Part 2 — CHAPTER I.
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STATE OF WORSHIP AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION.
One of the points proposed for our inquiry was the state of religious worship, with reference to the invocation of saints, at the time immediately preceding the reformation. Very far from entertaining a wish to fasten upon the Church of Rome now, what then deformed religion among us, in any department where that Church has practically reformed her services, I would most thankfully have found her ritual in a more purified state than it is. My more especial object in referring to this period is twofold: first, to show, that consistently with Catholic and primitive principles, the Catholic Christians of England ought not to have continued to participate in the worship which at that time prevailed in our country; and, secondly, by that example both to illustrate the great danger of allowing ourselves to countenance the very first stages of superstition, and also to impress upon our minds the duty of checking in its germ any the least deviation from the primitive principles of faith and worship; convinced that by the general tendency of human nature, one wrong step will, though imperceptibly, yet almost inevitably lead to another; and that only whilst we adhere with uncompromising steadiness to the Scripture as our foundation, and to the primitive Church, under God, as a guide, can we be saved from the danger of making shipwreck of our faith.
On this branch of our subject I propose to do no more than to lay before my readers the witness borne to the state of religion in England at that time, by two works, which have been in an especial manner forced upon my notice. Many other testimonies of a similar tendency might readily be adduced; but these will probably appear sufficient for the purposes above mentioned; and to dwell longer than is necessary on this point would be neither pleasant nor profitable.
SECTION I.
The first book to which I shall refer is called The Hours of the most blessed Virgin Mary, according to the legitimate use of the Church of Salisbury. This book was printed in Paris in the year 1526. The prayers in this volume relate chiefly to the Virgin: and I should, under other circumstances, have reserved all allusion to it for our separate inquiry into the faith and practice of the Church of Rome with regard to her. But its historical position and general character seemed to recommend our reference to it here. Without anticipating, therefore, the facts or the arguments, which will hereafter be submitted to the reader's consideration on the worship of the Virgin, I refer to this work now solely as illustrative of the lamentable state of superstition which three centuries ago overran our country.
The volume abounds with forms of prayer to the Virgin, many of them prefaced by extraordinary notifications of indulgences promised to those who duly utter the prayers. These indulgences are granted by Popes and by Bishops; some on their own mere motion, others at the request of influential persons. They guarantee remission of punishment for different spaces of time, varying from forty days to ninety thousand years; they undertake to secure freedom from hell; they promise pardon for deadly sins, and for venial sins to the same person for the same act; they assure to those who comply with their directions a change of the pain of eternal damnation into the pain of purgatory, and the pain of purgatory into a free and full pardon.
It may be said that the Church of Rome is not responsible for all these things. But we need not tarry here to discuss the question how far it was then competent for a church or nation to have any service-book or manual of devotion for the faithful, without first obtaining the papal sanction. For clear it is beyond all question, that such frightful corruptions as these, of which we are now to give instances, were spread throughout the land; that such was the religion then imposed on the people of England; and it was from such dreadful enormities, that our Reformation, to whatever secondary cause that reformation is to be attributed—by the providence of Almighty God rescued us. No one laments more than I do, the extremes into which many opponents of papal Rome have allowed themselves to run; but no one can feel a more anxious desire than myself to preserve our Church and people from a return of such spiritual degradation and wretchedness; and to keep far from us the most distant approaches of such lamentable and ensnaring superstitions. In this feeling moreover I am assured that I am joined by many of the most respected and influential members of the Roman Catholic Church among us. Still what has been may be; and it is the bounden duty of all members of Christ's Catholic Church, to whatever branch of it they belong, to join in guarding his sanctuary against such enemies to the truth as it is in HIM.
At the same time it would not be honest and candid in me, were I to abstain from urging those, who, with ourselves, deprecate these excesses, to carry their reflections further; and determine whether the spirit of the Gospel does not require a total rejection, even in its less startling forms, of every departure from the principle of invoking God alone; and of looking for acceptance with Him solely to the mediation of his Son, without the intervention of any other merits. As we regard it, it is not a question of degree; it is a question of principle: one degree may be less revolting to our sense of right than another, but it is not on that account justifiable.
