordering again the Presbyter that officiates to take the Pattin and Chalice in his hands and leaving out also the caution of non-elevation which was inserted in the first Book of King Edward removes the words added in the delivering of the Mysteries Take and eat this c. and instead thereof adds aster the former words the people's response Amen according to the custome of Antiquity See Dionys Alexand. apud Euseb Histor 7. l. 8. c. Leo Serm. 6. de jejunio 7. mensis August ad Orosium quaest 49. spoken as a Confession of their Faith that they acknowledged that which they received to be Corpus Domini Lastly requires him that officiates that he consecrate Bread and Wine with the least to the end there may be little left and that what is left be not carried out of the Church but reverently eaten and drunk by such of the Communicants only as the Presbyter that celebrates shall take unto him § 162 All this could not pass the Observation of the Scotchman who in the Laudensium Autocatacrisis Much complained of 〈◊〉 Laudensium Autocatacrisis p. 107. thus censures it In the next Prayer saith he i. e. that of Consecration are put in the words of the Mass whereby God is besought by his omnipotent Spirit so to sanctify the Oblations of Bread and Wine that they may become to us Christ's Body and Blood From these words all Papists use to draw the truth of their Trans-substantiation wherefore the English Reformers i. e. the lattor scraped them out of their Books but our men put them fairly in And good reason have they so to do For long ago they professed that about the Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Sacrament after Consecration they are fully agreed with Lutherans and Papists except only about the formality and mode of Presence here quoting Mountag Appeal p. 289. They make an express Rubrick for the Priest's taking the Patin and the Chalice in his hand in the time of Consecration Which taking not being either for his own participation or the distribution to others why shall we not understand the end of it to be that which the Mass there enjoyns their Elevation and Adoration The Elevation being long ago practiced by some of our Bishops and Adoration when the Patin and Chalice are taken in the Priest's hands avowed by Heylin's Answ to Burt. p. 137. The English indeed in giving the Elements to the people retain the Mass-words but to prevent any mischief Autocat p. 111. that could arise in the people's mind from their sound of a Corporal Presence they put in at the distribution of both the Elements two Golden Sentences of the hearts eating by Faith of the Soul 's drinking in remembrance But our men being nothing affraid for the people's belief of a Corporal Presence have pulled out of their hands and scraped out of our Book both these Antidotes And the Mass-words thus quit of the English Antidotes must not stand in our Book simply but that the people may take extraordinary notice of these Phrases there are two Rubricks set up to their backs obliging every Communicant with their own mouth to say their Amen to them The English permit the Curate to carry home the relicks of the Bread and Wine for his private use but such Profanity by our Book is discharged The Consecrate Elements are enjoyned to be eaten in the Holy place by the Priest alone and some of the Communicants that day yea for preventing of all dangers a cautel is put in that so few Elements as may be consecrate And our Book will have the Elements after the Consecration covered with a Corporal c. § 163 Thus the first Form both when first established in King Edward's and when revived in King Charles's time found many Adversaries But did the new one escape any better No. For when all these offensive things in the second draught were amended according to several preciser fancies yet neither so did the second content all palats for the humour of Innovation knoweth no bounds Soon after it was framed as the chief body of the Clergy under Queen Mary deserted both it and the former and returned to the old Church-Service so the English Protestants that were then dispersed abroad at Franckford in Germany fell into great dissensions about it as some for so many against it See a fuller relation in Heylin's Hist of Reform in Queen Mary p. 59. c. And Calvin hearing the noise thereof as he had formerly used his Pen to the Protector c against the first Book so now doth he to the English in Franckford Calvin Ep. p. 213. against the second saying In Anglicanâ Liturgiâ qualem describitis i. e. the new one which some of them then used at Franckford mult as video fuisse tolerabiles ineptias Sic ergo a talibus rudimentis incipere licuit ut doctos tamen graves Christi ministros ultra eniti aliquid limatius ac purius quaerere consentaneum foret Si hactenus in Anglia viguisset sincera religio aliquid in melius correctum multaque detracta esse oportuit Nunc cum eversis illis princtpiis alibi instituenda vobis sit Ecclesia liberum sit formam de integro componere he thinks it seems any Pastors have power to make to themselves new Liturgies quid sibi velint nescio quos faecis Papisticae reliquiae tantopere delectant Amant ea quibus assueti sunt Hoc nugatorium puerile est c. Thus Calvin And so Bucer likewise in his censure of the first who died within a few weeks after he had writ it before the compiling of the second hath blamed many things that remain in the second After Queen Mary's death the second Book being restored here again to its former authority many of the more zealous Reformists both by words and writings made such opposition against it that Queen Elizabeth in terrorem executed two for this cause See
