A church dictionary (part 2 of 8)

A church dictionary (part 2 of 8)

BOHEMIAN BRETHREN. A sect which sprung up in Bohemia in the year 1467. In 1503 they were accused by the Roman Catholics to King Ladislaus II., who published an edict against them, forbidding them to hold any meetings, either privately or publicly. When Luther declared himself against the Church of Rome, the Bohemian Brethren endeavoured to join his party. At first, that reformer showed a great aversion to them; but the Bohemians sending their deputies to him in 1535, with a full account of their doctrines, he acknowledged that they were a society of Christians whose doctrine came near to the purity of the gospel. This sect published another confession of faith in 1535, in which they renounced anabaptism, which they at first professed; upon this an union was concluded with the Lutherans, and afterwards with the Zuinglians, whose opinions from thenceforth they continued to follow.

BOUNTY, QUEEN ANNE’S. (See Annates.)

BOWING AT THE NAME OF JESUS. (See East.) It is enjoined by the eighteenth canon of the Constitutions of the Church of England, that “When in time of Divine service the LORD JESUS shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it hath been accustomed; testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures, their inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment that the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the true eternal SON of GOD, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of GOD to mankind, for this life and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised.” We do not bow when our LORD is spoken of as CHRIST; for when we speak of him as the CHRIST, we speak of his office, the anointed, the prophet, priest, and king of our race, which implies his Divine nature. But JESUS is the name of his humanity, the name he was known by as man; whenever, therefore, we pronounce that name, we bow, to signify that he who for our sakes became man, is also GOD.

With reference to turning to the east when we say the Creed, and bowing at the name of JESUS, Dr. Bisse remarks: As to the first, it was the custom of the ancient Church to turn to the altar or east, not only at the confessions of faith, but in all the public prayers. And therefore Epiphanius, speaking of the madness of the impostor Elxæus, counts this as one instance of it among other things, that he forbade praying towards the east. (Lib. i. Hæres. 18.) Now this is the most honourable place in the house of GOD, and is therefore separated from the lower and inferior parts of the Church, answering to the Holy of Holies in the Jewish tabernacle, which was severed by a veil from the sanctuary; and the holy table or altar in the one answers to the mercy-seat in the other. As then the Jews worshipped, “lifting up their hands towards the mercy-seat,” (Psal. xxviii. 2,) and even the cherubim were formed with their faces looking towards it, (Exod. xxv. 19,) so the primitive Christians did in their worship look towards the altar, of which the mercy-seat was a type. And therefore the altar was usually called “the tabernacle of GOD’S glory,” his “chair of state,” “the throne of GOD,” “the type of heaven,” “heaven itself:” for these reasons did they always in praying look towards it. But in rehearsing our Creeds this custom is still more proper and significant, for we are appointed to perform it “standing;” by this posture declaring our resolution to stand by, or defend, that faith, which we have professed: so that all these times we resemble, not so much an assembly, as an army: as then in every well-marshalled army all look and move one way, so should we always do in a regular assembly; but especially at the confessions of faith all “CHRIST’S faithful soldiers” should show, by this uniformity of gesture, that they hold the unity of faith.

The other usage, of bowing at the name of JESUS, seems founded on that Scripture, where it is declared, that “GOD hath given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of GOD the FATHER,” (Isa. xlv. 23; Phil. ii. 9,) &c. Now though the rubric be silent herein, yet the canon of our Church thus enjoins. Now if such reverence be due to that great and ever-blessed name, when it is mentioned in the lesson or sermon, how much more in the Creeds, when we mention it with our own lips, making confession of our faith in it, adding the very reason given in the canon, that we believe in him as “the only SON,” or “only-begotten SON of GOD,” the SAVIOUR of the world; and when too we do this “standing,” which is the proper posture for doing reverence!—Dr. Bisse.

BOWING TO THE ALTAR. A reverent custom still practised at Windsor chapel, in college chapels and cathedrals, of which the synod of 1640 said, “We heartily commend it to all good and well-affected people, that they be ready to tender to the LORD their reverence and obeisance, both at their coming in and going out of church, according to the most ancient custom of the primitive Church in the purest times.” “In the practice or omission of this rite, we desire that the rule of charity prescribed by the apostle may be observed, which is, that they which use this rite despise not those who use it not, and they who use it not, condemn not them who use it.”

BOYLE’S LECTURE. A lecture founded under the will of the Hon. Robert Boyle, in 1691, which consists of a course of eight sermons, to prove the truth of Christianity against infidels, and to answer new difficulties, &c., without entering into controversies existing among Christians.

BRANDENBURG, CONFESSION OF. A formulary, or confession of faith, drawn up in the city of Brandenburg by order of the elector, with a view to reconcile the tenets of Luther with those of Calvin, and to put an end to the disputes occasioned by the Confession of Augsburgh.

BRASSES. Monumental slabs of brass, much used in the middle ages, with effigies carved in outline upon them. An historical and descriptive account of brasses used as sepulchral memorials would occupy too much space for this work. Perhaps as much of the history as we shall be expected to give is included in the following paragraph from the “Manual of Monumental Brasses,” (Oxford, 1848,) to which we may refer for a full discussion on this subject.

“The earliest brass of which we have any record was that of Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208, thus mentioned by Leland, “He lyith afore the highe altare of S. Paule’s chirch in Bedeford, with this epitaphie graven in bras, and set on a flat marble stone:—

De Bello Campo jacet hic sub marmore Simon Fundator de Neweham.”

Several others of the thirteenth century, now lost, are enumerated by Gough.”

At the present time, the earliest brass known is that of Sir John d’Abernon, 1277; one other of the same century still remains at Trumpington. From this period their numbers gradually increased until about the middle of the sixteenth century, when they became less common. The latest observed example is at St. Mary Cray, Kent, 1776. It is remarkable that the earliest brasses are quite equal, in beauty of form and execution, to any of a later date. From the early part of the fifteenth century a gradual decline of the art is visible, and towards the end of the sixteenth century it became utterly degenerate.

It seems needless to add, that the interest of brasses is derived, in a great degree, from the light which they throw on mediæval costume, and the habits of our ancestors. The destruction of brasses at the Reformation was great; at the Rebellion still greater. The mention of this spoliation by Drake, the historian of York, is worth volumes of mere particulars. “Let no man hereafter say, ‘Exegi monumentum ære perennius;’ for now an æris sacra fames has robbed us of most of the ancient monumental inscriptions that were in the church. At the Reformation this hairbrained zeal began to show itself against painted glass, stone statues, and grave-stones, many of which were defaced and utterly destroyed, along with other more valuable monuments of the church, till Queen Elizabeth put a stop to these most scandalous doings by an express act of parliament. In our late civil wars, and during the usurpation, our zealots began again these depredations on grave-stones, and stripped and pillaged to the minutest piece of metal. I know it is urged that their hatred to Popery was so great, that they could not endure to see an “orate pro animâ,” or even a cross, over a monument without defacing it; but it is plain that it was more the poor lucre of the brass, than zeal, which tempted these miscreants to this act, for there was no gravestone which had an inscription cut on itself that was defaced by anything but age throughout this whole church.”

BRAWLING. The act of quarrelling, and, in its more limited and technical sense, the act of quarrelling within consecrated precincts. If any person shall, by words only, quarrel, chide, or brawl in any church or churchyard, it shall be lawful unto the ordinary of the place, where the same offence shall be done, and proved by two lawful witnesses, to suspend every person so offending; if he be a layman, from the entrance of the church; and if he be a clerk, from the ministration of his office, for so long time as the said ordinary shall think meet according to the fault. (5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 4, s. 1.)

BREVIARY. A daily office or book of Divine service in the Romish Church. So called from being a compilation in an abbreviated form, convenient for use, of the various books anciently used in the service, as antiphoners, psalters, &c. After the prayers of the liturgy, or missal, those held in the greatest veneration by Roman Catholics are the prayers contained in the church office, or canonical hours. This office is a form of prayer and instruction combined, consisting of psalms, lessons, hymns, prayers, anthems, versicles, &c., combined in an established order, separated into different hours of the day. It is divided into seven, or rather eight parts; and, like the English liturgy, it has a reference to the mystery or festival celebrated. The festival, and therefore the office, begins with vespers, i. e. with the evening prayer, about six o’clock, or sunset. This office is called, on the eves of Sundays and holidays, the first Vespers. Next follows compline, to beg GOD’S protection during sleep. At midnight come the three nocturns, as they are called, or matins, the longest part of the office. Lauds, or matin lauds, or the morning praises of GOD, are appointed for the cock-crowing, or before the break of day. At six o’clock, or sunrise, prime shall be recited; and tierce, sext, and none, every third hour afterwards. (See Canonical Hours.) These canonical hours of prayer are still regularly observed by many religious orders, but less regularly by the secular clergy, even in the choir. When the office is recited in private, though the observance of regular hours may be commendable, it is thought sufficient if the whole be gone through any time in the twenty-four hours. The church office, exclusive of the mass and occasional services, is contained in what is called the breviary. In consequence of a decree of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V. ordered a number of learned and able men to compile the breviary; and by his bull, Quod a nobis, July, 1566, sanctioned it, and commanded the use thereof to the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church all over the world. Clement VIII., in 1602, finding that the breviary of Pius V. had been altered and depraved, restored it to its pristine state; and ordered, under pain of excommunication, that all future editions should strictly follow that which he then printed at the Vatican. Lastly, Urban VIII., in 1631, had the language of the whole work, and the metres of the hymns, revised. The value which the Church of Rome sets upon the breviary, may be known from the strictness with which she demands the perusal of it. Whoever enjoys any ecclesiastical revenue; all persons of both sexes, who have professed in any of the regular orders; all subdeacons, deacons, and priests, are bound to repeat, either in public or in private, the whole service of the day, out of the breviary. The omission of any one of the eight portions of which that service consists is declared to be a mortal sin, i. e. a sin that, unrepented, would be sufficient to exclude from salvation. The person guilty of such an omission loses all legal right to whatever portion of his clerical emoluments is due for the day or days wherein he neglected that duty, and cannot be absolved till he has given the forfeited sums to the poor. Such are the sanctions and penalties by which the reading of the breviary is enforced. The scrupulous exactness with which this duty is performed by all who have not secretly cast off their spiritual allegiance is quite surprising. The office of the Roman Catholic Church was originally so contrived, as to divide the psalter between the seven days of the week. Portions of the old Scriptures were also read alternately, with extracts from the legends of the saints, and the works of the fathers. But as the calendar became crowded with saints, whose festivals take precedence of the regular church service, little room is left for anything but a few psalms, which are constantly repeated, a very small part of the Old Testament, and mere fragments of the Gospels and Epistles.

The lessons are taken partly out of the Old and New Testaments, and partly out of the Acts of the Saints, and writings of the holy fathers. The LORD’S Prayer, the Hail Mary, or Angelical Salutation, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Confiteor, are frequently said. This last is a prayer, by which they who use it acknowledge themselves sinners, beg pardon of GOD, and the intercession on their behalf of the angels, of the saints, and of their brethren upon earth. No prayers are more frequently in the mouths of Roman Catholics than these four; to which we may add the doxology, repeated during the psalmody in every office, but though not uniformly at the end of every psalm, and in other places. In every canonical hour a hymn is also said, often composed by Prudentius, or some other ancient father. The Roman breviary contains also a small office, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and likewise what is called the office of the dead. We there find, also, the penitential and the gradual psalms, as they are called, together with the litanies of the saints, and of the Virgin Mary of Loretto, which are the only two that have the sanction of the Church. The breviary is generally printed in four volumes, one for each season of the year.

BRIEFS (see Bulls) are pontifical letters issued from the court of Rome, sealed in red wax, with the seal of the fisherman’s ring: they are written in Roman characters, and subscribed by the secretary of briefs, who is a secretary of state, (usually either a bishop or a cardinal,) required to be well versed in the legal style of papal documents, and in the sacred canons. The word Brief, in our Prayer Book, signifies the sovereign letters patent, authorizing a collection for a charitable purpose; as they are now styled, Queen’s letters. These are directed to be read among the notices after the Nicene Creed.

BROACH. In strictness any spire, but generally used to signify a spire, the junction of which with the tower is not marked by a parapet. Lancet and Geometrical spires are generally thus treated; Decorated, frequently; Perpendicular, rarely.

BULL in Cœna Domini. This is the name given to a bull in the Church of Rome, which is publicly read on the day of the LORD’S supper, viz. Holy Thursday, by a cardinal deacon in the pope’s presence, accompanied with the other cardinals and the bishops. The same contains an excommunication of all that are called, by that apostate Church, heretics, stubborn and disobedient to the holy see. And after the reading of this bull, the pope throws a burning torch into the public place, to denote the thunder of this anathema. It is declared expressly, in the beginning of the bull of Pope Paul III., of the year 1536, that it is the ancient custom of the sovereign pontiffs to publish this excommunication on Holy Thursday, to preserve the purity of the Christian religion, and to keep the union of the faithful; but the original of this ceremony is not inserted in it. The principal heads of this bull concern heretics and their upholders, pirates, imposers of new customs, those who falsify the bulls and other apostolic letters; those who abuse the prelates of the Church; those that trouble or would restrain ecclesiastical jurisdiction, even under pretence of preventing some violence, though they might be counsellors or advocates, generals to secular princes, whether emperors, kings, or dukes; those who usurp the goods of the Church, &c. All these cases are reserved to the pope, and no priest can give absolution in such a case, if it be not at the point of death. The Council of Tours, in 1510, declared the bull in Cœna Domini void in respect of France, which has often protested against it, in what relates to the king’s prerogative, and the liberties of the Gallican Church; and there are now but few other Popish princes or states that have much regard to it. So much has the authority of the papal chair declined since the Reformation, even over those who still remain in the communion of what they call the Roman Catholic Church.

BULLS (see Briefs) are pontifical letters, in the Romish Church, written in old Gothic characters upon stout and coarse skins, and issued from the apostolic chancery, under a seal (bulla) of lead; which seal gives validity to the document, and is attached, if it be a “Bull of Grace,” by a cord of silk; and if it be a “Bull of Justice,” by a cord of hemp.

The seal of the fisherman’s ring corresponds, in some degree, with the privy seal; and the bulla, or seal of lead, with the great seal of England.

The bulla is, properly, a seal of empire. The imperial bulla is of gold; and it was under a seal of this description that King John resigned the crown of England to the Pope.

BRIEFS and BULLS differ from each other.

1. BRIEFS are issued from the Roman court by the apostolic secretary, sealed with red wax by the fisherman’s ring. BULLS are issued by the apostolic chancellor, under a seal of lead, having on one side impressed the likeness of St. Peter and St. Paul; and, on the other, the name of the reigning pope.

2. BRIEFS are written upon fine and white skins. BULLS, upon those which are thick, coarse, and rude.

3. BRIEFS are written in Roman characters, in a legible, fair, and elegant manner. BULLS, though in Latin, are written in old Gothic characters, without line or stop, or that regard to spelling which is observed in briefs.

4. Briefs are dated “a die nativitatis;” BULLS dated “a die incarnationis.”

5. BRIEFS have the date abbreviated; BULLS have it given in length.

6. BRIEFS begin in a different form, with the name of the pope: thus “Clem. Papa XII. &c.” BULLS begin with the words “[Clemens] Episcopus servus servorum Dei;” by way of distinct heading.

7. BRIEFS are issued before the pope’s coronation, but BULLS are not issued till afterwards. (See on this subject, Corrad. in Praxi Dispens. lib. ii. c. 7, n. 29; Rosam de Executione Liter. Apostol. c. 2, n. 67; Cardinal de Luca. in relat. Romanæ Curiæ, discurs, 7, and other canonists.)

Notwithstanding the above-mentioned differences between BRIEFS and BULLS, and that greater weight is usually attached to a bull than to a brief, on account of its more formal character, still BRIEFS have the same authority as BULLS on all the matters to which they relate; both being equally acts of the pope, though issued from different departments of his Holiness’s government.

BURIAL. (See Cemetery, Dead.) Christians in the first centuries used to bury their dead in the places used also by the heathen, in caves or vaults by the wayside, or in fields out of their cities. The heathen used to burn the bodies of the dead, and collect the ashes in urns, but Christians thought it to be a barbarity and insult to destroy a body appointed to a glorious resurrection. They therefore restored the older and better practice of laying the remains decently in the earth. Their persecutors, knowing their feelings on this subject, often endeavoured to prevent them from burying their dead, by burning the bodies of their martyrs, as they did that of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna; or by throwing their ashes into rivers, as they did those of the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne in France, A. D. 177. And although the heathen seemed to think it unlucky and of evil omen to perform their funerals by day, carrying out their dead after night-fall, and by torch-light; the Christians used to follow their deceased friends to the grave, in the light of the sun, with a large attendance of people walking in procession, sometimes carrying candles in token of joy and thanksgiving, and chanting psalms. It was also the custom, before they went to the grave, to assemble in the church, where the body was laid, and a funeral sermon was sometimes preached. The holy communion was administered on these occasions to the friends of the deceased, for which a service, with an appropriate Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, was set forth in our own Church in the First Book of King Edward VI., and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1560. The office for the Burial of the Dead used by the English Church corresponds in all respects with the offices of the primitive Church, particularly as regards the psalms, the anthem, “Man that is born of a woman,” &c., and the portions of Scripture appointed to be read.

No person can be buried in the church, or in any part of it, without the consent of the incumbent, to whom alone the common law has given this privilege, because the soil and freehold of the church is in the parson only. But upon the like ground of freehold, the common law has one exception to the necessity of the leave of the parson, namely, where a burying-place within the church is prescribed for as belonging to a manor house. By the common law of England, any person may be buried in the churchyard of the parish where he dies, without paying anything for breaking the soil, unless a fee is payable by prescription, or immemorial usage. But ordinarily a person may not be buried in the churchyard of another parish than that wherein he died, at least without the consent of the parishioners or churchwardens, whose parochial right of burial is invaded thereby, and perhaps also of the incumbent whose soil is broken; but where a person dies on his journey or otherwise, out of the parish, or where there is a family vault or burial-place in the church, or chancel, or aisle of such other parish, it may be otherwise. Burial cannot be legally refused to dead bodies on account of debt, even although the debtor was confined in prison at the time of his death.

By canon 68. “No minister shall refuse or delay to bury any corpse that is brought to the church or churchyard, (convenient warning being given him thereof before,) in such manner and form as is prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. And if he shall refuse so to do, except the party deceased were denounced excommunicated majori excommunicatione, for some grievous and notorious crime, (and no man able to testify of his repentance,) he shall be suspended by the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by the space of three months.” But by the rubric before the office for Burial of the Dead, the said office likewise shall not be used for any that die unbaptized, or that have laid violent hands upon themselves. The proper judges, whether persons who died by their own hands were out of their senses, are doubtless the coroner’s jury. The minister of the parish has no authority to be present at viewing the body, or to summon or examine witnesses. And therefore he is neither entitled nor able to judge in the affair; but may well acquiesce in the public determination, without making any private inquiry. Indeed, were he to make one, the opinion which he might form from thence could usually be grounded only on common discourse and bare assertion. It cannot be justifiable to act upon these in contradiction to the decision of a jury after hearing witnesses upon oath. Even though there may be reason to suppose that the coroner’s jury are frequently too favourable in their judgment, in consideration of the circumstances of the family of the deceased with respect to the forfeiture, and their verdict is in its own nature traversable, yet the burial may not be delayed until that matter upon trial shall finally be determined. On acquittal of the crime of self-murder by the coroner’s jury, the body in that case not being demanded by the law, it seems that the clergyman may and ought to admit that body to Christian burial.

The rubric directs that the priests and clerks meeting the corpse at the entrance of the churchyard, and going before it either into the church or towards the grave, shall say or sing as is there appointed. By which it seems to be discretionary in the minister, whether the corpse shall be carried into the church or not. And there may be good reason for not bringing it into the church, especially in cases of infection.

Canon 67. After the party’s death there shall be rung no more than one short peal, and one before the burial, and one other after the burial.

The corpse that is buried belongs to no one, but is subject to ecclesiastical cognizance, if abused or removed; and a corpse, once buried, cannot be taken up or removed without licence from the ordinary, if it is to be buried in another place, or the like; but in the case of a violent death the coroner may take up the body for his inspection, if it is interred before he comes to view it.—Dr. Burn.

With reference to the Order for the Burial of the Dead in the Book of Common Prayer, we must note that the ignorance and corruption of the latter centuries had not vitiated any of the sacred administrations more than this of burial; on which the fancies of purgatory and prayers for the dead had so great an influence, that most of the forms now extant consist of little else but impertinent and useless petitions for the dead. Our Protestant reformers therefore, remembering St. Augustine’s rule, that all this office is designed rather for the comfort of the living, than the benefit of the dead, have justly rejected these superstitions; and contrived this present form wholly for the instruction, admonition, and comfort of the attendants on this solemnity, and therein have reduced this matter to its prime intention and use. It is not easy to tell exactly what the primitive form of burial was; but the psalms were a principal part of it, as all the fathers testify. They are now also a chief part of this office, and the rest is generally taken out of Holy Scripture, being such places as are most proper to the occasion, so as to form altogether a most pious and practical office.—Dean Comber.

Although all persons are for decency to be put under ground, yet that some are not capable of Christian burial appears not only from the canons of the ancient Church, but also from the following rubric prefixed to our office at the last review: “Here it is to be noted, that the office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves.”

The persons capable of Christian burial are only those within the pale of the Church, for the rubric excludes all others from this privilege; which is agreeable to the sense of all nations, who have generally thought fit to punish some kinds of malefactors with the want of these rites after their death, as well to afflict the criminal, while he lives, with apprehensions of the disgrace to be done to his body, which is naturally dear to all men; as to perpetuate the odium of the crime, while the corpse is exposed to public scorn after the offender hath parted with his life. Thus murderers were punished among the Romans: and among the Greeks, robbers of temples and sacrilegious persons, as also those that betrayed their country, with divers other notorious transgressors. But none have been so justly and so universally deprived of that natural right, which all men seem to have in a grave, as those who break that great law of nature, the law of self-preservation, by laying violent hands upon themselves. Among the Jews, these were forbidden to be buried, and among the ancient Romans also. And when many of the Milesian virgins made themselves away, the rest were restrained from so vile a crime by a decree, that whosoever so died, she should not be buried, but her naked body should be exposed to the common view. And, to confirm the equity of these customs, we find the Christian councils, as well abroad as at home, have forbidden the clergy to bury those that killed themselves; as doth also our present rubric in imitation of those ancient constitutions. And for very great reason, namely, to terrify all from committing so detestable and desperate a sin, as is the wilful destroying of GOD’S image, the casting away of their own souls, as well as their opportunities of repentance: the Church hereby declaring, that she hath little hopes of their salvation, who die in an act of the greatest wickedness, which they can never repent of after it be committed.

To these are to be added all that die under the sentence of excommunication, who in the primitive times were denied Christian burial also, with the intent of bringing the excommunicated to seek their absolution and the Church’s peace for their soul’s health, ere they leave this world; and, if not, of declaring them cut off from the body of CHRIST, and by this mark of infamy distinguishing them from obedient and regular Christians.

This office is also denied to infants not yet admitted into the Church by baptism; not so much to punish the infants, who have done no crime, as the parents, by whose neglect this too often happens. And perhaps this external and sensible kind of punishment may move them to be more careful to accomplish the office in due time, than higher and more spiritual considerations will do.

Not that the Church determines anything concerning the future state of those that depart before they are admitted to baptism; but since they have not been received within the pale of the Church, we cannot properly use an office at their funeral, which all along supposes the person that is buried to have died in her communion.

Whether this office is to be used over such as have been baptized by the dissenters or sectaries, who have no regular commission for the administering of the sacraments, has been a subject of dispute; people generally determining on one side, or the other, according to their different sentiments of the validity or invalidity of such disputed baptisms.—Wheatly.

All other persons that die in the communion of the visible Church are capable of these rites of Christian burial, according to the rules and practice both of the primitive and the present ages.—Dean Comber.

Though this rubric was not drawn up till 1661, and none of the regulations which it enjoins, excepting only what relates to persons excommunicate, was before that time specified in any of our articles, or ecclesiastical constitutions, yet it must not be considered as a new law, but merely as explanatory of the ancient canon law, and of the previous usage in England.—Shepherd.

The Order for the Burial of the Dead is much modified from the service in the First Book of King Edward VI. The psalms were the 116th, 139th, and 146th: the prayers were in many respects different; and there are certain passages omitted in the Second Book. The psalms in the First Book were omitted in the subsequent revisals, and the lesson was recited after the anthem, “I heard a voice from heaven:” and the present psalms were not inserted till the last Review.

At solemn funerals it has not been unusual to combine the Burial Service with the office of Evening Prayer, substituting the psalms and lessons for those of the day; but the regularity of this usage is questionable.—Jebb.

BUTTRESS. An external support to a wall, so arranged as to counteract the lateral thrust of roofs and vaulting.

The buttress is not used in Classic architecture, where the thrust is always vertical; and in Romanesque it is hardly developed. It is, in fact, a correlative of the pointed arch, especially when used in vaulting, and so first attains considerable depth in the Lancet period. In the Tudor period, when it had to support fan vaulting of vast expanse and weight, its depth or projection was proportionably increased.

The flying buttress, arch-buttress, or cross-springer, is an arch delivering the weight to be supported at a distance, as of a spire at the angle of the tower, of a clerestory at the aisle buttress, or of the chapter-house roof at Lincoln, to the heavy masses of masonry prepared at a distance to receive it.

The pinnacles which frequently terminate buttresses are intended to add to the weight of the supporting mass. (See Bay.)

CABBALA. (Hebrew.) Tradition. Among the Jews, it principally means the mystical interpretations of their Scriptures, handed down by tradition. The manner in which Maimonides explains the Cabbala, or Traditions of the Jews, is as follows: “God not only delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sina, but the explanation of it likewise. When Moses came down from the mount, and entered into his tent, Aaron went to visit him, and Moses acquainted Aaron with the laws he had received from GOD, together with the explanation of them. After this, Aaron placed himself at the right hand of Moses, and Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, were admitted; to whom Moses repeated what he had just before told to Aaron. These being seated, the one on the right, the other on the left hand of Moses, the seventy elders of Israel, who composed the Sanhedrim, came in. Moses again declared the same laws to them, with the interpretations of them, as he had done before to Aaron and his sons. Lastly, all who pleased of the common people were invited to enter, and Moses instructed them likewise in the same manner as the rest. So that Aaron heard four times what Moses had been taught by GOD upon Mount Sina; Eleazar and Ithamar three times; the seventy elders twice; and the people once. Moses afterwards reduced the laws, which he had received, into writing, but not the explanations of them; these he thought it sufficient to trust to the memories of the above-mentioned persons, who, being perfectly instructed in them, delivered them to their children, and these again to theirs, from age to age.”

The Cabbala, therefore, is properly the Oral Law of the Jews, delivered down, by word of mouth, from father to son; and it is to these interpretations of the written law our Saviour’s censure is to be applied, when he reproves the Jews for “making the commands of GOD of none effect through their traditions.”

Some of the Rabbins pretend that the origin of the Cabbala is to be referred to the angels; that the angel Raziel instructed Adam in it; the angel Japhiel, Shem; the angel Zedekiel, Abraham, &c. But the truth is, these explications of the Law are only the several interpretations and decisions of the Rabbins on the Law of Moses; in the framing of which they studied principally the combinations of particular words, letters, and numbers, and by that means pretended to discover clearly the true sense of the difficult passages of Scripture.

This is properly called the Artificial Cabbala, to distinguish it from simple tradition: and it is of three sorts. The first, called Gematria, consists in taking letters as figures, and explaining words by the arithmetical value of the letters of which they are composed. For instance, the Hebrew letters of Jabo-Schiloh (Shiloh shall come) make up the same arithmetical number as Messiach (the Messiah): from whence they conclude that Shiloh signifies the Messiah.

The second kind of Artificial Cabbala, which is called Notaricon, consists in taking each particular letter of a word for an entire diction. For example, of Rereschith, which is the first word of Genesis, composed of the letters B. R. A. S. C. H. J. T., they make Bura-Rakia-Arex-Schamaim-Jain-Tehomoth, i. e. he created the firmament, the earth, the heavens, the sea, and the deep. Or in forming one entire diction out of the initial letters of many: thus, in Atah-Gibbor-Leholam-Adonai, (Thou art strong for ever, O LORD,) they put the initial letters of this sentence together, and form the word Agla, which signifies either, I will reveal, or, a drop of dew, and is the Cabbalistic name of GOD.

The third kind, called Themura, consists in changing and transposing the letters of a word: thus of the word Bereschith (the first of the book of Genesis) they make A-betisri, the first of the month Tisri, and infer from thence that the world was created on the first day of the month Tisri, which answers very nearly to our September.

The Cabbala, according to the Jews, is a noble and sublime science, conducting men by an easy method to the profoundest truths. Without it, the Holy Scriptures could not be distinguished from profane books, wherein we find some miraculous events, and as pure morality as that of the law, if we did not penetrate into the truths locked up under the external cover of the literal sense. As men were grossly deceived, when, dwelling upon the sensible object, they mistook angels for men; so also they fall into error or ignorance when they insist upon the surface of letters or words, which change with custom, and ascend not up to the ideas of GOD himself, which are infinitely more noble and spiritual.

Certain visionaries among the Jews believe that our blessed LORD wrought his miracles by virtue of the mysteries of the Cabbala. Some learned men are of opinion, that Pythagoras and Plato learned the Cabbalistic art of the Jews in Egypt; others, on the contrary, say the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato furnished the Jews with the Cabbala. Most of the heretics, in the primitive Christian Church, fell into the vain conceits of the Cabbala; particularly the Gnostics, Valentinians, and Basilidians.—Broughton.

CABBALISTS. Those Jewish doctors who profess the study of the Cabbala. In the opinion of these men, there is not a word, letter, or accent in the law, without some mystery in it. The first Cabbalistical author that we know of is Simon, the son of Joachai, who is said to have lived a little before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. His book, entitled Zohar, is extant; but it is agreed that many additions have been made to it. The first part of this work is entitled Zeniutha, or Mystery; the second Idra Rabba, or the Great Synod; the third, Idra Latta, or the Little Synod, which is the author’s last adieu to his disciples.—Broughton.

CAINITES, or CANIANS. Christian heretics, a sect of the Gnostics of the second century: they were called according to Cain’s name, who, they say, was formed by a celestial and almighty power, and that Abel was made by a weak one: they held that the way to be saved was to make trial of all manner of things, and to satisfy their lusts with all wicked actions: they fancied a great number of angels, to which they gave barbarous names, attributing to each of them a particular sin; so that when they were about any wicked action, they invoked the angel whom they fancied to preside over it. They composed a book called St. Paul’s Ascension to Heaven, which they filled with blasphemies and execrable impieties, as if they were the secret words which that apostle heard in his ecstasy: they had a particular veneration for Cain, Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, the Sodomites, and especially for Judas, on whose Gospel they relied, because his treachery occasioned the death of CHRIST; and they made use of a Gospel that bore that false disciple’s name.

CALENDAR. The word calendar is derived from calendæ, the first day of the Roman month. Our calendar in the Prayer Book consists of several columns. The first shows the days of the month in their numerical order; the second contains the letters of the alphabet affixed to the days of the week; the third, as printed in the larger Common Prayer Books, (and as it ought to be in all,) has the calends, nones, and ides, which was the method of computation used by the old Romans and primitive Christians, and is still useful to those who read ecclesiastical history.

The last four columns contain the course of lessons for morning and evening prayer for ordinary days throughout the year. The intermediate column, namely, the fourth, contains, together with the holy days observed by the Church of England, such Popish holy days as it was thought best to retain. The reasons why the names of these saints’ days and holy days were resumed into the calendar are various. Some of them being retained upon account of our courts of justice, which usually made their returns on these days, or else upon the days before or after them, which were called in the writs, Vigil., Fest., or Crast., as in Vigil. Martin, Fest. Martin, Crast. Martin, and the like. Others are probably kept in the calendar for the sake of such tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and others, as are wont to celebrate the memory of their tutelar saints: as the “Welshmen do of St. David, the shoemakers of St. Crispin, &c. And again, churches being in several places dedicated to some or other of these saints, it has been the usual custom in such places to have wakes or fairs kept upon those days; so that the people would probably be displeased, if, either in this, or the former case, their favourite saint’s name should be left out of the calendar. Besides, the histories which were writ before the Reformation do frequently speak of transactions happening upon such a holy day, or about such a time, without mentioning the month, relating one thing to be done at Lammas-tide, and another about Martinmas, &c.; so that were these names quite left out of the calendar, we might be at a loss to know when several of these transactions happened. For this and the foregoing reasons our second reformers under Queen Elizabeth (though all those days had been omitted in both books of King Edward VI., excepting St. George’s day, Lammas day, St. Laurence, and St. Clement, which two last were in his Second Book) thought convenient to restore the names of them to the calendar, though not with any regard of being kept holy by the Church. For this they thought prudent to forbid, as well upon the account of the great inconveniency brought into the Church in the times of Popery, by the observation of such a number of holy days, to the great prejudice of labouring and trading men, as by reason that many of those saints they then commemorated were oftentimes men of none of the best characters. Besides, the history of these saints, and the accounts they gave of the other holy days, were frequently found to be feigned and fabulous. An effort to reform the calendar was made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but was never carried into effect. By the acts 24 Geo. ii. c. 23, and 25 Geo. ii. c. 30, the calendar was reformed, and the new style introduced: in consequence of which the calendar (only so far as its astronomical errors were concerned) has attained to that form in which it is now prefixed to the Prayer Book. See Stephens’s Book of Common Prayer, with notes, where both the ancient and modern calendar are given at length.—Wheatly.

CALL TO THE MINISTRY. There are two sorts of motions or calls to the ministry. First, the outward; whereby those who have a right of recommending a person to the execution of any ecclesiastical office, do fix upon him as one in their judgment qualified for it; and the bishop, approving their judgment, does admit him into such office in due manner, as the laws of GOD and the rites of the Church do require. But the inward call is something preceding this, and is required by our Church as a qualification for the latter. Now it has been some matter of doubt what is meant here by being “inwardly moved by the HOLY GHOST.” But I think no one can judge, that the compilers of this office did ever entertain such enthusiastical notions, as to imagine that no persons were to be admitted into any degree of the ecclesiastical orders, without having a special revelation from the HOLY SPIRIT, that GOD had particularly commissioned them to take upon them that office, as St. Paul says of himself, that he was “an apostle called of GOD.” (Rom. i. 1; 1 Cor. i. 1.) For such calls as these were miraculous and extraordinary, and remained not much longer than the apostolical times. It remains, therefore, that this motion or call must be something in a more ordinary and common way.

Now we know that the Scripture teaches, that the common and ordinary graces, and all good dispositions and resolutions, are attributed to the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD. “Every good and perfect gift cometh from above.” (Jam. i. 17.) “It is GOD that worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure.” (Phil. ii. 13.) The apostle calls the ordinary graces of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, “the fruits of the SPIRIT.” (Gal. v. 22, 23.) Thus the belief of the gospel is called “the spirit of faith.” (2 Cor. iv. 13.) And it is said expressly, that “no one saith that JESUS is the LORD, but by the HOLY GHOST.” (1 Cor. xii. 3.) Now, I conceive, all that is here meant by “inward motion of the HOLY GHOST,” is his ordinary motion, by which Christians are stirred up to every good resolution which they make, or good action which they do. And whereas a resolution to take upon one the office of the ministry, without any bad design mixing with it, is a good resolution, so he that takes it up may be properly said to be moved by the HOLY GHOST to do it. For it must be undoubtedly owned, that such a resolution is a good and pious one, since the apostle says plainly, laying it down as an undoubted truth, “This is a true saying, if a man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” (1 Tim. iii. 1.) And, to be sure, in those times it seldom happened, that this or any other ecclesiastical office was desired, but only from a pure view of doing good. For these were exposed the foremost to the rage of the persecutors, and men must be actuated by a noble zeal for the gospel, to lay themselves under the necessity of being exposed to the most grievous sufferings, or laying down their lives for the sake of it. And in these times, likewise, men may, and frequently, I doubt not, do, take upon them the ecclesiastical employs upon very good aims. Therefore the meaning of this question is, whether, after an impartial examination of their hearts, they find that they do not take this sacred employ upon them, barely for a maintenance in the world, or that thereby they may acquire those superior dignities and profits, which in these peaceable ages of Christianity some of the clergy do partake of; but only that they think they may be serviceable in GOD’S vineyard, and are willing to contribute the best of their labours therein, “for the promoting of GOD’S glory and the edifying of his people.” I do not think the question intends, that all who are to be ordained should profess that they would be desirous of this office, though there were no temporal advantages attending it, and though it exposed men not only to starving, but to apparent persecution and death; for then most, even the best persons, as times go now, might justly scruple the answering to such a question: but I take it to mean no more than that, since they are to take upon them some employ or other for their own subsistence and the benefit of the community, they choose to take upon them the office of the ministry, wherein they think they can act more for GOD’S glory and the benefit of their Christian brethren, than by exercising any temporal calling; and that they verily believe, that it was not without the assistance of GOD’S good Spirit that they formed this judgment and resolution.—Dr. Nicholls.

The candidate for deacon’s orders has the question of the inward call put to him thus: Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the HOLY GHOST, to take upon you this office and ministration to serve GOD, in promoting his glory, and the edifying of his people?

This is a great question indeed, and that which no man can give a true and positive answer to, without having searched narrowly into his own heart, and seriously considered the bent and inclinations of his soul. But it is a question very necessary to be propounded, for the HOLY GHOST now supplies the place and room of our blessed SAVIOUR in his Church militant here on earth. And therefore, as it was by him that the several offices themselves were at first constituted, so it is by him that men are called to the execution of them; and it is by him alone that all ecclesiastical ministrations, performed by such officers, are made effectual to the purposes for which they are appointed; and therefore the Church is bound to take care that none be admitted into her ministry but such as she believes and hopes to be called to it by the HOLY GHOST. But she can have no ground to believe this, but only from the persons themselves, none but themselves being acquainted with the motions of GOD’S Spirit upon their own hearts. And therefore the bishop requires them to deal plainly and faithfully with him and the Church, and to tell him whether they really trust that they are moved by the HOLY GHOST to take this office upon them? To which every one is bound to answer, “I trust so:” not that he knows it, or is certain of it, for it is possible that his heart may deceive him in it, but that he trusts or hopes it is so.