The following specimens, a few selected from an overabundant supply, will justify the several particulars in the summary which I have above given:
3. "This prayer showed our Lady to a devout person, saying, that this golden prayer is the most sweetest and acceptablest to me: and in her appearing she had this salutation and prayer written with letters of gold in her breast, 'Ave Rosa sine spinis'—Hail Rose without thorns. [Fol. 41.]
4. "Our holy Father, Sixtus the fourth, pope, hath granted to all them that devoutly say this prayer before the image of our Lady the sum of XI.M. [eleven thousand] years of pardon. 'Ave Sanctissima Maria, Mater Dei, Regina Coeli,' &c. Hail most holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven. [Fol. 42.]
6. "This prayer was showed to St. Bernard by the messenger of God, saying, that as gold is the most precious of all other metals, so exceedeth this prayer all other prayers, and who that devoutly sayeth it shall have a singular reward of our blessed Lady, and her sweet Son Jesus. 'Ave,' &c. Hail, Mary, most humble handmaid of the Trinity, &c. Hail, Mary, most prompt Comforter of the living and the dead. Be thou with me in all my tribulations and distresses with maternal pity, and at the hour of my death take my soul, and offer it to thy most beloved Son Jesus, with all them who have commended themselves to our prayers. [Fol. 46.]
7. "Our holy father, the Pope Bonifacius, hath granted to all them that devoutly say this lamentable contemplation of our blessed Lady, standing under the Cross weeping, and having compassion with her sweet Son Jesus, 7 years of pardon and forty Lents, and also Pope John the 22 hath granted three hondred days of pardon. 'Stabat Mater dolorosa.' [Fol. 47.]
8. "To all them that before this image of Pity devoutly say 5 Pat. Nos., and 5 Aves, and a Credo, piteously beholding these arms of Christ's passion, are granted XXXII.M.VII hondred, and LV (32755) years of pardon; and Sixtus the 4th, Pope of Rome hath made the 4 and the 5 prayer, and hath doubled his aforesaid pardon. [Fol. 54.]
9. "Our holy Father the Pope John 22 hath granted to all them that devoutly say this prayer, after the elevation of our Lord Jesu Christ, 3000 days of pardon for deadly sins. [Fol. 58.]
10. "This prayer was showed to Saint Augustine by revelation of the Holy Ghost, and who that devoutly say this prayer, or hear read, or beareth about them, shall not perish in fire or water, nother in battle or judgment, and he shall not die of sudden death, and no venom shall poison him that day, and what he asketh of God he shall obtain if it be to the salvation of his soul; and when thy soul shall depart from thy body it shall not enter hell." This prayer ends with three invocations of the Cross, thus: "O Cross of Christ [cross] save us, O Cross of Christ [cross] protect us, O Cross of Christ [cross] defend us. In the name of the [cross] Father, [cross] Son, and Holy [cross] Ghost. Amen." [Fol. 62.]
11. "Our holy Father Pope Innocent III. hath granted to all them that say these III prayers following devoutly, remission of all their sins confessed and contrite. [Fol. 63.]
12. "These 3 prayers be written in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, in Rome, otherwise called Sacellum Sanctæ Crucis septem Romanorum; who that devoutly say them shall obtain X.C.M. [ninety thousand] years of pardon for deadly sins granted of our holy Father, John 22, Pope of Rome. [Fol. 66.]
13. "Who that devoutly beholdeth these arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall obtain six thousand years of pardon of our holy Father Saint Peter, the first pope of Rome, and of XXX [thirty] other popes of the Church of Rome, successors after him; and our holy Father, Pope John 22, hath granted unto all them very contrite and truly confessed, that say these devout prayers following in the commemoration of the bitter passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 3000 years of pardon for DEADLY SINS, and other 3000 for venial sins." [Fol. 68.]
I will only add one more instance. The following announcement accompanies a prayer of St. Bernard: "Who that devoutly with a contrite heart daily say this orison, if he be that day in a state of eternal damnation, then this eternal pain shall be changed him in temporal pain of purgatory; then if he hath deserved the pain of purgatory it shall be forgotten and forgiven through the infinite mercy of God."
