Nec teneras segetes, sed durum amplectere ferrum, Fastor. lib. iv. And their Ambervalia were dedicated to Ceres, which they solemnized with certain rites and ceremonies. Virgil gives us an account of them. Cuncta tibi Cererem pubes agrestis adoret ; Georg. lib. i. And do not Papists the like on their Rogationdays? Are not the very same rites and ceremonies observed? Did they go about their fields singing, and praying that the gods would bless the fruits of the earth? Our Romanists do the same. Did a priest go before clothed in white? The same ceremony is observed in the Roman church. All travellers who have seen their processions on these days, will tell us, that one egg is not more like another, than these are to the Pagan Robigalia and Ambarvalia. I will conclude this with the words of Hadrianus Junius; " Robigalia, Ambarvalia, Amburbalia, continuæ tres feriæ, quibus supplicabatur ad urbis, agrorum, et segetis calamitates avertendas: ad eorum exemplum instituti suppliciorum, supplicationumve dies hodie religi osi babentur." The Robigalia, Ambarvalia, and Amburbalia, were three continued festivals, on which they supplicated the gods to divert evils from the city, fields, and fruits; in imitation of these were our Rogation-days instituted, &c.— Nomenclat. p. 374. And though this book hath been revised by their great masters, and some other passages censured and commanded to be expunged in their Index Expurgatorius; yet these words are passed by with a kind salute, as most consonant to the sentiments of their church. THE FEAST OF ST. PHILIP AND JAMES, OR MAY-DAY. Historians tell us, that Flora made the people of Rome heir to those goods which she had gotten by prostituting her body to young gentlemen. Leaving also a certain sum of money for the solemnization of her birth-day. Which the people being ashamed to do by reason of her infamy, they feigned her to be the goddess of flowers, and that she must be first appeased by sports and plays performed in honour of her, before the trees and fruits of the earth would prosper. And that they might gain the more credit to this fable and fiction, they add further, that she was once called Chloris, and was married unto Zephyrus, from whom, by way of dowry, she received power over the flowers.-Ovid. Fastor. lib. v. These sports were observed on the four last days of April, and the first of May; and hence is that of Ovid, Fastor. lib. 5. Incipis Aprili, transis in tempora Maii : Alter te fugiens, cum venit alter, habet. This festival was solemnized with great disorders and exorbitances: strumpets did then run through the streets naked, using many lascivious and obscene gestures and speeches.—Alexander ab Alex. in Genial. dierum, lib. vi. cap. 8; Gyraldus de Diis Gentium, Syntag. i. p. 42. The story concerning Cato is well known, who, being come into these Floralian plays, (in which all impieties were committed,) he was forced, upon the account of his gravity, to depart. Hence is that of Martial: Nosses jocosæ dulce cum sacrum Floræ, An ideo tantum veneras, ut exires! Gyraldus, ibid. The rites and ceremonies of this feast are largely described by Ovid, Fastor. lib. v. Quærere conabar, quare lascivia major His foret in ludis, liberiorq. jocus: Sed mihi succurrit, numen non esse severum, Et latet injectâ splendida mensa rosâ. Ebrius incinctis Philyra conviva capillis Nec liquidæ vinctis flore bibuntur aquæ. And how like to these Floralian sports is the fetching in of May, (as some call it,) or Maygames in the Roman church, and some other countries, not thoroughly purged from the dregs of popery? I will not entertain the reader with a description of them, which hath been done by others in our own language; but conclude this with the words of their Polydor Virgil: "The sportful youth of both sexes goes into the fields, and brings back the green branches of trees, with songs, dances," &c. These things seem to be taken from the old Romans, by whom Flora, the goddess of all fruits, was lasciviously worshipped. -De Inventor. Rerum. lib. v. cap. 2. These instances are sufficient to prove this assertion, that the Roman church doth symbolize with the old Pagans in the observation of their festivals; wherein they follow the counsel and advice of Gregory the Great to Mellitus.-Beda Histor. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 30. 229 CHAPTER XXIV. MASS CEREMONIES. The Pagan priests observed several ceremonies in their sacrifices and solemn ministrations; and that herein they are imitated by our Romanists in the mass, will appear in these following particulars. 1. The Pagan priests used many turnings in their sacrifices; and these had their mystical significations.-Dempster in Rosin. de Antiq. Roman. p. 324; Gyraldus de Diis Gent. Syntag. xvii. p. 499; Alexander ab Alexand. in Genial. dier. lib. iv. cap. 17; and Tiraquellus Annot. in eund. Atq. aliquis modo trux, visâ jam vertitur arâ, Ovid Fastor. lib. iii. Cumq. manus puras fontanâ perluit undâ, Vertitur. Ovid Fastor. lib. iii. And that they turned on their right hand, is affirmed by Gyraldus, syntag. xvii. p. 502; Alex |