But what ground can any one have to trust that he is moved by the HOLY GHOST to take the ministry upon him? To that I answer in short, that if a man finds that, upon due examination, the bishop of the diocese, where he is to serve, is satisfied of his abilities and qualifications for the ministry; and that his great end and design in undertaking it is to serve GOD, for the promoting of his glory and the edifying of his people; he hath good grounds to trust, that he is moved to it by the HOLY GHOST, it being only by him that any man can be duly qualified for it, and moved to take it upon him, out of so good and pious a design as that is. But if either of these things be wanting; as, if a man be not fitted for the office, he may conclude he is not called to it by the HOLY GHOST, for he neither calls nor useth any but fit instruments in what he doth; or, if a man be moved to it out of a design, not to do good, but to get applause or preferment in the world, he may thence infer that he is not moved to it by the Spirit of GOD, but by the spirit of pride and covetousness, and then can have no ground to expect that the HOLY GHOST should ever bless and assist him in the execution of his office. According to these rules, therefore, they who are to be ordained may discern whether they can truly give the answer required to this great question that will be propounded to them. As for their qualifications for it, the bishop hath already approved of them; but as to their main end and design in undertaking the ministry, that must be left to GOD and their own consciences, who alone know it, and so can best judge whether they can truly say that they “trust they are moved to it by the HOLY GHOST.”—Bp. Beveridge.

The following is Calvin’s definition of the inward call in his book of Institutes, which being published about ten years before the Ordinal of Edward the Sixth, might probably be a guide to our Reformers in framing this question: “That it is the good testimony of our own heart, that we have taken this office, neither for ambition, covetousness, nor any evil design, but out of a true fear of GOD, and a desire to edify the Church.” Now this we may know by duly considering, whether it were the external honours and revenues that are annexed to this profession, or any other worldly end, that first or chiefly did incline us to the ministry. If so, we were moved by carnal objects, and led on by our own corrupt will and affections. But if our principal motives were spiritual, that is, a zeal for GOD’S glory, and a desire to promote the salvation of souls, then we were “moved by the SPIRIT, and inwardly called by GOD.” I grant we cannot but know there are honours and rewards piously and justly annexed to this holy function; and, as men, we cannot but hope for a competency of them; yea, this may be a subordinate motive. But I may say of the priesthood, as CHRIST of the kingdom of heaven, it must be sought in the first place for itself, and the other only as additional consequences thereof. (Matt. vi. 33.) We must love the duties of this calling; reading, study, praying, preaching, &c., more than the rewards. Yea, if persecution should ever strip the Church of these provisions, as it hath often done, we must not cast off our holy ministrations. (1 Cor. ix. 16.)

This inward call thus explained is the first and one of the principal qualifications for him that is to be employed about heavenly things. And therefore it is inserted, not only into ours, but other reformed offices for ordination; where it is inquired, “if they believe that GOD by the Church calls them to this ministry, and if they did not seek for worldly riches or glory,” as in the liturgy of the Belgic Church. Our candidates know this question will be asked: wherefore let them examine their hearts strictly, and answer it in the sincerity of their souls; not doubting but that good SPIRIT, who excited them to this work, will assist and bless all their performances.—Dean Comber.

We may here observe, that the first question put to those who are to be ordained priests, concerning their being moved by the HOLY GHOST to take that office upon them, is now omitted. For, these having been ordained deacons before, it is supposed that they were then moved by the SPIRIT OF CHRIST to take the ministry of his gospel upon them, and there is no need of any further call from him. For being once called by him, though it was but to the lowest office of his own institution, the Church takes it for granted that it is his pleasure they should be promoted to any higher office, if there be sufficient reason and occasion for it.—Bp. Beveridge.

CALOYERS. A general name given to the monks of the Greek Church. It is taken from the Greek καλεγόροι, which signifies “good old men.”—Hist. des Ord. Relig. P. i. cap. 19. These religious consider St. Basil as their father and founder, and look upon it as a crime to follow any other rule than his. There are three degrees among them; the novices, who are called Archari; the ordinary professed, called Microchemi; and the more perfect, called Megalochemi. They are likewise divided into Cœnobites, Anchorets, and Recluse.

The Cœnobites are employed in reciting their office from midnight to sunset; and as it is impossible, in so long an exercise, they should not be overtaken with sleep, there is one monk appointed to wake them; and they are obliged to make three genuflexions at the door of the choir, and, returning, to bow to the right and left to their brethren. The Anchorets retire from the conversation of the world, and live in hermitages in the neighbourhood of the monasteries. They cultivate a little spot of ground, and never go out but on Sundays and holidays, to perform their devotions at the next monastery; the rest of the week they employ in prayer and working with their hands. As for the Recluse, they shut themselves up in grottos and caverns on the tops of mountains, which they never go out of, abandoning themselves entirely to Providence. They live on the alms sent them by the neighbouring monasteries.

In the monasteries, the religious rise at midnight, and repeat a particular office, called from thence Mesonycticon; which takes up the space of two hours: after which, they retire to their cells till five o’clock in the morning, when they return to the church to say matins. At nine o’clock they repeat the Terce, Sexte, and Mass; after which they repair to the refectory, where is a lecture read till dinner. Before they leave the refectory, the cook comes to the door, and, kneeling down, demands their blessing. At four o’clock in the afternoon, they say vespers; and at six go to supper. After supper, they say an office, from thence called Apodipho; and at eight, each monk retires to his chamber and bed till midnight. Every day, after matins, they confess their faults on their knees to their superior.

They have four Lents. The first and greatest is that of the Resurrection of our Lord. They call it the Grand Quarantain, and it lasts eight weeks. During this Lent, the religious drink no wine, and their abstinence is so great, that if they are obliged, in speaking, to name milk, butter, or cheese, they always add this parenthesis, Timitis agias saracostis, i. e. “Saving the respect due to holy Lent.” The second Lent is that of the holy Apostles, which begins eight days after Whit-Sunday: its duration is not fixed, it continuing sometimes three weeks, and at other times longer. During this Lent, they are allowed to drink wine. The third Lent is that of the Assumption of our Lady: it lasts fourteen days; during which they abstain from fish, excepting on Sundays, and the day of the Transfiguration of our Lord. The fourth Lent is that of Advent, which they observe after the same manner as that of the Apostles.

The Caloyers, besides the usual habit of the monastic life, wear over their shoulders a square piece of stuff, on which are represented the cross, and the other marks of the passion of our Saviour, with these letters, JC. XC. VC., i. e. Jesus Christus Vincit.

All the monks are obliged to labour for the benefit of their monastery, as long as they continue in it. Some have the care of the fruits, others of the grain, and others of the cattle. The necessity the Caloyers are under of cultivating their own lands, obliges them to admit a great number of lay-brothers, who are employed the whole day in working.

Over all these Caloyers there are visitors or exarchs, who visit the convents under their inspection, only to draw from them the sums which the patriarch demands of them. Yet, notwithstanding the taxes these religious are obliged to pay, both to their patriarch and to the Turks, their convents are very rich.

The most considerable monastery of the Greek Caloyers in Asia, is that of Mount Sinai, which was founded by the emperor Justinian, and endowed with sixty thousand crowns revenue. The abbot of this monastery, who is also an archbishop, has under him two hundred religious. This convent is a large square building, surrounded with walls fifty feet high, and with but one gate, which is blocked up to prevent the entrance of the Arabs. On the eastern side there is a window, through which those within draw up the pilgrims in a basket, which they let down by a pulley. Not many miles beyond this, they have another, dedicated to St. Catharine. It is situated in the place where Moses made the bitter waters sweet. It has a garden, with a plantation of more than ten thousand palm-trees, from whence the monks draw a considerable revenue. There is another in Palestine, four or five leagues from Jerusalem, situated in the most barren place imaginable. The gate of the convent is covered with the skins of crocodiles, to prevent the Arabs setting fire to it, or breaking it to pieces with stones. It has a large tower, in which there is always a monk, who gives notice by a bell of the approach of the Arabs, or any wild beasts.

The Caloyers, or Greek monks, have a great number of monasteries in Europe; among which that of Penteli, a mountain of Attica, near Athens, is remarkable for its beautiful situation, and a very good library. That of Calimachus, a principal town of the island of Chios, is remarkable for the occasion of its foundation. It is called Niamogni, i. e. “The sole Virgin,” its church having been built in memory of an image of the holy Virgin, miraculously found on a tree, being the only one left of several which had been consumed by fire. Constantin Monomachus, emperor of Constantinople, being informed of this miracle, made a vow to build a church in that place, if he recovered his throne, from which he had been driven; this vow he executed in the year 1050. The convent is large, and built in the manner of a castle. It consists of about two hundred religious, and its revenues amount to sixty thousand piasters, of which they pay five hundred yearly to the Grand Seignor.

There is in Amourgo, one of the islands of the Archipelago called Sporades, a monastery of Greek Caloyers, dedicated to our Lady: it is a large and deep cavern, on the top of a very high hill, and is entered by a ladder of fifteen or twenty steps. The church, refectory, and cells of the religious, who inhabit this grotto, are dug out of the sides of the rock with admirable artifice.

But the most celebrated monasteries of Greek Caloyers are those of Mount Athos in Macedonia. They are twenty-three in number; and the religious live in them so regularly, that the Turks themselves have a great esteem for them, and often recommend themselves to their prayers. Everything in them is magnificent; and, notwithstanding they have been under the Turk for so long a time, they have lost nothing of their grandeur. The principal of these monasteries are De la Panagia and Anna Laura. The religious, who aspire to the highest dignities, come from all parts of the East to perform here their noviciate, and, after a stay of some years, are received, upon their return into their own country, as apostles.

The Caloyers of Mount Athos have a great aversion to the pope, and relate that a Roman pontiff, having visited their monasteries, had plundered and burned some of them, because they would not adore him.

There are female Caloyers, or Greek nuns, who likewise follow the rule of St. Basil. Their nunneries are always dependent on some monastery. The Turks buy sashes of their working, and they open their gates freely to the Turks on this occasion. Those of Constantinople are widows, some of whom have had several husbands. They make no vow, nor confine themselves within their convents. The priests are forbidden, under severe penalties, to visit these religious.—Broughton.

CALVINISTS. Those who interpret Scripture in accordance with the views of John Calvin, who was born at Noyon, A. D. 1509, and afterwards settled at Geneva, and who established a system both of doctrine and of discipline peculiarly his own.

The essential doctrines of Calvinism have been reduced to these five: particular election, particular redemption, moral inability in a fallen state, irresistible grace, and the final perseverance of the saints. These are termed, by theologians, the five points; and ever since the synod of Dort, (see Dort,) when they were the subjects of discussion between the Calvinists and Arminians, and whose decrees are the standard of modern Calvinism, frequent have been the controversies agitated respecting them. Even the Calvinists themselves differ in the explication of them: it cannot therefore be expected that a very specific account of them should be given here. Generally speaking, however, they comprehend the following propositions:—

1st, That GOD has chosen a certain number in CHRIST to everlasting glory, before the foundation of the world, according to his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and love, without the least foresight of faith, good works, or any conditions performed by the creature; and that the rest of mankind he was pleased to pass by, and ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sins, to the praise of his vindictive justice.

2ndly, That JESUS CHRIST, by his sufferings and death, made an atonement only for the sins of the elect.

3dly, That mankind are totally depraved in consequence of the fall; and, by virtue of Adam’s being their public head, the guilt of his sin was imputed, and a corrupt nature conveyed to all his posterity, from which proceeds all actual transgression; and that by sin we are made subject to death, and all miseries, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

4thly, That all whom GOD has predestinated to life, he is pleased, in his appointed time, effectually to call, by his word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by JESUS CHRIST.

And 5thly, That those whom GOD has effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, shall never finally fall from a state of grace.

CAMALDOLI. A religious order of Christians founded by St. Romuald, about the end of the tenth century: this man gave his monks the rule of St. Bennet’s order, with some particular constitutions, and a white habit, after a vision he had of several persons clothed so, who were going up on a ladder to heaven. He was of a noble family of Ravenna, and having found on the Apennine hills near Arezzo a frightful solitary place, called Campo Maldoli, he began to build a monastery there, about the year 1009, and this monastery gave its name to all the order. The congregation of hermits of St. Romuald, or of Mount Couronne, is a branch of the Camaldoli, to which it was joined in 1532. Paul Justinian, of Venice, began its establishment in 1520, and founded the chief monastery in the Apennine, in a place called the Mount of the Crown, ten miles from Perugia, and dedicated to our SAVIOUR in 1555.—Hist. des Ord. Relig.

CAMERONIANS. A party of Presbyterians in Scotland, so called from Archibald Cameron, a field preacher, who was the first who separated from communion with the other Presbyterians, who were not of his opinion concerning the ministers that had accepted of his indulgence from King Charles II. He considered the acceptance of the indulgence to be a countenancing of the supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs. The other Presbyterians wished the controversy to drop, till it could be determined by a general assembly; but the Cameronians, through a transport of zeal, separated from them, and some who associated with them ran into excess of frenzy; declaring that King Charles II. had forfeited his right to the crown and society of the Church, by his breaking the solemn league and covenant, which was the terms on which he received the former; and by his vicious life, which, de jure, they said, excluded him from the latter; they pretended both to dethrone and excommunicate him, and for that purpose made an insurrection, but were soon suppressed. Since the accession of King William III. to the crown, they complied with and zealously served the government; and as regards their former differences in Church matters, they were also laid aside, the preachers of their party having submitted to the General Assembly of the Scottish establishment in 1690, of which they still continue members.

CAMISARDS. The popular name of the Protestants who rose in the Cevennes against the oppression of Louis XIV. of France. There are various etymologies of the word; the most probable is that which derives it from camisa or chemise, in allusion to the blouse or smock-frock which was generally worn.

CANCELLI. (See Chancel.)

CANDLES. (See Lights on the Altar.)

CANDLEMAS DAY. A name formerly given to the festival of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, observed in our Church, February 2. In the mediæval Church, this day was remarkable for the number of lighted candles which were borne about in processions, and placed in churches, in memory of him who, in the words of Simeon’s song at the Purification, came to be “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.” From this custom the name is supposed to be derived.

CANON. The laws of the Church are called canons, the word canon being derived from a Greek word, which signifies a rule or measure.

Since the Church is a society of Christians, and since every society must have authority to prescribe rules and laws for the government of its own members, it must necessarily follow that the Church has this power; for otherwise there would be great disorder amongst Christians. This power was exercised in the Church before the Roman empire became Christian, as appears by those ancient canons which were made before that time, and which are mentioned in the writings of the primitive fathers; by the apostolical canons, which, though not made by the apostles themselves, are nevertheless of great antiquity; and by various canons which were made in councils held in the second century, which were not directory alone, but binding, and to be observed by the clergy, under the penalty of deprivation; and by the laity, under pain of excommunication. Under this title we will mention: 1. Foreign canons. 2. Such as have been received here. 3. The power of making new canons.

(I.) As to the first, Constantine the Great, the first emperor who gave Christians some respite from persecution, caused general councils and national and provincial synods to be assembled in his dominions; where, amongst other things, rules were made for the government of the Church, which were called canons; the substance of which was at first collected out of the Scriptures, or the ancient writings of the fathers. We will not trouble the reader with a long history of provincial constitutions, synodals, glossaries, sentences of popes, summaries, and rescripts, from which the canon law has, by degrees, been compiled, since the days of that emperor; it is sufficient to state, that they were collected by Ivo, bishop of Chartres, about the 14th year of our King Henry I., in three volumes, which are commonly called the Decrees. These decrees, corrected by Gratian, a Benedictine monk, were published in England in the reign of King Stephen; and the reason of the publication at that time might be to decide the quarrel between Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry, bishop of Winchester, the king’s brother, who being made a legate, the archbishop looked upon it as a diminution of his power, and an encroachment upon that privilege which he had as legatus natus. (See Legate.) These decrees were received by the clergy of the Western Church, but never by those of the East, which is one reason why their priests continued to marry, which the clergy of the West were, by these decrees, forbidden to do.

The next, in order of time, were the Decretals (see Decretals,) which are canonical epistles written by popes alone, or assisted by some cardinals, to determine any controversy; and of these there are likewise three volumes. The first volume of these Decretals was compiled by Raimundus Barcinus, who was chaplain to Gregory IX., and were published by him about the 14th year of King Henry III., A. D. 1226. This was appointed to be read in all schools, and was to be taken for law in all ecclesiastical courts. About sixty years afterwards, Simon, a monk of Walden, began to read these laws in the university of Cambridge, and the next year in Oxford. The second volume was collected and arranged by Boniface VIII., and published about the 27th year of our King Edward I., A. D. 1298. The third volume was collected by Clement V., and published in the Council of Vienna, and likewise here, in the 2nd year of Edward II., A. D. 1308, and from him were called Clementines.

These decretals were never received in England, or anywhere else, but only in the pope’s dominions, which are therefore called by canonists Patriæ obedientiæ, as particularly the canon concerning the investiture of bishops by a lay hand. John Andreas, a celebrated canonist in the fourteenth century, wrote a commentary on these decretals, which he entitled Novellæ, from a very beautiful daughter he had of that name, whom he bred a scholar: the father being a professor of law at Bologna, had instructed his daughter so well in it, that she assisted him in reading lectures to his scholars, and, therefore, to perpetuate her memory, he gave that book the title of Novellæ.

About the tenth year of King Edward II., John XXII. published his Extravagants. But as to the Church of England, even at that time, when the papal authority was at the highest, none of these foreign canons, or any new canons, made at any national or provincial synod here, had any manner of force if they were against the prerogative of the king, or the laws of the land. It is true that every Christian nation in communion with the pope sent some bishops, abbots, or priors, to those foreign councils, and generally four were sent out of England; and it was by those means, together with the allowance of the civil power, that some canons made there were received here, but such as were against the laws were totally rejected.

Nevertheless, some of these foreign canons were received in England, and obtained the force of laws by the general approbation of the king and people (though it may be difficult to know what these canons are); and it was upon this pretence that the pope claimed an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, independent of the king, and sent his legates to England with commissions to determine causes according to those canons, which were now compiled into several volumes, and called Jus Canonicum: these were not only enjoined to be obeyed as laws, but publicly to be read and expounded in all schools and universities as the civil law was read and expounded there, under pain of excommunication to those who neglected. Hence arose quarrels between kings and several archbishops and other prelates, who adhered to those papal usurpations.

(II.) Besides these foreign canons, there were several laws and constitutions made here for the government of the Church, all of which are now in force, but which had not been so without the assent and confirmation of the kings of England. Even from William I. to the time of the Reformation, no canons or constitutions made in any synods were suffered to be executed if they had not the royal assent. This was the common usage and practice in England, even when the papal usurpation was most exalted; for if at any time the ecclesiastical courts did, by their sentences, endeavour to force obedience to such canons, the courts at common law, upon complaint made, would grant prohibitions. So that the statute of submission, which was afterwards made in the 25th year of Henry VIII., seems to be declarative of the common law, that the clergy could not de jure, and by their own authority, without the king’s assent, enact or execute any canons. These canons were all collected and explained by Lyndwood, dean of the Arches, in the reign of Henry VI., and by him reduced under this method.

1. The canons of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, made at a council held at Oxford, in the 6th year of Henry III.

2. The canons of Otho, the pope’s legate, who held a council in St. Paul’s church, in the 25th year of Henry III., which from him were called the Constitutions of Otho; upon which John de Athon, one of the canons of Lincoln, wrote a comment.

3. The canons of Boniface, of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury, in the 45th of Henry III., which were all usurpations upon the common law, as concerning the boundaries of parishes, the right of patronage, and against trials of the right of tithes in the king’s courts against writs of prohibition, &c. Although he threatened the judges with excommunication (some of the judges being at that time clergymen) if they disobeyed the canons, yet they proceeded in these matters according to the laws of the realm, and kept the ecclesiastical courts within their proper jurisdiction. This occasioned a variance between the spiritual and temporal lords; and upon this the clergy, in the 31st of Henry III., exhibited several articles of their grievances to the parliament, which they called Articuli Cleri: the articles themselves are lost, but some of the answers to them are extant, by which it appears that none of these canons made by Boniface was confirmed.

4. The canons of Cardinal Ottobon, the pope’s legate, who held a synod at St. Paul’s, in the 53rd of Henry III., in which he confirmed those canons made by his predecessor Otho, and published some new ones; and by his legantine authority commanded that they should be obeyed: upon these canons, likewise, John de Athon wrote another comment.

5. The canons of Archbishop Peckham, made at a synod held at Reading, in the year 1279, the 7th of Edward I.

6. The canons of the same archbishop, made at a synod held at Lambeth, two years afterwards.

7. The canons of Archbishop Winchelsea, made in the 34th of Edward I.

8. The canons of Archbishop Reynolds, at a synod held at Oxford, in the year 1322, the 16th of Edward II.

9. The canons of Symon Mepham, archbishop of Canterbury, made in the year 1328, the 3rd of Edward III.

10. Of Archbishop Stratford.

11. Of Archbishop Simon Islip, made 1362, the 37th of Edward III.

12. Of Symon Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury, made in the year 1378, the 2nd of Richard II.

13. Of Archbishop Arundel, made at a synod at Oxford, in the year 1403, the 10th of Henry IV.

14. Of Archbishop Chichely, in the year 1415, the 3rd of Henry V.

15. Of Edmond and Richard, archbishops of Canterbury, who immediately succeeded Stephen Langton.

It was intended to reform these canons soon after the Reformation; and Archbishop Cranmer and some other commissioners were appointed for that purpose by Henry VIII. and Edward VI. The work was finished, but the king dying before it was confirmed, it remains unconfirmed to this day. The book is called “Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum ex Authoritate Regis Henry VIII. inchoata et per Edward VI. prorecta:” it was put into elegant Latin by Dr. Haddon, who was then university orator of Cambridge, assisted by Sir John Cheke, who was tutor to Edward VI. The above canons made by our Church before the Reformation, are, of course, binding on our Church now, and are acted upon in the ecclesiastical courts, except where they are superseded by subsequent canons, or by the provisions of an act of parliament.

(III.) The next thing to be considered is, the authority of making canons at this day; and this is grounded upon the statute 25 Henry VIII., commonly called the act of submission of the clergy, by which they acknowledge that the convocation had been always assembled by the king’s writ; and they promised in verbo sacerdotis, not to attempt, claim, or put in use, or enact, promulge, or execute, any new canons in convocation, without the king’s assent or licence. Then follows this enacting clause, viz. That they shall not attempt, allege, or claim, or put in use, any constitutions or canons without the king’s assent; and so far this act is declarative of what the law was before. The clause before mentioned extends to such canons as were then made both beyond sea and in England, viz. to foreign canons, that they should not be executed here until received by the king and people as the laws of the land, and to canons made here which were contrary to the prerogative, or to the laws and customs of the realm. This appears by the proviso, that no canons shall be made or put in execution within this realm, which shall be contrary to the prerogative or laws. But the next are negative words, which relate wholly to making new canons, viz. “nor make, promulge, or execute any such canons without the king’s assent.” These words limit the clergy in point of jurisdiction, viz. that they shall not make any new canons but in convocation: and they cannot meet there without the king’s writ; and when they are met and make new canons, they cannot put them in execution without a confirmation under the great seal. Some years after this statute, the clergy proceeded to act in convocation, without any commission from Henry VIII. But the canons which they made were confirmed by that king and some of his successors, as particularly the injunctions published in the 28th year of Henry VIII., for the abolishing superstitious holy days; those for preaching against the use of images, relics, and pilgrimages; those for repeating the Creed, the LORD’S Prayer, and Ten Commandments in the English tongue. Henry VIII. sometimes acted by the advice of his bishops, out of convocation, as about the injunctions published in the 30th year of Henry VIII., for admitting none to preach but such as were licensed; those for keeping a register of births, weddings, and burials; and for the abolishing the anniversary of Thomas à Becket. The like may be said of those injunctions published in the 2nd year of Edward VI., prohibiting the carrying of candles on Candlemas day, and ashes in Lent, and palms on Palm Sunday. Queen Elizabeth, in the second year of her reign, published several injunctions by the advice of her bishops. And two years afterwards she published a book of orders without the confirmation of her parliament. When she was settled in her government, all Church affairs were debated in convocation. Several canons were made in her reign, and confirmed by her letters patent: but as she did not bind her heirs and successors to the observance of them, those canons expired with her reign. In all these reigns the old canons were still in force, but in the first year of King James, 1603, the clergy being lawfully assembled in convocation, the king gave them leave, by his letters patent, to treat, consult, and agree on canons: these they presented to him, and he gave them his royal assent; and by other letters patent, for himself, his heirs and successors, ratified and confirmed the same. These canons thus established were not then invented, but were collected out of ordinances which lay dispersed in several injunctions published in former reigns, and out of canons and other religious customs which were made and used in those days; and being thus confirmed, are the laws of the land, and by the same authority as any other part of the law; for being authorized by the king’s commission, according to the form of the statute 25 Henry VIII., they are warranted by act of parliament; and such canons made and confirmed, shall bind in ecclesiastical matters as much as any statute. An act of parliament may forbid the execution of any canon; but it has been usual to respect all those which enjoin some moral duty; yet a canon not confirmed by an act of parliament cannot alter any other law. It is agreed that canons made in convocation, and confirmed by letters patent, bind in all ecclesiastical affairs; that no canons in England are absolutely confirmed by parliament, yet they are part of the laws of the land, for the government of the Church, and in such case bind the laity as well as the clergy; that though such canons cannot alter the common law, statutes, or royal prerogative, yet they may alter other canons, otherwise the convocation could not make new canons. All that is required in making such canons is, that the clergy confine themselves to Church affairs, and do not meddle with things which are settled by the common law. But though no canons are absolutely confirmed by act of parliament, yet those which are neither contrary to the laws of the land, nor to the queen’s prerogative, and which are confirmed by her, are made good, and allowed to be so, by the statute 25 Henry VIII. And as to those canons which tend to promote the honour of GOD and service of religion, they must necessarily bind our consciences. Such are those which enjoin the sober conversation of ministers, prohibiting their frequenting taverns, playing at dice, cards, or tables; this was anciently prohibited by the Apostolical Canons, and in the old articles of Visitation here, and in several diocesan synods. Such are those canons, also, which relate to the duties of ministers in praying, preaching, administering sacraments, and visiting the sick.

It may be as well, for the convenience of students, to insert here, from Bishop Halifax’s Analysis of the Civil Law, a few explanations of the method of quoting the Jus Canonicum. The Decretum of Gratian (which must not be confounded with the Decretals) is divided into, 1. Distinctions. 2. Causes. 3. Treatise concerning consecration. The Decretals are divided into, 1. Gregory IX. Decretals in 5 books. 2. The sixth Decretal. (Boniface, 1298.) 3. The Clementine Constitutions (of Pope Clement V.). Now in the Decretum, 1st part, e. g. “1 dist. c. 3,” Lex, [or i. d. Lex,] is the first distinction, 3rd Canon, beginning with the word Lex. In the Decretum, 2nd part, e. g. “3 qu. 9, c. 2,” means the third cause, ninth question, 2nd Canon. The 3rd part of the Decretum is quoted as the first, with the addition of the words de consecratione.

In the Decretals (the first division) is given the name of title, number of chapter, with the addition of extra, or a capital X. E. g. “c. 3, extra de usuris,” means the 3rd chapter of Gregory’s Decretals, inscribed “de usuris,” i.e. the 19th of the 5th book. “c. cum contingat 36 X. de off. et Pot. Jud. del.,” means the 36th chapter beginning with “cum contingat,” of the Title in Gregory’s decrees, inscribed “de officio.” The sixth Decretal, and the Clementine Constitutions, are quoted the same way, except that instead of extra, or X., is subjoined in sexto, or in 6; and in Clementini, or in Clem. The Extravagants of John XXII. are contained in one book, xiv. titles. The following are the

CANONS OF 1603.

CONSTITUTIONS and CANONS Ecclesiastical, treated upon by the Bishop of London, President of the Convocation for the Province of Canterbury, and the rest of the Bishops and Clergy of the said Province; and agreed upon with the King’s Majesty’s Licence, in their Synod begun at London, Anno Domini 1603, and in the year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, France, and Ireland, the First, and of Scotland the Thirty-seventh: and now published for the due observation of them, by his Majesty’s Authority under the Great Seal of England.

JAMES, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Whereas our Bishops, Deans of our Cathedral Churches, Archdeacons, Chapters, and Colleges, and the other Clergy of every Diocese within the Province of Canterbury, being summoned and called by virtue of our Writ directed to the Most Reverend Father in God, John, late Archbishop of Canterbury, and bearing date the one and thirtieth day of January, in the first year of our reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the thirty-seventh, to have appeared before him in our Cathedral Church of St. Paul in London, the twentieth day of March then next ensuing, or elsewhere, as he should have thought it most convenient, to treat, consent, and conclude upon certain difficult and urgent affairs mentioned in the said Writ; did thereupon, at the time appointed, and within the Cathedral Church of St. Paul aforesaid, assemble themselves, and appear in Convocation for that purpose, according to our said Writ, before the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard Bishop of London, duly (upon a second Writ of ours, dated the ninth day of March aforesaid) authorized, appointed, and constituted, by reason of the said Archbishop of Canterbury his death, President of the said Convocation, to execute those things, which, by virtue of our first Writ, did appertain to him the said Archbishop to have executed if he had lived.

We, for divers urgent and weighty causes and considerations as thereunto especially moving, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, did, by virtue of our Prerogative Royal, and Supreme Authority in causes Ecclesiastical, give and grant by our several Letters Patent under our Great Seal of England, the one dated the twelfth day of April last past, and the other the twenty-fifth day of June then next following, full, free, and lawful liberty, licence, power, and authority unto the said Bishop of London, President of the said Convocation, and to the other Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, Chapters, and Colleges, and the rest of the Clergy before mentioned, of the said Province, that they from time to time, during our first Parliament now prorogued, might confer, treat, debate, consider, consult, and agree of and upon such Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Constitutions, as they should think necessary, fit, and convenient, for the honour and service of Almighty God, the good and quiet of the Church, and the better government thereof, to be from time to time observed, performed, fulfilled, and kept as well by the Archbishops of Canterbury, the Bishops, and their Successors, and the rest of the whole Clergy of the said Province of Canterbury in their several callings, offices, functions, ministries, degrees, and administrations; as also by all and every Dean of the Arches, and other Judge of the said Archbishop’s Courts, Guardians of Spiritualities, Chancellors, Deans, and Chapters, Archdeacons, Commissaries, Officials, Registrars, and all and every other Ecclesiastical Officers, and their inferior Ministers, whatsoever, of the same Province of Canterbury, in their and every other of their distinct Courts, and in the order and manner of their and every of their proceedings: and by all other persons within this realm, as far as lawfully, being members of the Church, it may concern them, as in our said Letters Patent amongst other clauses more at large doth appear. Forasmuch as the Bishop of London, President of the said Convocation, and others, the said Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, Chapters, and Colleges, with the rest of the Clergy, having met together at the time and place before mentioned, and then and there, by virtue of our said authority granted unto them, treated of, concluded, and agreed upon certain Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Constitutions, to the end and purpose by us limited and prescribed unto them; and have thereupon offered and presented the same unto us, most humbly desiring us to give our royal assent unto their said Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Constitutions, according to the form of a certain Statute or Act of Parliament, made in that behalf in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, and by our said Prerogative Royal and Supreme Authority, in Causes Ecclesiastical, to ratify by our Letters Patent under our Great Seal of England, and to confirm the same, the title and tenor of them being word for word as ensueth:

The Table of the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical.

Of the Church of England.

1. The King’s Supremacy over the Church of England, in Causes Ecclesiastical, to be maintained.

2. Impugners of the King’s Supremacy censured.

3. The Church of England a true and apostolical Church.

4. Impugners of the public Worship of God, established in the Church of England, censured.

5. Impugners of the Articles of Religion, established in the Church of England, censured.

6. Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies, established in the Church of England, censured.

7. Impugners of the Government of the Church of England, by Archbishops, Bishops, &c., censured.

8. Impugners of the Form of consecrating and ordering Archbishops, Bishops, &c. in the Church of England, censured.

9. Authors of Schism in the Church of England censured.

10. Maintainers of Schismatics in the Church of England censured.

11. Maintainers of Conventicles censured.

12. Maintainers of Constitutions made in Conventicles censured.

Of Divine Service, and Administration of the Sacraments.

13. Due Celebration of Sundays and Holy-days.

14. The prescript Form of Divine Service to be used on Sundays and Holy-days.

15. The Litany to be read on Wednesdays and Fridays.

16. Colleges to use the prescript Form of Divine Service.

17. Students in Colleges to wear Surplices in time of Divine Service.

18. A reverence and attention to be used within the Church in time of Divine Service.

19. Loiterers not to be suffered near the Church in time of Divine Service.

20. Bread and Wine to be provided against every Communion.

21. The Communion to be thrice a Year received.

22. Warning to be given beforehand for the Communion.

23. Students in Colleges to receive the Communion four times a Year.

24. Copes to be worn in Cathedral Churches by those that administer the Communion.

25. Surplices and Hoods to be worn in Cathedral Churches, when there is no Communion.

26. Notorious Offenders not to be admitted to the Communion.

27. Schismatics not to be admitted to the Communion.

28. Strangers not to be admitted to the Communion.

29. Fathers not to be Godfathers in Baptism, and Children not Communicants.

30. The lawful use of the Cross in Baptism explained.

Ministers, their Ordination, Function, and Charge.

31. Four solemn times appointed for the making of Ministers.

32. None to be made Deacon and Minister both in one day.

33. The Titles of such as are to be made Ministers.

34. The Quality of such as are to be made Ministers.

35. The Examination of such as are to be made Ministers.

36. Subscription required of such as are to be made Ministers. The Articles of Subscription. The Form of Subscription.

37. Subscription before the Diocesan.

38. Revolters after Subscription censured.

39. Cautions for Institution of Ministers into Benefices.

40. An Oath against Simony at Institution into Benefices.

41. Licences for Plurality of Benefices limited, and Residence enjoined.

42. Residence of Deans in their Churches.

43. Deans and Prebendaries to preach during their Residence.

44. Prebendaries to be resident upon their Benefices.

45. Beneficed Preachers, being resident upon their Livings, to preach every Sunday.

46. Beneficed Men, not Preachers, to procure monthly Sermons.

47. Absence of Beneficed Men to be supplied by Curates that are allowed Preachers.

48. None to be Curates but allowed by the Bishop.

49. Ministers, not allowed Preachers, may not expound.

50. Strangers not admitted to preach without showing their Licence.

51. Strangers not admitted to preach in Cathedral Churches without sufficient Authority.

52. The Names of strange Preachers to be noted in a Book.

53. No public Opposition between Preachers.

54. The Licences of Preachers refusing Conformity to be void.

55. The Form of a Prayer to be used by all Preachers before their Sermons.

56. Preachers and Lecturers to read Divine Service, and administer the Sacraments twice a Year at the least.

57. The Sacraments not to be refused at the hands of unpreaching Ministers.

58. Ministers reading Divine Service, and administering the Sacraments, to wear Surplices, and Graduates therewithal Hoods.

59. Ministers to catechize every Sunday.

60. Confirmation to be performed once in three Years.

61. Ministers to prepare Children for Confirmation.

62. Ministers not to marry any Persons without Banns or Licence.

63. Ministers of exempt Churches not to marry without Banns or Licence.

64. Ministers solemnly to bid Holy-days.

65. Ministers solemnly to denounce Recusants and Excommunicates.

66. Ministers to confer with Recusants.

67. Ministers to visit the Sick.

68. Ministers not to refuse to christen or bury.

69. Ministers not to defer Christening, if the Child be in danger.

70. Ministers to keep a Register of Christenings, Weddings, and Burials.

71. Ministers not to preach, or administer the Communion, in private Houses.

72. Ministers not to appoint public or private Fasts or Prophecies, or to exorcise, but by Authority.

73. Ministers not to hold private Conventicles.

74. Decency in Apparel enjoined to Ministers.

75. Sober Conversation required in Ministers.

76. Ministers at no time to forsake their Calling.

Schoolmasters.

77. None to teach School without Licence.

78. Curates desirous to teach, to be licensed before others.

79. The duty of Schoolmasters.

Things appertaining to Churches.

80. The Great Bible, and Book of Common Prayer, to be had in every Church.

81. A Font of Stone for Baptism in every Church.

82. A decent Communion-Table in every Church.

83. A Pulpit to be provided in every Church.

84. A Chest for Alms in every Church.

85. Churches to be kept in sufficient Reparations.

86. Churches to be surveyed, and the decays certified to the high Commissioners.

87. A Terrier of Glebe-lands and other Possessions belonging to Churches.

88. Churches not to be profaned.

Churchwardens or Questmen, and Side-men or Assistants.

89. The choice of Churchwardens, and their Account.

90. The choice of Side-men, and their joint office with Churchwardens.

Parish-Clerks.

91. Parish-Clerks to be chosen by the Minister.

Ecclesiastical Courts belonging to the Archbishop’s Jurisdiction.

92. None to be cited into divers Courts for Probate of the same Will.

93. The Rate of Bona notabilia liable to the Prerogative Court.

94. None to be cited into the Appeals or Audience, but dwellers within the Archbishop’s Diocese, or Peculiars.

95. The Restraint of double Quarrels.

96. Inhibitions not to be granted without the Subscription of an Advocate.

97. Inhibitions not to be granted, until the Appeal be exhibited to the Judge.

98. Inhibitions not to be granted to factious Appellants, unless they first subscribe.

99. None to marry within the Degrees prohibited.

100. None to marry under Twenty-one Years, without their Parents’ consent.

101. By whom licences to marry without Banns shall be granted, and to what sort of persons.

102. Security to be taken at the granting of such Licences, and under what Conditions.

103. Oaths to be taken for the Conditions.

104. An Exception for those that are in Widowhood.

105. No sentence for Divorce to be given upon the sole confession of the parties.

106. No Sentence for Divorce to be given but in open Court.

107. In all sentences for Divorce, Bond to be taken for not marrying during each other’s life.

108. The Penalty for Judges offending in the Premises.

Ecclesiastical Courts belonging to the Jurisdiction of Bishops and Archdeacons, and the Proceedings in them.

109. Notorious Crimes and Scandals to be certified into Ecclesiastical Courts by Presentment.

110. Schismatics to be presented.

111. Disturbers of Divine Service to be presented.

112. Non-Communicants at Easter to be presented.

113. Ministers may present.

114. Ministers shall present Recusants.

115. Ministers and Churchwardens not to be sued for presenting.

116. Churchwardens not bound to present oftener than twice a year.

117. Churchwardens not to be troubled for not presenting oftener than twice a year.

118. The old Churchwardens to make their Presentments before the new be sworn.

119. Convenient time to be assigned for framing Presentments.

120. None to be cited into Ecclesiastical Courts by process of Quorum Nomina.

121. None to be cited into several Courts for one Crime.

122. No Sentence of Deprivation or Deposition to be pronounced against a Minister, but by the Bishop.

123. No Act to be sped but in open Court.

124. No Court to have more than one Seal.

125. Convenient Places to be chosen for the keeping of open Courts.

126. Peculiar and inferior Courts to exhibit the original Copies of Wills into the Bishop’s Registry.

Judges Ecclesiastical, and their Surrogates.

127. The Quality and Oath of Judges.

128. The Quality of Surrogates.

Proctors.

