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Figura vero dum sacerdos quasi aliud exterius gerens, ob recordationem sacræ passionis ad aram, quod semel gestum est, quotidie immolat agnum." I will not attempt myself to reconcile the apparent contradictions; but having set the statements before my readers, will leave them for their consideration, with a strong desire that they may find themselves at liberty to come to the conclusion to which common charity compels us to wish to come, namely, that the sacrifice of the mass in its damnable sense, is not necessarily taught by the Council of Trent.

PAGE 301, CHAPTER 2.-(Of itself truly propitiatory.)

If the sacrifice of the mass is merely applicative of the virtue of that upon the cross, as we were told in the first chapter, then it is not of itself truly propitiatory: it is a contradiction in terms to assert it. If it be of itself truly propitiatory, then, as the Divine Wisdom does nothing unnecessarily, it can only be accounted for by some deficiency in that upon the cross, which thus appears, ex necessitate rei, to be denied to have been a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice. In a secondary sense, no doubt, the holy Eucharist, like any other act of worship, is propitiatory, and in a high degree, as being the chief act of Christian worship and adoration.

PAGE 302.-(For the dead in Christ, who are not yet wholly cleansed.)

Here purgatory shows itself. See upon that point the notes to the Council of Florence, above, page 354.

PAGE 303, CHAPTER 3.-(Implores their patronage.)

On the invocation of saints and angels, see below, Session 25. As to the honour paid to the memory of God's faithful servants, by recording their names in the service of the communion of the faithful, no objection is offered to that. It is a Catholic and primitive custom which in times of persecution, and when the

eminent servants of God were few, was reasonable and useful. When they became multiplied, as it was impossible to record all, it became an occasion for favoritism and distinctions, and the Church of England has, probably, judged wisely in discontinuing it.

PAGE 303, CHAPTER 4.-(Sacred Canon.)

Against the excellence of the ancient Canon Missæ I am not called upon to offer objections. Neither purgatory, nor transubstantiation, nor the invocation of saints, nor the actual sacrificing of Christ in the eucharist, can derive any support from it. On the contrary, when carefully weighed, it affords conclusive and unexceptionable evidence against these errors. As it is much less known than it deserves to be, I subjoin the Latin original as it stands in the Sacramentary of Gregory, a manuscript of the ninth century, published by Muratori. It is found also in the Sacramentarium Gelasianum, published by the same person from a manuscript of the eighth century, as he supposed: and also in the Missale Francorum, published by the same from a manuscript of the early part of the sixth century. Muratori's work was published at Venice, A. D. 1748. "Sursum Corda.-Habemus ad Dominum.-Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.-Dignum et justum est.-Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine Sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, per Christum Dominum nostrum, per quem majestatem tuam laudant angeli, adorant Dominationes, tremunt potestates, cœli cœlorumque virtutes ac beata seraphim socia exsultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas, deprecamur supplici confessione dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus, Sabaoth.-Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per Jesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus et petimus uti accepta habeas et benedicas hæc dona, hæc munera, hæc sancta sacrificia inlibata. In primis quæ tibi offerimus pro Ecclesia tua sancta Catholica, quam pacificare, custodire, adunare et regere digneris toto orbe Terrarum, una cum beatissimo famulo tuo papa nostra.-Me

