And that this discipline coming from the Apostles, the dogmas
concealed under it come also from them, and were deli-
vered in all the Churches
Proofs establishing that the discipline of secrecy was observed
in the first five centuries
For the first, the testimonies of Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius,
Tacitus, Pliny aud Celsus
For the second, of Athenagorus, Justin, Irenæus, the Christians
at Lyons, Tertullian, &c.
For the third, of Minutius Felix, Origen, Zeno, bishop of
Verona
For the fourth, of St. Ambrose, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a Synod
at Alexandria, St. Basil, St. Epiphanius, St. Chrysostom,
Gaudentius, Cyril of Alexandria, St. Augustine
For the fifth, of Theodoret and Pope Innocent I. .
Their apostolical antiquity established by the united testimonies
of Pliny, Justin, St. Cyprian, Firmilian, Epiphanius, the
author of the Apostolical Constitutions, St. Augustine, a
work attributed to Proclus, Pope Celestine
Reflections on the liturgies during the first ages
They were not written then, for fear of discovering the secret
of the mysteries.
They were confided to the memory of the bishops and priests
till the fifth age, when they began to be written
This reserve is inexplicable on Calvinistic notions, and agrees
only with the Catholic doctrine
How we are to distinguish in the liturgies what comes from the
Apostles
That we must attribute to them the dogmas traced out in all
the liturgies at the time when they first appeared, about
the council of Ephesus
All of them uniformly trace out the real presence, the change
of substance, the adoration, the altar, the sacrifice, prayer
for the dead
Passages taken from the liturgy in the 8th Book of the Apos-
tolical Constitutions, from the Roman, Spanish, Gallican
and Greek liturgies, and from the liturgy of Jerusalem
From the liturgies of the Apostles, of Alexandria, Constanti-
nople, Ethiopia, the Jacobites, the Syrians, the Chaldean
Nestorians, the Nestorians of Malabar, the Armenians, &c. 375
These dogmas were therefore believed in the 5th Age through all
the Christian Churches
They are therefore of Apostolic origin, and admit no other
supposition
And at this day all Christians ought to admit and profess them
together with the primitive liturgies
Testimonies of the principal Churches on the apostolicity of
their respective liturgies
Of Innocent 1. and of Gelasius for the Roman liturgy
Of Innocent I. and Isidore of Seville for the Spanish liturgy
Of Irenæus, and Hilduin, Abbé St. Denis, for the liturgy of
the Gauls
Of the General Council in Trullo, and of Firmilian, for the
liturgies of Syria and Jerusalem
Of Leontius for the liturgy of Constantinople
Of Rufinus and the ancient Coptic authors for the liturgies of
Ethiopia, Alexandria and Egypt
H. Tomlinson, Printer, Stone.
|