129. Proctors not to retain Causes without the lawful Assignment of the Parties.

130. Proctors not to retain Causes without the Counsel of an Advocate.

131. Proctors not to conclude in any Cause without the Knowledge of an Advocate.

132. Proctors prohibited the Oath, In animam domini sui.

133. Proctors not to be clamorous in Court.

Registrars.

134. Abuses to be reformed in Registrars.

135. A certain Rate of Fees due to all Ecclesiastical Officers.

136. A Table of the Rates and Fees to be set up in Courts and Registries.

137. The whole Fees for showing Letters of Orders, and other Licences, due but once in every Bishop’s time.

Apparitors.

138. The Number of Apparitors restrained.

Authority of Synods.

139. A National Synod the Church Representative.

140. Synods conclude as well the absent as the present.

141. Depravers of the Synod censured.

CANONS OF 1640. On the 27th May, 1640, the archbishop of Canterbury stated before the convocation that the Canons agreed upon in the sacred synod had been read before the king and the privy-council, and unanimously approved. The first Canon is concerning the regal power; and,

I. Enacts that every parson, vicar, curate, or preacher, shall, under pain of suspension, on four Sundays in each year, at morning prayer, read certain explanations of the regal power, to the effect:—

(1.) That the sacred order of kings is of Divine right, that a supreme power is given by God in Scripture to kings to rule all persons civil and ecclesiastical.

(2.) That the care of God’s Church is committed to kings in the Scripture.

(3.) That the power to call and dissolve national and provincial councils within their own territories is the true right of princes.

(4.) That it is treason against God and the prince for any other to set up any independent co-active power, either papal or popular, within the prince’s territory.

(5.) That subjects who resist their natural prince by force resist God’s ordinance, and shall receive damnation.

(6.) That as tribute is due from subjects to their prince, so those subjects have not only possession of, but a true and just title to, all their goods and estates; that as it is the duty of subjects to supply their king, so is it his duty to defend them in their property.

Forbids, under pain of excommunication, all persons to preach or teach anything contrary to the tenor of these explanations.

II. For the better keeping of the day of his Majesty’s most happy inauguration.

Orders all persons to keep the morning of the said day in coming diligently to church, and that due inquiry be made by bishops and others as to how the day is observed, in order that offenders may be punished.

III. For suppressing the growth of Popery.

Orders all ecclesiastical persons, bishops, &c., having exempt or peculiar jurisdiction, and all officials, and others having the cure of souls, to confer privately with the parties, and by Church censures, &c., to reduce those who are misled into Popish superstition to the Church of England.

Such private conferences to be performed by the bishop himself, or by some one or more persons of his appointment.

The said ecclesiastical persons to inform themselves of all persons, above the age of twelve years, in every parish, who do not come to church, or receive the holy eucharist, and who say or hear mass.

Ministers, churchwardens, &c., to present all such persons.

If neither private conferences nor Church censures will avail with such offenders, their names shall be certified by the bishop of the diocese unto the justices of assize.

Marriages, burials, and christenings of recusants, celebrated otherwise than according to the form of the Church of England, to be declared by churchwardens and others at visitations.

Diligent inquiry to be made as to who are employed as schoolmasters of the children of recusants. Churchwardens to give upon oath the names of those who send their children to be brought up abroad.

IV. Against Socinianism.

Forbids any one to print, sell, or buy any book containing Socinian doctrines upon pain of excommunication, and orders all ordinaries to signify the names of offenders to the metropolitan, in order to be by him delivered to the king’s attorney-general, that proceedings may be taken against them.

No preacher to vent such doctrine in a sermon, under pain of excommunication, and for a second offence deprivation. No university student or person in holy orders, except graduates in divinity, to have any Socinian book in his possession: all books so found to be burned: diligent inquiry to be made after offenders.

V. Against sectaries.

Declares that all the enactments of the canon against Popish recusants shall, as far as they are applicable, stand in full force against all Anabaptists, Brownists, Separatists, Familists, and other sects.

That the clauses in the canons against Socinianism, referring to Socinian books, shall stand in full force against all books devised against the discipline and government of the Church of England.

Orders all church and chapel wardens and questmen to present at visitations the names of those disaffected persons who neglected the prayers of the church, and came in for sermon only, thinking thereby to avoid the penalties enacted against such as wholly absented themselves.

VI. An oath enjoined for the preventing of all innovations in doctrine and government.

Declares that all archbishops, bishops, and all other priests and deacons shall, to secure them against suspicion of Popery or other superstition, take the oath which it prescribes.

Offenders, after three months’ delay granted them, if they continue obstinate, to be deprived.

Orders that the following shall also be compelled to take the prescribed oath, viz. all masters of arts, bachelors and doctors in divinity, law, or physic, all licensed practitioners of physic, all registrars, proctors, and schoolmasters, all graduates of foreign universities who come to be incorporated into an English university, and all persons about to be ordained or licensed to preach or serve any cure.

VII. A declaration concerning some rites and ceremonies.

Declares the standing of the communion table sideways under the east window of every chancel or chapel, to be in its own nature indifferent, and that therefore no religion is to be placed therein, or scruple to be made thereof.

That although at the Reformation all Popish altars were demolished, yet it was ordered by Queen Elizabeth’s injunction, that the holy tables should stand where the altars stood, and that, accordingly, they have been so continued in the royal chapels, most cathedrals, and some parish churches, that all churches and chapels should conform to the example of the cathedral mother churches in this particular, saving always the general liberty left to the bishop by law during the time of administration of the holy communion. Declares that this situation of the holy table does not imply that it is or ought to be esteemed a true and proper altar, whereon CHRIST is again really sacrificed; but it is, and may be, by us called an altar in that sense in which the primitive Church called it an altar.

Orders that in order to prevent profane abuses of the communion table, it shall be railed in.

Orders that at the words “draw near,” &c., all communicants shall with all humble reverence approach the holy table.

Recommends to all good and well-affected members of the Church, that they do reverence and obeisance both at their coming in and going out of the church, chancel, or chapel, according to the custom of the primitive Church and the Church of England in the reign of Elizabeth.

VIII. Of preaching for conformity.

Orders all preachers, under pain of suspension, to instruct the people in their sermons twice a year at least, that the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England are lawful and commendable, and to be submitted to.

IX. One Book of Articles of inquiry to be used at all parochial visitations.

Declares that the synod had caused a summary or collection of visitatory articles (out of the rubrics of the service book and the canons and warrantable rules of the Church) to be made and deposited in the records of the archbishop of Canterbury, and that no bishop or other ordinary shall, under pain of suspension, cause to be printed, or otherwise to be given in charge to the churchwardens or others which shall be sworn to make presentments, any other articles or forms of inquiry upon oath, than such as shall be approved by his metropolitan.

X. Concerning the conversation of the clergy.

Charges all clergymen carefully to abstain from all excess and disorder, and that by their Christian and religious conversation they shine forth as lights to others in all godliness and honesty.

Requires all to whom the government of the clergy is committed, to set themselves to countenance godliness, and diligently to labour to reform their clergy where they require it.

XI. Chancellor’s patents.

Forbids bishops to grant any patent to any chancellor, commissary, or official, for longer than the life of the grantee, nor otherwise than with the reservation to himself and his successors of the power to execute the said place, either alone or with the chancellor, if the bishop shall please to do so; forbids, under the heaviest censures, to take any reward for such places.

XII. Chancellors alone not to censure any of the clergy in sundry cases.

All cases involving suspension or any higher censure to be heard by the bishop or by his chancellor, together with two grave, dignified, or beneficed ministers of the diocese.

XIII. Excommunication and absolution not to be pronounced but by a priest.

No excommunications or absolutions to be valid, unless pronounced by the bishop, or by some priest appointed by the bishop; such sentence of absolution to be pronounced either in open consistory, or, at least, in a church or chapel, the penitent humbly craving it on his knees.

XIV. Concerning commutations and the disposing of them.

No chancellor or other to commute penance without the bishop’s privity; or if by himself, he shall render strict account of the moneys received, which shall be applied to charitable and public uses.

XV. Touching concurrent jurisdiction.

That in places wherein there is concurrent jurisdiction, no executor be cited into any court or office for the space of ten days after the death of the testator.

XVI. Concerning licences to marry.

No licence shall be granted by any ordinary to any parties, except one of the parties have been living in the jurisdiction of the said ordinary for one month immediately before the licence be desired.

XVII. Against vexatious citations.

No citations grounded only upon pretence of a breach of law, and not upon presentment or other just ground, shall issue out of any ecclesiastical court, except under certain specified circumstances, and except in cases of grievous crime, such as schism, incontinence, misbehaviour in church, &c.

These canons were ratified by the king under the great seal, June 30th, 1640. An attempt was made at the time to set aside their authority, upon the plea that convocation could not lawfully continue its session after the dissolution of parliament, which took place on the 5th of May; but the opinion of all the judges taken at the time was unanimously in favour of the legality of their proceeding, as appears by the following document:—

“The convocation being called by the king’s writ under the great seal, doth continue until it be dissolved by writ or commission under the great seal, notwithstanding the parliament be dissolved.

“14th May, 1640.

“Jo. Finch. “C. S. H. Manchester. “John Bramston. “Edward Littleton. “Ralphe Whitfield. “Jo. Bankes. “Ro. Heath.”

An act of parliament, passed in the thirteenth year of Charles II., leaves to these canons their full canonical authority, whilst it provides that nothing contained in that statute shall give them the force of an act of parliament.

The acts of this convocation were unanimously confirmed by the synod of York.—Cardwell, vol. ii. p. 593, vol. i. p. 380. Wilkins, Conc. vol. iv. p. 538.

These canons, though passed in convocation, are not in force for the following reason: In 1639 a parliamentary writ was directed to the bishops to summon these clergy to parliament ad consentiendum, &c., and the convocation writ to the archbishops ad tractand. et consentiend. The parliament met on the 13th of April, 1640, and was dissolved on the 15th of May following. Now though the convocation, sitting by virtue of the first writ directed to the bishops, must fall by the dissolution of that parliament, yet the lawyers held that they might sit till dissolved by like authority. But this being a nice point, a commission was granted about a week after the dissolution of the parliament for the convocation to sit, which commission the king sent to them by Sir Harry Vane, his principal Secretary of State, and by virtue thereof they were turned into a provincial synod. The chief of the clergy then assembled desired the king to consult all the judges of England on this matter, which was done: and upon debating it in the presence of his council, they asserted under their hands the power of convocation in making canons. Upon this the convocation sat a whole month, and composed a Book of Canons, which was approved by the king by the advice of his privy-council, and confirmed under the broad seal. The objection against the Canons was that they were not made pursuant to the statute 25 Hen. VIII., because they were made in a convocation, sitting by the king’s writ to the archbishops, after the parliament was dissolved, though there is nothing in the statute which relates to their sitting in time of parliament only.

After the Restoration, when an act was passed to restore the bishops to their ordinary jurisdiction, a proviso was made that the act should not confirm the Canons of 1640. This clause makes void the royal confirmation. Hence we may conclude that canons should be made in a convocation, the parliament sitting; that being so made, they are to be confirmed by the sovereign; and that without such confirmation they do not bind the laity, much less any order or rule made by a bishop alone, where there is neither custom nor canon for it.—Burn.

CANON is used in the service of the Roman Church to signify that part of the communion service, or the mass, which follows immediately after the Sanctus and Hosanna; corresponding to that part of our service which begins at the prayer, “We do not presume,” &c. It is so called as being the fixed rule of the Liturgy, which is never altered. Properly speaking, the canon ends just before the LORD’S Prayer, which is recited aloud; the canon being said in a low voice. In the First Book of King Edward VI., the word is used in this sense, viz. in the Visitation of the Sick, after the Gospel, the service proceeds as follows:

“The Preface. The Lord be with you.

Answer. And with thy spirit.

¶ Lift up your hearts, &c. Unto the end of the canon.”

The Anaphora of the Greek Church somewhat resembles the canon of the Roman. (See Anaphora.)—Jebb.

CANON. (See Deans and Chapters.) The name of canon, as applied to an officer in the Church, is derived from the same Greek word already alluded to, which also signifies the roll or catalogue of the Church, in which the names of the ecclesiastics were registered; hence the clergy so registered were denominated Canonici or Canons. Before the Reformation, they were divided into two classes, Regular and Secular. The Secular were so called, because they canonized in seculo, abroad in the world.

Regular canons were such as lived under a rule, that is, a code of laws published by the founder of that order. They were a less strict sort of religious than the monks, but lived together under one roof, had a common dormitory and refectory, and were obliged to observe the statutes of their order.

The chief rule for these canons is that of St. Augustine, who was made bishop of Hippo in the year 395. But they were but little known till the tenth or eleventh century, were not brought into England till after the Conquest, and seem not to have obtained the name of Augustine canons till some years after. The general opinion is, that they came in after the beginning of the reign of King Henry I., about the year 1105.

Their habit was a long black cassock, with a white rochet over it, and over that a black cloak and hood; from whence they were called Black Canons Regular of St. Augustine.

The monks were always shaved, but these canons wore beards, and caps on their heads.

There were about 175 houses of these canons and canonesses in England and Wales.

But besides the common and regular sort of these canons, there were also the following particular sorts.

As first, such as observed St. Augustine’s rule, according to the regulations of St. Nicholas of Arroasia; as those of Harewolde in Bedfordshire, Nutley or Crendon in Buckinghamshire, Hertland in Devonshire, Brunne in Lincolnshire, and Lilleshul in Shropshire.

Others there were of the rule of St. Augustine, and order of St. Victor; as at Keynsham and Worsping in Somersetshire, and Wormsley in Herefordshire.

Others of the order of St. Augustine, and the institution of St. Mary of Meretune, or Merton; as at Buckenham in Norfolk.

The Præmonstratenses were canons who lived according to the rule of St. Augustine, reformed by St. Norbert, who set up this regulation about the year 1120, at Præmonstratum in Picardy, a place so called because it was said to have been foreshown, or Præmonstrated, by the Blessed Virgin, to be the head seat and mother of the church of the order. These canons were, from their habit, called White Canons. They were brought into England soon after the year 1140, and settled first at Newhouse in Lincolnshire. They had in England a conservator of their privileges, but were nevertheless often visited by their superior at Premonstre, and continued under his jurisdiction till the year 1512, when they were exempted from it by the bull of Pope Julius II., confirmed by King Henry VIII.; and the superiority of all the houses of this order in England and Wales, was given to the abbot of Welbeck in Nottinghamshire. There were about thirty-five houses of this order.

The Sempringham or Gilbertine canons were instituted by St. Gilbert at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, in the year 1148. He composed his rule out of those of St. Augustine and St. Benedict, (the women following the Cistercian regulation of St. Benedict’s rule, and the men the rule of St. Augustine,) with some special statutes of their own. The men and women lived in the same houses, but in such different apartments that they had no communication with each other; and increased so fast, that St. Gilbert himself founded thirteen monasteries of this order; viz. four for men alone, and nine for men and women together, which had in them 700 brethren and 1500 sisters. At the dissolution of the monasteries there were about twenty-five houses of this order in England and Wales.

Canons regular of the Holy Sepulchre were instituted in the beginning of the 12th century, in imitation of the regulars instituted in the church of the Holy Sepulchre of our SAVIOUR at Jerusalem. The first house they had in England was at Warwick, which was begun for them by Henry de Newburgh, earl of Warwick, who died in the year 1123, and perfected by his son Roger. They are sometimes called canons of the Holy Cross, and wore the same habit with the other Austin canons, distinguished only by a double red cross upon the breast of their cloak or upper garment. The endeavours of these religious for regaining the Holy Land coming to nothing after the loss of Jerusalem, in the year 1188, this order fell into decay, their revenues and privileges were mostly given to the Maturine friars, and only two houses of them continued to the dissolution.—Burn.

CANON OF SCRIPTURE. (See Scripture, and Bible.) The books of Holy Scripture as received by the Church, who, being the “witness and keeper of Holy Writ,” had authority to decide what is and what is not inspired.

That the Holy Scriptures are a complete rule of faith is proved, first, by the authority of the Holy Scriptures. And this is so plainly laid down therein, that nothing but a strange prejudice and resolution to support a cause could contradict it. Those words of St. Paul are very full to this purpose. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of GOD, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of GOD may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.) Moses expressly forbids that any one should “add unto the word that I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it.” (Deut. iv. 2.) “Whatsoever I command unto you to observe and do it, thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” (Deut. xii. 32.) The same prohibition is given out in the New Testament. For St. John, closing his Book of Revelation, and with that our Christian canon, so that it may not improbably seem to bear relation to the whole New Testament, forbids any addition or diminution, with a curse annexed to it: “If any man shall add unto these things, GOD shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, GOD shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev. xxii. 18, 19.) But the substance of this had been before declared by St. Paul: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. i. 8.) And as for the endeavour of some to piece out GOD’S written word by tradition, our SAVIOUR warns us against this, when he blames the Pharisees for it; namely, in “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” (Matt. xv. 9,) and “making the commandment of GOD of none effect by their traditions.” (Ver. 3, 6.)

Secondly, by reason, drawn from the nature of the thing, and the whole order of the gracious dispensation of the gospel, with which GOD hath been pleased to bless mankind, this is no more than we might expect. For our SAVIOUR having first made known the gospel to the world by his own preaching and suffering, and propagated it throughout the several parts thereof by the preaching of his apostles, in order to be conveyed down to successive generations, this could not well be effected without a written word. For to have delivered down the gospel truths by word of mouth, or oral tradition, would have made it subject to as many errors as the prejudices, fancies, and mistakes of the several relators could have given it. Now since GOD has been pleased to make use of this method to convey these truths which he has revealed unto us, it is but reasonable to think that all the truths which he has judged necessary for our salvation, and which he has required of us to believe, are contained in this written word. For why GOD should leave some of the gospel truths to be conveyed in a purer, and others in a more corrupt, channel, some by Scripture and others by tradition, is unaccountable: why, since he designed the Scripture to be in some measure the rule of faith, he should not at the same time render it a complete one; why this Divine law of GOD must be eked out by human traditions, which have been uncertain in the best times, and pernicious in some, and which strangely vary according to different countries and ages;—these notions highly reflect upon the Divine wisdom and goodness, and are taken up only to defend the corrupt practices of the Romish Church, which that Church is resolved to maintain at any rate, rather than to part with them.

The like reasons are alleged by the ancient divines of the Church.—Dr. Nicholls.

The ancient fathers always speak of the Scriptures as containing a complete rule of faith and practice; and appeal to them, and to them only, in support of the doctrines which they advance.—Bp. Tomline.

CANON LAW. The canon law which regulates the discipline of the Romish Church consists, 1. Of the Decree of Gratian, (Decretum Gratiani,) a compilation made by a Benedictine monk, whose name it bears, at Bologna in Italy, in 1150, and made up of the decrees of different popes and councils, and of several passages of the holy fathers and other reputable writers.

2. Of the Decretals, collected by order of Pope Gregory IX., in the year 1230, in five books.

3. Of the compilation made by order of Boniface VIII., in 1297, known by the name of the Sixth Book of Decretals, because added to the other five, although it is itself divided into five books.

4. Of the Clementines, as they are called, or Decretals of Pope Clement V., published in the year 1317 by John XXII.

5. Of other decretals, known under the name of Extravagantes, so called because not contained in the former decretals. These Extravagantes are two-fold;—the first, called common, containing constitutions of various popes down to the year 1483; and, secondly, the particular ones of John XXII.

These, containing besides the decrees of popes and the canons of several councils, constitute the body of the canon law. The constitutions of subsequent popes and councils have also the force of canons, although not hitherto reduced into one body, nor digested, as the others, under proper heads, by any competent authority. These, together with some general customs, or peculiar ones of different places, having the force of laws, and certain conventions entered into between the popes and different Roman Catholic states, determine the discipline of the Church of Rome.

CANONICAL. That which is done in accordance with the canons of the Church.

CANONICAL HOURS. The first, third, the sixth, and the ninth hours of the day, that is, six, nine, twelve, and three o’clock, are so denominated. Bishop Patrick remarks that “the Universal Church anciently observed certain set hours of prayer, that all Christians throughout the world might at the same time join together to glorify GOD; and some of them were of opinion that the angelic host, being acquainted with those hours, took that time to join their prayers and praises with those of the Church.” The directions in the Apostolical Constitutions are as follows: “Offer up your prayers in the morning, at the third hour, at the sixth, and at the ninth, and in the evening; in the morning returning thanks that the LORD hath sent you light, and brought you through the perils of the night; at the third hour, because at that hour the LORD received sentence of condemnation from Pilate; at the sixth, because at that hour he was crucified; at the ninth, because at that hour all things were in commotion at the crucifixion of our LORD, as trembling at the bold attempt of the wicked Jews, and at the injury offered to their Master; in the evening, giving thanks that he has given thee the night to rest from thy daily labours.”

In the Church of Rome, the canonical hours begin with vespers, i. e. evening prayer, about six o’clock, or sunset; next follows compline, to beg GOD’S protection during sleep; at midnight, the three nocturns or matins, the longest part of the office. Lauds or morning praises of GOD are appointed for cock-crowing, or before break of day; at six o’clock, or sunrise, prime should be recited; and terce, sext, and none, every third hour afterwards.

CANONICAL OBEDIENCE. (See Orders.) The obedience which is due, according to the canons, to an ecclesiastical superior. Every clergyman takes an oath of canonical obedience to his bishop when he is instituted to a benefice, or licensed to a cure.

CANONISATION. (See Beatification, and Saints.) A ceremony in the Romish Church, by which persons deceased are ranked in the catalogue of saints. It succeeds beatification. When a person is to be canonised, the pope holds four consistories. In the first, he causes the petition of those who request the canonisation to be examined by three auditors of the rota, and directs the cardinals to revise all the necessary instruments. In the second, the cardinals report the matter to the pope. In the third, which is held in public, the cardinals pay their adoration to the pope, and an advocate makes a pompous oration in praise of the person who is to be created a saint. This advocate expatiates at large on the supposed miracles which the person has wrought, and even pretends to know from what motives he acted. In the fourth consistory, the pope, having summoned together all the cardinals and prelates, orders the report concerning the deceased to be read, and then takes their votes, whether he is to be canonised or not. On the day of canonisation, the church of St. Peter is hung with rich tapestry, on which are embroidered the arms of the pope, and those of the prince who desires the canonisation. The church is most brilliantly illuminated, and filled with thousands of Romanists, who superstitiously think that the more respect they show to the saint, the more ready will he be to hear their prayers, and offer them to GOD. During this ceremony the pope and all the cardinals are dressed in white. It costs the prince who requests the canonisation a great sum of money, as all the officers belonging to the Church of Rome must have their fees; but this is considered a trifle, when it is expected that the saint will intercede in heaven for his subjects, who, indeed, poor as they are, generally pay all the expenses attending the ceremony.

Canonisation of saints was not known to the Christian Church till towards the middle of the tenth century. So far as we are able to form an opinion, the Christians in that age borrowed this custom from the heathens; for it was usual with both the Greeks and Romans to deify all those heroes and great men who had rendered themselves remarkable. It is not allowed to enter into inquiries prior to canonisation, till at least fifty years after the death of the person to be canonised. This regulation, however, though now observed, has not been followed above a century. Thomas Becket was canonised within three years of his death. It has been properly objected against canonisation, that it is performed by human beings, who assume a power of rendering some one an object of divine worship, who in this life was no more than mortal; that it is a direct violation of the SAVIOUR’S command, “Judge not;” and that it lies at the foundation of that idolatry of which the Church of Rome is justly charged.—Broughton.

CANONRY. A canonry is a name of office, and a canon is the officer; in like manner as a prebendary; and a prebend is the maintenance or stipend both of the one and the other.—Gibson. It is not easy to assign a reason why this name should have been given to members of cathedral churches. Some have thought it was because a great number of them were regular priests, and obliged to observe the canons or rules of their respective orders, or founders, or visitors. According to Nicholls, the name is of a higher origin, and not so directly from the Greek word κάνων, regula, a statute or ordinance, as from the Latin word canon, an allowance or stated quantity of provision. Thus it is used by Cicero. So the collection of the respective quotas of the provinces sent in corn to Rome for the subsistence of the poorer citizens was called the canon. Afterwards, when Christianity prevailed, the word was adapted to an ecclesiastical use, and those clergymen that had the canon, or sportula, taken from the common bank of the church offerings delivered out to them for their maintenance, come to be called canonici. As the church revenues were divided into four parts—one for the maintenance of the bishop, a second for the fabric of the church, and a third for the poor, so a fourth part was divided among the subordinate clergy, who lived in a collegiate manner about the bishop.

It seems most likely, however, that the word canon meant to designate one who resided at the cathedral church constantly, and followed the rule of Divine service there. So the application of the word at home and abroad would seem to indicate. Thus, till a very late enactment, 3 & 4 Vic. c. 113, the word canon was restricted in cathedrals of the old foundation to the residentiaries. Prebendary was statutably applied to all, because all had a præbenda, either fixed stipend, or an estate in fee: while in the cathedrals of new foundation all were called indifferently canons or prebendaries, because all were equally bound to residence. The act referred to has now directed that all shall be styled canons (except perhaps the prebendaries retained, but without their ancient stipends or estates) in the cathedrals of old foundation. Nevertheless, all canons are still really prebendaries, as long as they have any property. In Ireland, the only prebendaries denominated canons, are those of Kildare. These form the lesser chapter.

Canons in most cathedrals were divided into two classes, major, or minor. (See Minor Canons.)

The fellowships of the collegiate church in Manchester, since its elevation into a cathedral, have been recently erected into canonries, and the warden of former times is now called dean.

Canonry, or chanonrie, in Scotland, was the same as the cathedral precinct in England. Thus at Aberdeen the canonry included the cathedral, bishop’s palace, prebendal houses, gardens, and an hospital, all surrounded by a stone wall. (Kennedy’s Annals of Aberdeen.) The cathedral town of Rosemarkie, or Fortrose, in the diocese of Ross, was sometimes called the canonry town, or channery town.

CANTICLES. This literally signifies songs, but it is peculiarly applied to a canonical book of the Old Testament, called in Hebrew the Song of Songs, that is, the most excellent of all songs. The word canticle in our Prayer Book is applied to the Benedicite, and was so first used in King Edward’s Second Book.

CAPITAL. The highest member of a pillar.

The capital consists of the abacus, the bell, the neck, or astragal, and each of these varies in the several styles, as well in form as in relative importance. A few of the more prominent variations may be enumerated.

In the Saxon period, the abacus is usually a low, flat, unmoulded slab; the rest of the capital, if it has any character, approaches that of the succeeding style.

In the Norman capital the abacus is square, of considerable thickness, generally slightly bevelled at the lower side, and sometimes moulded. The bell, resting on a cylindrical shaft, and fitted with a square abacus, is circular at the bottom, and becomes square at the top, and the way of resolving the round into the square gives it its peculiar character. In examples, however, of any richness, the abundance of decoration often obscures its constructive character.

In the period of transition to Early English, the abacus sometimes becomes octagonal, seldom, however, a regular octagon, but a square with the corners slightly cut off. It is also sometimes circular. The upper surface continues flat, but the under part is more frequently moulded. The bell often approaches the Classic capital in design, and sometimes even in treatment, as at Canterbury; but this is a rare amount of excellence. More frequently a lotus-like flower rises from the neck, and curls beneath the abacus. The neck is still a mere round bead.

In the next, or Lancet period, the abacus more frequently becomes circular, the top is seldom flat, the mouldings usually consist of two rounds, with a deep undercut, hollow between, the upper one a little overhanging the under, and in the hollow a trail of nail-head or dog-tooth is often found. The bell, also, is deeply undercut, and in some instances, where effect is sought in moulding rather than in carving, it is repeated; but, in moderately rich examples, the bell is usually covered with foliage of which the stems spring from the neck, generally crossing one another as they rise, and breaking into leaves near the top, where they throw off a profusion of crisped foliage, which curls under the abacus; a stray leaf, in very rich and rather late examples, sometimes shooting up, over the hollow, to the upper member of the abacus. The whole treatment of this foliage in capitals and corbels, where it follows the same law, has sometimes a boldness and a grace, though it never deserts its conventional type, of which no description, and no engraving even, except on a large scale, can convey an idea. The neck of the Early English capital is generally either a rounded bowtel of rather more than half a cylinder, or a semi-hexagon, the latter with the sides sometimes slightly hollowed.

In the Geometrical period, the abacus continues round. It is no longer, except in rare instances, flat at the top: the scroll moulding begins to appear, and sometimes a hollow intervenes between it and the first member of the bell. The bell, when moulded, rather follows the routine of the last style; but, when foliated, the leaves or flowers, without losing anything of the force and boldness of the latter, have a naturalness never approached in any other style: we begin to recognise the oak, the hawthorn, or the maple, as familiar friends, and no longer need to employ conventional terms to designate their foliage, or the method of its treatment.

In the Decorated period, the scrollmoulding is almost constantly employed for the abacus and for the neck; the ball-flower sometimes occurs in the hollow of the abacus, but not so frequently as the dog-tooth in the Lancet period. The mouldings of the bell are generally the roll and fillet, or the scroll, in some of their forms; and the foliage entirely loses the nature of the Geometrical, without recovering the force of the Early English. It surrounds the bell as a chaplet, instead of creeping up it, and, instead of indicating the shape which it clothes, converts the whole between the neck and the abacus into a flowered top.

In the next and last period, the abacus is sometimes so nearly lost in the bell, or the bell in the abacus, that it is hard to separate them. The form of both becomes generally octagonal, and a great poverty of design is apparent: this is the case in ordinary instances of pillars with entire capitals. In later examples, and where there are greater pretensions, the capital does not extend to the whole pillar, but the outer order of the arches is continued to the base, without the intervention of a capital, only the inner order being supported and stopped by an attached shaft, or bowtel, with its capital, and so the capital loses all its analogy with the classic architrave, and no longer carries the eye along in a horizontal line.

CAPITULAR. A term often used in foreign countries to designate a major canon or prebendary; a capitular member of a cathedral or collegiate church.

CAPITULARIES. Ordinances of the kings of France, in which are many heads or articles which regard the government of the Church, and were done by the advice of an assembly of bishops. The original of the word comes from capitula, which were articles that the prelates made and published to serve as instructions to the clergy of their dioceses, so that at last this name of capitularies was given to all the articles which related to ecclesiastical affairs. Those of Charlemagne and Louis the Meek were collected in four books by the abbot Angesius; those of King Lothaire, Charles and Louis, sons of Louis the Meek, were collected by Bennet the Levite, or deacon, into three books, to which there have been since four or five additions; and Father Simon published those of Charles the Bald.

CAPUCHINS. Monks of the order of St. Francis. They owe their original to Matthew de Bassi, a Franciscan of the duchy of Urbino, who, having seen St. Francis represented with a sharp-pointed capuche, or cowl, began to wear the like in 1525, with the permission of Pope Clement VII. His example was soon followed by two other monks, named Louis and Raphael de Fossembrun; and the pope, by a brief, granted these three monks leave to retire to some hermitage, and retain their new habit. The retirement they chose was the hermitage of the Camaldolites near Massacio, where they were very charitably received.

This innovation in the habit of the order gave great offence to the Franciscans, whose provincial persecuted these poor monks, and obliged them to fly from place to place. At last they took refuge in the palace of the Duke de Camerino, by whose credit they were received under the obedience of the conventuals, in the quality of Hermits Minors, in the year 1527. The next year, the pope approved this union, and confirmed to them the privilege of wearing the square capuche, and admitting among them all who would take the habit. Thus the order of the Capuchins, so called from wearing the capuche, began in the year 1528.

Their first establishment was at Colmenzono, about a league from Camerino, in a convent of the order of St. Jerome, which had been abandoned; but, their numbers increasing, Louis de Fossembrun built another small convent at Montmelon, in the territory of Camerino. The great number of conversions which the Capuchins made by their preaching, and the assistance they gave the people in a contagious distemper with which Italy was afflicted the same year, 1528, gained them an universal esteem.

In 1529, Louis de Fossembrun built for them two other convents, the one of Alvacina in the territory of Fabriano, the other at Fossembrun in the duchy of Urbino. Matthew de Bassi, being chosen their vicar-general, drew up constitutions for the government of this order. They enjoined, among other things, that the Capuchins should perform Divine service without singing; that they should say but one mass a day in their convents; they directed the hours of mental prayer, morning and evening, the days of disciplining themselves, and those of silence; they forbade the monks to hear the confessions of seculars, and enjoined them always to travel on foot; they recommended poverty in the ornaments of their church, and prohibited in them the use of gold, silver, and silk; the pavilions of the altars were to be of stuff, and the chalices of tin.

This order soon spread itself all over Italy and into Sicily. In 1573, Charles IX. demanded of Pope Gregory XIII. to have the order of Capuchins established in France, which that pope consented to; and their first settlement in that kingdom was in the little town of Picpus near Paris, which they soon quitted to settle at Meudon, from whence they were introduced into the capital of the kingdom. In 1606, Pope Paul V. gave them leave to accept of an establishment which was offered them in Spain. They even passed the seas to labour on the conversion of the infidels; and their order is become so considerable, that it is at present divided into more than sixty provinces, consisting of near 1600 convents, and 25,000 monks, besides the missions of Brazil, Congo, Barbary, Greece, Syria, and Egypt.

Among those who have preferred the poverty and humility of the Capuchins to the advantages of birth and fortune, was the famous Alphonso d’Este, duke of Modena and Reggio, who, after the death of his wife Isabella, took the habit of this order at Munich, in the year 1626, under the name of Brother John-Baptist, and died in the convent of Castlenuovo, in 1644. In France, likewise, the great duke de Joyeuse, after having distinguished himself as a general, became a Capuchin in September, 1587.

Father Paul (of Ecclesiastical Benefices, cap. 53) observes, that “The Capuchins preserve their reputation by reason of their poverty, and that if they should suffer the least change in their institution, they would acquire no immoveable estates by it, but would lose the alms they now receive.” He adds: “It seems, therefore, as if here an absolute period were put to all future acquisitions and improvements in this gainful trade; for whoever should go about to institute a new order, with a power of acquiring estates, such an order would certainly find no credit in the world; and if a profession of poverty were a part of the institution, there could be no acquisitions made whilst that lasted, nor would there be any credit left when that was broke.”—Hist. des Ord. Relig. T. vii. c. 27.

There is likewise an order of Capuchin Nuns, who follow the rule of St. Clare. Their first establishment was at Naples in 1538, and their foundress the venerable mother Maria Laurentia Longa, of a noble family of Catalonia—a lady of the most uncommon piety and devotion. Some Capuchins coming to settle at Naples, she obtained for them, by her credit with the archbishop, the church of St. Euphebia, without the city; soon after which she built a monastery of virgins, under the name of Our Lady of Jerusalem, into which she retired in 1534, together with nineteen young women, who engaged themselves by solemn vows to follow the third rule of St. Francis. The pope gave the government of this monastery to the Capuchins; and, soon after, the nuns quitted the third rule of St. Francis, to embrace the more rigorous rule of St. Clara, from the austerity of which they had the name of Nuns of the Passion, and that of Capuchines from the habit they took, which was that of the Capuchins.

After the death of their foundress, another monastery of Capuchines was established at Rome, near the Quirinal palace, and was called the monastery of the Holy Sacrament; and a third, in the same city, built by Cardinal Baronius. These foundations were approved, in the year 1600, by Pope Clement VIII., and confirmed by Gregory XV. There were afterwards several other establishments of Capuchines, in particular one at Paris, in 1604, founded by the Duchesse de Mercœur, who put crowns of thorns on the heads of the young women whom she placed in her monastery.—Broughton.

CAPUTIUM. (See Hood.)

CARDINAL. This is the title given to one of the chief governors of the Romish Church. The term has long been in use, and originally signified the same as præcipuus, principalis, id quod rei cardo est, synonymous with prælatus; or else it was derived from cardinare or incardinare, to hinge or join together, and was applied to the regular clergy of the metropolitan church. In Italy, Gaul, &c., such churches early received the title of cardinal churches; the ministers of these churches were also called cardinals.

The following statements comprise the important historical facts relative to the office of cardinal:

1. The institution of the office has been ascribed by respectable Roman Catholic writers to Christ himself, to the apostle of their faith, to the Roman bishop Evaristus, to Hyginus, Marcellus, Boniface III., and others. But we only know that cardinals, presbyters, and deacons occur in history about the sixth and seventh centuries, who were, however, not itinerant, but stationary church officers for conducting religious worship. The deacons and presbyters of Rome especially bore this name, who composed the presbytery of the bishop of the place. The title was also conferred upon the suffragan bishops of Ostia, Albano, and others in the immediate vicinity, but without any other rights than those which were connected appropriately with the ministerial office.

2. The import of the term was varied still more in the ninth century, and especially in the eleventh, by Nicolaus II., who in his constitution for the election of the Roman pontiff, not only appointed his seven suffragan bishops as members of the pope’s ecclesiastical council, but also constituted them the only legitimate body for the election of the pope. To these he gave the name of cardinal bishops of the Church of Rome, or cardinals of the Lateran Church.

This is the important period in history when the first foundation was laid for rendering the hierarchy of the Church independent both of the clergy and of the secular power. This period has not been noticed so particularly by historians as its importance requires. They seem especially to have overlooked the fact, that the famous Hildebrand, (Gregory VII.,) in the year 1073, concerted these measures for the independence of the Church, as the following extract will show: “It was the deep design of Hildebrand, which he for a long time prosecuted with unwearied zeal, to bring the pope wholly within the pale of the Church, and to prevent the interference, in his election, of all secular influence and arbitrary power. And that measure of the council which wrested from the emperor a right of so long standing and which had never been called in question, may deservedly be regarded as the master-piece of popish intrigue, or rather of Hildebrand’s cunning. The concession which disguised this crafty design of his was expressed as follows: that the emperor should ever hold from the pope the right of appointing the pope.”

3. As might have been expected, this privilege was afterwards contested by the princes of the German States, especially by those of Saxony and the House of Hohenstaufen. But these conflicts uniformly resulted in favour of the ambitious designs of the pope. A momentary concession, granted under the pressure of circumstances, became reason sufficient for demanding the same ever afterwards as an established right. In the year A. D. 1179, Alexander III., through the canons of the Lateran, confirmed yet more the independent election of the pope, so that, after this, the ratification of the emperor was no longer of any importance. Something similar was also repeated by Innocent III., A. D. 1215, and Innocent IV., A. D. 1254. The former had already, in the year A. D. 1198, renounced the civil authority of Rome, and ascended the papal throne. In the year 1274, the conclave of cardinals for the election of the pope was fully established by Gregory X., and remains the same to this day.

4. The college of cardinals, which, until the twelfth century, had been restricted to Rome and its vicinity, has since been greatly enlarged, so as to become the supreme court of the Romish Church throughout the world. Priests of illustrious name in other provinces and countries have been elevated to the dignity of cardinals. Of this, Alexander III. gave the first example in the year 1165, by conferring the honour upon Galdinus Sala, archbishop of Milan, and upon Conrad, archbishop of Mentz. But, to the injury of the Church, the greater part have ever been restricted to the limits of Rome and Italy.

