Beveridge on Article XXIV: Of speaking in the Congregation in such a tongue as the people understandeth

the mass” (so they call both their public prayers, and the sacrament of the Lord’s supper too, called often by the bancients the eucharist) “ contains a great instruction of the faithful people, yet it doth not seem expedient to the Fathers that it should be every where celebrated in the vulgar tongue.” And as if they had not said enough there, they add presently, e«Tf any one say that the rite or custom of the church of Rome, whereby part of the canon and words of the consecra- tion are uttered with a low voice, is to be condemned; or

a Etsi missa magnam contineat

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Arr.

430 Of speaking tn the Congregation

that mass ought to be celebrated in the vulgar tongue, or that water ought not to be mixed with the wine in the cup that is to be offered up, because it is contrary to Christ’s institution ; let him be accursed.” In which words they first ‘transgress the ancient law of J ustinian the emperor, that public prayers and offerings should be performed with a loud voice, so as to be heard of the people ; and then they add sin unto sin, and command that they be not made in any tongue but an unknown tongue. First, they decree it should be so performed, that the people might not hear it ; and then, that it should be so performed, that if they did hear it, they might not understand it.

Now against this vain and sinful custom and practice of the church of Rome, our church doth here set down this article, that those public services should be administered in a lan- guage understood by the people; and that the contrary is repugnant to the word of God and the practice of the primi- tive church.

First, that it is repugnant to the word of God is plain ; for that commands that all things be done to edifying, 1 Cor. xiv. 26: and © what edifying can there be when the people know not what is said ? Nay, the apostle, as if he foreknew what wild practices and opinions would arise in the church, spends almost a whole chapter in shewing that public duties should not be performed in an unknown tongue ; For he that speaketh on an unknown tongue, speaketh not to men, but God ; for no man understandeth him, 1 Cor. xiv.2. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful, ver. 14, Else when thow shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving

4 Jubemus omnes episcopos et

presbyteros non in secreto sed cum ea voce que a fidelissimo populo exaudiatur divinam oblationem et precationem que fit in sancto bapti- smate facere, ut inde audientium animi in majorem devotionem et Dei laudationem et benedictionem effe- rantur, &c. Idcirco igitur convenit ut ea precatio, que in sancta obla- tione dicitur, et aliz orationes clara voce a sanctissimis episcopis et pre-

sbyteris proferantur Domino nostro Jesu Christo Deo nostro cum Patre et SpirituS. Justinian. novel. 137. [p+ 225°

e Ex hac Pauli doctrina habetur, quod melius ad ecclesie edificatio- nem est, orationes publicas, que audiente populo dicuntur, dici lin- gua communi clericis et populo, quam dici Latine. Cajet. in 1 Cor. xiv. [p. 158. ]

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XXIV. in a Tongue understood. 431

of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thow sayest ? ver. 16. L thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all ; yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue, ver.18,19. Certainly our adver- saries are not of Paul’s mind, who had rather speak ten thou- sand words in an unknown tongue, (as to the people,) than five words in a known.

And again, If the church come together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned and unbelievers, will not they say that ye are mad? ver. 23. Yes, certainly, any one that comes to the popish masses, and hears a sound, but understandeth not a word of what is said, will surely think them to be mad, mad people that go to pray to the eternal God, and yet know not what is said. And this doth not only make for public prayers, but for all public ser- vices whatsoever ; and the sacraments amongst the rest, which our Saviour, and his apostles after him, administered in a known tongue. But we have a generation now sprung up that think themselves wiser than their Maker and Redeemer, and know better what language his sacraments are to be administered in than himself did.

But I wish they would at the length consider, whether all such services as are performed in an unknown tongue are not blind performances. The apostle said, J will pray with my spirit, and I will pray with my understanding also, 1 Cor. xiv. 15. And God’s service should be a reasonable service, Rom. xii. 1. And therefore there is no flanguage scarce in the world but the scriptures are translated into it, that so all that profess the Christian religion, be they of what language they will, may know the mind and will of God, and understand the duties he requireth of them; and so perform a reasonable service to him. But, if there be no necessity of understand- ing what the priests say or do in their public services, surely

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432 Of speaking in the Congregation Art. the time spent in such translations was but vainly spent. But 1 would know further, how, if I understand not what is said, I shall know whether the priest prays for me or against me? Yea, how shall I know whether he prays or swears? Or whe- ther he blesseth the bread or curseth it? Whether he desires God to pardon or to punish me? to save or to damn me? Certainly, he may do the one as well as the other, for aught that I know, unless I understand the language he speaks in. Neither is this vain practice only repugnant to the holy scriptures and right reason, but to the primitive church also. Justin Martyr saith in his time, § “ After this we rise all unanimously, and send up our prayers; and as we said before, our prayers being finished, the bread, and water, and wine is offered, and the president pours out prayers and thanks- givings as he is able, and then the people ery out, saying Amen.” Now, if the people did not understand what was said, how, as the apostle saith, could they say Amen? And therefore Aventinus. records of Methodius Illyricus, } “ That he forced the Dalmatians and other Illyrians, that the Latin tongue being abolished, they should use the vulgar tongue in the celebration of the holy mysteries.” And hence it was also, that in the primitive church their liturgies or common prayer books were still made in the language that was under- stood by them that were to use it; as St. Chrysostome, being himself a Grecian, composed his liturgy in the Greek lan- guage, and so St. Basil too. To which we may also add, besides that ascribed to St. James, the liturgies of St. Mark and St. Peter ; all which were composed in a known language understood of the people. And in all of them there are still some things to be said by the people, which it would be impossible they should know when to say, unless they under- stood what went before: nay, and what is observable also, there are many things in these liturgies which the priest is

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Quod impulerit Dalmatas alios- que Ilyricos, ut, abolita lingua La- tina, vulgari in sacris mysteriis per- agendis uterentur. Avent. in annal. [p. 334-]

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XXIV.

in a tongue understood. 433

expressly commanded to say ‘with a loud voice; and why so, but that the people might be sure to hear and understand them? And thus Origen saith, k “The Greeks pray to God in the Greek, the Romans in the Roman, and every one in his own tongue.”

But this is so plain, “that,” as Lyra saith, ! “in the primi- tive church, the blessings, and other common prayers were made in the vulgar tongue,” that the papists themselves, who are now the only persons that are against it, cannot but acknowledge it. For Aquinas himself saith, ™“In the pri- mitive church it was a madness for any one to say prayers in an unknown tongue, because then they were ignorant of the ecclesiastical rites, and knew not what was done there.” So Harding too: ” “In the time of the primitive church,” says he, “‘ the people celebrated holy things in the vulgar tongue.” So that by their own confession, it is a thing repugnant to the custom of the primitive church to have public prayers or the sacraments administered in an unknown tongue.

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thing equivalent to them.

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’ In primitiva ecclesia benedictio- nes et cetera communia fiebant in vulgari. Lyra in 1 Cor. xiv. [17.]

m In primitiva ecclesia insaniam suisse, si quis ignota lingua preces dixisset, quia tunc fuerint rudes in ritu ecclesiastico, nescientes que fi- erent ibi. Aquin. in 1 Cor. 14. [vid. vol. XVI. fol. 84.]

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