Ritual. He has felt that, since the Romanists required an unqualified assent lo the whole of the Breviary, and that there were passages which no Anglican ever could admit, praise the true Catholic portion of it as much as he might, he did not in the slightest degree approximate to a recommendation of Romanism. But to return;—these Invocations and Services to the Blessed Virgin have been above enumerated, with a view of observing that, on the very face of them, they do not enter into the structure of the Breviary; they are really, as they are placed, additions, and might easily have been added at some late period, as (e.g.) was the case with our own Thanksgiving, or the Prayer for the Parliament. This remark seems to apply to all the intrinsically exceptionable Addresses in the Breviary; for as to the Confession at Prime and Compline, in which is introduced the name of the Blessed Virgin and other Saints, this practice stands on a different ground. It is not a simple gratuitous Invocation made to them, but it is an address to Almighty God in His heavenly court, as surrounded by His Saints and Angels, answering to St. Paul's charge to Timothy, "before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels," and to Daniel and St. John's address to the Angels who were sent to them. The same may even be said of the Invocation "Holy Mary and all Saints[1]," &c. in the Prime Service, which Gavanti describes as being of very great antiquity. These usages certainly now do but sanction and encourage that direct worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, which is the great practical offence of the Latin Church, and so are a serious evil; but it is worth pointing out, that, as on the one hand they have more claim to be considered an integral part of the service, so on the other, more can be said towards their justification than for those addresses which are now especially under our consideration.
This is what occurs to observe on the first sight of these Invocations; but we are not left to draw a conjectural judgment about them. Their history is actually known, and their recent introduction into the Church Services is distinctly confessed by Roman ritualists.
- ↑ It is observable that the words "Holy Mary" do not occur in the ancient Monastic Breviaries. The Confession at Prime and Compline does not occur in the Paris Breviary, 1735.
