noisome smell, by reason of the concourse of the people, may be expelled.-Bellar. lib. ii. de Missa, cap. 15. 3. To represent the sweet odour of Christ.-St. German. in Theoria. 4. To signify that our prayers are to be directed unto God.-Psa. cxl.; St. Thomas, p. 3, quæst. 83, art. 5. To expel devils.-Innocent III. lib. 2. cap. 17; Thesaurus S. Rituum, pars. ii. tit. 4. p. 161. Durand gives us some other pretty reasons and mystical significations of this ceremony, which I must pass over for brevity sake.-Ration. lib. iv. cap. 31. num. 1, 2, 3.

The heathen burnt lamps and torches in their sacrifices. Gyrald. de diis Gent. syntag. 17. passim; Natal. Com. Mythol. lib. i. cap. 10; Apuleius de Asino Aureo, lib. xi. Ceres, mother of Proserpine, was called Tædifera, because at her sacrifices this ceremony was constantly observed.

Illic accendit geminas pro lampade pinus:
Hinc Cereris sacris nunc quoq. tæda datur.
Ovid. Fust. lib. 4.

Thus our Romanists have wax-candles burning at their mass.-Conc. Trident. Sess. xxii. And several most weighty reasons are urged by Gavantus for this usage, and most profound mysteries discovered in it: 1, The Ordo Romanus requireth lights in the mass, in type of that light of which we make sacraments, and without which we shall

grope at noon-day as in the night. 2. This light also signifieth the faith of the people, whom the candlesticks represent.-Innocent III. or the charity of Christ in his sacrifice. 3. Because Christ, as fire, takes away the filthiness of our sins.Biel. Lect. 13. 4. Because we expect the Bridegroom with light. 5. To excite and stir up devotion.-Soto 4. Dist. 13. q. 2. art. 4. 6. To express eternal joy, represented by this sacrament.Thesau. S. Rituum, par. i. tit. 20. p. 105.

6. The heathen used pipes and trumpets in their sacrifices.-Gyrald. de diis Gent. syntag. 17. p. 499; Rosin. Antiq. Rom. lib. iii. cap. 33; Alex. ab Alex. Gen. Dier. lib. iv. cap. 17; Nat. Com. Mythol. lib. i. cap. 15. And that the ancients used them instead of bells, Durand hath confessed.-Ration. lib. i. cap. 4. num. 3.

Thus our Romanists ring a little bell at the mass.-Durand Rational. lib. iv. cap. 41; Gavant. par. i. tit. 20, p. 106. And in a solemn mass they ring the great bells.-Gavant. par. ii. tit. 7, p. 197.

7. The heathen did eat little round wafers, after the sacrifices were over, in honour of the gods to whom they were offered.-Alexand. ab Alex. Genial. dier. lib. iv. cap. 17; Pollux Onomast. lib. vi. cap. 6.

Thus our Romanists have their round wafers or hosts, which after the priest's consecration and oblation, the people eat. And their Durand hath

discovered excellent mysteries in this figure: "The bread (saith he) is made round in the form of a penny, to signify, that the Bread of life was sold for thirty pence; that the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; and that Christ is without either beginning or end.-Ration. lib. iv. cap. 30, num. 8, and cap. 41, num. 8. And not less witty is their Gemma animæ de Antiq.-Ritu. Miss. lib. i. cap. 35.

And the image of the cross impressed on the host is derived by Gavantus from the old Romans, Imago vero crucis in Hostia deducitur a Romanorum usu, qui panem coquebant quadrifida incisione in formam crucis decussatam, ex quo laudabilior est imago crucifixi tantum in hostia, quam aliud quicquam." The image of the cross in the host is deduced from the custom of the Romans, who made their bread with an incision in the form of a cross, &c.-Thesau. S. Rituum, par. ii. tit. 7. p. 182.

It were easy to instance in many other particulars; but these are sufficient to prove the conformity of our Romanists with the old Pagans in their mass-ceremonies.

CHAPTER XXV.

PROCESSIONS.

THAT Our Romanists in their processions imitate the old pagans, will appear, if we consider these particulars:

1. In their processions some ludicrous show preceded. "Behold (saith Apuleius) the Anteludia of this great procession, leisurely walking on here one playeth the soldier, with his sword and belt about him; there another acteth the huntsman, with his short coat girt close, with a woodknife, or fauchion at his side, and hunting-pole in his hand. Another, clad in purple, acts the supreme magistrate, and has the fasces carried before him. I have also seen (saith he) a tame bear dressed up like a lady, carried in a horselitter, and an ape with a woven cap on his head.” -De Asino Aureo, lib. xi.

And for the better entertaining of the rude eople, they carried also a certain ludicrous

image, which the Latins call Citeria;* they ordinarily derive it from Kirra and épeiv, alluding therein to the loquacity of the magpie; for this image was made to chatter something like that bird. Plautus makes mention of another formidable idol, that was carried in their processions, which he calls Manducus; it was a great ugly image, with a wide mouth riven up to the ears, and gaping horribly, and making a gnashing with its teeth, to the great terror of the simple. Of this Mormo Juvenal speaks, who saith, “That it scares the children of the rustics in their mother's bosom by its wide gapings."

"Personæ pallantis hiatum

In gremio matris formidat rusticus infans."

And the like is done by papists in their processions. "In the pomp (saith Polydor Virgil) of our supplications or processions, there uses some ludicrous show to precede; as ranks of soldiers, horse and foot, or some chattering image, ridiculous and loquacious, or else gaping with wide chaps, and making a gnashing noise with its teeth, very formidable to behold, with other sportful sights; amongst which the ancient prophets are personated, and boys with wings go singing, as if they were of the heavenly quire of

* Quid ego cum illo disertem amplius, quem ego denique credo in pompa vectitatum in ludis pro Citeria, atque cum spectatoribus sermo-cinathrum ?-Cato in M. Cecilium apud Festum.

4