Cujus una stilla salvum facere, It is difficult to name any of the minor tricks of writing which St. Thomas has not pressed into his service in this delectable composition. Jingling alliterations, triple rhymes, childish antitheses, but more childish mysticism;-such are the staple commodities of this rhyming dialectician. St. Thomas was as good a logician (for we take this to be the Angelic Doctor) as the Calvinistic disputant, Watts. Both were indifferent rhymesters; but, strange as it may seem, the Catholic was much the worse of the two. We have Johnson's authority for excluding religious topics from the domain of poetry. His reasons need not be repeated; but there is one remark of his which_applies peculiarly to this hymn. It occurs, we believe, in his Life of Waller.-"Whatever is great, desirable, or tremendous, is comprised in the name of the Supreme Being. Omnipotence cannot be exalted; Infinity cannot be amplified; Perfection cannot be improved." We do not question this position; but it is, surely, within the competence of poetry to preserve, if it cannot augment, the natural dignity of such topics. Because they cannot be made more sublíme, it does not follow that they should be rendered mean. The following loose paraphrase will convey but an imperfect notion of the original. It would be difficult, in any translation, to do it the justice it deserves. St. Thomas was a worthy subject for the pen of Sternhold and Hopkins, however unjust they may have been to the merits of David. "Devoutly I adore Thee, latent God, Verily present in these elements Of outward bread and wine! for so my heart, Of sight, and touch, and odour would persuade, Assent, believe, not question, but adore! May my soul feed on thee, and taste thee sweetly! The fountain of thy bosom o'er my soul, From which one drop would purge a guilty world! Beatified in thy beatitude!" This, however, is somewhat too solemn, as well as too free a paraphrase. Let us try it in plain prose. "I adore thee devoutly, Oh latent Deity, who art truly concealed beneath these figures! My whole heart submits itself to Thee, because it is wholly incapable of contemplating Thee. Sight, taste, touch are deceived in Thee; but we safely draw near Thee and believe. I believe whatsoever the Son of God hath said; no truth is truer than that word.* The Deity alone was concealed on the cross; but here his humanity is concealed also. Believing and confessing both, I pray for what was asked by the repentant thief. I do not, like Thomas, see thy wounds, but, nevertheless, I confess Thee to be my God. Make me ever believe more in Thee, hope in Thee, love Thee. Oh, memorial of the Lord's death! true bread, giving life to man, let my mind always live on Thee, and taste thee always sweetly. Pious pelican, Lord Jesu, cleanse me unclean with thy blood, of which one drop could save the whole world from all wickedness. Jesus, whom I now behold veiled, when will that happen which I so much thirst for; that, seeing thy face unveiled, I may be blessed in the sight of thy glory? Amen." Such was the taste of a despotic church and barbarous age! And such were the strains in which the most illustrious of the Catholic sophisters celebrated the doctrine of the TRANSUBSTANTIATION! "Tis a pity," some puritan has said, "that the Devil should have all the good tunes :" he might have added, for aught the Catholic church can shew," and all the good poetry." It is both amusing and instructive, if, indeed, we should not rather say both ludicrous and horrible, to observe that the doctrinal point of St. Thomas Aquinas's ballad was sometimes made the burden of a more melancholy song, and served up at a less innocent spectacle than a high mass. To have criticised these doggrel rhymes in the reign of Henry VIII., with half the freedom we have ventured on at present, would have subjected us to greater inconveniences than we should have had either zeal or faith enough to have incurred. We subjoin a specimen of the mode in which a reviewal of such performances was answered in the days of the bluff tyrant, Hal. The account is contained in a letter of the time-serving prelate, Cranmer, lately published by Mr. Ellis, in his Original Letters, &c., and which the more curious reader may find at length in the second volume of that work, in all the glory of the old original spelling. Having given an account of the atrocious divorce of Queen Katharine, the pliant Archbishop goes on to say, that, "Other news have we none notable, but that one Fryth, which was in the Tower in prison, was appointed by the king's grace to be examined before me, my Lord of London, my Lord of Winchester, my Lord of Suffolk, my Lord Chancellor, and my Lord of Wiltshire, whose opinions were so notably erroneous, that we could not dispatch him, but were fain to leave him to the determination of his Ordinary, (diocesan) which is the Bishop of London. His said opinion is of such nature, that he thought it not necessary to be believed as an article of our faith, that there is the very corporal presence of Christ within the host and sacrament of the altar, and holdeth of this point most after the opinion of Ecolampadius. And, surely, I myself sent for him three or four times to persuade him to leave that his imagination; but for all that we could do therein, he would not apply to any counsel, notwithstanding now he is at a final end with all examinations; for my Lord of London hath given sentence, and delivered him to the secular power, where he looketh every day to go unto the fire." It has somewhere been said by Cicero-we believe in the De Natura Deorum-that mankind had run through every species of superstitious madness, except eating the deity they worshipped. It did not occur to him, that even this might be exceeded by burning those who eschewed the repast, or partook of it "after the opinion of Ecolampadius." : How much wiser the reasoning of the Procureur of that "Abbaye de Chanoines réguliers," whose fame is recorded in the