mento, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est et nota devotio, qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis pro se suisque omnibus, pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe salutis et incolumitatis suæ, tibique reddunt vota sua æterno Deo uno et vero.-Communicantes, et memoriam venerantes in primis gloriosæ semper Virginis Mariæ, Genetricis Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi, sed et beatorum Apostolorum ac Martyrum tuorum Petri, Pauli, Andreæ et omnium Sanctorum tuorum; quorum meritis precibusque concedas, ut in omnibus protectionis tuæ muniamur auxilio. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.-Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostræ, sed et cunctæ familiæ tuæ, quæsumus Domine ut placatus accipias, diesque nostros in tua pace disponas, atque ab æterna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum tuorum jubeas grege numerari. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.-Quam oblationem tu, Deus, in omnibus quæsumus benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, acceptabilemque facere digneris, ut nobis corpus et sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui Domini Dei nostri Jesu Christi: Qui pridie quam pateretur accepit panem in Sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas, elevatis oculis in cœlum ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem, tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fregit, dedit discipulis suis, dicens: Accipite et manducate ex hoc omnes. Hoc est corpus meum. Simili modo posteaquam cœnatum est, accipiens et hunc præclarum calicem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas, item tibi gratias agens, benedixit, dedit discipulis suis, dicens: Accipite et bibite ex eo omnes. Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei novi et æterni Testamenti, mysterium Fidei, qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum. Hæc quotiescumque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis. Unde et memores, Domine, nos tui servi, sed et plebs tua Sancta, Christi Filii tui Domini Dei nostri tam beatæ passionis, nec non et ab inferis resurrectionis, sed et in cœlos gloriosæ ascensionis, offerimus præclaræ majestati tuæ de tuis donis ac datis, hostiam puram, hostiam sanctam, hostiam immaculatam, panem sanctum vitæ æternæ, et calicem salutis perpetuæ. Supra

quæ propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris, et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et Sacrificium Patriarchæ nostri Abrahæ, et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam. Supplices te rogamus, Omnipotens Deus, jube hæc perferri per manus angeli tui in sublime altare tuum in conspectu divinæ majestatis tuæ, ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione Sacrosanctum Filii tui corpus et sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione cœlesti et gratia repleamur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.-Memento etiam Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum qui nos præcesserunt cum signo Fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis, et pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur. Per Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum.-Nobis quoque peccatoribus famulis de multitudine miserationum tuarum sperantibus partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis Apostolis et Martyribus, cum Johanne, &c. et cum omnibus Sanctis tuís. Intra quorum nos consortium, non æstimator meriti, sed veniæ, quæsumus, largitor admitte. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem hæc omnia, Domine, semper bona creas, sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis, et præstas nobis. Per ipsum, et cum ipsò, et in ipso est tibi Deo Patri Omnipotenti in unitate Spiritus Sancti omnis honor et gloria, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen. Oremus. Præceptis salutaribus moniti, et divina institutione formati audemus dicere: Pater noster . . .. sed libera nos a malo. Libera nos, quæsumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis præteritis, præsentibus, et futuris, intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine, Dei genitrice Maria, et beatis Apostolis tuis Petro, et Paulo, atque Andrea, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris, ut ope misericordiæ tuæ adjuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum qui tecum vivit et regnat Deus in unitate Spiritus Sancti, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen. Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.-Et cum Spiritu tuo.-Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Mundi, miserere nobis.

This Roman liturgy contains some usages which, by reason of the errors which they were cited to countenance, the Church of England has seen fit to discontinue. Of this kind are the prayers for the dead, which, however primitive and Catholic, however grateful to our feelings, and salutary, as serving to exemplify the communion of saints, were reluctantly laid aside, because the perverse Romans, in the teeth of all the evidence of ecclesiastical tradition, made use of them with the ignorant as arguments in favour of purgatory. I say they were reluctantly laid aside, because, not only were the prayers for the dead openly retained in the first Prayer Book under King Edward VI., but in the burial office in the Church of England to this day, he who desires to offer a prayer for the dead, will find one indirectly suited to his purpose in the last collect but one. Another instance of this kind presents itself in the allusion to the intercessions of the saints departed: which, however probable it may be, however reasonable to suppose, however apparently countenanced by the Scriptures, (for if Dives could pray for his brethren, much more might Lazarus in Abraham's bosom), could no longer in safety be permitted when it was found to lead to prayers to the saints and to the imputing to them the attributes of omniscience and ubiquity peculiar to the Godhead, without which, simultaneous addresses to them from all parts of the world became a demonstrable absurdity, to use no stronger language. But while the ancient Roman Liturgy contains practices which the Church of England has seen fit, in prudence, to discontinue, it contains nothing which she has thought necessary to point out as worthy of censure, but affords, as was before observed, satisfactory evidence against many of the modern Roman tenets, which have been introduced since the framing or compiling of the Canon Actionis, which is its ancient

title.

PAGE 306, CHAPTER 6.-(Spiritually Communicate.)

Nothing can mark more distinctly the departure of the Roman Church from primitive views than this chapter. Conduct, which, D d

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