It is indeed very melancholy to reflect that our country has witnessed the time, when the bread of life had been taken from the children, and such husks as these substituted in its stead. Accredited ministers of the Roman Catholic Church have lately assured us that the pardons and indulgences granted now, relate only to the remission of the penances imposed by the Church in this life, and presume not to interfere with the province of the Most High in the rewards and punishments of the next. But, I repeat it, what has been in former days may be again; and whenever Christians depart from the doctrine and practice of prayer to God alone, through Christ alone, a door is opened to superstitions and abuses of every kind; and we cannot too anxiously and too jealously guard and fence about, with all our power and skill, the fundamental principle, one God and one Mediator.
SECTION II.—SERVICE OF THOMAS BECKET, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS MARTYRDOM, DEC. 29.
The other instance by which I propose to illustrate the state of religion in England before the reformation, is the service of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, a canonized saint and martyr of the Church of Rome. The interest attaching to so remarkable a period in ecclesiastical history, and to an event so intimately interwoven with the former state of our native land, appears to justify the introduction of the entire service, rather than extracts from it, in this place. Whilst it bears throughout immediately on the subject of our present inquiry, it supplies us at the same time with the strong views entertained by the authors of the service, on points which gave rise to great and repeated discussion, not only in England, but in various parts also of continental Europe, with regard to the moral and spiritual merits or demerits of Becket, as a subject of the realm and a Christian minister. It is, moreover, only by becoming familiar in all their details with some such remains of past times, that we can form any adequate idea of the great and deplorable extent to which the legends had banished the reading and expounding of Holy Scriptures from our churches; and also how much the praises of mortal man had encroached upon those hours of public worship, which should be devoted to meditations on our Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; to the exclusive praises of his holy name; and to supplications to Him alone for blessings at his hand, and for his mercy through Christ.
There is much obscurity in the few first paragraphs. The historical or biographical part begins at Lesson the First, and continues throughout, only interspersed with canticles in general referring to the incidents in the narrative preceding each.
Let them without change of vestments and without tapers in their hands, proceed to the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, chanting the requiem, the chanter beginning,
Req. The grain lies buried beneath the straw; The just man is slain by the spear of the wicked; The guardian of the vine falls in the vineyard, The chieftain in the camp, the husbandman in the threshing-floor.
Then the prose is said by all who choose, in surplices before the altar.
"Let the Shepherd sound his trumpet of horn."
Let the choir respond to the chant of the prose after every verse, upon the letter [super litteram].
That the vineyard of Christ might be free, Which he assumed under a robe of flesh, He liberated it by the purple cross. The adversary, the erring sheep, Becomes bloodstained by the slaughter of the shepherd. The marble pavements of Christ Are wetted, ruddy with sacred gore; The martyr presented with the laurel of life. Like a grain cleansed from the straw, Is translated to the divine garners.
But whilst the prose is being sung, let the priest incense the altar, and then the image of the blessed Thomas the Martyr; and afterwards shall be said with an humble voice: Pray for us, Blessed Thomas.
The shepherd slain in the midst of the flock, Purchased peace at the price of his blood. O joyous grief, in mournful gladness! The flock breathes when the shepherd is dead; The mother wailing, sings for joy in her son, Because he lives under the sword a conqueror. The solemnities of Thomas the Martyr are come. Let the Virgin Mother, the Church, rejoice; Thomas being raised to the highest priesthood, Is suddenly changed into another man. A monk, under [the garb of?] a clerk, secretly clothed with haircloth, More strong than the flesh subdues the attempts of the flesh; Whilst the tiller of the Lord's field pulls up the thistles, And drives away and banishes the foxes from the vineyard.
The First Lesson.
Malice, bent on the punishment of Thomas, Condemns to banishment the race of Thomas. The whole family goes forth together. No order, sex, age, or condition Here enjoys any privilege.
Lesson the Second.
Thomas put his hands to deeds of fortitude, He despised losses, he despised reproaches, No injury breaks down Thomas: The firmness of Thomas exclaimed to all, "Every soil is the brave man's country."
Third Lesson.
