AFTER DEATH tlje game Second Edition. Crown 8v0. 6s. THE BISHOPS IN THE TOWER. A Record of Stirring Events affecting the Church and Nonconformists from the Restoration to the Revolution. ' We most heartily commend this delightful volume. It is fu'l of original research and clear and broad grasp of situations ; it is written by one with the historical faculty richly developed.' Literary Churchman. Second Edition. Crown %vo. 6s. STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. The Anglican Reform The Puritan Innovations The Elizabethan Reaction The Caroline Settle- ment. With Appendices. ' The subject of this present volume is inexhaustibly attractive ; and many, we hope, will _ be glad to retrace the lines of our liturgical Church history in company with so accomplished and sympathetic a guide. .... If we have ventured to criticise some details in this able and helpful book, which might be reconsidered in another edition, we are not the less desirous of recommending it emphatically to all educated members of the entire Anglican communion. Church Quarterly Review. ' We heartily commend Dr. Luckock's very interesting and very readable book.' The Guardian. Third Edition. Crown Svo. Two Voh. I2s. FOOTPRINTS OF THE SON OF MAN, AS TRACED BY ST. MARK. Being Eighty Portions for Private Study, Family Reading, and Instructions in Church. With an Intro- duction by the late Bishop of Ely. 'His book is designed "for private study, family reading, and instructions in church." For one or all of these three purposes we heartily recommend it. ... The frequent references to the Talmud and Mishnah, as illustrating the Gospel record, form a peculiarly valuable feature of the book." Church Quarterly Review. 'We will undertake to say that there is not a church in England in which the congregation would not be greatly benefited and advanced in religious knowledge by listening to these addresses.' Guardian. RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON. ATH AN EXAMINATION OF TESTIMONY OF PRIMITIVE TIMES RESPECTING THE STATE OF THE FAITHFUL DEAD, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE LIVING BY HERBERT MORTIMER LUCKOCK, D.D. CANON OF ELY, PRINCIPAL OF THE THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE, AND SOMETIME FELLOW OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE TO. dpxa'ta Wt\ Kparelru. NlC. CONCIL. CAN. VI SIXTH EDITION RI VINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON MDCCCI.XXXVJI VIRO : ADMODUM : REVERENDO : JACOBU : KUSSELL : EPIBCOPO : ELIKNSI : s : T : P: BENEFICIORUM : CON3ILII : HORTATIONIS : AMICITI.E HAUD : UI.VEMOR : HOC : OPUS : QUANTULUMCTJNQUE E : PIBTATE : DEDICO : 2107719 preface* following treatise is in the main an examination of evidence, which is to be found by searching in early Christian documents of divers kinds. Not a few investigators have traversed some portions of the ground before me, and I feel conscious of having profited by their labours, but to what extent I find it difficult to say. Excepting in the chapter on the Catacombs, I have not taken anything of importance directly from them, but have endeavoured, however imperfectly, to work the matter out for myself. In this one instance viii Preface. I could not have done otherwise ; and I wish to acknowledge in the fullest manner my obli- gations to De-Eossi for his truly magnificent work, entitled Inscriptiones Christiana urbis Romce septimo sceculo antiquiores. Some few of the epitaphs have been copied from the last book of Dr. Northcote, who deserves the thanks of English readers for placing within their reach so much of the substance of De-Eossi's writings. With Archbishop Usher's Answers to a Jesuit, and Bishop Forbes* Considerationes Modestce, I have long been familiar, and feel that at some time or other their works have been very helpful in directing me to Patristic Treatises where the subject is treated of. Dr. Lee in his Christian Doctrine of Prayer for the Departed has dealt with one part of the subject, and in a somewhat similar manner, Preface. ix but I have not availed myself, except in some unimportant particulars, of the fruit of his labours. I have received valuable aid from Dr. Schiller- Szinessy, by conversations with whom I have been enabled to enter in a measure into the real state of Jewish feeling respecting the dead. My thanks are due to the Rev. H. B. Swete for assistance in revising the proof-sheets, and for making many useful suggestions and criticisms. For the translations generally I am myself re- sponsible. It only remains now that I should send forth this book, upon gathering materials for which I have spent much thought and care, with the humble prayer that the Spirit of truth will regulate its influence upon the hearts of those who read it according as its teaching may be found agreeable to the mind of Christ. x Preface. And while to me belongs the reproach of failure or incompleteness, to Him be all the praise. H. M. L. Stye Fcaet of &. 03idjacl aim an angelu, 1879, COLLEGE, ELY. preface to ttye ^econD CDition. rilHE speedy demand for a second edition proves that the interest in all subjects connected with the state of the soul after death continues to be felt with unabated force. Numerous private communications received from friends and strangers have made me realise more and more the existence of a wide-spread longing for a fuller recognition in our Public Services of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. As this edition is being issued before anything like a general criticism has been brought to bear on the arguments, I send xii Preface to the Second Edition. it forth without any material change. I have, however, slightly supplemented the Jewish testimony, and endeavoured to vindicate the relevancy of certain Jewish inscriptions, which one reviewer deemed wholly beside the purpose. H. M. L. jFeagt of rtjc Purification, 1880, COLLEGE, ELY. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I. THE STA TE OF THE FAITHFUL DEAD AND THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE LIVING IN THEIR BEHALF. PAGE I. tSOje egtt of Catholicity, 3 II. tJD&e 9Mue of t$e {SCegtimonp of t$e Primitive Jatljergi, 17 III. t5fl&e 3Intermeniate State, ... 26 IV. Change in tlje 3|ntermeniate State, . . 36 V. ptaperjf for t^e Dean : &ea0on0 for 2Dut Horn's! Silence on tfce %u!>ject, . . 50 VI. tJD&e ^Tesitimon^ of $oTp Scriptuice, . . 67 VII. tJT^e tlegtimonp of tf)t atacomls(, . . 81 VIII. t5D&e ^EeiStimonp of t%e atlp JFat^ew, . 98 IX. &e eiStimonp of t^e Primitive JLtturgiejJ, 103 X. prapers! for t$e Patnon of%in0 of 31nfirmitp, ann rtje Cffacement of Sinful Stainjf, . 117 XI. tlfce 3Inefficacp of Prater for t^oge to|;o nieB in toilful unrepenten uin, , . .127 xiv Table of Contents. PART II. THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE FAITHFUL DEAD IN BEHALF OF THE LIVING. PACK 1. Primitive tJesitimonp to tfje 3lnterre0$ion of tlje $>aint0, . . . . .153 II. Prtmttibe SEegttmonp to t^je 3Inbocation of rije ^aintg, . . . . .174 III. tStye ttasttoort^tnesj! of tlje Pattitittc ebfnence for tntoocation tesiteD, . . . 187 IV. {Stye jprtmttifce !Ltturgte0 anD tfte fiornan Cataromtig, ..... 198 V. ipatrfettc optntonii! on t$e ertent of tJ)t knoto lenge posS!!ie00eD ftp t^e *>atntsf, . . 204 VI. Stye tJCegttmoni? of ^olp Scripture upon tfce stante ^>ul)ject, .... 212 VII. Stye TSeatific (Htsiton not pet attained bp anp of tlje ^aintji, . . . 219 VIII. (Eontlujjionsf nraton from t^e foregoing monp, . 228 Table of Contents. xv SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. I'AGB A. 3!# a fuller recognition of tfce practice of praying for t!je Dean negiraHe or not? . 236 B. 310 it latoful or negiraWe to practice 3Inbocation of 'Saints in anp form or not? . . 255 3Tal)Ie of JFat!>er0, Councilsf, etc., . . .261 Pa00ageg! of ^crtpture0 erplainen or quoteD, . 264 General 3Innej, . . . . .265 PART I. THE STATE OF THE FAITHFUL DEAD AND THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE LIVING IN THEIR BEHALF, CHAPTER I. of /CHURCHMEN in this generation are no longer The V_^ satisfied with relegating the title of "Catholic " to the Creeds, and desire to vindicate their right to the use of it in common speech and conversa- tion. It is quite time, they think, to put an end to that improper restriction of the term which the long Protestant ascendency not only tolerated but encouraged, which even the authority of the State did its best to stereotype, by designating a Bill for the abolition of disabilities affecting one section of the Church merely, "the Catholic Emancipation Act." " Catholic teaching," " Catholic opinion," " Catholic usages," bid fair soon to become familiar as household words amongst us ; but in this praise- worthy endeavour to reclaim that of which the Church can disinherit herself only with positive harm and loss, there is need of caution lest the term be again misapplied, in some cases even so The test of Catholicity. narrowed as to be synonymous with what after all may turn out to be Occidental only. The need Some recognised test of Catholicity is urgently nisedtest. called for. Doctrines and usages, of which our forefathers for several generations were in many cases entirely ignorant, have obtained, or are likely to obtain, prominent places, both in public worship and in private devotion. For our guidance in their acceptance or rejection, especially in private, where so little restraint can be exercised from without, some guarantee that they bear the stamp of Catholic antiquity is absolutely indispensable. Changes ^ n *kat g 1 " 6 ** revolution of Church teaching which b bo ll f *b k ne si^ 6611 ^ century witnessed, the changes which the Refer- foxfe place were generally speaking of three kinds : some doctrines were openly and authoritatively condemned; others, together with the forms in which they found expression, were discarded from public worship on grounds of expediency ; while a third class, though not formally forbidden, fell into disfavour and went out of use in the general neglect which ensued. How far are we justified in revising the acts of the Church at that period in any or all of these cases 1 Under the first head it may be possible to find The test of Catholicity. instances where in the heat of controversy the foreign Keformers transgressed the bounds of sober judgment; and in any revision of the Liturgy or Formularies of Faith hereafter to be taken in hand, such cases would very naturally be brought under consideration, and possibly some of their decisions may be reversed. But till that time arrive and the work be lawfully undertaken, it is obviously our wisdom, as well as our duty, to wait with patience. And the same may to a great extent be said also of the second kind. Nothing which has been removed with the full sanction of the Church, may be reintro- duced without the approval of the same authority ; but this holds good only for public worship. Under altered circumstances individuals are at perfect liberty, without any sacrifice of loyalty to the Church, to use forms for private edification, which were once proscribed as unsuited for public purposes, even though their discontinuance in the Church did lead to almost absolute disuse in the closet. With regard to the third class of changes, a return to Pre-Reformation rule and practice is in many things "much to be wished," but, if the restoration is to deserve our confidence, nothing will be restored till it has been subjected to some rigid test and standard of Catholicity. The test of Catholicity. The term Catholicity we apply to the doctrines and constitution of the Church which were recog- nised by the Council of Nicsea and the three General Councils which followed. The criterion which has commended itself to the leaders of the Church in almost every age of her history is the Vincentian Canon. Everything must be brought to the test of acceptance in the undivided Church, because the power of interpreting and defining can only be exercised by a church at unity in itself. Divided and rent into portions she loses authority as she loses universality. Henceforward each Church has doctrines of its own ; as Jeremy Taylor quaintly writes, " The Catholic Church hath been used as the man upon a hill used his heap of heads in a basket ; when he threw them down the hill, every head ran his own way, guot capita tot sententice' n For this reason in the following pages we confine ourselves to the testimony of the Church up to the Council of Chalcedon, the last occasion upon which her united voice was uttered with authority. Vin- centius maintained that in judging of heresy the best exponent of the Church's views was an (Ecu- menical Council, but in cases where the controverted doctrine had not come under the cognisance of such 1 Sera, xi : "The Minister's Dutv in Life and Doctrine." The test of Catholicity. an Assembly, recourse must be had to the concordant testimonies of many and great doctors; and the exact test which he proposed for acceptance he describes in these words : " Within the Catholic tius expo- Church itself we must take great care, that we hold sition of his Canon, that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all men. For that is truly and properly Catholic. And this we shall do if we follow univer- sality, antiquity, consent. Now we shall follow universality in this way, if we profess that one faith to be true which the whole Church acknowledges throughout the world : so also antiquity, if we do not depart in any wise from those views which it is plain that our holy elders and fathers held ; consent again, if in this very antiquity we follow the defini- tions and opinions of all or at least almost all the priests and doctors together." 1 How far are we prepared to admit the validity 1 "In ipsa axitem Catholics Ecclesia magnopere curandum est, ut id teneamus qttod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus cveditum est. Hoc est etenim vere proprieque catholicum. Sed hoc ita demum fiet si sequamur universitatem, antiquitatem, con- sensionem. Sequenmr autem universitatem hoc modo, si hanc unam fidem veram ease fateamur, quam tota, per orbem terrarum confitetur Ecclesia : antiquitatem vero ita, si ab his sensibus nullatenus recedamus quos sanctos majores ac fratres nostros celebrasse manifestum est : consensionem quoque itidern, si in ipsa vetustate omnium vel certe poene omnium sacerdotum pariter et rnagistrorum definitiones sententiasque sectemur." VINC. Commonit. ii. ad fin. The test of Catholicity. The value of the Vincentian test ? Its value, it is well known, has been disputed in our own as in past generations. Beautiful as it seems in theory, it has been found in application beset with difficulty ; some have gone so far as to maintain that for all practical purposes it is little more than useless. It has been disparaged Its sup- chiefly on the ground that it is superfluous, because croachment "here can be only one true test of Catholic doctrine, authority taat > tne authority of Holy Scripture. It is ex- pressly said that the sum of that which Christians were called upon to believe was revealed once for all. " Cmttenfo," said S. Jude, " for the faith x>nxe foelibertb nnt0 the 0aint0." 1 That implied that nothing could be added to that which the Holy Spirit had made known to the Apostles and Evan- gelists and holy men of that and former generations. To attempt, therefore, as Vincentius did, to set up. as a joint standard of orthodoxy, the authority of the Doctors and Fathers of a later age, is necessarily to detract from the sufficiency of the complete and final revelation of Holy Writ. But the author of the Canon was no less jealous for the supreme honour and authority of God's Word : " it is perfect," he says, "and most abundantly sufficient of itself for all things ;" but with all its rich stores of information i Ep. of S. JUDE, 8. The test of Catholicity. and resources for every emergency of doubt and difficulty, something was needed from without to render them available. Experience had taught him that its language was so far from being self-inter- preting, that it was confessedly hard to be under- stood, and in the absence of authoritative explanation the word of truth might be, too often had been, wrested and appealed to in support of heresy and falsehood. The revelation of God's will to man, if complete, contained within its pages all that he would ever want to enable him to live well and believe rightly , there was no undeveloped need ever after to be felt by the soul of the faithful, which might not be supplied out of its fulness ; there was no possible assault ever to be made upon the Truth, for which weapons of defence would not be found stored some- where in the armoury of Scripture ; but it was left to time and circumstance to draw out the consolatory teaching, and to formulate the principles of the Faith. Had the construction of the Creeds followed immediately upon the gift of Eevelation, and had the inspired writers themselves, who indited the Scriptures, defined also the articles of faith, such a rule as that which we are considering could have had no part in the settlement. But their growth io The test of Catholicity. was gradual ; and as each new definition was called for, some test of general application for the right interpretation of the grounds of belief was found absolutely necessary. From the beginning the Church was the keeper of Holy Writ, and therefore the rightful exponent of its teaching. Christ had promised that the powers of evil woutd be ineffectual for its destruction, "the gates of hell shall not prebail against it." But after the Church became scattered throughout the world, there being no one recognised episcopal see or central government to appeal to, the voices of the separate individual communities had to be collected together to constitute "the majestic evidence" of the universal voice of the Church Catholic, to which the Holy Spirit had been vouchsafed to " gutbc " it " into all tenth." Methods of There were two ways in which this vox universa ascertain- ing the made itself heard : either authoritatively and for- Church. inally by the Church assembled in Council, and parsing decrees after full deliberation and open dis- cussion ; or else failing this, its utterances might be gathered, less convincingly perhaps, but yet in a manner worthy of confidence, out of the written opinions of the representatives of the Church at large. The results, however, of this twofold method The test of Catholicity. 1 1 of ascertaining the voice and mind of the Church are not exactly the same. In the one case the decisions arrived at are loyally accepted by the whole body as binding upon all : in the other, they deserve, though they may not always receive, the respect and assent of the individual to whom they have become known. We may illustrate this by two articles of belief Illustra- tions from of different kinds, which have been formulated and the Creeds. accepted in the ways we have described. The first, the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. The second, the existence of a bond of union between all the members of Christ's Church. When in the second and third centuries heresies The God- were broached touching the Godhead of Jesus Christ, Jesus and His consubstantiality with the Father, the great Doctors of the Church betook themselves to a thorough and exhaustive study of God's Word for the further confirmation of the belief, which had gained common acceptance without having been authoritatively enunciated, and imposed as neces- sary to salvation. It was nowhere in its fulness declared totidem verbis, and for such an investiga- tion time and care were requisite; misunderstood passages had to be adjusted, contradictory state- ments to be reconciled, and it was only after these considerations had occupied the thoughts and labours 1 2 The test of Catholicity. of the godly and learned of several generations, that the results were embodied in the Nicene and the so-called 1 Constantinopolitan Creeds. The principles which guided the Councils in these deliberations, and directed their decisions, were strictly Vincentian. 2 They did not take the Holy Scriptures alone and unsupported, but had recourse to tradition. They asserted, without any hesitation, that the doctrines which they enforced were such as they had received from their predecessors, as they in their turn had received from theirs, and so on by unbroken tradition till they reached their fountainhead in the preaching of the Apostles. In short, the interpretations which they put forth under their official seal were such as could claim the support of universality, antiquity, and consent. The Com- Take again the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Saints ; it was introduced into the Formulary, not to counteract evil tendencies, nor as an antidote to some acknowledged heresy, 3 but simply for the 1 It is now believed that the Second Council did not put forth any Creed of its own. * At Nicsea, for instance, they appealed to the ttcKXriffiaffTiKy IT/OTIS, by which they meant the faith as interpreted by tradi- tion. Cf. S. ATHANAS. de Deer. JVYc. Synod, iii. 1, 210, ed. Bened. ; cf. also Cone. Chalced. Act ii. 8 " It was not," writes DR. LUMBT, "against heretical opinions that the clauses were enlarged. The only sentence in a Western Creed that was inserted as a safeguard agaiust heresy soon died The test of Catholicity. 13 comfort and encouragement of the faithful. There can be no question that it had no place in the original form 1 of the Apostles' Creed, or in fact in any of those forms which were extant before the middle of the fifth century. Few, however, would venture to deny that it was lodged in the hearts of men. They found the groundwork of it laid in Scripture, and many individuals pro- fessed their belief in it, but as nothing as yet had called for an explicit declaration, no distinct away, even from the Creed of the Church which employed it. Tliis was the 'invisible and impassible' of the Aquileian Symbol, which was never widely adopted, and which soon fell out of use in Aquileia. This is very strong testimony to the truth of those statements on which Western writers lay such stress, that the Western Church was free from the taint of heresy for a long period." Hist, of the Creeds, cap. iii. p. 173. 1 The form of the Western Creed in use for the first three centuries was much briefer than that now called the Apostles' Creed. Articles were added to it during the fourth and fifth, but it was not developed into its present form till the sixth or perhaps the seventh. The article communionem sanctorum is absent from all the following Latin Creeds, the Creeds of S. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, the Aquileian as expounded by Ruffinus, that of North- ern Africa as expounded by S. Augustine, and that which is gathered out of the sermons of Chrysologus. Likewise it is want- ing in the Greek Creeds of Eusebius, Arius, Epiphanius, Cyril, Chrysostom, and the Councils of Constantinople and Ephesus. The first occurrence of the article is in a creed attributed to Eusebius Gallus in the middle of the sixth century, though it has been given by some to Faustus, of the province of Aries about 490 A. D. After this it, is found again in the Gallican Sacramen- tary. Cf. l)u. SWAIXSON, The Jfieene and ApottoKe Oneit, tup, xiv., and Du. LUMIJY, llist. of the Creeds, cap. iii. and Appendix 14 T/ie test of Catholicity. authoritative assertion of the principle was put forth ; at last, though at what definite time, and under what special emergency, we are left in ignor- ance, the prevailing ideas and persuasions were consolidated, and the article, "I believe in the Communion of Saints," gained admission into the Creed. But how are we to ascertain exactly what is involved in the confession ? The Church has, no doubt, for wise purposes, left it vague and indefinite; but if we would realise the nature and extent of the Communion, and determine how much may be legitimately held, we can only satisfy ourselves by the application of some such test as must have been brought into use when the formula itself was ac- cepted and put forth. We cannot but suppose that there was something more definite than appears in the minds of those who authorised it ; but what it was, and how much they comprehended under the general form, which they were satisfied to impose as binding, must be determined by such principles as Vincentius enforced. Roman But while the Protestant disparages the Vincen- objections tian Canon as tending to lower the authority of oppo^d Scripture, it is rejected by the Eoman Catholic on doctrine of ground 8 totally different. It is incompatible with nf The Intermediate State. 27 meaning of the name Lazarus 1 has been regarded as an obvious impediment to imagining it to be a true history ; but though its peculiar appropriateness does create some suspicion in the mind, it is rather bold to speak positively in the face of the well- known fact that, in one or other of its forms, it was one of the commonest 2 names in vogue at the time. It is worthy also of note that one 3 of the Fathers seems to have drawn the very opposite IffTOpia. CHRYS. , De Laz. i., vol. v. a7r6/JXre irpdy rbv A&fapov rbv \a/j,Trp6raToi>. De Lazaro et Divite Tract, vol. vi. ed. Paris. But in several places he also designates it irapaftoXij- iffrl Toivvv Trapa/SoXi}? rpbiros affrdus tos, rd re tnl ry TrXoixr/y Ka.1 ry Aafdpy elpij/j-tva Trapd XptoTov. ?x t 5 6 \6yos cbs T&V 'E/3pcuW ^tj irapddoffis, Adfapov elval TWO. /car" txelvov tcaipov ti> TO?S 'Iepo cf. MISHNAH, Berach. i. 8. 3 " Narratio magis quam parabola videtur qiiando etiam nomen exprimitur. " S. AMBROSE, Expos. Luc., lib. viii. 13. And so Tertullian, at least as an alternative, cf. p. 26. 28 The Intermediate State. conclusion from the introduction of a name at all, and several of them call attention to the circum- stance as unsuited to a parable. But even admitting its parabolical character, and knowing that parables do frequently contain unreali- ties, are we compelled to allow the same of this 1 Was there any necessity, was there any likeli- hood, that He, Who knew perfectly "the fitness of things and their correspondencies," would fall back upon pure fiction for the inculcation of truth 1 In our weakness and want of experience we can hardly do otherwise when we speak parables ; but there is no evidence that anything which He taught, Who was Himself the Truth, in doctrine or in illustration of doctrine, was other than absolutely true. 1 How much There are parts of the narrative which must of the language is be interpreted figuratively. 2 All that is said, for instance, of the tongue of the rich man, the finger of the beggar, the tormenting thirst, the cooling water, and the colloquies between the lost and the 1 This is worked out at length in a chapter on "The spirit world" in Out of the Body, by J. S. POLLOCK, to whom I am indebted for the reference to Stier's Reden Jesu on this subject. 2 " Quomodo intelligenda sit ilia flainma inferni, ille sinus Abrahfe, ilia lingua divitis, ille digitus pauperis, ilia sitis tormenti, ilia stilla refrigerii vix fortasse a mansuete qurerentibus, a con- tentiose autem certantilius nunquam, inveuitur." S. AUGUST, dc Gen. ad Lit. viii. 6. The Intermediate State. 29 saved, such modes of expression find an exact parallel in those numerous passages in which God, Who is a Spirit, in condescension to finite intelligences, applies to Himself the parts and passions of a man. While, then, admitting that the literal interpreta- tion of details must be rejected, we hold that its whole teaching is based on substantial truth, and that the following deductions are of the very es- sence of Christ's doctrine : That the souls of the departed, in the intermediate state, are possessed of consciousness, memory, and sensibility to pain and pleasure; that the life of all men, whether good or bad, is continued without interruption after the separation of soul and body; and that retribution commences between death and the judgment. And all of these conclusions are in direct antagonism to the theory that the soul falls asleep when the body dies, and will not awake again till the resurrection of the dead at the last day. 1 We pass to the familiar prayer of the thief upon Th e thief the cross, and our Lord's reply. By perhaps the ' highest act of faith recorded in the Bible the dying 1 "The souls of them that depart this life do neither die with the bodies nor sleep idly. They which say that the souls of such as depart hence do sleep, being without all sense, feeling, or perceiving, imtil the day of judgment .... do utterly dissent from the right belief declared to us in Holy Scripture." Cf. Art. XL. of the Forty-two Articles put f<,rth in the reiyn of Edward VI 30 The Intermediate State. thief is carried in thought away from the scene of shame and dishonour, in which he was taking part, and he sees in the Crucified One some convincing signs of His real Messiahship, and with a far-reach- ing prayer asks that, as he had shared His misery upon earth, he may not be forgotten in the midst of His coming glory. And what is the answer 1 ? His petition is for a reward in the future ; but that good confession deserves even a better boon than he sought to obtain, and immediate happiness is promised, even a foretaste of the fruition on that very day to be with Him, in short, in the Paradise of joy and delight, where He was about to join the souls of the righteous, who were awaiting their perfect consummation and bliss. Would it be at all consistent with right reason, would it not rather have been a simple evasion of the thief's request, to have replied as He did, had our Lord known that Paradise was a land of forgetfulness or unconscious sleep? We have only to observe the expedients which they 1 have been driven to adopt, who hold 1 The conversation between Saul and Samuel, whom the witch had called up from the dead, expresses very clearly the Jewish belief in the consciousness of the soul in the Intermediate State. Of. BAB. TALM. Berach., 1 SAM. xxviii. The following are examples selected from a representative writer : i. a-finepov is to be connected with the words which precede it, The Intermediate State. 31 the opposite theory of the soul's sleep in the inter- mediate state, to satisfy ourselves that the ordinary interpretation alone is to be relied upon. We have further confirmation, in the language in s. Paul's which S. Paul l expresses his ardent longings for the^ro^ that which was to follow. What bright hope was approach- it which cheered him as this earthly vision was ing death - fading from his sight? It was the confidence, 2 the unwavering conviction, that so soon as his spirit had shuffled off this mortal coil, he should be " with Christ." But could he have derived con- solation from the thought that he should be with ' ' T say unto you to-day. " There is little to determine the proper punctuation of MSS. but the context. This presents no possible reason why our Lord should lay stress upon the time at which He was speaking. The thief had asked for a blessing to take effect at some particular time. The reply states at what time, albeit nearer than was expected, the prayer should be granted. ii. Our Lord adhered to the time, to which the petition looked, and by 0b, being pnt txr fceath in the fle0h bat xjuirkencb bj) the .Spirit, bg tohirh a!00 H)e toent anb prearhefc ante the 0pirit0 in pi^xm." 1 Whatever disputes have gathered round the interpretation of these words in past times, an un- prejudiced reader, aided by the light which modern criticism has thrown upon them, would hardly fail to draw the conclusion 2 that our Lord, in His human spirit, during the time that His body lay in the grave, visited certain disembodied spirits detained somewhere in ward or custody, and that He bore to them intelligence, which they were capable of receiving, and by which their existing condition was ameliorated. 3 1 1 S. PETER iii. 18, 19. 2 That this is the natural prima facie interpretation we conclude from the shifts and subterfuges to which men have had recourse in order to avoid it. 8 "Solvit vincula inferni et piorum aninias elevavit." S. AMBROSE, de Fid. ad Graf. iv. 1. " Ad Tartara ima descendens seras inferni januasque confrin- 48 Change in the Intermediate State. " 3E 0ato urtber the altar the 00ul0 xrf tlum that Sucre 0iain fxrr the torrrb xrf <10b, anb for the te0ti- mong tohich theg helb : anb theg meb toith a lottb twice, 0aging, D0to long, t6j (1 COB. xv. 51 ; 1 THESS. iv. 17). When called upon to give his deliberative judgment in consequence of opinions held by the Thessalonians, he speaks as though he did not believe the day to be immediately impending (2 THESS. ii. 1-2). It may here be observed on this dispiited question, that if it were absolutely certain that the Apostle was mistaken, no argument adverse to the inspiration of his writings generally ought to be drawn from it. Our Lord expressly said that the Father had kept the know- ledge of this to Himself (S. MATT. xxiv. 36). This then is an exceptional case, and one in which the claim for inspired know- ledge in the Apostle ought not to be set up. 2 Dr. Newman writes, " It will be found on the whole that death is not the object put forward in Scripture for hope to rest upon, but the coming of Christ, as if the interval between death and His coming was by no means to be omitted in the process of our preparation." Vol. iii. Serm. xxv. ed. 1875. CHAPTER V. for tije neati: l&eagong for our Silence on rtje How the TF we are justified in the conclusion which we have principle of I interces- drawn from the foregoing evidence, that the soul through is capable of change after its separation from the body Bibll. by death, it becomes a deeply interesting question how far, or whether at all, such change may be aided or affected by the intercessions of the living. There is a recognised principle running through Holy Scripture, and illustrated by the common experience of God's dealings with us, that He has chosen that the destiny of man, for weal or woe, shall be influenced by the conduct of his fellow-men. We see abundant proofs of this principle in the lives of the most eminent characters of Bible history. Look at its exercise in the intercessory prayers of the Patriarchs : Abraham pleading with God for Sodom ; Moses, with his uplifted arms, winning victory for Israel ; Job interceding successfully for his friends; and we gather from the prophet Prayers for the Dead. 51 Ezekiel 1 that it is only when wickedness has passed all bounds that the prayers of the faithful prove in- effectual. The principle is seen in its fullest development in the life of our Lord, when He spent whole nights in prayer, not only communing for Himself with God, but seeking deliverance for those in distress, or when He said to His Apostle, " ou as toheat : but I habe prapeb for thee, that thg faith fail not : anb tohen then art .conbctteb, strengthen thg brethren ;" 2 or yet once more when He interceded with His dying breath for the forgiveness of His murderers. And we hear the echo of His teaching in the mani- fold injunctions of His Apostles, in S. Paul's appeal to his converts to offer supplication for himself and for all saints, and in his oft-expressed intercessions for them, 3 and in S. James' declaration that to recover the sick, and to obtain forgiveness of his sins, " the effectual f erbent prater of a righteous man abaileth much." 4 1 EZEK. xiv. 24. * S. LUKE xxii. 31. s EPHES. vi. 18 ; PHIL. i. 3, 4 ; COL. i. 3 ; 1 TUESS. i. 2. 