them and they were carried over sea: they were used, says an eyewitness, by some to scour their candlesticks, by some to rub their boots, some were sold to grocers and soapboilers, a single merchant purchasing at forty shillings a piece two noble libraries for greypaper, and such as having already sufficed for ten years, were abundantly enough for many years more."" True, this refers to the Abbey and Church libraries in general: but the main stock of those collections undoubtedly was formed of Missals and Breviaries, and Legends and Church Annals, which the wild passion of Edward's days knew not the value of and hated, which the more sober and earnest reverence of after years has ceaselessly regretted.

Thus, then, must we account for the extreme rarity of English Missals and Breviaries and other manuals of devotion. Of the former, or any part of it, I believe that there has been no reprint since 1558. The few which remain are to be found only in the public libraries, 18 or in extensive private ones, whose owners unhappily have seldom purchased them with any other view than as being curious specimens of early printed books or beautiful manuscripts; and they lie upon the shelves unopened, forgotten, and inaccessible.

But there are other reasons than the mere fact of

17 Letter of John Bale to Leland, quoted by Blunt. Hist. of Reformation, p. 156.

18 In the Museum Library there are but five or six copies of English Missals, none of them important editions, and most very imperfect. In the Bodleian, the great storehouse of liturgical books, and enriched by the wonderful collections of Gough and Douce, there are thirtyeight copies, of which by far the most important are the York Use, and the very rare Hereford: of both of which I shall have occasion to speak presently.

rarity which seem to call for a republication of the old English services of late years the demand for them has increased tenfold, and their price, always great, has naturally increased with the demand, so as to put them, when they do occur, beyond the reach of men who are nevertheless the most anxious to obtain them. This has been one result of the return to a more sound theological study than had characterized the clergy of an age which has emphatically been styled by the Right Reverend Bishop of this diocese in a late charge, "an unlearned age." And it could not but be so: for a chief object of inquiry certainly would be into the faith and practice, into the observances and the worship of their own particular Church before as well as since the sixteenth century and in the pursuit of this they would be no longer content to rely upon garbled extracts, or the unfounded representations of ignorant and prejudiced, or slanderous historians.19

19 I cannot but particularly protest against the second chapter of Mr. Hallam's Constitutional History of England, entitled "the Reformation." One would scarcely have supposed that a writer reputed to be so eloquent and learned, would have descended to the common trick of others in late years, who, when upon the subject, think that little more is necessary than to speak ill and sneeringly of Monastic life, its usages, and the effects which it produced. The horrible crimes which were charged against the unhappy inmates of Convents in those days, have been long acknowledged to be generally unfounded, and in every case exaggerated: what, then, are we to say of a writer who, not content with repeating these calumnies, declares that they are also "probable from the nature of such foundations"? In a note we are told to beware of "Romanising high churchmen, such as Collier, and the whole class of antiquaries, Wood, Hearne, Drake, Browne Willis, &c. &c. who are, with hardly an exception, partial to the monastic orders." Surely they are: and why? because they have inquired into the facts of their history, and been forced by the very knowledge and a love of truth to speak the truth concerning them. I would quote only one passage more. Forced to mention the alms

The portions of the Missals which are here reprinted form but a very small part of their respective volumes: but by far the most important. The rest is occupied by the various Collects, Prayers, Epistles and Gospels, and Anthems or Introits proper to the great festivals and fasts, the Sundays, the Saints-days, or to occasions when the Church offered up her sacrifice in behalf, for example, of the King, or in the time of pestilence. These were of course used, at least many of them, only once a year: but the Ordinary and the Canon were daily said. In the latter, moreover, are contained those rites which have been held from the very earliest times to be essential to the valid consecration of the Eucharist. There have been several collections published by learned men of liturgies which have been used in different patriarchates of the Catholic Church.20 These have merely the same portion which is now selected the other parts of many are altogether lost, and possibly some of the earlier ones had little else beside.2

which were given by monasteries, Mr. Hallam says, "It is by no means probable, that however some in particular districts may have had to lament the cessation of hospitality in convents, the poor in general, after some time, were placed in a worse condition by their dissolution: nor are we to forget that the class to whom the Abbey lands have fallen have been distinguished at all times, and never more than in the first century after that transference of property, for their charity and munificence!" No names are given of any families so distinguished: nor could they have been. It is a well-turned sentence: unjust in its intended application to the monastic orders, and useless if to flatter also was an object, for how many can even pretend to apply it to themselves? Of all the families then enriched by sacrilege, it is said that there is one only of any note at present, which still retains the Abbey lands. And a curse seems to have followed the very transfer of them.

