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

To reform the usage of the Church in the matter of the language used in Public Worship. The explanation of the use of Latin in the Western Church is to be found in the fact that at one time that language was understood all over Western Christendom. It was only by slow degrees that Latin ceased to be a living language, but in the lapse of centuries it gradually came about that the Church services, the language of which was stereotyped, were said in a tongue of which the bulk of the people understood less and less. So very gradual, however, was the decay of the language, that no definite time occurred for changing the language of the service-books until the Reformation. In 1553 the Article on this subject ran as follows : —

MENNE MUST SPEAKE IN THE CONGRE¬

[…]

Decentissimum est et Yerbo Dei maxime congruit, ut nihil in Eccle¬ sia publice legatur aut recitetur lingua populo ignota, idque Paul us fieri vetuit, nisi adesset qui inter- pretaretur. ;

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The Council of Trent (Session XXII., September 1562) decreed : —

“ Etsi missa magnam contineat populi fidelis eruditionem, non tamen expedire visum est patribus, ut vulgari passim lingua cele- braretur.”

Cf Canon IX. of the same Session : —

[…]

The fact that the Church of Rome was holding fast to the use of the Latin language in the public services of the Church, doubtless accounts for the stronger form in which our Article was recast in 1563.

§ 3.— EXPOSITION.

The Article simply affirms that to have Publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people, is a thing plainly repugnant to —

(1.) the Word of God. See especially 1 Cor. xiv. 11 — 19.

The general rule laid down in Holy Scripture is, “ Let all things be done unto edifying” (1 Cor. xiv. 26).

(2.) the custom of the Primitive Church.

It is quite certain that, in the earliest times, Christians in every land offered common Prayer and celebrated the Holy Eucharist in the vernacular. Thus the Liturgies of the Greek-speaking Churches of the East were Greek, and the Liturgy of the Church of Rome itself (at first a Greek¬ speaking community) was also Greek in the very earliest days ; we may see a survival of this in the “ Kyrie Eleison ” still repeated before the Lord’s Prayer in the Mass.

It is to be noted that in this Article —

(1.) The Church of England takes Holy Scripture as its Rule, contrary to which nothing may be decreed (cf. Article XX.), and (2.) takes the Primitive Church as its pattern.

Throughout the Reformation period wTe find the authorities of the English Church constantly referring to the practice of the Primitive Church as their standard. In illustration of this we may quote the following passages : —

The Act of Uniformity, 1549.

“ Havinge eye and respecte to the most sincere and pure Chris¬ tian Religion taught by the Scripture, as to the usages of the Primaty ve Church. ”

The Commutation, 1549 :

[…]

The Ordinal (Preface), 1549 :

“From the Apostles’ tyme there hathe bene these orders of Ministers in Christes Church.”

The Act of Uniformity, 1552 :

The Prayer Book of 1549 is spoken of as “a verye godly Order, agreeable to the Worde of God, and the Primative Church.”

“Homily against Peril of Idolatry, 1562:

“ The usage of the primitive Church, which was most pure and uncorrupt” (p. 180).

“And there is no doubt but the primitive Church next the Apostles’ times was most pure” (p. 212).

“The primitive Church, which is specially to be followed as most incorrupt and pure” (p. 231).

The Canons, 1604:

“Forasmuch as the ancient Fathers of the Church, led by example of the Apostles, appointed prayers and fasts to be used at the solemn Ordering of Ministers ; and to that purpose allotted certain times, in which only Sacred Orders might be given or conferred : we, following their holy and religious example, do constitute and decree …” (Canon XXXI.).

Extracts are here appended from some of the more important Continental Confessions, to show how Reformers of various schools dealt with the question of the language to be used in Public worship : —

Augsburg Confession, Part II. Art. III., “De Missa”:

“Servantur et usitatae ceremoniae fere omnes, praeterquam quod Latinis cantionibus admiscentur alicubi Germanicae, quae additae sunt ad docendum populum. Ham ad hoc unum opus est ceremoniis, ut doceant imperitos. Et non modo Paulus praecipit uti lingua intellecta populo in ecclesia, sed etiam ita constitutum est humano jure.”

Wurtemburg Confession, Art. XXVII. :

“ Sicut enim condones et precationes lingua Ecclesiae nota habendae sunt, ita et sacramenta noto sermone dispensanda sunt.

[…]

Second Helvetic Confession, Art. XXII. :

“Taceant ergo ornnes peregrinae linguae in coetibus sacris. Omnia proponantur lingua vulgari, et quae eo in loco ab hominibus in coetu intelligatur.”