before the close of that period, they had assumed the form in which they are now extant, and in which, from that time to the present, they have been used in one part or another of the Eastern Church. To these must be added the various ancient liturgies of the West, such as the Roman, the Gallican, the Ambrosian, &c., which are also of high antiquity. And as all these, both the Eastern and the Western, agree together in their essential features, they manifestly point back to a common origin. By comparing them together, and taking those parts only which are common to all, we may approximate to that more ancient service from which they are derived. Without entering upon this analysis at present, we may add, that the result of it is to exhibit a liturgy similar in its main features to that which is described by St Cyril, and shadowed out by Justin Martyr.

the most

mode of

From what has now been said, it will be Nature of seen that the origin of liturgies, and their ancient growth and development during the first four worship. centuries, cannot be very clearly traced. There seems, however, to have been a gradual progress from a simple and short to a full and elaborate form of worship. It appears that for two or three centuries the offices of the

Liturgies
of the
Western
Church.

The Roman and the Gallican.

Church were not committed to writing, but preserved by oral tradition: and while that state of things continued, we have no direct evidence that extemporaneous prayers were entirely excluded; but the earliest written liturgies leave no room for such effusions, and afford no warrant for supposing that they had ever been permitted. A general uniformity of worship prevailed in all the Churches; but individual bishops sometimes introduced alterations and additions, which were extensively adopted. The names of several ancient fathers, and especially that of St Basil, bishop of Casarea in Cappadocia in the fifth century, are celebrated as having in this way contributed to the extension and embellishment of the Church Service.

The two principal liturgies in the Western Church were the Roman and the Gallican, which, though substantially the same, were formed independently of each other.

The

former has been traced back to the fifth century, and was at that time considered to be of Apostolical antiquity. The Gallican liturgy, like the Gallican Church, appears to have been derived from Asia Minor, from which country missionaries were sent into Gaul at the beginning of the second century. It was in Gaul that

Vol. IV.

Labbe,

1057.

measures were first taken to secure an uniformity of public worship, the bishop of each province agreeing to conform their liturgy to the model of the metropolitan church. Thus at the council of Vannes in Brittany, held for Bingham, the province of Tours, in the fifth century, a 186. canon was promulgated to the effect, that Concil. iv. one and the same custom in celebrating divine service, and the same order of psalmody, should be kept in all churches; that as they held one faith and confession of the holy Trinity, so they should keep to one rule of divine offices, lest if they varied in their observations, that variation should be interpreted as a disagreement in one point or another.'

rabic.

The Gallican liturgy was used in Spain, The Mosaand there took the name of the Mosarabic, the Christians in that country being so called from their being mixed with, or dispersed among, the Arabs or Moors. In course of time, however, it everywhere gave place to the Roman ritual; which was introduced into Gaul in the time of Charlemagne, and into Spain in the eleventh century.

liturgy was

Britain.

Whatever may have been the origin of the What Church in Britain, whether it were planted by used in Joseph of Arimathea, or by St Paul, or, as is far more probable, by missionaries from Gaul,

Meaning
of the word
'Use.'

it appears to have been completely established, and to have had a regular hierarchy before the middle of the fourth century. But in the fifth century the ancient Celtic population, who had embraced Christianity, were dispossessed by the Saxon invader, and driven to take refuge on the western side of the island, in Cornwall, Wales, and Cumberland. The new settlers brought with them their pagan deities, Woden, Thor and Friga, and the rest. The ground which was thus lost to Christianity was subsequently regained by the mission despatched from Rome under the monk Augustin, in the year 596; and the Saxons meekly received at the hands of foreigners that faith which, as the religion of the conquered Britons, they had treated with scorn. It is probable that the ancient British Churches used the Gallican liturgy; but it is certain that Augustin brought with him the Roman service-books; and these gradually prevailed, even in those corners of the land which were still inhabited by Celts, and in which the use of the Gallic ritual had been continued.

As each bishop had the power of making improvements in the liturgy of his church, in process of time different customs arose, several of which became so established as to receive

the names of their respective churches. Thus by degrees the uses or customs of York, Sarum (Salisbury), Hereford, Bangor, Lincoln, Aberdeen, &c. came to be distinguished from each other.

Sarum.

The use or custom of Sarum derives its Use of origin from Osmund, bishop of that see in A.D. 1078, and chancellor of England. It is related by Simeon of Durham, that about the year 1083, king William the Conquerer appointed Thurstan, a Norman, to be abbot of Glastonbury. Thurstan, despising the ancient Gregorian chanting, which had been used in England ever since the sixth century, attempted to introduce in its place a modern style of chanting, invented by William of Fescamp, a Norman. The monks resisted the innovations of their abbot, and a scene of violence and bloodshed ensued, which was terminated by William's sending back Thurstan to Normandy. This circumstance may very probably have turned the attention of Osmund to the regulation of the ritual in his diocese. We are informed that he built a new cathedral, collected clergy distinguished as well for learning as for a knowledge of chanting, and composed a book for the regulation of ecclesiastical offices, which was entitled the Custom book. The