4 S. JAMES, v. 14, 15. tvepyovfrfv-r) should be rendered " in its working ;" to make it equal tvepyri* as the A. V. does, and consider it as an attribute of Striau, is opposed to N. T. usage, and weakene the force of the Apostle's assertion. 52 O?tr Lord's Silence on the Subject It will be said that all this is not to the point, that it only concerns the living; but our object in recalling such familiar examples is to press home the fact that we are all brethren, and by the bonds of human sympathy and the ties of Christian brotherhood are bound to help one another by prayer. And if the whole body of Christians, both those in the flesh and those out of the flesh, are but one family, then it seems hard to believe that separation by death can interpose a barrier to our intercessions. But here, if anywhere, of ourselves "toe knoto lurt tohat toe shoitlb prag 0r a0 toe might," and we gladly fall back upon the teaching of the Primitive Church, in the confidence that in, the freshness of the faith she was better able to under- stand the mind of Christ than we can be, seeing that the mists of prejudice and error have obscured our vision. It will be our endeavour, then, to find out, from the writings of antiquity, how far the souls of the departed were considered to come within the range of the prayers of the Church on earth. Objections Before considering those passages of Holy Scrip- tare which appear to have any bearing upon this grounded question, it will be well to notice briefly the oft- of Prayers for the Dead. 53 repeated objection that the Great Teacher Himself on the supposed was silent upon the subject. Assuming for the silence of . Christ. moment that the statement is correct, how is His silence to be accounted for? Was He silent because, the custom of praying for the dead being unknown, there was nothing to call forth an expres- sion of opinion, or was it that, being known, He gave it His tacit approval 1 Now, if the practice existed, it could not have been of very long standing, for before the Captivity little was revealed to the ancient people touching the state of the soul after death; and from that time onward their interest in the subject could have been only of slow growth and gradual development. We may not, therefore, draw any adverse conclu- sions from the absence of reference to it in the Old Testament writings, which for the most part antecede the rise of the doctrine. By the nature of things it could hardly have been otherwise. But in the Apocryphal Books, which to some extent fill up the gap between the close of prophecy, about a century after the return from Captivity, and the beginning of the Christian Era, we have a right to expect some evidence of the belief, if it had taken any hold upon the minds of men. Of course they will not be "applied to establish doctrine," but 54 Our Lord's Silence on the Subject they may fairly be used as helping to confirm the historical fact of the existence of the belief, without affecting its orthodoxy one way or the other. The evi- In this collection of writings there is one mention deuce of the second of the subject, and though it stands alone, it is so century before emphatic, and is introduced so naturally, that the conclusion is almost forced upon us that, at the period referred to, the habit of praying for the dead had become wide-spread and general. In the latter part of the Second Book of Maccabees 1 the historian describes some special events in the life of Judas, and, in connection with one of these, we have a positive declaration that prayers were offered for the dead. " So Judas gathered his host and came into the city of Odollam. And when the seventh day came, they purified themselves, as the custom was, and kept the Sabbath in the same place. And upon the day following, as the use had been, Judas and his company came to take up the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen in their fathers' graves. "Now, under the coats of every one that was slain they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites which is forbidden the Jews by the t 2 MACC. xii. 39-end, of Prayers for the Dead. 55 law. Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain. " All men therefore praising the Lord, the righteous Judge, " Who had opened the things that were hid, "Betook themselves unto prayer, and besought Him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. " And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin- offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection : "For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. "And also in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. "Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin." We shall consider, at a later stage of the inquiry, 56 Our Lord's Silence on the Subject whether in this particular case there was not an undue extension of the legitimate purpose of such prayers. Here we only observe that there is nothing in the narrative to lead us to suppose that, in ordering that prayer should be made for his dead countrymen, Judas was doing anything out of the ordinary course ; on the contrary, the readiness with which the money for the sin-offering was contributed points to a belief that what he proposed was thought likely to be advantageous to the dead. The evi- There is no more definite evidence which can be dence of the Jewish appealed to, but it is well known that such prayers services in . . T . , . . commem- are found in many old Jewish services and comme- thedead. morations. That which is called KADDISH is universally allowed to be of great antiquity. It is composed of several parts, of which the oldest, unquestionably pre-Christian, varies by amplification according to the countries in which it is used and other circumstances. Now although in its original form this contains no direct prayers for the dead, indirect reference to their use is traceable in several portions of it. When the existing prayers were composed and engrafted upon the public service, it is impossible to decide, but there is no doubt that it was at a very early date ; and when we reflect that they have been used unhesitatingly by Jewish of Prayers for the Dead. 57 communities differing from each other as widely as German, French, Italian, Pro verbal, Spanish, Baby- lonian, and those of Jemen, the conclusion is forced upon us that the principle had been acted upon in the private devotions of the people not only for some time previously but also to a very wide extent. In the HASKARATH NESHAMOTH, or " Commemo- The intense ration of Souls," which is appointed to be said on the Jewish the Day of Atonement, and the last days of the three chief Festivals, there are distinct prayers for the dead. In his introduction to that used on the former, a learned Jew 1 of our own day throws much light upon the spirit of the Commemoration, address- ing the assembled congregation in these words : " Children of the house of Israel ! in this life of frailty, where all that is united to us by the strongest bonds to-day, is to-morrow relentlessly torn away where nothing is permanent except change, nothing constant except instability it is the greatest com- fort to us to have one steadfast pillar Remembrance. . . . The ancient heathens adorned the graves of their beloved with flowers and wreaths, for they thought that the souls of their beloved were laid in the tomb; they materialised the soul, they were 1 Occasional Prayers, Addresses, etc., Manchester, 2d ed., 1852, intended as a Manual for young Rabbis, by Dr. S. M. SCHILLKR- SZINESST. 58 Our Lord's Silence on the Subject only heathens. But the Jewish religion, which also makes use of symbols, yet not to materialise the spiritual but to spiritualise the material, teaches us to seek the souls of the departed, not in the grave, but in heaven, in the bosom of God the Father of love. Therefore, on the recurrence of such com- memorations, Israelites do not strew earthly flowers on the grave, but offer spiritual wreaths to heaven: they offer prayers to God for the blessedness of the departed" Again, in that for the principal festivals, after dwelling on the beauties and advantages of such services, he bears witness to the intensity of their belief in the words, " look around you and see how bitterly they weep who are about to pray for the blessedness of their departed ones" and calls upon them to join in "the heart-affecting prayer," 1 "May God remember the soul of my father, my lord, N. the son of M., who is gone to his everlasting home, be- cause that I offer here a charity for him ; for the reward of this may his soul be bound up in the bundle of life together with the soul of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Eachel, and Leah, and with other saints, male and female, who are in Paradise." abb ni &ox now D'nta -or ' nyn of Prayers for the Dead. 59 It may be observed, as a very striking proof of the reality of their prayers for the dead, that at this point of the service those worshippers who happen not to have lost parents or near and dear friends are in the habit of withdrawing from the assembly. The above prayer is deserving of careful notice, because it is by no means improbable that our blessed Lord had it, or something similar, in His mind in that part of His Sermon on the Mount which touches upon the subject of charity and alms-giving. It was especially provided by the law of Moses, 1 Jewish alms and that every person who took part in the great charity festivals should offer unto the Lord " the free-to ill offered in of his hanb arcorMng a0 d>ob hab bhsstb the dead. him," that they should " not appear before the ICorb emptjj." This gift was usually made at the " Com- memoration," either with a view to relief from sick- ness or any other trouble, or as an atonement 2 for some dead relation or friend, under the firm con- 1 DEUT. xvi. 10, 16. 2 The Jews admit four means of procuring atonement : 1. repentance ; 2. the Day of Atonement ; 3. sufferings ; 4. death, of which the last, death, i.e. the dying, possesses the greatest power. During the first year after a parent's death, a child, in com- memorating the deceased, says or writes after his name, fo b H i.e. 123^D n~lD3 ^"in I am ready to serve as atonement for his couch, I am ready to suffer for his transgressions, provided only that his rest may be peace. This explanation is borne out by Rashi, whose commentary in loco runs thus : in b x^ ^y 60 Our LorcCs Silence on tJie Subject viction that they would be benefited in whose behalf the offering was presented. Light is thrown upon this by the SlPHRfc, the oldest continuous Midrash on the fourth and fifth books of Moses, which, though only committed to writing in the second and third centuries (180-220 A.D.) contains the record of customs generally sup- posed to have prevailed for hundreds of years. In its commentary upon the passage, 1 " Jle merciful, ICoro, tmto ^hg people Israel, tohom ^hon hast reoeemeb, attb lag not innocent bloofc nnto ^hjj people of Israel's charge. Jtnb the bloob shall be forgiben them," we find the following explanation : 2 " ' Forgive thy people,' that is, ' the living : ' ' whom thou hast redeemed,' that is, 'the dead,' which shows that the dead also want an atonement." Indirect it nas been thought that it was the ostentatious reference When the first year had expired, by which time it was supposed that the deceased would be purged from his sins, the language changed, and the child said, "may his memory be for a blessing for the life of the world to come." TALM. BAB., Kiddushin, xxxi. B. 1 The close of the section D" l t3D1E', on DEUT. xxi. 8. It ought to be noticed that the Siphre is older even than the Palestinian Talmud. It is a Baraitha, i.e., a Mishnah taught out- side the Lecture Room. It testifies therefore to a generally admitted doctrine. nota DTion ita ma -IPS D"nn ii>x nj?^ 133 " Cf. TALM. BAB., Horayoth, 6 a. *mD3 of Prayers for the Dead. 6 1 offering of this "atonement" or free-will offering, to the custom in which was made in the lemple or in the Synagogues, the Sermon as well as the parade of their benevolence abroad, Mount. which our Lord alluded to when He gave His admonition, "iEhen that "bazsit thine alm0, &0 not sonnb a trumpet before thee, a0 the hjjpxixrites bo in the simagagnes an ^ * n ^ strwt, that theg maj) habe glcrg at men." 1 Before passing from the consideration of Jewish The evi- dence of services and commemorations, we must briefly refer old Jewish inscriptions to certain Jewish formulas in common use to express in different distinct prayers for the dead, taken from the lan- guage of Holy Writ. 2 We turn to the testimony, which is appealed to, on Jewish tombstones and in other inscriptions. If the age of some of these could be decisively fixed, as early as at first sight would appear, we should not be left in any uncertainty, but the subjoined notes will show that their great antiquity is not unreasonably disputed. The first to be noticed are those which have been discovered by R. Jacob Saphir, a distinguished Jew who has travelled through Egypt, Arabia, Jemen, 1 S. MATT. vi. 2. 2 D'yijys N'inhb. bV s bhS from Is - lvii - 2 > Ps - xxv - 13 > and cxlix. 5. In all these cases the A. V. translates as promises : the Jews use them as prayers. For confirmation of this, cf. Palest. Talm. Leyden MS. p. 11 in Dr. Schiller-Szinessy's Occasional Notices of Hebrew MSS. No. 1. 62 Our Lord's Silence on the Subject and other countries, with the special object of collect- ing records of his nation among extant monuments of antiquity and traditional stories. Several of the inscriptions deciphered by him bear on their face dates which carry us back beyond the present era. 1 Some of the tombstones are inscribed with different formulas of prayers for the dead ; for the most part they are abbreviated by the use of initial letters only, precisely the same as in the custom of writing R. I. P. on the graves of Christians. The commonest are the following : MAY HIS REST BE GLORY. 2 MAY HIS MEMORY BE FOR A BLESSING. 3 MAY HIS MEMORY BE FOR THE RESURRECTION. 4 MAY THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD LEAD HIM TO REST. 5 1 They are all dated according to the era of Contracts, which begins 311 years and 4 months before Christ. It is identical with the Grecian era, or the era of the Seleucides. In 1 MACC. i. 10, of Antiochus it is said that "he reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks," which corresponds to 175 B.C. The above method of dating was used frequently by the Jews down to the fifteenth century, and in some places is still used. On the tombstones the dates of the above inscriptions are 28, 29, 1. The last date does create some suspicion, because it is hardly likely that people would begin to employ the dates of an era at its very commencement. Dr. Schiller-Szinessy suggests that in each case 1000 has been omitted for the sake of brevity, as we might write 78 for 1878, and as western Jews do occasionally omit the thousands in dating from the Creation of the world. In allusion to ISAI. xi. 10. ; 1U3 IfinWD Tin : bbh 2 : n:n:6 unar : aSf 3 : irnr unar : r6f 4 TSAI. xiii. 14. : urnn nirp mi : rn of Prayers for the Dead. 63 The English word " memory " is far from indicat- ing the full idea of that which the original conveys to the mind of the Jew. This may be seen from the writings of Maimonides. 1 He says, for instance, "May his memory be for a blessing and for the resurrection," meaning, as the reference to the resur- rection clearly implies, much more than remem- brance, even the principal essence of existence, or, as we should say, the soul. In much the same way " the memorial " of the meat-offering is used in Leviticus. According to the Jewish idea it signifies the essence, the savour, or, so to say, the soul of the material offering. The next inscription of the kind to be considered is an epitaph 2 discovered at Aden, and now deposited in the British Museum, bearing date 12th of Ab, era of Contracts, 29. (B.C. 282.) It commemorates Mashta, a daughter of David, An epitaph who died at Aden in South Arabia. The following is the portion of it which calls for our notice : 1 In his autograph on a disciple's copy of the " Mishneh Torah " (Bodleian Lib., Oxford. Cod. Hunt. 40), the formula occurs, ri^ipf i.e., n hints two things especially. 1. The times of the Messias : ' Be mindful of the day wherein thou earnest out of Egypt all the days of thy life. The wise men say, by "the days of thy life" is intimated "this world;" by "all the days of thy life," the days of the Messias are superinduced.' In this The Testimony of Holy Scripture. 69 to show that the explanation which we have adopted is not in violation of the Jewish usage of familiar terms, we have carefully examined the writings of a very distinguished Eabbi, whose learning was such that it was said of him, " from Moses to Moses there has arisen none like Moses ; " and we are contented to shelter ourselves in this matter at least under his interpretation. Moses Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah on the Precepts of Repentance, writes thus : " The good which The testi- mony of a is laid up for the righteous is the life of ' the learned ,-, . Rabbi to world to come, that is, a life in which there is no the mean- death, and a good in which there is no evil." x And disputed again, "In the world to come there is no bodily frame, but the souls of the righteous are alone with- out the body as the angels which minister." 2 He explains too how the patriarchal expression "the bundle of life," is only a synonymous term, and after sense the Apostle seems to speak, HEB. ii. 5, and vi. 5. 2. The state after death, PITH D^y D1NH MPB> IPIN^ K2H D$>W, ' The world to come is, when a man is departed out of this world.' " LIGHTFOOT, Exercit. S. MATT, in loc. D"nn ^m xsn ohyn "pi N pss? naiDm jnoy DID r it?a:i &6x iT'-m epj n TN x^ n Q^ivn 2 ed. BERNARD, viii. 3. : mtJ'n 3i)D3 spj jo The Testimony of Holy Scripture. enumerating a variety of others, all of which are employed allegorically to convey the same meaning, he concludes, " the good which is prepared for the righteous is however more generally called the world to come." 1 Indeed, this Jewish sage is so far from accepting the interpretation, which some modern writers think the only justifiable one, that he runs directly counter to it, for he says that the future blessings foretold by the prophets referred only to those which Israel should enjoy in the flesh in the days of King Messiah, when sovereignty should be restored to the nation, but those which were laid up in " the world to come " baffled description, because there is no correspondency between the happiness of the body and that of the soul. This is why Isaiah said, "^either hath the ejje 0cen, 3 ISAIAH Lriv. 4. The Testimony of Holy Scripture. 71 S. Mark's Gospel, 1 we seem almost forced to adopt the wider application. "l)e that shall blaspheme against the Dolp d>hx>st hath neber fargibeness, but is gtriltg of an eternal sin." If forgiveness were limited entirely to the pre- sent life, a period of threescore years and ten, would there not be something unnecessarily strong in such a deep-reaching expression as this, something almost unnatural in the accumulation of the " never " and the " eternal "1 It would surely have sufficed to have pronounced the sin to be simply unpardonable. But another method of escape from the obvious Further teaching of the passage has been found in under- expiam it standing the expression " neither in this world nor away ' in the world to come " as merely a periphrastic way of expressing " never," which is said to be found in the Talmud 2 We may take it for granted that such an inter- pretation is quite admissible, but whether it is that which is most natural, and in accordance with the usage elsewhere in the New Testament, is another matter. It is only found once besides : " |$)e raiseb 1 S. MARK, iii. 29, ?vox<5 s all ? tohg are thejj then bapti^tb for the fceab ?" 1 The words certainly seem to indicate the existence at the time of a custom which we know from the censures of some of the Fathers 2 was practised by 1 1 COB. xv. 29. 2 rl oZv tffriv 8 (prjo'iv ; rl /3otf\e raijrrjv ol rd. Map/c/wpos voaovvrts ; Kal dlda. fj^v STI 7roXi)v Kivrjffta yt\ura, K.T.\. S. CHBTSOST. Horn. xl. ; 1 Cou. xv. iv ots KO.L TI 7rapa56crews irpayfjLa ?j\0fi> fis tyuar <2>j TIVWV utr Trap' oi/ro?s irpO(t>Qa.vi)VT(av TeXevTrjffai (Lvev /3aTniff/J.a.TOS &\\ovs 8t dvrl O.VTUV eis ovo/j.0. tueivuv ftaTm^iffOai,. EPIPHAN. adv. ffcer. Lib. L xxviii. 6. 74 The Testimony of Holy Scripture. certain heretical sects at a later period. The Cerinthians and Marcionites administered vicarious baptism in behalf of persons who had died without receiving the rite. Erroneous Many strange and untenable interpretations 1 have interpreta- tions sug- been put forward with the view of avoiding all gested to . i i-/v> avoid a allusion to the practice, and getting rid of a difficulty which is created by the supposition that an inspired apostle could have had anything to say to such a superstitious custom. Most of them are self-con- demned. One, however, calls for consideration, be- cause it commended itself to some of the Catholic Fathers, 2 and has been urged with considerable earnestness in a popular commentary 3 of our own time. It is that whenever the rite of Baptism is administered, a profession is made by the baptized person of his belief in the resurrection. Every baptismal creed contains this article of our Faith. Therefore all who are baptized may well be said to be baptized for or on behalf of the dead. But whatever candidates for Baptism were required to believe in later times, there is no reason for sup- posing that at the beginning the doctrine of the 1 Dean STANLEY has collected together twelve of these. See Com. in loco. 8 S. CHRTS. Horn. zl. 8 Bishop WORDSWORTH in loco. The Testimony of Holy Scripture. 75 resurrection was submitted as a test of fitness, but it is far more likely that a simple confession of Jesus Christ was deemed sufficient qualification. As regards the. difficulty suggested by the im- probability of an Apostle running the risk of damaging his argument by an appeal to a supersti- tion, which, if mentioned at all, ought to have received from his lips the severest reprehension, we have only to observe S. Paul's practice 1 under somewhat similar circumstances. A careful examina- tion would no doubt afford sufficient evidence that he did not hesitate to use an argumentum ad hominem, and accommodate himself to the views of his hearers, and that without any expression of approval or condemnation. There is an interesting solution proposed by the distinguished leader of the Old Catholics. 2 After speaking of the practice as a The views of two dis- common one, he says, " Probably it was done for tinguished ,.,., men, both those who had shown an intention of being baptized, character- but had died without fulfilling it. A surviving dependence relative would then be baptized for the dead, in order to give a public testimony to the Church that 1 Dean Stanley mentions as examples, Gal. iv. 21-31 ; Acts xvii. 23 ; xvii. 18, 21 ; xxi. 26. See his Commentary for the second quotation. 3 DR. DOLLINGER, The First Age of Christianity and the Church, tr. Oxenham, iii. 2. 76 The Testimony of Holy Scr^pt^^,re. he had died a member of it in mind and desire, and so to obtain for him the prayers of the Church, which else were not offered for those who died un- baptized." One of the most popular writers in our own Church sets his seal to the natural interpreta- tion as follows: "There was then s as always, the natural longing of the survivors to complete the work which untimely death had broken off; and in that early age, when the self-devotion of a Chris- tian's life was concentrated in the one act of baptism, it might have seemed fitting that where the conver- sion either had not been completed, or had not taken place (for there is nothing in the passage which necessarily confines it to the case of cate- chumens), the friends of the dead should step, as it were, into his place, and in his name themselves undertake the dangers and responsibilities of baptism, so that after all the good work would not have been cut off by death, but would continue, in the words of the Apostle, ' nmffrntei) to the mb, blameless in the bag at Je0tt0 Christ'" 1 But though we feel that there is no escape from the conclusion that the Apostle did draw an argu- ment from an existing practice of such a kind, and that without at the same time expressing any dis- 1 Dean STANLEY'S Commentary on the Epp. ad COB. in loco. The Testimony of Holy Scripture. 77 approbation, we cannot suppose for a moment that he intended to lend his sanction to the principle of vicarious baptism for the dead. There is a very wide difference between praying for the dead who died in faith and in covenant with God, and under- going the sacred rite of initiation for those who had not received it in life, and were consequently " aliens from the commcmtoealth of Israel," and without the pale of God's promises. Nevertheless, it appears to us to be just such an The ex- extreme development of the belief in the power of velopment the living to aid the dead as might naturally arise, Worthy" 8 ' in the absence of safeguards, when the belief became cu general or widely accepted ; and we are content to use it in our investigation simply as historical evidence, that in the earliest times death was not supposed to place an impassable barrier between the good offices of the living in behalf of the souls of the dead. The case of Onesiphorus next calls for our con- S. Paul's prayer for sideration. Onesi- phorus. The passages which bear upon it are from the first and fourth chapters of S. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy. "Uhe ICorb gibe merrn tmtor the house of (Dne0iphonts ; for he oft refreshed me, anb urns 7 8 The Testimony of Holy Scripture. not ashameb of mg ehain : but tohen he toa0 in 2ome ( he 0ottght me out berg biliijentlg, anb founb me. " ^he Dorb xjrant unto him that he mag finb merrg of the ICorb in that bag." " (Salute $ri0ra anb Jlquila, anb the householb of (DnmphoroV 1 Was Onesiphorus alive or dead when the Apostle wrote these words? We can obtain no direct evidence from Scripture, and beyond a solitary tradition derived from an unknown source, and like so many traditions touching the later labours of early Christians of note, little worthy of credit, we can learn nothing about him. Fabricius, 2 the volu- minous biographer of the last century, in his catalogue of Christian Bishoprics, places the seat of Onesiphorus' Episcopal labours at an obscure town in Messenia. Now if he ever occupied such a see, it must of necessity have been at a time sub- sequent to the writing of the above Epistle. But as an unsupported statement, we cannot consider what Fabricius says as sufficient to outweigh the extreme probability, arising out of the language which we have quoted, that he was dead at the time when S. Paul wrote. The whole tone of the passage seems to indicate 1 2 TIM. . 16, 18, and iv. 19. 2 Salutaris Lux Evangelii, p. 117. The Testimony of Holy Scripture. 79 this. When the Apostle thinks of the household of Onesiphorus, he prays that God will bestow upon them the blessings of His mercy ; the time for its bestowal is not expressed, but if, as we suppose, the family was in bereavement, it would be for imme- diate comfort, and the absence of any specified time points rather to the present. But when his thoughts were carried on to his benefactor, knowing that he had no longer need of it in this world, as his sur- vivors had, the vision of the future judgment rises up before the writer's mind, and he adds, aC 3Ihe grant ttf him," not to the household, " ttf ffttb in that bag." But very few attempts 1 have been made to evade this, which it must be allowed is the most natural inference ; it has however been maintained that, granting that Onesiphorus was dead, the language used is not expressive of prayer, but only of a pious hope or aspiration. The slightest acquaintance with the forms of The similar- ity of the prayer tor the dead in the Primitive Liturgies will be Apostle's enough to identify it with the expressions in com- those'raost mon use; this petition for mercy, and rest through mercy, being one of most frequent recurrence. We Li cannot better conclude the consideration of this case 1 S. CHRYSOSTOM says that Onesiphorus was then in Rome, but it is only a conjecture, which is ill suited to the tenor of the passage. 80 The Testimony of Holy Scripture. than by quoting the opinion of one of the most eminent divines of the seventeenth century. In speaking of the communion of saints, he exhorts his hearers thus : " We should do well to remember that in this world we are something besides flesh and blood; that we may not, without violent necessities, run into new relations, but preserve the affections we bore to our dead when they were alive. We must not so live as if they were perished, but so as pressing forward to the most intimate partici- pation of the communion of saints. And we also have some ways to express this relation, and to bear a part in this communion, by actions of intercourse with them, and yet proper to our state : such as are strictly performing the will of the dead, providing for and tenderly and wisely educating their children, paying their debts, imitating their good example, preserving their memories, privately and publicly keeping their memorials, and desiring of God, with hearty and constant prayer, that God would give them a joyful resurrection and a merciful judgment, for so S. Paul prayed in behalf of Onesiphorus, that ' God would show him mercy in that day,' that fearful and yet much to be desired day, in which the most righteous person hath need of much mercy and pity, and shall find it." 1 1 JEB. TAYLOR, Works, viii. 436, ed. Eden. CHAPTER VIL ^egtimonp of ttje Catacombs NO little controversy has gathered round the The origi- origin and date of the Catacombs at Some, stmction It will be well briefly to indicate the conclusions the Cata which have been arrived at by the latest investiga- strictly tion, that we may be in a position rightly to estimate chnstian - the importance of the evidence which they furnish of the primitive belief respecting the condition of the faithful dead and their connection with the living. They were constructed by Christians in the earliest ages of Christianity for the burial of their own dead exclusively ; l they may neither, therefore, be identified with the ancient arenarice 2 or exhausted 1 This is established by the investigations of Padre Marchi and the two De-Rossi, his pupils, who have done perhaps more than any others to throw light upon the whole subject of the Catacombs. See their works, / monumenti delle arti Christiane primitive netta metropoli del Christianesimo, and Inscriptions Christiana>, and Roma Sotteranea. Mr. J. H. Parker, however, dissents from this view in his last work on the Archaeology of Rome, Part xii., The Catacombs. a The soil in which nearly all the Catacombs have been con- structed is the tufa granolare, which is easily worked, and of snffi- F 82 Tfie Testimony of the Catacombs. sand-pits of pre-Christian times, nor may they be considered, as was once so vigorously maintained, as common cemeteries for Pagans and Christians alike. The inter- The presence of heathen symbols and inscriptions, oTheathen which gave rise to the latter theory, antecedently so improbable when we take into consideration the tMsview f relationship in which Christianity and Paganism stood to each other during the greater part of the first three centuries, may be satisfactorily explained upon other grounds. Pagan burial-places differed in their construction from Christian just as the disposal of the bodies of the dead differed. Though inhumation was the original mode of burying adopted by the Eomans, it was almost entirely superseded by burning during a large portion of the time which is covered by the use of the Catacombs, and the cells of the Columbaria, in which the ashes of the dead were preserved, are of the smallest dimen- cient solidity to bear excavation. That in which the old sand-pits are found, pozzolana, is of a looser and more friable character, and without the addition of solid masonry could not have been utilised as burial-places. The arena might well have been dug by the ancients as a valuable ingredient in their cement : the pozzolana could not have been. The plan of the sand-pits, again, is arranged so that its roads are curved to allow of the easy passage of carts ; while the galleries of the Catacombs are narrow, and frequently intersect one another at right angles. The above-quoted writers have explained how the arenarice came to be identified with the Catacombs. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 83 sions compared with the cubicula or loculi of the Catacombs. It has been observed too that in by far the majority of instances the Pagan inscriptions are found Pagan In- in unnatural positions, inverted or sideways, and how to be' not unfrequently on the inner surface of the stone, f on from which it is thought probable that the Christians had removed from Pagan cemeteries and other places such slabs as came conveniently to hand, and utilised them without troubling themselves to erase the marks which indicated their original use. 1 But it cannot be denied that there are instances where the stones show no signs of such adaptation, but were deliber- ately set up over Christian graves and inscribed with heathen symbols. 2 The explanation of this, 1 Cf. MABILLON, Iter Italicum Litterarium, p. 136. 2 The most frequent of these are the initials D.M. or D.M.S., which are said to occur about forty times among 15,000 inscrip- tions. On Pagan monuments their usage is almost universal ninety-five per cent, at least and the meaning is obvious, Dif Manibus or Dis Manibus sacrum. Besides the theory of explana- tion given above, it is quite possible that Christians, finding stones so inscribed, justified themselves in the use of them by giving to the initials an altered significance, Deo Maximo, Deo Maximo Salvatori, and the addition in some cases of the sacred monogram of Christ does certainly give an air of probability to the supposition. Mr. Parker explains the presence of Pagan symbols by sup- posing that the claims of family were considered stronger than those of religion, and relations who differed in creed were laid in one and tlie same burial-place. 