casions not so full or complete as those of the eastern catholic churches. In the English liturgy it would appear that the common preface might be enlarged without injury, so as to correspond in length with the prefaces appointed for peculiar days. The common preface has been used in England from a remote period of antiquity; but what that period may have been I am unable to determine.

It is very meet, right, and Vere dignum et justum est, our bounden duty, that we æquum et salutare, nos tibi should at all times, and in all semper et ubique gratias agere, places, give thanks to thee, O Domine Sancte, Pater OmniLord, Holy Father, Almighty, potens, Æterne Deus. Everlasting God.

Therefore with Angels and Et ideo cum Angelis et ArchArchangels, and with all the angelis, cum thronis et domicompany of heaven, we laud

nationibus, cumque omni miand magnify thy glorious Name; litia cælestis exercitus, hymevermore praising thee, and num gloriæ tuæ canimus, sine saying :

fine dicentes:

PREFACE FOR THE NATIVITY.

The preface formerly used in the church of England on this occasion was not the same as ours, which rather seems to resemble the ancient collect for the day before, in the sacramentary of Gelasius, patriarch of Rome, A. D. 494. I rather cite this collect to shew the conformity of doctrine than for any other object.

Because thou didst give Je- Deus, qui per beatæ Mariæ sus Christ thine only Son to sacræ Virginis partum sine hube born as at this time for us; mana concupiscentia procreawho, by the operation of the tum, in Filii tui membra veniHoly Ghost, was made very man of the substance of the Virgin Mary his mother; and that without spot of sin, to make us clean from all sin. And therefore with Angels &c.

entes paternis fecisti præjudiciis non teneri : Præsta, quæsumus, ut hujus creaturæ novitate suscepta vetustatis antiquæ contagiis exuamur. Per eundem Dominum P.

FOR EASTER.

This preface may be considered as old as the fifth century, as it occurs in the sacramentary of Gelasius; and it has been used in the English church since the arrival of Augustine, in 595, as it is also found in the monuments of the Anglo-Saxon church, and in all the English liturgies anterior to the reformation.

But chiefly are we bound to Et te quidem omni tempore, praise thee for the glorious sed in hac potissimum nocte Resurrection of thy Son Jesus gloriosius prædicare: Cum PasChrist our Lord: For he is the cha nostrum immolatus est very

Paschal Lamb, which was Christus. Ipse enim verus est offered for us, and hath taken agnus qui abstulit peccata munaway the sin of the world ; di. Qui mortem nostram mowho by his death hath destroy- riendo destruxit, et vitam reed death, and by his rising to surgendo reparavit. Et ideo life again hath restored to us cum Angelis &c. everlasting life. Therefore with Angels &c.

FOR ASCENSION.

This preface is to be regarded as the composition of Gregory the First, patriarch of Rome, about the

P Sacramentar. Gelasii Muratori Lit. Rom. tom. i. p. 494. Sacrament. MS. Leofr. Exon. episcopi, fol. 68. In the Sacramentary of Gelasius it is entitled, “In Vigilia Domini mane prima Oratio.”

9 Sacramentar. Gregorii Menard. p. 75, 76. Muratori Lit. Rom. tom. ii. p. 67. Gelasii Sacr. Murat. tom. i. p. 572. MS. Sacramentar. Leofr. Exon. fol. 115. Miss. Sar. fol. lxxiv. Miss. Ebor, et Herefordens.

year 590, and has been used in the English church for above twelve hundred years.

Through thy most dearly be- Per Christum Dominum nosloved Son Jesus Christ our trum : qui post resurrectionem Lord; who after his most glo- suam omnibus discipulis suis rious resurrection manifestly manifestus apparuit. Et ipsis appeared to all his Apostles, cernentibus est elevatus in cæand in their sight ascended up lum, ut nos divinitatis suæ triinto heaven to prepare a place bueret esse participes. Et ideo for us; that where he is, thi. cum Angelis &c.r ther we might also ascend, and reign with him in glory. Therefore with Angels &c.

FOR PENTECOST.

The preface formerly used in the church of England for Pentecost was not equal to that which we use at present, as it contained a very short and imperfect allusion to the great event which is this day commemorated. We may compare our preface with that of the ancient Gallican church on the same occasion, without feeling that there is any inferiority either in the ideas or language of our own.

