PA III. cause in presence of the emperor. The issue of CENT. IV. these proceedings comes under the history of the following century. It is however, necessary to observe here, that we must not reduce to the same class all those who are called origenists in the records of this century. For this ambiguous title is applied to persons who differed widely in their religious notions. Sometimes it merely signifies such friends of Origen, as acknowledged his writings to have been adulterated in many places, and who were far from patronizing the errors of which he was accused; in other places, this title is attributed to those who confess Origen to be the author of the doctrines which are imputed to him, and who resolutely support and defend his opinions; of which latter there was a considerable number among the monastic .orders, CHAPTER IV. CONCERNING THE RITES AND CEREMONIES USED IN THE CHURCH of ceremonies 1. WHILE the Roman emperors were studious A multitude to promote the honour of Christianity, by the aus- introduce picious protection they afforded to the church, and their most zealous efforts to advance its interests, the inconsiderate and ill directed piety of the bishops cast a cloud over the beauty and simplicity of the gospel, by the prodigious number of rites and I See Peter. Daniel Huet, Origenianorum, lib. ii. cap. iv. p. 196. Louis Doucin, Histoire de Origenisme, livr. iii. p. 95. Hier. a Prato, Diss. vi in Sulpitium Severum de Monachis ob Origenis nomen ex Nitria tataque Egypto pulsis, p. 273. Veron. 1741, folio. PA T 11. it. CENT. IV. ceremonies which they had invented to embellish And here we may apply that well known say. ing of Augustin," that the yoke under which the Jews formerly groaned, was more tolerable than that imposed upon many christians in his time. The rites and institutions, by which the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, had formerly testified their religious veneration for fictitious deities, were now adopted, with some slight alterations, by christian bishops, and employed in the service of the true God. We have already mentioned the reasons alleged for this imitation, so proper to disgust all who have a just sense of the native beauty of genuine Christianity. These fervent heralds of the gospel, whose zeal outran their candour and ingenuity, imagined that the nations would receive Christianity with more facility, when they saw the rites and ceremonies to which they were accustomed, adopted in the church, and the same worship paid to Christ and his martyrs, which they had formerly offered to their idol deities. Hence it happened, that in these times, the religion of the Greeks and Romans differed very little, in its external appearance, from that of the christians. They had both a most pompous and splendid ritual. Gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax tapers, crosiers," processions, lustrations, images, gold and silver vases, and many such circumstances of in Augustin. Epist. cxix. ad Januarium, according to the ancient division. "The Lituus, which, among the ancient Romans was the chief ensign of the augurs, and which derived its name from its resemblance of the military trumpet, became a mark of episcopal dignity. We call it the crosier, or bishop's staff. The word supplicationes, which I have rendered by that of processions, signified among the pagans, those solemn and public acts of gratitude for national blessings, or depreciation of national calamities, which were expressed by the whole body of the people by a religious approach to thetemples of the gods, which, by a decree of the senate, were open for all without distinction. See Cic. Catil. iii. 6. Liv. x. 28. 383 PART II.. pageantry, were equally to be seen in the heathen CENT. IV. temples and the christian churches. churches erec› ted. II. No sooner had Constantine the Great abolish. Magnificent ed the superstitions of his ancestors, than magnificent churches were every where erected for the christians, which were richly adorned with pictures and images, and bore a striking resemblance of the pagan temples, both in their outward and inward form.P Of these churches some were built over the tombs of martyrs, and were frequented only at stated times; while others were set apart for the ordinary assemblies of christians in divine worship. The former were called martyria, from the places where they were erected; and the latter tituli. Both of them were consecrated with great pomp, and with certain rites borrowed, mostly, from the ancient laws of the Roman pontiffs. But our wonder will not cease here; it will rath- Origin of the right of pat er be augmented when we learn, that at this time, roage. it was looked upon as an essential part of religion to have in every country a multitude of churches; and here we must look for the true origin of what is called the right of patronage, which was introduced among christians with no other view than to encourage the opulent to erect a great number ? See Ezek. Spanheim, Preuves sur les Cesars de Julien. p. 47, and particularly Le Brun's Explication litteraire et historique des Ceremo nies de la Messe, tom. ii. p. 101. A description of these churches may be found in Eusebius, De vita Constantini M. lib. iii. cap. xxxv. and an exact plan of the interior structure of them is accurately engraved in bishop Beverege's Adnotationes in Pandectas Canonum, tom. ii. p. 70, and in Frederick Spanheim's Institut. Hist. Eccles. tom. i. opp. p. 860. It must also be observed, that certain parts of the christian churches were formed after the model of the Jewish temples. See Camp. Vitringa, De synagoga vetera, lib. iii. p. 466. 