84 The Testimony of the Catacombs. which may well seem strange to us, who are apt at this distance of time to draw a strong line of demarcation between the new faith and the old, is to be sought in the difficulty which in all ages indivi- duals 1 have experienced in cutting themselves off entirely and at once from the associations of their ancestors. The period But not only is it proved that the Catacombs were covered by distinctively the work of Christians, it is equally combs. a clear also, and even more interesting in connection with our present subject, that they belong to the very earliest period of Christian history, ranging in all probability from the sub-apostolic age to the close of the fourth century, when from the public recogni- 1 Dean STANLEY, in his Life of Constantine, East. Ch. Lect. vi., has illustrated this principle by a variety of examples which are very pertinent to the subject. It is quite true that figures resem- bling in a great measure the heathen representation of Orpheus and Pan are found engraven on Christian tombs. The Good Shepherd was one of the favourite representations on the early monuments, but because He is accompanied by a goat, or is playing upon a lyre or a rustic pipe, it by no means follows necessarily that He is to be identified with Orpheus or Pan. We can find another explana- tion in the idea that the goat was emblematical of the sinners whom He came to save, and the musical instrument of the voice which His sheep knew so well ; as S. Greg. Naz. writes : " The Good Shepherd will at one time give His sheep rest, and at another drive and direct them with his staff seldom, but more gener- ally with his pipe;" cf. NORTHCOTE, Ram. Cat. p. 51. But the probability is that the early Christians had learned to look upon Orpheus as a sort of type and precursor of Christ, just as the^' saw in the old heathen religions foreshadowings of the Gospel. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 85 tion of Christianity by the State the concealment which led to burial in subterranean cemeteries had quite ceased to be necessary. The first dated 1 inscrip- tion hitherto discovered is of 71 A.D., and no under- ground interment is believed to have taken place after the capture of Rome by the Goths in 410 A.D. Now although the allusions to the state of the The brevity dead found in the monumental inscriptions of this piidty of early period are necessarily brief and simple, the tio^^en" 11 value of them is by no means insignificant. All that has come to light reveals a Church stead- jjjj r J 68 ^ fast in the faith, calm in temper and without ex- aggeration in its expressions of bereavement, and this, be it borne in mind, in the midst of unexampled provocation, when men's belief in the providence of God must have been sorely tried, and we should have expected to see at least some signs of wavering and impatience. But none are to be found. It is the record of an age to which we may turn with confidence for guidance in difficulty, for on no period of the Church's history has the true spirit of her 1 The dated inscriptions hitherto discovered are upwards of 110 ; one only in the first century, two in the second, twenty- three in the third, about five hundred each in the fourth and fifth, but the dates of many of the others, by a comparison of style and various other indications, may be approximately fixed. About 6000 altogether are extant, and considerably more than half of these are assigned to the Ante-Nicene period. 86 The Testimony of the Catacombs. Founder left so clear an impress. We accept, there- fore, whatever illustrations it may give of primi- tive usage or doctrine with feelings of satisfaction, assured that we shall find nothing but the calm deliberate belief of the generations for which it speaks. Before attempting to extract from the sculpture and inscriptions of these early tombs the prevailing sentiments of the times touching the condition of the faithful dead and their relationship to those who survived, it may be well to prepare the way by a brief illustration of the value of their testimony in reference to matters of faith generally accepted. Nothing could be ruder 1 or less imaginative than their symbolical representations of the two great Sacraments, but they manifest a complete grasp of the doctrines involved. Their wit- The emblem of the first Sacrament is that which faff teach? nas become so familiar to us from the language of tvroSacra- our Baptismal Service, in which the ark is made to disposers P re fig ure tne Church into which the baptized child is to follow received. Now in the Catacombs this is represented them in other j n a manner almost grotesque : but we can hardly matters. fail to be struck by the way in which the sculptor or painter, out of the whole circumstance of the Mosaic 1 Such monuments best express the contemporary belief; those of later times generally lose in value in proportion as they gain in beauty and ornament. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 87 narrative, seized upon those features which bore directly upon the doctrine to be enforced. The gigantic ship, the eight souls, the concourse of animals, all are forgotten, and we see on those under- ground monuments four things, and four only, viz., water, a vessel, frequently in the shape of a box or tub, one human being, and a bird 1 with a branch in its beak. What more is required to exhibit the full teaching of baptismal grace ? Of the other Sacrament there are numerous symbols, and they recur very frequently; the commonest are the vine, ears of corn, loaves of bread, and a fish and bread. It may seem that these have no necessary connection with the Holy Eucharist, and are nothing more than "pictorial representa- tions " of some of our Lord's miracles, but a careful study of the subject proves that such an idea runs counter to the principle which governs all the monu- mental imagery of the Catacombs. Nothing is 1 The connection of this emblem, though no longer familiar, was quite intelligible in the earliest times, as the following quotation testifies: "Quemadmodum enim post aquas diluvii quibus iniquitas antiqua purgata est, post baptismum (ut ita dixerimj mundi pacem caelestis irae praeco columba terras annun- ciavit dimissa ex area et cum olea reversa . . . eadem dispositione spiritalis effectus terras, id est carni nostrre emergent! de lavacro post vetera delicta columba Sancti Spiritus advolat pacem Dei afferens emissa de caelis ubi ecclesia est area figurata." TERTULL. 4e Bapt. c. viii. 88 The Testimony of the Catacombs. portrayed in a simply historical way. All, whether paintings or sculptures, are what has been called "ideographical," and bear a distinct symbolical interpretation. But we have selected two which deserve especial note. In the one 1 a priest is repre- sented clothed in a pallium, extending his hand in the attitude of benediction over a tripod, upon which a fish and some loaves marked with a cross are laid ; while a woman, as typifying the Church, kneels before him. In the other a fish is swimming in the water and carrying on its back a basket containing bread and a small vessel of wine. When we keep in mind the significance of the fish, 2 we have vividly depicted 1 " The priest is clothed only in the pallium ; now we know that Tertullian defends the pallium, that Justin Martyr wore it, whilst Cyprian denounced it. This painting, then, would lead us to conclude that at the beginning of the third century the Eucharist was looked upon as a sacrifice celebrated by the priest, and in the offering of which the congregation had its part." DBAKE, On the Teaching of tJie Church, etc., p. 7. 8 The symbol ix6i>s, which probably owed its origin to the discipline*, arcani, has been found on monuments of every kind in he primitive Church. " Sint autem nobis signacula columba, vel piscis, vel navis," etc. CLEMENS ALEX. Pcedag. iii. p. 246 (ed. Grsec. Lat. Heinsii). Its anagrammatic use is commented upon or alluded to by many of the Fathers. " l~xQvs quod est Latinum lesus Christus Dei Filius Salvator." OPTATUS MILEV. de Schism,. Donat. iii. 2. " Nos pisciculi secundum l-^jSiiv nostrum in aqua nascimur nee nisi in aquis permanendo salvi sumus." TERTULL. de Eapt. i. Aiigustine inserts the acrostic verses supposed to have been written by the Erythraean Sibyl, de Civ. Dei, xviii. 23. See also Marriott's Essay on the A titun Tnscrip. in the Testimony of the Catacombs. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 89 the true doctrine of the Holy Eucharist as taught in the Church Catechism, " the outward and visible sign, and the inward and spiritual grace," the consecrated elements and that which underlies them, the Body and Blood of Christ. Now, to turn directly to the subject immediately On what points theii betore us, we propose to select from the vast collec- testimony tion of inscriptions which have been gathered out use d. of the subterranean cemeteries several specimens of three different classes. The first will be brought forward to show that the doctrine of the Church, which teaches that the faithful dead are not detained in a state of suffering or purgatorial pain, but pass at once to a place of rest, is the same which was held by the Roman Christians of the first four centuries. The second will witness to the belief that death does not separate interests, but that the preservation of the souls of the righteous in union with God and Christ in the world of spirits, and in consequent rest, was held to be a legitimate subject of prayer for the surviving friends and members of the same Church, The third class exhibits traces of the practice of appealing to the dead for their prayers and inter- cessions ; but these will be more fitly introduced in the Second Part. 90 The Testimony of the Catacombs. On the pre- Under the first head all those inscriptions will the faithful naturally fall which bear the familiar formulae of *i i 1*1 pax, in pace, in pacem, and the like. An attempt has been made to prove that such expressions merely indicated that the deceased had died in communion with the Catholic Church, but one argument will suffice for the refutation of such a theory. It is not probable that among the early Christians the number of those who had been cut off and excommunicated could have been so great as to call for a distinguishing mark in behalf of those who had not. Again, the expression has been interpreted of the rest or peace of the body in the tomb, or to separate confessors from martyrs, those who died a natural death from those who perished by the hand of the executioner, as the prophet 1 says, "^hmi shult turt fcie bjj the stomrb, but thxm slutlt Me in p*att." No doubt there may be cases where such explanations are possible, but the fre- quent expression, "he lives in peace," altogether excludes any such limitation. Moreover, a full and unbiassed consideration of the following inscriptions will satisfy most candid people that all such limited and restricted interpretations are wholly inadequate. The language can be satisfied by no less a meaning 1 JEB. xxxiv. 4-5. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 91 than is obtained by referring it to the peace of the pardoned soul, which it enjoys, when, set free from the encumbrances of the body with all its sinful desires and restless passions, it realises the prospect of a joyful resurrection and an eternity of bliss already begun. There are a large number of inscriptions which give merely the name of the deceased and the date of his death, followed by the formula IN PACE. A few examples are given, but they are so numer- ous that it is hardly necessary to recall them ; indeed the occurrence of the formula is so frequent that, after the middle of the fourth century, it is rarely absent : IRENEO LAURENTIUS FELICITAS SABINA AGRIPPINA TURBANTIA IN PACE. One or two may be quoted which contain other expressions indicative of the same state of peace : No. 243. 1 BENEMERENTI IN PACE LIBERA QUE BIXIT A. XL NEOFITA. DEP. DIE., ETC. To the well-deserving Libera in peace, who lived eleven years. A neophyte. Committed to the grave, etc. 1 Wherever the inscriptions are numbered, it is in accordance with DE-Rossi, Christiance Inscriptiones, 243. Taken from the Kircherian Museum, dated 374 A.D. The dates actually found on the Inscriptions are according to consulship, but we have given the more convenient corresponding forms. We have made no attempt at correcting the grammar, which is so frequently at fault, but have printed the inscriptions as they are found. 92 The Testimony of the Catacombs. No. 31. ARCESSITUS AB ANGELIS QUI VIXIT ANN. XXII. MESIS VIII. DIEB. VIII., IN PACE DEP. IDIBUS DEC. MAXENT. III. COSS. 1 Fetched by angels, who lived twenty-two years, eight months, and eight days, in peace committed to the grave on the Ides oj December in the third consulship of Maxentius. The expression " fetched by the angels" is indica- tive of peace and rest, and "committed to the grave," as has been frequently noticed, was fitly chosen to represent Christian burial, because the idea it sug- gests witnesses to the resurrection ; the body is not so much placed or laid in the grave, but intrusted to it as a sacred "deposit," to be reclaimed hereafter. A very considerable number of the epigraphs are composed of a mixture of Greek and Latin ; many too exhibit the words of one language in the char- acters of another. An example of these is quoted only because they have an additional interest as being, in the judgment of De-Rossi, before the middle of the third century : *OPTOYNATOYC EYMEN. . . . KOIOTEI IN HAKE. Fortunatus Eumenes lieth in peace. i 81 said to have been taken from the Crypts of S. Sebastian, dated 310 A.D. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 93 We turn from these, which are of the simplest kind, and are cited only to show the belief of the early Christians that the faithful dead were in a condition of rest, to those which express the wishes and prayers of the survivors for their continuance in peace, or for light, or for refreshment, three things which we shall see hereafter were the special objects of prayer in the Primitive Liturgies : EIPHNH COY TH *YXH ZQCIMH. Peace to thy soul, Zosima. EIPHNH TE *OPTYNATE 9YFATPI TAYKYTATH. And peace be to Fortunata my sweetest daughter. No. 17. EX VIRGINIO TUO BENE MECO VIXISTI LIBENT CONJUGA INNOCENTISSIMA CERVONIA SILVANA REFRIGERA CUM SPIRITA SANCTA, DEP. Cervonia Silvana, thou didst live well and happily imth me, from thy virginity, as a most innocent wife. Refresh (thy soul) with the, holy spirits. 1 Com- mitted to the grave. 1 The preposition cum is frequently found governing an accusa- tive case in these inscriptions. The neuter form is not stranger than many other anomalies with which they abound. In tact, grammatical errors and peculiarities of many kinds meet us at every turn, as the following page*, testily. 94 The Testimony of the Catacombs. The following express prayers for the refreshment of the soul : HILARIS VIVAS CUM TUIS FELICITER SEMPER REFRIGERIS IN PACE DEI. 1 Hilaris, may you live happily with your friends, may you be refreshed in the peace of God. KALEMERE DEUS REFRIGERET SPIRITUM TUTJM UNA CUM SORORIS TUAE HILARK 2 Kalemeros, may God refresh thy spirit together with that of thy sister Hilara. BOLOSA DEUS TIBI REFRIGERET QUAE VIX ! ANN : XXXI. Bolosa, may God refresh you., who lived, etc. REFRIGERA DEUS ANIMA God refresh the soul of ... t HPAKAIA POMH 1C ANADAVCIN COY H *YXH. Heraclea Roma, may thy soul (go) into refreshment. 1 This is taken from one of the Gilded Glasses, upon the early date of which, however, Mr. Parker has thrown doubt. Refrigeris is apparently an abbreviated form for refrigereris. 2 From the Kircherian Museum, found in the Catacomb of S. Ennetes. It is marked 124 in BURGON'S Letters from Rome. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 95 The next two are for light : DOMINE NE QUANDO ADUMBRETUR SPIRITUS VENERES DE FIL1US IPSEIUS QUI SUPERSTITIS SUNT BENIROSUS PROJECTUS. 1 Lord, let not the spirit of Venus be overshadowed. Of her sons who survive Benirosus (and) Projectus. ETERNA LUX TIBI TIMOTHEA IN XP. Timothea, mayest thou have eternal light in Christ. Then there are many which pray for eternal life or union with God and Christ and life with the saints : YFEIA ZHCEC META ICTEPKOPIOY TOY AEFOMENOY YFEINOY EN TEO. Hygeia, mayest thou live with Slercorius, who is called Hyginus, in God. ERENEA VIVAS IN DEO. A. Q. Irenea, mayest thou live in God. The Alpha and Omega. 1 From the Cemetery of S. Callixtus. Preserved in Column xvii. at the Lateran. 96 TJu Testimony of tfie Catacombs, CHRESIME DULCISSIMA ET MIHI PI ENTISSDIA FILIA VIVAS IN DEO QUE REDDEDIT ANN. V. M. VII. D. V. CHRESDIUS ET VICTORINA PARENTES VICTORIA VIVAS IN DEO. 1 My sweetest Chresime and most affectionate daughter, mayest thou live in God, who gave back (thy soul) at the age of five years, seven months, and five days. Chresimus and Fictorina her parents. Victoria, mayest thou live in God. MARIUS VTTELLIANUS PRIMITIVE CONJUGI FTOELISSDIAE. AAIKCBBIN. 2 Marlus Fitellianus to his most faithful wife Primitiva. Hail, innocent soul, dear wife, mayest thou live in Christ. 1 This is interesting from the repetition of the prayer. It has been conjectured that the first part was dictated by the father addressing his daughter by the name she had received from him ; the latter part was inscribed perhaps later by the mother, who wished her daughter to be commemorated also by the name she had received from her. See NORTHCOTE, Christian Epigraphs, p. 82. 2 This is from a Sarcophagus preserved in the Lateran. De- Rossi considers the mysterious combination of letters at the end to be an acrostic : Ave anima innocens kara conjux bibas in Christo. The Testimony of the Catacombs. 97 No. 10. PASTO . . . VIBAS INTER SANCTIS IHA. Mayest thou live among the saints in peace. Many more illustrations of a similar kind might be brought forward, but the preceding exhibit ample proof that the early Christians believed not only that the faithful dead entered at once into a state of rest and peace, where " no torment could touch them," but also that death interposed no barrier to the prayers of those who survived. Taken by themselves the inscriptions may appear meagre and unimportant, but when we remember that the character of the times is often "most accurately reflected in Christian epigraphy," we learn to value their testimony. It may be said again that the expressions referred to are nothing more than " pious acclama- , tions," but the same might be alleged of the reguiescat in pace, and yet Catholics who inscribe the words on their tombs would never consent to the restriction. They may be, and often have been, used simply as such, but far more frequently they set forth the language of direct prayer. 1 This inscription in the earlier part is much mutilated and almost beyond recall. The last letters are considered a corruption of inpa. The date of it is given by De-R. as 268 or 279 A.D. CHAPTER VIII. of rtje (Earlp jfatljetg. THE writings of the Early Fathers supply abundant evidence of the practice of praying for the dead. It will suffice here to quote a few passages almost without comment, leaving for later consideration the extent to which prayer in such cases was regarded by them as efficacious. Tracing backwards from the middle of the fifth century, where our investigations cease, we meet The in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon with a Council of .... Chalcedon, discussion which intimately concerns the question. 451 A.D. Dioscurus was delated to the Council for a breach of trust. A saintly woman 1 of blessed memory had provided in her will for large grants of money to be made to the monasteries, hospitals, almshouses, and * rb y&p /card ria> T^J Xa/xTrpas /J.v^/J.ijs HepiffTtplav irpay/jLa ovdels jjyvfajfft. tKetvi)* yb.p iiir^p TT/J tavrrjs \f/vx.ijs iv ry diari- 6eff0ai ira.paKe\evffa(itvi)S iroffbrijTO. \pvfflov ira.pa.ffx.eOTJva.1 rots s, ov (ity dXXd icai rots gevewffi ical Trrw^etots Kal irtrrjffi rijt AlyvirTiaicijs xcipas. wffre (tySt rty eHudiav ty dir6 T^J ^I'crtas rrjs Xajjnrpas ryv ju>i\ji.i\v TlepiffTepias &vfvtx- Orjvat ?r/)ds rbv Qebv. rb Sffov iw' avry. Cone, Lab. p. 401. Act. 3. The Testimony of the Early Fathers. 99 the poor generally, in Egypt, in the belief that her soul would be benefited by the prayers of the faith- ful, to whose necessities she thus ministered. She appointed Dioscurus trustee for the execution of her will. An accusation was brought against him for failure of trust ; that he had not done the very least that was required of him, he had not even offered incense or a sweet-smelling savour to God to com- memorate the illustrious dead. It is obvious that such a matter as this could not have been brought within the cognisance of a General Ecclesiastical Council, or at any rate passed over without some marks of disapprobation, if the crime laid against Dioscurus were one of refusing to perform an act which the Church disallowed as contrary to Catholic practice. S. Augustine says, " It has come down to us from S- Angus- tine, s the Fathers, and is universally held in the Church, that we should pray for those who died in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their proper place at the Sacrifice." 1 S. Ambrose, apostrophising Gratian and Valen- S. Ambrose. 1 " Hoc enira a patribus traditum universa observat Ecclesia, ut pro eis qui in corporis et sanguinis Christi communione defuncti suiit cum ad ipsiim sacrificium loco sno cornmemorantur, oretur." Sermo clxxii.. de Verbi Apostoli, vol. v. p. 1196 ; ed. Paris. ioo TJte Testimony of the Early Fathers. tinian, thus speaks : " Blessed are ye both, if my prayers shall be of any avail ! No day shall pass by you in silence, no prayer of mine pass over you unhououred, no night shall fly past you without your receiving the boon of some earnest prayer ; I will attend you with all my oblations." 1 Epiphan- Epiphanius argues that the Church has no alternative but to perform this duty, because she has received it as a traditionary custom from the hands of the Fathers. 2 s. Chryso- S. Chrysostom goes so far as to say that the stom. custom had received Apostolic sanction, "not in vain was this law laid down by the Apostles." 3 Eusebius. Eusebius narrates how at the tomb of Constantino "a vast crowd of people, in company with the priests of God, with tears and great lamentation 1 " Beati ambo, si quid meae orationes valebunt ! nulla dies vos sileutio praeteribit, nulla inhonoratos vos mea transibit oratio, nulla nox non donates aliqua precum mearum contestione trans- curret : omnibus vos oblationibus frequentabo." De dbitu Valen- tiani Consolatio, 78. This mode of address seems to have been suggested to him by the lines of Virgil " Fortunati ambo ! si quid mea carmina possunt, Nulla dies unquam memori vos eximet sevo." * avayKaiws TJ iKK\rjffla rovro tirireXei irapdSoffiv Xa^ovffa irapi rarfpuv rls Se Svy^trerat Oeffubv n-rrrpbs KaraMeiv ^ vbfuov irar/xSj / EPIPH. adv. Hcer. lib. iii. Ixrv. 3 OVK eiicfi ravra. fvofio9er-fi8t) \nt& TUV o.voar(>\w. Horn,, iii. ad Philipp. cap. i. The Testimony of the Early Fathers. 101 offered their prayers to God for the Emperor's soul." 1 Arnobius, writing of the persecution at the close Arnobius. of Diocletian's reign, when the Sacred Scriptures were ordered to be burnt, and the churches razed to the ground, asks, "What have our places of assembly done that they should be cruelly destroyed, in which we pray to the Most High God, and seek peace and pardon for all men ; for magistrates, armies, kings, friends, and foes; for those still living, and for those who have been set free from the bondage of the flesh?" 2 Tertullian closes the testimony of the Early Tertullian. Fathers by frequent reference to the prevalence of the custom. "We offer the oblations for the dead on the anniversary of their birth." 3 And again, speaking of a widow, he says, "She prays for his (her husband's) soul, and requests refresh- ment for him meanwhile, and fellowship in thp 1 Xed>s Se ira/j.ir\T]6T)s ffbv rots Tip OftplepufJitvois ot SaKptiuv KTOI crbv K\av0/ju^ d ir\eiovL rds eOxa? inrtp T^S /SaffiX^ws ^i^fijy diredl* Soffav ry 0ey. Fito (7ons<. lib. iv. c. 71. 2 " Cur immaniter conventicula dirui meruerunt, in quibus summus oratur Deus, pax cunctis et venia postulatur, magistra tibus, exercitibus, regibus, familiaribus, inimicis, adhuc vitam degentibus et resolutis corporum vinctione?" Adv. Gen. iv. 36. " Oblationes pro defunctis, pro natalitiis annua die facimus." De Cor. Mil. c. 3. IO2 The Testimony of the Early Fathers. first resurrection; and she offers sacrifice on the anniversaries of his falling asleep." 1 Here, then, we have a chain of Patristic evidence which carries us back into the second century ; and when we take into consideration the fact that it is fully corroborated by the Service-books of the Church, in which the religious opinions and feelings of a people are sure to find their outward expression, we can hardly do otherwise than accept the oft- repeated assertion that the Primitive Christians did not consider the interposition of death sufficient to silence the voice of prayer and intercession. 1 " Pro anima ejus orat et refrigerium interim adpostulat ei et in prima resurrectione consortium," etc. De Monogam. c. 10. Tertullian was one of those who interpreted Rev. uc. 1-7 literally, and held that there will be a first resurrection of martyrs, and those saints who are worthy to share their honours, sooner or later according to their deserts, to live with Christ on earth for a thousand years, at the expiration of which period there will be a general resurrection of all the dead. He treated of the subject fully in a lost work, de Spe Fidelium, and more briefly in adv. Marc. iii. xxiv., and de Monogam. p. 682, and de Resurr. Carnis, p. 397, ed. Rig, CHAPTER IX. tCtje ^Tegtimonp of tlje prfmitfte Hitucgietf* riTBERE can be little doubt that the Apostles The primal _l_ attached great importance to the most sacred Liturgical ordinance of " the Breaking of Bread," and it seems natural to suppose that, before they separated for their different spheres of missionary work, they would agree upon some definite form, or at least lay down some fixed general principles of Liturgical service, 1 according to which they would continue to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in the several Churches which they founded. But the principles being settled, and the central portion or nucleus, so to speak, being formed, the details of prayers and ceremonies which gathered round it would be suf- 1 Traces of these have been discovered in the Apostles' writings, e.g. the Act of Consecration, 1 Cor. x. 16 ; the Kiss of Peace, 1 Cor. xvi. 20, 2 Cor. xiii. 12, 1 S. Peter v. 14; the Amen of the Eucharist, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, compared with Just. Mail. Apol. Ixvii. It has been noticed too that certain passages introduced by the Apostle with the formula "as it is written," are nowhere found in Scripture, but occur in the Liturgies ; e.g. 1 Cor. ii. 9 may be seen in the quotation from S. Mark's Liturgy, p. 111. This is commonly regarded as an adaptation of Isaiah Ixiv. 4. IO4 Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. fered to vary both in extent and character accord- ing to circumstances. The various Attempts have been made to classify the local and which it other varieties which existed in early times, and ou t nc most Liturgiologists have decided to arrange all the Eucharistic Services used in different countries and by different communities, in four 1 or five groups or families, each one of which bears the name of the Apostle who is said to have laboured in the particular country where it was used. 2 These are the Liturgies of S. James, S. Mark, S. John or S. Paul, and S. Peter, to which is added, by those who make five groups, another entitled the Liturgy of SS. Adaeus and Maris, which is regarded as the parent of a vast class of Eucharistic Offices used by the Nestorians. Accepting without controversy this mode of classification, we shall in the following investigation extract illustrations of the point under review from each of the parental forms, and also from some few of those which have been derived from them, merely giving, for the convenience of those who are un- 1 Palmer in the Origines Liturgicce reduces all forms to four, which he entitles the Great Oriental Liturgy, the Alexandrian, the Roman, and the Galilean. 8 Cf. Liturgies Eastern and Western, ed. C. E. HAMMOND, Introd. p. xvi. Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. 105 acquainted with the subject, as brief an account as possible of the several Liturgies cited. Before, however, appealing to the evidence which lies in these Primitive Liturgies, it will be well to state distinctly how far these may be considered available for the purpose. Some degree of hesitation must necessarily be felt The uncei- by reason of the uncertain state of the text which the text, has come down to us. In the absence of early manu- scripts l we have no authentic evidence of their con- tents in their original form. If we accept the conclusions of those Liturgiologists 2 1 No doubt one great cause for the non-existence of early MSS. was the extreme reverence which was felt for the mysteries of the Faith, and the fear lest, if committed to writing, the books might be given up in times of persecution. 2 It may be well to state briefly an outline of the arguments upon which the early date of some of the great Liturgies is said to rest. We take that of S. James as an illustration. This was originally used in the Patriarchate of Antioch. This Patriarchate is at this time occupied by two classes, the Monophysites and the Orthodox. Now the former retain a Liturgy, which they have used uninterruptedly, called after S. James. The latter have adopted that of Constantinople, but once a year, on the Apostle's Festival, they use that which bears his name. Here then we see the orthodox and the heretics ascribing a Liturgy in their posses- sion to S. James, and they must have done so from a very remote period, clearly for more than fourteen centuries ; for they separated from each other after the condemnation of Monophy- sitism at the Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D., and it is not likely that either would borrow from the other after the separation. A Liturgy then bearing the title of S. James is proved to have been in use in the fifth century ; and many portions of this are to be traced in the writings of certain Fathers, from Theodoret, 420 A.D., to Justin Martyr, 150 A.D., who lived at Samaria, in the Patriar- io6 Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. who assign the origin of some of them to the beginning of the third century, or even to an earlier date, we are compelled to admit that they have since been greatly developed and added to under the influence of various circumstances. But apart from any legitimate de- velopment and additions, which are conformable to Catholic doctrine, there are also numerous undoubted interpolations of a totally different character. Are these sufficient to shake our confidence in the general trustworthiness of the documents 1 Or can we so far separate the later introduction as to leave the substantial parts free to be accepted as satisfactory evidence of the opinion of primitive times) We think it possible to do this. In some cases 1 there is no difficulty in recognising the interpolation, and frequently even the date of its insertion may be approximately determined. chate of Antioch. He describes the celebration of the Eucharist, and, as far as it goes, his description corresponds almost precisely to that which is found in this Liturgy. And this carries back its existence to within a century of the Apostle whose name it bears. 1 " Grant, Lord, we beseech Thee, that this oblation may benefit us by the intercession of the Blessed Leo." Miss. Feat. Leonia, Jun. xrviii. Bingham gives the history of the change from the form, " Grant that this oblation may benefit the soul of Leo, Thy servant," as it appeared in the old Roman Missal. Op. vol. v. IT. iii. 16, p. 312. In HICKES' Treatise on the Priesthood he enumerates some of the additions which " any man, who is conversant in the history of the Councils, may see," such as onoowrtot, rb Ki'/xor rb f6- rocor, inroptvbutMn, Arptrrus, ffaffffxav^ffat. L 143, ed. 1711. Testimony of the Primitive Litiirgies. 107 For instance, it would be useless to appeal to these HOW far Liturgies in support of the worship of the Blessed ^ditions Virgin in the second or third or fourth centuries. f r e m the After that her worship became an integral part of ^^ r e oi Christianity, as it did in the East during the fifth cen- evidence - tury, and not much later in the West, it was inevit- able that it should find its expression in the Services 1 of the Church ; and while we may avail ourselves of these as witnessing to the general acceptance of the doctrine after its introduction, it is obvious that documents which were confessedly open to interpola- tion, and the original forms of which are past recovery, could have no weight beyond this in the scale of evidence. The only condition under which their testimony is of value is, when that to which they witness is supported by the concurrence of con- temporary history. To illustrate this we revert to the case above mentioned. Accepting, for the sake of the argument, the middle of the second century as the date of the Liturgies bearing the names of S. James and S. Mark, no discovery of allusions to the worship of the 1 We find in the Liturgy of S. James the following : "Let ns commemorate our all-holy, pure, most glorious, blessed Lady, God-mother, and ever- Virgin Mary, and all the holy and just, that we may all find mercy through their prayers and inter- cessions." io8 Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. Blessed Virgin in their existing forms would be of the slightest value, because it is wholly unsupported by contemporary writers. But if Justin Martyr or Origen or Tertullian, or any Father of that age, had left anything to indicate the prevalence of the cultus in their times, then, without being able to prove the absolute integrity of the Liturgies, we might appeal to their contents as corroborative evidence. The In the first group that which holds the chief S. James, place is the Liturgy of S. James or of Jerusalem. Whether it was written in Syriac or Greek in its original form is a disputed point, but the arguments seem to incline rather in favour of the Syriac. Since the separation of the Orthodox and the Monophysites at the Council of Chalcedon, the former have used the Greek, the latter the Syriac. In consequence however of their oppression by the Mohammedans, the Orthodox adopted the Liturgy of Constantinople, and only use that of S. James on one day in the year, the Feast of the Apostle. In early times this Liturgy was adopted through- out the wide Patriarchate of Antioch, reaching from the Euphrates to the Hellespont, and from the Hellespont to the south of Greece. In the Greek form, after the reading of the Diptychs of the dead the priest proceeds : Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. 