20 For example, by Asseman, Renaudot, &c.

21 All that part (says Bishop Rattray, speaking of the Liturgy of

But in after ages, as the roll of the saints increased, commemorations of them were added, and Collects, and Hymns and Antiphons were increased in number, as was well fitting to the Church of Christ, when she was no longer driven to celebrate her mysteries in secret places, and hurriedly, and with the constant dread of interruption.

The chief Liturgies which have been preserved are those which are called St. James's, St. Mark's, St. Chrysostom's, St. Basil's, the Roman, and preeminent above all these, of an acknowledged greater antiquity than any, the Clementine. This last is reprinted at the end of the present volume, and it will be therefore desirable to make one or two remarks upon it, simply with a view to

S. James) which precedes the Anaphora, both in this and the other ancient Liturgies, is a latter addition to the service of the Church, as appears from the account given thereof by Justin Martyr, from the Clementine Liturgy, and from the 19th canon of the Council of Laodicea. By comparing of which with other ancient authorities, we plainly find that the service of the Church began with reading of the Scriptures, intermixed with psalmody; after which followed the sermon. Then the dкpowμεvoi and diσro, the hearers and unbelievers, being dismissed, there followed in order, the bidding prayer of the deacon, and the collect of the bishop, first for the catechumens: then after they were dismissed, for the euergumens: and after they were dismissed for the competentes or candidates for baptism: and lastly, after dismissing them likewise, for the penitents. Then all these being dismissed, the Missa Fidelium, or Service of the Faithful, began with the ¿vɣn dia σians, the silent or mental prayer, which is the first of the three prayers mentioned in the Laodicean Canon: the second and third are said to be δια προσφωνησεως. And these are the ἐνχαι κοιναι και ύπερ ἑαυτων—και άλλων πανταχου παντων in S. Justin. Then after the priests washing their hands and the kiss of peace and the μητις κατα τινος, the deacons brought the δωρα, the gifts of the people, to the bishop, to be by him placed on the altar: and he having prayed secretly by himself, and likewise the priests, and making the sign of the cross, with his hand, upon his forehead, says the Apostolical Constitutions, began the Anaphora.

Ancient Liturgy of S. James. Pref. 3.

shew its value. And I need scarcely add, that I can say nothing upon the subject which has not already been said at much greater length by the learned authors to whom reference is made in the notes.

There are few questions of more importance than those which are involved in the inquiry into the origin and relative authority of the ancient Liturgies. Some writers upon the subject have boldly argued that the Apostles themselves left an accurate Form, not merely of the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist, but of rites and ceremonies and prayers, in short, a Liturgy, according to which it should be administered: and that this still exists either in the Liturgy of Antioch, or Alexandria, or Rome. Others suppose that the founder of each Church required his converts to observe some certain rites, which were essential to the validity of the Sacrament, and left them at liberty to add to these, other prayers and ceremonies as they might think proper. It is very certain that the Holy Scriptures give us little information upon the subject: the institution of the Supper of the Lord is related by three of the Evangelists, and by S. Paul in the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians: we are told that our Blessed Lord took bread, and blessed it, and said, "This is My Body;" and in like manner that He took the Cup, and blessed it, and said, "This is My Blood :" but the words which He used in blessing, and the exact form are not recorded.

Now whatever this Form was, we cannot doubt but that the Apostles who were partakers of the first Com

22

22 Verba Christi ad Apostolos hoc facite in meam commemorationem, præceptum celebrandæ ex instituto Christi Eucharistiæ continent: formam qua celebrari deberet, non exprimunt. Nemo tamen Christianus dubitavit, quin eamdem edocti fuerint a Domino Apostoli, ut

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