THE

PREFACE.

HE design of the following Translation is to promote true piety and solid devotion among the faithful, by making them acquainted with those sacred and solemn prayers, which, for the most part, have been consecrated by the use of so many ages in the Catholic church: For it may be observed by every attentive christian, (without detracting any thing from the merit of books of private devotion) that the public office of the church includes the most moving prayers to Almighty God, expressive of a the different sentiments of the most lively faith, firm hope, ardent charity, respectful adoration, boundless gratitude, sincere compunction, &c. and at the same time, the most solid instructions with regard to the truths of faith, and the practical duties of common life.

The discipline of the Western Church, which requires the celebration of the Liturgy, and the rest of the public service in the Latin tongue, is not a singularity worthy of blame: Nor is it done with an intent of concealing from the people any superstition or abomination in its service, as is sometimes pretended by those, who make a merit of calumniating that church, to which they are indebted for all the knowledge they have of the christian religion.

Ir is not from any affectation of singularity, that the church forbids her service to be performed in the vulgar tongue of each particular country. She, like the other great societies of Christians all over the East, retains in her public service that language, in which she was first taught the praises of Almighty God. Thus the Syriac and Greek are still made use of in the East by those, whose vulgar tongues they were at the time of their conversion, as the Latin was in general that of all the West; though they have long since ceased to

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be so, and are no more understood now by the common people, than the Latin is with us.

Neither is this discipline kept up with an intent of concealing from the people any imaginary superstition or abomination in the public service. The charge is highly absurd; as the Latin is generally understood by all that have had a liberal education, and is publicly taught at the Grammar-schools in every province of Europe. The Church, moreover hath ordered her Pastors to interpret to the faithful what they do not understand in the public service, since, from the fall of the Roman Empire, the Latin hath ceased to be the vulgar tongue of the West. It never was the design of the Church to conceal from the faithful her sacred mysteries, though for several ages, she religiously observed never to commit to writing the sacramental words, or what we now call the form of the sacraments, (lest they should fall into the hands of the infidels, and be unworthily abused) but trusted them only by word of mouth, to her Ministers, and never chose to mention them before the people without explaining them.

Several ages before the Council of Trent, the Pastors were ordered to explain in the vulgar tongue the prayers of Mass and Baptism. This was expressly ordered in a national Council of our own Country, in the Year 747, in which St. Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided. King Ethelbald and his Nobles assisted thereat, and, after the letters of Pope Zachary and St. Boniface, were read, the following decree was made: "Let the "Priests learn to administer, according to the form "prescribed, every function of their office: Let them "learn likewise to interpret and explain, in the vulgar "tongue, the Creed, the Lord's prayer, and the sacred "words, that are solemnly said at Mass and in Baptism : "Let them likewise study the spiritual meaning of the "ceremonies and sacred signs made use of at Mass "and Baptism, and the rest of the divine service, lest "not being able to give an account of the prayers they "offer to God, and the ceremonies they perform in be"half of the people, their ignorance may make them "dumb in the discharge of their duty."

Although the Ordinary of the Mass was not common in the hands of any, but Bishops and Priests, till towards the close of the fifteenth century, the people were not

ignorant of what was said or done in the Liturgy and the rest of the divine service. The use of printing, which was then discovered, was the occasion of many Missals being published in different sizes; and in the following age the blasphemies of Luther and Calvin, against the holy sacrifice of the Mass, obliged the Laity to read and examine those sacred prayers which were the daily subject of dispute. The Councils of Mentz and Cologne, in the year 1547, ordered it to be expounded to the faithful. This was confirmed by the Council of Trent, sess. 22. c. viii, when it ordered all Pastors to "explain, every Sunday and Holiday, some "part of the Mass, and what was read therein."And sess. 24. c. vii. the Pastors are ordered to explain to the people the force and use of the sacraments according to the method prescribed in the Catechism ad Parochos, which the Bishops are also ordered to have translated into the vulgar tongues.