109 " Remember, Lord God, the spirits of all flesh, of whom we have made mention, and of whom we have not made mention, who are of the true faith, from righteous Abel unto this day ; do Thou Thyself give them rest there in the land of the living, in Thy kingdom, in the delight of Paradise, in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, our holy fathers; whence pain and grief and lamentation have fled away : there the light of Thy countenance looks upon them, and gives them light for ever- more." 1 The Clementine 2 Liturgy has this petition, " Let The us pray for those who rest in faith," 3 and " We s. Clement further offer to Thee for all Thy saints who have pleased Thee from the beginning of the world, patriarchs, prophets, just men, apostles, martyrs, con- fessors, bishops, elders, deacons, subdeacons, singers, i, Kvpte 6 0e6s, TOW irvevfidTUv Kal irdffijs aapKos, &v ffja'ria'BrjfjLfv, Kal Siv OVK Ifj.v/iff0rj/j.ev, 6pOo8&b)v, cfor6 'A/StX rod 8iKatov fJ-^XP 1 T fy ffrifJ.epoi> Tj/jdpas. airrds ticei avrovs dvdiravffov tv "X.u>pa favrwv, v TT) |3ocrtXe^ crov, v -TQ rpvrj rod irapaSelffov, & TO?? /c6\7rois 'A/SpoA/i Kal 'IffadK Kal 'Ia/cw/3, T>V dyiiav irartpuv rifj-Civ. SOfv aTT^dpa ddfor) \VTTT) Kal ffTevay/J.os. tvOa. tiriffKoiret rb us TOV irpoffdiirov ffoi Kal vwtp irdrrwv TWI> air' attD^os eva.pe irpocprjTuv diicalwv a.TfOffTb\uv Haprvptav 6fJU>\oyrfTu>v iiriffKowCiv vpeff^vTlptav SW.K(>VW viro- Siax&vuv dvayvuffTwif \f/a\ruv irapBtvuv xtpuiv XatVcwj' nal irdvTwv SH> avrfa tirlffraffai rd 6v6fM.ro.. Apostol. Constit. viii 12. Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. 1 1 1 rest, Sovereign Lord, our God, to the souls of all those, who are in the tabernacle of Thy saints, in Thy kingdom, graciously bestowing upon them the blessing of Thy promises, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which Thou hast prepared, God, for them that love Thy holy Name." 1 The next is from S. Cyril's : " Be merciful, The Coptic Lord. Grant rest to our fathers and brothers, s. Cyril. who have fallen asleep, and whose souls Thou hast received. Eemember also all the saints who have pleased Thee since the world began." 2 The parent form of the next group, which was The normal used in the Patriarchate of Ephesus, is not extant, Liturgy of but portions of it are found in the Gallican and Moz- s! John, arabic Liturgies. The first of these was used in the Bc Churches of France, which were probably founded by missionaries from Asia Minor, 3 for several centuries, and only superseded by the Eoman in the 1 TOVTUIV irdiruv TCIS if/vxds dvatrauffov, Atffirora KI//HC 6 0edt ilfjiCiv fv rats TUV dyiuv ffov ffK-rjvais, tv TTJ /SatrtXe/p ffov, xapifb- ftevos avrdit rd r&v firayye\uav &a\fjios, K.T.\. Lit. ofS. Mark. 3 " Domine miserere : patribus fratribusque nostris qui obdor- mierunt et quorum animas suscepisti quietem prsesta. Memento etiam omnium sanctorum qui a sseculo tibi placuerunt." Lot. Transl. of the Anaphora of the Coptic Liturgy of S. Cyril. 3 As proof of the close connection between the Churches of Gaul and Asia, several early Bishops of the former are saM to have lieen natives of Ephesus, and the well-known letter from the Christians at Lyons bears witness to the same- 112 Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. The Galilean Liturgy. The Mozarabic Liturgy. reign of Charlemagne ; and it has a Special interest for us from the probability of its having been used by the British Church before the mission of S. Augustine. In the Gallican Liturgy we read : " At the same time we pray, beseeching Thee, O Lord, for the souls of Thy servants, our fathers and former teachers, . . . and for the souls of all our brothers, whom Thou didst deem worthy to call to Thyself from this place, and of strangers who died in the peace of the Church." 1 The Mozarabic Liturgy 2 is the most complete of those which were derived from S. John and the Ephesian Church, and was used as the national Rite throughout Spain from the earliest times. In this there is less distinctness in the intercession, but the Apostles and others are commemorated, and "the spirits of many holy men, who are at rest." 3 1 " Simulque precantes oramus etiam, Domine, pro animabus famulorum tuorum, patrum atqne institutorum quondam nostro- rum .... vel omnium fratrum nostrorum, quos de hoc loco ad te vocare dignatns es ; . . . ac peregrinorum in pace ecclesiae defunctorum." Gallic. Lit. s Its use is generally supposed to have ceased when Gregory vu. prevailed upon Alphonso VI. to substitute the Roman Liturgy in its place. After having become practically a dead letter for many centuries it was re-introduced at Toledo by Cardinal Ximenes, and it is said regularly in the college of priests founded by him there at the present day. 3 " Facientes commemorationem beatissimorum Apostolorum . . . item pro spiritibus pausantium." Mosar. Lit. Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. 1 1 3 Much obscurity hangs over the original Liturgy of The Lit- urgy of the fourth group. The oldest form now extant is s. Peter. probably the Ambrosian. Later developments of it are the Sacramentaries of Leo, Gelasius, and Gregory, from which so many of the Collects of the Anglican Liturgy have been taken. In the Liturgy which has been in use from time The immemorial throughout the diocese of Milan the following prayer is found : " Eemember also, Lord, Thy servants, men and women, who have gone before us with the seal of the faith, and are sleeping in the sleep of peace. To them, Lord, and all who rest in Christ, we pray Thee to grant a place of refreshment light and peace." 1 In the Sacramentary of S. Gregory, which was The Sacra- derived from the Liturgy of S. Peter, we read the ^Gregory, following prayers : " Be favourable to the souls of Thy servants with an everlasting compassion, that they may be set free from the bonds of death, and kept in eternal light ; " and " We pray that the souls of Thy servants, and all who rest in Christ, may attain to a participation in eternal light." 2 1 "Memento etiam, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei et dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Domine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus locum refrigerii lucis et pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur." Ambros. Lit. 3 " Propitiare animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum II H4 Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. The evidence derived from this is less trustworthy, because it is well known that Gregory made con- siderable alterations in the form which he revised, but they were chiefly by way of condensation rather than enlargement. The Lit- The chief of the Nestorian group is that which urgy of SS. Adaeus and bears the title of S. Adseus and S. Maris, of whom Marls. the former is to be identified with Thaddseus, who was sent on a mission to Abgarus, governor of Edessa, after the Ascension of the Lord ; while of the latter little is known, except by tradition which makes him a founder of the Churches of Mesopotamia. In the Great Intercession the following occurs : " Lord, mighty God, receive this oblation for all the holy Catholic Church, and for all godly and righteous Fathers who have pleased Thee, . . . and for all the dead who have been separated and have departed from us." 1 Quotations of a similar kind might have been largely multiplied, but we have abstained from misericordia sempiterna, ut mortalibus nexibus expeditas lux eas aeterni possideat." " Inveniant quaesumus animae famulorum famularumque taarum omnium que in Christo quiescentium lucis aeternae consortium." Sacr. Greg., MURAT. ii. 221. 1 "Domine Oeus potens suscipe hanc oblationem pro omni Ecclesia sancta Catholica et pro Patribus piis et justis qui placiti fuenint tibi . . . et pro omnibus defunctis qui a nobis separati migraverunt." Lit. SS. Aden et Maris. Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. 115 introducing them, knowing that we should only see the features of the parent repeated again and again in the child, so closely in this matter do the derived Liturgies resemble those from which they originated. We pass on to consider what value the early The Christians could have attached to such petitions, and object This we estimate from two points of view. petitions. Firstly, where the future is chiefly referred to, they felt that it was a " holy and pious thing to pray for the dead," because the Scriptures led them to believe that a man's final condition is not reached till the day of judgment ; and though the Church in all her supplications breathes the spirit of a sure and certain hope, yet so long as judgment is delayed, the attitude of prayer is most in accordance with our Christian instincts. Whilst there is anything still Th? atti - tude of future to be obtained (and the frequent reference to prayer most becoming the resurrection and eternal happiness points dis- till the . judgment tmctly to the future), it is certainly not unbecoming is passed. that a waiting Church, whether in the body or out of the body, should place itself upon its knees in prayer and supplication. It is this principle which has found such a happy expression in our own office at the Burial of the Dead, " Beseeching Thee, that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and n6 Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies. to hasten Thy kingdom ; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of Thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory." Such Secondly, where the present condition is the prayers an . . acknow- prominent idea. Admitting that the day of death ofourde- may be practically the day of judgment, that the sentence, though not yet delivered, is then deter- mined and cannot be reversed, even under these circumstances it does not seem to be a violation of the principle of prayer to continue to pray for what we may feel confident that those for whom we pray already possess. God has willed that His creatures should live in continual acknowledged dependence on Him and His bounty; that at all times, and under all conditions of being, men should acknow- ledge that He is the Giver of all things ; and this is the reason why all men, rich and poor, those in plenty no less than those in want, are taught to pray daily for the supply of their bodily needs, to ask for this day's bread, though all the time their garners may be " full anii phnttcras toitlt all manner of 0t0re." Upon these principles, apart from others which may be considered hereafter, the prayers of the Primitive Liturgies for the peace and refreshment of the dead receive their full justification. CHAPTER X. for rtje pardon of 0in0 of fnffrmitp, ami tlje effacement of ginful THE preceding pages have afforded us an oppor- Pra y er f. rtr connectiou tunity of judging how prevalent the habit of with sin - praying for the dead was in the early ages of Christianity, and at the same time have set forth the commonest forms in which prayers were expressed. So far no instance has been quoted in which any direct mention of sin is found in the petitions. The more perplexing consideration of those not infrequent cases in which it does find a place, when the language takes the form of a prayer either for the remission of sins, or for the effacing of the stains and defilements of sin, must now be entered upon. The evidence on this head does not carry us quite so far back as that produced above. There is much less in the great parent Liturgies, and, as far as we can discover, hardly anything worth recording in 1 1 8 Prayers for the pardon the Fathers before S. Jerome ; but from his time onwards there was a general belief that those sins which were the inevitable consequence of a frail nature, common to the holy man as well as the wicked, might be done away after death ; and that the defilements which the pardoned soul carried with it out of this life might be wiped out ; and that in both cases entire remission and perfect purification could be furthered by the prayers of the faithful. Syriac Taking the Oriental Liturgies first, we read in S. James, the Syriac of S. James : " We commemorate all the faithful dead who have died in the true faith, . . . and come to Thee, God, the Lord of spirits and of all flesh : we ask, we entreat, we pray Christ our Lord, who took their souls and spirits to Himself, that by His own manifold compassions He will make them worthy of the pardon of their faults and the remission of their sins." 1 The above is the prototype of a vast number of " * " Commemoramus omnes defunctos fideles, qui in fide vera defoncti sunt . . . et ad te Deum Dominum spirituum et oinnis carols pervenerunt. Roganras imploramus et deprecamur Chris- tum Deum nostrum, qui suscepit ad se animas et spiritus eorum, ut per miserationes suas multas praestet illos dignos venia delic- torum ct remissione peccatorum." Syr. Lit. S. Jacobi, Latin trans., RKNAUD., ed. Hammond, p. 75. of sins of human infirmity. 119 Liturgies which are used by that portion of the Syrian Church which professes Monophysite doctrine. The titles which many of them bear are not authentic, but the Liturgies themselves are held to be very ancient. The following extracts are taken from four of them : From that of S. John the Evangelist : " Thou art Jacobite Liturgios. the Creator of the souls and bodies, and they, who have lain down in the grave, wait for Thee, and look to Thy life-giving hope. Awake them, Lord, in that last day, and may Thy look towards them be tranquil, and of Thy mercy forgive their faults and failings, for none of those who have lived on earth can be found clean from the stains of sin." J From that of S. Peter, chief of the Apostles : " Place in Abraham's bosom and bid them rest, who fulfilled their course of human life in the orthodox faith, . . . taking away and forgiving all their wrong deeds, . . . because it is impossible for those who have enjoyed the pleasures of the world, 1 " Tu es enim Creator animarum et corporum et te expectant qui decubuerunt et spem tuam vivificantem respiciunt. Suscita illos, Domine, in die illo novissimo : tranquillusque sit erga illps vultus tuus : et dimitte per misericordiam tuam delicta et defectus eorum ; quia eorum qui super terrain fuerunt nullus reperitar mundus a sordibus peccati." Lit. S. Joannis Evang., RENAUD. i. 167. 1 2 o Prayers for the pardon even for a single moment, to be found other than guilty." 1 From that of S. James the Less : " Load them with joy in the land which is lit by the brightness of Thy face, blotting out their prevarications, and not entering into judgment with them, for there is no one pure from sin in Thy sight." 2 From that of S. Dionysius, Bishop of Athens : " Remember, Lord, all the dead, who died with Thy hope in the true faith ; . . . write their names with the names of Thy saints in the blessed abode of those who keep holiday and rejoice in Thee ; not calling back to them the recollection of their sins, or reminding them of their foolish deeds, because there is no one in the bonds of the flesh who is innocent in Thy sight." 3 Before leaving the Eastern Liturgies we quote from one which belongs to a different family, and has 1 " In sinu Abrahse colloca et quiescere jube eos qui in fide orthodoxa humanae vitae periodum cornpleverunt . . . auferens et dimittens omnes iniquitates illornm . . . quia impossibile est illis qui vel unico momento aliquam temporalem voluptatem per- ceperunt, ut non rei inveniantur." Lit. S. Petri Princ. Apost., RENAUD. ii. 150. 2 " Cumula eos laetitiu in regione quam illuminat splendor vultus tui, delens praevaricationes eorum, nee intrans in judicium cum illis ; neque enim quisquam purus est a peccato coram te." Lit. Minor S. Jacdbi, RENAUD. ii. 130. 8 " Memento, Domine, omnium defunctorum qui decubuerunt cum spo tua in fide vera . . . adjunge nomina illorum cum nomi- of sins of /uiman infirmity. 121 for its parent form the Liturgy of S. Adseus and S. Maris. In the Liturgy of Theodore the Interpreter the Liturgy of Theodore priest prays God to accept the sacrifice of thanks- the Inter- giving which he was offering in these terms : " That the memory might be blessed of all the sons of the holy Catholic Church who passed out of the world in the true faith, that by Thy grace, Lord, Thou wouldest grant to them pardon of all the sins and faults which they committed in their mortal bodies, with a soul ever subject to change, because there is none that sinneth not." 1 Turning to the Western Liturgies it will suffice to Western quote from the three well-known Sacramentaries. In that of S. Leo we read : " We pray that what- s. Leo ever stain he has contracted in his passage through the world may be wiped out by these sacrifices." nibus sanctorum tuorum in habitatione beata eorum qui festum agunt et laetantur in te : non revocans illis memoriam peccatorom suorum neque commemorans ipsis qua insipienter egerunt ; quia nullus est carni alligatus et innocens coram te." Lit. S. Dionysii Athenarum Episc., RENAUD. ii. 209. 1 " Ut sit coram te memoria bona . . . omnium ftliorum Ecclesise sanctae Catholicse, eorum qui in fide vera transierunt ex hoc mundo, ut per gratiam tuam, Domine, veniam illis concedas, omnium peccatorum et delictorum quae in hoc mundo in corpora mortali et anima mutationi obnoxia peccaverunt aut offenderunt coram te, quia nemo est qui non peccet." Lit. Tlieodori Inter- juretis, RENATTD. ii. 621. 122 Prayers for the pardon And again : " Grant that the fact of his having ardently longed for repentance may suffice for the attainment of a perfect healing." 1 S. Gelasius. In that of S. Gelasius : " Let us make our com- memorations beseeching the compassion of our God to forgive all the offences of a dangerous rashness, and having the pardon of full forgiveness granted, to atone by His own unspeakable goodness and mercy for all the mistakes into which he fell in this world." And again : " Whatever stains the soul contracted from its sojourn in the flesh, do Thou, God, of Thine innate mercy wipe them out." 2 s. Gregory. In that of S. Gregory : " We beseech Thee that the offering of this sacrifice may suffice for the soul of Thy servant, and that he may find the pardon which he sought, and reap in the reward of the longed-for repentance the fruit of that which the 1 " Quaesumus, Domine, miserationum tuarum largitate con- cedas ut quicquid terrena conversations contraxit, his sacrificiis emundetur." "Ut devotio paenitentise quemgessit ejus affectns, perpetuae salutis consequatur effectum." Sacr. Leon., MUBAT. L 451. 2 " Commemorationem faciamns . . . obsecrantes misericordiam Dei nostri ut remittat omnes lubricae temeritatis otfensas, ut con- cessa venia plenae indulgentise, quicquid in hoc saeculo proprius error adtulit totum ineffabili pietate ac benignitate sua compenset." " Et si quas ilia ex hac carnali commoratione contraxit maculas Tu Deus inoleta bonitate clementer deleas." Sacr. Gdas., Murat. p. 747. of sins of human infirmity. 123 labour of this life was unable fully to attain to." 1 In what follows we give extracts from some of the Patristic Fathers who speak of prayers for the dead with reference to their sins. S. Jerome in commenting upon the words, " SSJhen S. Jerome. a toirkefc man iieth hi0 sxpertatifln shall pm0h ; anb the hoyt ot unjust men pxrfolwth," says, "I would have you observe, that although there is no hope of pardon for the ungodly after death, there are nevertheless some who may be absolved after death from the lighter sins in which they were entangled when they died." 2 Theodoret in his History narrates, almost as though Theodoret he had been an eye-witness, a scene in which the Emperor Theodosius offered prayers at the shrine of S. Chrysostom for his deceased parents. "He threw himself," he says, " on the coffin, and lifting 1 " Satisfaciat tibi, Domine, quaesumus pro anima famuli tui acrificii praesentis oblatio et peccatorum veniam, quam quaesivit, inveniat ; et quod officio linguae implere non potuit, desiderata pcenitentice compensatione percipiat." Sacr. Greg., MURAT. ii. 220. 2 " Notandum autem quod et si impiis post mortem spes Venice non est : sunt tamen qui de levioribus peccatis, cum quibus obligati defuncti sunt, post mortem possunt absolvi." In Pro- verbia, cap. xi. 7. 124 Prayers for the pardon up his eyes and forehead offered supplication for those who had begotten him, entreating pardon for the sins which they had committed through ignorance." 1 S. Augus- S. Augustine in his Confessions brings before us tine. his own practice. After describing minutely his feelings at the burial of his mother, he gives the very words of the prayer which he offered in her behalf, after God had bound up the wounds of his broken heart "I pour out unto Thee, our God, tears of a far different kind for Thy handmaid ; . . . although she, having been quickened in Christ even before she was released from the burden of the flesh, had so lived that Thy name should be praised by her faith and conversation, yet I dare not say that since Thou didst regenerate her in baptism, no word fell from her lips in violation of Thy commandment; ... I therefore, God of my heart, my praise and my life, setting aside for a while her good deeds, for which I gladly give Thee thanks, do now entreat Thee for my mother's sins." 2 TT? \dpi>a.Ki Kal TOI>J 66a\(ioi>s Kal rt> Oirep TU>V yeywriK&TW irpoffijveyKC, 6.vTifio\riffa.s.Eccles. Hist. Lib. v. c. xxxvi. - " Ego autem fundo tibi pro ilia faniula tua longe aliud lacry- marum genus . . . qnamquam ilia in Christo vivificata, etiam nondum a came resoluta, sic vixerit ut laudetur nomen tunm in fide moribusque ejus : non tamen audeo dicere, ex quo earn per Baptismum regenerasti, nullum verbum exisse ab ore ejus contra of sins of human infirmity. 125 There can hardly be any question as to the char- acter of the sins which he sought to aid in wiping out by his prayers, for in addition to the tone of reverence in which he speaks of her life, he says shortly after that she had continually sought the saving help of the Holy Sacrifice, and " waited on the altar without the intermission of a single day." A careful examination of the whole context, and Conclusion, the general tone of the above passages, leaves upon the mind a distinct impression that those who were prayed for were held to be already saved, and to have had their pardon sealed. Nevertheless, even for these the intercessions of the Church still militant were not deemed to be misplaced or useless, inasmuch as all experience of human nature, even in its best estate as witnessed in the holiest life of the saint, excludes the possibility of any man continuing for any length of time wholly free from sin, or again, of his dying without some trace of defilement left upon his soul by its unavoidable contact with the evil that is in the world. But it must be clearly laid down that this idea of purification during the intermediate state is quite praeceptum tuum . . . ego itaque, laus mea et vita mea, Deus cordis mei, sepositis paulisper bonis ejus actibus, pro quibus tibi gaudens gratias ago, mine pro peccatis matris meae deprecor te." Confess. Lib. ix. c. xiii. 34, 35. 1 2 6 Prayers for the pardon of sins. distinct from the doctrine of Purgatory as taught by the Roman Church. The Liturgies and the Fathers appealed to here deal with the dead who come within the range of our prayers, as being in a condition of peace and rest, of light and refreshment ; whereas the Roman doctrine maintains that the faithful dead, as well as the sinful, are in a state of penal torment. \ Lutheran j n support of this distinction we may quote the divine on a spiritual opinion of a very distinguished Lutheran divine. Purgatory. " Since no soul," he writes, " leaves this state of being in a fully concluded and finished condition, the middle state must be considered as a realm of continued development, wherein souls may be pre- pared, and ripen for the last judgment. Although the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is rejected, because it is mixed up with so much that is harsh and false, it contains nevertheless the truth that the inter- mediate state, in a purely spiritual sense, must be a purgatory determined for the purifying of the soul." 1 1 " Da keine Seele in einem vollig abgeschlossenen und fertigen Zustande dieses Dasein verlaszt, nmsz der Mittelzustand als ein Reich fortgesetzter Entwickelung gedacht werden, wo die Seelen vorbereitet und reif werden sollen fiir das jiingste Gericht. Obgleich die katholische Lehre vom Fegefeuer verworfen 1st, weil sie mit so vielen krassen und falschen Zusatzen vermischt ist, so enthalt sie doch die Wahrheit, dasz der Mittelzustand in rein geistigem Sinne ein Purgatorium sein musz, bestimmt zur Lau- terung der Seele." Die Christtiche Dogmatvk, Dr. H. MA.RTENSEN, Bischof von Seeland ; Der Mittelzustand im Todtenreich, 276, p. 430, ed- 1870. CHAPTER XL ituSicacp of prapec for tljoge toljo tried tn toilful unrepenteti rilHERE remain to be noticed a few cases where The neces- JL prayers for the dead are spoken of not merely tending 6 *!^ in connection with those who had the stains of sin to be effaced, or faults of human infirmity and imperfection to be forgiven, but who had died in wilful unrepented sin. Although they have little or nothing to do with " the faithful dead," of whom we are treating more particularly, they call for consideration on the following grounds : Firstly, because they have been unduly pressed by those who seek to be supported by ancient authorities in the maintenance of their opinion that even grievous sins admit of remission after the sinner's death; Secondly, because, when men plead for a restoration of primitive usage, it is retorted, that if they appeal to the evidence of the Fathers, they must take it as it is accept all their teaching or none and this, they say, would bring the soul of the most wicked sinner within the range of the Church's prayers. 128 The iiiefficacy of prayer for those In order to arrive at a right estimation of the evidence, we shall not deem it sufficient to comment upon the several passages which are brought under notice ; but, if it seem necessary, we shall place the writers themselves, as it were, in the witness-box, and by a searching examination endeavour to satisfy ourselves whether they speak with such uniform consistency that they may be regarded as reliable guides in this matter, or whether they are open to refutation out of their own works. The ex- It will be well, however, before doing this, to revert the P Apo m to t ne earliest recorded instance of prayers for the t^befo?- * dead, and see if it was an undue extension of the lowed. legitimate objects for which they may be offered. Judas Maccabeus encouraged the people to make a propitiation and offer prayers for some whose death to all appearances had been inflicted by God as a direct punishment for an open and wilful transgression of His commands. As we only used the example before as an his- torical proof, we are not called upon to defend the doctrine which it appears to involve; but it is just possible to find an explanation, though we should be very unwilling to accept it, which might bring it within the bounds of the Church's rule. It may have been that God, having visited His righteous who died in wilful sin. 129 anger upon them for the vindication of His law, which'distinctly forbade what they had done, remitted their transgression in reward for their bravery and the patriotism which they showed in laying down their lives for their country. And it is almost certain that a patriot like Judas Maccabeus would wish to look at the brightest side of things; and while acknowledging the justice of God in visiting their offence with death, would persuade himself that their self-devotion had insured them a merciful judgment hereafter. There is perhaps just an indica- tion of something of this kind in the expression, " They betook themselves unto prayer, and besought Him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance." 1 Judas, however, was not acting under Divine inspiration, nor yet did he speak like some of the early Fathers of the Church, whom we have quoted, as it were under the influence of Christ's teaching and example, and we have no desire to defend his conduct ; but whether any extenuating circumstances be found or not, its force, as an illustration of the prevailing belief that the dead might be benefited by the prayers of the living, is not weakened, because it exhibits a further development than we are prepared to accept. * 2 MACC. xii. 42. I 130 The inefficacy of prayer for those toifcai^an- ^ n tne Apostolical Constitutions, among the rules stitutions. an( j regulations for services for the dead, we find these directions : " Let us pray for our brethren that are at rest in Christ, that God, the lover of mankind, Who has received his soul, may forgive him every sin, voluntary and involuntary, and may be merciful and gracious to him, and give him his lot in the land of the pious, who are sent into the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. ... Do Thou now also look upon this Thy servant, whom Thou hast selected and received into another state, and forgive him, if voluntarily or involuntarily he has sinned." 1 The language is very obscure, for it speaks of one who is " at rest in Christ," whom God " has selected and received," expressions which imply that his sins had at least been pardoned before he died, and which are wholly inconsistent with the idea that he still bears, not the defilements of sin merely, or even sins themselves of human imperfection, but volun- vawavwv ijfuav derjG&fj&v' SITUS 6 i\dv9puiros Qe&s 6 irpoffSe^dfjievos airrov rijv $vxty, Trapeidjj airrif irav afj.dpri)/M eKotiffiw Kal &Ko6ffiov, Kal ?Xewj teal ev/j.tvrjs ycvAfitvos, Karardri els x&P -" efiffeftuv, 6.vei^vuv els KAXwov 'A/SpaA/z Kal 'IffaaK Kal 'IcucwjS . . airrbs Kal vvv tiuSe M rbv 3oOX6y ffov r6v5e, 6v i^e\^u Kal TrptxreXdfiov ets krepa.v \^a> Kal ffvfx&priffov afrr$ tl n IK&V el AKWV f^fiapire. Constitut. Apoatol. Lib. viii. c. zli. who died in wilful sin. 131 tary wilful sins for which forgiveness needs to be sought. But even supposing it were claimed in support of The tmcer- tainty of the Roman view, it must not be forgotten that a the date of great deal of mystery hangs over the date of this whole document, particularly the seventh and eighth books, from which the above extract is taken : yet further, the very portion before us is altogether absent from one of the best manuscripts. On the whole, then, it does not seem that this quotation contributes anything trustworthy and important towards a real apprehension of the opinion prevalent on this subject in the early ages which we are investigating. S. Cyril in his lecture on the words of S. Peter, S. Cyril. " SBherefcrrs, laging a0ibe all malm anb all gmk," etc., gives an explanation of the different parts of the office of "the Mysteries," and touching the commemoration of the dead writes thus : " We commemorate . . . the holy fathers and bishops, who have fallen asleep before us, in short, all who have fallen asleep amongst us, from the belief that it will be a very great advantage to those souls, for whom the prayer is offered, while the holy and most dread Sacrifice is laid on the altar." He then gives an illustration from a case where a king of a country 132 The inefficacy of prayer for tlwse had banished certain persons who had offended him, and was afterwards induced by the present of a crown, which their relations had woven and offered to him in their behalf, to grant a commutation of their sentence, and goes on to say, " In like manner we too, offering our prayers for those who have fallen asleep, even though they be sinners, do not, it is true, weave for them a crown, but we offer Christ, Who was slain for our sins, that we may obtain His favour both for them and for ourselves." 1 This passage, by not defining the kind of sinners intended, leaves it to some extent in uncertainty what the writer's real views were ; and he nowhere else, that we are aware of, expresses himself on the same subject. It has been urged, however, by those who hold that even grievous and mortal sin may be forgiven in the intermediate state, and it must be admitted that its general tenor, and especially the comparison of the exiled transgressors, favours such a theory. 1 elra Kal virlp ruv TrpoKeKoinrj/jLtvuv ayiuv Trartpwv Kal brt- ffKbiruv Kal ircLvrtav airXus ~(av fr rjp2v irpoKeKoi/j,rjfji^vwi>, [teylffnjv 6vrj rj dtijffis &i>a.percu rrjs aylas Kal QptKuSeffrarris irpoKfifj&njs Bwlas . . . rbv airrbv Tp6irov Kal i]fj.eis virtp TUV KfKOifiijij^vtav ris Se-ijyeis irpoffQtpovTts, oL >ai>ov TrXftco/jicv, d\X4 Xpurrbv li\avO pwtrov. Cateeh. Mystag. v. p. 242, ed. Lutet. Par. 1681. who died in wilful sin. 133 The next testimony which we bring forward de- The objec- serves careful notice ; it is from Aerius of Sebasteia Aerius. in Pontus, who flourished in the third quarter of the fourth century. We have his opinions only second- hand in the writings of Epiphanius and Augustine. The latter merely says under this head, that " he held certain peculiar tenets, asserting that oblations ought not to be made in behalf of those who sleep." 1 The former represents his views more explicitly in the following words : " If the prayers of the liv- ing can in any way benefit the dead, then none need trouble himself to live a holy life or to be a benefactor to his race, but let him acquire friends by any means he pleases, winning them to his side by bribes, or claiming their friendship at his death, and let these pray that he may have no suffering in the other world, and that the heinous sins which he has committed may not be required at his hands." 2 If this be a faithful representation of his language, 1 "Dicens offerri pro dormientibus non oportere." De ffceresi- bus, liii. 2 ei 5 SXws etixi) r(av fvravda TOI)S e/ce?cre favrivev, S.pa yovv evffe/3flrta, /U7?5 dyaOoiroiflTU, dXXd KTrjl\ovs 8i oO j3oij\fTai rp6irov, -fyroi xp'nt'-w- Tfiffas, tfToi L\ovs s ev TTJ TfXevrrj, Kal ev-xta6uaa.v irepl avruv, iva fj.ri n e/cet fj.i]8 TO. VTT' avrov yiv6/J.eva rwv a.vt]K^aruv a/jLapTr]/j.dTiiiv fj. Adv. Hcer. Lib. iii. Ixxv. 134 The inefficacy of prayer for those and if he was a fair exponent of the prevailing belief in the extent to which such prayers were efficacious, his evidence of course must be allowed its full weight. Reasons for But there are reasons which dispose us to regard distrusting hisevi- his views with suspicion. Disappointed in early tlence. life at the selection of his friend Eustathius for a vacant bishopric which he coveted for himself, he conceived a spirit of bitter dislike, which grew at last into active hostility to the Church in which his rival held office. He was guilty of heresy and schism, denying the doctrine and setting at nought the discipline of the Church. His offences may be briefly summed up as follows : He held Arian views of the nature of Christ : He repudiated the grace of Orders, and depre- ciated the dignity of the Episcopal office : He condemned the appointed Fasts and Festivals, denouncing especially the keeping of Easter and the observance of Lent and Passion-tide as relics of Jewish bondage and superstition: Finally, he became the author of a schism, gather- ing around him a considerable body of followers, who formed many strange rules ; and who, to judge from the hard treatment which they received at the hands who died in wilful sin. 135 of the orthodox, must have been considered danger- ous to the Church. The judicious Hooker gives a right estimate of his Hooker's character, and by consequence also of the value to his charac- ter be attached to anything which he may have said affecting the principles of the Church, when he writes of him in these terms : " Unable to rise to that greatness which his ambitious pride did affect, his way of revenge was to try what wit being sharpened with envy and malice could do in raising a new sedition." 