The king therefore hearing of his immoveable constancy, having directed commendatory letters by some abbots of the Cistertian order to the General Chapter, caused him to be driven from Pontinea. But the blessed Thomas fearing that, by occasion of his right, injury would befal the saints, retired of his own accord. Yet before he set out from thence he was comforted by a divine revelation: a declaration being made to him from heaven, that he should return to his Church with glory, and by the palm of martyrdom depart to the Lord. When he was disturbed and sent from his retreat at Pontinea, Louis, the most Christian king of the French, received him with the greatest honour, and supported him most courteously till peace was restored. But even he too was often, though in vain, urged not to show any grace of kindness towards a traitor to the king of England. The hand of fury proceeded further, and a cruelty dreadful for pious ears to hear. For whereas the Catholic Church prays even for heretics, and schismatics, and faithless Jews, it was forbidden that any one should assist him by the supplications of prayer. Exiled, then, for six continuous years, afflicted with varied and unnumbered injuries, and like a living stone squared by various cuttings and pressures for the building of the heavenly edifice, the more he was thrust at that he might fall, the more firm and immoveable was he enabled to stand. For neither could gold so carefully tried be burned away, nor a house, founded on a firm rock, be torn down. Neither does he suffer the wolves to rage against the lambs, nor the vineyard to pass into a garden of herbs.
The best of men, holy, and renowned is banished, Lest the dignity of the Church should yield to the unworthy. The estates of the exiled man are the spoil of the malignant, But when placed in the fire, the fire burns him not.
Fourth Lesson.
At length by the exertions, as well of the aforesaid pontiff as of the king of the French, many days were appointed for re-establishing peace: and because the servant of God would not accept of peace, unless with safety to the honour of God, and the character of the Church, they departed in discord from each other. At length the supreme Pontiff, pitying the desolation of the Anglican Church, with difficulty at the last extorted by threatening measures, that peace should be restored to the Church. The realms indeed rejoiced, that the King had been reconciled to the Archbishop, whilst some believed that the affair was carried on in good faith, and others formed different conjectures. Consequently in the seventh year of his exile the noble pastor returned into England, that he might either rescue the sheep of Christ from the jaws of the wolves, or sacrifice himself for the flock intrusted to his care. He is received by the clergy and the people with incalculable joy; all shedding tears, and saying, Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord. But after a few days he was again afflicted by losses and miseries beyond measure and number. Whoever offered to him, or to any one connected with him, a cheerful countenance was reckoned a public enemy. In all these things his mind was unbroken; but his hand was still stretched out for the liberation of the Church. For this he incessantly sighed; for this he persevered in watchings, fastings, and prayers; to obtain this he ardently desired to sacrifice himself.
From the greatest joy of affairs, The greatest wailing is in the Church, For the absence of so great a patron. But when the miracles return, Joy to the people returns. The crowd of sick flock together, And obtain the grace of benefits.
Fifth Lesson.
Now on the fifth day after the birth-day of our Lord, four persons of the palace came to Canterbury, men indeed of high birth, but famous for their wicked deeds; and having entered, they attack the archbishop with reproachful words, provoke him with insults, and at length assail him with threats. The man of God modestly answered, to every thing, whatever reason required, adding that many injuries had been inflicted upon him and the Church of God, since the re-establishment of peace, and there was no one to correct what was wrong; that he neither could nor would dissemble thereafter, so as not to exercise the duties of his function. The men, foolish in heart, were disturbed by this, and having loudly given utterance to their iniquity they forthwith went out. On their retiring, the prelate proceeded to the Church, to offer the evening praises to Christ. The mail-clad satellites of Satan followed him from behind with drawn swords, a large band of armed men accompanying them. On the monks barring the entrance to the Church, the priest of God, destined soon to become a victim of Christ, running up re-opened the door to the enemy; "For," said he, "a Church must not be barricaded like a castle." As they burst in, and some shouted with a voice of phrenzy, "Where is the traitor?" others, "Where is the Archbishop?" the fearless confessor of Christ went to meet them. When they pressed on to murder him, he said, "For myself I cheerfully meet death for the Church of God; but on the part of God I charge you to do no hurt to any of mine"—imitating Christ in his passion, when he said, "If ye seek me, let these go their way." Then rush the ravening wolves on the pious shepherd, degenerate sons on their own father, cruel lictors on the victim of Christ, and with fatal swords cut off the consecrated crown of his head; and hurling down to the ground the Christ [the anointed] of the Lord, in savage manner, horrible to be said, scattered the brains with the blood over the pavement.