5. The formal classification of the cardinals into three distinct orders, 1. cardinal bishops; 2. cardinal presbyters; 3. cardinal deacons, was made by Paul II. in the fifteenth century. He also gave them, instead of the scarlet robe which they had worn since the year 1244, a purple robe, from whence they derived the name of the purple; a title indicative, not merely of their superiority to bishops and archbishops, but of their regal honours and rights. Boniface VIII. gave them the title of eminentissimi, most eminent; and Pius V., in the year 1567, decrees that no other should have the name of cardinal.

6. The number of cardinals was at first not less than seven; and, after having ranged from seven to fifty-three, it was reduced again in the year 1277 to the minimum above-mentioned. The General Assembly of the Church of Basil limited the number to twenty-four; but the popes from this time increased them at their pleasure. Under Leo X. there were sixty-five cardinals: Paul IV. and Pius V. decreed that the maximum should be seventy—equal in number to the disciples of our Lord. These were arranged under the following grades: 1. Six cardinal bishops, with the following titles:—the bishops of Ostia, Porta, Albano, Frascati, Sabina, and Palæstrina; 2. Fifty cardinal priests, who were named after the parochial and cathedral churches of Rome; 3. Fourteen cardinal deacons, who were named after the chapels. This number was seldom full; but, since 1814, they have again become quite numerous.—Augusti.

The canons in some foreign cathedrals are called cardinals; as at Milan and Salerno. In the cathedral of St. Paul’s, London, two of the minor canons are still so designated. Their statutable duties are to superintend the behaviour of the members of the choir, in order to the correction of offenders by the dean and chapter, and to see to the burial of the dead, &c.—Jebb.

CARMELITES, or WHITE FRIARS. Monks of the order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. They pretend to derive their original from the prophets Elijah and Elisha; and this occasioned a very warm controversy between this order and the Jesuits, about the end of the seventeenth century; both parties publishing several works, and petitioning the popes Innocent XI. and Innocent XII.; the latter of whom silenced them both, by a brief of the 20th November, 1698.

What we know of their original is, that, in the twelfth century, Aimerie, legate of the holy see in the east, and patriarch of Antioch, collected together several hermits in Syria, who were exposed to the violence and incursions of the barbarians, and placed them on Mount Carmel, formerly the residence of the prophets Elijah and Elisha; from which mountain they took the name of Carmelites. Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem, gave them rules in 1205, which Pope Honorius III. confirmed in 1224.

The peace concluded by the emperor Frederic II. with the Saracens, in the year 1229, so disadvantageous to Christendom, and so beneficial to the infidels, occasioned the Carmelites to quit the Holy Land under Alan, the fifth general of the order. He first sent some of the monks to Cyprus, who landed there in the year 1238, and founded a monastery in the forest of Fortania. Some Sicilians, at the same time, leaving Mount Carmel, returned to their own country, where they founded a monastery in the suburbs of Messina. Some English departed out of Syria, in the year 1440, to found others in England. Others of Provence, in the year 1244, founded a monastery in the desert of Aigualates, a league from Marseilles; and thus, the number of their monasteries increasing, they held their first European general chapter in the year 1245, at their monastery of Aylesford, in England.

After the establishment of the Carmelites in Europe, their rule was in some respects altered: the first time, by Pope Innocent IV., who added to the first article a precept of chastity, and relaxed the eleventh, which enjoins abstinence at all times from flesh, permitting them, when they travelled, to eat boiled flesh. This pope likewise gave them leave to eat in a common refectory, and to keep asses or mules for their use. Their rule was again mitigated by the popes Eugenius IV. and Pius II. Hence the order is divided into two branches, viz. the Carmelites of the ancient observance, called the moderate or mitigated, and those of the strict observance, who are the barefooted Carmelites; a reform set on foot, in 1540, by S. Theresa, a nun of the convent of Avila, in Castile: these last are divided into two congregations, that of Spain and that of Italy.

The habit of the Carmelites was at first white, and the cloak laced at the bottom with several lists; but Pope Honorius IV. commanded them to change it for that of the Minims. Their scapulary is a small woollen habit, of a brown colour, thrown over their shoulders. They wear no linen shirts, but instead of them linsey-woolsey.—Broughton.

CAROLS. Hymns sung by the people at Christmas in memory of the song of the angels, which the shepherds heard at our LORD’S birth.

CARPOCRATIANS. Heretics who sprang up in the second century; followers of Carpocrates, of the island of Cephalenia, according to Epiphanius, or, according to Theodoret and Clemens Alexandrinus, of the city of Alexandria. This Carpocrates was a man of the worst morals, and addicted to magic. Eusebius says expressly, he was the father of the heresy of the Gnostics; and it is true that all the infamous things imputed to the Gnostics are ascribed likewise to the Carpocratians. It is sufficient to mention two of their principles: the one is, a community of wives; the other, that a man cannot arrive at perfection, nor deliver himself from the power of the princes of this world, as they expressed it, without having passed through all sorts of criminal actions; laying it down for a maxim, that there is no action bad in itself, but only from the opinion of men. This induced them to establish a new kind of metempsychosis, that those who have not passed through all sorts of actions in the first life, may do it in a second, and, if that be not sufficient, in a third, and so on, till they have discharged this strange obligation. Accordingly, they are charged with committing the most infamous things in their Agapæ, or love-feasts.

As to their theology, they attributed the creation of the world to angels; they said that Jesus Christ was born of Joseph and Mary in a manner like other men; that his soul alone was received into heaven, his body remaining on the earth; and, accordingly, they rejected the resurrection of the body.

They marked their disciples at the bottom of the right ear with a hot iron, or with a razor.

They had images of Jesus Christ as well in painting as in sculpture, which they said were made by Pilate; they kept them in a little box or chest. They had likewise the images of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and other philosophers. They put crowns on all these images, and paid them the same superstitious honours which the Pagans did to their idols, adoring them, and offering sacrifice to them. A woman of this sect, named Marcellina, came to Rome, in the pontificate of Anicetus, where she made a great many proselytes. She worshipped the images of Jesus Christ, Paul, Homer, and Pythagoras, and offered incense to them.

Carpocrates had a son, named Epiphanes, who, by means of the Platonic philosophy, gave a greater extent to the fabulous opinions of the Carpocratians. He died at seventeen years of age, but in that short time had acquired so great a reputation among the disciples of his father, that, after his death, he was revered by them as a god, insomuch that they built a temple to him in the island of Cephalenia, and the Cephalenians, every first day of the month, solemnized the feast of his apotheosis, offering sacrifices to him, and singing hymns to his honour.

Epiphanius relates of himself, that in his youth he accidentally fell into company with some women of this sect, who revealed to him the most horrible secrets of the Carpocratians. They were armed with beauty sufficient to make an impression on a person of his age; but, by the grace of God, he says, he escaped the snare which the devil had laid for him. (See Gnostics.)—Brouqhton.

CARTHUSIANS. A religious order, founded in the year 1080 by one Bruno, a very learned man, a native of Cologne, and canon of Cologne, and afterwards Canon Scholaster or Theologal, (i. e. a lecturer in theology,) at Rheims. The occasion of its institution is related as follows: a friend of Bruno’s, Raimond Diocre, an eminent canon of Paris, who had been looked upon as a good liver, being dead, Bruno attended his funeral. Whilst the service was performing in the church, the dead man, who lay upon a bier, raised himself up and said, “By the just judgment of God, I am accused.” The company being astonished at this unusual accident, the burial was deferred to the next day, when the concourse of people being much greater, the dead man again raised himself up and said, “By the just judgment of God, I am judged:” and on a third similar occasion, “By the just judgment of God, I am condemned.” This miracle, it is pretended, wrought such an effect on Bruno and six more, that they immediately retired to the desert of Chartreux, in the diocese of Grenoble, in Dauphiné, where Hugh, bishop of that diocese, assigned them a spot of ground, and where Bruno, A. D. 1084, (or 1086, according to Baronius,) built his first monastery, under the following rigid institutes:—

His monks were to wear a hair-cloth next their body, a white cassock, and over it a black cloak: they were never to eat flesh; to fast every Friday on bread and water; to eat alone in their chambers, except upon certain festivals; and to observe an almost perpetual silence; none were allowed to go out of the monastery, except the prior and procurator, and they only about the business of the house.

The Carthusians, so called from the place of their first institution, are a very rigid order. They are not to go out of their cells, except to church, without leave of their superior. They are not to speak to any person, even their own brother, without leave. They may not keep any part of their portion of meat or drink till the next day, except herbs or fruit. Their bed is of straw, covered with a felt or coarse cloth; their clothing, two haircloths, two cowls, two pair of hose, a cloak, &c., all coarse. Every monk has two needles, some thread, scissors, a comb, a razor, a hone, an ink-horn, pens, chalk, two pumice-stones; likewise two pots, two porringers, a basin, two spoons, a knife, a drinking cup, a water-pot, a salt, a dish, a towel; and for fire, tinder, flint, wood, and an axe.

In the refectory they are to keep their eyes on the meat, their hands on the table, their attention on the reader, and their heart fixed on GOD. When allowed to discourse, they are to do it modestly, not to whisper, nor talk aloud, nor to be contentious. They confess to the prior every Saturday. Women are not allowed to come into their churches, that the monks may not see anything which may provoke them to lewdness.

It is computed there are a hundred and seventy-two houses of Carthusians, whereof five are of nuns, who practise the same austerities as the monks. They are divided into sixteen provinces, each of which has two visitors. There have been several canonised saints of this order; four cardinals, seventy archbishops and bishops, and a great many very learned writers.

The story of the motive of St. Bruno’s retirement into the desert was inserted in the Roman Breviary, but was afterwards left out, when that Breviary was reformed, by order of Pope Urban VIII.; and this gave occasion to several learned men of the seventeenth century to publish writings on that subject, some to vindicate the truth of the story, and others to invalidate it. It is rejected by Pagius, the learned annotator on Baronius, who says it was invented two centuries after Bruno’s time.—Jebb.

In the year 1170, Pope Alexander III. took this order under the protection of the holy see. In 1391, Boniface IX. exempted them from the jurisdiction of the bishops. In 1420, Martin V. exempted them from paying the tenths of the lands belonging to them; and Julius II., in 1508, ordered that all the houses of the order, in whatever part of the world they were situated, should obey the prior of the Grand Chartreuse, and the general chapter of the order.

The convents of this order are generally very beautiful and magnificent; that of Naples, though but small, surpasses all the rest in ornaments and riches. Nothing is to be seen in the church and house but marble and jasper. The apartments of the prior are rather those of a prince than of a poor monk. There are innumerable statues, bas-reliefs, paintings, &c., together with very fine gardens; all which, joined with the holy and exemplary life of the good monks, draws the curiosity of all strangers who visit Naples.

The Carthusians settled in England about the year 1140. They had several monasteries here, particularly at Witham, in Somersetshire; Hinton, in the same county; Beauval, in Nottinghamshire; Kingston-upon-Hull; Mount Grace, in Yorkshire; Eppewort, in Lincolnshire; Shene, in Surrey, and one near Coventry. In London they had a famous monastery, since called, from the Carthusians who settled there, the Charter House.—See Du Pin, and Baronius.

CARTULARIES, according to Jerom de Costa, were papers wherein the contracts, sales, exchanges, privileges, immunities, and other acts that belong to churches and monasteries were collected, the better to preserve the ancient deeds, by rendering frequent reference to them less necessary.

CASSOCK. The under dress of all orders of the clergy; it resembles a long coat, with a single upright collar. In the Church of Rome it varies in colour with the dignity of the wearer. Priests wear black; bishops, purple; cardinals, scarlet; and popes, white. In the Church of England, black is worn by all the three orders of the clergy, but bishops, upon state occasions, often wear purple coats. The 74th English canon enjoins that beneficed clergymen, &c. shall not go in public in their doublet and hose, without coats or cassocks.—Jebb.

CASUIST. One who studies cases of conscience.

CASUISTRY. The doctrine and science of conscience and its cases, with the rules and principles of resolving the same; drawn partly from natural reason or equity, and partly from the authority of Scripture, the canon law, councils, fathers, &c. To casuistry belongs the decision of all difficulties arising about what a man may lawfully do or not do; what is sin or not sin; what things a man is obliged to do in order to discharge his duty, and what he may let alone without breach of it. The most celebrated writers on this subject, of the Church of England, are Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in his “Ductor Dubitantium;” and Bishop Sanderson, in his “Cases of Conscience.” There was a professor of casuistry in the university of Cambridge, but the title of the professorship has lately been altered to Moral Philosophy.

CASULA. (See Chasible.)

CATACOMBS. Burying-places near Rome; not for Christians only, but for all sorts of people. There is a large vault about three miles from Rome, used for this purpose; there is another near Naples. That at Naples consists of long galleries cut out of the rock, of three stories, one above another. These galleries are generally about twenty feet broad, and fifteen high. Those at Rome are not above three or four feet broad, and five or six feet high. They are very long, full of niches, shaped according to the sizes of bodies, wherein the bodies were put, not in coffins, but only in burial clothes. Many inscriptions are still extant in them; and the same stone sometimes bears on one side an inscription to heathen deities and marks of Christianity on the other. But see a large account of these in Bishop Burnet’s Travels, in his fourth letter; also “The Church in the Catacombs,” by Dr. C. Maitland; and Macfarlane’s “Catacombs of Rome.”

The name “Catacombs” is now generally applied to the stone vaults for the dead constructed in the public cemeteries of England.

CATAPHRYGES. Christian heretics, who made their appearance in the second century; they had this name given to them because the chief promoters of this heresy came out of Phrygia. They followed Montanus’s errors. (See Montanists.)

CATECHISM, is derived from a Greek term, (κατηχέω,) and signifies instruction in the first rudiments of any art or science, communicated by asking questions and hearing and correcting the answers. From the earliest ages of the Church the word has been employed by ecclesiastical writers in a more restrained sense, to denote instruction in the principals of the Christian religion by means of questions and answers.—Dean Comber. Shepherd.

By canon 59, “Every parson, vicar, or curate, upon every Sunday and holy day, before evening prayer, shall, for half an hour or more, examine and instruct the youth and ignorant persons of his parish, in the ten commandments, the articles of the belief, and in the LORD’S Prayer; and shall diligently hear, instruct, and teach them the catechism set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. And all fathers, mothers, masters, and mistresses shall cause their children, servants, and apprentices, which have not learned the catechism, to come to the church at the time appointed, obediently to hear, and to be ordered by the minister, until they have learned the same. And if any minister neglect his duty herein, let him be sharply reproved upon the first complaint, and true notice thereof given to the bishop or ordinary of the place. If after submitting himself he shall willingly offend therein again, let him be suspended. If so the third time, there being little hope that he will be therein reformed, then excommunicated, and so remain until he be reformed. And likewise, if any of the said fathers, mothers, masters, or mistresses, children, servants, or apprentices, shall neglect their duties, as the one sort in not causing them to come, and the other in refusing to learn, as aforesaid, let them be suspended by their ordinaries, (if they be not children,) and if they so persist by the space of a month, then let them be excommunicated.”

And by the rubric, “The curate of every parish shall diligently upon Sundays and holy days, after the second lesson at evening prayer, openly in the church instruct and examine so many children of his parish sent unto him, as he shall think convenient, in some part of the catechism. And all fathers and mothers, masters and dames, shall cause their children, servants, and apprentices (who have not learned their catechism) to come to the church at the time appointed, and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the curate, until such time as they have learned all that therein is appointed for them to learn.”

In the office of public baptism the minister directs the godfathers and godmothers to “take care that the child be brought to the bishop, to be confirmed by him, so soon as he or she can say the Creed, the LORD’S Prayer, and the ten commandments in the vulgar tongue, and be further instructed in the Church Catechism set forth for that purpose.”

The catechism of children is enjoined by GOD, (Deut. vi. 7; Prov. xxii. 6; Ephes. vi. 4,) and was always practised by pious men, (Gen. xviii. 19; 1 Chron. xxviii. 9; 2 Tim. i. 5,) and it is CHRIST’S especial charge to ministers, to feed his lambs. (John xxi. 15.) The Jewish doctors took care of this. (Luke ii. 42.) And in the Christian churches there was a peculiar officer who was the catechist; and all the new converts, who were to be baptized at Easter, were catechized all the forty days of Lent. But since we have few such now, and generally baptize infants, who cannot at that time understand the covenant which is entered into, therefore we are bound to take more care to make them understand it afterward, by instructing them in the “Catechism of the Church;” which is drawn up according to the primitive forms by way of question and answer, (Acts viii. 37; 1 Pet. iii. 21,) being not a large system of divinity to puzzle the heads of young beginners, but, like those of the ancients, a short and full explication of the baptismal vow; teaching them, first, what their baptismal vow is, namely, what were the benefits promised on GOD’S part, Quest. I., II., and what were the duties promised on their part, to renounce all evil, to believe all divine truth, and to keep GOD’S commandments, Quest. III.; together with their grateful owning of this covenant, Quest. IV. Secondly, the parts of the vow are explained: first, as to the matter of them, in repeating and expounding the creed, Quest. V., VI., and repeating and explaining the ten commandments, Quest. VII., VIII., IX., X., XI. Secondly, as to the means to enable them to keep them, which are prayer and the holy sacraments: and the duty of prayer is taught them in the LORD’S Prayer, and the explication thereof, Quest. XII., XIII. The due use of the sacraments is taught them, first in general, as to their number, nature, and necessity, Quest. XIV., XV. Secondly in particular, baptism, Quest. XVI.–XX.; and the LORD’S supper, Quest. XXI.–XXV. This is all that is absolutely necessary to be known in order to salvation, and all that the primitive Church did teach their catechumens. And if children be but made to repeat this perfectly, and understand it fully, they will increase in knowledge as they grow in years.—Dean Comber.

It is the peculiar glory of Christianity to have extended religious instruction, of which but few partook at all before, and scarce any in purity, through all ranks and ages of men, and even women. The first converts to it were immediately formed into regular societies and assemblies; not only for the joint worship of GOD, but the further “edifying of the body of CHRIST” (Eph. iv. 12); in which good work some of course were stated teachers, or, to use the apostle’s own expression, “catechizers in the word:” others taught or catechized. (Gal. vi. 6.) For catechizing signifies, in Scripture at large, instructing persons in any matter, but especially in religion. And thus it is used, Acts xviii. 25, where we read, “This man was instructed in the way of the LORD;” and Luke i. 4, where, again, we read, “That thou mayest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.” The original word, in both places, is catechized.

But as the different advances of persons in knowledge made different sorts of instructions requisite, so, in the primitive Church, different sorts of teachers were appointed to dispense it. And they who taught so much only of the Christian doctrine, as might qualify the hearers for Christian communion, had the name of catechists appropriated to them: whose teaching being usually, as was most convenient, in a great measure by way of question and answer, the name of Catechism hath now been long confined to such instruction as is given in that form. But the method of employing a particular set of men in that work only, is in most places laid aside.

Under the darkness of Popery almost all religious instruction was neglected. “Very few,” to use the words of one of our homilies, “even of the most simple people, were taught the LORD’S Prayer, the articles of the faith, or the ten commandments, otherwise than in Latin, which they understood not;” so that one of the first necessary steps taken towards the Reformation in this country, was a general injunction, that parents and masters should first learn them in their own tongue, then acquaint their children and servants with them: which three main branches of Christian duty, comprehending the sum of what we are to believe, to do, and to petition for, were soon after formed, with proper explanations of each, into a catechism. To this was added, in process of time, a brief account of the two sacraments; all together making up that very good, though still improveable, “form of sound words” (2 Tim. i. 13) which we may now use.—Abp. Secker.

As to the form of our catechism, it is drawn up after the primitive manner, by way of question and answer: so Philip catechized the eunuch, (Acts viii. 37,) and so the persons to be baptized were catechized in the first ages. And, indeed, the very word catechism implies as much; the original κατηχέω, from whence it is derived, being a compound of ἠχὼ, which signifies an echo, or repeated sound. So that a catechism is no more than an instruction first taught and instilled into a person, and then repeated upon the catechist’s examination.

As to the contents of our catechism, it is not a large system or body of divinity, to puzzle the heads of young beginners, but only a short and full explication of the baptismal vow. The primitive catechisms, indeed, (that is, all that the catechumens were to learn by heart before their baptism and confirmation,) consisted of no more than the renunciation, or the repetition of the baptismal vow, the creed, and the LORD’S prayer: and these, together with the ten commandments, at the Reformation, were the whole of ours. But it being afterwards thought defective as to the doctrine of the sacraments, (which in the primitive times were more largely explained to baptized persons,) King James I. appointed the bishops to add a short and plain explanation of them, which was done accordingly in that excellent form we see; being penned by Bishop Overall, then dean of St. Paul’s, and allowed by the bishops. So that now (in the opinion of the best judges) it excels all catechisms that ever were in the world; being so short, that the youngest children may learn it by heart; and yet so full, that it contains all things necessary to be known in order to salvation.

In this also its excellency is very discernible, namely, that as all persons are baptized, not into any particular Church, but into the Catholic Church of CHRIST; so here they are not taught the opinion of this or any other particular Church or people, but what the whole body of Christians all the world over agree in. If it may anywhere seem to be otherwise, it is in the doctrine of the sacraments; but even this is here worded with so much caution and temper, as not to contradict any other particular Church, but so as that all sorts of Christians, when they have duly considered it, may subscribe to everything that is here taught or delivered.—Wheatly.

The country parson, says Herbert, values catechizing highly.... He exacts of all the doctrine of the catechism; of the younger sort, the very words; of the elder, the substance. Those he catechizeth publicly; these privately, giving age honour, according to the apostle’s rule. He requires all to be present at catechizing; first, for the authority of the work; secondly, that parents and masters, as they hear the answers proved, may, when they come home, either commend or reprove, either reward or punish; thirdly, that those of the elder sort, who are not well grounded, may then by an honourable way take occasion to be better instructed; fourthly, that those who are well grown in the knowledge of religion, may examine their grounds, renew their vows, and by occasion of both enlarge their meditation. Having read Divine service twice fully, and preached in the morning, and catechized in the afternoon, he thinks he hath, in some measure, according to poor and frail man, discharged the public duties of the congregation.—Herbert’s Country Parson.

With respect to the catechetical instruction of youth, I would remind you, that it was the primitive method, employed by the apostles and their immediate followers, and in after ages by the whole succession of the catholic and apostolic Church, for training up and organizing the visible community of Christians in sound principles of faith, in the love of God and man, and in purity of life and conversation. It is observable, accordingly, that in exact proportion as catechizing has been practised or neglected, in the same proportion have the public faith and morals been seen to flourish or decline.... In the earlier ages of the Church, catechetical schools were established in the great cities of the empire; over which men of the profoundest learning, and most brilliant talents, felt themselves honoured when they were called to preside; while each particular church had its catechists; and the catechumens formed a regular and ascertained class or division of every congregation. And it is not too much to say, that, next to an established liturgy, and beyond all prescribed confessions of faith, the single ordinance of catechetical instruction has, under Providence, been the great stay and support, throughout Christendom, of orthodox, unwavering Christianity.... Let not the common prejudice be entertained, that catechizing is a slight and trifling exercise, to be performed without pain and preparation on your part. This would be so, if it were the mere rote-work asking and answering of the questions in our Church Catechism: but to open, to explain, and familiarly to illustrate those questions, in such a manner, as at once to reach the understanding and touch the affections of little children, is a work which demands no ordinary acquaintance at once with the whole scheme of Christian theology, with the philosophy of the human mind, and with the yet profounder mysteries of the human heart. It has, therefore, been well and truly said, by I recollect not what writer, that a boy may preach, but to catechize requires a man.—Bp. Jebb.

CATECHIST. The person who catechizes. There were officers of this name in the ancient Church; but they did not form a distinct order. Sometimes the bishop catechized, sometimes the catechists were selected from the inferior orders, as readers, &c.—(See Bingham.)

CATECHUMENS. A name given, in the first ages of Christianity, to the Jews or Gentiles who were being prepared and instructed to receive baptism. It comes from the Greek word κατηχεῖν, which signifies to teach by word of mouth, or viva voce: and of that word this other, κατηχούμενος, is formed, which denotes him that is so taught: these had people on purpose to instruct them. Eusebius makes mention of Pantænus, Clemens, and Origen, who were catechists in the Church of Alexandria, and had a peculiar place in the church where they used to teach, and the same was called the place of the catechumens, as appears by the canons of the Council of Neocæsarea: they tell us the catechumens were not permitted to be present at the celebration of the holy eucharist; but, immediately after the Gospel was read, the deacons cried with a loud voice: “Withdraw in peace, you catechumens,” for so the book of the Apostolical Constitutions will have it. The service from the beginning to the Offertory was called Missa catechumenorum. The catechumens, not being baptized, were not to receive, nor so much as permitted to see, the consecrated elements of the eucharist. Some writers suppose that they received some of the consecrated bread, called eulogicæ; but Bingham shows that this idea is founded on a misconstruction of a passage in St. Augustine, and that the use of eulogicæ was not known in the Church, until long after the discipline of the catechumens had ceased. According to a canon of the Council of Orange, they were not permitted to pray with the faithful or those in full communion. There were several degrees of favour in the state of the catechumens: at first they were instructed privately, or by themselves, and afterwards admitted to hear sermons in the church; and these last were called audientes. There was a third sort of catechumens, called orantes or genuflectentes, because they were present and concerned in some part of the prayers: to which we may add a fourth degree of catechumens, which were the competentes; for so they were called when they desired to be baptized.

CATENA. From a Greek word signifying a chain. By a Catena Patrum is meant a string or series of passages from the writings of various fathers, and arranged for the elucidation of some portions of Scripture, as the Psalms or Gospels. They seem to have originated in the short scholia or glosses which it was customary in MSS. of the Scriptures to introduce in the margin. These by degrees were expanded, and passages from the homilies or sermons of the fathers were added to them. The most celebrated catena is the Catena Aurea of Thomas Aquinas. It was translated at Oxford, under the superintendence of Mr. Newman, of Oriel College. The subsequent conduct of that gentleman has led those who were willing to attach some authority to the work to examine it carefully, and the result has been, the detection that Thomas Aquinas has sometimes falsified the quotations he has made from the fathers; and the whole, as a commentary, is inferior to the commentaries of modern theologians.

CATHARISTS. The last surviving sect of Manichæans, or Gnostics, who gave themselves that name, (from καθαρὸς, pure,) to indicate their superior purity. There were many different degrees of error among them, but the following tenets were common to all:—That matter was the source of all evil; that the Creator of the visible world was not the same as the Supreme Being; that CHRIST had not a real body, nor was properly speaking born, nor really died; that the bodies of men were the production of the evil principle, and were incapable of sanctification and a new life; and that the sacraments were but vain institutions, and without power. They rejected and despised the Old Testament, but received the New with reverence. The consequence of such doctrines was, of course, that they made it the chief object of their religion to emancipate themselves from whatever was material, and to macerate their bodies to the utmost; and their perfect disciples, in obedience to this principle, renounced animal food, wine, and marriage. The state of their souls, while united with the body, was in their estimation a wretched incarceration, and they only escaped from some portion of the horrors of such a dungeon, by denying themselves all natural enjoyments, and escaping from the solicitations of all the senses.

The Catharists in the twelfth century spread themselves from Bulgaria over most of the European provinces, but they met everywhere with extensive persecution, and are not heard of after that time.

CATHEDRAL. The chief church in every diocese is called the Cathedral, from the word cathedra, a chair, because in it the bishop has his seat or throne. The cathedral church is the parish church of the whole diocese (which diocese was therefore commonly called parochia in ancient times, till the application of this name to the lesser branches into which it was divided, caused it for distinction’ sake to be called only by the name of diocese): and it has been affirmed, with great probability, that if one resort to the cathedral church to hear Divine service, it is a resorting to the parish church within the natural sense and meaning of the statute.

By the 5th canon of the 5th Council of Carthage it is ordained, that every bishop shall have his residence at his principal or cathedral church, which he shall not leave, to betake himself to any other church in his diocese; nor continue upon his private concerns, to the neglect of his cure, and hinderance of his frequenting the cathedral church.—Bingham.

By the constitutions of Archbishop Langton, 1222, it is enjoined, bishops shall be at their cathedrals on some of the greater feasts, and at least in some part of Lent.

By the constitutions of Otho, 1237, bishops shall reside at their cathedral churches, and officiate there on the chief festivals, on the LORD’S days, and in Lent, and in Advent.

By the constitutions of Othobon, in 1268, bishops shall be personally resident to take care of their flock, and for the comfort of the churches espoused to them, especially on solemn days, in Lent and Advent, unless their absence is required by their superiors, or for other just cause.

Canon 24. “In all cathedral and collegiate churches, the holy communion shall be administered upon principal feast days, sometimes by the bishop, (if he be present,) and sometimes by the dean, and sometimes by a canon or prebendary; the principal minister using a decent cope, and being assisted with the gospeller and epistler agreeably, according to the advertisements published in the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth (hereafter following). The said communion to be administered at such times, and with such limitation, as is specified in the Book of Common Prayer. Provided that no such limitation by any construction shall be allowed of, but that all deans, wardens, masters, or heads of cathedral and collegiate churches, prebendaries, canons, vicars, petty canons, singing men, and all others of the foundation, shall receive the communion four times yearly at the least.”

Canon 42. “Every dean, master, or warden, or chief governor of any cathedral or collegiate church, shall be resident there fourscore and ten days, conjunctim or divisim, in every year at the least, and then shall continue there in preaching the word of GOD, and keeping good hospitality; except he shall be otherwise let with weighty and urgent causes, to be approved by the bishop, or in any other lawful sort dispensed with.”

Canon 43. “The dean, master, warden, or chief governor, prebendaries and canons, in every cathedral and collegiate church, shall preach there, in their own persons, so often as they are bound by law, statute, ordinance, or custom.”

Canon 44. “Prebendaries at large shall not be absent from their cures above a month in the year; and residentiaries shall divide the year among them; and, when their residence is over, shall repair to their benefices.”

And by Canon 51, “the deans, presidents, and residentiaries of any cathedral or collegiate church, shall suffer no stranger to preach unto the people in their churches, except they be allowed by the archbishop of the province, or by the bishop of the same diocese, or by either of the universities. And if any in his sermon shall publish any doctrine either strange, or disagreeing from the word of GOD, or from any of the Thirty-nine Articles, or from the Book of Common Prayer, the dean or the residents shall by their letters, subscribed with some of their hands that heard him, so soon as may be, give notice of the same to the bishop of the diocese, that he may determine the matter, and take such order therein as he shall think convenient.”

The passage of the advertisements published in the seventh year of Queen Elizabeth, referred to in Canon 24, is as follows: “Item, in the ministration of the holy communion in cathedral and collegiate churches, the principal minister shall use a cope with gospeller and epistoler agreeably; and at all other prayers to be said at the communion table, to use no copes but surplices. Item, that the dean and prebendaries wear a surplice, with a silk hood, in the choir; and when they preach in the cathedral or collegiate church, to wear a hood.” And at the end of the service book in the second year of Edward VI., it is ordered that “in all cathedral churches, the archdeacons, deans, and prebendaries, being graduates, may use in the choir, beside their surplices, such hoods as pertaineth to their several degrees, which they have taken in any university within this realm.”

Churches collegiate and conventual were always visitable by the bishop of the diocese, if no special exemption was made by the founder thereof. And the visitation of cathedral churches belongs unto the metropolitan of the province, and to the king when the archbishopric is vacant.—Burn.

All cathedrals throughout the world had a body of clergy and ministers belonging to them; which were divided into various orders and degrees; they were gradually incorporated in Western Christendom, but not in the East. (See Chapter.) In England no diocese has more than one cathedral. There are many instances of a plurality of cathedrals even in the same city, as at Rome, Milan, &c., and formerly in France. These churches were called concathedrals. One instance exists in Ireland, viz. in Dublin, where Christ Church and St. Patrick’s enjoy all the rights of cathedrals; and while the congé d’ élire existed, conjointly elected the archbishop; and their united consent must still be given to all acts which require the sanction of a chapter. This plurality of cathedrals in one see is not to be confounded with a plurality of cathedrals under the same bishop, when, as generally in Ireland, he has under his charge two or more dioceses. One Irish diocese (Meath) has no cathedral; and two others (Kilmore and Ardagh) have no cathedral chapters. These anomalies are not, as some have supposed, remnants of a primitive order of things; for it can be proved that they did not originally exist in the respective dioceses now mentioned; but were the consequences of poverty, barbarism, and other unhappy causes which mutilated the external framework of the Irish church.—Jebb.

With reference to the architecture of a cathedral: the normal plan of an English cathedral is in the form of a Latin cross; a cross, that is, whose transverse arms are less than the lower longitudinal limb; and, in a general architectural description, its parts are sufficiently distinguished as nave, choir, and transept, with their aisles, western towers, and central tower; but in more minute description, especially where ritual arrangements are concerned, these terms are not always sufficiently precise, and we shall hardly arrive at the more exact nomenclature, without tracing the changes in a cathedral church from the Norman period to our own.

In a Norman cathedral, the east end, or architectural choir, usually terminated in an apse, (see Apse,) surrounded by the continuation of the choir aisles. The aisles formed a path for processions at the back of the altar, and were called the processionary. The bishop’s throne was placed behind the altar, and the altar itself in the chord of the apse; and westward of this was a considerable space, unoccupied in ordinary cases, which was called the presbytery. The choir, or place in which the daily service was performed, was under the central tower, with perhaps one or two bays of the nave in addition; so that the ritual and the architectural choir did not coincide, but the ritual choir occupied the tower and a considerable portion of the architectural nave. This arrangement seems unnatural, and even inconvenient; but it was perhaps required by the connexion of the cathedral with the monastic or other offices of the establishment; for these were arranged around a quadrangle, of which the architectural nave, or western limb of the church, formed one side, and length was gained to the quadrangle, without disproportionate enlargement of the church, by making the western limb sufficiently large to receive part, at least, of the ritual choir. (See Monastery.)

The transept was not originally symbolical in its form; but was derived from the transverse hall or gallery in the ancient basilicas at the upper end of the nave, its length equal to the breadth of the nave and aisles. The accidental approximating to the form of the cross was doubtless perceived by later Christian architects, who accordingly in many instances lengthened the transept so as to make the ground-plan of the church completely cuneiform.—Jebb.

In the transepts and aisles, and also in the crypt, which generally extended beneath the whole eastern limb of the church, were numerous altars, and little chapels were often thrown out, of an apsidal form, for their altars. One chapel, especially, was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and called the Lady chapel, but its place does not seem to have been constant.

Subsequent churches were of course subject to many variations, but they generally followed much this course. First, the apse was taken down, and the eastern arm of the cross was extended considerably, so as to enlarge the presbytery, or part in which the altar stood, and to add a retrochoir in place of the old processionary behind it; and this change was probably connected always in prospect, and often at once, with the carrying up of the choir eastward of the great tower, or in other words, reconciling the ritual with the architectural arrangement. After this yet another addition was made to the east end, which was often nearly equal to the nave in length; and the Lady chapel was built beyond the presbytery and retrochoir.

In the course of these arrangements the several screens, the rood screen and the altar screen, had to be removed. The rood screen was placed within the eastern arch of the tower, which may now be called its proper place, wherever the church has received its usual additions. This screen is now almost universally used as an organ loft; and it is obvious to remark, that though the organ intercepts the view from the west end of the church, it certainly does not do so more than the rood and its accompaniments formerly did. The altar screen first became necessary at the enlarging of the space behind the altar: it formed the separation of the presbytery from the retrochoir. In some instances this arrangement has been disturbed of late years, but always with bad effect.

The modifications of these plans and arrangements are various, but oftener on the side of excess than of defect. The Lady chapel is not always at the extreme east. At Ely, for instance, and once at Peterborough, it was at the north. The great transept is never omitted (Manchester can hardly be called an exception, since it has only lately been made a cathedral); but a second transept to the east of the tower was often added, as at Canterbury, Lincoln, and Salisbury. Sometimes, as at Durham, the second transept is carried to the extreme east end of the church, which it crosses in the form of a T. Sometimes there was a western transept, treated in the same way as at Ely and Peterborough; and at Durham, Ely, and Lincoln was another considerable addition, called the Galilee porch. At Canterbury, the whole arrangement of the east end is very remarkable, the crown of Archbishop Becket taking the usual place of the Lady chapel. The shrines of reputed saints, and chantry monuments inserted in different portions of the fabric, with too little respect for its general effect, are constant additions to the plan; but it would be useless to attempt to reduce these to a general rule, and endless to enumerate particular cases.

The cathedrals in Ireland and Scotland were originally very small. That of Armagh, the largest, it is supposed, of ancient date, and originally built by St. Patrick, was without transepts, which were added many ages after. The most interesting relics of very ancient cathedrals in Ireland are at Tuam and Clonfert. Many of them in Scotland, as Elgin, were modelled on the plan of Lincoln cathedral.—Poole.

CATHOLIC. (καθ’ ὅλον.) Universal or general. “The Church,” says St. Cyril, “is called catholic, because it is throughout the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and completely all the truths which ought to come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it subjugates, in order to godliness, every class of men, governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals every sort of sins which are committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue which is named, both in deeds and words, and every kind of spiritual gifts.”—Catechetical Lectures, xviii. 23.

The term was first applied to the Christian Church to distinguish it from the Jewish, the latter being confined to a single nation, the former being open to all who should seek admission into it by holy baptism. Hence, the Christian Church is general or universal. The first regularly organized Christian Church was formed at Jerusalem. When St. Peter converted three thousand souls, (Acts ii. 41,) the new converts were not formed into a new Church, but were added to the original society. When Churches were formed afterwards at Samaria, Antioch, and other places, these were not looked upon as entirely separate bodies, but as branches of the one holy Catholic or Apostolic Church. St. Paul says, (1 Cor. xii. 13,) “By one SPIRIT we are all baptized into one body;” and, (Eph. iv. 4,) “There is one body and one SPIRIT.” A Catholic Church means a branch of this one great society, as the Church of England is said to be a Catholic Church; the Catholic Church includes all the Churches in the world under their legitimate bishops.

When in after-times teachers began to form separate societies, and to call them by their own name, as the Arians were named from Arius, the Macedonians from Macedonius; and, in later times, Calvinists from Calvin, Wesleyans from Wesley; the true churchmen, refusing to be designated by the name of any human leader, called themselves Catholics, i. e. members, not of any peculiar society, but of the Universal Church. And the term thus used not only distinguished the Church from the world, but the true Church from heretical and schismatical parties. Hence, in ecclesiastical history, the word catholic means the same as orthodox, and a catholic Christian denotes an orthodox Christian.