1 It is moreover clear, from the answer which Epiphanius made to the heretic's objections, that he had misunderstood the legitimate usage of interces- sions for the dead : " Touching the commemoration The answer of the dead, what could be more advantageous ? phanius What more opportune or more advisable than that m ' those who are still here should believe that those who have departed are alive, and not annihilated, but exist and live with the Lord?" Again, he says of the prayers which are offered for them, that "although they do not wipe away all their crimes, yet because men often trip knowingly and unknowingly, whilst they are in the world, they are advantageous for the manifestation of that 1 Eccles. Pol. vii. ix. 1. 136 The inefficacy of prayer for- those which is more perfect. For we commemorate righteous men and sinners, sinners to pray for God's mercy, but righteous men, fathers and patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, bishops, anchorites, and all that class, that we may separate the Lord Jesus Christ from the order of men by the honour assigned to Him and may pay to Him a holy worship." 1 He is very far from accepting the interpretation which his opponent had chosen to put upon the practice; and there is no attempt to maintain the efficacy of prayer for heinous sins. Indeed, he in- directly refutes the idea, when he says that there were sins to cancel which it was powerless; and the sins which he had in his mind were such, doubt- less, as the heretic had spoken of; for we can hardly conceive of anything more presumptuous than to sin boldly in life as long as sin were possible and run the risk of being forgiven through the interposi- tion of surviving friends. a-/>J roO 6v6/MTa. Xye> ruv re\evTi)ffavrwv, rl ar etii rofrrov vpovpyiairepov ; ri TOI/TOV Kaipubrepov Kal 6av/J.a alriandruv /XT) dwoviirrot, d\X' oZv ye 5t& TO TroXXdm & KbfffJUf ^yuas 6rras d\\eff6a.i dicovfflus re Kal lus, Iva. rb ivre\^ffrepov a-ij/Mvff'g. Kal yap dtxalw iroioti/j.eda urqfity Kal farep d/ia/wwXuw' i/irtp fjh> ap.aprui\Civ virtp A^ous 8e6/*ev(H, K.T.\. EPIPH. adv. Hcer. Lib. iii. Irrv. sect. vii. who died in wilful sin. 137 He speaks, it is true, of the benefit to be derived for our oft infirmities, for the " trippings " to which human nature is prone, but it is only to place them in contrast to the more grievous sins which nothing would obliterate. Moreover, the brevity with which he dismisses the question for sinners, contrasted with the length to which he expands the class of the righteous, shows clearly for whom he considered prayers to be applicable. S. Augustine, who has a much better claim to be S. Augus- tine. heard as an authority, expresses himself without hesitation on several occasions. In answering certain questions which one Dulcitius propounded to him, of which this was the second, " Whether the oblation, which is made for those at rest, confers any benefit upon their souls," he writes, " There are some souls whom such things help in no way, whether they be offered for those whose evil deeds made them unworthy of being helped, or for those whose good deeds render such help unneces- sary." 1 The effect produced by the prayers and oblations 1 "Sunt enim quos omnino nihil adjuvant ista; sive pro eis fiant, quorum tarn mala sunt merita, ut neque talibus digni sunt adjuvari ; sive pro eis quorum tarn bona ut talibus non indigeant adjumentis." De octo Dulcit. qtuestion. Lib. ii. 3. 138 The inefficacy of prayer for those offered for any particular person, he says, " will be regulated exactly by the kind of life which he led." 1 " We must not deny that the souls of the departed are relieved by the piety of survivors, when the Sacrifice of the Mediator is offered for them ; but it is efficacious only for those who in life earned the right of being benefited." 2 Again, in his great treatise on the City of God : " Prayer is not offered for the unbelieving and un- holy dead ;" 3 and he follows up the declaration with the arguments above quoted, that men must earn by their lives a participation in the prayers of the faithful to be offered for them in death. Once more, in his sermon on the text, " 3E toxralb not habe gott to be ignorant concerning them tohich are asleep, that jje sxrcrxrto not eben as .others, tohich habe n0 hope." After reiterating this frequently expressed opinion, he adds that "for those who die without that faith which worketh by love, and without the Sacraments of the Church, it is 1 " Ferat unusquisque secundum ea qnse gessit per corpus sive bonum sive malum," De octo Dulcit. qucestion. Lib. ii. 3. * "Neqne negandum est defunctorum animas pietate suorum viventium relevari, cum pro illis sacrificium Mediatoris offertur, vel eleemosynse in Ecclesia fiunt. Sed eis hsec prosunt, qui cum viverent, ut hsec sibi postea possent prodesse, meruerunt." Id. ii. 4. 3 " Qnae itidem causa est ut, quamvis pro hominibus, tamen jam nee nunc oretur pro infidelibns impiisque defunctis." De Civit. Dei, Lib. xxi. cxriv. 2. who died in wilful sin. 139 vain that their friends should spend upon them duties which natural affection suggests." 1 And lastly, to sum up his testimony, when he classifies the baptized dead in relation to the sacrifices and prayers of the living in their behalf, he says, " For the very wicked, although they bring no relief to the dead, they are yet some kind of con- solation for the survivors." 2 S. Chrysostom, in his comments upon the death S. Chryso- and miraculous restoration to life of the disciple at Joppa, takes occasion to speak of the feelings and conduct of the survivors towards those who have died in sin : " These men lived in vain : nay, not in vain merely, but to evil purpose, and of them one might fitly say, ' 3Et torn Qoolb for ' them ' if ' they ' hai) nxrt bten born.' For tell me what gain it is to have spent so much time to one's own injury? . . . " And here is a man who wasted his whole life in vain, and never lived a single day even for his own good, but for luxury and wantonness and i "Nam qui sine fide quae per dilectionem operatur, ejusque Sacramentis, de corporibus exierunt, frastra illis a suis hujusmodi pietatis impenduntur officia." Sermo clxxii. 1. '"Pro valde bonis gratiarum actiones sunt: pro non valde malis propitiationes sunt ; pro valde malis etiamsi nulla adju- menta morruorum, qualescunque vivorum consolationes stint." Enchirid. defidr, spe et charitate, ex. 140 TJie inefficacy of prayer for those greed and sin and the devil. Shall we not then bewail him ? Shall we not try to snatch him from his perils ? For it is, it is possible, if we will have it so, that his punishment shall be lightened. If, then, we make constant prayers and offer alms in his behalf, even though he be unworthy, God will be importuned by us." 1 Again, touching the legitimate use of mourning, he writes : " For if the dead man has been a sinner, and has ofttimes offended God, we must weep, or rather not weep merely, for this is of no use to him, but do what we can to procure for him some consolation, offer alms and oblations." 2 Again, in dealing with a kindred subject, he rebukes a mourner who said that he was bewailing oOrof /xaXXo? 3 owe etY>) dXXd *ai irl /ca/ctp. /cat &ri TOVTUV eOicaipov elireiv epov fy avroi$, el O$K tyevvfiOjiffav rl ydp d0eXos, elire fwi, TOa\i)S ; KO.1 oi/ros iraffav TT]V fiarjv flici) KareKinn}, oi/5 fuiiv rifdpav tfrffev tavrf, dXXA rrj rpvtfyy, TTJ dcreXyeig., rf ir\eoveiq,. TJJ d/uaprt'p, T^ oio^oXy. TOVTOV oSv 01) OprjvfiffOfj.>> ; oil irfipa.ff6fj.eOa. TUV KtvSvvuv tapirdffa.i ; tffri ya,p, tffriv, a.i> &t\u/Atv Ko(iijv ai/r(p ytveffBai rrjv Ko\aau>. &v oZv eirxas virep avroS iroiu>nev e\os tKfivy) d\\d iroieiv rd Swdfieva nvd irapafj.v0lcu> avrifi irepnrotTjffai, \eefj.ooTuva.s /cai irpoff iravraxov ffKoireis otf ret ticeivov. tl 5 ical dywi/yrwXds 6,irfj\$e, xal 5t& rovro Set \aiptiv, 8n ti>fK6iri) ri d/iapr^aTa xa.1 ov irpoaeOijKe rrj Ka/a'p, ical fioyQelv, dis &v olw re -j, 01) dXXa ei)x'J f*i lKerijpia.is ical eXee/Mwrwais KO.I In Ep. 1 ad Cor. Ilomtt. xli. 4. 142 The inefficacy of prayer for tJwse " not as giving commands, but in condescension to human infirmity." 1 And in the third there is an expression indicative of doubt how far prayer would avail for one who died in his sins ; and in what follows he says the object to be gained is some consolation, not remission; and finally he concludes with the declaration that the cry at the altar during the tremendous Mysteries is not in vain " for those who have fallen asleep in Christ." 2 A close examination, then, of the context does modify in a measure the strong character of the quotations; but even had we found nothing in extenuation, we should have hesitated to accept them as conclusive, in the face of much that is said of a contradictory nature in other portions of his works. He has certainly laid himself open to a charge of inconsistency. Here is a direct denial of the efficacy of prayer to obtain pardon for those who died in sin. Contradic- In the moral which he draws from the text, tory views. (( j am i tt a ^ft bettotxt ttow, habtttjj a besirc to bepart, anb to be toith iv Xptorip who died in wilful sin. 143 be, are far from the King. . . . Let us not then wail for the dead simply, but for the dead in sins. These are worthy of wailing, of beating of the breast, and of tears. For what hope, tell me, is there in departing with sins upon them to that place where there is no putting off of sins? So long as they were here there was, it may be, great expectation that they would change and grow better, but if they have departed to Hades, where they can reap no fruits from repentance, for Scrip- ture saith, 'In the grabs tohxj shall gibe <i, nerci. a/j.apnri/jidTuv iureXOeiv, ZvOa OVK fyrlv afj.apnr-fifw.Ta. dTToSticracrOat ; Iwj iiv yap fjcrav fvravda, tffus Jp> irpoaSoKia iroXX^, Sri fj^ra/iaXovvTai., 8ri /SeXr/ouj iaovrau &v 5^ dwA^axru' fit rbv q.Srjv, fvda OVK ^ diri> fieravolas Kfpdavat n. tv yap T if.8-g, s X W P^ J urlpayl5os' K\avffoi> TOVS iv TrXotfry reTf\evrijK6ra^ Kal fj.rjSefj.tav airb TO? who died in wilful sin. 145 Before drawing this subject to a close we turn to some evidence of a more definite nature. S. Cyprian, in a letter which he wrote to the A special people of Furni, praises the wisdom of the Bishops noticed by for a decree, which they had made in Council, that no c yP rian - one who had been ordained to the priesthood for the constant service of the altar should ever suffer him- self to be diverted from his Divine administration by the call of secular duties. The consequence of a breach of this Ecclesiastical order he illustrated by an example. One Geminius Victor had appointed Geminius Faustinus to be executor and guardian under his will. It was an act of deliberate dis- obedience to a rule of the Church, and as soon as it was discovered after his death, when the will was read, he was at once deprived of the good offices of ir\ofrrov irapafiAiOlav rats lavrCni \f/i>xais tirivoriffavras, TOI>$ afrruv r& afiaprrifjMTa Kal /tJ/ ai/rots /caret 5vvafj.iv, firivo-fiffuficv ai/roij riva fioriOflav, fjuKpav fiiv, jSorifff'tv 5 Q/J.UIS 6wan,tvrii>. irws Kal rivi TpoiTfp; avroi re t$x6fj.fvoi Kal fT^pous irapaKaXourrts evx&s virtp avrwv iroielffffai, irivrjffLV virtp atrwv Sidovres ffwexui. Hx fl r ""* T ^ irpayfj.a irapafjLvBtav' &KOve yap TOV 0eoO \tyovTOt' VTrepaffiriCi T^S TriXcws T0.im\s Si l[i.t, Kal 5ia Aavld rbv SovXov /JLOV. el nvr)fJ.Tj fj.6vov SiKaiov roffovrov iffxvfffv, Srav Kal tpya yfvrjrai virtp avrov, iruis oil la"xiiati ; OVK eiKfj ravra tvo/toOer-fidr; VTTO rCiv a.iroffrb\PIKT>V nvarripliav fj.vrifj.rjv yfrfffOai run a7Tf\06vruv. Iffaotv CU/TOIS iroXi) /t^pSos yfv6fievov iro\\riv rrfv ut\dav. . . . a\\a TOVTO fiv irtpl TWI> fv rricrrei / Ep. ad Phil. c. 1, Horn. iii. 146 The inefficacy of prayer for tJwse his surviving friends, and a declaration was published to the effect that " no offering might be made for his repose, nor any prayer offered in the Church in his name." 1 Of course this can hardly be urged as conclusive evidence that all wilful transgression cut the offender off ipso facto from the prayers of the faithful, but it may well be regarded, in the absence of anything to the contrary, as an illustration of a generally admitted principle which had gained acceptance at the time when he wrote. other There were other cases of those who died in sin, cases. where provision was expressly made to disqualify them from enjoying the benefit of the Church's prayers. Those particularly mentioned are catechumens, 2 who died without baptism by neglect or their own default suicides, who laid violent hands upon themselves and those who for heinous offences paid the extreme penalty of the law; all were buried in silence without the religious rites of the 1 " Si quis hoc fecisset, non offeretur pro eo, nee sacrificium pro donnitione ejus celebraretur." " Et ideo Victor cum contra formam . . . ausus sit tutorem constituere, non est quod pro donnitione ejus apud vos fiat oblatio, ant deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in Ecclesia frequentetur."- CTPB. Epist. i. Presby. et Diacon. ttplebi Furnis consistentibus. BINOHAM, x. ii. 18. who died in wilful sin. 147 Church, and had noplace afterwards in her customary commemorations. S. Chrysostom, when dealing with the sin oi delaying Baptism, seems to place it in contrast with sin which may be forgiven after death, for he writes thus, " The man who has cast all upon God, and sins after baptism, as we should expect of one that is mortal, if he repent shall obtain mercy ; but he who prevaricates as it were with God's mercy, if he die without partaking of the grace, shall not have his punishment begged off." 1 This was in his eyes a wilful sin, and he expresses his conviction that there was no locus pcenitentia to be obtained for it after death ; and if not for this, it is difficult to say that he believed there was ground for hope in the case of any other. As an illustration from the class of suicides, we Cassian's story of one may recall the story which Cassian has told of the who com- mitted fate of the old hermit Hero, who under an incon- suicide. trollable impulse, by the delusions of Satan, threw himself into a pit and was killed. Even in spite of the belief that he acted under some temporary y&p rb TTO.V tiri rbv Qebv pi\j/as nal if ola. e//c6j Hvdpuirov 6irra ^fravoCiv re6^erai tf>i\av- 6 6 Sxrirep ffotpifofifvos rov QeoD rrjv Tria.i>, ui> &/j.oipos TJjs xdpiro In Acta Apost. Homil. i. 7. 148 The inefficacy of prayer for those hallucination, and not of set purpose, in destroying himself, it was with the greatest difficulty that he escaped being deprived of these Christian privileges. The head of the monastery to which he belonged, "could hardly be prevailed upon to let him be reckoned any other than a self-murderer, and unworthy of the memorial and oblation that was made for all those that were at rest in peace." 1 The Council In the following century, perhaps in consequence of an undue relaxation of the rule, the matter was deliberated in an Ecclesiastical Council, and a most stringent decree passed to enforce its observance. 2 Conclu- To sum up then briefly the conclusions at which \ve have arrived by the investigations of this and the preceding chapter : The evidence of a few of the Fathers and the Primitive Liturgies is in favour of the view which admits of the effacement after death of the stain and defilement of sin, as also of the forgiveness of those lesser faults and failings which are due to human infirmity, and encourages the 1 BINGHAM, xv. iii. 16, introduces the story, and also gives the decree of the Council of Bracara. 2 " Placuit ut hi, qui sibi ipsis aut per ferrum, aut per venenum, aut per prsecipitium, aut suspendium vel quolibet modo, violen- tam inferant mortem, nulla pro illis in oblatione commemoratio fiat, etc. item placuit ut catechumenis, sine redemptione bap- tismi defunctis, simili modo neque oblationis commemoratio, neque psallendi impendatur officium." who died in wilful sin. 149 prayers of survivors as helpful in the attainment of both these ends. While with regard to the exten- sion of the field of the Church's prayers, so as to bring the man who dies in wilful sin within the range of their operation, though there are a few expressions in some of the Patristic writings which appear to sanction such a course, the general testi- mony is decidedly adverse. Our conclusions touching the general question of prayers for the dead will be combined with those to which the evidence of the following pages will lead us respecting the interces- sion of departed saints and the legitimacy of invoking their aid in prayer. END OF PART I. PART II. THE GOOD OFFICES OF THE FAITHFUL DEAD IN BEHALF OF THE LIVING. CHAPTEE I. ttetfmonp to tlje 3Interte00ion o tlje feamtjs* TN the following pages we shall apply the test of Catholicity, first, to the belief that the saints in Paradise intercede for the well-being of those who are still in the flesh, and then to the practice of addressing or invoking them with a view to obtain- ing their assistance by intercession or otherwise. We begin with the evidence for their intercession. It should be explained at the outset that we are The minis -11 i /> only concerned in this inquiry with the souls of angels not righteous men ; we take no account of the angels, upon here. whose services in behalf of the heirs of salvation there can be no question that God has constituted in a wonderful order. Our special aim is to learn all that can be ascertained from the records of antiquity of the occupation after death, in connec- tion with ourselves, of those who are related to us by the ties of a common faith and a common nature. 154 Primitive Testimony to the There is very little explicit revelation in Holy Scripture to help us ; the belief grew naturally out of a special application of the general doctrine of the Communion of saints. If, therefore, but few passages can be adduced in direct support of this particular phase of it, it would be manifestly unfair to conclude that all the evidence has been brought forward. Here however we are content with the consideration of these alone. The Apocalypse of S. John was written, partly at least, for the express purpose of disclosing the minis- trations of the angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect. The witness There are two passages in it, where he describes caiypse. P the presentation of the prayers of the saints at the golden altar. The first : " I behelb, anil, lo, in the mibst of the throne anb at the fonr bea0t0. anb in the mibst ot the elbers, stoob a fCamb as it hab been slain, habing seben horns anb seben eges, tohich are the seben virvwffavTfS, ol fjt> taiT)S iwiffrdvra KO.L TTfptirTVff- ff6fJ.fvoi> ijfj.a.s eft\irofj.(v, oi 5^ ird\iv ircvx&(j.fvoi> r)fjui> eupwfiev rbv IMxdpiov 'lyvdriov, dXAoi 5e ara^6fj.evov v(f>' iSpwros us en Ka.fj.drov ToXXoD irapa.yfv6fj.evov KO.I TrapeoTwra ri$ xvpiifi. Martyrium otami ~ cBUo. made became so deeply imbued with his spirit that they were enabled to finish their course by martyr- dom. An account of their sufferings and constancy has been preserved to us by the Father of Ecclesias- tical History, in which he dwells at length upon the case of Basilides, to whom the judges had committed the execution of the sentence of death upon the celebrated Potamiaena : " No sooner had the word been spoken, and she had received the sentence of condemnation, than Basilides, who was one of the officers in the army, took her by the hand and led her away to die. But when the mob attempted to 1 ffwalffOovrai yap TWV ai(ai> rov irapa 0eoO etif*fvifffj.ov' Kcd ov fjL&vov Kal avrol evfteveit rots diois ylvovrai, dXXii Kal ffVfJ.Trparrouoi rots Pov\opvois rbv eirl iraa-i Oebv Oepairetew Kal t%evneviovrai, Kal ffvvevxovTai Kal ffwa^tovffiv. wore ro\fj^v Tjfids X^yeo*, 5m avOpuirois, fiera Trpoatptffews TrpoTiOffj^vois ra Kpeirrova, cvxo/dvots T(p detf fj-vpiai 8ayui>iu?ai. Contr. Cdsum, lib. viii. 64. 1 62 Primitive Testimony to the annoy and insult her with violent abuse, he suc- ceeded in keeping them off and restraining their insults, manifesting the greatest pity and kindness towards her, whereupon she, accepting the man's sympathy in her sufferings, bids him be of good cheer, for that after her departure she would obtain pardon for him from the Lord, and at no distant time would repay him for the good deeds which he had done for her." Basilides became a Christian, and when summoned before the tribunal confessed that he had seen a vision in the night, " Potamiaena placing a crown upon his head, and telling him that she had besought the Lord in his behalf, and that her prayer had been answered." 1 S. Cyprian. S. Cyprian and his friend Cornelius, in talking upon death, and anticipating the pain of separation, experience some consolation in agreeing together, that the one who was to be first taken should remember in 1 &/JM Si \6ytf rbv TTJS dirodepOfievuv, dirdyet irapa\apui> TV &ri 6a.v6.Tip ws Se rb irXijdos evox^eiv avrfj Kal d/coXdorots ivvfiplfriv p-fi/JMfftv fireiparo, 6 pitv dveipyev a.iroaofiCnf TOI)J ivvfipl- $QVTO.*, ir\iffrav t\eov Kal i\av6p(>}irlai> els airrty ev5eiKvtifi*vos, il Si T^S irepl avTyv ffvpiraOelas d?ro5e|a/ieVi7 rbv &vSpa dapptiv irapa/ceXerferar ^atTTJffeffOai y&p avrbv dire\6ovffcu> irapd. TOV tavrijs Kvplov, Kal oik els fMKpbv TWI> els O.VTTIV ireirpay/Me'vuv rty diwiffiv dirorlveiv CLVTQ. EUSEB. Ecd. Hist. vi. 5. \eyerai flireiv w$ . . . avrov rij /ce^aXj irepiOeiffa eti), ipal-rj re va.paKfK\riKevai -)(6.piv afrrov rbv Ktptov, Kal TT/J did>fpuv Bvfflas Kal rov XaoD irpoffevx6(J-et'OS. ovdt yap awo\nr diroXAotTrep. Funeb. Orat. xx. in laud. Basilii magni, ad fin. Intercession of the Saints. 165 to God, after having shaken off the fetters of the body." 1 S. Cyril writes : " We all of us supplicate Thoe, S. Cyril of Jerusalem, and offer to Thee this sacrifice, that we may also commemorate those who have fallen asleep before us, first patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, to the end that God, by their prayers and intercessions, may accept our petition." 2 S. Chrysostom, in several of his Homilies, main- S. Chryio- stom. tains the same truth : " May you by the prayers of this holy martyr, and of those who have wrestled as she did, retain an accurate recollection of these things, and of others that have been said to you." & "Let us pray then together, . . . taking the blessed Meletius as an associate in this our prayer (for his power is greater now, and his love towards us more fervent), that this love may increase in us." 4 1 Trddofj-ai 5 8n Kal TTJ irpefffielq vvv p.a\\ov ^ irpbrepov Ty SiaffKa\l$ Scry Kal fj.a\\oi> yytei 0ey> Tas ff^uariKas ir^Sas ditv- ffiffd/j.evos.Funeb. orat. in land. Patris, xix. ad init. 2 df&/j.e6d aov iravres rjfj.c'is Kal Taijrrjv irpoa' ra afrrd yOXyKbriw avr-fi Kal TOVTUV Kal TUV aXXwv TWV fiprj^fUf aKpi^ri rijv /j.vrjfj.-rji' tifj.as Karaffxtw- Horn, in S. Pelagiam, Ixvi. 4 eii^di/j-fda dij Koivfj trdvres , . . avrov TOV naKapLov M(\triov Kowuvbv r??s (VXTJS Ta^Tijs Xa/36vTes (Kal yap irXeiwv avr$ irapprjala vvv Kal 6fp/j.6rpov irpbs T]/J.as rb . * " Quid enim mihi superest solatii, quam quod me citius ad te, frater, spero venturum, nee digressus tui inter nos longa divortia fore ; tuisque intercessionibus mihi hoc posse conferri, ut citius desiderantem tui ad voces." De excessu fratris sui Satyri, Lib. ik 1170 ; cf. id. Lib. i. 1118. 8 "Pro te Dominum rogat mihique . . . veniam impetrat peccatornm." Ep. xxv. super dbitu BlesiUce. Intercession of the Saints. 167 fellow-burgher with S. Paul. There also you will seek for your parents the rights of the same citizen- ship. There too you will pray for me, who spurred you on to victory." 1 And in a vigorous dispute with Vigilantius, who asserted that prayers and intercessions must cease after death, "for that even the martyrs, with all their entreaties, were unable to obtain revenge for their own blood," he answers, "if the Apostles and Martyrs, while still in the body, are able to pray for others when as yet they ought to be anxious for themselves, how much more may they do so after they have been crowned, and gained victories and triumphs. One man, Moses, obtains from God pardon for six hundred thousand men in arms : and Stephen, the imitator of his Lord, and the first martyr in Christ, begs forgiveness for his persecutors : and shall their power be less after they have begun to be with Christ I" 2 1 " Veniet postea dies ille qno victor revertaris in patriam ; quo Hierosolymam cselestem vir fortis coronatus incedas. Tune muni- cipatiam cum Paulo capies. Tune et parentibus tuis ejusdem civitatis jus petes. Tune et pro me rogabis qui te, ut vinceres, incitavi." Ep. i. ad Heliodorum. 2 "Prsesertim cum martyres ultionem sui sanguinis obsecrantes impetrare non quiverint. Si apostoli et martyres adhuc in corpora constituti possint orare pro caeteris, quando pro se adhuc debent esse solliciti : quanto magis post coronas victorias et triumphos. Unus homo Moyses sexcentis millibus annatorum impetrat a Deo veniam : et Stephanus, imitator Domini sui et primus martyr in 1 68 Primitive Testimony to the s. Augus- S. Augustine, in his sermon on the Feast-days of tine. the martyrs Castus and ^Emilius, expresses his belief that they pleaded the cause of the living, and he vindicates their intercession from the supposed idea that it may appear to trench upon the prerogative of the One " JUtoorate totth the Jather, Jesus e\-/icruffu> )7/uas dlovs iroiovvres TOU rwxelv rijs 8f8ofj.{i>r]s avrois tovfflas T/>dJ r& dfj.apr^fji.aTa dtpUvat. De Oratione, 14. * Alia lect. apdpuTroiv, the corruption arising from the contracted form 1 76 Primitive Testimony to the common guardians of the human race, kind sharers in our anxieties, co-operators in prayer, most influ- ential patrons." 1 Again he expresses his belief in the utility of invocation by declaring his own practice : " I accept also the holy Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs, and I call upon them for their supplication to God, that by them, that is by their mediation, the merciful God may take compassion upon me, and that there may be granted to me redemption for mine offences." 2 And some of the results he led people to expect from the invocation of martyrs are evident from what follows: "Commemorate the martyr (Mamas), all who in dreams have partaken of his benefits; all ye who meeting in this place have had him as a co-operator in prayer ; all whom, when Invoked by name, he has aided in their works; all wayfarers whom he has brought back to their homes ; all whom he has restored from sickness ; all to whom he has given back their children from the jaws of death ; 1 & Xf>b* &yu>s, S> fftivrayfia ltpia>, S> 5) KOivol pov- ridw, 5ei7 tfyouv 5ti r^s /jifffirelas avrwr f\eiLv /tot yevteOtu rbv QiXavOpwrov Qe&t, ical \<(>Tpoi> fiat, T&V rTaiffudrw yevfofai Kai doOijvai. Ex Epist.ola ad Julian. Apostatam, ccv. Invocation of the Saints. 177 all for whom he has extended the boundaries of life. Gather it all together and frame a panegyric out of the common fund." 1 S. Gregory Nazianzen quotes a passage from an s. Gregory , _ Nazianzen. oration, in all probability falsely attributed to b. Cyprian, in which there is a distinct appeal to the Blessed Virgin for help, " beseeching the Virgin Mary to help a virgin in danger." 2 But though almost certainly apocryphal, it is nevertheless the evidence of a time anterior to the Father who narrates it. The same Saint exclaims, " Hear, soul of the great Constantius (if thou hast any faculty of per- ception), and ye souls of all the kings who before him loved Christ." 3 Again, in a funeral oration delivered in honour of Gorgonia his sister, " If thou have any regard for our affairs, and it be a privilege granted by God to holy souls to take cognisance of such things, 1 /jj>ri9i)Te fdv TOV fj-dprvpos, 86/JUiTt nXrjdels tirl TWV Zpytav irapfoTri, foovs odonropovs tiravriyayev. Serous e appwcrrtas avtaTijaev, ocrots watdas airtSuKev ijdi) TeTeXeunjKoras, foots Trpo6eff/uas fiiov /xa/cpor^pai fTroirjfffv, iravia. (J^v ffwayayovTes fyKw/j.tov ex KOII/OU tpdvov irotij(ra.Te. Z)e Martyre Alamante, Horn. xxvi. -TI]V llapfffvov Mapc'dp iKerevovffa. fiorjOrjcrai irapOtv(f KU>- Svvevovff-g. Oral, in laud. S. Cypriani Mart. xxiv. 11. 3 &Kove Kal i) TOV /jLfyd\ov KovffTamiov fax?) (ft TIS afoOtjets), foai re irpo avrou /SacriXeW i\6xpiffToi. Adv. Jul. Imp. Invect. i. Orat. iv. 3. M 178 Primitive Testimony to the then, I pray you, accept this oration of ours." 1 And he thus appeals to S. Basil : " But do thou, divine and sacred head, look on us from above, and either by thy intercessions take away the thorn in the flesh which afflicts us, or persuade us to bear it with fortitude." 2 - S. Gregory S. Gregory of Nyssa, on the festival held in 1 yssa ' honour of Theodore, after describing the crowds who flocked to his shrine in such numbers that he eould compare the appearance of the roads to nothing else than a busy ant-hill, appeals to the saint thus : " Come, to those who honour thee, an unseen friend : visit these rites, that thou mayest redouble thy thanksgiving to God. . . . We are in need of many favours : intercede with our common King for this country. . . . We are in expectation of troubles, and look for dangers : the blood-stained Scythians are not far distant, travailing with war against us. As a soldier fight for us : as a martyr use boldness of speech for thy fellow-servants. What though thou hast passed from this life, yet thou art cognisant of 1 eL di rls ffoi "jfoi TUV rjfjxr^puv tffri. \6yos, Kal TOVTO ocriots \ffvxais fK 0eoO yfpas TUP rotoi/row iiraiffOdveffOai, Sfyoio Kal TOV rifUrepov \byov. Funeb. Oral. Sor. viii. 23. 2 & Kf(f>a\Tj, Kal rbv Sed&ftevov rjiuv irepl 6fov cr/c6Xo7ra rrjs ffapubs Trp> T)jj.er{pai> ratSayuytav, ij ffTyffais rats yeavrov vpffffieia.u, % ireLffais Kaprcps tf^peiv, Funeb. Orat. in laud. JBasilii. Magni, ad fin. Invocation of the Saints. 1.79 the sufferings and wants of humanity. Ask for peace, that these public assemblies may not cease : that the frantic and lawless barbarian may not rage against temples and altars : that the profane may not trample under foot the sacred things. For we who have been preserved unharmed, to thee we ascribe the boon : but we beg also safety for the future. And if there should be need for more numerous intercessions, assemble the company of thy brother martyrs, and petition together with them all ; let the prayers of many just loose the sins of multitudes of the people." 1 Again he writes : " Do thou (Ephraem), standing by the divine altar, and in company with angels 1 ijKe Trpbs rovs rifjLwvrds oe Aiparos l\os. Iffr6prjffov TO. rf\ou/j.ei>a, 'iva. rrjv eh Qebi> evxapurriav SiirXaffidygs . . . XP^fojae*' TroXXwi' evepycffiuv, irpfvfievffov irirep rrp irarpiSos irpbs rbv Koivbv jSacnX^a . . . vopu/j.0a. OXit^ets, irpoffdoKufJ.ev Kivdvvovs, oi> /j-axpav ol dXi-njpiot 2/c00at rbv Ka.6' r)/j.wv udlvovres ir6\enov. ws (TTpaTtcirrTjj inrepfj.dx'nffov' ws (idprvs virtp TUV 6fj.oSo^\, tv Xpiory, K.T.X. Vita S. Epfir. App. Hi. 2 " Unde a te deposco, O sancta atque fidelis et beata, ora pro me sanctos dicens : intercedite O triumphatores Christi, pro mintmo ac miserabili Ephraem, ut misericordiam inveniam Christique gratia sal viis fi am." Kncom. in sanctos xl. Martyres,p. 562, ed. Voss. Invocation of the Saints. 181 rays of a holy love. For ye are pronounced truly blessed and glorious by the common voice of angels and men." 1 And he concludes the panegyric with a similar appeal to them to aid him by their prayers, that he may find mercy in the last dread hour, "tohett d>xrt) 0haU jufcge the stads af men," and may share with them the enjoyment of eternal bliss. And he concludes his panegyric on S. Basil thus : " faithful Basil, thou art ac- cepted like Abel, and saved like Noah, called, as Abraham was, the friend of God. . . . Pray for me, who am exceedingly miserable, and recall me by thy intercessions, thou who art strong while I am weak . . . who hast laid up for thyself a store of all virtues, bring me back, who am wanting in every good work." 2 Moreover, in a collection of prayers found in various manuscripts and assigned by traditions of 1 " Obtestamur igitur vos, sanctissimi martyres, . . . ut pro nobis miseris peccatoribus negligently squalore obsitis Dominum deprecemini ut divinam suam in nos infundat gratiam qua corda nostra sanctae caritatis radio jugiter illustret . . . vos etenim vere mine beati et gloriosi estis quos angeli pariter et homines una voce et consensu felices et beatos predicant." In laud, omn. Sanct. Martyntm, p. 570. * "0 tidelis Basil, velut Abel acceptus es, et sicut Noe salvatus, tamquam Abraham amicus Dei . . . deprecare pro me ad- modum miserabili et revoca me tuis intercessionibus pater fortis imbellem . . . qui thesaurizasti tibi thesaurum omnium virtutum ine omnis boni operis inopem reducito." S. EPHR. SYR. Op., Voss. p. 556, in Sanct. Basil. Magn. 1 82 Primitive Testimony to the the Syriac Church to the pen of S. Ephraem, direct invocation of saints is of most frequent occurrence, but we have not brought them forward, as some suspicion has been justly cast upon their genuineness. S. Chryso- S. Chrysostom, after encouraging the people to frequent the shrines of the martyrs, and speaking as though he thought them possessed of some great power and virtue, says, " Not on the day of this festival only, but also on other days, let us place ourselves beside them, let us beseech and implore them to become our .patrons ; for they have much boldness of speech, not merely when living, but also after death, yea, a great deal more after death. For now they bear the stigmata of Christ, and when they have pointed to these they can use all persuasion with the King. Seeing then that they have such influence and friendship with God, let us by our unfailing attendance and constant visiting of their shrines make ourselves as it were members of their household, and draw upon ourselves, through their intervention, the mercy of God ; which may we all obtain by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 1 /col A"? pfoov tv TTJ ijntpq. TT?J eoprrjs TCH/TTJJ dXXd ical Iv tripau j]tipais TrpoffeSpfvufiev oi/rcuj, 7ra.pa,Ka\&fj.ev afrrds, diw/j.fv yevta- Oai irpoffrdTidas TI/J.UV. vo\\rjv yap ?x ovfft fj.6t>ov dXXd Kctl reXetT^cracrcu' /cat TroXXy viiv y&p rd ffrlyfj.ara tpovffi TOV XpicrroD. TCI d yriyfj-ara eiridfiK- TO.VTOL, irdvTO, dfaavTai irelffat rbv BacriX^a. eirel oftv Invocation of the Saints. 