Through Jesus Christ our

In hoc præcipue die, in quo Lord; according to whose most sacratissimum Pascha quinquatrue promise, the Holy Ghost ginta dierum mysteriis tegitur; came down as at this time from

et per sua vestigia, recursantiheaven with a sudden great bus dierum spatiis, collegunsound, as it had been a mighty tur: et dispersio linguarum, wind, in the likeness of fiery quæ

in confusione facta fuerat, tongues, lighting upon the Apo- per Spiritum Sanctum adunastles, to teach them, and to tur. Hodie enim de cælis relead them to all truth; giving pente sonum audientes Apo

r Sacramentar. Gregorii Menard. p. 95. Muratori, tom. ii. p. 85. MS. Sacramentar. Leofr.

Exon. fol. 128. Miss. Sar. fol. lxxv. Miss. Ebor. Herefordens.

them both the gift of divers stoli, unius Fidei Symbolum languages, and also boldness

exceperunt: et linguis variis with fervent zeal constantly to Evangelii tui gloriam gentibus preach the Gospel unto all na- tradiderunt, per Christum Dotions; whereby we have been minum nostrum. brought out of darkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of thee and of thy Son Jesus Christ. Therefore with Angels &c.

FOR TRINITY SUNDAY.

This preface is as old as the time of Gelasius, patriarch of Rome, A. D. 494; it also appears in the sacramentary of Gregory the First; and being found in the monuments of the Anglo-Saxon church, as well as in the more recent English liturgies, there can be no doubt that it has been used in the church of England for above twelve hundred years.

Who art one God, one Lord; not one only Person, but three Persons in one Substance. For that which we believe of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or inequality. Therefore with Angels &c.

Qui cum unigenito Filio tuo et Spiritu Sancto, unus es Deus, unus es Dominus, non in unius singularitate persona, sed in unius trinitate substantiæ : quod enim de tua gloria, revelante te, credimus; hoc de Filio tuo, hoc de Spiritu Sancto sine differentia discretionis sentimus. Ut in confessione veræ sempiternæque Deitatis, et in personis proprietas, et in essentia unitas, et in majestate adoretur æqualitas t.

s Missale Gothicum. Mabillon de Liturgia Gallicana, p. 269.

t Gelasii Sacramentarium. Muratori Liturg. Rom. tom. i.

p. 606. Gregorii Sacrament.
Menard. p. 104. MS. Sacram.
Leofr. Exon. episcopi, fol. 135.
Miss. Sar. fol. lxxv. Miss. Ebor.
Hereford.

SECTION XVI.

THE SERAPHIC HYMN, OR TERSANCTUS. It is probable that this hymn has been used in the Christian liturgy of the east and west since the age of the apostles. Certainly no liturgy can be traced in antiquity, in which the people did not unite with the invisible host of heaven in chanting these sublime praises of the most high God.. From the testimony of Chrysostom and Cyril of Jerusalem, we find that the seraphic hymn was used in the liturgy of Antioch and Jerusalem in the fourth century u. The Apostolical Constitutions enable us to carry it back to the third century in the east'. In the same century with Cyril and Chrysostom, Gregory, bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, testified its use in the patriarchate or exarchate of Cæsareaw; and Severianus of Gabala attested the same for the church of Constantinoplex. Cyril, pope of Alexandria, and Origen, in the fifth and third centuries, allude to the seraphic hymn, as used in the patriarchate of Alexandria y. In Gaul it was mentioned by Hilary of Poictiers, Cæsarius of Arles, the council of Vaison, and Gregory of Tours 2; who inform us, that it was sung by all the people. Isidore of Seville speaks of its use in the Spanish liturgya. In the liturgy of Milan it has been used from time immemorial, under the name of Trisagium; and in Africa we learn that it was customary in the second century from Tertullian b. Thus it appears that this hymn

u Vol. i. p. 32, 35. v Ibid. p. 39. w Ibid. p. * Ibid. p. 78.

69.

y Ibid. p. 102.
z Ibid.

p.

161. a Ibid. p. 174. b Ibid. p. 137.

.