Soon after the Cardinals Lorrain and Guise, successively Archbishops of Rheims, published a French translation of the Ordinary of the Mass. During the seventeenth century several others appeared, published by eminent men, and authorized by the greatest Prelates. The happy effects of these translations were visible in France, where every day numbers returned to the unity of the Catholic Church, who had been accustomed to the service in their mother tongue, and had been told by their Ministers, that the Mass was full of impieties.' Monsieur Pelisson, who, after he had tasted the sweets of Catholic unity, perfectly understood the pleasure and satisfaction the new Converts had in reading, in their mother tongue, what was said at Mass, in concert with the Court and Bishops of France, procured the printing and publishing of the Missal in five small volumes. In a word, our worthy countryman, Mr. Gother, (whose memory, for his indefatigable zeal, solid piety, and truly orthodox learning, must be ever dear to the English Catholics) published the Instructive Part of the Mass, together with the Ordinary, in two volumes; as likewise his Instructions and Devotions for hearing Mass. It is therefore no longer a question whether the Missal ought to be translated and put into the hands of the faithful; the thing is already done, at least in those countries where Catholics and Protestants live under the same

government, and the Missal, in a vulgar tongue, is in general use. The Pastors therefore of the Church can do nothing better than, by an exact translation and explication of those sacred prayers, inspire their people with the respect and veneration due to our august mysteries.†

As the Catholic Church, in every age and every country, must essentially observe uniformity in her religious creed, and as conformity in practice is a striking mark of conformity in belief, and, moreover, a great source of edification to the faithful, she pronounces in the general council of Trent, sess. VII. can. 13, anathema to the person that shall pretend" that the received and approv→ "ed rites of the Church, which are used in the solemn "administration of the Sacraments, may be omitted at "the will of the Ministers, or changed into any new "rites by any Pastor whatsoever."-And Sess. XXII. Can. 9, ibid. she pronounces the same judgment on any one that shall dare to assert, "that the Mass should "be said in the vulgar tongue only." Ever averse to novelties and innovations, the Church recommends to her devout and obedient children, to adhere strictly ta the advice St. Paul gives the Corinthians, in his 1st Ep. c. 14, v. 40, let all things be done according to order, omnia secundum ordinem fiant; and it is her wish that the prayers used in public should be such as have received the double sanction of time and authority. Hence it is natural to infer, that at all times, and under all circumstances, (except there be an obvious and just reason for a contrary practice) the received litanies and the appropriate service of the Church, which in a certain sense may be called the Communion of Saints, are

See the Preface of Le Brun's Explanation of the Mass, whence this is chiefly extracted.

The punishment decreed by the Council falls only on those 66 persons, who dogmatize," says Collet, in his treatise on the Holy Mysteries, p. 6, ed. 3. "Hence they who, through ignor rance, neglect or contempt, which would be a very grievous sin, "should deviate from the ceremonies of the church, would not be "included." But it should be understood, that men may dogmatize by practice, as well as by words, and say with the same effect, though without opening their lips, that such and such a rite is not well founded; that it owes its origin to ignorance, &c. &c. We do not, on all occasions, deny our faith, by eating flesh-meat in Lent; but there are places, where this action would be looked upon as a formal abjuration of our faith.

more adviseable, and more meritorious, than any private devotions, which unauthorised individuals may endeavour to substitute in their room.

In former ages, even the Laity were punctual in attending at the stated times,§ the different offices of the Church. St. Jerome, in his beautiful and instructive epistle to Leta, recommends her to place her daughter, then very young, near a virtuous and prudent governess, who may instruct her, by her own example, to rise at midnight to recite psalms; to sing at day-break the mattin hymns; and like a valiant sentinel of Jesus Christ, to be at her post at the hours of terce, sext and none; and to complete the day by offering up her vespers, or evening sacrifice, with the light of her lamp. doceat, et assuescat suo exemplo ad orationes et psalmos nocte consurgere, mane Hymnos canere, tertia, sexta, nona stare in acie, quasi Bellatricem Christi, accensaque lucernula, reddere sacrificium vespertinum.

Illam

The public office of the Church, as to its substance, is of the highest antiquity; it passed from the Synagogue to the church. The most deserving part of the community, both of the ancient and new Law, esteemed it an occupation not less delightful than laborious. With so great a crowd of witnesses before our eyes, who have preceded us in a path as easy now, as it was arduous then, we shall be inexcusable, if we prove ourselves remiss in this so momentous a concern. We should admit of no excuse, at the stated hours of public service, to keep us back, and, as it were, excommunicate us from the communion of Saints, where the Church Militant unites with the Church Triumphant, except such as the Council of Trent, c. 1. de reform. admits of in Prebends; works of charity; pressing necessity; obedience to superiors; or some evident utility to Church or State. These are happy moments for fervent souls, spiritu ferventes, orationi instantes, Rom. 12. v. 11 and 12, because they know that God is then most propitious, when the faithful in a body, with one

§ St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, speak of 7 hours which we call canonical. Cassian, after stating that the Monks of Egypt and Thebais only assembled, if we except Sundays, at evening and night, to sing in choir psalms to the honor of God, observes that this sweet and glorious employment reunited each of the monasteries of the East, of Palestine, and Mesapotamia, six times each day.