Part 12 (1/2)

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 compa.s.sion 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 pa.s.sion, are {198} granted x.x.xII.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 G.o.d 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 h.e.l.l.” 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 Sanctae 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 {199} our Lord Jesus Christ, shall obtain six thousand years of pardon of our holy Father Saint Peter, the first pope of Rome, and of x.x.x [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 pa.s.sion 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 d.a.m.nation, 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 G.o.d.”

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 subst.i.tuted in its stead. Accredited ministers of the Roman Catholic Church have lately a.s.sured 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 G.o.d alone, through Christ alone, a door is opened to superst.i.tions 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 G.o.d and one Mediator. {200}

SECTION II.--SERVICE OF THOMAS BECKET, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS MARTYRDOM, DEC. 29.

The other instance by which I propose to ill.u.s.trate 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 wors.h.i.+p, which should be devoted to meditations on our Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; to the exclusive praises of his holy name; and to supplications {201} 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.

THE SERVICE OF THOMAS BECKET[70].

[Footnote 70: The copies which I have chiefly consulted for the purposes of the present inquiry, are two large folio ma.n.u.scripts, in good preservation, No. 1512 and No. 2785 of the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. The service commences about the 49th page, B. of No. 2785. This MS. is considered to be of a date somewhere about 1430. The first parts of the service are preserved also in a Breviary printed in Paris in 1556, with some variations and omissions. There are various other copies in the British Museum, as well printed as in ma.n.u.script.]

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 thres.h.i.+ng-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]. {202}

That the vineyard of Christ might be free, Which he a.s.sumed 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.