Quod in Missâ offertur verum Christi Corpus verus ejusdem Sanguis Sacrificium propitiatorium pro vivis defunctis 4. Item Quod Petro Apostolo ejus legitimis Successoribus in Sede Apostolicâ tanquam Christi vicario data est suprema potestas pascendi regendi ecclesiam Christi militantem fratres suos confirmandi 5. Item Quod authoritas tractandi definiendi de iis quae spectant ad fidem Sacramenta disciplinam ecclesiasticam hactenus semper spectavit spectare debet tantum ad Pastores ecclesiae quos Spiritus Sanctus in hoc in ecclesiâ Dei posuit non ad Laicos In which Article penned with some tender sense of the invasion which formerly in King Henry and King Edward's days had been made upon the Clergy-rights both the Regal and Parliamentary power being excluded totally by a tantum ad Pastores not only a definiendo but a tractando not only quae ad fidem but quae ad disciplinam ecclesiasticam spectant I suppose made the University so cautious to subscribe thereto Quam nostram assertionem affirmationem fidem nos inferior Clerus praedistus vestris Paternitatibus tenore praesentium exhibemus humiliter supplicantes ut quia nobis non est copia hanc nostram sententiam intentionem aliter illis quorum in hac parte interest notificandi Vos qui Patres estis ista superioribus ordinibus significare velitis Quâ in re officium charitatis ac pietatis ut arbitramur praestabitis saluti gregis vestri ut par est prospicietis vestras ipsi animas liberabitis § 176 These were the last words and testament as it were of the ancient Clergy now expiring seeing their definitive authority assumed by the Laity and upon this a flood of innovations coming upon them Which Protestation of theirs remaineth upon record to all generations to shew that in the Reformation the Laity deserted their former Guides and Spiritual Fathers the Clergy in Henry the Eighth's and Queen Mary's days all constant to the ancient Church-doctrines saving only Supremacy for King Henry's time and also in King Edward's days the major part of this Clergy tho externally guilty of some dissimulation yet inwardly retaining the same judgment as may be seen by what is acknowledged above § 122. c. and 127. § 177 This Declaration of the Clergy and Universities was ended in the Queens proposal of a Disputation in Westminster Church A Disputation between the Bishops and the reformed Divines between some of the Bishops and others of Queen Mary's Clergy and some of the reformed Divines lately returned home from beyond Sea Of which Disputation the Lord Keeper Bacon one of the Protestant Religion was appointed the Moderator The three Questions which were proposed by the reforming party to the Bishops to be the subject of the Conference were these 1. It is against the word of God and the Custome of the ancient Church to use a tongue unknown to the people in Common-Prayer Fox p. 1924. and the administration of the Sacraments 2. Every Church hath authority to appoint take away and change Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Rites so the same be to edification 3. It cannot be proved by the word of God that there is in the Mass offered up a Sacrifice propitiatory for the quick and dead Of which questions to pass by the first there being nothing either in the former Convocation-Articles or in any decree of former Church against the lawfulness of having the Divine Service in a known tongue which is all that the Reformation desires in this matter and which could be no occasion of difference among Christians were all other Controversies of Doctrine well composed In the second Question it seems to me somewhat strange that whereas the Convocation speaks chiefly of the authority of defining points de fide and contends that the authority of defining such points belongs not to the Laity or to any Civil Power but only ad Pastores and whereas also the main of the Reformation consists in altering such Doctrines belonging to Faith and not in altering some Rites and Ceremonies yet the question here stretcheth no further than to Rites and Ceremonies and then speaks of these as alterable not by the Laity or a Civil Power but by a particular Church i. e. as I suppose by the Clergy thereof And then leaves us in the dark also whether this particular Church be put here as contradistinct only to other particular Churches on which it is independent and hath this power granted to it by all or be put as contradistinct to the Church Vniversal or to Superior Councils on which surely it hath some dependance Again in the last question it seems as strange that whereas the Convocation in their Preface founds this Article together with the rest on Primitive and Apostolical Tradition as well as on Scripture Publico christianarum gentium consensu c. atque ab Apostolis ad not usque c. And whereas the reformed in the first question where seemed some advantage add the custome of ancient Church to the testimony of the Scriptures and in their Preface promise adherence to the Doctrines and Practice of the Catholick Church unless there be some evasion in the limitation there used Fox p. 1930. where they say by Catholick Church they mean that Church which ought to be sought in the holy Scriptures and which is governed and led by the Spirit of Christ Yet here they use that restraining Clause it cannot by the word of God be proved the judgment of the ancient Church the authoritative expounder of the word of God being indeed in this matter very clear against them See Discourse of Eucharist § 92.111 c. § 178 If you would know what end this Disputation had it is thus set down in Cambden Hist. Eliz. An. Dom. 1559. That all came to nothing for that after a few words passed to and fro in writing they could not agree about the manner of disputing The Protestants triumphing as if they had gotten the victory and the Papists complaining that they were hardly dealt withal in that they were not forewarned of the questions above a day or two before and that Lord Keeper Bacon a man little versed in matters of Divinity and a bitter enemy of the Papists sate as Judge whereas he was only appointed as Moderator or keeper of Order But the very truth is that they weighing the matter more seriously durst not without consulting the Bishop of Rome call in question so great matters and not controverted in the Church of Rome exclaiming every where When shall there be any certainry touching Faith Disputations concerning Religion do always bend that way as the Scepters incline and such like And so hot were the Bishops of Lincolne and Winchester that they thought meet that the Queen and the Authors of this falling away from the Church of Rome should be stricken with the censure of Excommunication But