Glutton's Almanack, concerning the same point of doctrine :" Il y a trop de vin dans ce monde pour dire la messe ; il n'y en a point assez pour faire tourner les moulins; donc il faut le boire !" The first passage we shall notice, in what is called the Ordinarium Missæ-the Common Service of the Mass-or, as it is entitled in our Common Prayer, the Communion Service, is the General Confession. It is well known, that the greater part of the Common Prayer is extracted, with more or less alteration, from the Breviary and Missal of the Catholic church. In the following Confession, the change has been so great, as to leave little in the translation of our church, but the general Ecquem tam amentem esse putas, qui illud, quo vescatur, Deum credat esse? idea of the original. Perhaps the greater dignity of the Reformed Confession is no less owing to the difference of doctrine than of style. Both are, undoubtedly, to be considered. The Catholic Confession is little more than a catalogue of saints; whilst the Protestant is a pathetic enumeration of omitted duties, negligences, and offences, which relate to the daily interests of mankind, and are most affecting to the human heart. As to the language, the Latin is rude and barbarous ; whilst the English, in spite of "the gouty joints and darningwork of whereuntos, wherebys, thereofs, therewiths, and the rest," is the pure style of a vigorous and wholesome period of English writing. The theatrical character which pervades the worship of the Romish church, is to be remarked in the prettiness of striking the breast at each self-accusation, in the words 'mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.' 66 "Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Joanni Baptista, Sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis et vobis, fratres" (or by the people, tibi, pater): quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opere." (percutit sibi pectus, dicens) "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideò precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem Archangelum, beatum Joaunem Baptistam, Sanctos Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes Sanctos, et vos fratres, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum." "I confess to almighty God, to the blessed Virgin Mary, to the blessed Archangel Michael, to the blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all saints, and to you, brethren" (or, by the people, (6 to you, Father:) that I have sinned too much in thought, word and deed:" (he strikes his breast, three times, as he repeats) " my fault, my fault, my great fault. Therefore, I beseech the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Archangel Michael, the blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all saints, and you, brethren, to pray for me to the Lord our God." Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive all that is past, and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy name." If compared with the General Confession in the common service, this contrast is still more striking. Of the Gloria in Excelsis,' from which the English is a pure translation, we shall simply observe the difference of the readings in the first sentence. VOL. XII. PART I. We have it," Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good will towards men." How much more convenient, and how muc hmore accordant to practice, is the Latin version," in "in terra, pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis"-" in earth, peace to men of good will!" Of the Nicene Creed, which follows, something may be usefully said both to the Latin and English, the Catholic and Protestant, reader, in the way of verbal explanation. Faith, says the Apostle, comes by hearing; but unless hearing convey ideas, we should hear in vain. We are fully persuaded, that by nine-tenths of the hearers of the Nicene Creed, not a glimpse of its real meaning is perceived. The words as they stand are unintelligible; they require the key of interpretation. "Credo in unum Dominum, filium Dei unigenitum ;-the only-begotten Son." But why, only-begotten? We are told, in the Appendix ad Leviathan, that before the publication of this creed, there were certain heretics who taught that Christ was not the begotten, but adoptive Son of God: others held him to be the Son, but after a different sense from that received by the church. This, therefore, together with the words "Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, verum Deum de vero Deo,-God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God;' that is to say, God begotten of God, is a declaration against that obsolete heresy. For a similar purpose were inserted the words "Genitum, non factum-begotten, not made." The phrase" Light of Light" is more obscure. Luther found a type of Consubstantiation, in red-hot iron; as it contained both light and heat, (or fire and metal, we forget which,) so the sacrament comprised both the body of Christ, and the element of bread; in the language of the schools, paneity and deity. This analogy, however ingenious, wants the merit of novelty. The primitive fathers had adopted a similar mode of illustrating the doctrine of the Trinity. They found their similitude in the triple essence of fire, heat, and light: the fire they assigned to the Father, the light to the Son, and the heat to the Holy Ghost. It unfortunately happens, that these are not three Hypostases, being merely accidents of matter; but the grossness of the age was satisfied with this fantastic simile. Christ, therefore, being the Light, to ensure the doctrine they had just propounded, of his being God begotten of God, they added by way of illustration, that he was also Light of Light; not as attributing a new essence, but only " pro adjutorio fidei," for the confirmation of faith; and to prevent the possibility of error, this was further clenched by the expression" Very God of very God." The remaining obscurity of this creed is contained in the |