9 Jo. Mabillon. Musei Italici, tom. ii. in Comment. ad ordin. Roman. p. xvi. The tituli were the smaller churches, so called from this circumstance, that the presbyters, who officiated in them, were called by the names of the places where they were erected, i. e. received titles which fixed them to those particular cures. PART II. CENT. IV. of churches, by giving them the privilege of appointing the ministers that were to officiate in them.' This was a new instance of that servile imitation of the ancient superstitions which reigned at this time; for it was a very common notion among the people of old, that nations and provinces were happy and free from danger, in proportion to the number of fanes and temples, which they consecrated to the worship of gods and heroes, whose protection and succour could not fail, as it was thought, to be shed abundantly upon those, who worshipped them with such zeal, and honoured them with so many marks of veneration and respect. The christians unhappily contracted the same erroneous way of thinking. The greater the number of temples was which they erected in honour of Christ, and his chosen friends and followers, the more sanguine did their expectations grow of powerful succours from them, and of a peculiar interest in the divine protection. They were so weak as to imagine, that God, Christ, and celestial intelligences, were delighted with those marks and testimonies of respect, which captivate the hearts of wretched mortals. The form of public wor ship. The christian worship consisted in hymns, prayers, the reading of the scriptures, a discourse addressed to the people, and concluded with the celebration of the Lord's supper. To these were added various rites, more adapted to please the eyes, and strike the imagination, than to kindle in the heart the pure and sacred flame of genuine piety.' We are not however to think, that the same Just. Henn. Bohmeri Jus Eccles. Protestant, tom. iii. p. 466. Bibhotheque Italique, tom. v. p. 166. For a full account of the form of public worship, or the liturgies of this century, the reader will do well to consult the 22d. catechetical discourse of Cyril of Jerusalem, and the apostolical constitutions, which are falsely attributed to Clement of Rome. These writers are most learnedly illustrated and explained by Peter le Brun, in his Explication litterale et historique de la Messe, tom. ii. p. 53. method of worship was uniformly followed in ev- CENT. IV. ery christian society, for this was far from being PART II. the case. Every bishop, consulting his own pri vate judgment, and taking into consideration the nature of the times, the genius of the country in which he lived, and the character and temper of those whom he was appointed to rule and instruct, formed such a plan of divine worship as he thought the wisest and the best. Hence that variety of liturgies which were in use, before the bishop of Rome had usurped the supreme power in religious matters, and persuaded the credulous and unthink. ing, that the model, both of doctrine and worship, was to be given by the mother church, and to be followed implicitly throughout the christian world. troduced into divine wor IV. It would be almost endless to enter into a Changes inminute detail of all the different parts of public many parts of worship, and to point out the disadvantageous ship. changes they underwent. A few observations will be sufficient upon this head. The public prayers had now lost much of that solemn and majestic simplicity, that characterized them in the primitive times, and which were, at present, degenerating into a vain and swelling bombast. The psalms of David were now received among the public hymns that were sung as a part of divine service. The sermons, or public discourses addressed to the people, were composed according to the rules of human eloquence, and rather adapted to excite the stupid admiration of the populace, who delight in vain embellishments, than to enlighten the under. standing, or to reform the heart. Nay, it would seem as if all possible means had been industriously used, to give an air of folly and extravagance to the christian assemblies. For the people were permitted, nay, even exhorted by the preacher himself, to crown his talents with clapping of hands Beasuobre, Hist. du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 614. |