Thus does the straw press down the grain of corn; Thus is slain the guard of the vineyard in the vineyard; Thus the general in the camp, the shepherd in the fold, the husbandman in the threshing-floor. Thus the just, slain by the unjust, has changed his house of clay for a heavenly palace. Rachel, weeping, now cease thou to mourn That the flower of the world is bruised by the world. When the slain Thomas is borne to his funeral, A new Abel succeeds to the old. The voice of blood, the voice of his scattered brains, Fills heaven with a marvellous cry.
Sixth Lesson.
Loosen the sins which bind us;
Lest the enemy, the world, or the works of the flesh.
Bear us captive to hell.
Let the right hand of God embrace us.
The satellites of Satan rushing into the temple Perpetrate an unexampled, unheard-of, crime. Thomas proceeds to meet their drawn swords: He yields not to threats, to swords, nor even to death.
Happy place! Happy Church, In which the memory of Thomas lives! Happy the land which gave the prelate! Happy the land which supported him in exile! Happy Father! succour us miserable, That we may be happy, and joined with those above!
Seventh Lesson.
Jesus said unto his disciples, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.
THE HOMILY OF S. GREGORY, POPE.
Ye have heard, most dear brethren, from the reading of the Gospel, your instruction; ye have heard also your danger. For behold! he who is not from any gift happening to him, but who is essentially good, says, I am the good shepherd; and he adds the character of the same goodness, which we may imitate, saying, The good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep. He did what he taught; he showed what he commanded. The good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep; that in our sacrament he might change his body and blood, and satisfy, by the nourishment of his flesh, the sheep which he had redeemed. Here is shown to us the way, concerning the contempt of death, which we should follow; the character is placed before us to which we should conform. [In the first place, we should of our pity sacrifice our external good for his sheep; and at last, if it be necessary, give up our own life for the same sheep. From that smallest point we proceed to this last and greater. But since the soul by which we live is incomparably better than the earthly substance which we outwardly possess, who would not give for the sheep his substance, when he would give his life for them? And there are some who, whilst they love their earthly substance more than the sheep, deservedly lose the name of shepherd: of whom it is immediately added, But the hireling who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth. He is called not a shepherd, but a hireling, who feeds the Lord's sheep not for inward love, but with a view to temporal wages. He is a mercenary who seeks indeed the place of shepherd, but seeks not the gain of souls.]
(The sentences between brackets are not in MS. No. 1512.)
To Thomas all things yield and are obedient:
Plagues, diseases, death, and devils,
Fire, air, land, and seas.
Thomas filled the world with glory.
Eighth Lesson.
In good truth, the holy Thomas, the precious champion of God, was to be worthily glorified. For if the cause, yea, forasmuch as the cause makes the martyr, did ever a title of holy martyrs exist more glorious? Contending for the Church, in the Church he suffered; in a holy place, at the holy time of the Lord's nativity, in the midst of his fellow-priests and the companies of the religious: since in the agony of the prelate all the circumstances seemed so to concur, as perpetually to illustrate the title of the sufferer, and reveal the wickedness of his persecutors, and stain their name with never-ending infamy. But so did the divine vengeance rage against the persecutors of the martyr, that in a short time, being carried away from the midst, they nowhere appeared. And some, without confession, or the viaticum, were suddenly snatched away; others tearing piecemeal their own fingers or tongues; others pining with hunger, and corrupting in their whole body, and racked with unheard-of tortures before their death, and broken up by paralysis; others bereft of their intellects; others expiring with madness;—left manifest proofs that they were suffering the penalty of unjust persecution and premeditated murder. Let, therefore, the Virgin Mother, the Church, rejoice that the new martyr has borne away the triumph over the enemies. Let her rejoice that a new Zacharias has been for her freedom sacrificed in the temple. Let her rejoice that a new Abel's blood hath cried unto God for her against the men of blood. For the voice of his blood shed, the-voice of his brain scattered by the swords of those deadly satellites, hath filled heaven at once and the world with its far-famed cry.
Thomas shines with new miracles; He adorns with sight those who had lost their eyes; He cleanses those who were stained with the spots of leprosy; He looses those that were bound with the bonds of death.
Ninth Lesson.