From this may be seen the absurdity of calling those who receive the decrees of the Council of Trent Catholics. The Romanists, or Papists, or Tridentines, belong to a peculiar society, in which Romanism or Romish errors are added to orthodox truth. When we call them Catholics, we as much as call ourselves Heretics, we as much as admit them to be orthodox; and they gladly avail themselves of this admission, on the part of some ignorant Protestants, to hold up an argument against the Church of England. Let the member of the Church of England assert his right to the name of Catholic, since he is the only person in England who has a right to that name. The English Romanist is a Romish schismatic, and not a Catholic.

CATHOLIC EPISTLES. The Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, St. Jude, and St. John are called Catholic Epistles, either because they were not written to any particular person, or Church, but to Christians in general, or to Christians of several countries: or because, whatever doubts may at first have been entertained respecting some of them, they were all acknowledged by the Catholic or Universal Church, at the time this appellation was attached to them, which we find to have been common in the fourth century.

CAVEAT. A caveat is a caution entered in the spiritual court, to stop probates, administrations, licences, &c., from being granted without the knowledge of the party that enters the caveat.

CELESTINES. A religious order of Christians, which derives its name from its founder, Pietro de Morone, afterwards Celestin V., a hermit, who followed the rules of St. Bennet, who founded the order in 1254, and got the institution confirmed by Pope Urban VIII. in 1264, and by Gregory X. in 1273, at the second general Council of Lyons: this order soon multiplied in Italy, and was brought into France in 1300, by Philip the Fair, who sent to Peter of Sorrel, a singer of the Church of Orleans, or according to others, of that of Amiens, his ambassador then at Naples, to beg of the abbot-general of it twelve of this order, to be sent into France. When they were arrived, the king gave them two monasteries, one in the forest of Orleans, at a place called Ambert, and the other in the forest of Compiegne, in Mount Chartres. Charles, dauphin and regent of France, in 1352, while King John, his father, was prisoner in England, sent for six of these monks of Mount Chartres, to establish them at Paris, at a place called Barrez, where there was, till the Revolution, a monastery of that order: and that prince, in 1356, gave them every month a purse under the seal of the chancelery, which gift was confirmed by a patent in 1361, at King John’s return. When Charles came to the crown himself, he made them a gift of a thousand livres of gold, with twelve acres of the best timber in the forest of Moret, to build their church with, whereof he himself laid the first stone, and had it consecrated in his presence. After which he settled a considerable parcel of land upon the same monastery. The Celestines were called hermits of St. Damian before their institutor became pope. Their first monastery was at Monte Majella, in the kingdom of Naples.

CELIBACY. The state of unmarried persons: a word used chiefly in speaking of the single life of the Romish clergy, or the obligation they are under to abstain from marriage.

At the time of the Reformation, scarcely any point was more canvassed than the right of the clergy to marry. The celibacy of the clergy was justly considered as a principal cause of irregular and dissolute living; and the wisest of the Reformers were exceedingly anxious to abolish a practice, which had been injurious to the interests of religion, by its tendency to corrupt the morals of those who ought to be examples of virtue to the rest of mankind. The marriage of priests was so far from being forbidden by the Mosaic institution, that the priesthood was confined to the descendants of one family, and consequently there was not only a permission, but an obligation upon the Jewish priests to marry. Hence we conclude that there is no natural inconsistency, or even unsuitableness, between the married state and the duties of the ministers of religion. Not a single text in the New Testament can be interpreted into a prohibition against the marriage of the clergy under the gospel dispensation; but, on the contrary, there are many passages from which we may infer that they are allowed the same liberty upon this subject as other men enjoy. One of the twelve apostles, namely, St. Peter, was certainly a married man (Matt. viii. 14); and it is supposed that several of the others were also married. Philip, one of the seven deacons, was also a married man (Acts xxi. 9); and if our LORD did not require celibacy in the first preachers of the gospel, it cannot be thought indispensable in their successors. St. Paul says, “Let every man have his own wife” (1 Cor. vii. 2); and that marriage is honourable in all, (Heb. xiii. 4,) without excepting those who are employed in the public offices of religion. He expressly says, that “a bishop must be the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. iii. 2); and he gives the same direction concerning elders, priests, and deacons. When Aquila travelled about to preach the gospel, he was not only married, but his wife Priscilla accompanied him (Acts xviii. 2); and St. Paul insists that he might have claimed the privilege “of carrying about a sister or wife, (1 Cor. ix. 5,) as other apostles did.” The “forbidding to marry” (1 Tim. iv. 3) is mentioned as a character of the apostasy of the latter times. That the ministers of the gospel were allowed to marry for several centuries after the days of the apostles appears certain. Polycarp mentions Valens, presbyter of Philippi, who was a married man, and there are now extant two letters of Tertullian, a presbyter of the second century, addressed to his wife. Novatus was a married presbyter of Carthage, as we learn from Cyprian, who was, in the opinion of some historians, himself a married man; and so was Cæcilius, the presbyter who converted him, and Numidius, another presbyter of Carthage. That they were allowed to cohabit with their wives after ordination appears from the charge which Cyprian brought against Novatus, that he had struck and abused his wife, and by that means caused her to miscarry. In the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, a motion was made, that a law might pass to oblige the clergy to abstain from all conjugal society: but it was strenuously opposed by Paphnutius, a famous Egyptian bishop, who, although himself unmarried, pleaded that marriage was honourable, and that so heavy a burden as abstaining from it ought not to be laid upon the clergy. Upon which the motion was laid aside, and every man left to his liberty, as before. All that Valesius, after Bellarmine, has to say against this is, that he suspects the truth of the thing, and begs leave to dissent from the historian; which is but a poor evasion in the judgment of Du Pin himself, who, though a Romanist, makes no question but that the Council of Nice decreed in favour of the married clergy. The same thing is evident from other councils of the same age; as the councils of Gangra, Ancyra, Neocæsarea, Eliberis, and Trullo. We have also a letter from Hilary of Poictiers, written to his daughter when he was in exile; and from what can be collected concerning her age, it seems probable that she was born when he was a bishop. At the same time it must be owned, that many things are said in praise of a single life in the writings of the ancient fathers; and the law of celibacy had been proposed, before or about the beginning of the fourth century, by some individuals. The arguments are forcible which are used, but there is one general answer to them all: the experiment has been made, and it has failed. In a country where there are no nunneries, the wives of the clergy are most useful to the Church. Siricius, who, according to Dufresnoy, died in the year 399, [397, Barenius,] was the first pope who forbade the marriage of the clergy; but it is probable that this prohibition was little regarded, as the celibacy of the clergy seems not to have been completely established till the papacy of Gregory VII., at the end of the eleventh century, and even at that time it was loudly complained of by many writers. The history of the following centuries abundantly proves the bad effects of this abuse of Church power. The old English and Welsh records show that the clergy were married as late as the eleventh century. See the Liber Landavensis, passim.

CELLITES. A certain religious order of Popish Christians, which has houses in Antwerp, Louvain, Mechlin, Cologne, and in other towns in Germany and the Netherlands, whose founder was one Mexius, a Roman, mentioned in the history of Italy, where they are also called Mexians.

CEMETERY means originally a place to sleep in, and hence by Christians, who regard death as a kind of sleep, it is applied to designate a place of burial. Cemetery is derived from κοιμάω, to sleep, because the primitive Christians spoke of death as a sleep, from which men are to awake at the general resurrection. The first Christian sepulchres were crypts or catacombs. The custom of burying in churches was not practised for the first 300 years of the Christian era; and severe laws were passed against burying even in cities. The first step towards the practice of burying in churches, was the transferring of the relics of martyrs thither: next, sovereigns and princes were allowed burial in the porch: in the sixth century churchyards came into use. By degrees the practice prevailed from the ninth to the thirteenth century, encouraged first by special grants from popes, and by connivance, though contrary to the express laws of the Church.—See Bingham. (See 9 & 10 Vict. c. 68, entitled “An Act for better enabling the Burial Service to be performed in one chapel, where contiguous burial-ground shall have been provided for two or more parishes or places.”)

The following is a list of the several acts of parliament recently passed relating to church building, and to cemeteries and churchyards:—43 Geo. III. c. 108; 51 Geo. III. c. 115; 56 Geo. III. c. 141; 58 Geo. III. c. 45; 59 Geo. III. c. 134; 3 Geo. IV. c. 72; 5 Geo. IV. c. 103; 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 72; 9 Geo. IV. c. 42; 1 & 2 Wm. IV. c. 38; 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 61; 1 Vict. c. 75; 1 & 2 Vict. c. 107; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 49; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 60; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 56; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 70; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 88; 10 & 11 Vict. c. 65; 11 & 12 Vict. c. 37; 11 & 12 Vict. c. 71.

In the neighbourhood of London are several cemeteries endowed with privileges under acts of parliament specially applicable to them. The principal is that of Kensall Green, established 2 & 3 Wm. IV., and consecrated by the bishop of London in 1832; the South London, at Norwood, was established 6 & 7 Wm. IV., 1836. There are four others in the neighbourhood of London. There are large cemeteries also at Manchester, Liverpool, Reading, and several other towns.

In 1850 was passed the act 13 & 14 Vict. c. 52, which gave to the General Board of Health very extensive powers for abolishing existing places of sepulture, whether in the neighbourhood of churches or not, and for establishing public cemeteries. This very elaborate act, containing seventy-seven sections and four schedules, has hitherto been found impracticable, except in so far as it relates to the appointment of a new commissioner of the Board of Health to work the act. In the year 1852 was passed the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 85, making provision for interments in the metropolis. In 1853, by 16 & 17 Vict. c. 134, most of the provisions of the act of 1852 were extended to all England.

CENOBITES. A name formerly given to such as entered into a monastic life, and lived in communities, to distinguish them from such as passed their lives in wildernesses and alone, as hermits and anchorites. The word is derived from κοινόβιον, vitæ communis societas.

CENOTAPH. (κενοτάφιον, from κενὸς and τάφος, an empty tomb.) A memorial of a deceased person, not erected over his body. So far as churches may be considered memorials of the saints whose name they bear, they are analogous either to monuments, when the bodies of the saints there repose, (as, for instance, St. Alban’s, and the ancient church at Peransabulo,) or to cenotaphs, when, as is far more generally the case, the saint is buried far off. A great part of the monuments which disfigure Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s are cenotaphs.

CENSURES ECCLESIASTICAL. The penalties by which, for some remarkable misbehaviour, Christians are deprived of the communion of the Church, or clergymen are prohibited to execute the sacerdotal office. These censures are, excommunication, suspension, and interdict; or else, irregularity, which hinders a man from being admitted into holy orders.

The canonists define an ecclesiastical censure to be a spiritual punishment, inflicted by some ecclesiastical judge, whereby he deprives a person baptized of the use of some spiritual things, which conduce, not only to his present welfare in the Church, but likewise to his future and eternal salvation. It differs from civil punishments, which consist only in things temporal; as confiscation of goods, pecuniary mulcts or fines, and the like; but the Church, by its censures, does not deprive a man of all spirituals, but only of some in particular. This definition speaks of such things as conduce to eternal salvation, in order to manifest the end of this censure; for the Church, by censures, does not intend the destroying of men’s souls, but only the saving them; by enjoining repentance for past errors, a return from contumacy, and an abstaining from future sins.

CENTURIES, MAGDEBURG. A celebrated and extraordinary ecclesiastical history, projected by Flacius Illyricus, and prosecuted by him, in conjunction with several others, many of them divines of Magdeburg. Their names were, Nicolaus Gallus, Johannes Wigandus, and Matthias Judex, all ministers of Magdeburg, assisted by Caspar Nidpruckius, an Imperial Counsellor, Johannes Baptista Heincelius, an Augustinian, Basil Faber, and others. The centuriators thus describe the process employed in the composition of their work. Five directors were appointed to manage the whole design; and ten paid agents supplied the necessary labour. Seven of these were well-informed students, who were employed in making collections from the various pieces set before them. Two others, more advanced in years, and of greater learning and judgment, arranged the matter thus collected, submitted it to the directors, and, if it were approved, employed it in the composition of the work. As fast as the various chapters were composed, they were laid before certain inspectors, selected from the directors, who carefully examined what had been done, and made the necessary alterations; and, finally, a regular amanuensis made a fair copy of the whole.

At length, in the year 1560, (though probably printed in 1559,) appeared the first volume of their laborious undertaking. It was printed at Basle. But the city in which the first part of it was composed has given it a distinctive title; and the first great Protestant work on Church history has been always commonly known as the Magdeburg Centuries.

It was in every point of view an extraordinary production. Though the first modern attempt to illustrate the history of the Church, it was written upon a scale which has scarcely been exceeded. It brought to light a large quantity of unpublished materials; and cast the whole subject into a fixed and regular form. One of its most remarkable features is the elaborate classification. This was strictly original, and, with all its inconveniences, undoubtedly tended to introduce scientific arrangement and minute accuracy into the study of Church history. Each century is treated separately, in sixteen heads or chapters. The first of these gives a general view of the history of the century; then follow, 2. The extent and propagation of the Church. 3. Persecution and tranquillity of the Church. 4. Doctrine. 5. Heresies. 6. Rites and Ceremonies. 7. Government. 8. Schisms. 9. Councils. 10. Lives of Bishops and Doctors. 11. Heretics. 12. Martyrs. 13. Miracles. 14. Condition of the Jews. 15. Other religions not Christian. 16. Political condition of the world.

Mr. Dowling (from whose excellent work on the study of Ecclesiastical History this article is taken) adds, that this peculiarity of form rendered the work of the centuriators rather a collection of separate treatises, than a compact and connected history; while, their object being to support a certain form of polemical theology, their relations are often twisted to suit their particular views.

CERDONIANS. Heretics of the second century, followers of Cerdon. The heresy consisted chiefly in laying down the existence of two contrary principles; in rejecting the law, and the prophets as ministers of a bad GOD; in ascribing, not a true body, but only the phantasm of a body, to our blessed LORD, and in denying the resurrection.—Tertullian. Epiphanius.

CEREMONY. This word is of Latin origin, though some of the best critics in antiquity are divided in their opinions, in assigning from what original it is derived. Joseph Scaliger proves by analogy, that as sanctimonia comes from sanctus, so does ceremonia from the old Latin word cerus, which signifies sacred or holy. The Christian writers have adapted the word to signify external rites and customs in the worship of GOD; which, though they are not of the essence of religion, yet contribute much to good order and uniformity in the church. If there were no ornaments in the church, and no prescribed order of administration, the common people would hardly be persuaded to show more reverence in the sacred assemblies than in other ordinary places, where they meet only for business or diversion. Upon this account St. Augustine says, “No religion, either true or false, can subsist without some ceremonies.” Notwithstanding this, some persons have laid it down, as a fundamental principle of religion, that no ceremony, or human constitution, is justifiable, but what is expressly warranted in the word of GOD. This dogma Mr. Cartwright has reduced into a syllogistical demonstration. “Wheresoever faith is wanting, there is sin. In every action not commanded, faith is wanting; ergo, in every action not commanded, there is sin.” But the falsity of this syllogism is shown at large by Hooker, in his second book of Ecclesiastical Polity, by arguments drawn from the indifference of many human actions—from the natural liberty GOD has afforded us—from the examples of holy men in Scripture, who have differently used this liberty—and from the power which the Church by Divine authority is vested with. That apostolical injunction, “Let all things be done with decency, and in order,” (1 Cor. xiv. 40,) is a much better demonstration, that the Church has a power to enjoin proper ceremonies, for the good order and comeliness of ecclesiastical conventions, than Mr. Cartwright’s syllogism is for the people’s contempt of them when enjoined.—Nicholls.

We still keep, and esteem, not only those ceremonies which we are sure were delivered us from the apostles, but some others too besides, which we thought might be suffered without hurt to the Church of God; for that we had a desire that all things in the holy congregation might, as St. Paul commandeth, be done with comeliness, and in good order. But as for all those things which we saw were either very superstitious, or utterly unprofitable, or noisome, or mockeries, or contrary to the Holy Scriptures, or else unseemly for sober and discreet people, whereof there be infinite numbers now-a-days, where the Roman religion is used; these, I say, we have utterly refused without all manner of exception, because we would not have the right worshipping of God to be defiled any longer with such follies.—Bp. Jewell.

Wise Christians sit down in the mean now under the gospel, avoiding a careless and parsimonious neglect on the one side, and a superstitious slovenliness on the other: the painted looks and lascivious gaudiness of the Church upon the hills, and the careless, neglected dress of some Churches in the valley.—Bp. Hall.

Far be it from me to be a patron of idolatry or superstition in the least degree, yet I am afraid lest we, who have reformed the worship of GOD from that pollution, (and blessed be his name therefor!) by bending the crooked stick too much the other way, have run too far into the other extreme.—Mede.

It may be objected, that my superior may enjoin me such a law, as my conscience tells me is scandalous to my brother, not convenient, not edifying, &c.; what shall I do in this condition? If I conform, I sin against my conscience (Rom. xiv. 23); if I do not, I sin against his authority. Answer, that text of Rom. xiv. 23, hath only reference to things not only indifferent in their own nature, but left free from any superior command interposing, and therefore the text is not ad idem; for though such laws may be of things indifferent, yet being commanded by just authority, the indifference by that command determineth, and they become necessary.—L’Estrange.

The Reformation gave such a turn to weak heads, that had not weight enough to poise themselves between the extremes of Popery and fanaticism, that everything older than yesterday was looked upon to be Popish and anti-Christian. The meanest of the people aspired to the priesthood, and were readier to frame new laws for the Church, than obey the old.—Sherlock.

It is a rule in prudence, not to remove an ill custom when it is well settled, unless it bring great prejudices, and then it is better to give one account why we have taken it away, than to be always making excuses why we do it not. Needless alteration doth diminish the venerable esteem of religion, and lessen the credit of ancient truths. Break ice in one place, and it will crack in more.—Archbishop Bramhall.

Our SAVIOUR and his apostles did use indifferent things, which were not prescribed in Divine worship. Thus he joined in the synagogue worship, (John xviii. 20, &c.,) though (if the place itself were at all prescribed) the manner of that service was not so much as hinted at. Thus he used the cup of charity in the Passover, though it was not instituted. (Luke xxii. 17.) The feast of dedication was a human institution, yet he vouchsafed to be present at it. Nay, he complied with the Jews in the very posture of the Passover, which they changed to sitting, though GOD had prescribed standing. The apostles also observed the hours of prayer, which were of human institution. (Acts iii. 1.) Now if CHRIST and his apostles did thus under the Jewish law, which was so exact in prescribing outward ceremonies, certainly we may do the same under the gospel. I may add, that the primitive Christians not only complied with the Jews in such rites as were not forbidden, but also had some ritual observations taken up by themselves. Thus they washed the disciples’ feet in imitation of CHRIST, and used love-feasts, till they thought it convenient to lay them aside. From whence it appears, that prescription is not necessary to make a rite lawful; it is enough if it be not forbidden.—Bennet.

Calvin, in his book of the True Way of Reformation, saith, he would not contend about ceremonies, not only those which are for decency, but those that are symbolical. Œcolampadius looked on the gesture at the sacrament as indifferent. Bucer thought the use of the sign of the cross after baptism neither indecent nor unprofitable. Crocius says, that the nature of ceremonies is to be taken from the doctrine which goes along with them; if the doctrine be good, the rites are so, or, at least, are tolerable; if it be false, then they are troublesome, and not to be borne; if it be impure, and lead to idolatry, then the ceremonies are tainted with the poison of it.—Stillingfleet.

No abuse of any gesture, though it be in the most manifest idolatry, doth render that gesture simply evil, and for ever after unlawful to be used in the worship of GOD upon that account. For the abuse of a thing supposes the lawful use of it; and if anything otherwise lawful becomes sinful by an abuse of it, then it is plain that it is not in its own nature sinful, but by accident, and with respect to somewhat else. This is clear from Scripture; for if rites and ceremonies, after they have been abused by idolaters, become absolutely evil, and unlawful to be used at all, then the Jews sinned in offering sacrifices—erecting altars—burning incense to the GOD of heaven—bowing down themselves before him—wearing a linen garment in the time of Divine worship—and observing other things and rites which the heathens observe in the worship of false gods. Kneeling at prayers, and standing, and sitting, and lifting up the hands and eyes to heaven, and bowing of the body, together with prayer, and praise, and singing, have been all notoriously abused to idolatry, and are so to this day.—Bennet. Nay, this principle would render Christianity impracticable; because there is no circumstance, no instrument, no ministry in worship, but may have been in some way or other abused by Pagan or Romish idolatries.—Bennet.

Bucer, in a letter to Johannes a Lasco, says, “If you will not admit such liberty and use of vesture to this pure and holy Church, because they have no commandment of the LORD, nor no example for it, I do not see how you can grant to any Church, that it may celebrate the LORD’S supper in the morning, &c.; for we have received for these things no commandment of the LORD, nor any example; yea, rather, the LORD gave a contrary example.”

The word ceremony occurs in the title page of the Prayer Book, in the prefatory section, (of Ceremonies,) in the 34th Article, and the vi., xiv., xviii., and xxx. Canons, &c. It is plainly a different thing from Common Prayer, (i. e. the ordinary public service as contrasted with the occasional services,) the administration of sacraments, or rites.

Dr. Nicholls says that the cross in baptism, and, it may be, the marriage ring, are perhaps the only ceremonies enjoined in the Book of 1662, which can in a strict and proper sense be called so. But, as is observed in a note to Stephens’s Common Prayer Book with notes, (vol. i. p. 139,) “Dr. Nicholls uses ceremony in a limited sense, which is by no means sanctioned by our best writers and divines. Ceremonia in its classical sense was a general term for worship. Johnson’s definition, outward rite, external form in religion, is fully supported by his references, and especially Hooker, who, throughout his book, applies it to all that is external in worship. It seems that rite and ceremony are thus to be distinguished. A rite is an act of religious worship, whether including ceremonies or not. A ceremony is any particular of religious worship, (included in a rite,) which prescribes action, position, or even the assumption of any particular vesture. The latter sense is plainly recognised by Hooker. (Eccl. Pol. book iv. sect. i.; book v. sect. 29.) The Preface to the Book of Common Prayer speaks first of common prayer, viz. the offices intended for the common and periodical use of all at stated times; next, the administration of the sacraments; next, of other rites and ceremonies; i. e. the occasional services, whether public or private, and all the methods of administration which these involve. Now among ceremonies, the prescribed procession in the Marriage and Burial Services, the standing at certain parts of the service, the bowing at the name of Jesus, as prescribed by the 18th canon, ought to be included.” It may be observed, that the 18th canon expressly calls the bowing just mentioned, a ceremony, as also in the 30th canon, the sign of the cross.—See Hooker, book iii. sect. 11, and book v. sect. 6.

CERINTHIANS. Ancient heretics, the followers of Cerinthus. This man, who was a Jew by birth, attempted to form a new and singular system of doctrine and discipline, by combining the doctrines of CHRIST with the opinions and errors of the Jews and Gnostics. He taught that the Creator of the world, whom he considered also as the Sovereign and Lawgiver of the Jews, was a Being endued with the greatest virtues, and derived his birth from the Supreme GOD; that this Being gradually degenerated from his former virtue; that, in consequence of this, the Supreme Being determined to destroy his empire, and, for that purpose, sent upon earth one of the ever happy and glorious æons whose name was CHRIST; that this CHRIST chose for his habitation the person of JESUS, into whom he entered in the form of a dove, whilst JESUS was receiving baptism of John in the waters of Jordan; that JESUS, after this union with CHRIST, opposed the God of the Jews, at whose instigation he was seized and crucified by the Hebrew chiefs; that when JESUS was taken captive, CHRIST ascended on high, and the man JESUS alone was subjected to the pain of an ignominious death.

CESSION. This is where the incumbent of any living is promoted to a bishopric; the church in that case is void by cession.

CHALDEANS. A modern sect of Christians in the East, in obedience to the see of Rome. Dr. Grant, in his Nestorians, quotes with approval the following passage from Smith and Dwight’s Researches in Armenia: which is also confirmed by Mr. Badger, in his Nestorians and their Rituals (vol. i. p. 177–181). “In 1681, the Nestorian metropolitan of Diarbekir, having quarrelled with his patriarch, was first consecrated by the pope Patriarch of the Chaldeans. The sect was as new as the office, and created for it. Converts to Papacy from the Nestorians” [not from the Jacobites, as Mr. Badger corrects Dr. Grant] “were dignified with the name of the Chaldean Church. It means no more than Papal Syrians, as we have in other parts Papal Armenians and Papal Greeks.” (See Nestorians.)

CHALDEE LANGUAGE. This was a dialect of the Hebrew, almost identical with the old Syriac, spoken formerly in Assyria, and the vernacular language of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity. The following parts of the Old Testament are written in Chaldee: Jer. x., xi.; Dan. ii. 4 to the end of chap. vii.; Ezra iv. 8 to vi. 19, and vii. 12–17.—Jebb.

CHALDEE PARAPHRASE, in the Rabbinical style, is called Targum. There are three Chaldee paraphrases in Walton’s Polyglot, viz. 1. Of Onkelos. 2. Of Jonathan, son of Uzziel. 3. Of Jerusalem. The first of these is supposed to have been composed about the time that our blessed Lord was on earth. It comprises the Pentateuch. The second, comprising the Prophets and Historical Books, is supposed to have been composed about the same time as the former. The Jerusalem Targum is considered a compilation not earlier than the eighth century. It comprises the Pentateuch.—Another Targum, falsely ascribed to Jonathan Ben Uzziel, was probably written two centuries after Christ, if not later. There are other inferior Targums.—See Horne on the Scriptures.

CHALICE. (Lat. calix.) This word was formerly (as by Shakspeare) used to denote any sort of cup, but is now usually restricted to the cup in which the consecrated wine for the eucharist is administered. The primitive Christians, desirous of honouring the holy purpose for which it was used, had it made of the most costly substances their circumstances would allow—of glass, crystal, onyx, sardonyx, and gold.

By a canon of the Council of Rheims, in Charles the Great’s time, all churches were obliged to have chalices of some purer metal. The ancient chalices were of two kinds: the greater, which were in the nature of our flagons, containing a large quantity of wine, which was all consecrated in them together; and the lesser, which were otherwise called “ministeriales,” because the priest delivered the wine to be drunk out of them; for communion in one kind was not then invented by the Romish Church.—Dr. Nicholls. (See Cup.)

CHAMFER. The flat slope formed by cutting away an angle in timber, or masonry. The chamfer is the first approach to a moulding, though it can hardly itself be called one. The chamfer plane, in speaking of mouldings, is used for the plane at an angle of 45°, or thereabouts, with the face of the wall, in which some of the mouldings often, and sometimes all of them, lie. The resolution of the chamfer into the square is called a stop-chamfer; it is often of considerable elegance.

CHANCEL. The upper part of the church, containing the holy table, and the stalls for the clergy. It is called the Chori in cathedrals, college chapels, and large churches: and in many of the ancient English parish churches is inferior in height and width to the nave. (See Choir.)—Jebb. (Cancellus.) So called a Cancellis, from the lattice-work partition betwixt the choir and the body of the church, so framed as to separate the one from the other, but not to intercept the sight. By the rubric before the Common Prayer, it is ordained that “the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past,” that is to say, distinguished from the body of the church in manner aforesaid; against which distinction Bucer (at the time of the Reformation) inveighed vehemently, as tending only to magnify the priesthood; but though the king and the parliament yielded so far as to allow the daily service to be read in the body of the church, if the ordinary thought fit, yet they would not suffer the chancel to be taken away or altered.

The chancel is the freehold of the rector, and part of his glebe, and therefore he ought to repair it: but if the rectory is impropriate, then the impropriator must do it: and this he is enjoined to do, not only by the common law, but by the canons of the Church; for in the gloss upon the Constitutions of Othobon it is said, that chancels must be repaired by those who are thereunto obliged; which words must refer to the common custom of England, by which rectors are obliged to repair the chancels. As to seats in the chancel, it has been made a question, whether the ordinary may place any person there? The objections against it are,—1. Because it is the freehold of the rector. 2. Because he is to repair it. But these are not sufficient reasons to divest the ordinary of that jurisdiction; for the freehold of the church is in the parson, and yet the bishop hath a power of placing persons there.

Unhappy disputes have arisen concerning the situation of the LORD’S table in the chancels. The first, in the beginning of the Reformation, was, whether those of the altar fashion, which had been used in the Popish times, and on which the masses were celebrated, should be kept up. This point was first started by Bishop Hooper, in a sermon before King Edward VI.; and, after this, altars were ordered to be taken down; and, instead of them, a table to be set up, in some convenient place of the chancel. In the first liturgy it was directed, that the priest officiating should stand before the midst of the altar. In the second, that the priest shall stand on the north side of the table. And thus the first dispute was at an end. But then there followed another controversy, whether the table, placed in the room of the altar, ought to stand altar-wise? i. e. in the same place and situation of the altar. In some churches the tables were placed in the middle of the chancels; in others, at the east part thereof, next to the wall. Bishop Ridley endeavoured to make a compromise in his church of St. Paul’s, suffering the table to stand in the place of the old altar; but, beating down the wainscot partition behind, laid all the choir open to the east, leaving the table then to stand in the middle of the chancel. Under this diversity of usage matters continued during this king’s reign; but when Queen Elizabeth came to the crown, and a new review of the liturgy was made, the present clause was added—“and the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past.” Whereby an indulgence is given to those cathedral or collegiate churches, where the table stood altar-wise, and fastened to the east part of the chancel, to retain their ancient practice; but the general rule is otherwise, especially as to parish churches; as in the rubric before the Communion, “the table having, at the communion time, a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the church, or in the chancel, where morning or evening prayer shall be appointed to be said.” So that, by these authorities, where tables were fixed, they ought to remain as they were; and, at the time of the communion, they might either stand at the east wall of the church, or in other place more convenient. But this latitude being granted, several inconveniences arose. Great irreverence was used towards the holy table, hats and gloves were thrown upon it, and the churchwardens and overseers were frequently writing their accounts thereon, the processioning boys eating their loaves and cakes, and dogs leaping up at the bread, to the great scandal of our reformation, not only among the Papists, but also among the Protestant churches abroad. Archbishop Laud, out of zeal to reform these abuses, endeavoured to have the communion table set altar-wise, at the east end of the chancel, and to be railed in, engaging many of the bishops to press this in their visitation articles: and it is one of the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, “that the holy table in every church be decently made, and set in the place where the altar stood; and there commonly covered, as thereto belongeth, and so stand, saving when the communion of the sacrament is to be distributed; at which time, the same shall be so placed in good sort within the chancel,” &c. Great contentions were for many years kept up in this controversy, till the civil war came on, and all things, civil and sacred, were overwhelmed with confusion. Since the Restoration, no positive determination therein being made, the dispute has happily died, and the tables have generally been settled altar-wise, and railed in; the generality of parishioners esteeming it a decent situation.—Nicholls.

CHANCELLOR. In ancient times, emperors and kings esteemed so highly the piety of bishops, that they gave them jurisdiction in particular causes, as in marriages, adultery, last wills, &c., which were determined by them in their consistory courts. But when many controversies arose in these and other causes, it was not consistent with the character of a bishop to interpose in every litigious matter, neither could he despatch it himself; and therefore it was necessary for the bishop to depute some subordinate officer, experienced both in the civil and canon law, to determine those ecclesiastical causes: and this was the original of diocesan chancellors. For, in the first ages of the Church, the bishops had officers who were called ecclesiecdici, that is, church lawyers, who were bred up in the knowledge of the civil and canon law, and their business was to assist the bishop in his jurisdiction throughout the whole diocese. But probably they were not judges of ecclesiastical courts, as chancellors are at this day, but only advised and assisted the bishops themselves in giving judgment; for we read of no chancellors here in all the Saxon reigns, nor after the Conquest, before the time of Henry II. That king, requiring the attendance of bishops in his state councils, and other public affairs, it was thought necessary to substitute chancellors in their room, to despatch those causes which were proper for the bishop’s jurisdiction.

In a few years a chancellor became such a necessary officer to the bishop, that he was not to be without him; for if he would have none, the archbishop of the province might enjoin him to depute one, and if he refuse, the archbishop might appoint one himself; because it is presumed that a bishop alone cannot decide so many spiritual causes as arise within his diocese. The person thus deputed by the bishop has his authority from the law; and his jurisdiction is not, like that of a commissary, limited to a certain place and certain causes, but extends throughout the whole diocese, and to all ecclesiastical matters; not only for reformation of manners, in punishment of criminals, but in all causes concerning marriages, last wills, administrations, &c.—Burn.

The chancellor in cathedral churches, and anciently in some colleges, was a canon, who had the general care of the literature of the church. He was the secretary of the chapter, the librarian, the superintendent of schools connected with the church, sometimes of the greater schools in the diocese; sometimes, as in Paris, had an academical jurisdiction in the university of the place. He also had the supervision of readers in the choirs, the regulation of preachers in the cathedral, and in many places the more frequent delivery of sermons and of theological lectures than fell to the turn of the other canons. All these offices were not always combined; but one or more of them always belonged to the chancellor. Every cathedral of old foundation in England, and most in Ireland, had originally a chancellor. The title was not so common in France or Italy, where the above-named offices were frequently divided among canons with other official titles. The chancellor of the church (the above-named officer) is not to be confounded with the chancellor of the diocese.—Jebb.

CHANT. This word, derived from the Latin cantus, “a song,” applies, in its most extended sense, to the musical performance of all those parts of the liturgy which, by the rubric, are permitted to be sung. A distinction, however, is to be made between singing and chanting. Chanting does not apply to the performance of those metrical versions of the Psalms, the use of which in parish churches, though legitimate, as sanctioned by authority, is not contemplated by the rubric. Neither does it apply to those musical arrangements of the canticles, hymns, and of the Nicene Creed, used in collegiate churches, and technically called “services,” which though originally derived from chants, have long found a distinct feature in the choral service. The chant properly signifies that plain tune to which the prayers, the litany, the versicles, and responses, and the psalms, and (where services are not in use) the canticles, are set, in choirs and places where they sing. In the chant, when properly and fully performed, both the minister and the choir bear their respective parts. The minister recites the prayers, and all the parts of the service which he is enjoined to say alone, (except the lessons,) in one sustained note, occasionally varied at the close of a cadence: and the choir makes the responses in harmony, sometimes in unison. But in the psalms and canticles both the minister and choir join together in the chant, without distinction, each verse being sung in full harmony.

The chanting of the prayers has always been observed in our principal cathedrals; and till recent times, it was universal in all those places within the reformed Church of England where choral foundations existed; and therefore the disuse of this custom, in any such establishments, is a plain contradiction to the spirit of our liturgy. It is an usage so very ancient, that some learned men have derived it, with every appearance of probability, from the practice of the Jewish Church; whence we have unquestionably derived the chanting of the psalms. It has prevailed in every portion of the Church, eastern or western, reformed or unreformed, since a liturgy has been used. And traces of this custom are to be found in all places of the world.

Of the chants for the psalms, the most ancient which are used in our Church are derived from some coeval, in all likelihood, with Christianity itself. Of this, however, there is no proof: and it is a mere baseless conjecture to refer them, as some do, to the strains of the temple worship. According to present custom, the chant consists of two kinds, single and double. The single chant, which is the most ancient kind, is an air consisting of two parts; the first part terminating with the point or colon (:), which uniformly divides each verse of the psalms or canticles in the Prayer Book, the second part terminating with the verse itself. The double chant is an air consisting of four strains, and consequently extending to two verses. This kind of chant does not appear to be older than the time of Charles II.; and is peculiar to the Church of England.

In chanting, special heed should be taken to two things: first, to observe strictly the “pointing” of the psalms and hymns, “as they are to be sung or said in churches.” We have no more right to alter the rubric in this respect than in any other. Secondly, to chant reverentially, which implies distinctness of utterance, clearness of tone, and moderate slowness as to time. A rapid and confused mode of singing the awful hymns of the Church, is not only utterly destructive of musical effect, but, what is of much greater consequence, is hostile to the promotion of the honour of GOD, and of the edification of man.—Jebb.

Persons who have heard extempore praying from the mouths of illiterate characters, must have been struck by the rude modulated chant in which it is delivered. Objectors to the cathedral mode of service sometimes aver “intoning” to be unnatural. This is a misconception. “Intoning,” musical or unmusical, is the natural key in which vent is given to a large and important class of devotional feelings: cathedral intoning is this voice correctly timed and tuned to harmony. Non-intoning, on the other hand, or reading, is artificial. No one hears an uneducated person attempt to read in the same tone as he speaks. Reading is an artificial drill, the correction of natural, undisciplined locution.—Morgan.

CHANTER. (See Precentor.) In foreign churches it is synonymous with our lay clerks. The chanters in Dublin college are certain officers selected from the foundation students, whose duty is to officiate as chapel clerks. They are so called from formerly constituting the choir of the chapel.

CHANTRY. A chapel, or other separated place in a church, for the celebration of masses for the soul of some person departed this life. Their ordinary places are mentioned under the head Church. The chantry sometimes included the tomb of the person by whom it was founded, as in the splendid examples in Winchester cathedral. It was sometimes an entire aisle, as the golden choir at St. Mary’s, Stamford; and sometimes a separate chapel, as the Beauchamp chapel, St. Mary’s, Warwick, and Henry VII.’s chapel at Westminster.

In the reign of Henry VIII., when the belief of purgatory began to decline, it was thought an unnecessary thing to continue the pensions and endowments of chantry priests; therefore, in the 37 of Henry VIII. cap. 4, those chantries were given to the king, who had power at any time to issue commissions to seize their endowments, and take them into his possession: but this being in the last year of his reign, there were several of those endowments which were not seized by virtue of any such commissions; therefore, in the first year of Edward VI. cap. 14, those chantries which were in being five years before the session of that parliament, and not in the actual possession of Henry VIII., were adjudged to be, and were, vested in that king. Cranmer endeavoured to obtain that the disposal of the chantries, &c., should be deferred until the king should be of age—hoping that if they were saved from the hands of the laity until that time, Edward might be persuaded to apply the revenues to the relief of the poor parochial clergy; but the archbishop’s exertions were unsuccessful.

CHAPEL. In former times, when the kings of France were engaged in wars, they always carried St. Martin’s cope (cappa) into the field, which was kept as a precious relic, in a tent where mass was said, and thence the place was called capella, the chapel. The word was gradually applied to any consecrated place of prayer, not being the parish church.

With us in England there are several sorts of chapels:

1. Royal chapels. (See Chapel Royal.) 2. Domestic chapels, built by noblemen for private worship in their families. 3. College chapels, attached to the different colleges of the universities. 4. Chapels of ease, built for the ease of parishioners, who live at too great a distance from the parish church, by the clergy of which the services of the chapel are performed. 5. Parochial chapels, which differ from chapels of ease on account of their having a permanent minister, or incumbent, though they are in some degree dependent upon the mother church. A parochial chapelry, with all parochial rites independent of the mother church, as to sacraments, marriages, burials, repairs, &c., is called a reputed parish. 6. Free chapels; such as were founded by kings of England, and made exempt from episcopal jurisdiction. 7. Chapels which adjoin to any part of the church; such were formerly built by persons of consideration as burial-places. To which may be added chapels of corporation societies, and eleemosynary foundation; as the mayor’s chapel at Bristol, &c., the chapels of the inns of court, chapels of hospitals and almshouses.—Burn.

