ter to Decentius,' bishop of Eugubium, that it was the general custom of the Italic Churches to give the kiss of peace, not before the consecration, but after: for it blames those, that gave it before, and says, it ought to come after, as a testimony of their consent to all that was done, and as a seal of the consecration-prayer, to signify that all was ended. Turtullian probably upon this account gave it the name of "Signaculum orationis, the seal of their prayers ;” being in his time used, when all the prayers of conseeration were ended. He seems to intimate also, that it was given promiscuously, and without distinction between men and women. For, among other arguments, which he uses, why a Christian woman should not marry an heathen, this is one," that he would be unwilling to suffer her to go into the prisons to kiss the martyrs chains, or at any other times to give the kiss of peace to a brother." And this is

as plainly intimated by the ancient writer of the Passion of Felicitas and Perpetua, about Tertullian's time, when he says, “that Felicitas, Perpetua, and Saturus did mutually kiss each other before they suffered, that they might consummate their martyrdom by the solemn rite of peace." Alluding to the usual custom of giving the kiss of peace without distinction, though it was otherwise observed in the Greek Church. There is one thing more proper to be observed out of Tertullian," that some made a scruple of giving the kiss of peace upon a fast day, though it were but

Ante jam

'Innoc. Ep. i. ad Decent. cap. i. Pacem ergo asseris ante confecta mysteria quosdam populis imperare, vel sibi inter sacerdotes tradere: cùm post omnia, quæ aperire non debeo, pax sit necessario indicenda, per quam constet populum, ad omnia quæ in mysteriis aguntur, atque in ecclesiâ celebrantur, præbuisse consensum, ac finita esse pacis concludentis signaculo demonstrentur. Tertul. de Orat. cap. xiv. 8 Ad Uxor. lib. ii. cap. iv. Quis patietur alicui fratrum ad osculum convenire? Passio Perpetuæ ad calcem Lactant. de Mort. Perfec. p. 35. osculati invicem, ut martyrium per solennia pacis consummarent. Tertul. de Orat. cap. xiv. Alia jam consuetudo invaluit, jejunantes habitâ oratione cum fratribus subtrahunt osculum pacis, quod est, signaculum orationis. Quando autem magis conferenda cum fratribus pax est. nisi cum oratione commendabilior ascendit ?- -Quæ oratio cum divortio sancti osculi integra? Quem Domino officium facientem impedit pax? Quale sacrificium est, à quo sine pace receditur? &c.

a private fast of their own; whom he reproves, telling them, "that the kiss of peace was the seal of prayer; that it was never more proper than when joined with prayer; that there was no prayer perfect without peace; that peace was no impediment to a man in doing his duty to the Lord; that whatever reason they had for it, their reason was not stronger than the observation of the precept, which obliges us to conceal our fasts. Whereas, when we refrain from the kiss of peace, that discovers us to be fasting. We may at home omit this ceremony of giving the peace, because there our fasts cannot be wholly concealed from the family; but in other places, where you may conceal your action, you ought to remember the precept of the Lord; and so you may observe the discipline of the Church abroad, and your own custom at home." Tertullian, we see, speaks this of private fasts, which he thinks no reason for men's refusing the kiss of peace in public. As to public fasts, the case was otherwise. For by the laws of the Church, this ceremony was omitted on some more solemn days of fasting. As upon the day of our Saviour's passion. For Tertullian adds immediately in the next words,' that on that day, because it was a public and common fast, ordained by the laws of the Church, they omitted the kiss of peace, and no one then regarded the omission, because it was done by general consent and agreement. And this seems to have been an exception of universal extent in the Church: for Procopius notes it in the Life of Justinian and Theodora, who began their reign on this day, Anno 527, that they began it with an ill omen, on a day, that no one used the kiss of peace in the Church. And thus much of this ancient ceremony, so often enjoined by the Apostle, Rom. xvi. 16. 1 Cor. xvi. 20, 2 Cor. xiii. 12. 1 Thes. v. 26. 1 Pet. v. 14. of which some have written whole volumes: but I content myself to have said so much, as may serve to confirm the observation

Tertul. de Orat. cap. xiv. Die Paschæ, quo communis et quasi publica jejunii religio, deponimus osculum; nihil curantes de osculando, quod cum omnibus faciamus. Procop. Hist. Arcana. cap. ix.

8 Mullerus de Osculo Sancto. Jenæ 1675. 4to. Martin Kempius de Osculo, &c. Lipsiæ, 1665.

made upon the Author of the Constitutions, that this was an ancient rite universally observed in the Church in one part or other of the communion-service.

SECT. 4. Thirdly, Washing of Hands before Consecration,

The next thing mentioned in the Constitutions, is the ceremony of the priest's washing his hands before consecration. This is also noted by Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Mystagogical Explication of the communion-service, where, speaking to the newly baptised, he says, "Ye have seen the deacon bring water to the bishop and presbyters, standing about the altar, to wash their hands. Did he give it to wash the filth of their bodies? By no means. For we do not use to go into the Church with bodies defiled: but that washing of hands is a symbol, that you ought to be pure from sin and transgressions of the law. For the hands are the symbol of action, and washing them denotes the purity and cleanness of our actions. Have you not heard holy David explaining this mystery, and saying, I will wash my hands among the innocent, and so will I compass thine altar, O Lord: therefore washing the hands, is a symbol or indication, that we are not obnoxious or liable unto sin." The Author of the Questions upon the Old and New Testament, under the name of St. Austin, takes notice of the same custom as used in all Churches, only with this difference, that whereas in other Churches it was commonly the office of the deacons to bring water to priests, in the Roman Church it was devolved upon the subdeacons, because there was a multitude of inferior clergy in that Church above many others. And in the Author, under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, a great deal more may be read to the same purpose.