183 Elsewhere, in a passage in which he contrasts the establishment of Christ's kingdom with that of the heathen Alexander, he says, " Christ then set up His Kingdom after He was dead. And why do I speak of Christ, seeing that He granted to His disciples also to shine after their deaths ? For, tell me, where is the tomb of Alexander \ Show it me, and tell me the day upon which he died. But of the servants of Christ the very tombs are glorious, seeing they have taken possession of the most royal city ; and their days are well known, making festivals for the world. . . . And the tombs of the servants of the Crucified are more splendid than the palaces of kings ; not for the size and beauty of the buildings (yet even herein they outstrip them), but, what is far more, in the zeal of those who frequent them. For he that wears the purple himself goes to embrace those tombs, and, laying aside his pride, stands entreating the saints to be his advocates with God, and he that hath the diadem implores the tent-maker and the fisherman, though dead, to be his patrons." 1 TOffatjrrj 17 5tW/us cti/reus Kal fj.f()a di afrruv rrjv irapa rov 6eoO (f>i\av- Opuirlav fy ytvoiro TrdcTas^uas tirirvxfii' x&P iTt > K.T.\. De SS. Bernice et Prosdoce, in fin. 1 6 5 X/noTds r&re aiiTj]v /xdXtcrra ttnyaev &re tTtMvTTjae. Kal rl X^yw irepl TOV Xpiffrov STTOV ye Kal rots fj.adrjra'ts avrov pera rt> reXenTijo-at Xd/ti^oi ?5uKe ; irov yap, dirt /tot, rb arum ' AXe|df- 184 Primitive Testimony to the Again : " Knowing this, beloved, let us flee to the intercessions of the saints, and let us beseech them to pray for us ; but let us not place confidence in their supplications alone, but order our own lives as is fit, and aim at constant improvement, that we may give full play to the intercession which is made in our behalf." 1 S. Ambrose. S. Ambrose writes ; " We must beseech the martyrs, whose patronage we seem to claim for our- selves from having their bodies as a kind of pledge. They are able to entreat for our sins, who by their blood have washed away whatever sins they had themselves ; for they are God's martyrs, our leaders, the watchmen of our life and actions. Let us not TTJV Tj^epav Kaff oot\b)v TOV X/HoroO Kal Ta avels, eoprijv TTJ Troioi'ffo.1 . . . Kal ol Tdv, oil rtp f*ey6fi Kal T(j> /cdXXet rwv olKodo/j.t)(juiT(in> (i6vov Kal roi/ry n%v yap KparoOffiv dXX', 8 roXXy TT\OV t Kal TereXevTijKOTUv deirai 6 rb 5ia5r)/j.a typM- In Epist. ii. ad Cor. Horn. xxvL 1 Sirep eldorfs, &yawijrol, Karafavy&fJiev fjv firl rdy TUIV ayluv Tpffffiftas Kal rapaKa\ufiev utrre virtp i)fj.wif 5ei]0TJvai. a\\a /J.TJ roty iictlvuv iKefflais u&vov Oappwfj^v, dXXA Kal afrrol T& KaO' eouroi)s SeovTus olKOvon&nev, Kal rrjs >rl TO fit\Tiov /tcTo^SoX^s ^x^M f ^a Iva xtipav Suuev TTJ irpefffitta TJJ iiirtp -rjfj&v yevofifvy. In Genes. Horn. xliv. 2. Invocation of the Saints. 185 be ashamed to employ them to intercede for our weakness, because they themselves experienced the weaknesses of the body, even when they conquered." 1 There is but little countenance for appealing to the s. Angus- dead for aid to be found in the works of S. Augus- tine, except in connection with the tombs of the martyrs. He speaks in one place of the habit and the utility of praying near the shrines of the martyrs, and commending the souls of people in prayer to their special patronage, to be helped by their inter- cessions with the Lord. 2 Elsewhere 3 he vindicates the character of the miracles which are said to have been wrought at their tombs, and asserts that God, through the prayer and co-operation of the saints, performs them for the establishment of the faith, which main- tains that they are not gods, but have one and the same God as ourselves. And in the same treatise, contrasting the Christian treatment of martyrs with 1 "Martyres obsecrandi, quorum videmur nobis quodam corporis pignore patrocinium vindicare. Possunt pro peccatis rogaro nostris, qui proprio sanguine, etiam si qua habuerunt peccata, laverunt ; isti euini sunt Dei martyres nostri praesules spectatores vitae actuumque nostrorum. Non erubescamus eos intercessores nostnw innrmitatis adhibere, quia ipsi infirmitates corporis etiam cum vincerent (qucedam edit, etiam cum viverent) cognoverunt." AMBROS. de Viduis, cap. ix. 55. 2 De Curapro Mortuis, 4. 8 De Civ. xxii. cap. x. 1 86 Invocation of the Saints. that of demons by the heathens, he says : " To our martyrs we do not build temples as to gods, but ' Memorials ' as to dead men, whose spirits live with God; nor do we raise altars there that we may sacrifice to martyrs, but to Him alone Who is the God of the martyrs as well as of us ; and at this sacrifice their names are mentioned in their proper places and order as men of God, who overcame the world by confessing Him; they are not, however, invoked by the priest who offers the sacrifice." 1 The story of He also narrates a story of an aged saint, Floren- of Hippo, tius of Hippo, who, having lost his cloak, and being unable from his poverty to replace it, prayed to the twenty martyrs of famous memory to help him in his difficulty. After his prayer, and as S. Augustine implies in answer to it, he discovered a fish cast upon the shore, in which on its being cut up was found a gold ring. It was put into his hand, says S. Augustine, with these words, " See how the twenty martyrs have clothed you !" * i " Nos autem martyribus nostris non templa sicut diis, sed Memoiias sicut hominibus mortuis, quorum apud Deum vivant spiritus, fabricamus ; nee ibi erigimus altaria in quibus sacrificemus martyribus, sed uni Deo et martyrum et nostro : ad quod sacri- ficem, sicut homines Dei, qui mundum in ejus confessione vicerunt, suo loco et ordine nominantur ; non tamen a sacerdote qui sacrificat invocantur." De Civ. Dei, xxii. cap. z. 1 De Civ. Dei, xxii. cap. viii. 9. CHAPTER III. mt0ttDortljme00 of tlje efoitience for invocation tegtetu T)EFORE turning to other sources of evidence, .D it will be well to weigh carefully the value of that which has been put forward in the preceding pages. Its force will be very materially weakened by close examination. We spoke of some ambiguity in the language Origen. quoted from Origen. The passage seems indeed to have been quite unjustly claimed in favour of addressing petitions to departed saints. It is next to certain, as the whole context shows, that he had in his mind none but living saints. Indeed, the parenthesis about the advantage likely to accrue if only a second Peter or Paul could be found to take up their cause, seems almost necessarily to restrict it to the living ; for if he had believed that the saints in Paradise might be invoked, he would hardly have introduced such a clause as this. 1 88 The Trustworthiness of the Among those " tohff hab rxrme out at great tribula- tion," there were certainly others like them, ready, if they knew where it was needed, to lend efficient help; among the living, still compassed with in- firmity and sin, there might be some, but they were not easy to find. This interpretation is supported by what the author said in his arguments with Celsus, "For every prayer and supplication, and intercession and thanksgiving, is to be sent up to the supreme God through the High Priest, Who is above all the angels, the living Word and God." 1 It is true he is speaking here of angelic minis- tries, but he could not have used such absolutely unqualified language had he held the doctrine with which he has been credited. Moreover, in a passage already quoted, we have seen that he is far from considering appeals to the saints for their intercession in any way necessary, for he says that they join their prayers to ours and fight on our side without being invoked. 2 S.Basil. As regards S. Basil's testimony, though one passage may well come into the category of ft^v yap Styffiv Aral irpofffvxty ical tvrev^iv Ar ^ov T$ tirl iraffi 6e. OTO.V ISr) dt' eavrdv TOVTO TTOIOVVTO.S, r6re /idXtcrra tjriveijfi. Expos, in Ps. iv. 2. 1 In Genes. Horn. xliv. 4. 2 TJ ffoi Sij) eroi/j.ov elvai rbv d^iovfjLevov xdpu> aoi ^x eo/ $ T ' 192 The Trustworthiness of the " Thou hast no need of mediators with God, or of much running to and fro and of flattering of others. But even if thou be unbefriended and destitute of patrons ; if thou beseech God thyself by thine own mouth, thou shalt certainly succeed. It is not His wont to assent, when others beseech Him in our behalf, so much as when we are ourselves the petitioners, even though we be laden with innumer- able ills." 1 S. Ambrose. In S. Ambrose we have been able to discover a single passage only in support of the practice, and this is counterbalanced by the expression of an adverse opinion in what follows. At least it shows that he could not have formed any settled and deliberate judgment upon it " My heart is worn out, because a man has been snatched away, whose like we can hardly find again ; but yet Thou alone, d|(O(? ; rls ffoi Sy /J.T) irepufvai icai frifTftv T'IVO. dj-iwffets, dXXd tvpt.lv (roifwv ; fJ.ij fTfpuv SfTffOai Iva. Si' eneivvv diwoTp ; rl TOVTOV ftfifov ; OVTOS yap r6re /jM\tffra rote?, Srav ^77 trepuv Set^OCi^v. Ka.6a.irep $iAoj yvijffios rare judXurra TIIUV tfKaXet ws 01) 6a.ppovffiv airrov rrj i\ieijeu> eiwOev, ws 5t' -r^i O.VT&V ruv Seofijtvwv, K&V fj.vpl Catacombs. evidence which is open to us, viz. the Koman Catacombs, we are met with clear and unmistakable proof that those who made the inscriptions con- sidered it lawful to ask the prayers of their departed friends. It may be said that the sentiments which find their expression in times of mourning and bereavement ought not to be strictly scrutinised; but a careful examination of these early Epigraphs reveals a singular absence of all fervid and exagger- ated language, such as is so common in more modern times. We cannot therefore but believe that the following inscriptions may be taken as a fair index of the practice prevalent at the time when they were written, but some cause will be shown here- after for not assigning to them an earlier date thaii the fourth century. In the Catacomb of Prsetextatus, on the Appian Way, especially familiar as the burial-place of S. Januarius, the following has been deciphered : 1 Apostol. Constit. lib. viii. capp. vi.-xi. 2OO The Primitive Liturgies MI REFRIGERI JANUARIUS AGAPOTUS FELICISSIM MARTYRES. Ye martyrs, Janwrius, Agapotus, Felitissimus, refresh , my soul, etc. It has been conjectured that this was inscribed about fifteen centuries ago, as the prayer of one who was burying a friend or relative in close proximity to the resting-place of the martyrs mentioned. 1 It is probable 2 that Ml is IN and o the obli- terated termination of the noun. Several instances of in refrigerio are found. If this be right, it is almost equivalent to in pace, and there is no neces- sity for interpreting it as a prayer or invocation. This also indicates the idea of patronage : DOMINA BASILLA COMMANDAMUS TIBI CRESCENTINUS ET MICINA FILIA NOSTRA CRESCEN QUE VIXIT MEN X ET DIES. . . . Saint JSasilla, we, Crescentinus and Micina, commend to thee our daughter Crescentina, who lived ten months and . . . days. 3 1 Cf. Catacombs of Rome, by the author of Buried Cities of Campania, p. 31. 2 I am indebted to Dr. Westcott for this conjecture. 3 Cf. NOBTHCOTE, Epitaphs of the Catacombs, p. 80, where it is given in facsimile. and the Roman Catacombs. 201 Here is an appeal, probably by the parents and others, to the saints, with whom they felt assured the soul of their child was abiding : AIONY2I02 NHIIIO2 AKAKO2 EN6AAE KEITE META TQN AFIQN MNH2KE20E AE KAI HMflN EN TAI2 AFIAI2 I1PEYXAI2 KAI TOY TAY*A TO2 KAI FPA*ANTO2. Dionysius, a guileless infant, lies here with the saints. Do ye remember us also in your holy prayers, as well as him who carved and him who composed this inscription. 1 The next two, 2 from the Catacomb of SS. Nereus and Achilles, are still to be seen in situ : AYFENAE ZH2AI2 EN KQ KAI EPQTA YEEEP HMQN. Augenda, mayest thou live in the Lord, and do thou pray for us. VIBAS IN PACE ET PETE PRO NOBIS. Mayest thou live in peace, and do thou pray for us. 1 This is from the Kircherian Museum. 2 These are quoted by Burgon in his Letters from Rome. 2O2 The Primitive Liturgies Of a similar kind is the following, from the cemetery of S. Callixtus : VINCENTIA IN CHRISTO PETAB PRO PHCEBE ET PRO VIRGINIO EJUS. Vvncentia in Christ, mayest thou pray for Phoebe and her husband. The dates None of the above inscriptions bear any date, and of the fore- going in- there are indications which would lead us to fix scriptiona unknown, most of them certainly after the opening of the fourth century. In the case of Basilla it could not possibly have been earlier, as she was martyred under Diocletian, after the fatal edict of 303 A.D. Nearly the same date is usually assigned to the martyrdom of S. Januarius, and also to that of Agapotus mentioned with him on the inscription, at least if he is to be identified with Agathopus, who witnessed to Christ a good confession in Thessa- lonica. And in connection with this it may be observed that peculiar reverence for the graves of the martyrs, which led people to expect some special benefit to accrue to those whose bodies were laid in proximity to them, did not take any hold upon men's minds in general till this century. and the Roman Catacombs. 203 With regard to those which contain the pete pro nobis, or the same abbreviated into the initial letters P.P.N., in the absence of all notes of time we have no other data to go upon than such as are furnished by contemporary evidence. This, as we have abun- dantly seen, carries the practice no further back than the middle of the fourth century. CHAPTER V. opinion^ on tlje extent of rtje leoge IT will enable us to form a more accurate estimate of the Patristic notices of appeals to the saints, if we can arrive at the judgment of the writers upon the amount of knowledge of what is passing in the world, which they supposed to be possessed by those to whom they appealed. It will be shown hereafter that intercessory prayers may be offered, and may serve a very beneficial purpose even though the intercessors have no specific knowledge of the im- mediate wants of those for whom they plead. The subject Very few of the Fathers mention the subject at rarely touched all ; but in the case of those who do, their observa- tions ought certainly to be taken into consideration in estimating the value of their testimony touching the utility of invocation. It will at least help us to decide whether they said what they did, with Patristic opinions. 205 their minds fully made up and under settled con- victions, or whether they may not have been carried away by some strong impulse to speak unadvisedly. Deny to the saints addressed all knowledge of the supplicant's needs, either attained by their own in- herent faculties of perception, or communicated by some agency from without, and invocation is no- thing more than a pious apostrophe. It may kindle the fervour and affection of him who employs it, but as a direct means of obtaining assistance it is valueless. In the funeral oration of his sister Gorgonia, S. Gregory Naziaazen. S. Gregory Nazianzen addresses her in these terms : " If thou hast any care at all for our speeches, and such honour be conceded by God to holy souls that they should take cognisance of such things, do thou also accept this speech of ours." 1 And he uses the same limitation in the beginning of one of the invectives which he wrote against the Emperor Julian, saying, " Hear, thou soul of great Constantius, if thou hast any faculty of perception./'* upon which the Greek Scholiast 3 comments : He speaks " like Isocrates, meaning, if thou hast any power to hear the things that are here," alluding to 1 Cf. note on p. 178. 2 P. 177. 3 Fchol. Graec. in priorem ffazianzeni Invectivctm , p. 2, od. Etoneusis : el rls eartv aiffOrjais raiis reOveCxn irepi rCiv tvdddc. 206 Patristic opinions on the extent of the a form of speech used by Isocrates in his Evagoras and ^Egineticus. In other places, however, he makes no such reservation, appealing to S. Athanasius directly to look down with an eye of favour upon the people. 1 Again, of Peter of Alexandria, Gregory writes: "Having departed this life in a good old age, after many struggles and labours, he looks down from above now, I well know, upon our affairs, and stretches out a hand to those who are toiling in the cause of what is right, and all the more because he is freed from trammels." 2 And once more : " I am persuaded that the souls of the saints take cognisance of our affairs." 3 3. Ambrose. The opinion of S. Ambrose upon the probability of appeals being heard by those to whom they were addressed may be gathered from what he says on the death of his brother, whom he apostrophises thus : " So full of compassion towards thy kindred was thy holy mind, that if thou knewest Italy to be threatened with so near an enemy, what groans 1 In laudem Magni Athanasii, Or. xxi. ad fin. 3 fr -fhp$ K0\q. KOL-rtMiffa.* rbv fllov tirl iroXXots rots dyiaviffftafft Ktd 6.0\rifJMffU', &vuOei> eiroirrevfi e8 olda vvv r&. rjfifrepa, ical xP<* Spiyei TOIS virtp rov AcaXoO icd./JU'ovffi, KO.I r6ffavepuOt) ri tff6fj.e0a. olSa/j.ev STL fdv ffxtvepuOfj, SfjLotot taint0 F the souls of men in general there can be little The view of the Roman question that they are not yet admitted to Church. the Beatific Vision of God. Are there any excep- tions to the rule, for it is the state of all the dead in Christ, which we are considering 1 It is well known that one portion of the Church Catholic maintains that there are, and makes it an article of faith that the martyrs who suffered with Christ on earth do already reign with Him in heaven. 1 It is of the utmost importance that we should test the Catholicity of this belief, because nearly all the recorded instances of invocation in primitive times are more or less connected with martyrs. Let us appeal then to the judgment of antiquity. 1 At the Council of Florence, A.D. 1439, the Roman Church repudiated the opinion which the Greeks had maintained, viz., that the Beatific Vision has not yet been vouchsafed to any. It was indirectly rejected also at the Council of Trent, A.D. 1545- 1563, Sess. xxv., by the decree respecting the Invocation of Saints who were held to be already reigning with Christ. 220 The Beatific Vision not yet s. Angus- S. Augustine 1 held that the righteousness of the tine. martyrs had been perfected by their passion, and forbade the offering of prayers in their behalf, as for the rest of the dead. Now it was the general belief of antiquity that prayers should be offered for all the faithful upon whom the final judgment had not yet been passed. S. Cyprian. S. Cyprian, in his exhortation to martyrdom, in describing the rewards which will be obtained by a patient endurance of conflicts and sufferings on earth, uses language which certainly supports the idea of an anticipated judgment : " What a dignity it is, and what a safeguard, to go gladly from hence, to depart gloriously in the midst of tribulations and afflictions, to close in a moment the eyes, with which men and the world were looked upon, and to open them at once for the vision of God and Christ ! " And of the martyr in will, who was called away before he had an opportunity of displaying the con- stancy for which he was prepared, he adds, "his reward is given, without loss of time, by the judg- ment of God." 2 1 Sermo cclxxxv. 5. 1 "Quanta est dignitas et quanta securitas exire hinc laettim, exire inter pressuras et angustias gloriosum ; claiulere in momento oculos, quihus homines videbantur et mundus, et reperire eosdem statim ut Deis videatur et Christus. . . . Sine damno temporis merces, judice Deo, redditur." De exhort. Martyr, xii. infne. attained by any of the Saints. 221 But such an opinion was very far from being gene- rally indorsed. Tertullian, with the intense admira- Tertullian. tion which he felt for martyrdom, never dreamed of exempting those who endured it from the interme- diate state of expectation and waiting. It is true he assigns to them special honours, for while main- taining that the souls of the rest of mankind were detained in Hades, he assigned to the martyrs the peculiar privilege of being translated at once to Para- dise, 1 by which howeverhedoes not mean thePresence and Vision of God, but that place in which S. John saw the souls of the martyrs, viz., under the Altar. " The only key to unlock Paradise is your own life's blood." 2 He asks, moreover, " How shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the right hand of the Father, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God 1 ... To no one is heaven opened ; . . . when the world indeed shall pass away, then the kingdom of heaven shall be opened." 3 1 " Nemo enim peregrinates a corpora statim immoratur penes Dominum nisi ex martyrii praerogativa, scilicet Paradiso non Inferis deversurus." De Res. Camis, c. 43. * " Tota Paradisi clavis tuus sanguis est." De Anima, cap. Iv. 3 " Quomodo ergo anima exhalabit in ccelnm, Christo illic adhuc sedente ad dexteram patris, nondum Dei jussu per tubam archangeli audito. . . . Nulli patet ccelum terra adhuc salva . . . cum transactione enim mundi reserabuntur regna ccelorum." Ibid. 222 The Beatific Vision not yet Origen. Origen records his opinion that all the faithful are still waiting their consummation of bliss ; " not even the Apostles," he says, " have yet received their joy, but even they are waiting, in order that I too may become a partaker of their joy. For the saints departing hence do not immediately receive all the rewards of their deserts ; but they wait even for us, though we be loitering and dilatory. For they have not perfect joy as long as they grieve for our errors or mourn for our sins." 1 And he says that this opinion is not his own merely, but was held by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as is plain from what he said of the holy fathers, who had been justified by faith : " '(Ehm all hatting obtained) a goofc report throtrgh faith, rtceioeb not the promise, (ioo habing protoifctb 0ome better thing for u0, that theg toithont n0 shxmlb not be mafce perfect." 2 1 "Nondum enim receperunt laetitiam suam, ne Apostoli qui- dem, sed et ipsi expectant, ut ego laetitiae eorum particeps fiam. Neque enim decedentes hinc sancti, continue Integra meritorum suorum prsemia consequuntur ; sed expectant etiam nos, licet morantes licet desides. Non enim sit illis perfectia Ifetitia, donee pro erroribus nostris dolent et lugent nostra peccata. In Levitic. cap. x. Horn. vii. ; ORIOEN. Opera per Erasm. versa, L 151. 2 EP. TO THE HEB., xi. 39, 40. Origen seems here, as well as in other places, to speak of the Epistle unreservedly as S. Paul's, 6*ut it will be well to quote his deliberate opinion, which he ex- pressed in one of his latest works. In the Homilies on the Hebrews, of which Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. vi. 25) has preserved a passage bearing on the authorship, he writes "The Epistle does not * v exhibit that plainness of diction which belongs to the Apostle, . . . attained by any of the Saints. 223 But it is unnecessary to multiply quotations ; suffice it here to mention that some of the most learned controversialists, 1 who would gladly have arrived at an opposite result, have been compelled to admit that there is no sufficient evidence from Patristic writings to show that any saints are yet admitted to the Beatific Vision. Justin Martyr would hardly have written the Justin following passage had he believed that any excep- tion was made as regards admission into heaven before the Judgment : " If you have fallen in with it is more pure Greek in the composition of its phrases, as every one who knows how to judge of differences of style would admit. ... If I were to give my own opinion I should say that the thoughts belong to the Apostle, but the diction and phraseology to some one who wrote from memory the Apostle's teaching, and commented so to speak on that which his master had said. If then any Church holds this Epistle to be from Paul, let it be commended for this, for not without reason have the men of olden time handed it down as his. But who it was that really wrote the Epistle, God only knows." 1 "Olim controversium fuit num animse sanctorum usque ad diem judicii Deum viderent et Divina visione frui cum multi insignes viri et doctrina et sanctitate clari tenere viderentur, eas nee videre nee frui iisque ad diem judicii ; donee receptis corporibus una cum illis divina beatitudine perfruantur. Nam Irenaeus, Justinus Martyr, Tertullianus, Clemens Romanus, Origenes, Ambrosius, Chrysostomus, Augustinus, Lactantius, etc., hujus referuntur fuisse sententise." FR. PEONA in part 2 Direct. Inquis. 21, quoted by Ussher. To this may be added the testimony of Stapleton, who gives almost a similar list, omitting, however, and as we think rightly, the name of Augustine. Def. Eccles. Author, contra Whitaker, i. 2. 224 The Beatific Vision not yet any persons called Christians, who do not admit this (the resurrection), but dare to blaspheme the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and say that there is no resurrection of the dead, but that their souls at the time of their death are taken up to heaven, do not regard them as Christians." 1 We can hardly be surprised, however, that some of the Fathers, as we have seen, should have made . an exception in assigning unequalled honour to the honours martyrs. If we go back in imagination to the early assigned to Church, and thus to try place ourselves alongside of the Martyrs. those who lived in the days of persecution and dire distress, we shall see what an unique position the martyrs held. It must have been felt, by all thoughtful men, that the value of their testimony could hardly be over-estimated ; that had they drawn back in those critical times the very exist- ence of the Faith must have been imperilled. No wonder then that some at least of those who realised the momentous influence of their conduct upon the 1 e/ "yAp r)ffKeTi>, rots ^ux ever experience in attaining to the kingdom of God, S. Peter interrupted Him with the question, " IJeholb, toe habe forsaken all anfo follotoeb ^Im, tohat shall toe habe therefore ?" And this was the answer which He gave : " ^Bcrilg I sag nnto gow, that ge tohkh habe follotoeb me, in thx regenera- tion, tohen the e also shall sit npon ttoelbe thrones, jiibging the ttoelbe tribes of Israel." 2 Now most of those to whom this promise was given died the martyr's death ; they were the leaders 1 2 TIM. ii. 12. 2 S. MATT. xix. 27-28. tv r^ ira\tyy'e The objects for which our public services are framed are twofold : that the creature may pay to the Creator the homage which is due 1 The Council of Chalcedon ; see p. 98. more generally adopted or not ? 239 unto His Name ; and that he may pray for the supply of his necessities, and the well-being of his body and soul in time and eternity. Leaving out of considera- tion here the primary object, it is obvious that the Forms of public prayer ought to be such as are able to satisfy the cravings of nature, when at least those cravings are for things not forbidden by God's Word. Now it is impossible for the mourner, who goes up The effect to the house of God in times of sorrow and bereave- Spontke ment, not to feel an aching void in the Church's thTvokl iif prayers. We may pray for our Queen, our relations and friends, for the heathen and unbelievers and the enemies of our peace, in short, for all conditions of men who are still in the flesh ; but even though we come fresh from the chamber of death, with the heart full and overflowing with longings for the happiness of one that is gone, we can find no outlet for our yearnings in those utterances which ought to be as comprehensive models, providing for the expression of all our best desires and the truest wants of the human heart. If the instinct of nature prompt us to pray for the departed, if the Great Teacher Himself gave His tacit approval to the prac- tice, if the purest ages of Christianity freely adopted it, there can hardly be any question that it has in itself some elements of usefulness, and the Church 240 Should Prayers for the Dead be may well foster them for the benefit and comfort of those who look to her for guidance. Its in- A third argument is that it would place us in a fluencein the con- stronger position in our disputes with Rome. The trov6i*sv with Rome. Church of England claims, as it is now constituted, to be the Church of the early ages of Christianity, the same Church, only stript of mediaeval accretions by which her rites and ordinances had been overlaid and disfigured ; but, it is retorted upon us by those whose interest it is to disallow her antiquity, that at the Reformation, the English divines, though their original intention of destroying nothing which was ancient, was laudable enough, yet suffered themselves to be so overborne by the foreign Protestants 1 that in some cases they made no distinction between what was primitive and what was mediaeval, but in- volved both alike in indiscriminate condemnation ; and the consequence of this is, that some familiar features of the Church of the first five centuries are no longer visible. Attempts There are writers on the Liturgy who main- to gloss over the tain that prayer for the dead is by no means omissions, excluded, and one of the most widely read at 1 How little Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer, who did not even know the English language, were fitted to undertake the Reforma- tion of the English Church, and how alien the minds of Calvin and John a Lasco were to Catholic doctrine, is well known. more generally adopted or not f 241 the present day sums up his observations on the subject in these words : " It must be considered a great matter for thankfulness that in all the assaults made upon the Liturgy of the Church of England by persons holding a more meagre belief in things unseen, the Providence of God has preserved the prayer for the whole Church, departed as well as living, in the prayer for the Church militant." 1 But however much men may try to satisfy them- selves by reading mentally between the lines, or per- sist in interpreting the expression " that with them we may be partakers " as though it were equivalent to " that they, as well as we," the Roman Catholic will always point triumphantly to the unanswerable rubric, "militant here on earth," 2 with which the prayer was fenced and guarded at the very time 1 The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, p. 176, notes, by J. H. BLUNT. - This was added in the Second Prayer-Book of Edw. vi., 1552, by Bucer and Calvin, when the following prayer of commendation was omitted : " We commend unto Thy mercy, Lord, all other Thy servants, which are departed hence from us with the sign of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace. Grant unto them, we beseech Thee, Thy mercy and everlasting peace, and that at the day of the general resurrection we, and all they which be of the mystical body of Thy Son, may altogether be set on His right hand, and hear that His most joyful voice : Come unto Me, ye that be blessed of My Father, and possess the kingdom, which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world." First Prayer- Book of Edw. vi. 242 Should Prayers for the Dead be that the distinct petition for God's mercy to be shown to the dead and for their everlasting peace was withdrawn from it. This passage, therefore, must be clearly abandoned in so far as it may have been supposed to afford any evidence of the retention of prayers for the dead in our public services. But there are two other places where traces do still remain. The first is the Prayer The Prayer O f Oblation, in which we pray in these terms : " that of Oblation. by the merits and death of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood, we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of His passion." Now Bishop Cosin, one of the revisers of the Prayer Book, be it remem- bered, makes this refer to the departed as well as the living. His words are, " By ' all the whole Church' is to be understood, as well those that have been here before, and those that shall be here- after, as those that are now members of it." And again, " The virtue of this sacrifice (which is here in this Prayer of Oblation commemorated and represented) doth not only extend itself to the living and those that are present, but likewise to them that are absent and them that be already departed." * 1 COSIN'S WorJcs, vol. v. 361, 352. more generally adopted or not ? 243 The second is the prayer in " The order for the The Burial Burial of the Dead," " beseeching Thee, that it may please Thee of Thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten Thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of Thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation, and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory." 1 Here, "we with all those," must be equivalent to "we and all those," for if not the order of words must have been changed and would have run thus, " that we may have our perfect con- summation and bliss with all those," etc. If we are right in our reading of these prayers, we Sufficient see in the retention of these somewhat ambiguous preserved expressions a manifestation of the desire which the y Kevisionists must have felt to preserve, if they possibly could, here and there in the public service, Lltur &y- some trace of the primitive practice. It is enough to satisfy us that the Church has not entirely abandoned the usage, but we can hardly be surprised if the Roman Catholic takes a different view and calls for that clear and unmistakable recognition of the principle, which was manifested in the pre-Reformation services. i Id. 377. 244 Should Prayers for tJie Dead be Such then are the chief grounds upon which those who desire to see prayers for the faithful dead restored to our Forms of public worship, rest their claims to be heard. Let us look for a moment at Arguments the other side. The doctrine, it is urged, is liable to opposite abuse. So early as the close of the fourth century Aerius laid great stress upon this, and though the ^s Fathers treated his objections with disdain, and Epiphanius, who took upon himself to advocate the prevailing usage, did not even condescend directly to answer them, later ages have borne ample testi- mony to the realisation of his worst fears. History The abuse tells us hdw in lapse of time the true doctrine in mediaeval became obscured, and a novel estimate of its object aes. wag suffered ^ to grow up unchecked, and the pious aspirations and ardent longings for the light and refreshment and peace of souls which had departed in the faith, were perverted into petitions and masses, which might be bought and sold like common wares, for deliverance from Purgatorial pain and torment. We who interpret Christ's promise to be with His Church "altoap tbtn tmto the mb of tht toorlb" as implying that He overrules and directs all the changes , and vicissitudes to which it is subject, for its ultimate good, may well believe that in the temporary obscuration of the primitive practice, and more generally adopted or not ? 