For at the cry of this blood the earth was moved and trembled. Nay, moreover, the powers of the heavens were moved; so that, as if for the avenging of innocent blood, nation rose against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; nay, a kingdom was divided against itself, and terrors from heaven and great signs took place. Yet, from the first period of his martyrdom, the martyr began to shine forth with miracles, restoring sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, language to the dumb. Afterwards, cleansing the lepers, making the paralytic sound, healing the dropsy, and all kinds of incurable diseases; restoring the dead to life; in a wonderful manner commanding the devils and all the elements: he also put forth his hand to unwonted and unheard-of signs of his own power; for persons deprived of their eyes merited by his merits to obtain new members. But some who presumed to disparage his miracles, struck on a sudden, were compelled to publish them even unwillingly. At length, against all his enemies the martyr so far prevailed, that almost every day you might see that to be repeated in the servant which is read of the Only-begotten: "They who spoke evil of thee shall come unto thee, and adore the traces of thy feet." Now the celebrated champion and martyr of God, Thomas, suffered in the year from the incarnation of the Lord, according to Dionysius, 1171, on the fourth of the kalends of January, on the third day of the week, about the eleventh hour, that the birth-day of the Lord might be for labour, and his for rest; to which rest the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafe to bring us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth God, for ever and ever. Amen.
O good Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS, Forgive us our debts; Visit the house, the gate, the grave; And raise us from the threefold death. What has been lost by act, in mind, or use, Restore with thy wonted pity. Pray for us, O blessed Thomas.
The First Lesson.
Second Lesson.
Therefore the chosen prelate of God being elected, and anointed with the sanctifying of the sacred oil, immediately obtained a most hallowed thing, and was filled with manifold grace of the Holy Spirit. For walking in newness of life, a new man, he was changed into another man, all things belonging to whom were changed for the better; and with so great grace did he consecrate the commencement of his bishopric, that clothing himself with a monk's form secretly, he fulfilled the work and merit of a monk.
Third Lesson.
But he, who after the example of the Baptist, with constancy had conceived in a perfect heart that the zeal of righteousness should be purified, studied also to imitate him in the garb of penitence. For casting off the fine linen which hitherto he had been accustomed to use, whilst the soft delicacies of kings pleased him, he was clothed on his naked body with a most rough hair shirt. He added, moreover, hair drawers, that he might the more effectually mortify the flesh, and make the spirit live. But these, as also the other exercises of his spiritual life, very few indeed being aware of it, he removed from the eyes and knowledge of men by superadding other garments, because he sought glory not from man, but from God. Even then the man of virtue entering upon the justifications of God, began to be more complete in abstinence, more frequent in watching, longer in prayer, more anxious in preaching. The pastoral office intrusted to him by God, he executed with so great diligence, as to suffer the rights neither of the clergy nor of the Church to be in any degree curtailed.
There seems here also to be another commencement, for the next lesson is called the First.
Lesson First.
So large a grace of compunction was he wont to possess, between the secrets of prayer or the solemnities of masses, that with eyes trained to weeping he would be wholly dissolved in tears; and in the office of the altar his appearance was as though he was witnessing the Lord's passion in the flesh. Knowing also that mercy softens justice, and that pity hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, therefore towards the poor and the afflicted did he bear the bowels of mercy piteously, and was anxious to reach the poor by the blessings of his alms.
Lesson Second.
The more humble of those whom a character for religion raised high, he made his acquaintance and intimates; and that he might learn from them to hunger and thirst after righteousness, he enjoyed more frequently their secret conversation. Towards such servants and soldiers of Christ this merciful man preferred to be liberal and abundant in food and raiment, he who determined in himself to be moderate and sparing. For what would he deny to Christ, who for Christ was about to shed his blood? He who owed his coat or cloak to one who asked it, desired to add, moreover, his own flesh. For he knew that the man would never freely give his own flesh, who showed himself greedy of any temporal thing.
Lesson Third.
Hitherto the merciful Lord, who maketh poor and enricheth, bringeth low and lifteth up, wished to load his servant with riches, and exalt him with honours; and afterwards he was pleased to try him with adversity. By trying whether he loved Him, He proved it the more certainly; but He supplied grace more abundantly. For with the temptation He made a way to escape, that he might be able to bear it. Therefore, the envious enemy, considering that the new prelate and the new man was flourishing with so manifold a grace of virtues, devised to send a burning blight of temptation, which might suffocate the germ of his merits already put forth. Nor was there any delay. He who severs a man from his God, and one friend from his neighbour, sowed irreconcileable quarrels between the king and the archbishop.