The word chapel in foreign countries frequently means the choir or chancel. This may possibly be the meaning intended in the rubric preceding Morning Prayer, directing the Morning and Evening Prayers to be used in the accustomed place of the church, chapel, or chancel. It may allude to the college chapels, or such collegiate chapels as St. George’s at Windsor, or to the usage of some cathedrals of having early morning prayer (as at Gloucester, &c.) in the Lady chapel, or late evening prayer (as at Durham) in the Galilee chapel. Henry VII.’s chapel at Westminster was, at least in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, used for this purpose.—Jebb.

CHAPEL ROYAL. The chapel royal is under the government of the dean of the chapel, and not within the jurisdiction of any bishop. But the archbishop is the first chaplain and parochus of the sovereign. The deanery was an office of ancient standing in the court, but discontinued in 1572, till King James’s accession, then it was revived in the person of Dr. Montague.—Heylin’s Life of Laud. Next to the dean is the subdean, who has the special care of the chapel service; a clerk of the court, with his deputies, a prelate or clergyman, whose office it is to attend the sovereign at Divine service, and to wait on her in her private oratory.—There are forty-eight chaplains in ordinary, who wait four in each month, and preach on Sundays and holidays; to read Divine service when required on week days, and to say grace in the absence of the clerk of the closet. The other officers are, a confessor of the household, now called chaplain of the household, who has the pastoral care of the royal household; ten priests in ordinary (whose duties are like those of chaplains, or vicars in cathedrals); sixteen gentlemen of the chapel, who with ten choristers now form the choir; and other officers. The officiating members of the chapel royal were formerly much more numerous than now; thus there were thirty-two gentlemen of the chapel in King Edward VI.’s reign, and twenty-three in King James I.’s. The priests in ordinary, properly speaking, form part of the choir. In strictness this establishment is ambulatory, and ought to accompany the sovereign, of which practice we have many proofs in ancient records.

The chapel royal in Dublin consists of a dean and twenty-four chaplains, (who preach in turn,) and a choir of laymen. Before the legal establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland, the royal chapel of Holyrood had a full establishment of chaplains, &c., and the liturgy was then celebrated chorally, at least in the reign of King Charles I.

CHAPLAIN. A person authorized to officiate in the chapels of the queen, or in the private oratories of noblemen. The name is derived from capella; the priests who superintend the capella being called Capellani. According to a statute of Henry VIII., the persons vested with a power of retaining chaplains, together with the number each is allowed to qualify, are as follow: “an archbishop, eight; a duke or bishop, six; marquis or earl, five; viscount, four; baron, knight of the garter, or lord chancellor, three; a duchess, marchioness, countess, baroness, the treasurer or comptroller of the king’s household, clerk of the closet, the king’s secretary, dean of the chapel, almoner, and master of the rolls, each of them, two; chief justice of the King’s Bench, and warden of the Cinque Ports, each, one.” In England there are forty-eight chaplains to the queen, called chaplains in ordinary. Clergymen who officiate in the army and navy, in the gaols, public hospitals, and workhouses, are called chaplains. Chaplain is also a comprehensive name, applied, more rarely in England than abroad, to the members of cathedrals and collegiate churches and chapels, who are responsible for the daily service. In a few instances it is applied to the superior members. Thus at Lichfield, there were five capellani principales, major canons, whose office it was to serve at the great altar, rule the choir, &c., (Dugd. Mon. ed. 1830, vi. 1257,) and at Winchester college the ten fellows are called, in the original charter, “capellani perpetui;” in contradistinction to the capellani conductitii, or remotivi;—and the principal duty of these chaplain-fellows was to officiate in the chapel. But in general, a chaplain signified a minister of the Church of inferior rank, a substitute for and coadjutor of the canons in chanting, and in the performance of the Divine offices. (See Dictionnaire de droit canonique, par Durand de Maillane, Lyons, 1787.) They were so called from serving in the capella or choir, at the various offices, and in the various side chapels, in contradistinction to the capitular canons, whose peculiar privilege it was to serve at the great altar. Under the name of chaplain, were included minor canons, vicars choral, and similar officers, who had a variety of designations abroad, unknown to us, such as porticuristi, demi-canons, semi-prebends, &c., &c.

The name of chaplain, in its choral sense, is retained with us only at Christ Church Oxford, Manchester, and the colleges at the universities. At the latter, they are frequently styled in the old charters, capellani conductitii or remotivi; by which is to be understood, that they were originally, at least, intended to be mere stipendiaries, adjuncts to the foundation; as contrasted with those who have a permanent, corporate interest, or an endowment in fee; like the præbendati in the foreign cathedrals, or the incorporated vicars choral in our own cathedrals. (See College, Prebendary, and Vicars Choral.) The chaplains at Cambridge are commonly called conducti, though originally they were designated, as at Oxford, capellani conductitii; a designation which it were to be wished were changed for the more proper name of chaplain. Before the Reformation the capellani to be found in many of the old cathedrals, were exclusive of the vicars choral, and were chanting priests. These sometimes formed corporations or colleges. Abroad, the chaplains in many places discharged both the duties of chanting priests and vicars choral, or minor canons; each having his separate chapel for daily mass; but all being obliged to unite in discharging the Divine offices, at least at matins and vespers in the great choirs.—Jebb.

CHAPTER. (See Bible.) The word is derived from the Latin caput, head; and signifies one of the principal divisions of a book, and, in reference to the Bible, one of the larger sections into which its books are divided. This division, as well as that consisting of verses, was introduced to facilitate reference, and not to indicate any natural or accurate division of the subjects treated in the books. For its origin, see Bible.

CHAPTER. (See Dean and Chapter.) A chapter of a cathedral church consists of persons ecclesiastical, canons and prebendaries, whereof the dean is chief, all subordinate to the bishop, to whom they are as assistants in matters relating to the Church, for the better ordering and disposing the things thereof, and for confirmation of such leases of the temporalities and offices relating to the bishopric, as the bishop from time to time shall happen to make.—God. 58.

And they are termed by the canonists, capitulum, being a kind of head, instituted not only to assist the bishop in manner aforesaid, but also anciently to rule and govern the diocese in the time of vacation.—God. 56.

Of these chapters, some are ancient, some new: the new are those which are founded or translated by King Henry VIII. in the places of abbots and convents, or priors and convents, which were chapters whilst they stood, and these are new chapters to old bishoprics; or they are those which are annexed unto the new bishoprics founded by King Henry VIII., and are, therefore, new chapters to new bishoprics.—1 Inst. 95.

The chapter in the collegiate church is more properly called a college; as at Westminster and Windsor, where there is no episcopal see.—Wood, b. i. c. 3. But however this may originally have been, the rule has long been disregarded throughout Europe.

There may be a chapter without any dean; as the chapter of the collegiate church of Southwell: and grants by or to them are as effectual as other grants by dean and chapter.—Wats. c. 38.

In the cathedral churches of St. David’s and Llandaff there never hath been any dean, but the bishop in either is head of the chapter; and at the former the chantor, at the latter the archdeacon presides, in the absence of the bishop, or vacancy of the see.—Johns. 60. [St. David’s and Llandaff are now placed on the same footing with other cathedrals in this respect.]

One bishop may possibly have two chapters, and that by union or consolidation: and it seemeth that if a bishop hath two chapters, both must confirm his leases.—God. 58. In cathedrals of the old foundation chapters are of two kinds, the greater and the lesser. The greater chapter consists of all the major canons and prebendaries, whether residentiary or not; and their privileges are now considered to be limited to the election of a bishop, of proctors in convocation, and possibly a few other rare occasions; the lesser chapter consists of the dean and residentiaries, who have the management of the chapter property, and the ordinary government of the cathedral. This however has been the growth of later ages: as it is certain that all prebendal members had a voice in matters which concerned the interests of the cathedral church. In Ireland the distinction now mentioned is unknown, except at Kildare.

In the statutes of the old cathedrals, by chapter is also understood, a sort of court held by one or more of the canons, sometimes even by the non-capitular officers, for the administering the ordinary discipline of the church, fining absentees, &c.

The word chapter is occasionally applied abroad to boards of universities or other corporations.

The assemblies of the knights of the orders of chivalry, (as of the Garter, Bath, &c.,) are also called chapters.

CHAPTER HOUSE. The part of a cathedral in which the dean and chapter meet for business. Until the thirteenth century, the chapter house was always rectangular. Early in that century it became multagonal, generally supported by a central shaft, and so continued to the latest date at which any such building has been erected. The greatest cost was expended on the decoration of the chapter house, and there is little even in the choir of our cathedrals, of greater beauty than such chapter houses as Lincoln, Salisbury, Southwell, York, and Howden. That of old St. Paul’s in London, to judge by the plates in Dugdale’s History of St. Paul’s, must have been very beautiful. It stood in an unique position, in the centre of a cloister. For the plan of the chapter house, in the arrangement of the conventual buildings, see Monastery. Some have imagined that the idea of the circular or polygonal chapter houses was derived from the circular baptisteries abroad.

CHARGE. This is the address delivered by a bishop, or other prelate called ordinary, at a visitation of the clergy under his jurisdiction. A charge may be considered, in most instances, rather in the light of an admonitory exhortation, than of a judgment or sentence; although the ordinary has full power in the charge to issue authoritative commands, and to cause them to be obeyed, by means of the other legal forms, for the exercise of his ordinary jurisdiction. It appears also that the clergy are legally bound by their oath of canonical obedience, and by their ordination vows, reverently to obey their ordinary. It is customary for archdeacons, and other ecclesiastics having peculiar jurisdiction, to deliver charges. Archdeacons have a charge of the parochial churches within the diocese to which they belong, and have power to hold visitations when the bishop is not there.—Burn. (See Visitation.)

CHARTREUX. (See Carthusians.)

CHASIBLE. (Chasuble, Casula.) The outermost dress formerly worn by the priest in the service of the altar, but not now used in the English Church, though prescribed under the title of Vestment, in the rubric of King Edward VI.’s First Book, to be worn by the priest or bishop when celebrating the communion, indifferently with the cope. In the time of the primitive Church, the Roman toga was becoming disused, and the pænula was taking its place. The pænula formed a perfect circle, with an aperture to admit the head in the centre, while it fell down so as completely to envelope the person of the wearer. A short pænula was more common, and a longer for the higher orders; it was this last which was used by the clergy in their services. The Romish Church has altered it much by cutting it away laterally, so as to expose the arms, and leave only a straight piece before and behind. The Greek Church retains it in its primitive shape, under the title of φαινόλιον, or φινώλιον: the old brasses in England also show the same form, some even since the Reformation. And many tombs of bishops in the 13th century, and later, show it in a graceful and flowing form.

CHERUB, or (the plural) CHERUBIM, a particular order of angels. When GOD drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise, “he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Gen. iii. 24.) When Moses was commanded by GOD to make the ark of the covenant with the propitiatory, or mercy-seat, he was (Exod. xxv. 19, 20) to make one cherub on the one end, and another cherub on the other end; the cherubims were to stretch forth their wings on high, and to cover the mercy-seat with them; and their faces were to look one to the other. Moses has left us in the dark as to the form of these cherubims. The Jews suppose them to have been in the shape of young naked men, covered for the sake of decency with some of their wings; and the generality of interpreters, both ancient and modern, suppose them to have had human shapes. But it is certain that the prophet Ezekiel (i. 10, and x. 14) represents them quite otherwise, and speaks of the face of a cherub as synonymous with that of an ox or calf; and in the Revelation (iv. 6) they are called ζῶα, beasts. Josephus (Antiq. lib. iii.) says that they were a kind of winged creatures, answering to the description of those which Moses saw about the throne of GOD, but the like to which no man had ever seen before. Grotius, Bochart, and other learned moderns, deriving the word from charab, which in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, signifies to plough, make no difficulty to suppose that the cherubim here spoken of resembled an ox, either in whole or in part. The learned Spencer supposes them to have had the face of a man, the wings of an eagle, the back and mane of a lion, and the feet of a calf. This he collects from the prophetical vision of Ezekiel (i.), in which the cherubims are said to have four forms, those of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. There is something in this mixed form, according to that author, which is very suitable to the regular character which GOD bore among the Jews, and the peculiar circumstances of the time. The Israelites were then in the wilderness, and encamped in four cohorts; and the Hebrews have a tradition, that the standard of the tribe of Judah and the associated tribes carried a lion, the tribe of Ephraim an ox, the tribe of Reuben a man, and the tribe of Dan an eagle. GOD therefore would sit upon cherubims bearing the forms of these animals, to signify that he was the Leader and King of the four cohorts of the Israelites. The same writer, in another place, makes the cherubims of the mercy-seat to be of Egyptian extraction; for Porphyry, speaking of the priests of Egypt, says, “Among these, one god is formed like a man as high as the neck, and they give him the face of some bird, or of a lion, or of some other animal; and again, another has the head of a man, and the other parts of other animals.” Add to this, that the Apis of the Egyptians was worshipped under the figure of an ox. Nor can any other reason, he thinks, be assigned why GOD should order the cherubims to be fashioned in the shape of different animals, particularly the ox, but that he did it out of indulgence to the Israelites, who, being accustomed to such kinds of representations, not only easily bore with them, but ardently desired them. The cherubims of the mercy-seat, Bochart supposes to have had a mystical and symbolical relation to GOD, the angels, the tabernacle, and the people. As to GOD, they represented his great power according to that of the Psalmist, (xcix. 1,) “The LORD reigneth, let the people tremble; he sitteth between the cherubims, let the earth be moved.” They represented likewise the nature and ministry of angels. By the lion’s form is signified their strength, generosity, and majesty; by that of the ox, their constancy and assiduity in executing the commands of GOD; by the human shape, their humanity and kindness; and by that of the eagle, their agility and speed. As to the tabernacle, the cherubims denoted that the holy place was the habitation of the King of heaven, whose immediate attendants the angels are supposed to be. Lastly, with respect to the people, the cherubims might teach them that GOD, who sat between them, was alone to be the object of their worship. Upon this subject see the curious and interesting, though somewhat painful dissertation of Mr. Parkhurst in his Hebrew and Greek Lexicons.

By many it has been considered that the four symbols, applied from very ancient times to the four evangelists, are derived from the cherubic figures. The cherubims are also described in Rev. iv. 7.

It is surely derogatory to right ideas of religion, to suppose that these mysterious symbols were derived from the images of heathen idolatry, in order to indulge the prejudices of the Israelites. This would be to encourage idolatry, against which the Divine vengeance was so markedly directed. It is much more consistent and probable to believe that the corresponding symbols of Egyptians and Assyrians (the latter so wonderfully illustrated by the late discoveries at Nineveh) were derived from patriarchal traditions; distortions of that pure worship of God which was derived to the whole world from Noah. This solution will account for many of those extraordinary resemblances between heathen and Jewish customs, which have been stumbling-blocks to neologists, especially in our day.

CHERUBICAL HYMN. A title sometimes given to the Tersanctus or Trisagion. (See Tersanctus.)

CHILIASTS, or MILLENARIANS. (See Millennium.) A school of Christians who believe that, after the general or last judgment, the saints shall live a thousand years upon earth, and enjoy all manner of innocent satisfaction. It is thought Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, who lived in the second century, and was disciple to St. John the evangelist, or, as some others think, to John the Elder, was the first who maintained this opinion. The authority of this bishop, supported by some passages in the Revelation, brought a great many of the primitive fathers to embrace his persuasion, as Irenæus, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian; and afterwards Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, living in the third century, was so far engaged in this belief, and maintained it with so much elocution, that Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, thought himself obliged to write against him: upon which Coracion, one of the principal abettors of this doctrine, renounced it publicly, which practice was followed by the generality of the West. The Millenarians were in like manner condemned by Pope Damasus, in a synod held at Rome against the Apollinarians. Some of the modern Millenarians have refined the notion of Cerinthus, and made the satisfactions rational and angelical, untainted with anything of sensuality or Epicurism. As for the time of this thousand years, those that hold this opinion are not perfectly agreed. Mr. Mede makes it to commence and determine before the general conflagration; but Dr. Thomas Burnet supposes that this world will be first destroyed, and that a new paradisaical earth will be formed out of the ashes of the old one, where the saints will converse together for a thousand years, and then be translated to a higher station.

CHIMERE. The upper robe worn by a bishop, to which the lawn sleeves are generally attached. Before and after the Reformation, till Queen Elizabeth’s time, the bishops wore a scarlet chimere or garment over the rochet, as they still do when assembled in convocation; and when the sovereign attends parliament. But Bishop Hooper, having superstitiously scrupled at this as too light a robe for episcopal gravity, it was in her reign changed into a chimere of black satin.

The chimere seems to resemble the garment used by bishops during the middle ages, and called mantelletum; which was a sort of cope, with apertures for the arms to pass through.—See Du Cange’s Glossary. The name of chimere is probably derived from the Italian zimarra, which is described as “vesta talare de’ sacerdoti et de’ chierici.”—Palmer.

The scarlet chimere strongly resembles the scarlet habit worn in congregation, and at St. Mary’s, by doctors at Oxford. Some have supposed that our episcopal dress is in fact merely a doctorial habit. Perhaps, however, the origin of both the chimere, the Oxford habit, and the Cambridge doctorial cope, and the episcopal mantelletum, may all be derived from the dalmatic or tunicle, (see Dalmatic,) which was formerly a characteristic part of the dress of bishops and deacons; from which the chimere differs in being open in front. The sewing of the lawn sleeves (now of preposterous fulness) to the chimere, is a modern innovation. They ought properly to be fastened to the rochet.—Jebb.

CHOIR, or QUIRE. This word has two meanings. The first is identical with chancel, (see Chancel,) signifying the place which the ministers of Divine worship occupy, or ought to occupy. The word, according to Isidore, is derived from chorus circumstantium, because the clergy stood round the altar. Custom has usually restricted the name of chancel to parish churches, that of choir to cathedrals, and such churches or chapels as are collegiate. In the choirs of cathedrals, (see Cathedral,) which are very large, the congregation also assemble; but the clergy and other members of the foundation occupy the seats on each side, (which are called stalls,) according to the immemorial custom of all Christian countries.

The second, but more proper sense of the word, is, a body of men set apart for the performance of all the services of the Church, in the most solemn form. Properly speaking, the whole corporate body of a cathedral, including capitular and lay members, forms the choir; and in this extended sense ancient writers frequently used the word. Thus the “glorious company of the apostles” is called in Latin “apostolorum chorus.” The choir is used in some very ancient documents for the cathedral chapter. But, in its more restricted sense, we are to understand that body of men and boys who form a part of the foundation of these places, and whose special duty it is to perform the service to music. The choir properly consists of clergymen, both capitular (including the precentor) and non-capitular, laymen, and chorister boys; and should have at least six men and six boys at every week-day service, these being essential to the due performance of the chants, services, and anthems. Every choir is divided into two parts, stationed on each side of the chancel, in order to sing alternately the verses of the psalms and hymns, one side answering the other. The alternate chanting by one or a few voices and a chorus, in the psalms, now very general abroad, is a corruption, and inconsistent with the true idea of antiphonal singing. This alternate, or antiphonal, recitation is very ancient, as old as the time of Miriam, who thus alternated her song with the choir of Israel. (Exod. xv. 20.) And we know from Isaiah that the angels in heaven thus sing. (Isaiah vi. 3.) So that while we chant, we obey the practice of the Church in earth and heaven.

In the first Common Prayer Book of King Edward VI., the rubric, at the beginning of the morning prayer, ordered the priests, “being in the quire, to begin the Lord’s Prayer;” so that it was the custom of the minister to perform Divine service at the upper end of the chancel near the altar. Against this, Bucer, by the direction of Calvin, made a great outcry, pretending “it was an antichristian practice for the priest to say prayers only in the choir, a place peculiar to the clergy, and not in the body of the church among the people, who had as much right to Divine worship as the clergy.” This occasioned an alteration of the rubric, when the Common Prayer Book was revised in the fifth year of King Edward, and it was ordered, that prayers should be said in such part of the church “where the people might best hear.” However, at the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne, the ancient practice was restored, with a dispensing power left in the ordinary, of determining it otherwise if he saw just cause. Convenience at last prevailed, so that the prayers are very commonly read in the body of the church, and in those parish churches where the service is read in the chancel, the minister’s place is at the lower end of it.—Jebb.

CHOREPISCOPUS. (Country bishops, Χωρεπίσκοποι, Episcopi rurales, from χώρα or χωρίον country.)

Some considerable difference of opinion has existed relative to the true ministerial order of the chorepiscopi, some contending that they were mere presbyters, others that they were a mixed body of presbyters and bishops, and a third class that they were all invested with the authority of the episcopal office. That the latter opinion, however, is the correct one, is maintained by Bishop Barlow, Dr. Hammond, Beveridge, Cave, and other eminent divines of the English Church, together with Bingham, in his “Antiquities of the Christian Church.” Their origin seems to have arisen from a desire on the part of the city or diocesan bishops to supply the churches of the neighbouring country with more episcopal services than they could conveniently render. Some of the best qualified presbyters were therefore consecrated bishops, and thus empowered to act in the stead of the principal bishop, though in strict subordination to his authority. Hence, we find them ordaining presbyters and deacons under the licence of the city bishop; and confirmation was one of their ordinary duties. Letters dimissory were also given to the country clergy by the chorepiscopi, and they had the privilege of sitting and voting in synods and councils. The difference between the chorepiscopus and what was, at a later period, denominated a suffragan, is scarcely appreciable, both being under the jurisdiction of a superior, and limited to the exercise of their powers within certain boundaries, enjoying only a delegated power.

The chorepiscopi were at first confined to the Eastern Church. In the Western Church, and especially in France, they began to be known about the fifth century. They have never been numerous in Spain and Italy. In Germany they must have been frequent in the seventh and eighth centuries. In the East, the order was abolished by the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 361. But so little respect was entertained for this decree, that the order continued until the tenth century. They were first prohibited in the Western Church in the ninth century; but, according to some writers, they continued in France until the twelfth century, when the arrogance, insubordination, and injurious conduct of this class of ecclesiastics became a subject of general complaint in that country; and they are said to have existed in Ireland until the thirteenth century. The functions of the chorepiscopi are now in great part performed by archdeacons, rural deans, and vicars-general. (See Suffragans.)

CHOREUTÆ. A sect of heretics, who, among other errors, persisted in keeping the Sunday as a fast.

CHORISTER. A singer in a choir. It properly means a singing boy; and so it is used in all old documents and statistics.

CHRISM. (Χρίσμα, oil.) Oil consecrated in the Romish and Greek Churches by the bishop, and used in baptism, confirmation, orders, and extreme unction. This chrism is consecrated with great ceremony upon Holy Thursday. There are two sorts of it; the one is a composition of oil and balsam, made use of in baptism, confirmation, and orders; the other is only plain oil consecrated by the bishop, and used for catechumens and extreme unction. Chrism has been discontinued in the Church of England since the Reformation.

CHRISOME, in the office of baptism, was a white vesture, which in former times the priest used to put upon the child, saying, “Take this white vesture for a token of innocence.”

By a constitution of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 736, the chrisomes, after having served the purposes of baptism, were to be made use of only for the making or mending of surplices, &c., or for the wrapping of chalices.

The first Common Prayer Book of King Edward orders that the woman shall offer the chrisome, when she comes to be churched; but, if the child happens to die before her churching, she was excused from offering it; and it was customary to use it as a shroud, and to wrap the child in it when it was buried. Hence, by an abuse of words, the term is now used not to denote children who die between the time of their baptism and the churching of the mother, but to denote children who die before they are baptized, and so are incapable of Christian burial.

CHRIST. From the Greek word (Χριστος) corresponding with the Hebrew word Messiah, and signifying the Anointed One. It is given pre-eminently to our blessed LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. As the holy unction was given to kings, priests, and prophets, by describing the promised SAVIOUR of the world under the name of CHRIST, ANOINTED, or MESSIAH, it was sufficient evidence that the qualities of king, prophet, and high priest would eminently centre in him; and that he would exercise them not only over the Jews, but over all mankind, and particularly over those whom he should elect into his Church. Our blessed SAVIOUR was not, indeed, anointed to these offices by oil; but he was anointed by the power and grace of the HOLY GHOST, who visibly descended upon him at his baptism. Thus, (Acts x. 38,) “GOD anointed JESUS of Nazareth with the HOLY GHOST and with power.”—See Matt. iii. 16, 17. John iii. 34. (See Jesus and Messiah.)

CHRISTEN, To. To baptize; because, at baptism, the person receiving that sacrament is made, as the catechism teaches, a member of CHRIST.

CHRISTENDOM. All those regions in which the kingdom or Church of CHRIST is planted.

CHRISTIAN. The title given to those who call upon the name of the LORD JESUS. It was at Antioch, where St. Paul and St. Barnabas jointly preached the Christian religion, that the disciples were first called Christians, (Acts xi. 26,) in the year of our LORD 43. They were generally called by one another brethren, faithful, saints, and believers. The name of Nazarenes was, by way of reproach, given them by the Jews. (Acts xxiv. 5.) Another name of reproach was that of Galilæans, which was the emperor Julian’s style whenever he spoke of the Christians. Epiphanius says, that they were called Jesseans, either from Jesse, the father of David, or, which is more probable, from the name of JESUS, whose disciples they were. The word is used but three times in Holy Scripture: Acts xi. 26; xxvi. 28; 1 St. Pet. iv. 16.

CHRISTIAN NAME. (See Name.) The name given to us when we are made Christians, i. e. at our baptism.

The Scripture history, both of the Old and New Testament, contains many instances of the names of persons being changed, or of their receiving an additional name, when they were admitted into covenant with GOD, or into a new relation with our blessed LORD; and it was at circumcision, which answered, in many respects, to baptism in the Christian Church, that the Jews gave a name to their children. This custom was adopted into the Christian Church, and we find very ancient instances of it recorded. For example, Thascius Cyprian, at his baptism, changed his first name to Cæcilius, out of respect for the presbyter who was his spiritual father. The custom is still retained, a name being given by the godfather and godmother of each child at baptism, by which name he is addressed by the minister when he receives that holy sacrament. (See Baptismal Service.)

Our Christian names serve to remind us of the duties and privileges on which we entered at baptism. Our surname is a memorial of original sin, or of the nature which we bring into the world.

CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS. (See Thomas, St., Christians of.)

CHRISTMAS DAY. The 25th December; the day on which the universal Church celebrates the nativity or birthday of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. The observance of this day in the Western Church is most ancient, although we may not give much belief to the statement of the forged decretal epistles, that Telesiphorus, who lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius, ordered Divine service to be celebrated, and an angelical hymn to be sung, the night before the nativity. While the persecution raged under Diocletian, who kept his court at Nicomedia, that tyrant, among other acts of cruelty, finding multitudes of Christians assembled together to celebrate the nativity of CHRIST, commanded the church doors to be shut, and fire put to the building, which soon reduced them and the place to ashes. In the East it was for some time confounded with the Epiphany; and St. Chrysostom mentions that it was only about his time that it became a distinct festival at Antioch.

The Athanasian Creed is ordered to be said or sung on this day. This is one of the days for which the Church of England appoints special psalms, and a special preface in the Communion Service; and if it fall on a Friday, that Friday is not to be a fast day.—Cave. Bingham.

It is one of the scarlet days at Oxford and Cambridge: and in cathedrals and choirs the responses and litany (if to be used) ought to be solemnly sung to the organ. In the First Book of King Edward, there were separate Collects, Epistles, and Gospels appointed for the first and second communion on this and on Easter day.

The chronological correctness of keeping the birthday of our LORD on the 25th of December, has been demonstrated in a most careful analysis, by the late lamented Dr. Jarvis, in his Chronological Introduction to the History of the Church.—Jebb.

CHRISTOLYTES. (Χριστολύται, separators of Christ.) A sect in the sixth century, which held, that when CHRIST descended into hell, he left his soul and body there, and only rose with his Divinity to heaven.

CHRISTOPHORI and THEOPHORI, (Χριστοφόροι και Θεοφόροι, Christ-bearers and God-bearers,) names given to Christians in the earliest times, on account of the communion between CHRIST, who is GOD, and the Church. Ignatius commences his Epistles thus, Ἰγνάτιος ὁ καὶ Θεοφόρος: and it is related in the acts of his martyrdom, that hearing him called Theophorus, Trajan asked the meaning of the name; to which Ignatius replied, it meant one that carries CHRIST in his heart. “Dost thou then,” said Trajan, “carry him that was crucified in thy heart?” “Yes,” said the holy martyr, “for it is written, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.”

CHRONICLES. Two canonical books of the Old Testament. They contain the history of about 3500 years, from the creation until after the return of the Jews from Babylon. They are fuller and more comprehensive than the Books of Kings. The Greek interpreters hence call them Παραλειπομένα, supplements, additions. The Jews make but one book of the Chronicles, under the title Dibree hajamin, i. e. journal or annals. Ezra is generally supposed to be the author of these books. The Chronicles, or Paraleipomena, are an abridgment, in fact, of the whole Scripture history. St. Jerome so calls it, “Omnis traditio Scripturarum in hoc continetur.” The First Book contains a genealogical account of the descent of Israel from Adam, and of the reign of David. The Second Book contains the history of Judah to the very year of the Jews’ return from the Babylonish captivity—the decree of Cyrus granting them liberty being in the last chapter of this Second Book.

CHURCH. (See Catholic.) The word church is derived from the Greek κυριακὸς (belonging to the Lord)—the Teutonic nations having, at their first conversion, generally adopted the Greek ecclesiastical terms. The truth of this etymology is confirmed by the fact, that in the Sclavonic languages the names for the Church resemble the Teutonic, evidently because derived from a common Greek original. The Church, meaning by the word the Catholic or Universal Church, is that society which was instituted by our blessed LORD, and completed by his apostles, acting under the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT, to be the depository of Divine truth and the channel of Divine grace. Every society, or organized community, may be distinguished from a mere multitude or accidental concourse of people, by having a founder, a form of admission, a constant badge of membership, peculiar duties, peculiar privileges, and regularly appointed officers. Thus the Catholic Church has the LORD CHRIST for its founder; its prescribed form of admission is the holy sacrament of baptism; its constant badge of membership is the holy sacrament of the eucharist; its peculiar duties are repentance, faith, obedience; its peculiar privileges, union with GOD, through CHRIST its Head, and hereby forgiveness of sins, present grace, and future glory; its officers are bishops and priests, assisted by deacons, in regular succession from the apostles, the first constituted officers of this body corporate. It has the Bible for its code of laws, and tradition for precedents, to aid its officers in the interpretation of that code on disputed points. It is through the ordinances and sacraments of the Church, administered by its divinely appointed officers, that we are brought into union and communion with the invisible SAVIOUR; it is through the visible body that we are to receive communications from the invisible SPIRIT; and, says the apostle, in the fourth chapter to the Ephesians, “There is,” not merely one SPIRIT, “there is one body and one SPIRIT, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” Again, (1 Cor. x. 17,) “We being many are one bread and one body.” And in the first chapter to the Colossians, the same apostle tells us that this body is the Church. And thus we must, if we are scriptural Christians, believe that there is one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Of this one Church there are many branches existing in various parts of the world, (not to mention the great division of militant and triumphant,) just as there is one ocean, of which portions receive a particular designation from the shores which they lave. But of this one society there cannot be two branches in one and the same place opposed to each other, either in discipline or in doctrine. Although there be two opposing societies or more in one place, both or all claiming to be CHRIST’S Church in that place, yet we are quite sure that only one of them can be the real Church. So here, in this realm of England, speaking nationally, there is but one Church, over which the archbishops of Canterbury and York, with their suffragans, preside: and in each diocese there is only that one Church, over which the diocesan presides, a branch of the national Church, as the national is a branch of the universal Church: and again, in each parish there is but one Church, forming a branch of the diocesan Church, over which the parochial minister presides.

“Religion being, therefore, a matter partly of contemplation, partly of action, we must define the Church, which is a religious society, by such differences as do properly explain the essence of such things; that is to say, by the object or matter whereabout the contemplation and actions of the Church are properly conversant; for so all knowledge and all virtues are defined. Whereupon, because the only object which separateth ours from other religions is JESUS CHRIST, in whom none but the Church doth believe, and whom none but the Church doth worship, we find that accordingly the apostles do everywhere distinguish hereby the Church from infidels and from Jews, accounting them which call upon the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST to be his Church.”—Hooker’s Eccl. Pol. Hooker’s assertion as to the Church in this country must be so far modified, that now, by change of political circumstances, the Churches of England and Ireland are politically united, and form but one Church, over which two primates, that of Canterbury and Armagh, of co-ordinate jurisdiction, preside, with other archbishops and suffragans, &c.—Jebb.

CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA. It is not possible, in such a publication as this, to give an account of the various branches of the one Catholic Church, which are to be found in the various parts of the world; but it would be improper not to notice the Church in the United States of America, since it is indebted for its existence, under the blessing of the GREAT HEAD OF THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL, to the missionary labours of the Church of England; or rather we should say, of members of that Church acting under the sanction of their bishops, and formed into the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Before the American Revolution it can scarcely be said that the Church existed in our American colonies. There were congregations formed chiefly through the Society just mentioned, and the clergy who ministered in these congregations were under the superintendence of the bishop of London. We may say that the first step taken for the organization of the Church was after the termination of the revolutionary war, at a meeting of a few of the clergy of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, at New Brunswick, N. Y., in May, 1784. Though this meeting was called on other business, yet the project of a general union of the churches throughout the States became a topic of sufficient interest to lead to the calling of another meeting, to be held in October following, in the city of New York. At this latter meeting, “although the members composing it were not vested with powers adequate to the present exigencies of the Church, they happily, and with great unanimity, laid down a few general principles to be recommended in the respective States, as the ground on which a future ecclesiastical government should be established.” It was also recommended that the several States should send clerical and lay deputies to a future meeting in Philadelphia, on September the twenty-seventh, of the following year. In the interim, the churches of Connecticut, having made choice of the Rev. Dr. Seabury for a bishop, he had proceeded to England with a view to consecration. In this application he was not successful, the English bishops having scruples, partly of a political nature, and partly relative to the reception with which a bishop might meet, under the then imperfect organization of the Church in America. Resort was therefore had to the Church in Scotland, where Dr. Seabury received consecration in November, 1784.

According to appointment, the first general convention assembled in 1785, in Philadelphia, with delegates from seven of the thirteen States. At this convention measures were taken for a revisal of the Prayer Book, to adapt it to the political changes which had recently taken place; articles of union were adopted; an ecclesiastical constitution was framed; and the first steps taken for the obtaining of an episcopate direct from the Church of England.

In June, 1786, the convention again met in Philadelphia. A correspondence having meanwhile been carried on with the archbishops and bishops of the English Church, considerable dissatisfaction was expressed on their part relative to some changes in the liturgy, and to one point of importance in the constitution. The latter of these was satisfied by the proceeding of the then session, and the former were removed by reconsideration in a special convention summoned in October in the same year. It soon appearing that Dr. Provoost had been elected to the episcopate of New York, Dr. White to that of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Griffith for Virginia, testimonials in their favour were signed by the convention. The two former sailed for England in November, 1786, and were consecrated at Lambeth on the 4th of February in the following year, by the Most Reverend John Moore, archbishop of Canterbury. Before the end of the same month they sailed for New York, where they arrived on Easter Sunday, April 7th, 1787.

In July, 1789, the general convention again assembled. The episcopacy of Bishops White and Provoost was recognised; the resignation of Dr. Griffith, as bishop elect of Virginia, was received; and in this and an adjourned meeting of the body, in the same year, the constitution of 1786 was remodelled; union was happily effected with Bishop Seabury and the northern clergy; the revision of the Prayer Book was completed; and the Church already gave promise of great future prosperity. In September, 1790, Dr. Madison was consecrated bishop of Virginia at Lambeth in England, by the same archbishop, who, a few years before, had imparted the apostolic commission to Drs. White and Provoost. There being now three bishops of the English succession, besides one of the Scotch, everything requisite for the continuation and extension of the episcopacy was complete. Accordingly the line of American consecration opened in 1792, with that of Dr. Claggett, bishop elect of Maryland. In 1795 Dr. Smith was consecrated for South Carolina; in 1797 the Rev. Edward Bass, for Massachusetts, and in the same year Dr. Jarvis, for Connecticut, that diocese having become vacant by the death of Bishop Seabury. From that time the consecration of bishops has proceeded according to the wants of the Church, without impediment, to the present day. At the beginning of the present century the Church had become permanently settled in its organization, and its stability and peace were placed on a secure footing. In 1811 there were already eight bishops and about two hundred and thirty other clergymen distributed through thirteen States. A spirit of holy enterprise began to manifest itself in measures for the building up of the Church west of the Alleghany Mountains, and in other portions of the country, where heretofore it had maintained but a feeble existence. The ministry numbers in its ranks men of the first intellectual endowments, and of admirable self-devotion to the cause of the gospel. With a steady progress, unawed by the assaults of sectarianism and the reproaches of the fanatic, the Church gradually established itself in the affections of all who came with a spirit of candour to the examination of her claims. The blessing of her GREAT HEAD was apparent, not only in the peace which adorned her councils, but in the demands which were continually made for a wider extension of her influence. Hence the establishment of the General Theological Seminary by Bishop Hobart (1817–1821), and afterwards of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (1835); both of which institutions were instrumental in providing heralds of the gospel for the distant places of the West. These were followed by the diocesan seminaries of Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, and efforts for the founding of several in other dioceses. At the general convention of 1835, the whole Church assumed the position of one grand missionary organization, and has already her bands of missionaries labouring in the cause of the Church in the remotest districts of the country; and her banner has been lifted up in Africa, China, Greece, and other foreign parts. The year 1852 was distinguished by remarkable demonstrations of communion between the Churches of England and America. The American Church, in token of her connexion with the mother Church, and of gratitude for benefits received from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel while the American States were part of the British dominions, deputed Bishop M’Coskry, of Michigan, and Bishop De Lancey, of Western New York, to attend the third Jubilee of the Society. These bishops were received in England with cordial affection, and the bishop of Michigan preached the Jubilee Sermon at St. Paul’s cathedral. A few months later the English bishop Fulford, of Montreal, shared in consecrating Dr. Wainwright, who had been a member of the deputation to England, coadjutor bishop of Eastern New York. In 1853 Bishop Spenser, Archdeacon Sinclair, and the Rev. Ernest Hawkins, were deputed by the Society for Propagating the Gospel to return the visit of the American prelates, and were received with great cordiality by the general convention of the American Church. An attempt to excite a Romanizing spirit on the part of a few half-educated persons has signally failed, by the suppression, for want of support, of the Journal they established. With her 37 bishops, 2000 clergy, and more than 2,000,000 of lay members; with her numerous societies for the spread of the Bible and the Liturgy; and with her institutions of learning, and presses constantly pouring out the light of the truth, may we not predict, under the Divine protection, a day of coming prosperity, when Zion shall be a praise in all the earth; when her temples and her altars shall be seen on the far-off shores of the Pacific; when even “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose?”