245 the almost complete withdrawal of what is confessedly a most consolatory doctrine, we can see a distinct sign of a punitive purpose, and a visitation on this and preceding generations for other men's sins. With this view it must be the anxious care of our leaders, whenever any revision of the Liturgy shall be undertaken, to ascertain whether the period of punishment may not have run its length, or whether the liability to corruption, notwithstanding all the safeguards 1 which the experience of the past would suggest, is still so great that the restoration of a primitive and Catholic usage cannot yet be safely recommended. But whatever objections may be raised against 1 The language of the Primitive Liturgies should be most care- fully adhered to. However strong a belief may exist that the process of sanctification and the effacement of the stains of sin, may be advanced by the prayers of survivors, it found no such support from primitive times, no such general expression in the Primitive Liturgies, as to justify its acknowledgment in public forms of prayer. Whatever finds a place in these must rest upon nothing less than Catholic recognition. The only forms of petition which were universally accepted were for the light, or rest, or peace, or refreshment of those who had departed in the true faith. To pray for these is the rightful privilege of the Church Catholic, and whatever questions of expediency may arise for the time, and have weight with those who are in authority, it cannot be permanently alienated from public worship without serious harm Bnd loss. 246 Should Prayers for the Dead be No such ^ e re-introduction into public worship, no such can^e 011 arguments, as have been stated above, have force in mai ? e , . reference to the practice in the private devotions of against its use in individual Christians. The examples of the pious private. divines, whose names form a long and goodly array from the Reformation to our own time, is quite sufficient guarantee for its continuance apart from Common Prayer. They realised truly the exact position. They felt that the Church had been compelled to take the steps, which she had taken, in regard to certain forms which amidst the prevail- ing ignorance were so liable to misconstruction and abuse; but being at the same time satisfied that though withdrawn the prayers had never been con- demned or pronounced illegal 1 by any authoritative tribunal whatever, they held themselves perfectly free to use them privately. The non- The non-jurors did not hesitate to enforce them ' as a bounden duty,' z and in consequence of the value which they attached to the practice it has not uncommonly been supposed that it was confined to them ; but there is no ground for the supposition. Long before they restored the obliterated prayers to their Form of Service, individual bishops of no i Cf. note on p. 253. * LATHBURY, History of the Non-jurors, p. 298. more generally adopted or not ? 247 little weight and influence expressed their approval of them. Bishop Andrewes in the intercessory portion of Bishop Andrewes his Private Devotions, prays, Devotions "0 Thou Who didst die and rise again, To be Lord both of the dead and living, Live we or die we, Thou art our Lord ; Lord, have pity on living and dead." 1 And again, "Remember, Lord, our God, All spirits and all flesh, Which we have remembered, and which we have not."* Bishop Cosin recommended it both by precept Cosin. and by practice ; he refers to it again and again, as we have already shown in his notes on the Prayer Book, and writes at some length upon it in explana- tion of the prayer in the Burial Service, " That we with this our brother and all other," 8 etc. " The 1 *O eh TOVTO dirb &av&v Kal ava^r/cra.?, Iva Kal veKpCiv Kal fuvruv Kvpietiffrjs, edv re ftD/iev, edv re Kal airo8vriffKUF.fr, Gavovras e\tr)ffov, & /a/pie. Preces Private, Diet primce. i, TLvpte, d Ge6i, travruv TTvevfj^druv Kal Trdcnjs /c6s, $>v e/a>^ff0i)iJ.f>' Kal ui> OVK efj.v-riff9rifj.ev. Id. Diei quartce. * These words were altered at the Revision of 1662 to their present form. 248 Should Prayers for the Dead be Puritans think that here is prayer for the dead allowed and practised by the Church of England and so think I ; but we are not both of one mind in censuring the Church for so doing. They say it is Popish and superstitious ; I for my part esteem it pious and Christian." 1 Barrow. Isaac BaiTow, than whom it would be absolutely impossible to find one more capable of exercising a sound and temperate judgment, was in the pregnant language of his biographer "mighty for it" 2 Bishop The inscription on the monument of his uncle, Bishop Barrow, in S. Asaph Cathedral testifies to the practice, by inviting those who entered that house of prayer to pray for their fellow-servant, that he might find mercy at the last day. 3 Thorndike. The learned Thorndike expressed doubts about the present existence of prayers for the dead in the Services of the Church of England, with especial 1 This passage is erroneously attributed to Bishop OVERALL by Dr. F. G. LEE in The Christian Doctrine of Prayers for the Dead, p. 156, and to judge by the note, Nichols was guilty of the same mistake. It is to be found in Notes and Collections in an inter, leaved Book of Common Prayer, by Bishop COSIN, 1619, of the Anglo-Catholic Library, Vol. v. 169. 2 Hearniance Reliquice, ii. 188. * " O vos transenntes in domum Domini, in domum orationis, orate pro conserve vestro ut inveniat misericord iam in die Domini." Special stress was laid upon this circumstance in the decision of the Dean of Arches, referred to on p. 253. more generally adopted or not ? 249 reference to the petition in the Litany for deliver- ance "in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment," or in the post-communion prayer of oblation that "we and all the whole Church may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of His Passion," on which opposite views have been taken. He felt that the mediaeval forms had departed so far from the original sense of the Church that a reformation was needed, but he maintained that the proposal of the Puritans would tend to break the Church in pieces ; " to take away , all prayer for the dead is not paring off abuses but cutting to the quick." 1 The epitaph which he wrote for his own tomb- stone is the clearest evidence of the value he set upon the practice. It concluded with the words : " Do thou, reader, pray for rest and a happy resur- rection in Christ for Herbert Thorndike." 2 Two illustrations from the non-jurors will suffice. The pious Bishop Ken, whose last will and Bishop testament witnessed to his adherence to Catholic truth " as it stands distinguished from all Papal and Puritan innovations," has left us amongst his prayers a form which he composed and used in behalf of 1 THOKNDIKE, The Laws of the, Church, in. xxix. 2 BOWLES' Life of Bishop Ken, ii. 308. 250 Should Prayers for ttie Dead be those who were "in the flesh or sleeping in Christ." 1 Furthermore, in a letter written in 1677, on the death of a valued friend, he concludes with the prayer, "and may his soul rest in peace." 2 Hickes. Dean Hickes when asked by a correspondent for the explanation of his views in consequence of some apparent contrariety between the doctrines which he was generally supposed to hold, and what he had expressed in his recommendations to the Duchess of Ormond on the education of a daughter, asserts that he had been guilty of no inconsistency, but was as zealous as ever in support of the practice of " pray- ing for the dead who depart in the faith and fear of God, and in the peace of the Church." 8 John John Wesley was equally decided, and when it was alleged as a serious charge against him that he had adopted the practice in his daily devotions, he maintained its legality, and explained to his accusers the grounds upon which he had formed his convic- tion that it was perfectly justifiable, viz., " The earliest antiquity, and the Church of Eng- land."* 1 "Tu lector requiem ei et beatam in Christo resurrectionem, precare." BRETT, Dissertation appended to Liturgies, p. 425. 2 " Cujus anima requiescat in pace." Letter from Rev. J. M n to Dr. George Hickes, and Dr. Hickes' answer. Anglo-Cath. Libr., iii. 471, 483. 4 Answer to Lavington, Works, iz. 55. more generally adopted or not ? 251 This catena of quotations 1 we cannot close better than by recording the opinion of two of the most esteemed men of this century, Keginald Heber and John Keble. They did not hesitate to give their matured judgment, based on an attentive consideration of the whole subject, in favour of the usage. " I have Bishop accordingly," Heber writes, "been myself in the habit for some years of recommending on some occasions, as after receiving the Sacrament, my lost friends by name to God's goodness and compassion, through His Son, as what can do them no harm, and may, and I hope will be of service to them." 2 But even though he appears to have had a settled conviction, we are hardly surprised to find that with that modesty and self-depreciation which so characterised him, the possibility of his being mistaken led him, at the same time that he offered his petitions for the 1 It would be very easy largely to supplement the list by extracts from Archbishops Ussher, Laud, Juxon, Wake, and Shel- don, or Bishops Forbes, Jeremy Taylor, Patrick, Gunning, Small- ^ ridge, and Bull ; or historians, such as Jeremy Collier ; or laymen, such as Robert Nelson, or Dr. Johnson ; or in our own times, Mr. Tennyson. Again, in the Hiemrgia Anglicana, there is a vast collection of monumental inscriptions illustrative of the practice as it prevailed between 1547 and 1782, and it is greatly supplemented and brought down to our own times in Appendix xi. of Dr. F. G. Lee's work. 2 Diaries of a Lady of Quality, p. 196. This reference is taken from Dr. F. G. Lee, but we well remember reading the passage at the time of its publication. 252 Should Prayers for the Dead be dead, to ask forgiveness for himself, if unknowingly he had not prayed in accordance with God's will. Keble. While to one in bereavement Keble sends a form of prayer which he acknowledged to have used for years with far greater comfort than he deserved : "Remember thy servants and handmaidens which have departed hence in the Lord, especially - and all others to whom our remembrance is due ; give them eternal rest and peace in Thy heavenly kingdom, and to us such a measure of communion with them as Thou knowest to be best for us. And bring us all to serve Thee in Thine eternal kingdom when Thou wilt and as Thou wilt, only without shame or sin. Forgive my presumption and accept my prayers, as Thou didst the prayers of Thine ancient Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Conclusion. The conclusion from a full consideration of the foregoing arguments is, that the practice of praying for the faithful dead was universally adopted in primitive times ; and though, as we have seen, for wise reasons it was allowed to drop almost entirely out of our public worship, yet such a state of things cannot possibly be regarded as permanent. The restoration of the primitive usage to its proper place in the Prayer-Book, though surrounded 1 Letters of Spiritual Counsel, p. 46. more generally adopted or not f 253 with difficulties, which past experience forbids us to ignore, is yet an object to which men may look for- ward hopefully, and while striving to attain to it have no misgivings that they are acting in a spirit of true loyalty to the Church. For their guidance in their private devotions they have the example of a long line of men, eminent alike for learning and piety, to encourage them, as well as the decisions of the Ecclesiastical Courts 1 to establish the perfect legitimacy of the practice. Whatever doubts then may be felt touching the advisability at present of giving to the practice of praying for the dead a fuller recognition in public, 3 1 In 1838 the case of Breeks v. Woolfrey was tried before th Arches Court. The charge was that the inscription 011 the tomb- stone Pray for the soul of J. Woolfrey. ' It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead.' 2 MACC. xii. 26. was "contrary to the Articles, Canons and Constitutions, as t< the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England." The decision of Sir Herbert Jenner Fust was as follows : " I am of opinion that the offence imputed by the articles h;w not been sustained ; that no authority or canon has been pointed out by which the practice of praying for the dead has been expressly prohibited ; and I am accordingly of opinion that if the articles were proved, the facts would not subject the party to ecclesiastical censure, as far as regards the illegality of the inscription on the tombstone." '* In the Scotch Liturgy, 1637, the following prayer is used : " Most humbly beseeching Thee, that we may have grace to follow 254 Adoption of Prayers for tlie Dead. we feel perfectly justified, with the countenance of so many honoured names, in adopting it in private, with the conviction, moreover, that in so doing we are by no means reviving something which had ever been absolutely dropt, but are rather continuing that for which there is unbroken testimony from the beginning down to our own time ; and we have little doubt that those who accustom themselves to pray for departed friends, will find the pains of bereavement lessened, and the bond of union be- tween the Church on earth and the Church in Paradise more tightly drawn. the example of their steadfastness in Thy faith and obedience to Thy holy commandments : that at the day of the general resurrec- tion we and all they which are of the mystical body of Thy Son, may be set on His right hand," etc. The Committee of Bishops, at the last Revision in 1662, accepted these words, but when they were laid before Convocation, those at present in use, "and we also bless Thy holy name," etc., were substituted for them. For a full account of the successive editions of the Prayer Book, the Articles, and the Homilies in reference to this subject, the reader is referred to the Church Quarterly Review for April 1880. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. B. J0 it latoful or bearable to practice mtocatfon of samt0 in an? form or not ? WHEN we turn from Prayers for the Dead to the practice of Invocation, all is changed. Those who desire to be guided by Vincentian prin- ciples, find that the very arguments which establish Catholicity in the one case, disprove it in the other. There are, it is true, examples of appeals to the The three- fold testi- dead for prayers and intercessions on the monuments mony to in the Catacombs, but none have yet been brought insufficient to the light in inscriptions bearing a date. It is, of course, quite possible that the antiquity of the instances adduced may be as great as that of some which were used to illustrate prayers for the dead, but we have no proof of it, and those investigators. 256 Is any invocation of Saints who have the strongest claims to be heard, have determined otherwise. No argument, therefore, based upon the opposite theory, can expect to meet with anything more than very partial assent. The testimony of the Fathers is wholly insufficient to establish the practice. Out of the entire number of those who wrote during the first four centuries, only four can be said to have used or expressed an unreserved approval of Invocation. The Liturgies, Litanies, and Services which have always reflected more or less the prevalent beliefs, lend no countenance to it, till long after 1 the time to which we look back as primitive. Maintaining then as we do so great a regard for antiquity, we find it quite impossible to sympathise with those who desire to introduce Invocations into the Forms of public worship. There can be little question that the Invocation not con**"' * Saints, which the twenty-second Article describes M a vain thin S fondl y invented," was that form kind of which was accompanied with worship : it is argued, invocation. therefore, that a prayer addressed to them without worship is permissible. Much, no doubt, may be 1 The first introduction was in the time of Peter Fullo, the Eutychian Bishop. But the first recognition by the Church VMS not till the episcopate of Gregory the Great, 590-604 A.D. either lawful or desirable ? 257 said in favour of " oblique prayer " or " pious apo- strophes of the dead ; " in themselves they may be not only harmless, but actually beneficial ; men's faith in the Communion of the Saints may be quick- ened thereby, and their religious fervour increased ; but Catholic antiquity offers little support to their use, and the great Anglican divines show few signs in their writings of having adopted them. There are, it is true, some men of eminence since the Reformation who have not hesitated to approve of invocation, where it could be clearly distinguished from the Eoman form, but they are so few that their names may be counted on the fingers. Reformers, 1 Opinions such as Luther and Erasmus and Bucer, expressed Reformer* themselves as not opposed to the practice, within certain limitations. Bramhall, in his answer to the Bramhall Epistle of M. de la Milletiere, shows that he was prepared to accept some kind of invocation as a help to devotion, but not as necessary. " If," he writes, " your Invocation of Saints were not such as it is, to request of them patronage and protection, spiritual graces and celestial joys, by their prayers and by their merits ; . . . yet it is not necessary, for two reasons : first, no Saint doth love us so well as 1 Cf. FORBES, Considerationes Modestce, vol. ii. pp. 267, 269, 281. 258 Is any invocation of Saints Christ; no Saint hath given us such assurance of his love, or done so much for us as Christ ; no Saint is so willing or able to help us as Christ : and secondly, we have no command from God to invo- cate them." 1 Thorndike'a Thorndike is not unfrequently claimed as an ad- distinc- . _ T tions. vocate, but on wholly insufficient grounds. He distinguishes three forms. The first is a prayer that God will grant certain blessings by and through the merits and intercessions of His saints. The second is an appeal to the saints in the same terms as to Christ : " we beseech thee to hear us." The third, when exactly the same blessings, spiritual or tem- poral, are sought from them, as all Christians seek from God. Of these he says, "the first kind seems to me utterly agreeable with Christianity," 2 and from this avowal he is claimed as a supporter of invocation ; but very little consideration will show that what he advocates is not an appeal to the saints at all, but only a making mention of their intercessions, and a prayer that they may avail for the desired object, a course which the conclusions arrived at above 8 naturally prompt us to adopt. 1 BBAHHALL'S Works, vol. i. 57. 1 Works, vol. iv. Part ii. p. 770 ; Anglo-Cath. Library. Part ii. Chap. i. either lawful or desirable ? 259 We can bring forward no other divines of note in the 17th and 18th centuries; but if we were to extend the list so as to embrace men of an inferior position, and if we were to come down to our own generation, in which there are unquestionably advo- cates of no mean authority, the whole combined testimony would be of far less weight than that which we appealed to in support of a recognition of prayers for the dead in post-Reformation times. And before we bring this investigation to a close, Conclusion. we would express even more strongly than we did at the outset our firm conviction that the Vincen- tian Canon offers the only safe anchorage in such troublous times of doubt and controversy as the present. Once drift away from primitive antiquity, from the avowed principles of the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and it is impossible to say where the tide may carry us. It matters not that developments of doctrine have gained the adherence of holy and pious men : or that devotional usages, unknown to the Christians of Primitive times, have attained importance in the eyes of those who have been led to adopt them; if the Catholicity which belonged to undivided Christendom is to be established against all objectors, 260 Invocation of Saints. if its revival is to be marked by that unity and consistency of purpose, which alone can command success, individual sacrifices must be made for the common good of the Church ; and the most promi- nent among them, as it seems to us, is the practice of appealing to the dead in prayer THE END. TABLE OF FATHERS, COUNCILS, AND OTHER AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO, WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE DATES. Aerius, ...... Flourislied about . A.D. 360 Ambrose, Died .... 397 Apostolic Constitutions, . . . Written before . . 325 Arr,obits, Flourished about. . . 300 Athanasius, Died .... 373 Augustine., ,,.... 430 Barrow, . 1677 Basil, , 379 Beveridge, . 1708 Bramhall, . . ,...... . 1663 Bull, ........... 1710 Caasian, .,-,..,,... 448 Celsus, ..,-.. Flourished about . . 230 Chrysologus, Died . . . .451 Chrysostom, .......... 407 Clemens Alexandrinus, ........ 218 Clemens Romanus, ....,,.. . 100 Clementines, ..... Written before . . 325 Cosin, Died .... 1672 Council of Bracara or Braga, , . Held . . . .561 Carthage, ........ 419 262 Table of Fathers, Councils, etc. Council of Chalcedon, . . . Held . . . A.D. 451 ,, Constantinople, . . ,, . ... 381 Ephesus, , .... 431 Florence, 1439 Nicaa, 325 Trent, ......... 1545-1563 Cyprian, Died . ., .258 Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, ..,,.... 386 ,, Alexandria, ........ 444 Epiphauius, 403 Ephraem Syras, , 379 Eusebius, ... , 338 Fabricius, . . . . . . . 1736 Faustus, , .... 490 Flavian, . . . . . . . . .450 Fullo, Peter , .... 488 Gelasius, 496 Gregory the Great, , 604 of Nazianzunu , 389 ,, ofNyssa, , .... 396 Hickes 1715 Hooker, . ........ 1600 Ignatius . 107 Irenaeus, . . .202 Isidore of Seville, , 633 Jerome, ,,.... 420 Leo the Great, 461 Mabillon, . .1707 Table of Fathers, Councils, etc. 263 Macarius, Died . . . A.D. 391 Maimonides, , . . . 1205 Optatus of Milevi, .... Flourished . . .370 Origen Died .... 254 Peter Lombard, ....,,.... 1164 Rufinus .... 410 Taylor, Jeremy, ....,,-.. 1667 Tertullian, , 218 Theodore the Interpreter, . . Flourished ... 390 Theodoret, Died .... 456 Thorndike . . 1672 Usher, , . 1655 Vincentins, ... .,..- 448 Watered, . ... 1740 PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED OR QUOTED IN THE PRECEDING PAGES. PAGE PAGE Deuter. rvi. 10, 1C, . 59 1 Corinth, xiii. 12, . 215-216 xxi.8,. 60 xv. 29, rs 1 Kings viii. 39, 213 xv. 51, 42 2 Kings six. 34, 144 2 Corinth, v. 10, 46 x x i i. 18, 20, . 213 xiL 2-4, . 35 Psalms vi. 5, 143 Ephesians i. 20, 21, . . 71 cix. 10, 155 ii. 12, 77 Proverbs xi. 7, . 123 Philipp. i. 23, 142 Eccles. ix. 10, 44 iii. 20, 21, . 218 xi. 3, . 43 1 Thess. iv. 13, 138 Isaiah Ixiii. 15, 16, . 214 iv. 15. 41 Ixiv. 4, 70 2 Timothy i. 16, 17, IS, . 78 Jerem. xxxiv. 4-5, 90 i. 18, 79 S. Matthew w. 17, 65 ii. 12, 225 vi. 2, . . . 60 iv. 19, 78 xii. 31, 32, . 67 Hebrews xi. 39, 40, . 46,222 xvi. 18, 10 S. James v. 16, 51 xix. 27, 28, . . 225 1 a Peter ii. 1, 131 xxi. 22, . " . 68 iii. 18, 19, . . 33,47 xxvi.24, 139 1 S. John iii. 2, 217 xxviiL 20, . 244 S. Jude iii. 18, . 8-15 S. Mark iii. 29, 71 Revelation v. 6-8, 154 S. Luke xvi. 25, 230 vi. 9, 10, 11, . 226-248 rrii. 31, 51 vi. 9, 10, . 155 8. John ix. 4, 45 vL 11, 48 xvi. 13, 10 viL 14, 15, . 227 Romans ii. 16, 181 viii. 3, 4, . 155 viii 26, 52 x. 6, . 38 XV. 4, . . 230 xxi. 1, 226 1 Corinth. IS. . 76 xxi. 27, 39 GENERAL INDEX. ADEN, epitaph discovered at, 62, 63. Advent, the Second, S. Paul's views on, 49. /Emilius the martyr, 168. Aerius, objections of, to prayers for the dead, 133, 244. evidence of, to be distrusted, 134. Hooker's estimate of, 135. Ailurus, Timothy, 170. And re we*, devotions of, 247. Angelic hymn, the, 194, 195. Apocryphal books, their place in his- tory, 53. Apostolical Constitutions, 181. Arcadius, 166. Arenarise, 81, 82. Articles, the xlii. of Edward vi., 29. Article xxii. not necessarily condem- natory of all invocation, 256. Atonement, Jewish means of procuring, 59. Ave Maria, interpolated in the Liturgies, 198. BAPTISM, witness to, in the Catacombs, 86, 87. for the dead, 73. censured by S. Chrysostom and Epiphanius, 73. Barrow, on prayers for the dead, 248. epitaph on tomb of, 248. Basilides, 161. Beatific vision of God not yet attained by the Saints, the, 219. testimony of S. Augustine, 220. of 8. Cyprian, 220. of Tertullian, 221. Beatific vision, testimony of Origen, 222. of Justin Martyr, 223. of Jesus Christ, 225, 226. of S. John, 226, 227. the views of the Roman Church on, 219. Beveridge on the value of the Fathers, 23. Blesilla, 166. Bracara or Braga, Council of, 148. Bramhall on the value of the Fatiieni, 24. on invocation of saints, 257. Bucer, Martin, 240. Bull on the perceptions of a disembodied soul, 34. Burial Service, Bishop Cosin on the, 243. CANONS, the, 21, 22. Cassian's story of the hermit Hero, 147. Castus the martyr, 168. Catacombs, the origin of, 81. period covered by the inscriptions of, 84. dated inscriptions in, 85. simplicity of the inscriptions in, 86. sacramental teaching in, 86, 87. testimony of, how used, 89. inscriptions of, void of exaggera- tion, 237. Catechumens who died without bap- tism, 140. Catholic, the title misapplied, 3. Emancipation Act, 3. Catholicity, a recognised test of, needed, 4. Ceriuthians, the, 74. 266 General Index. Church, methods of ascertaining the voice of, 10. Church Militant Prayer, 241. Christ's coming the goal of the Chris- tian, 48. S. Paul's expectation of, 49. Chroniclers of events, the Fathers as, 17. Chwolson, Dr., on Crimean tombstones, 68. Clementine Constitutions, 107. Columbaria, 82. Commemoration of souls, Jewish, 57. Commonitoriun of Vincentius, 7, 15, 16. Communion of Saints, 12, 13. the belief in, when first expressed in a public formulary, 13. Constable on Hades, 31, 32. Constantius, 177. Cornelius, the friend of S. Cyprian, 1G2, 163. Cosin on the Burial Service, 242, 243, 247. Council of Bracara, 148. Carthage, the third, 195. Chalcedon, 6, 99, 170. Constantinople, 12, 13. Ephesus, 13. Florence, 219. Nicsea, 6, 12. Trent, 41, 219. Councils, General, guided by Vincentian principles, 12. Cranmer on the value of the Fathers, 22. Creeds, the construction of, 9. illustrations from, 11. Latin, 13. of Irenseus, Tertullian, Cyprian, the Aquileian, 13. Greek, 13. of Eusebius, Anus, Epiphanius, Cyril, etc., 13. DE Rossi on inscriptions of the Cata- combs, 81, 91. Development of interpretation different from development of doctrine, 15. Dioscnrus before the Council of Chalce- don, 99. Dispensation, the old and new, connec- tion between, 65. Dives and Lazarus, the parable of, 26- 29, 230, 231. Bellinger on baptism for the dead. 75, Tfc Drake on the symbolism of the paintings in the Catacombs, 88. Dress of Virgins, the, by S. Cyprian, 164. EDWAKD vr., the First Prayer-Book of, 195. the Second Prayer-Book of, 196. Ephesus, Council of, see Councils. the Seven Sleepers of, 37. Epiphanius' answer to Aerius, 133, 135, 244. Epitaphs in the Catacombs, 91. to Libera, 91. to Fortunatus Eumenes, 92. to Zosima, 93. to Fortunata, 93. to Cervonia Silvana, 93. to Hilaris, 94. to Kalameros, 94. to Bolosa, 94. to Heraclea Roma, 94. to Venus, 95. to Timothea, 95. to Hygeia, 95. to Irenaea, 95. to Chresime Victoria, 96. to Marius Vitellianus, 96. to Januarius and Agapotns, 200. to Basilla, 200. to Dionysius, 201. to Augenda, 201. to Vincentia, 202. Era of Contracts, 62. the Seleucides, 62. Eusebius as an Arian, 18. General Index. 267 PABER on Sanctiflcation, 40. Fabricius on the seat of Onesiphorus' labours, 78. Fasts of Embertide, 20. Fathers, see Primitive. Flavian, 170. Florentius Hippo, 186. Forty Martyrs, Panegyric on the, 180. Fullo, Peter, 198, 256. Furni, letter of 8. Cyprian to the people Of, 145. GENERAL COUNCILS, the decisions of, guided by Vincentian principles, 12. Geminius Faustinus, 145. Geminius Victor, 145. Gibbon on the legend of the Seven Sleepers, 37. Gorgonia, funeral oration on, 177, 205. HADES, by Constable, 31, 32. Haskarath Neshamoth, 57. Heathen symbols in the Catacombs, 82. - Dean Stanley on, 84. - J. H. Parker on, 83. Heliodorus, 166. Hero the Hermit, story of, 147, 148. Hickes on Interpolations in Liturgies, 106. Hooker on Justification and Sanctiflca- tion, 40. - on the character of Aerius, 135. Hymns Ancient and Modern, quota- tion from, 44. vs, explanation of the symbol of, SS. Ignatius, the martyrdom of, 157, 158. - the genuineness of the treatise, 157. Infant Baptism, silence about, in Holy Scripture, 65, 66. Inhumation, the original mode of burial, 82. Inscriptions, see Catacombs. Intercession, the principle of, 50, 51. Intercession of the Saints, testimony to, 153. of the Apocalypse, 154. of Origen, 158, 159, 160, 187, 188. of Eusebius, 161, 162. of S. Cyprian, 162. of S. Ephraem, 164. of S. Gregory Nazianzen, 165. of S. Cyril, 165. of S. Chrysostom, 165, 166. of S. Ambrose, 166. of S. Jerome, 166, 167. of S. Augustine, 168, 169. of the Council of Chalcedon, 170. of the Liturgies, 171. of S. James (the Syriac), 172. of S. Basil, 172. of the Coptic Liturgies, 172. of S. Gregory, 172. of S. Cyril, 172. of the Alexandrian Liturgy of S. Basil, 173. of S. James the Lord's brother, 174. Intercession of the Saints, upon what based, 229. for individuals, 231. for the whole Church, 231, 232. Invocation absent from Primitive Liturgies, 189, 234. in the Catacombs, 199, 233, 234. in the epitaph of Januarius, 200 202. of Basilla, 200. of Dionysius, 201. of Augenda, 201. of Vincentia, 202. Invocation of Saints, testimony to, 174. of Origen, 175, 187, 197. of S. Basil, 175, 176, 189. of S. Gregory Nazianzen, 177, 178, 189, 197. of S. Gregory of Nyssa, 178, 179, 189, 190, 197. 268 General Index. Invocation of Saints, testimony to, of S. Ephraeni, 180, 181, 190, 197. of 8. Chrysostom, 182, 183, 184, 190, 191, 197. of 8. Ambrose, 184, 192, 197. of 8. Augustine, 185, 193, 196, 197. Invocation of Saints, of different kinds, 194. what its value depends on, 233. not Catholic, 232, 235. is the practice of, desirable in any form? 254. opinions of the Reformers on, 257. Bramhall on, 257. Thorndike on, 258. J AMNITKS, the, 54. Jesus Christ, the Godhead of, 11. Jewel on the value of the Fathers, 23. Jewish services, 56. prayers for the dead in divers countries, 57. - means of atonement, 59. tombstones and inscriptions, 61. Judas Maccabeus, 54, 56. Julian the Emperor, 205. Justin Martyr a Millennarian, 18. KADDISH, the, 56. Keble on Prayers for the Dead, 249. Ken, Bishop, on Prayers forthe Dead, 249. Knowledge, the extent of, possessed by the Saints, 204. S. Gregory Nazianzen on, 205. S. Ambrose on, 206. S. Jerome on, 207. S. Augustuft on, 207-211. as taught in Scripture, 212. in the Historical Books, 213, 214. in the Prophetical Books, 215. in the New Testament, 215. in S. Paul's writings, 215-217. in 8. John's writings, 217, 218. obtained by the Saints in different ways, 208, 209. the, of Angels, 209. LAZARUS, etymology of the name, 27. the Parable of, 26-29, 230, 231. Irenseus on, 26. S. Chrysostom on, 27. S. Cyril on, 27. S. Augustine on, 27, 28. Tertullian on, 26, 27. S. Ambrose on, 27. Leo, the letter of the Bishops to, 107. Lightfoot on "the world to come," 68, 69. Liturgical Service, the primal form of, 103. traces of, in Apostolica writings, 103. Liturgies, Primitive, divided into groups, 104. the uncertainty of the text, 105. the arguments upon which their date is approximately deter- mined, 105. examples of interpolations in, 106, 107. the variety of, 238. on Prayers for the Dead, 108. the meaning and objects of the petitions, 115, 116. Liturgy of S. James (the Syriac), on prayers for the paraon of sins of infir- mity, 118. Liturgies, the Jacobite, 119. Liturgy of S. John the Evangelist, 119. of S. Peter, 119. of S. James the Less, 120. of S. Dionysius, 120. of Theodore the Interpreter, 121. ofS. Leo, 121. of S. Gelasius, 122. of S. Gregory, 122. Liturgy, future revision of the, 5, 245. traces of prayers for the dead still .left in. 243. Liturgy of S. James, 108, 109. the Clementine, 109. of S. Mark, 110. General Index. 269 Liturgy of 8. Cyril, 111. the Gallican, 112. the Mozarabic, 112. the Ambrosian, 118. of 8. Gregory, 118. of S3. Adseus and Maris, 114. Lumby, Dr., on the early form of the Western Creed, 12, 13. MACARIUS on instantaneous sanctifica- tion, 41. Maccabees, the Second Book of, 54. Maimonides' Precepts of Repentance, 69, 70. on the word "Memory," 63. Mamas the martyr, 176. Marchi, Padre, 81. Marcionites, the, 74. Martensen on a spiritual purgatory, 126. Martyr, Peter, 240. Martyrdom of Potamisena, 161. Martyrs, special honours assigned to, 168, 225. Mason, W., "Spiritual Treasury," 41. Memory in the disembodied state, 229, 230. Memory, Memorial, Jewish meaning of, 63. Midrash, the, on the books of Moses, 60. Misapplied texts from Ecclesiastes, 43, 44. 8. John, 45. 8. Paul, 45. NEPOTIANUS, 207. Nestorian Liturgies, 104, 114. Newman, Dr., on development of doc- trine, 15. on the coming of Christ as the Christian's hope, 49. Nonjurors on Prayers for the Dead, 24C, 249, 250. OBLATION, Prayer of, 242. Odullam, 54. Old Catholics on baptism for the dead, 75, 76. Onesiphorus, prayers for, 77, 78. whether alive or dead when S. Paul wrote, 78. Origen as a Platonist and Allegorist, 18. PACE, IN, explained to divers ways, 90, 91. examples in the Catacombs, 91. Pagan inscriptions and symbols in the Catacombs, 83. Dean Stanley on, 84. Parable of Dives and Lazarus, 26-29, 230, 231. Paradise, 8. Paul caught up into, 35. Parker, J. H., on the Catacombs, 81. Pegna on the Beatific Vision, 223. Pete pro nobis, P.P.N., 203. Peter of Alexandria, 206. Pollock, " Oat of the Body," 28. Prayer-Books of Edward vi., 195, 196. Prayers for the Dead, 50. testimony of the early Fathers, 98. of the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, on, 98, 99. of 8. Augustine, 99. of 8. Ambrose, 100. of Epiphanius, 100. of 8. Chrysostom, 100. of Eusebius, 100. 01 Arnobius, 101. of Tertullian, 101, 102. Prayers for the Dead, their object, 115, 116. advocated by Anglican divines : Jeremy Taylor, 80. Bishop Andrewes, 247. Barrow, 248. Thorndike, 248. Ken, 249. Hickes, 249. Wesley," 250. Heber, 251. Keble, 251. 270 General Index. Prayers for the Dead, according to the Ecclesiastical Courts, 258. unknown before the Captivity, 53. abundant in Mediaeval times, 244. Prayers for the Dead, is a fuller recogni- tion of, desirable ? 236. on grounds of utility, 239. in controversy with Borne, 240. no objection to them in private, 246. Prayers for the pardon of sins of human infirmity, see Primitive Liturgies. views of the early Fathers on, 123. of S. Jerome, 123. of Theodoret, 123. of S. Augustine, 124. Prayers for those who die in wilful sin, 127. the example from the Apocrypha considered, 128, 129. the Apostolical Constitutions on, 130. S. Cyril on, 131. Aerius on, 132. Epiphanius 1 answer to his objec- tions on, 135. S. Augustine on, 137. S. Chrysostom on, 139, 144, 147. 