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That there were no appointed prayers of universal obligation, is evident in the circumstance, that in the times of persecution, when diligent search was made after the books of Christians, it does not appear that liturgies were found on any of them. There can be no doubt, that in each diocese, the Church was left to its discretion, in the ordering of this matter: and probably every bishop, while he carefully regarded essentials, framed the rest according to his judgment, operating on existing circumstances of time and place. Hence it is, that the only knowledge which we possess of what was done, is found in incidental mention of some of the fathers; and especially of parts, in which there was the united voice of the congregation; who must be supposed to have had such passages imprinted on their memories.

In the well known letter of Pliny to the emperour Trajan, giving an account of the Christians, in which he says-"They meet together, to sing a hymn to Christ as God;" the original* will as well bear the translation-" to say a form of prayer." Pliny had his information from those who had been Christians, and had apostatized. Now they could hardly have represented the singing of a hymn, as the only exercise in Christian worship. But be it a hymn or any larger form, it refers to something statedly said or sung: and whether it were prayer or praise, or whether it were prose or verse: 'in either case, the difference is no ground on which to pronounce, that the one may be lawfully with a form, and that the other must be an unpremeditated effusion.

In the sixth dissertation, testimonies were produced from some of the fathers; showing, that in their respective days, the Lord's prayer was used in the Church, not as a pattern only, but as a form also. Those testimonies shall not be here repeated: but they may be properly referred to, as evidence

* Dicere carmen.

of the sense and the practice of the primitive Church, in regard to the subject of forms generally.

It was noticed in the lecture, that there was in early use the expression "Common Prayers"... thought to be indicative of forms. That expression is found so early as in Justin Martyr. And yet this author has been cited on the other side; on no better ground than his saying, that the president of the assembly prayed and gave thanks "to the utmost of his power." But in opposition to this it has been proved, that the Greek words are merely expressive of ardour of devotion. And this is illustrated by a quotation from Gregory Nazianzen in particular; where, on the occasion of the death of the persecuting emperour Julian, the eloquent father exhorts his flock to sing with all their might---using the very words of Justin---the song of the children of Israel, recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus.

Irenæus must have alluded to the Greek words translated "world without end," as part of a form of devotion among Christians, when he accused the Valentinians of making the construction of those words in the original, the foundation of their whimsical doctrine of the Eons.

Clement of Alexandria† speaks of the congregation of Christians, as having not only one mind, but one or a common voice: which implies, that some of their prayers were such, as to require the joining in them vocally. And this could not have consisted with their being unpremeditated.

Tertullian mentions such a variety of circumstances concerning the matter and the manner of praying in the assemblies of the Christians, that it is difficult to account for his referring to so many particulars, as publick facts, and in some instances as vindication from calumny; but on the principle, † Strom. lib. vii. p. 717.

* Όση δύναμις

that the truth of it was visible in performances, not always governed by the discretion of every minister. And yet, as in the case of Justin, Tertullian has been cited on the other side, on the ground of a single expression; where he says, that Christian congregations prayed for the emperour, "without a monitor," because they prayed from the heart. This authority proves too much, and therefore nothing: for Tertullian is speaking of the congregation, and not of the minister, who must at all events have been to them a monitor or prompter. But the meaning of the phrase appears in an ancient custom of heathen worship; in which, besides the leader in it, there was another person who was busy among the worshippers, to prevent omission or errour in the exercise. Both Pliny and Seneca are quoted, in evidence of this custom. And the latter especially notices it, with a reference to the prayers for the emperours-the subject to which the discourse of Tertullian is directed. Even in that very place, it is easy to discover something like a set form, when he particularizes the praying that God would "bless the emperour with length of days, and a quiet reign, a well established family, a stout army, a faithful senate, an honest people, and a peaceful world; and whatever else, either prince or people can desire."

The notice has been confined to the very early ages; because when we come down to the fourth century, the evidences of the fact are notorious and confessed: insomuch that towards the end of it, St. Austin complained of the growth of rites and ceremonies, as swelling to an intolerable burden. But it is worthy of remark, that the evidences which then appear, carry with them unequivocal marks of their having come down from much earlier times. For instance, when the council of Laodicea provided that the same prayers should be read in † Sine monitore. + Canon 18.

* Ap. ch. 30.

the morning as in the evening, there can hardly be more decisive evidence, of there having been the habitual use of known prayers, for one or for both of those occasions. So when Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, wrote a commentary on the liturgy in use in the Church of that city, under the name of "The Liturgy of St. James," and much venerated on his account; and when the same Cyril, in his catechetical discourses, refers to rites and forms accompanying baptism, and others supposed to be familiarly known; it is evidence, that these things were not then new, but had descended through a tract of time. Whether the said liturgy, of which nothing certain remains, were indeed the work of St. James, it would be useless to inquire. It is here only mentioned as what must have been ancient, when Cyril wrote his commentary.

According to Eusebius in his Life of Constantine,* the emperour "used in his court prescribed prayers:† and it appears from the context, that this was "according to the manner of the Church of God:" which evidently refers to known and established custom.

The apostolick constitutions, as they are called, although doubtless a forgery in respect to the pretended speakers in them, are allowed to be descriptive of the opinions and the manners of the first three centuries. In that work, there is a form of prayer of considerable length, said to have been used at the consecration of the Eucharist. None doubt of its being genuine: and there is no reason to doubt of its having been very ancient, at the earliest time in which we have positive evidence of the use of it. Were it not for the said work, this excellent prayer would have been lost to the Christian world: which may the easier induce us to believe, that much similar matter has sunk under the lapse of ages.

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If these monuments, and others which might have been added, do not demonstrate, that the practice to which they relate was from the beginning; it will always be difficult to account for the introduction and the growth of it, without strife or noise. Among the sects which separated from the Catholick Church in the first three centuries, there were some, which did this on the plea of greater sanctity and spirituality. Such were the Nova tians and the Donatists; both of whom adhered to the Church in doctrine. It is true, that while the world exhibits no monuments of the superiour worth of the leading characters among these sects, there is abundance of the monuments of the piety and the virtue of those, from whose communion they separated on that ostentatious ground. It is here so called; because, although in regard to individual state and conduct, no degree of holiness can be so great, as that the ardour of Christian piety ought not to endeavour to attain to it; yet to form an ecclesiastical association, which shall be bound together by the tie of the profession of superiour sanctity, is the taking of the very bond of union, distinguishing the pharisees of old. Still there were societies in the early ages, whose distinctive character was that species of profession. Now that such sects should not have availed themselves of the inroad sup posed to have been made on the purity and the spirituality of primitive worship, by a novel introduction of forms of prayer; if indeed there had been a plausible plea, on which such a charge might have been made; is here thought not to be consistent with what we know of human nature, and especially with what we learn from authentick documents concerning the sects referred to, and others like them in different times.

Before the closing of the discussion, it may be pertinent to remark, that this Church, like the Church from which she is descended, lays the greater stress on a judicious arrangement of forms of prayer; from the opinion entertained, that joint devotion, and the read, ing and the hearing of the Scriptures, are the principal

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