For a more detailed history of the Church in America, the reader may consult Bishop White’s Memoirs of the Protestant and Episcopal Church in America; Caswall’s America and the American Church; the History of the Church in America in the Christian’s Miscellany: and the more recent History by Bishop Wilberforce, published in the Englishman’s Library.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. (See Anglo-Catholic Church.) By the Church of England we mean that branch of the Catholic Church which is established under its canonical bishops in England. Properly speaking, at present it forms only a branch of the united Church of England and Ireland. When and by whom the Church was first introduced into Britain is not exactly ascertained, but it has been inferred from Eusebius that it was first established here by the apostles and their disciples; some have supposed, by St. Paul. According to Archbishop Usher, there was a school of learning to provide the British churches with proper teachers in the year 182. But when the Britons were conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, who were heathens, the Church was persecuted, and the professors of Christianity were either driven to the mountains of Wales, or reduced to a state of slavery. The latter circumstances prepared the way for the conversion of the conquerors, who, seeing the pious and regular deportment of their slaves, soon learned to respect their religion. We may gather this fact from a letter written by Gregory, the bishop of Rome, in the sixth century, to two of the kings of France, in which he states that the English nation was desirous of becoming Christian; and in which he, at the same time, complains to those monarchs of the remissness of their clergy in not seeking the conversion of their neighbours. And hence it was that Gregory, with that piety and zeal for which he was pre-eminently distinguished, sent over Augustine, and about forty missionaries, to England, to labour in the good work. The success of these missionaries, the way having thus been paved before them, was most satisfactory. They converted Ethelbert, who was not only king of Kent, but Brætwalda, or chief of the Saxon monarchs. His example was soon followed by the kings of Essex and East Anglia, and gradually by the other sovereigns of England.

The successful Augustine then went over to Arles in France, where he was consecrated by the prelate of that see; and, returning, became the first archbishop of Canterbury, the patriarch and metropolitan of the Church of England. His see was immediately endowed with large revenues by King Ethelbert, who likewise established, at the instance of the archbishop, the dioceses of Rochester and London. Another portion of the Anglo-Saxons were converted by the Scottish bishops. And thus gradually the Anglo-Saxon kings created bishoprics equal in size to their kingdoms. And the example was followed by their nobles, who converted their estates into parishes, erecting fit places of worship, and endowing them with tithes.

It is a great mistake to suppose, as some do, that the old churches in England were built or endowed by laws of the state or acts of parliament. They were the fruit of the piety of individuals of all ranks, princes and nobles, and private citizens. This fact accounts for the unequal sizes of our dioceses and parishes: the dioceses were (though subsequently subdivided) of the same extent as the dominions of the respective kings; the parishes corresponded with the estate of the patrons of particular churches. Nor was the regard of those by whom the Church was established and endowed, confined to the spiritual edification of the poor; no, they knew that righteousness exalteth a nation, and estimating properly the advantages of infusing a Christian spirit into the legislature, they summoned the higher order of the clergy to take part in the national councils.

From those times to these, an uninterrupted series of valid ordinations has carried down the apostolical succession in our Church.

That in the Church of England purity of doctrine was not always retained may be readily admitted. In the dark ages, when all around was dark, the Church itself suffered from the universal gloom: this neither our love of truth, nor our wishes, will permit us to deny. About the seventh century the pope of Rome began to establish an interest in our Church. The interference of the prelate of that great see, before he laid claim to any dominion of right, was at first justifiable, and did not exceed just bounds, while it contributed much to the propagation of the gospel. That the bishop of Rome was justified as a Christian bishop, of high influence and position, in endeavouring to aid the cause of Christianity here in England, while England was a heathen nation, will not be disputed by those who recognise the same right in the archbishop of Canterbury with respect to foreign heathens. But, in after ages, what was at first a justifiable interference was so increased as to become an intolerable usurpation. This interference was an usurpation because it was expressly contrary to the decisions of a general council of the Church, and such as the Scripture condemns, in that the Scripture places all bishops on an equality; and so they ought to continue to be, except where, for the sake of order, they voluntarily consent to the appointment of a president or archbishop, who is nothing more than a primus inter pares, a first among equals. This usurpation for a time continued, and with it were introduced various corruptions, in doctrine as well as in discipline.

At length, in the reign of Henry VIII., the bishops and clergy accorded with the laity and government of England, and threw off the yoke of the usurping pope of Rome. They, at the same time, corrected and reformed all the errors of doctrine, and most of the errors of discipline, which had crept into our Church during the reign of intellectual darkness and papal domination. They condemned the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation, the worship of saints and images, communion in one kind, and the constrained celibacy of the clergy; having first ascertained that these and similar errors were obtruded into the Church in the middle ages. Thus restoring the Church to its ancient state of purity and perfection, they left it to us, their children, as we now find it. They did not attempt to make new, their object was to reform, the Church. They stripped their venerable mother of the meretricious gear in which superstition had arrayed her, and left her in that plain and decorous attire with which, in the simple dignity of a matron, she had been adorned by apostolic hands.

Thus, then, it seems that ours is the old Church of England, tracing its origin, not to Cranmer and Ridley, who only reformed it; but that it is the only Church of England, which traces its origin up through the apostles to our SAVIOUR HIMSELF. To adopt the words of a learned and pious writer: “The orthodox and undoubted bishops of Great Britain are the only persons who, in any manner, whether by ordination or possession, can prove their descent from the ancient saints and bishops of these isles. It is a positive fact that they, and they alone, can trace their ordinations from Peter and Paul, through Patrick, Augustine, Theodore, Colman, Columba, David, Cuthbert, Chad, Anselm, Osmund, and all the other worthies of our Church.” “It is true that there are some schismatical Romish bishops in these realms, but they are of a recent origin, and cannot show the prescription and possession that we can. Some of these teachers do not profess to be bishops of our churches, but are titular bishops of places we know not. Others usurp the titles of various churches in these islands, but are neither in possession themselves, nor can prove that their predecessors ever occupied them. The sect (the sect of English Papists or Roman Catholics) arose in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when certain persons, unhappily and blindly devoted to the see of Rome, refused to obey and communicate with their lawful pastors, who, in accordance with the laws of GOD and the canons, asserted the ancient independence of the British and Irish Church; and the Roman patriarch then ordained a few bishops to sees in Ireland, which were already occupied by legitimate pastors. In England this ministry is of later origin; for the first bishop of that communion was a titular bishop of Chalcedon in the seventeenth century.

The ecclesiastical state of England, as it stands at this day, is divided into two provinces or archbishoprics, of Canterbury and York, which are again subdivided into several dioceses. (See Archbishop.)

For the safeguard of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, many provisions are made both by the civil and canon law.

Whoever shall come to the possession of the crown of England shall join in communion with the Church of England, as by law established. (12 & 13 Will. III. c. 2, s. 3.)

By the 1 Will. III. c. 6, an oath shall be administered to every king or queen who shall succeed to the imperial crown of this realm, at their coronation; to be administered by one of the archbishops or bishops, to be thereunto appointed by such king or queen; that they will do the utmost in their power to maintain the laws of GOD, the true profession of the gospel, and Protestant reformed religion established by law; and will preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them.

And by the 5 Anne, c. 5, the king, at his coronation, shall take and subscribe an oath to maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established. (s. 2.)

By Canon 3, whoever shall affirm that the Church of England, by law established, is not a true and apostolical Church, teaching and maintaining the doctrine of the apostles, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored but only by the archbishop, after his repentance and public revocation of this his wicked error.

And by Canon 7, whoever shall affirm that the government of the Church of England under Her Majesty, by archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and the rest that bear office in the same, is antichristian, or repugnant to the word of GOD, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and so continue until he repent, and publicly revoke such his wicked errors.

And moreover, seditious words, in derogation of the established religion, are indictable, as tending to a breach of the peace.

CHURCH OF IRELAND. Of the first introduction of the Church into Ireland we have no authentic records; nor is it necessary to search for them, since, of the present Church, the founder, under GOD, was St. Patrick, in the fifth century. From him it is that the present clergy, the reformed clergy, and they only, have their succession, and through him from the apostles themselves. That, by a regular series of consecrations and ordinations, the succession from Patrick and Palladius, and the first Irish missionaries, was kept up until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, our opponents, the Irish Papists, will allow. The question, therefore, is whether that succession was at that time lost. The onus probandi rests with our opponents, and we defy them to prove that such was the case. It is a well-known fact, that of all the countries of Europe, there was not one in which the process of the Reformation was carried on so regularly, so canonically, so quietly, as it was in Ireland. Carte, the biographer of Ormond, having observed that the Popish schism did not commence in England until the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, but that for eleven years those who most favoured the pretensions of the pope conformed to the reformed Catholic Church of England, remarks, “The case was much the same in Ireland, where the bishops complied with the Reformation, and the Roman Catholics (meaning those who afterwards became Roman, instead of remaining reformed Catholics) resorted in general to the parish churches in which the English service was used, until the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.” It is here stated that the bishops of the Church of Ireland, that is, as the Papists will admit, the then successors of St. Patrick and his suffragans, those who had a right to reform the Church of Ireland, consented to the Reformation; and that, until the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, (and she reigned above forty-four years,) there was no pretended Church, under the dominion of the pope, opposed to the true Catholic Church, as is unfortunately now the case. The existing clergy of the Church of Ireland, whether we regard their order or their mission, and consequently the Church itself, are the only legitimate successors of those by whom that Church was founded. That in the Church of Ireland, as well as in the Church of England, corruptions in doctrine as well as in practice prevailed before the Reformation, and that the pope of Rome gradually usurped over it an authority directly contrary to one of the canons of a general council of the Church Universal, (that of Ephesus,) we fully admit. But that usurpation was resisted and renounced, and those corruptions removed and provided against at the Reformation. After the English Reformation the Irish Church received the English liturgy, in conformity with the principle now professed by the English government, though not always consistently or fairly carried out, of promoting a close ecclesiastical unity between the two countries. Articles of Religion, of a Calvinistic tendency, were passed by the Irish convocation of 1615, but in 1635 the English Articles were received and approved by a canon of convocation, and have ever since been subscribed by Irish clergymen. In 1662 the revised Prayer Book of England was adopted by the Irish convocation. At the time of the union of the two kingdoms, the two Churches were united under the title of the United Church of England and Ireland. Doubts have been expressed as to what this union means. It does not mean union in doctrine. The Churches were in full communion in every respect before; and still are, except in a few particulars, merely circumstantial. It does not mean distinct synodical rights, for the two English provinces have their convocations distinct one from the other, and the decrees of the one do not, of necessity, bind the other. The union is national and political. When the two kingdoms became politically and legislatively one, the two Churches, in conformity with the ancient and avowed principles of English government, were declared to be identified. This identification was solemnly declared by the sovereign and parliament of both countries, as an indispensable and fundamental article of union, asserted by the spiritual lords of each; without the slightest reclamation on the part of the clergy or laity. Now this declaration of legislative union is in fact a solemn declaration on the part of the state of identification of interests. If each of the English provinces of the United Church claim synodical rights, a right of advising when the great interests of the Church are concerned, the claim of the Irish provinces of the same Church are equally strong, are strictly parallel. If the property and rights of the English clergy are to be protected, the Irish clergy have as strong a claim to protection. How far the avowed principle has been acted upon, it is not difficult to determine. The property of the Irish clergy has been dealt with upon principles altogether different from those which still protected the property of their English brethren. No provision whatever was made for perpetuating the Irish convocations, which are still in abeyance, even as to outward form, though formerly they had as defined a system as in England. (See Convocation.) In an age, when the multiplication of bishops has been urged, and generally admitted as necessary, the Church in Ireland has been disheartened by a retrograde movement. For, in opposition to the earnest reclamation of her clergy, ten of her bishops were, by a very tyrannical act of the state, suppressed; and two of her archiepiscopal sees (Cashel and Tuam) reduced to the rank of suffragans; and this to meet a mere fiscal exigency, to provide for the Church Rates; for which, be it observed, the clergy of Ireland, whose revenues have been in many other ways legislatively curtailed, are now taxed.

The words of the fifth article of the Union with Ireland are these: “That it be the fifth article of Union, that the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland; and that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said United Church shall be, and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by law established for the Church of England; and that the continuance and preservation of the said United Church, as the established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the Union.”

The Church in Ireland had till lately four archbishops: 1. Armagh, with seven suffragans, viz. Meath, Down, ‡Dromore, Derry, Kilmore, ‡Raphoe, and ‡Clogher. 2. Dublin, with three suffragans, viz. ‡Kildare, ‡Ferns, and Ossory. 3. Cashel, with five suffragans, viz. Limerick, Cork, ‡Cloyne, Killaloe, and ‡Waterford. 4. Tuam, with three suffragans, viz. ‡Clonfert, ‡Elphin, and ‡Killala. [Those which are marked thus ‡ are now suppressed.] Formerly there had been 32 bishops in all; but the sees had become so impoverished that it became necessary from time to time to unite some of these to others, (but for reason and under sanction far different from those which influenced the late innovations,) so that in the 17th century they were much the same as stated above. The bishops of Meath and Kildare had precedence over the other bishops.—See Jebb’s Charge to the Clergy of Limerick.

CHURCH OF ROME. (See Pope, Popery, Council of Trent, Romanism.) The Church of Rome is properly that particular Church over which the bishop of Rome presides, as the Church of England is that Church over which the bishop of Canterbury presides. To enter into the history of that foreign Church, to describe its boundaries, to explain those peculiar doctrines, which are contrary to Catholic doctrines, but which are retained in it, to discuss its merits or its corruptions, would be beside the purpose of this Dictionary. But there are certain schismatical communities in these kingdoms which have set up an altar against our altar, and which are designated as the Church of Rome in England, and the Church of Rome in Ireland; and with the claims of these schismatical sects, in which the obnoxious doctrines of the Church of Rome, as asserted in the so-called general Council of Trent, are maintained, and in which the supremacy of the pope of Rome is acknowledged, we are nearly concerned. It will be proper, therefore, to give an account of the introduction of Romanism or Popery into this country and into Ireland, subsequently to the Reformation. From the preceding articles it will have been seen that the Churches of England and Ireland were canonically reformed. The old Catholic Church of England, in accordance with the law of GOD and the canons, asserted its ancient independence. That many members of the Church were in their hearts opposed to this great movement, is not only probable, but certain; yet they did not incur the sin of schism by establishing a sect in opposition to the Church of England, until the twelfth year of Elizabeth’s reign, when they were hurried into this sin by foreign emissaries from the pope of Rome, and certain sovereigns hostile to the queen. Mr. Butler, himself a Romanist, observes, that “Many of them conformed for a while, in hopes that the queen would relent, and things come round again.”—Memoirs, ii. p. 280. “He may be right,” says Dr. Phelan, “in complimenting their orthodoxy at the expense of their truth; yet it is a curious circumstance, that their hypocrisy, while it deceived a vigilant and justly suspicious Protestant government, should be disclosed by the tardy candour of their own historians.” The admission, however, is important; the admission of a Romanist that Romanism was for a season extinct, as a community, in these realms. The present Romish sect cannot, therefore, consistently claim to be what the clergy of the Church of England really and truly are, the representatives of the founders of the English Church. The Romish clergy in England, though they have orders, have no mission, on their own showing, and are consequently schismatics. The Romanists began to fall away from the Catholic Church of England, and to constitute themselves into a distinct community or sect, about the year 1570, that is, about forty years after the Church of England had suppressed the papal usurpation. This act was entirely voluntary on the part of the Romanists. They refused any longer to obey their bishops; and, departing from our communion, they established a rival worship, and set up altar against altar. This sect was at first governed by Jesuits and missionary priests, under the superintendence of Allen, a Roman cardinal, who lived in Flanders, and founded the colleges at Douay and Rheims. In 1598, Mr. George Blackwell was appointed archpriest of the English Romanists, (see Archpriest,) and this form of ecclesiastical government prevailed among them till 1623, when Dr. Bishop was ordained titular bishop of Chalcedon, and sent from Rome to govern the Romish sect in England. Dr. Smith, the next bishop of Chalcedon, was banished in 1628, and the Romanists were without bishops till the reign of James II.—Palmer, ii. 252. During the whole of the reign of James I., and part of the following reign, the Romish priesthood, both in England and in Ireland, were in the interest, and many of them in the pay, of the Spanish monarchy. The titulars of Dublin and Cashel are particularly mentioned as pensioners of Spain. The general memorial of the Romish hierarchy in Ireland, in 1617, was addressed to the Spanish court, and we are told by Berrington, himself a Romanist, that the English Jesuits, 300 in number, were all of the Spanish faction. In Ireland, as we have seen before, the bishops almost unanimously consented, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, to remove the usurped jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, and consequently there, as in England, for a great length of time there were scarcely any Popish bishops. But “Swarms of Jesuits,” says Carte, “and Romish priests, educated in the seminaries founded by King Philip II., in Spain and the Netherlands, and by the cardinal of Lorraine in Champagne, (where, pursuant to the vows of the founders, they sucked in, as well the principles of rebellion, as of what they call catholicity,) coming over to that kingdom, as full of secular as of religious views, they soon prevailed with an ignorant and credulous people to withdraw from the public service of the Church.” Macgauran, titular archbishop of Armagh, was sent over from Spain, and slain in an act of rebellion against his sovereign. In 1621 there were two Popish bishops in Ireland, and two others resided in Spain. These persons were ordained in foreign countries, and could not trace their ordinations to the ancient Irish Church. The audacity of the Romish hierarchy in Ireland has of late years been only equalled by their mendacity. But we know them who they are; the successors, not of St. Patrick, but of certain Spanish and Italian prelates, who, in the reign of James I., originated, contrary to the canons of the Church, the Romish sect—a sect it truly is in that country, since there can be but one Church, and that is the Catholic, in the same place, (see article on the Church,) and all that they can pretend to is, that without having any mission, being therefore in a state of schism, they hold peculiar doctrines and practices which the Church of Ireland may have practised and held for one, two, three, or at the very most four hundred out of the fourteen hundred years during which it has been established; while even as a counterpoise to this, we may place the three hundred years which have elapsed between the Reformation and the present time. Since the above article was written, the Romish sect has assumed a new character in England. The pope of Rome has added to his iniquities by sending here, in 1850, schismatical prelates, with a view of superseding the orthodox and catholic bishops of the English Church; an act which has increased the abhorrence of Popery in every true Englishman’s heart, and which should lead to greater union among all who repudiate idolatry, and love the LORD JESUS.

CHURCH IN SCOTLAND. The early history of the ancient Church of Scotland, like that of Ireland, is involved in much obscurity; nor is it necessary to investigate it, since, at the period of our Reformation, it was annihilated; it was entirely subverted; not a vestige of the ancient Christian Church of that kingdom remained. Meantime the Scottish nation was torn by the fiercest religious factions. The history of what occurred at the so-called Reformation of Scotland—the fierceness, the fury, the madness of the people, who murdered with Scripture on their lips—would make an infidel smile, and a pious Christian weep. It is probable that a sense of the danger to his throne may have led King James I. to his first measures, taken before his accession to the English crown, for the restoration of episcopacy in his own dominion. His first step was to obtain, in December, 1597, an act of the Scottish parliament, “that such pastors and ministers as the king should please to provide to the place, title, and dignity of a bishop, abbot, or other prelate, should have voice in parliament as freely as any ecclesiastical prelate had at any time by-past.” This act was followed by the appointment of certain ministers, with the temporal title of bishops, in the next year.—Abp. Spottiswood’s Hist. 449, 456. But the assembly of ministers at Montrose, in March, 1599, jealous of the king’s intention, passed a resolution of their own, “that they who had a voice in parliament should have no place in the general assembly, unless they were authorized by a commission from the presbyters.” The bishops, however, took their seats in parliament, and voted in the articles of union for the two kingdoms, A. D. 1601. At length, in A. D. 1610, the bishops were admitted as presidents or moderators in the diocesan assemblies; and, in 1612, “after fifty years of confusion, and a multiplicity of windings and turnings, either to improve or set aside the plan adopted in 1560,” (to use Bishop Skinner’s words,) “we see an episcopal Church once more settled in Scotland, and a regular apostolical succession of episcopacy introduced, upon the extinction of the old line which had long before failed, without any attempt, real or pretended, to keep it up.” For in this year the king caused three of them to be consecrated in London; “and that,” says Bishop Guthrie, “not without the consent and furtherance of many of the wisest amongst the ministry.” Now in common justice to Episcopalians it must be remembered, as Bishop Skinner observes, that the restoration of the primitive order was strictly legal. “A regular episcopacy by canonical consecration had been adopted by the general assemblies of the Church, and confirmed by unquestionable acts of parliament.” King Charles I. endeavoured to complete the good work which his father had begun, but, for the sins of the Scottish people, he was not permitted to succeed in his labour of love; nay, rather, the attempt to introduce the English Prayer Book so exasperated the Scots against him, that they finally proved their ignorance of Scripture, and their want of true Christian principles, by assenting to the parricide of their sovereign, when it was effected by their disciples in England. The general assembly of 1638 was held in opposition to the sovereign, and to the law; it declared all assemblies since 1605 void; proscribed the service book; and abjured Episcopacy, condemning it as antichristian, and the bishops were excommunicated and deposed. In 1613, the Scotch general assembly passed the Solemn League and Covenant, adopted by that assembly of divines at Westminster, who drew up the Confession, which afterwards was established by law as the Faith of the Kirk of Scotland. The Catholic Church, after the martyrdom of Charles, became extinct in Scotland; but it was once more restored at the restoration of his son. By the solemn act of parliament, Episcopacy was reestablished, and declared to be most agreeable to the word of GOD; and synods were constituted, very much upon the system of the English convocation. Four Scottish divines were again consecrated in London in 1661. These prelates took possession of the several sees to which they had been appointed, and the other ten sees were soon canonically filled by men duly invested with the episcopal character and function. So things remained until the Revolution of 1688. The bishops of Scotland, mindful of their oaths, refused to withdraw their allegiance from the king, and to give it to the Prince of Orange, who had been elected by a portion of the people to sovereignty, under the title of William III. The Prince of Orange offered to protect them, and to preserve the civil establishment of the Church, provided that they would come over to his interest, and support his pretensions to the throne. This they steadily refused to do; and consequently, by the prince and parliament, the bishops and the clergy were ordered either to conform to the new government, or to quit their livings. There were then fourteen bishops in Scotland, and nine hundred clergy of the other two orders. All the bishops, and by far the greater number of the other clergy, refused to take the oaths; and in the livings they were thus compelled to relinquish, Presbyterian ministers were in general placed. And thus the Presbyterian sect was established (so far as it can be established by the authority of man) instead of the Church in Scotland. It was stated that this was done, not because bishops were illegal and unscriptural, but because the establishment of the Church was contrary to the will of the people, who, as they had elected a king, ought, as it was supposed, to be indulged in the still greater privilege of selecting a religion. And yet it is said, in the Life of Bishop Sage, “it was certain, that not one of three parts of the common people were then for the presbytery, and not one in ten among the gentlemen and people of education.” The system of doctrine to which the established Kirk of Scotland subscribes is the Westminster Confession of Faith, and to the Kirk (for it was passed in 1643 by the general assembly of the Kirk) belongs the national and solemn League and Covenant, (a formulary more tremendous in its anathemas than any bull of Rome,) to “endeavour the extirpation of Popery and prelacy,” i. e. “Church government by archbishops, bishops, and all ecclesiastical officers dependent upon the hierarchy.” This League was approved by that very assembly at Westminster, whose Confession was now nationally adopted. And certainly, during their political ascendency, the members of that establishment have done their best to accomplish this, so far as Scotland is concerned, although, contrary to their principles, there are some among them who would make an exception in favour of England, if the Church of England would be base enough to forsake her sister Church in Scotland. That Church is now just in the position in which our Church would be, if it pleased parliament, in what is profanely called its omnipotence, to drive us from our sanctuaries, and to establish the Independents, or the Wesleyans, in our place.

The bishops of the Scottish Church, thus deprived of their property and their civil rights, did not attempt to keep up the same number of bishops as before the Revolution, nor did they continue the division of the country into the same dioceses, as there was no occasion for that accuracy, by reason of the diminution which their clergy and congregations had suffered, owing to the persecutions they had to endure. They have also dropped the designation of archbishops, now only making use of that of Primus, (a name formerly given to the presiding bishop,) who being elected by the other bishops, six in number, is invested thereby with the authority of calling and presiding in such meetings as may be necessary for regulating the affairs of the Church. The true Church of Scotland has thus continued to exist from the Revolution to the present time, notwithstanding those penal statutes, of the severity of which some opinion may be formed when it is stated, that the grandfather of the present venerable bishop of Aberdeen, although he had taken the oaths to the government, was committed to prison for six months; and why? for the heinous offence of celebrating Divine service according to the forms of the English Book of Common Prayer, in the presence of more than four persons! But in vain has the Scottish establishment thus persecuted the Scottish Church; as we have said, she still exists, perhaps, amidst the dissensions of the establishment, to be called back again to her own. The penal statutes were repealed in the year 1792. But even then the clergy of that Church were so far prohibited from officiating in the Church of England, that the clergyman, in whose church they should perform any ministerial act, was liable to the penalties of a premunire. Although a clergyman of any of the Greek churches, although even a clergyman of the Church of Rome, upon his renouncing those Romish peculiarities and errors, which are not held by our Scottish brethren, could serve at our altars, and preach from our pulpits, our brethren in Scotland and America were prevented from doing so. This disgrace however has now been removed by the piety of the late archbishop of Canterbury, who has obtained an act which restores to the Church one of her lost liberties. At the end of the last century, the Catholic Church in Scotland adopted those Thirty-nine Articles which were drawn up by the Church of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They, for the most part, make use of our liturgy, though in some congregations the old Scotch liturgy is used, and it is expressly appointed that it shall always be used at the consecration of a bishop.

The Church of Scotland, before the political recognition of Presbyterianism, had fourteen bishops: viz. The archbishop of St. Andrew’s, primate of Scotland, with nine suffragans; viz. Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Moray, Dunkeld, Brechin, Caithness, Dunblane, Orkney, and Ross. The archbishop of Glasgow, with three suffragans; viz. Galloway, Argyle, and the Isles. The bishops of Edinburgh and Galloway had precedence over the others. All the bishops sat in the Scottish parliament, but they had no convocation, like those of the Church of England in ancient times, their synods being episcopal. After the Reformation, their assemblies were long of an anomalous kind, and bore witness to a continual struggle between the episcopal and presbyterian, or rather democratic, principle, which finally prevailed. In 1663, however, an act of parliament was passed regulating their national synod. (See Convocation.)

CHURCH, GALLICAN, or THE CHURCH OF FRANCE, although in communion with the see of Rome, maintained in many respects an independent position. (See Concordat and Pragmatic Sanction.) This term is very ancient, for we find it used in the Council of Paris, held in the year 362, and the Council of Illyria, in 367.

This Church all along preserved certain ancient rites, which she possessed time out of mind; neither were these privileges any grants of popes, but certain franchises and immunities, derived to her from her first original, and which she will take care never to relinquish. These liberties depended upon two maxims, which were always looked upon in France as indisputable. The first is, that the pope had no authority or right to command or order anything, either in general or particular, in which the temporalities or civil rights of the kingdom were concerned. The second was, that, notwithstanding the pope’s supremacy was owned in cases purely spiritual, yet, in France, his power was limited and regulated by the decrees and canons of ancient councils received in that realm. The liberties or privileges of the Gallican Church were founded upon these two maxims, and the most considerable of them are as follows:

I. The king of France has a right to convene synods, or provincial and national councils, in which, amongst other important matters relating to the preservation of the state, cases of ecclesiastical discipline are likewise debated.

II. The pope’s legates à latere, who are empowered to reform abuses, and to exercise the other parts of their legantine office, are never admitted into France unless at the desire, or with the consent, of the king: and whatever the legates do there, is with the approbation and allowance of the king.

III. The legate of Avignon cannot exercise his commission in any of the king’s dominions, till after he hath obtained his Majesty’s leave for that purpose.

IV. The prelates of the Gallican Church, being summoned by the pope, cannot depart the realm upon any pretence whatever, without the king’s permission.

V. The pope has no authority to levy any tax or imposition upon the temporalities of the ecclesiastical preferments, upon any pretence, either of loan, vacancy, annates, tithes, procurations, or otherwise, without the king’s order, and the consent of the clergy.

VI. The pope has no authority to depose the king, or grant away his dominions to any person whatever. His Holiness can neither excommunicate the king, nor absolve his subjects from their allegiance.

VII. The pope likewise has no authority to excommunicate the king’s officers for their executing and discharging their respective offices and functions.

VIII. The pope has no right to take cognizance, either by himself or his delegates, of any pre-eminencies or privileges belonging to the crown of France, the king being not obliged to argue his prerogatives in any court but his own.

IX. Counts palatine, made by the pope, are not acknowledged as such in France, nor allowed to make use of their privileges and powers, any more than those created by the emperor.

X. It is not lawful for the pope to grant licences to churchmen, the king’s subjects, or to any others holding benefices in the realm of France, to bequeath the titles and profits of their respective preferments, contrary to any branch of the king’s laws, or the customs of the realm, nor to hinder the relations of the beneficed clergy, or monks, to succeed to their estates, when they enter into religious orders, and are professed.

XI. The pope cannot grant to any person a dispensation to enjoy any estate or revenues, in France, without the king’s consent.

XII. The pope cannot grant a licence to ecclesiastics to alienate church lands, situate and lying in France, without the king’s consent, upon any pretence whatever.

XIII. The king may punish his ecclesiastical officers for misbehaviour in their respective charges, notwithstanding the privileges of their orders.

XIV. No person has any right to hold any benefice in France, unless he be either a native of the country, naturalized by the king, or has royal dispensation for that purpose.

XV. The pope is not superior to an œcumenical or general council.

XVI. The Gallican Church does not receive, without distinction, all the canons, and all the decretal epistles, but keeps principally to that ancient collection called Corpus Canonicum, the same which Pope Adrian sent to Charlemagne towards the end of the eighth century, and which, in the year 860, under the pontificate of Nicolas I., the French bishops declared to be the only canon law they were obliged to acknowledge, maintaining that in this body the liberties of the Gallican Church consisted.

XVII. The pope has no power, for any cause whatsoever, to dispense with the law of God, the law of nature, or the decrees of the ancient canons.

XVIII. The regulations of the apostolic chamber, or court, are not obligatory to the Gallican Church, unless confirmed by the king’s edicts.

XIX. If the primates or metropolitans appeal to the pope, his Holiness is obliged to try the cause, by commissioners or delegates, in the same diocese from which the appeal was made.

XX. When a Frenchman desires the pope to give him a benefice lying in France, his Holiness is obliged to order him an instrument, sealed under the faculty of his office; and, in case of refusal, it is lawful for the person pretending to the benefice to apply to the parliament of Paris, which court shall send instructions to the bishop of the diocese to give him institution, which institution shall be of the same validity as if he had received his title under the seals of the court of Rome.

XXI. No mandates from the pope, enjoining a bishop, or other collator, to present any person to a benefice upon a vacancy, are admitted in France.

XXII. It is only by sufferance that the pope has what they call a right of prevention, to collate to benefices which the ordinary has not disposed of.

XXIII. It is not lawful for the pope to exempt the ordinary of any monastery, or any other ecclesiastical corporation, from the jurisdiction of their respective diocesans, in order to make the person so exempted immediately dependent on the holy see.

These liberties were esteemed inviolable, and the French kings, at their coronation, solemnly swore to preserve and maintain them. The oath ran thus: “Promitto vobis et perdono quod unicuique de vobis et ecclesiis vobis commissis canonicum privilegium et debitam legem atque justitiam servabo.”

The bishoprics were entirely in the hands of the Crown. There were, in France, 18 archbishops, 112 bishops, 160,000 clergymen of various orders, and 3400 convents.

The archbishops were: 1. Rheims, (primate of France,) eight suffragans. 2. Lyons, (primate of Gaul,) five suffragans. 3. Rouen, (primate of Normandy,) six suffragans. 4. Paris, four suffragans. 5. Sens, three suffragans. 6. Tours, eleven suffragans. 7. Bordeaux, nine suffragans. 8. Bourges, five suffragans. 9. Toulouse, seven suffragans. 10. Narbonne, eleven suffragans. 11. Besançon, one suffragan. 12. Arles, four suffragans. 13. Auch, ten suffragans. 14. Aix, five suffragans. 15. Alby, five suffragans. 16. Embrun, six suffragans. 17. Vienne, four suffragans. 18. Cambray, two suffragans, with six other bishops under foreign archbishops. The archbishop of Cambray and his suffragans, and the archbishop of Besançon with his suffragan, and eight other bishops, were not considered properly to form part of the Gallican Church.

Such was the Church of France with the “Gallican Liberties,” previously to the great French Revolution of 1789–1793.

Jansenism (see Jansenists) became very prevalent in the Gallican Church before the Revolution; and the antipapal principle of Jansenism, combined with the revolutionary mania, developed in 1790 the civil constitution of the clergy in France, under which false appellation the constituent assembly affected extraordinary alterations in spiritual matters. M. Bouvier, the late bishop of Mans, remarks, that this constitution “abounded with many and most grievous faults.” “First,” he says, “the National Convention, by its own authority, without any recourse to the ecclesiastical power, changes or reforms all the old dioceses, erects new ones, diminishes some, increases others, &c.; (2.) forbids any Gallican church or citizen to acknowledge the authority of any foreign bishop, &c.; (3.) institutes a new mode of administering and ruling cathedral churches, even in spirituals; (4.) subverts the divine authority of bishops, restraining it within certain limits, and imposing on them a certain council, without whose judgment they could do nothing,” &c. The great body of the Gallican bishops naturally protested against this constitution, which suppressed 135 bishoprics, and erected 83 in their stead, under different titles. The Convention insisted that they should take the oath of adhesion to the civil constitution in eight days, on pain of being considered as having resigned; and, on the refusal of the great majority, the new bishops were elected in their place, and consecrated by Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, assisted by Gobel, bishop of Lydda, and Miroudet of Babylon.

M. Bouvier proves, from the principles of his Church, that this constitution was schismatical; that all the bishops, rectors, curates, confessors, instituted by virtue of it, were intruders, schismatics, and even involved in heresy; that the taking of the oath to observe it was a mortal sin, and that it would have been better to have died a hundred times than to have done so. Certainly, on all the principles of Romanists at least, the adherents of the civil constitution were in schism and heresy.

Nevertheless, these schismatics and heretics were afterwards introduced into the communion of the Roman Church itself, in which they propagated their notions. On the signature of the Concordat between Bonaparte and Pius VII. in 1801, for the erection of the new Gallican Church, the first consul made it a point, that twelve of these constitutional bishops should be appointed to sees under the new arrangements. He succeeded. “He caused to be named to sees twelve of those same constitutionals who had attached themselves with such obstinate perseverance, for ten years, to the propagation of schism in France.... One of the partisans of the new Concordat, who had been charged to receive the recantation of the constitutionals, certified that they had renounced their civil constitution of the clergy. Some of them vaunted, nevertheless, that they had not changed their principles; and one of them publicly declared that they had been offered an absolution of their censures, but that they had thrown it into the fire!” The government forbad the bishops to exact retractations from the constitutional priest, and commanded them to choose one of their vicars-general from among that party. They were protected and supported by the minister of police, and by Portalis, the minister of worship. In 1803, we hear of the “indiscreet and irregular conduct of some new bishops, taken from among the constitutionals, and who brought into their dioceses the same spirit which had hitherto directed them.” Afterwards it is said of some of them, that they “professed the most open resistance to the holy see, expelled the best men from their dioceses, and perpetuated the spirit of schism.” In 1804, Pius VII., being at Paris, procured their signature to a declaration approving generally of the judgments of the holy see on the ecclesiastical affairs of France; but this vague and general formulary, which Bouvier and other Romanists pretend to represent as a recantation, was not so understood by these bishops; and thus the Gallican Church continued, and probably still continues, to number schismatical bishops and priests in her communion. Such is the boasted and most inviolable unity of the Roman Church!

We are now to speak of the Concordat of 1801, between Bonaparte, first consul of the French republic, and Pope Pius VII. The first consul, designing to restore Christianity in France, engaged the pontiff to exact resignations from all the existing bishops of the French territory, both constitutional and royalist. The bishoprics of old France were 130 in number; those of the conquered districts (Savoy, Germany, &c.) were 24; making a total of 154. The constitutional bishops resigned their sees; those, also, who still remained in the conquered districts, resigned them to Pius VII. Eighty-one of the exiled royalist bishops of France were still alive; of these forty-five resigned, but thirty-six declined to do so. The pontiff derogated from the consent of these latter prelates, annihilated 159 bishoprics at a blow, created in their place 60 new ones, and arranged the mode of appointment and consecration of the new bishops and clergy, by his bull Ecclesia Christi and Qui Christi Domini. To this sweeping Concordat the French government took care to annex, by the authority of their “corps législatif,” certain “Organic Articles,” relating to the exercise of worship. According to a Romish historian, they “rendered the Church entirely dependent, and placed everything under the hand of government. The bishops, for example, were prohibited from conferring orders without its consent; the vicars-general of a bishop were to continue, even after his death, to govern the diocese, without regard to the rights of chapters; a multitude of things which ought to have been left to the decision of the ecclesiastical authority were minutely regulated,” &c. The intention was, “to place the priests, even in the exercise of their spiritual functions, in an entire dependence on the government agents!” The pope remonstrated against these articles—in vain: they continued, were adopted by the Bourbons, and, with some modifications, are in force to this day; and the government of the Gallican Church is vested more in the conseil d’ etat, than in the bishops. Bonaparte assumed the language of piety, while he proceeded to exercise the most absolute jurisdiction over the Church. “Henceforward nothing embarrasses him in the government of the Church; he decides everything as a master; he creates bishoprics, unites them, suppresses them.” He apparently found a very accommodating episcopacy. A royal commission, including two cardinals, five archbishops and bishops, and some other high ecclesiastics, in 1810 and 1811, justified many of the “Organic Articles” which the pope had objected to; acknowledged that a national council could order that bishops should be instituted by the metropolitan or senior bishop, instead of the pope, in case of urgent circumstances; and declared the papal bull of excommunication against those who had unjustly deprived the pope of his states, was null and void.