1

' Cyril. Catech. Myst. v. n. 1. Aug. Quæst. Vet. et Novi Testamenti. q. 101. Ut autem non omnia ministeria obsequiorum per ordinem agant, multitudo facit clericorum. Nam utique et altare portarent et vasa ejus, et aquam in manus funderent sacerdoti, sicut videmus per omnes ecclesias, &c.

SECT. 5.-Fourthly, The Deacon's Admonition to all Non-Communicants to withdraw; and to all Communicants to come in Charity and Sincerity.

In the next place, whereas in the Constitutions the deacon is appointed again to make a solemn proclamation, ordering all non-communicants, catechumens, penitents, and unbelievers, to be excluded; and admonishing all communicants to approach in charity and sincerity, not in enmity with their brethren, or in hypocrisy towards God, but in reverence and fear: the very same is suggested by Chrysostom: "Dost thou not hear the deacon, the herald of the Church, standing and crying, All ye that are under penance, be gone.' be gone.' All they that do not partake of the communion, are in penance. If thou art in penance, thou mayest not partake." And Severianus, bishop of Gabala, in one of his Homilies among St. Chrysostom's works, speaks of the same: "Ye have seen the deacons traversing the Church, and crying, let no catechumen be present, none of those, that may not see the heavenly blood shed for the remission of sins, &c. Ye remember after this, how the angels from heaven sing the hymns and praises, saying, Holy is the Father, holy is the Son, holy is the Holy Ghost.'" By which it is plain, these admonitions of the deacon were here repeated as preparatory to the oblation,

SECT. 6. Of the 'Piridia, or Fans, to drive away Insects.

The circumstance of the 'Piridia, or Fans, to drive away the insects, is so minute, that it is no great wonder it should be omitted in most other writers beside the Constitutions. Bona says, they are mentioned in Jobius* and Germanus Theoria, and the Liturgies that go under the name of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil. Suicerus thinks,*

1 Chrys. Hom. iii. in Ephes. p. 1051. Ap. Chrys. tom. vi. Hom. xxxvii. de Filio Prodigo. p. 375. See before, book xiii. chap. vi. sect. 6. Vide Chrys. Hom. i. contra Judæos. tom. i. p. 400. 'EжIуivάOKETE ἀλλήλες. &c. Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. i. cap. xxv. n. 6.

Jobius ap, Photium. cod. ccxxii. Voce 'Pinidiov. tom. ii.

V

4 Suicer. Thesaur. Eccles.

that in most of those writings the word, 'Pidu, signifies one of their holy vessels, a basket or the like, in which they were used to carry the sacred elements to and from the altar; such as that spoken of by St. Jerom, when describing the glorious poverty of Exuperius, bishop of Tholouse, he says, he was used to carry the Lord's body in a basket of osiers, and the blood in a glass cup. And indeed in Herodotus,' the word, 'Piridov, is by some lexicographers said to signify a basket: but in the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and Basil, it is taken in the common sense of Greek authors, and as it is used in the Constitutions, for a fan to blow with. For in Chrysostom's Liturgy the deacon is to ventilate, or blow over the elements with a fan; or if there be no fan, then to do it with the covering of the cup. And in St. Basil's Liturgy there is mention made of the same utensils," "Piridov й кáλvμμa, either the fan or the covering of the cup," to be used for the same purpose. And so the word, 'Piridov, is taken both by Germanus, and Jobius, and Suidas. So that there was no reason for Suicerus to reckon the Author of the Constitutions so singular in this opinion. But as these authors are not very ancient, I have mentioned them rather to explain an hard word, than establish an ecclesiastical custom. St. Jerom's authority is produced by Durantus, but it is nothing to the purpose: for though he mentions the use of muscaria, that is, fans; yet it is plain he speaks of them not as any ecclesiastical utensil, but as a civil present made by Marcella to the matrons, though he gives a tropological turn of wit, to draw something of a mystical meaning out of them. So I let this matter pass as a minute circumstance in the Constitutions, about which it is

Hieron. Ep. v. ad Rusticum. Nihil illo ditius, qui corpus Domini canistro vimineo, sanguinem portat in vitro. 2 Chrys. Liturg. Bibl. Patr. Gr. Lat. tom. ii. p. 78. Ριπίζει ἐπάνω τῶν ἁγίων μετὰ ῥιπίδιο εὐλαβῶς. εἰ δὲ ἐκ ἔτι ριπίδιον, ποιεῖ τότο μετὰ καλύμματος. Basil. Liturg. ibid. p. 51. * German. Contemplatio Rer. Eccles. ibid. p. 157. Jobius ubi supra. Suidæ Lexicon. tom. ii. p. 686. 5 Durant. de Ritib. lib. i. cap. x. n. 2. Hieron. Ep. xxx. ad Marcellam. Quod autem et matronis offertis muscaria parva, parvis animalibus eventilandis, elegans significatio est, debere luxuriam citò restinguere, quia muscæ morituræ oleum suavitatis exterminant.

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