Pray for us, O blessed Thomas.
In Lauds.
A grain falls and gives birth to an abundance of corn.
The alabaster-box is broken, and the odour of the
ointment is powerful.
The whole world vies in love to the martyr,
Whose wonderful signs strike all with astonishment.
The water for Thomas five times changing colour,
Once was turned into milk, four times into blood.
came down,
And to the glory of the saint kindled the wax-tapers.
SHED FOR THEE;
MAKE US, O CHRIST, ASCEND,
Whither Thomas has ascended.
Guide those who stand,
Raise up those who fall,
Correct our morals, actions, and life;
And guide us into the way of peace.
Final Anthem.
The Brightness of the World;
The Strength of the Church;
The Love of the People;
The Delight of the Clergy.
Hail, glorious Guardian of the Flock;
Save those who rejoice in thy glory.
The end of the service of Thomas of Canterbury.
Now for a few moments only let us meditate on this service. I have already referred to the lamentable practice of substituting biographical legends for the word of God. And what is the tendency of this service? What impression was it likely to make, and to leave on minds of ordinary powers and instruction? Must it not, of necessity, tend to withdraw them from contemplating Christ, and to fix their thoughts on the powers, the glory, the exaltation, the merits of a fellow-sinner? It will be said, that they will look beyond the martyr, and trace the blessings, here enumerated, to Christ, as their primary cause, and will think of the merits of Thomas as efficacious only through the merits of their Saviour; that in their invocation of Thomas they will implore him only to pray for them. But can this be so? Does not the ascription of miracles to him and to his power; does not the very form of enumerating those miracles tend much to exalt the servant to an equality with the Master?
Whilst Thomas by being thus, in words at least, presented to the people as working those miracles by his own power, (for there is throughout a lamentable absence of immediate ascription of glory to God,) is raised to an equality with Christ our Lord; many passages in this service have the tendency also of withdrawing the minds of the worshippers from an implicit and exclusive dependence on the merits of Christ alone, and of tempting them to admit the merits of Thomas to share at least with Christ in the work of grace and salvation. Let us place some texts of Scripture and some passages of this service side by side.
[Transcriber's note: They are shown here one after the other.]
Scripture.
But after that the kindness and love of God towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.—Titus iii. 4, 5.
He who spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?—Rom. viii. 32.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.—1 John i. 7.
One Mediator.—1 Tim. ii. 5.
Who also maketh intercession for us.—Rom. viii. 34.
He ever liveth to make intercession for them.—Heb. vii. 25.
Service of Thomas Becket.
O Christ Jesus, by the wounds of Thomas loosen the sins which bind us.
O blessed Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS, forgive us our debts, raise us from the threefold death, and restore what has been lost with thy accustomed pity.
Do thou, O Christ, by the blood of Thomas, which he shed for thee, make us ascend whither Thomas has ascended.
Holy Thomas, pray for us.
And if this service thus seems to mingle the merits of Christ, the merits of his blood and of his death, with the merits of a mortal man, the immediate address to that mortal as the giver of good things temporal and spiritual, very awfully trespasses on that high, exclusive, and incommunicable prerogative of the one Lord God Omnipotent, which his Spirit hath proclaimed solemnly and repeatedly, and which he has fenced around against all invasion with so many warnings and denunciations.
Scripture. Service of Becket
1. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.— Ps. lxv. [vulg. lxiv.] 2. 1. For they sake, O Thomas, let the right hand of God embrace us.
By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.—Phil. iv. 6.
2. Lord, be thou my helper.—Ps. xxx. [xxix.] 10. 2. Send help to us, O Thomas;
3. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel.—Ps. lxxiii. [lxxii.] 24. 3. Guide thou those who stand;
He, The Holy Spirit, shall guide you into all truth.—John xvi. 13.
4. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.—Psalm cxlv. [cxliv.] 14. 4. Raise up those who fall;
5. Create in me a clean heart, O God.—Ps. li. [l.] 10. 5. Correct our morals, actions and life;
6. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him.—Ps. xxxvii. [xxxvi.] 23. 6. And guide us into the way of peace.
The day-spring from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet into the way of peace.—Luke i. 78, 79.