8. Cyprian on, 145. Precepts on repentance, by Maimonides, 69. Primitive Fathers as independent chro- niclers, 17. as credible exponents of doctrine, 18, 70. errors of, how far injurious to their nfluence, 19. the weight of the authority of, recognised in the Prayer-Book, the Ecclesiastical Canons, the Homilies, and the writings of the Reformers, 21, 22. Proterius, 170. Protestants, foreign, influence of, in the Reformaton, 240. Purgatory, a spiritual, views on by a Lutheran divine, 126. REFORMATION, changes brought about by the, 4. Reformers, the foreign, 5. Robber Synod of Ephesus, 170. SACRAMENTAL teaching in the Cata- combs, 86, 87. Sacramentary of S. Gregory, 113, 122. of S. Leo, 121. of S. Gelasius, 122. Sacrificial and non-sacrificial prayers, 194 Saint Ambrose on the spirits in prison, 47, 48. Augustine on special rewards of martyrdom, 168. on S. Matt. xii. 31-33, 72. Retractations of, 19. Basil, funeral oration on, 164, 181. on the Forty Martyrs, 176. Chrysostom on baptism for the dead, 73. on Onesiphorus, 79. on the sin of delaying bap- tism, 147. Epiphanius on baptism for the dead, 73. Isidore on S. Matt. xii. 31-33, 72. Jerome, censured by 8. Augustine, 19. on the effects of Christ's de- scent into Hades, 48. Paul's anticipations of the Second Advent, 31, 32. Saints, memory retained by, after death, 229, 230. Sanctification, Hooker on, 40. Faber on, 40. Council of Trent on, 41. S. Macarius on, 41. Mason, 41. in the disembodied state, 36. distinct from Justification, 40. General Index. 271 Saphir, R. Jacob, travels of, 61. Schiller-Szinessy, Dr., Manual for young Rabbis by, 59. on the dates of Jewish inscrip- tions, 62. Scripture, Holy, the sufficiency of, 9. countenancing the theory of change in Hades, 46, 47, 48. Sermon on the Mount, reference in, to the commemoration of the dead, 59, 60. Silence of our Lord on prayers for the dead, 52. Siphre, the, 60. Sleep of the soul, the, 29. Stapleton on the Beatific Vision, 223. Stier on the spiritual capacities of a disembodied soul, 34, 35. Stanley, Dean, on baptism for the dead, 74, 76. Suicides not commemorated by the Church, 146. Syrophoenician woman, the, 191. Swanison, Dr., on the Creeds, 13. TALMUD, the, on 8. Matt. xii. 31-33, 71. Taylor, Jeremy, on the Catholic Church, on Onesiphorns, 80. Tertullian as a Montanist, 18. on Symbols of Baptism, 87. on the First Resurrection, 102. on ix*w, 88. on the symbolism of the bird with a branch in its beak, 77. Texts of Scripture misapplied, 43. Theodore, Festival in honour of, 178. Thief upon the Cross, the, 30. Tombstones, Jewish, 62, 63. VIGILANTIUS" dispute with S. Jerome, 167. Vincentian Canon explained, 7. its value as a test, 8. its relation to Holy Scripture, 8. objections to, of Roman Catholics, 14, 15. of Protestants, 14. WATERLAND on the value of the Fathers, 24, 25. Wesley, John, on prayers for the dead, 250. Wordsworth, Bishop, on baptism for the dead, 74. World to come the Jewish meaning of, 68.69. ntbfrsitjj fHOMAS AND ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJBfiTV. A SELECTION FROM THE Recent Publications OF Messrs. RIVINGTON WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL LONDON 2 RIVINGTON'S SELECT LIST Woodford's Sermons. Two Volt. Second Edition. Crown Svo. $* each. Sold separately. SERMONS. By James Russell Woodford, D.D., Sometime Lord Bishop of Ely. Vol. I. OLD TESTAMENT SUBJECTS. 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By Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., D.C.L., Dean of Norwich. JJKatetloo jaiace, JLonBon. RIVINGTOtTS SELECT LIST Welldon's Harrow Sermons. Second Edition, Crown Svo. ^s. 6d. THE FUTURE AND THE PAST : Sermons Preached to Harrow Boys, ist Series, 1885 and 1886. By the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, M.A., Head Master of Harrow School. The Future and the Past Individuality All Saints' Day The Religions Value of Small Duties The Promise of the Advent The Bible The Meetings with the Angels The Sins of the Tongue The Bearing of the Cross Worldliness The Keeping of Sunday The Natural Body and the Spiritual Body Balaam The Animal World The Blessing of Failure Friendships Spiritual Insight The Lord's Prayer The Uses of the Holidays. The Altar Book. With Rubrics in Red. Large Type. RoyalZve. ios.6d. THE ORDER OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE HOLY COMMUNION, AND THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY, according to the Use of the Church of England. May also be had bound in Morocco. Knox Little Hopes of the Passion. Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d. THE HOPES AND DECISIONS OF THE PASSION OF OUR MOST HOLY REDEEMER. By the Rev. W. J. Knox Little, M.A., Canon Residentiary of Worcester, and Vicar of Hoar Cross, Burton-on-Trent. Cttatcrloo Place, Lonoon. OF RECENT PUBLIC A TIONS. Woodford The Great Commission. Second Edition. Crown Svo. $s. THE GREAT COMMISSION. Twelve Addresses on the Ordinal. By James Russell Woodford, D.D., Sometime Lord Bishop of Ely. Edited, with an Introduction on the Ordinations of his Episcopate, By Herbert Mortimer Luckock, D.D., One of his Examining Chaplains. Luckock The Bishops in the Tower. Second Edition. Crown Zvo. 6s. THE BISHOPS IN THE TOWER. A Record of Stirring Events affecting the Church and Nonconformists from the Restoration to the Revolution. By Herbert Mortimer Luckock, D.D., Canon of Ely, etc. The Book of Church Law. Fifth Edition, revised. Crown Svo. js. 6d. THE BOOK OF CHURCH LAW : being an Exposition of the Legal Rights and Duties of the Parochial Clergy and the Laity of the Church of England. By the late Rev. John Henry Blunt, D.D., Revised by Sir Walter G. F. Phillimore, Bart., D.C.L., Barrister-o.t-Lo.Tii, and Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln. CHaterloo place, JLonDon. RIVINGTON'S SELECT LIST Holland Creed and Character. Second Edition. Crow* Svo. jt. 6d. CREED AND CHARACTER. A Volume of Sermons. By the Rev. H. 8. Holland, M.A., Canon and Prcctntor of SI. Pauft. Contents. The Story of an Apostle's Faith The Rock ; The Secret ; The Fellowship ; The Witness; The Resources; The Mind; The Ministry of the Church The Solidarity of Salvation The Freedom of Salvation The Gift of Grace The Law of Forgiveness The Coming of the Spirit The Beauty of Holi- ness The Energy of Unselfishness The Fruit of the Spirit Thanksgiving The Activity of Service Character and Circumstance. Holland Logic and Life. Third Edition. CrovmZve. js. 6ei. LOGIC AND LIFE, with other Sermons. By the Rev. H. S. Holland, M.A., Canon and Precentor of 31. Pauft. ' Some of these sermons are as powerful spiritual feeling and judgment, speaking in as any preached in this generation, and, in- language brilliant, forcible, copious, rising deed, full of genius, original thought, and often to splendour and magnificence.' spiritual veracity. Of the three first, it Church Quarterly Review. would be hard to speak in terms too high.' ' The sermons are thoughtful, earnest, and Spectator. often eloquent and powerful They fully These [two last-named] sermons exhibit bear out the high reputation Mr. Holland at the full the real greatness of Mr. Holland's has obtained as a preacher of considerable power his originality, his insight, his range acceptableness and influence with hearers of experience, observation, and sympathies ; of education and culture.' Guardian. and, above all, his never-failing elevation of Holland Good Friday Addresses. Small &ve. M. GOOD FRIDAY : being Addresses on the Seven Last Words, delivered at St. Paul's Cathedral, on Good Friday 1884. By the Rev. H. S. Holland, M.A., Canon and Precentor of St. Pauft. dlatcrloo Place, LonDon. OF RECENT PUBLIC A TIONS Holland Christ or Ecclesiastes. Crown &V0. 3*. 6d. CHRIST OR ECCLESIASTES. Sermons preached at St. Paul's Cathedral. By Henry Scott Holland, M.A., Canon and Precentor of St. Paul's. Crake Chronicles of ^scendune, etc. Crown 8vo. 3*. &/. each. Sold separately. By the Eev. A. D. Crake, B.A., Author of the ' History of the Church under the Roman Empire,' etc., etc. EDWY THE FAIR ; OR, THE FIRST CHRONICLE OF ^ESCENDUNE. A Tale of the Days of St. Dunstan. ALFGAR THE DANE ; OR, THE SECOND CHRONICLE OF ^ESCENDUNE. A Tale of the Days of Edmund Ironside. THE RIVAL HEIRS ; BEING THE THIRD AND LAST CHRONICLE OF ^ESCENDUNE. THE HOUSE OF WALDERNE : A Tale of the Cloister and the Forest in the Days of the Barons' Wars. BRIAN FITZ-COUNT : A Story of Wallingford Castle and Dorchester Abbey. JHatcrloo place, JLonDon RIVINGTO1TS SELECT LIST Mozley on the Old Testament. Third Edition. 8w>. 10*. 6d. RULING IDEAS IN EARLY AGES AND THEIR RELATION TO OLD TESTAMENT FAITH. Lectures delivered to Graduates of the University of Oxford. By J. B. Mozley, D.D., Late Canon of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. Contrniss. Abraham Sacrifice of Isaac Human Sacrifices Exterminating Wars Visita- tion of the Sins of Fathers upon Children Jael Connection of Jael's Act with the Morality of her Age Law of Retaliation Retaliation : Law of Goel The End the Test of a Progressive Revelation The Manichaeans and the Jewish Fathers. Mozley's University Sermons. Fifth Edition. Crown &vo. 7.1. 6d. SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD AND ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS. By J. B. Mozley, D.D., Late Canon of Christ Church^ and Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford. Contents. The Roman Council The Pharisees Eternal Life The Reversal of Human Judgment War Nature The Work of the Spirit on the Natural Man The Atonement Our Duty to Equals The Peaceful Temper The Strength of Wishes The Unspoken Judgment of Mankind The True Test of Spiritual Birth Ascension Day Gratitude The Principle of Emulation Religion the First Choice The Influence of Dogmatic Teaching on Education. GSaterloo place, JLonDon. OF RECENT PUBLIC A T1ONS. Mozley's Essays. Second Edition. Two Volt. %vo. 241. ESSAYS, HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL. By J. B. Mozley, D.D., Late Canon of Christ Church, and Refius Proftssor of Divinity in the University o/ Oxford. Contents. VOLUME I. Introduction and Memoir of the Author Lord Strafford Arch- bishop Laud Carlyle's Cromwell Luther. VOLUME II. Dr. Arnold Blanco White Dr. Pusey's Sermon The Book of Mozley on Miracles. Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo. js. 6d. EIGHT LECTURES ON MIRACLES: being the Bampton Lectures for 1865. By J. B. Mozley, D.D., Late Canon of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. Mozley's Parochial Sermons. Third Edition. Crown Svo. ^s. 6d. SERMONS, PAROCHIAL AND OCCASIONAL. By J. B. Mozley, D.D., Late Canon of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. Contents. The Right Eye and the Right Hand Temptation treated as Opportunity The Influences of Habit on Devotion Thought _ for the Morrow The Relief of Utterance Seeking a Sign David Numbering the People The Heroism of Faith Proverbs The Teaching of Events Growing Worse Our Lord the Sacrifice for Sin The Parable of the Sower The Religious Enjoyment of Nature The Threefold Office of the Holy Spirit Wisdom and Folly Tested by Experience Moses, a Leader The Unjust Steward Sowing to the Spirit True Religion, a Manifestation St. Paul's Exaltation of Labour Jeremiah's Witness against Idolatry Isaiah's Estimate of Worldly Greatness The Short- ness of Life The Endless State of Being The Witness of the Apostles Life a Probation Christian Mysteries, the Common Heritage Our Lord's Hour Fear The Educating Power of Strong Impressions The Secret Justice of Temporal Providence Jacob as a Prince Prevailing with God. GLTaterfoo place, Honnott. RIVINGTOtTS SELECT LIST Mozley's Lectures. Svo. lot. 6tL LECTURES AND OTHER THEOLOGICAL PAPERS. By J. B. Mozley, D.D., Late Canttt of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Divinity in tht University of Oxford, The Prayer Book in Latin. With, Rubrics in Red. Small Svo. ^s. (>d. LIBER PRECUM PUBLICARUM ECCLESI^E ANGLICAN/E. A Gullelmo Bright, S.T.P., JEdis Christi afud Oxon. Canonico, Hittoria Ecclesiastics, Professort Refio, Petro Goldsmith Medd, A.M., Collegii Untvertitatii afud Oxon. \Socio Seniore. LATINE REDDITUS. Editio Tertia, cum Appendice. [In hac Editione continentur Versiones Latinae i. Libri Precum Publicanim Ecclesiae Anglicanae ; 2. Liturgia Prims Reformats ; 3. Liturgis Scoticanx ; 4. Liturgias Americans.] Blunt Household Theology. New Edition. Small Sva. 3^. 6d. HOUSEHOLD THEOLOGY : a Handbook of Religious Information re- specting the Holy Bible, the Prayer Book, the Church, the Ministry, Divine Worship, the Creeds, etc., etc. By the Rev. John Henry Blunt, D.D., Editor of the 'Annotated Book of Common Prayer,' etc., etc. Also a Cheap Edition. i6mo. is. CCTaterioo Place, JLonDon. OP RECENT PUB LIC A TIONS. 13 Selections from Liddon's Writings. New Edition. Crown Zvo. y. 6d. SELECTIONS from the Writings of H. P. LIDDON, D.D., D.C.L., Chancellor and Canon of St. Paul's. Selections from Keble's Writings. Crcntin Svo. 3^. dd. SELECTIONS from the Writings of JOHN K.EBLE, M.A., Author of 'Tht Christian Year.' Selections from Pusey's Writings. Third Edition. Crown Svo. 3*. 6d. SELECTIONS from the Writings of EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY, D.D., Late Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. Selections from Neale's Writings. New Edition. Crown Svo. y. 6J. SELECTIONS from the Writings of JOHN MASON NEALE, D.D., Late Warden ofSoclnnlU College. IKaterloo Place, JLonnon. 14 RiyiNGTOffS SELECT LIST Life of Bishop Bickersteth. With Portrait. Sva. iw. A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND EPISCOPATE OF THE RIGHT REV. ROBERT BICKERSTETH, D. D., Bishop of Ripon, 1857-1884. With a Preface by the Lord Bishop of Exeter. By his Son, Montagu Cyril Bickersteth, M.A., Vicar of St. Paufs, Pudsey, Leeds. Williams on the Catechism. New Edition. Two Vols. Crown. Svo. 5* . each. Sold separately. PLAIN SERMONS ON THE CATECHISM. By the Rev. Isaac Williams, B.D., Late Fellow of Trinity College. Oxford; Author tf a ' Devotional Commentary on the Gospel Narrative' Bickersteth Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever. One Shilling Edition. iZttto. With Red Borders. i6nto. as. 6d. YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND FOR EVER : a Poem in Twelve Books. By Edward Henry Bickersteth, D.D., Bishop of Exeter. The Larger Edition, $s., may be had. Baker Prayers for Boys. 3Z*0. 8d. DAILY PRAYERS FOR YOUNGER BOYS. By William Baker, D.D. Head Master ef Merchant Taylors' School, anil Prebendary of St. PauFs. CHatertoo Plact, JLonflon. OF RECENT PUBLIC A TfONS. 15 The Annotated Prayer Book. In One Volume. Quarto. i, is. Or Half-bound in Morocco. i, us. 6d. THE ANNOTATED BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER : being an Historical, Ritual, and Theological Commentary on the Devotional System of the Church of England. Edited by the Rev. John Henry Blunt, D.D., F.S.A. The reception which the Annotated Book of Common Prayer has met with during an issue of eight editions in sixteen years has led the publishers to believe that a new edition, carefully revised and enlarged, in accordance with our advanced knowledge, would be acceptable. The present edition has therefore been prepared with, among others, the following improvements : 1. A thoroughly trustworthy text of the whole Prayer Book, such as has not hitherto been accessible. 2. A much enlarged Introduction, embracing in a compact form all that is now known respecting the history of the Prayer Book. 3. The Epistles and Gospels, with all other portions of Holy Scripture, are now printed at length. 4. The Notes on the Minor Saints' Days have been carefully revised, and in most cases re-written. Thomas-a-Kempis' Of the Imitation of Christ. Large Type Edition. Crown Szia. 35. 6d. OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. In Four Books. By Thomas a Kempis. Translated and Edited by the Rev. W. H. Hutchingrs, M.A., Rector of Kirkby M isptrto*, Yorkshire. JUaterloo place, JLonDon. x6 RlVINGTOirS SELECT LIST Luckock on the Prayer Book. Second Edition, Crown Bva. 6t. STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. The Anglican Reform The Puritan Innovations The Eliza- bethan Reaction The Caroline Settlement With Appendices. By Herbert Mortimer Luckock, D.D., Canon of Ely, etc. ' This able and helpful book recom- arranged volume is a valuable contribution mending it emphatically to all educated to liturgical history, which will prove in- members of the entire Anglican community.' teresting to all readers and almost indispen- Church. Quarterly Review. sable to the theological student who has to We heartily commend this very interest- master the history and rationale of the ing and very readable book.' Guardian. Book of Common Prayer.' Notes and 'Dr. Luckock's compact and clearly Queries. Knox Little Mystery of the Passion. Third Edition, Crown 8vo. 3* . 6d. THE MYSTERY OF THE PASSION OF OUR MOST HOLY REDEEMER. By the Rev. W. J. Knox Little, M.A., Canon Residentiary of Worcester and Vicar of Hoar Cross. The Treasury of Devotion. Fifteenth Edition. T$>mo, as. 6d. ; Cloth limp, . ; or bound -with the Book of Common Prayer, 3*. 6d. THE TREASURY OF DEVOTION : a Manual of Prayers for General and Daily Use. Compiled by a Priest. Edited by the Rev. T. T. Carter, M.A. Also an Edition in Large Type, Crown Sva. ss. JHaterloo 33Iace, JUnuon. tvi. ss. OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 17 Williams Female Scripture Characters. New Edition. Crown Zvo. $s. FEMALE CHARACTERS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. A Series of Sermons. By tne Rev. Isaac Williams, B.D., Formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Contents. Eve Sarah Lot's Wife Rebekah Leah and Rachel Miriam Rahab Deborah Ruth Hannah The Witch of Endor Bathsheba Rizpah The ueen of Sheba The Widow of Zarephath Jezebel The Shunammite sther Elisabeth Anna The Woman of Samaria Joanna The Woman with the Issue of Blood The Woman of Canaan Martha Mary Salome The Wife of Pilate Dorcas The Blessed Virgin. Mercier The Story of Salvation. Small 8vff. 3*. 6d. THE STORY OF SALVATION ; or, Thoughts on the Historic Study of the Bible. By Mrs. Jerome Mercier, Author of ' Our Mother Church,' etc. Body The Life of Temptation. Sixth Edition. Crown Svo. 4$. 6d. THE LIFE OF TEMPTATION. A Course of Lectures delivered in sub- stance at St. Peter's, Eaton Square ; also at All Saints', Margaret Street. By the Rev. George Body, D.D., Canon oj Durham. Contents. The Leading into Temptation The Rationale of Temptation Why we are Ten.pted Safety in Temptation With Jesus in Temptation The End of Temptation. Waterloo place, JLonbon. i8 RIVINGTON'S SELECT LIST Knox Little's Manchester Sermons. Second Edition. Crown Svo. -js. 6d. SERMONS PREACHED FOR THE MOST PART IN MANCHESTER. By the Rev. W. J. Knox Little, M.A., Canon Residentiary of Worcester, and Vicar of Hoar Cross. Contents. The Soul instructed by God The Claim of God upon the Soul The Super- natural Powers of the Soul The Soul in its Inner Life The Soul in the World and at the Judgment The Law of Preparation The Principle of Preparation The Temper of Preparation The Energy of Preparation The Soul's Need and God's Nature The Martyr of Jesus The Secret of Prophetic Power The Law of Sacrifice The Comfort of God The Symbolism of the Cross The Beatitude of Mary, the Mother of the Lord. Knox Little The Christian Life. Third Edition. Crown Svo. 3* . 6d. CHARACTERISTICS AND MOTIVES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. Ten Sermons preached in Manchester Cathedral in Lent and Advent 1877. By the Rev. W. J. Knox Little, M.A., Canon Residentiary of Worcester, and Vicar of Hoar Cross. Contents. Christian Work Christian Advance Christian Watching Christian Battle- Christian Suffering Christian Joy For the Love of Man For the sake oi Jesus For the Glory of God The Claims of Christ. Knox Little The Witness of the Passion. Second Edition, Crown Svo. 31. 6d. THE WITNESS OF THE PASSION OF OUR MOST HOLY REDEEMER. By the Rev. W. J. Knox Little, M.A., Canon Residentiary of Worcester, and Vicar of Hoar Cross. (Waterloo jplace, JUttnon. OF RECENT PUBLICA TIONS. 19 Williams's Devotional Commentary. New Edition. Eight Vols. Crown %vo. 5*. each. Sold separately. A DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE. By the Rev. Isaac Williams, B.D., Formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, THOUGHTS ON THE STUDY OF THE HOLY GOSPELS. A HARMONY OF THE FOUR EVANGELISTS. OUR LORD'S NATIVITY. OUR LORD'S MINISTRY (SECOND YEAR). OUR LORD'S MINISTRY (THIRD YEAR). THE HOLY WEEK. OUR LORD'S PASSION. OUR LORD'S RESURRECTION. Voices of Comfort. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 75. 6d. VOICES OF COMFORT. Edited by the Rev. Thomas Vincent Fosbery, M.A., Sometime Vicar of St. Giles's, Oxford. This Volume of prose and poetry, original and selected, aims at revealing the fountains of hope and joy which underlie the griefs and sorrows of life. It is so divided as to afford readings for a month. The keynote of each day is given to the title prefixed to it, such as : ' The Power of the Cross of Christ, Day 6. Conflicts of the Soul, Day 17. The Communion of Saints, Day 20. The Comforter, Day 22. The Light of Hope, Day 25. The Coming of Christ, Day 28.' Each day begins with passages of Holy Scripture. These are fol- lowed hy articles in prose, which are succeeded by one or more short prayers. After these are poems or passages of poetry, and then very brief extracts in prose or verse close the section. The book is meant to mee_t, not merely cases of bereavement or physical suffering, but ' to minister specially to the hidden troubles of the heart, as they are silently weaving their dark threads into the web of the seemingly brightest life.' Also a Oieap Edition. Small Zvo. 33. 6d. CKatetloo place, JLonnon. ao RIVINGTON'S SELECT LIST The Star of Childhood. Fourth. Edition. Royal i6mo. as. 6d, THE STAR OF CHILDHOOD : a First Book of Prayers and Instruction for Children. Compiled by a Priest. Edited by the Rev. T. T. Carter, M.A. With Illustrations after Fra Angelica. The Guide to Heaven. New Edition. i&tno. is. 6d. ; Cloth limp, is. THE GUIDE TO HEAVEN : a Book of Prayers for every Want. For the Working Classes. Compiled by a Priest. Edited by the Eev. T. T. Carter, M. A. Att Edition in Large Type. Crown Zvo. is. 6d. : Cloth limp, is. For Days and Years. New Edition. i6mo. as. 6d. FOR DAYS AND YEARS. A Book containing a Text, Short Reading, and Hymn for Every Day in the Church's Year. Selected by H. 3J. Sidney Lear. Also a Cheap Edition. 32*10, is. : or Cloth gilt, is. 6d. Williams on the Epistles and Gospels. New Edition. Two Vols. Crown Zvo. 5*. each. Sold separately. SERMONS ON THE EPISTLES AND GOSPELS FOR THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. By the Rev. Isaac Williams, B.D., Author of a ' Devotional Commentary on Ou Gospel Narrative.' JJEatetloo Place, JLonuon. OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. Moberly's Parochial Sermons. Crown 8vo. js. 6d, PAROCHIAL SERMONS, chiefly preached at Brighstone, Isle of Wight. By George Moberly, D.C.L., Late Biihof of Salisbury. Contrata. The Night is far spent, the Day is at hand Elijah, the Warner of the Second Advent of the Lord Christmas Epiphany The Rich Man and Lazarus The Seventh Day Rest I will arise and go to my Father Con- . m, a Revival Kor.ih The Law of Liberty Buried with Him in Baptism The Waiting Church of the Hundred and Twenty Whitsun Day. I will not leave you comfortless Whitsun Day. Walking after the Spirit The Marren Fig Tree Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord Feeding the Four Thousand We are debtors He that thinketh he standeth The Strength of Working Prayer Elijah's Sacrifice If thou hadst known, even thou Harvest Thanksgiving Jonadab, the Son of Rechab The Trans- figuration ; Death and Glory Welcome to Everlasting Habitations - Question of the Sadducees. Moberly's Plain Sermons. New Edition. Crown 8v0. 55. PLAIN SERMONS, PREACHED AT BRIGHSTONE. By George Moberly, D.C.L., Late Bi:h.ip of Salisbury. Contents. Except a man be born again The Lord with the Doctors The Draw- Net I will lay me down in peace Ye have not so learned Christ Trinity Sunday My Flesh is Meat indeed The Corn of Wheat dying and multiplied The Seed Corn springing to new life I am the V>'ay, the Truth, and the Life The Ruler of the Sea Stewards of the Mysteries of God Ephphatha The Widow of Nain Josiah's discovery of the Law The Invisible World : Angels Prayers, especially Daily Prayers They all with one consent began to make excuse Ascension Day The Comforter The Tokens of the Spirit Elijah's Warning, Fathers and Children Thou shalt see them no more for ever Baskets full of fragments Harvest The Marriage Supper of the Lamb The Last Judgment. SHatetloo Place, JlonDon. aa RIVINGTOtTS SELECT LIST Luckock Footprints of the Son of Man. Third Edition. Two Voh. Crown Svo. las. FOOTPRINTS OF THE SON OF MAN AS TRACED BY SAINT MARK : being Eighty Portions for Private Study, Family Reading, and Instructions in Church. By Herbert Mortimer Luckock, D.D., Canon of Ely, etc. With an Introduction by the late Bishop of Ely. Goulburn Thoughts on Personal Religion. New Edition. Small Svo. 6s. 6d. THOUGHTS ON PERSONAL RELIGION : being a Treatise on the Christian Life in its two Chief Elements Devotion and Practice. By Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., D.C.L., Dean of Norwich. Also a Cheap Edition. 35. 6d. Presentation Edition, elegantly printed on Toned Paper. Two Vols. Small 8vo. los. 6d. Goulburn The Pursuit of Holiness. Seventh Edition. Small &vo. 5*. THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS: a Sequel to 'Thoughts on Personal Religion,' intended to carry the Reader somewhat farther onward in the Spiritual Life. By Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., D.C.L., Dean of Norwich. Also a Cheap Edition. 3*. fxt. Ktatcrloo Place, JLontion. OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. Goulburn on the Lord's Supper. Sixth Edition. Small Svo. 6s. A COMMENTARY, Expository and Devotional, on the Order of the Administration of the Lord's Supper, according to the Use of the Church of England ; to which is added an Appendix on Fasting Communion, Non-communicating Attendance, Auricular Confes- sion, the Doctrine of Sacrifice, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice. By Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., D.C.K, Dean ofNomrich. Also a Cheap Edition, uniform with ' Thoughts on Personal Religion,' and ' The Pursuit of Holiness.' y. 6d. S. Augustine's Confessions. Cheap Edition. i6tno. as. 6d. Also with Red Borders. Small Svo. $s. THE CONFESSIONS OF S. AUGUSTINE. In Ten Books. Translated and Edited. By the Rev. W. H. Hutchings, M.A., Rector ofKirkby Misferton, Yorkshire. Swayne The Blessed Dead. Crown 80. 3*. dd. THE BLESSED DEAD IN PARADISE : Four All Saints' Day Sermons, preached in Salisbury Cathedral. By Robert G. Swayne, M.A., Chancellor and Canon Residentiary. CCIatcrloo Place, LcmDon. 24 RIVltfGTON'S SELECT LIST Goulburn The Collects of the Day. Tltird Edition. T-aio Vols. Crown Bvo. Zs. each. Sold separately. THE COLLECTS OF THE DAY : an Exposition, Critical and Devotional, of the Collects appointed at the Communion. With Preliminary Essays on their Structure, Sources, and General Character, and Appendices containing Expositions of the Discarded Collects of the First Prayer Book of 1549, and of the Collects of Morning and Evening Prayer. By Edward Meyrick Goulburn, D.D., D.C.L., Dean of Norwich. Contents. VOLUME I. BOOK I. Introductory. On the Excellences of the Collects On the Origin of the word Collect On the Structure of a Collect, as illustrated by the Collect in the Burial Service Of the Sources of the Collects: Of the Sacra- mentary of Leo, of the Sacramentary of Gelasius, of Gregory the Great and his Sacramentary, of the Use of Sarum. and of S. Osmund its Compiler On the Collects of Archbishop Cranmer Of the Restoration Collects, and of John Cosin, Prince-Bishop of Durham Of the Collects, as representing the Genius of the English Church. BOOK II. fait I. The Constant Collect. Part II. Col- lects varying with the Ecclesiastical Season Advent to Whitsunday. VOLUME II. BOOK II. contd. Trinity Sunday to All Saints' Day. BOOK III. On the Collects after the Oertory. APPENDIX A.. Collects in the First Reformed Prayer Book of 1549 which -were suppressed in 1552 The Collect for the First Communion on Christmas Day The Collect for S. Mary Mag- dalene's Day (July 22). APPENDIX B. Exposition of the Collects of Morning and Evening Prayer The Second at Morning Prayer, for Peace The Third at Morning Prayer, for Grace The Second at Evening Prayer, for Peace The Third at Evening Prayer, for Aid against all Perils. Knox Little Good Friday Addresses. New Edition. Small &ve. 2*. ; or in Paper Cover, is. THE THREE HOURS' AGONY OF OUR BLESSED REDEEMER : being Addresses in the form of Meditations delivered in S. Alban's Church, Manchester, on Good Friday 1877. By the Rev. W. J. Knox Little, M.A., Canon Residentiary of Worcester, and Vicar of Hoar Cross. Place, OF RECENT PUBLIC A TIONS. Luckock After Death. Sixtk Edition. Crown Bvo. 6s. AFTER DEATH. An Examination of the Testimony of Primitive Times respecting the State of the Faithful Dead, and their rela- tionship to the Living. By Herbert Mortimer Luckock, D.D., Canon of Ely, etc. Contmlg. PART I. The Test of Catholicity The Value of the Testimony of the Primi- tive Fathers The Intermediate State Change in the Intermediate State Prayers for the Dead : Reasons for Our Lord's Silence on the Subject The Testimony of Holy Scripture The Testimony of the Catacombs The Testi- mony of the Early Fathers The Testimony of the Primitive Liturgies Prayers for the Pardon of Sins of Infirmity, and the Effacement of Sinful Stains The Inefficacy of Prayer for those who died in wilful unrepented Sin. PART II. Primitive Testimony to the Intercession of the Saints Primitive Testimony to the Invocation of. the Saints The Trustworthiness of the Patristic Evidence for Invocation tested The Primitive Liturgies and the Roman Cata- combs Patristic Opinions on the Extent of the Knowledge possessed by the Saints The Testimony of Holy Scripture upon the same Subject The Beatific Vision not yet attained by any of the Saints Conclusions drawn from the fore- going Testimony. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. (/i.) Is a fuller Recognition of the Practice of Praying for the Dead desirable or not? (6.) Is it lawful or desirable to practise Invocation of Saints in any form or not? Table of Fathers, Councils, etc. Passages of Scripture explained or quoted General Index. S. Bonaventure's Life of Christ. Crown 8vo. ys. 6. 51. SELECTION, adapted to the Seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year, from the ' Parochial and Plain Sermons ' of JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, RD., sometime Vicar of S. Mary's, Oxford. Edited by the Rev. W. J. Copeland, B.D., Late Rector of Famham, Essex. Contents. Advent: Self-denial the Test of Religious Earnestness Divine Calls The Ventures of Faith Watching. Christmas Day : Religious Joy. New Year's Sunday: The Lapse of Time. Epiphany: Remembrance of Past Mercies- Equanimity The Immortality of the Soul Christian Manhood Sincerity and Hypocrisy Christian Sympathy. Septuagesima : Present Blessings. Sexa- gesinta: Endurance, the Christian's Portion. Quinquagesima: Love, the One Thing Needful. Lent: The Individuality of the Soul Life the Season of Repentance Bodily Suffering Tears of Christ at the Grave of Lazarus Christ's Privations a Meditation for Christmas The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World. Good Friday : The Crucifixion. Easter Day : Keeping Fast and Festival. Easter-Tide: Witnesses of the Resurrection A Particular Providence as Revealed in the Gospel Christ Manifested in Remembrance The Invisible World Waiting for Christ. A scension : Warfare the Condition of Victory. Sunday after Ascension: Rising with Christ. Whitsunday: The Weapons of Saints. Trinity Sunday: The Mysteriousness of our Pre- sent Being. Sundays after Trinity: Holiness Necessary for Future Blessed- ness The Religious Use of Excited Feelings The Self-wise Inquirer Scrip- ture a Record of Human Sorrow The Danger of Riches Obedience without Love as instanced in the Character of Balaam Moral Consequences of Single Sins The Greatness and Littleness of Human Life Moral Effects of Com- munion with God The Thought of God the Stay of the Soul The Power of the Will The Gospel Palaces Religion a Weariness to the Natural Man The World our Enemy The Praise of Men Religion Pleasant to the Religious Mental Prayer Curiosity a Temptation to Sin Miracles no Remedy for Un- beliefJeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed The Shepherd of our Souls Doing Glory to God in Pursuits of the World. datcrloo Place, JLonBon. OF RECENT PUBLIC A TIONS. 27 Jennings Ecclesia Anglicana. Crown &vo. ^t, 6d. ECCLESIA ANGLICANA. A History of the Church of Christ in England, from the Earliest to the Present Times. By the Rev. Arthur Charles Jennings, M.A., Jesus College, Cambridge, sometime Tyrwhitt Scholar, Crosse Scholar, Hebrew University Prizeman, Fry Scholar ofS, yohn's College, Cants and Scholcfield Prizeman, and Rector of Kings Stanley, Bickersteth The Lord's Table. Second Edition. i6nta. is. ; or Cloth extra, 2S. THE LORD'S TABLE ; or, Meditations on the Holy Communion Office in the Book of Common Prayer. By E. H. Bickersteth. D.D., Bishop of Exeter. 1 We must draw our review to an end, and sincere thanks to Mr. Bickersteth for without using any more of our own words, this goodly and profitable "Companion to except one parting expression of cordial the Communion Service." 'Retard. Manuals of Religious Instruction. New and Revised Editions. Small Svo. 35. 6d. each. Sold separately. MANUALS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. Edited by John Pilkington Norris, D.D., Archdeacon of Bristol and Canon Residentiary of Bristol Cathedral. I. THE CATECHISM AND PRAYER BOOK. II. THE OLD TESTAMENT. III. THE NEW TESTAMENT. 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FROM THE EARLY FATHERS: On the Evidence of God's Existence On the Divinity of Christ On the Doctrine of the Atonement On the Procession of the Holy Spirit On The Church On the Doctrine of the Eucharist C reek and Latin Fathers quoted or referred to in this volume, in their chronological order Glossarial Index. Medd's Bampton Lectures. %vo. i6s. THE ONE MEDIATOR. The Operation of the Son of God in Nature and in Grace. Eight Lectures delivered before the University of Oxford in the year 1882, on the Foundation of the late Rev. John Bampton, M.A., Canon of Salisbury. By Peter Goldsmith Medd, M.A., Rector of North Cerney; Hon. Canon o/S. Alton's, and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop ; late Rector of Barnes ; Formerly Fellow and Tutor o/ University College, Oxford. daterloo 13Iace, Honton. RIVINGTON'S SELECT LIST H. L. Sidney Lear Christian Biographies. Nine Vols. Crown Zvo. y. 6d. each. Sold separately. CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHIES. By H. L. Sidney Lear. 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