And then again, in celebrating the praises of a mortal man, recourse is had to language which can fitly be used only in our hymns and praises to the supreme Lord of our destinies, the eternal Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter, the only wise God our Saviour.
Address to Thomas. Language of Scripture.
1. Hail, Thomas, Rod of Justice! 1. There shall come a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Ye denied the Holy One, and the Just—Isaiah xi. 1. Acts iii. 14.
2. The brightness of the world. 2. The brightness of his glory. I am the light of the world—Heb. i. 3. John viii. 12.
3. The strength of the Church. 3. I can do all things through Christ, that strengthened me. Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it.—Phil. iv. 13. Eph. v. 25.
4. The love of the people: the delight of the Clergy. 4. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Delight thyself in the Lord.—Eph. vi. 24. Ps. xxxvii. 4.
5. Hail, glorious Guardian of the Flock. Save those who rejoice in thy glory. 5. Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel; come and save us. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.—Heb. xiii. 20. Psalm lxxx. [lxxix.] 1. 1 Cor. i. 31.
Can that worship become the disciples of the Gospel and the Cross, which addresses such prayers and such praises to the spirit of a mortal man? Every prayer, and every form of praise here used in honour of Thomas Becket, it would well become Christians to offer to the Giver of all good, trusting solely and exclusively to the mediation of Christ Jesus our Lord for acceptance; and pleading-only the merits of his most precious blood. And yet I am bound to confess, that in principle, in spirit, and in fact, I can find no substantial difference between this service of Thomas of Canterbury, and the service which all in communion with the Church of Rome are under an obligation to use even at the present hour.
This point remains next for our inquiry, and we will draw from the well-head. I would, however, first suggest the application of a general test for ascertaining the real bona-fide nature of these prayers and praises. The test I would apply is, to try with the change only of the name, substituting the holiest name ever named in heaven or in earth for the name of Thomas of Canterbury—whether these prayers and praises should not be offered to the Supreme Being alone through the atoning merits of his Blessed Son; whether they are not exclusively appropriate to HIM.
To (Thomas/God Almighty) all things bow and are obedient.
Plagues, diseases, death, and devils, Fire, air, land, and sea. (Thomas/The Almighty) fills the world with glory.
The world offers obeisance to (Thomas/Almighty God).
(The Martyr Thomas/Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ) began to shine forth with miracles [John ii. 11]; restoring sight to the blind [Luke vii. 21]; walking to the lame; hearing to the deaf; speech to the dumb; cleansing to the lepers [Matt. xi. 5]; making the paralytic sound [Matt. iv. 24]; healing the dropsy [Luke xiv. 4]; and all kinds of incurable diseases [Luke iv. 40]; restoring the dead to life [Luke viii. 43. 55]; in a wonderful manner commanding the devils [Matt. viii. 16], and all the elements [Luke viii. 25]. He put forth his hand to unwonted and unheard-of signs of his own power [Mark ii. 12. John ix. 30].
Do thou, O Lord, by the blood of (Thomas/Christ) cause us to ascend whither (Thomas/Christ) has ascended. (O Thomas/O God), send help to us. Guide those who stand; raise up those who fall; correct our morals, actions, and life; and guide us into the way of peace.
Hail, (Thomas!/Jesus!) Rod of Justice, the Brightness of the world, the Strength of the Church, the Love of the people, the Delight of the Clergy. Hail, Glorious Guardian of the flock! Save Thou those who delight in Thy glory.
We shall apply this same test to many of the collects and prayers used, and of necessity to be used, because they are authorized and appointed, even at the present day, in the ministrations of the Church of Rome. The impiety in many of those instances is not couched in such startling language; but it is not the less real. God forbid that we should charge our fellow-creatures with idolatry, who declare that they offer divine worship to the Supreme Being only; or that we should pronounce any professed Christian to have cast off his dependence on the merits of Christ alone, who assures us that he looks for mercy only through those merits. But I know and feel, that according to the standard of Christian truth, and of the pure worship of Almighty God, which the Scriptures and primitive antiquity compel me to adopt, I should stain my own soul with the guilt of idolatry, and with the sin of relying on other merits than Christ's, were I myself to offer those prayers.
In Henry the Eighth's proclamation, dated Westminster, 16th November, in the thirtieth year of his reign, printed by Bertholet, is the following very curious passage:—