These proceedings were by no means pleasing to the exiled French bishops, who had not resigned their sees, and yet beheld them filled in their own lifetime by new prelates. They addressed repeated protests to the Roman pontiff in vain. His conduct in derogating from their consent, suppressing so many sees, and appointing new bishops, was certainly unprecedented. It was clearly contrary to all the canons of the Church universal, as every one admits. The adherents of the ancient bishops refused to communicate with those whom they regarded as intruders. They dwelt on the odious slavery under which they were placed by the “Organic Articles;” and the Abbés Blanchard and Gauchet, and others, wrote strongly against the Concordat, as null, illegal, and unjust; affirmed that the new bishops and their adherents were heretics and schismatics, and that Pius VII. was cut off from the Catholic Church. Hence a schism in the Roman churches, which continues to this day, between the adherents of the new Gallican bishops and the old. The latter are styled by their opponents, “La Petite Eglise.” The truly extraordinary origin of the present Gallican Church sufficiently accounts for the reported prevalence of ultramontane or high papal doctrines among them, contrary to the old Gallican doctrines, and notwithstanding the incessant efforts of Napoleon and the Bourbons to force on them the four articles of the Gallican clergy of 1682. They see, plainly enough, that their Church’s origin rests chiefly on the unlimited power of the pope.—Broughton. Palmer.

CHURCH, GREEK. The Oriental (sometimes called the Greek) Church, prevails more or less in Russia, Siberia, North America, Poland, European Turkey, Servia, Moldavia, Wallachia, Greece, the Archipelago, Crete, Cyprus, the Ionian Islands, Georgia, Circassia, Mingrelia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt. The vast and numerous Churches of the East, are all ruled by bishops and archbishops, of whom the chief are the four patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The Russian Church was subject to a fifth patriarch, from the latter part of the sixteenth century, [1588,] but since the reign of Peter the Great, the appointment to this high office has been suspended by the emperor, who deemed its power too great, and calculated to rival that of the throne itself. It was abolished in 1721. In its place Peter the Great instituted the “Holy Legislative Synod,” which is directed by the emperor.... Many of these Churches still subsist after an uninterrupted succession of eighteen hundred years: such as the Churches of Smyrna, Philadelphia, Corinth, Athens, Thessalonica, Crete, Cyprus. Many others, founded by the apostles, continued to subsist uninterruptedly, till the invasion of the Saracens in the seventh century, and revived again after their oppression had relaxed. Such are the Churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and others; from these apostolical Churches the whole Oriental Church derives its origin and succession; for wherever new Churches were founded, it was always by authority of the ancient societies previously existing. With these all the more recent Churches held close communion; and thus, by the consanguinity of faith and discipline and charity, were themselves apostolical. They were also apostolical in their ministry; for it is undeniable, that they can produce a regular uninterrupted series of bishops, and of valid ordinations in their churches, from the beginning. No one denies the validity of their ordination.—Palmer.

The descendants of the ancient Christians of the East, who still occupy the Oriental sees, are called the Greek Church. The Greek Church was not formerly so extensive as it has been since the emperors of the East thought proper to lessen or reduce the other patriarchates, in order to aggrandize that of Constantinople; a task which they accomplished with the greater ease, as they were much more powerful than the emperors of the West, and had little or no regard to the consent of the patriarchs, in order to create new bishoprics, or to confer new titles and privileges. Whereas, in the Western Church, the popes, by slow degrees, made themselves the sole arbiters in all ecclesiastical concerns; insomuch, that princes themselves at length became obliged to have recourse to them, and were subservient to their directions on every momentous occasion.

The Greek Churches, at present, deserve not even the name of the shadow of what they were in their former flourishing state, when they were so remarkably distinguished for the learned and worthy pastors who presided over them; but now nothing but wretchedness, ignorance, and poverty are visible amongst them. “I have seen churches,” says Ricaut, “which were more like caverns or sepulchres than places set apart for Divine worship; the tops thereof being almost level with the ground. They are erected after this humble manner for fear they should be suspected, if they raised them any considerable height, of an evil intention to rival the Turkish mosques.” It is, indeed, very surprising that, in the abject state to which the Greeks at present are reduced, the Christian religion should maintain the least footing amongst them. Their notions of Christianity are principally confined to the traditions of their forefathers and their own received customs; and, among other things, they are much addicted to external acts of piety and devotion, such as the observance of fasts, festivals, and penances: they revere and dread the censures of their clergy; and are bigoted slaves to their religious customs, many of which are absurd and ridiculous; and yet it must be acknowledged, that, although these errors reflect a considerable degree of scandal and reproach upon the holy religion they profess, they nevertheless prevent it from being entirely lost and abolished amongst them. A fire which lies for a time concealed under a heap of embers, may revive and burn again as bright as ever; and the same hope may be conceived of truth, when obscured by the dark clouds of ignorance and error.

Caucus, archbishop of Corfu, in his Dissertation on what he calls the erroneous doctrines of the modern Greeks, dedicated to Gregory XIII., has digested their tenets under the following heads:

I. They rebaptize all Romanists who are admitted into their communion.

II. They do not baptize their children till they are three, four, five, six, ten, and even sometimes eighteen years of age.

III. They exclude confirmation and extreme unction from the number of the sacraments.

IV. They deny there is any such place as purgatory, although they pray for the dead.

V. They deny the papal supremacy, and assert that the Church of Rome has abandoned the doctrines of her fathers.

VI. They deny, by consequence, that the Church of Rome is the true Catholic mother Church, and on Holy Thursday excommunicate the pope and all the Latin prelates, as heretics and schismatics, praying that all those who offer up unleavened bread in the celebration of the sacrament may be covered with confusion.

VII. They deny that the HOLY GHOST proceeds from the FATHER and the SON.

VIII. They refuse to receive the host consecrated by Romish priests with unleavened bread. They likewise wash the altars on which Romanists have celebrated mass, and will not suffer a Romish priest to officiate at their altars.

IX. They assert that the usual form of words, wherein the consecration, according to the Church of Rome, wholly consists, is not sufficient to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of CHRIST.

X. They insist that the sacrament of the LORD’S supper ought to be administered in both kinds to infants, even before they are capable of distinguishing this spiritual food from any other, because it is a Divine institution. For which reason they give the eucharist to infants immediately after baptism, and look upon the Romanists as heretics for not observing the same custom.

XI. They hold that the laity are under an indispensable obligation, by the law of God, to receive the communion in both kinds, and look on the Romanists as heretics who maintain the contrary.

XII. They assert that no members of the Church, when they have attained to years of discretion, ought to be compelled to receive the communion every Easter, but should have free liberty to act according to the dictates of their own conscience.

XIII. They pay no religious homage, or veneration, to the holy sacrament of the eucharist, even at the celebration of their own priests; and use no lighted tapers when they administer it to the sick.

XIV. They are of opinion that such hosts as are consecrated on Holy Thursday are much more efficacious than those consecrated at other times.

XV. They maintain that matrimony is a union which may be dissolved. For which reason they charge the Church of Rome with being guilty of an error, in asserting that the bonds of marriage can never be broken, even in case of adultery, and that no person upon any provocation whatsoever can lawfully marry again.

XVI. They condemn all fourth marriages.

XVII. They refuse to celebrate the solemnities instituted by the Romish Church in honour of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. They reject likewise the religious use of graven images and statues, although they admit of pictures in their churches.

XVIII. They insist that the canon of the mass of the Roman Church ought to be abolished, as being full of errors.

XIX. They deny that usury is a mortal sin.

XX. They deny that the subdeaconry is at present a holy order.

XXI. Of all the general councils that have been held in the Catholic Church by the popes at different times, they pay no regard to any after the sixth, and reject not only the seventh, which was the second held at Nice, for the express purpose of condemning those who rejected the use of images in their Divine worship, but all those which have succeeded it, by which they refuse to submit to any of their institutions.

XXII. They deny auricular confession to be a Divine precept, and assert that it is only a positive injunction of the Church.

XXIII. They insist that the confession of the laity ought to be free and voluntary; for which reason they are not compelled to confess themselves annually, nor are they excommunicated for the neglect of it.

XXIV. They insist that in confession there is no Divine law which enjoins the acknowledgment of every individual sin, or a discovery of all the circumstances that attend it, which alter its nature and property.

XXV. They administer the communion to their laity both in sickness and in health, though they have never applied themselves to their confessors; the reason of which is, that they are persuaded all confessions should be free and voluntary, and that a lively faith is all the preparation that is requisite for the worthy receiving of the sacrament of the LORD’S supper.

XXVI. They look down with an eye of disdain on the Romanists for their observance of the vigils before the nativity of our blessed SAVIOUR, and the festivals of the Virgin Mary and the apostles, as well as for their fasting in Ember-week. They even affect to eat meat more plentifully at those times than at any other, to testify their contempt of the Latin customs. They prohibit, likewise, all fasting on Saturdays, that preceding Easter only excepted.

XXVII. They condemn the Romanists as heretics, for eating such things as have been strangled, and such other meats as are prohibited in the Old Testament.

XXVIII. They deny that simple fornication is a mortal sin.

XXIX. They insist that it is lawful to deceive an enemy, and that it is no sin to injure and oppress him.

XXX. They are of opinion that, in order to be saved, there is no necessity to make restitution of such goods as have been stolen or fraudulently obtained.

XXXI. To conclude: they hold that such as have been admitted into holy orders may become laymen at pleasure. From whence it plainly appears that they do not allow the character of the priesthood to be indelible. To which it may be added, that they approve of the marriage of their priests, provided they enter into that state before their admission into holy orders, though they are never indulged in that respect after their ordination.

The patriarch of Constantinople assumes the honourable title of Universal or Œcumenical Patriarch. As he purchases his commission of the Grand Seignior, it may be easily supposed that he makes a tyrannical and simoniacal use of a privilege which he holds himself by simony. The patriarchs and bishops are always single men; but the priests (as observed before) are indulged in marriage before ordination; and this custom, which is generally practised all over the Levant, is very ancient. Should a priest happen to marry after ordination, he can officiate no longer as priest, which is conformable to the injunctions of the Council of Neocesarea. The marriage, however, is not looked upon as invalid; whereas, in the Romish Church, such marriages are pronounced void and of no effect, because the priesthood is looked upon as a lawful bar or impediment.—Broughton.

Their Pappas, or secular priests, not having any settled and competent livings, are obliged to subsist by simoniacal practices. “The clergy,” says Ricaut, “are almost compelled to sell those Divine mysteries which are intrusted to their care. No one, therefore, can procure absolution, be admitted to confession, have his children baptized, be married or divorced, or obtain an excommunication against his adversary, or the communion in time of sickness, without first paying down a valuable consideration. The priests too often make the best market they can, and fix a price on their spiritual commodities in proportion to the devotion or abilities of their respective customers.”

The national Church of the kingdom of Greece has lately been reconstructed similarly to that of Russia, by the establishment of a synod.—See King’s Rites of the Greek Church, and Cowel’s Account of the Greek Church, 1722.

CHURCH, ARCHITECTURE OF. There seems to be an absurdity in the modern practice of building churches for the ritual of the nineteenth century, on the model of churches designed for the ritual of the fourteenth century. And for a service such as ours, nothing more is required than a nave and a chancel; the only divisions which we find in the primitive Eastern churches. But as we have inherited churches which were erected during the middle ages, it is rather important that we should understand their designed arrangement. We find in such churches a nave (navis) with its aisles (alæ); a chancel; a tower, generally at the west end; and a porch, generally to the second bay of the south aisle. The uses of the nave and chancel are obvious; the aisles were added in almost all cases perhaps, prospectively at least in all, that they might serve for places for the erection of chantry altars, and for the same end served the transepts and chancel aisles, or side chapels, to the chancels, sometimes found even in small churches. To the chancel, generally at the north, a vestry was often attached; and this was sometimes enlarged into a habitation for the officiating priest, by the addition of an upper chamber, with fire-place and other conveniences. But the more frequent place for this domus inclusa was over the porch, when it is commonly called parvise; and sometimes the tower has evidently been made habitable, though, in this case, it may be rather suspected that means of defence have been contemplated. In the domus inclusa, in the vestry, and in the parvise, was often an altar, which not unfrequently remains. (See Altar.)

The chancel was separated from the nave by a screen, cancelli, from which the word chancel is derived, and over the screen a loft was extended, bearing the rood—a figure of our blessed LORD on the cross, and, on either side, figures of the Blessed Virgin and of St. John. But few rood lofts remain, but the screen is of frequent occurrence, especially in the northern and eastern counties. The loft was generally gained by a newel stair running up the angle between the chancel and the nave, but sometimes apparently by moveable steps. The side chapels were generally parted off from the adjoining parts of the church by screens, called parcloses. The chancel, if any conventual body was attached to the church, was furnished with stalls, which were set against the north and south walls, and returned against the rood screen, looking east. Connected with the altar, and sometimes, also, with some of the chantry altars, were sedilia, in the south wall of the chancel, varying in number from one to five, for the officiating clergy; and, eastward of these, the piscina; also an aumbrie, or locker, in the north chancel wall. The altar and these accessories were generally raised at least one step above the level of the rest of the chancel floor, and the chancel itself the like height from the nave. The font stood against the first pillar to the left hand, entering at the south porch; it was often raised on steps, and furnished with an elaborate cover. (See Baptistery.) The pulpit always stood in the nave, generally against a north pillar in cathedrals; but in other churches, generally against a south pillar, towards the east. The seats for the congregation were placed in a double series along the nave, with an alley between, and looking east. There are a few instances of seats with doors, but none of high pews till the time of the Puritans.

The doors to the church were almost always opposite to one another in the second bay of the aisles: besides these, there was often a west door, and this is generally supposed to denote some connexion with a monastic body, and was, perhaps, especially used on occasions of greater pomp, processions, and the like. What is usually called the priest’s door, at the south side of the chancel, opens always from within, and was, therefore, not (as is usually supposed) for the priest to enter by: in which case, moreover, it would rather have been to the north, where the glebe house usually stands. Was it for the exit of those who had assisted at mass? A little bell-cot is often seen over the nave and altar, or on some other part of the church, called the service-bell-cot; for the bell rung at certain solemn parts of the service of the mass; as at the words “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus DEUS Sabaoth,” and at the elevation of the Host. If, as is supposed, those who were not in the church were accustomed to kneel at this time, there is an obvious reason for the external position of this bell.

CHURCHING OF WOMEN. The birth of man is so truly wonderful, that it seems to be designed as a standing demonstration of the omnipotence of GOD. And therefore that the frequency of it may not diminish our admiration, the Church orders a public and solemn acknowledgment to be made on every such occasion by the woman on whom the miracle is wrought; who still feels the bruise of our first parents’ fall, and labours under the curse which Eve then entailed upon her whole sex.

As to the original of this custom, it is not to be doubted but that, as many other Christian usages received their rise from other parts of the Jewish economy, so did this from the rite of purification, which is enjoined so particularly in the twelfth chapter of Leviticus. Not that we observe it by virtue of that precept, which we grant to have been ceremonial, and so not now of any force; but because we apprehend some moral duty to have been implied in it by way of analogy, which must be obligatory upon all, even when the ceremony is ceased. The uncleanness of the woman, the set number of days she is to abstain from the tabernacle, and the sacrifices she was to offer when she first came abroad, are rites wholly abolished, and what we no ways regard; but then the open and solemn acknowledgment of GOD’S goodness in delivering the mother, and increasing the number of mankind, is a duty that will oblige to the end of the world. And therefore, though the mother be now no longer obliged to offer the material sacrifices of the law, yet she is nevertheless bound to offer the evangelical sacrifice of praise. She is still publicly to acknowledge the blessing vouchsafed her, and to profess her sense of the fresh obligation it lays her under to obedience. Nor indeed may the Church be so reasonably supposed to have taken up this rite from the practice of the Jews, as she may be, that she began it in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, who, though she was rather sanctified than defiled by the birth of our LORD, and so had no need of purification from any uncleanness, whether legal or moral; yet wisely and humbly submitted to this rite, and offered her praise, together with her blessed Son, in the temple. And that from hence this usage was derived among Christians seems probable, not only from its being so universal and ancient, that the beginning of it can hardly anywhere be found; but also from the practice of the Eastern Church, where the mother still brings the child along with her, and presents it to GOD on her churching-day. The priest indeed is there said to “purify” them: and in our first Common Prayer, this office with us was entitled “the Order of the Purification of Women.” But that neither of these terms implied, that the woman had contracted any uncleanness in her state of child-bearing, may not only be inferred from the silence of the offices both in the Greek Church and ours, in relation to any uncleanness; but is also further evident from the ancient laws relating to this practice, which by no means ground it upon any impurity from which the woman stands in need to be purged. And therefore, when our own liturgy came to be reviewed, to prevent all misconstructions that might be put upon the word, the title was altered, and the office named, (as it is still in our present Common Prayer Book,) “The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth, commonly called, The Churching of Women.”—Dean Comber, Wheatly.

When Holy Scripture describes excessive sorrow in the most expressive manner, it likens it to that of a woman in travail. And if this sorrow be so excessive, how great must the joy be to be delivered from that sorrow! commensurate certainly, and of adequate proportion: and no less must be the debt of thankfulness to the benefactor, the donor of that recovery; whence a necessity of “thanksgiving of women after child-birth.” If it be asked, why the Church hath appointed a particular form for this deliverance, and not for deliverance from other cases of equal danger? the answer is, the Church did not so much take measure of the peril, as accommodate herself to that mark of separation which GOD himself hath put between this and other maladies. “To conceive and bring forth in sorrow” was signally inflicted upon Eve; and, in her, upon all mothers, as a penalty for her first disobedience (Gen. iii. 16); so that the sorrows of child-birth have, by GOD’S express determination, a more direct and peculiar reference to Eve’s disobedience than any other disease whatsoever; and, though all maladies are the product of the first sin, yet is the malediction specifically fixed and applied to this alone. Now, when that which was ordained primarily as a curse for the first sin, is converted to so great a blessing, GOD is certainly in that case more to be praised in a set and solemn office.—L’ Estrange.

In the Greek Church the time for performing this office is limited to be on the fortieth day; but, in the West, the time was never strictly determined. And so our present rubric does not pretend to limit the day when the woman shall be churched, but only supposes that she will come “at the usual time after her delivery.” The “usual time” is now about a month, for the woman’s weakness will seldom permit her coming sooner. And if she be not able to come so soon, she is allowed to stay a longer time, the Church not expecting her to return her thanks for a blessing before it is received.—Wheatly.

It is required, that whenever a woman is churched, she “shall come into the church.” And this is enjoined, first, for the honour of GOD, whose marvellous works in the formation of the child, and the preservation of the woman, ought publicly to be owned, that so others may learn to put their trust in him. Secondly, that the whole congregation may have a fit opportunity for praising GOD for the too much forgotten mercy of their birth. And, thirdly, that the woman may, in the proper place, own the mercy now vouchsafed her, of being restored to the happy privilege of worshipping GOD in the congregation of his saints.

How great, therefore, is the absurdity which some would introduce, of stifling their acknowledgments in private houses, and of giving thanks for their recovery and enlargement in no other place than that of their confinement and restraint; a practice which is inconsistent with the very name of this office, which is called “the churching of women,” and which consequently implies a ridiculous solecism, of being churched at home. Nor is it anything more consistent with the end and devotions prescribed by this office, than it is with the name of it. For with what decency or propriety can the woman pretend to “pay her vows in the presence of all GOD’S people, in the courts of the LORD’S house,” when she is only assuming state in a bedchamber or parlour, and perhaps only accompanied with her midwife or nurse? To give thanks, therefore, at home (for by no means call it “churching”) is not only an act of disobedience to the Church, but a high affront to Almighty GOD; whose mercy they scorn to acknowledge in a church, and think it honour enough done him, if he is summoned by his priest to wait on them at their house, and to take what thanks they will vouchsafe him there. But methinks a minister, who has any regard for his character, and considers the honour of the LORD he serves, should disdain such a servile compliance and submission, and abhor the betraying of his Master’s dignity. Here can be no pretence of danger in the case, should the woman prove obstinate, upon the priest’s refusal (which ministers are apt to urge for their excuse, when they are prevailed upon to give public baptism in private); nor is the decision of a council wanting to instruct him, (if he has any doubts upon account of the woman’s ill health,) that he is not to perform this office at home, though she be really so weak as not to be able to come to church.—Conc. 3, Mediol. cap. 5. For if she be not able to come to church, let her stay till she is; GOD does not require any thanks for a mercy, before he has vouchsafed it: but if she comes as soon as her strength permits, she discharges her obligations both to him and the Church.—Wheatly.

The rubric, at the end of the service, directs the woman that cometh to give her thanks, to offer the accustomed offerings. By “the accustomed offerings” is to be understood some offering to the minister who performs the office, not under the notion of a fee or reward, but of something set apart as a tribute or acknowledgment due to GOD, who is pleased to declare himself honoured or robbed according as such offerings are paid or withheld. We see under the law, that every woman, who came to be purified after child-bearing, was required to bring something that put her to an expense; even the poorest among them was not wholly excused, but obliged to do something, though it were but small. And though neither the kind nor the value of the expense be now prescribed, yet sure the expense itself should not covetously be saved: a woman that comes with any thankfulness or gratitude should scorn to offer what David disdained, namely, “of that which costs nothing.” And indeed with what sincerity or truth can she say, as she is directed to do in one of the Psalms, “I will pay my vows now in the presence of all his people,” if at the same time she designs no voluntary offering, which vows were always understood to imply?

But, besides the accustomed offering to the minister, the woman is to make a yet much better and greater offering, namely, an offering of herself, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice to GOD. For the rubric declares, that “if there be a communion, it is convenient that she receive the holy communion;” that being the most solemn way of praising GOD for him by whom she received both the present and all other GOD’S mercies towards her; and a means also to bind herself more strictly to spend those days in his service, which, by this late deliverance, he hath added to her life.—Wheatly.

In the Greek and Ethiopic Churches women upon these occasions always did receive the holy sacrament; and it seems in this very Church above a thousand years ago; and still we carry them up to the altar to remind them of their duty. And doubtless the omission of it occasions the too soon forgetting of this mercy, and the sudden falling off from piety, which we see in too many. Here they may praise GOD for our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and for this late temporal mercy also: here they may quicken their graces, seal their vows and promises of obedience, offer their charity, and begin that pious life to which they are so many ways obliged. To receive the sacrament, while the sense of GOD’S goodness and her own engagements is so fresh upon her, is the likeliest means to make her remember this blessing long, apply it right, and effectually to profit by it. Wherefore let it not be omitted on this occasion.—Dean Comber.

The woman is directed to kneel down in “some convenient place, as hath been accustomed.” No general rule is either prescribed or observed as to time or place, and therefore these are matters which fall within the office of the ordinary to determine. Many read the office just before the General Thanksgiving: others, though not so usually, at some part of the Communion Service; some at the altar, others at the desk: the woman in some churches occupies a seat specially set apart for this office; in others she kneels at the altar table, and there makes her offering. And in others a custom prevails (which does not seem worthy of imitation) of performing this service at some time distinct from the office of Common Prayer.

CHURCH RATE. (See Rate.)

CHURCHWARDENS. These are very ancient officers, and by the common law are a lay corporation, to take care of the goods of the church, and may sue and be sued as the representatives of the parish. Churches are to be repaired by the churchwardens, at the charge of all the inhabitants, or such as occupy houses or lands within the parish.

In the ancient episcopal synods, the bishops were wont to summon divers creditable persons out of every parish, to give information of, and to attest the disorders of clergy and people. They were called testes synodales; and were, in after times, a kind of empanelled jury, consisting of two, three, or more persons in every parish, who were, upon oath, to present all heretics and other irregular persons. And these, in process of time, became standing officers in several places, especially in great cities, and from hence were called synods-men, and by corruption sidesmen: they are also sometimes called questmen, from the nature of their office, in making inquiry concerning offences. And these sidesmen or questmen, by Canon 90, are to be chosen yearly in Easter week, by the minister and parishioners, (if they can agree,) otherwise to be appointed by the ordinary of the diocese. But for the most part this whole office is now devolved upon the churchwardens, together with that other office which their name more properly imports, of taking care of the church and the goods thereof, which has long been their function.

By Canon 118. The churchwardens and sidesmen shall be chosen the first week after Easter, or some week following, according to the direction of the ordinary.

And by Canon 89. All churchwardens or questmen in every parish shall be chosen by the joint consent of the minister and the parishioners, if it may be; but if they cannot agree upon such a choice, then the minister shall choose one, and the parishioners another; and without such a joint or several choice, none shall take upon them to be churchwardens. But if the parish is entitled by custom to choose both churchwardens, then the parson is restrained of his right under this canon. For further information on this subject the reader is referred to Dean Prideaux’s “Practical Guide to the Duties of Churchwardens in the execution of their Office,” a new edition of which has recently appeared, edited by C. G. Prideaux, barrister-at-law. (See Sidesmen and Visitation.)

CHURCHYARD. The ground adjoining to the church, in which the dead are buried. As to the original of burial-places, many writers have observed, that, at the first erection of churches, no part of the adjacent ground was allotted for the interment of the dead; but some place for this purpose was appointed at a further distance. This practice continued until the time of Gregory the Great, when the monks and priests procured leave, for their greater ease and profit, that a liberty of sepulture might be in churches or places adjoining to them. But, by the ninth canon, entitled De non sepeliendo in ecclesiis, this custom of sepulture in churches was restrained, and no such liberty allowed for the future, unless the person was a priest or some holy man, who, by the merits of his past life, might deserve such peculiar favour.

By Canon 85. The churchwardens or questmen shall take care that the churchyards be well and sufficiently repaired, fenced, and maintained with walls, rails, or pales, as have been in each place accustomed, at their charges unto whom by law the same appertains.

The churchyard is the freehold of the parson: but it is the common burial-place of the dead, and for that reason it is to be fenced at the charge of the parishioners, unless there is a custom to the contrary, or for a particular person to do it, in respect of his lands adjoining to the churchyard; and that must be tried at common law. But though the freehold is in the parson, he cannot cut down trees growing there, except for the necessary repairs of the chancel; because they are planted and grow there for the ornament and shelter of the church. (See Burial and Cemetery.)

CIBORIUM. A small temple or tabernacle placed upon the altar of Roman Catholic churches, and containing the consecrated wafer.

CIRCUMCELLIONS. A sect of the Donatist Christians in Africa, in the fourth century, being so called, because they rambled from one town to another, and pretended to public reformation and redressing of grievances; they manumitted slaves without their master’s leave, forgave debts which were none of their own, and committed a great many other insolencies: they were headed by Maxides and Faser. At the beginning of their disorders they marched only with staves, which they called the staves of Israel, in allusion to the custom of the Israelites eating the paschal lamb with staves in their hands, but afterwards they made use of all sorts of arms against the Catholics. Donatus called them the saints’ chiefs, and revenged himself by their means upon the Catholics. A mistaken zeal for martyrdom made these people destroy themselves; some of them threw themselves down precipices, others leaped into the fire, and some cut their own throats: so that their bishops, not being able to prevent such horrible and unnatural violences, were obliged to apply themselves to the magistracy to put an end to their phrensy.—August. Hæres, 69; Optatus, lib. iii.; Theod. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 6.

CIRCUMCISION of JESUS CHRIST. This feast is celebrated by the Church, to commemorate the active obedience of our LORD in fulfilling all righteousness, which is one branch of the meritorious cause of our redemption; and by that means abrogating the severe injunctions of the Mosaical establishment, and putting us under the grace of the gospel. The institution of this feast is of very considerable antiquity. In the sixth century a special and appropriate service for it was in use. It sometimes took the name of the “Octave of Christmas,” or the eighth day from that festival, being observed on January 1st. (See Octave.) It is one of the scarlet days at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.

CISTERCIANS. Towards the conclusion of the 11th century, Robert, abbot of Molême, in Burgundy, having employed, in vain, his most zealous efforts to revive the decaying piety and discipline of his convent, and to oblige his monks to observe more exactly the rule of St. Benedict, retired with about twenty monks to a place called Citeaux, in the diocese of Chalons. In this retreat Robert founded the famous order of the Cistercians, which made a most rapid and astonishing progress, spread through the greatest part of Europe in the following century, was enriched with the most liberal and splendid donations, acquired the form and privileges of a spiritual republic, and exercised a sort of dominion over all the monastic orders. The great and fundamental law of this new fraternity was the rule of St. Benedict, which was to be rigorously observed. (See Benedictines.) To this were added several other injunctions intended to maintain the authority of the rule. The first Cistercian monastery in England was that of Waverley, in Surrey, 1129. In the reign of Edward I. there were sixty-one Cistercian monasteries.—Monast. Angl.; Hist. des Ord. Relig. tom. v. c. 33.

CITATION. This is a precept under the seal of the ecclesiastical judge, commanding the person against whom the complaint is made to appear before him, on a certain day, and at a certain place therein mentioned, to answer the complaint in such a cause, &c.

CLAIRE, ST. A religious order of women in the Romish Church, the second that St. Francis instituted. This order was founded in 1213, and was confirmed by Innocent III., and after him by Honorius III., in 1223. It took its name from its first abbess and nun, Clara of Assisi, and was afterwards divided into Damianists and Urbanists; the first follow the ancient discipline in all its rigour, but the other the rule with Urban IV.’s allowance.—Hist. des Ord. Relig. t. vii. c. 25.

CLARENDON, CONSTITUTIONS OF. Certain constitutions made in the reign of Henry II., A. D. 1164, in a parliament or council held at Clarendon, a village three miles distant from Salisbury. These are as follows:—

I. When any difference relating to the right of patronage arises between the laity, or between the laity and clergy, the controversy is to be tried and ended in the king’s courts.

II. Those churches which are fees of the Crown cannot be granted away in perpetuity without the king’s consent.

III. When the clergy are charged with any misdemeanour, and summoned by the justiciary, they shall be obliged to make their appearance in his court, and plead to such parts of the indictments as shall be put to them. And likewise to answer such articles in the ecclesiastical court as they shall be prosecuted for by that jurisdiction; always provided that the king’s justiciary shall send an officer to inspect the proceedings of the court Christian. And in case any clerk is convicted or pleads guilty, he is to forfeit the privilege of his character, and be protected by the Church no longer.

IV. No archbishops, bishops, or parsons are allowed to depart the kingdom without a licence from the Crown; and, provided they have leave to travel, they shall give security not to act or solicit anything during their passage, stay, or return, to the prejudice of the king or kingdom.

V. When any of the laity are prosecuted in the ecclesiastical courts, the charge ought to be proved before the bishop by legal and reputable witnesses: and the course of the process is to be so managed, that the archdeacon may not lose any part of his right, or the profits accruing to his office: and if any offenders appear screened from prosecution upon the score either of favour or quality, the sheriff, at the bishop’s instance, shall order twelve sufficient men of the vicinage to make oath before the bishop, that they will discover the truth according to the best of their knowledge.

VI. Excommunicated persons shall not be obliged to make oath, or give security to continue upon the place where they live, but only to abide by the judgment of the Church, in order to their absolution.

VII. No person that holds in chief of the king, or any of his barons, shall be excommunicated, or any of their estates put under an interdict, before application made to the king, provided he is in the kingdom: and in case his Highness is out of England, then the justiciary must be acquainted with the dispute, in order to make satisfaction: and thus that which belongs to the cognizance of the king’s court must be tried there, and that which belongs to the courts Christian must be remitted to that jurisdiction.

VIII. In case of appeals in ecclesiastical causes, the first step is to be made from the archdeacon to the bishop, and from the bishop to the archbishop; and if the archbishop fails to do him justice, a further recourse may be had to the king; by whose order the controversy is to be finally decided in the archbishop’s court. Neither shall it be lawful for either of the parties to move for any further remedy without leave from the Crown.

IX. If a difference happen to arise between any clergyman and layman concerning any tenement; and that the clerk pretends it held by frank-almoine, and the layman pleads it a lay-fee, in this case the tenure shall be tried by the inquiry and verdict of twelve sufficient men of the neighbourhood, summoned according to the custom of the realm; and if the tenement, or thing in controversy, shall be found frank-almoine, the dispute concerning it shall be tried in the ecclesiastical court; but if it is brought in a lay-fee, the suit shall be followed in the king’s courts, unless both the plaintiff and defendant hold the tenement in question of the same bishop; in which case the cause shall be tried in the court of such bishop or baron, with this further proviso, that he who is seized of the thing in controversy shall not be disseized pending the suit, upon the score of the verdict above-mentioned.

X. He who holds of the king in any city, castle, or borough, or resides upon any of the demesne lands of the Crown, in case he is cited by the archdeacon or bishop to answer to any misbehaviour belonging to their cognizance; if he refuses to obey their summons, and stand to the sentence of the court, it shall be lawful for the ordinary to put him under an interdict, but not to excommunicate him till the king’s principal officer of the town shall be pre-acquainted with the case, in order to enjoin him to make satisfaction to the Church. And if such officer or magistrate shall fail in his duty, he shall be fined by the king’s judges. And then the bishop may exert his discipline on the refractory person as he thinks fit.

XI. All archbishops, bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons, who hold of the king in chief, and the tenure of a barony, are, for that reason, obliged to appear before the king’s justices and ministers, to answer the duties of their tenure, and to observe all the usages and customs of the realm; and, like other barons, are bound to be present at trials in the king’s court, till sentence is to be pronounced for the losing of life or limbs.

XII. When any archbishopric, bishopric, abbey, or priory of royal foundation, becomes vacant, the king is to make seizure; from which time all the profits and issues are to be paid into the exchequer, as if they were the demesne lands of the Crown. And when it is determined the vacancy shall be filled up, the king is to summon the most considerable persons of the chapter to the court, and the election is to be made in the chapel royal, with the consent of our sovereign lord the king, and by the advice of such persons of the government as his Highness shall think fit to make use of. At which time the person elected, before his consecration, shall be obliged to do homage and fealty to the king, as his liege lord; which homage shall be performed in the usual form, with a clause for the saving the privilege of his order.

XIII. If any of the temporal barons, or great men, shall encroach upon the rights of property of any archbishop, bishop, or archdeacon, and refuse to make satisfaction for the wrong done by themselves or their tenants, the king shall do justice to the party aggrieved. And if any person shall disseise the king of any part of his lands, or trespass upon his prerogative, the archbishops, bishops, and archdeacons shall call him to an account, and oblige him to make the Crown restitution.

XIV. The goods and chattels of those who lie under forfeitures of felony or treason, are not to be detained in any church or churchyard, to secure them against seizure and justice; because such goods are the king’s property, whether they are lodged within the precincts of a church, or without it.

XV. All actions and pleas of debt, though never so solemn in the circumstances of the contract, shall be tried in the king’s court.

XVI. The sons of copyholders are not to be ordained without the consent of the lord of the manor where they were born.

CLERESTORY. That part of a church with aisles which rises on the nave arches over the aisle roofs. Constructively, the clerestory is often to be referred to the roof. The original roof of small, and sometimes even of large, churches usually covered nave and aisles at one span. When the original roof needed repair, the old timbers were made available by cutting off the ends which had suffered most. But this process rendered them unfit for a compass roof of high pitch. An addition, therefore, was made to the walls of the nave, by which the roof might rise as high as before in the centre, though of lower pitch.

CLERGY. (See Bishop, Presbyter, Priest, Deacon, Apostolical Succession, Orders.) The general name given to the body of ecclesiastics of the Christian Church, in contradistinction to the laity. It is derived from κλῆρος, a lot or portion.

The distinction of Christians into clergy and laity was derived from the Jewish Church, and adopted into the Christian by the apostles themselves. Wherever any number of converts was made, as soon as they were capable of being formed into a congregation or church, a bishop or presbyter, with a deacon, were ordained to minister to them, as Epiphanius relates from the ancient histories of the Church. The author of the Comment on St. Paul’s Epistles, under the name of St. Ambrose, says, indeed, that at first all CHRIST’S disciples were clergy, and had all a general commission to preach the gospel and baptize: but this was in order to convert the world, and before any multitude of people were gathered, or churches founded, wherein to make a distinction. But, as soon as the Church began to spread itself over the world, and sufficient numbers were converted to form themselves into a regular society, then rulers, and other ecclesiastical officers, were appointed among them, and a distinction made that each might not interfere with the other.

The clergy, originally, consisted only of bishops, priests, and deacons; but, in the third century, many inferior orders were appointed, as subservient to the office of deacon, such as subdeacons, acolyths, readers, &c.

There is another name for the clergy, very commonly to be met with in the ancient councils, which is that of canonici: a name derived from the Greek word κάνων, which signifies, among other things, the roll or catalogue of every church, in which the names of the ecclesiastics, belonging to each church, were written.

The privileges and immunities which the clergy of the primitive Christian Church enjoyed, deserve our notice. In the first place, whenever they travelled upon necessary occasions, they were to be entertained by their brethren of the clergy, in all places, out of the public revenues of the Church. When any bishop or presbyter came to a foreign Church, they were to be complimented with the honorary privilege of performing divine offices, and consecrating the eucharist in the church. If any controversies happened among the clergy, they freely consented to have them determined by their bishops and councils, without having recourse to the secular magistrate for justice. The great care the clergy had of the characters and reputations of those of their order appears from hence, that, in all accusations, especially against bishops, they required the testimony of two or three witnesses, according to the apostle’s rule; they likewise examined the character of the witnesses, before their testimony was admitted; nor would they suffer a heretic to give evidence against a clergyman. These instances relate to the respect which the clergy mutually paid to each other.

With regard to the respect paid to the clergy by the civil government, it consisted chiefly in exempting them from some kind of obligations, to which others were liable, and in granting them certain privileges and immunities which others did not enjoy. Thus, by a law of Justinian, no secular judge could compel a bishop to appear in a public court, to give his testimony, but was to send one of his officers to take it from his mouth in private; nor was a bishop obliged to give his testimony upon oath, but only upon his bare word. Presbyters, we find, were privileged from being questioned by torture, as other witnesses were. But a still more extensive privilege was, the exemption of the clergy from the ordinary cognizance of the secular courts in all causes purely ecclesiastical; such being reserved for the hearing of the bishops and councils, not only by the canons of the Church, but by the laws of the state also; as appears from several rescripts of the emperors Constantius, Valentinian, Gratian, Theodosius the Great, Arcadius and Honorius, Valentinian II., and Justinian.

Another privilege, which the clergy enjoyed by the favour of Christian princes, was, that, in certain cases, they were exempt from some of the taxes laid upon the rest of the Roman empire. In the first place, they were exempt from the census capitum, or personal tribute, but not from the census agrorum, or tribute arising from men’s lands and possessions. In the next place they were not obliged to pay the aurum tironicum, soldiers’ money, nor the equorum canonicorum adæratio, horse money; which were taxes laid on some provinces, for furnishing the emperor with new levies, and fresh horses, for the wars. A third tax from which the clergy was exempt was the χρυσάργυροι, the silver and gold tax, which was laid upon trade and commerce; and the fourth, the metatum, so called from the word metatores, which signifies the emperor’s forerunners or harbingers; being a duty incumbent on the subjects of the empire to give entertainment to the emperor’s court and retinue, when they travelled. The clergy were also exempt from contributing to the reparation of highways and bridges, and from the duties called angariæ and parangariæ, &c., by which the subjects were obliged to furnish horses and carriages for the conveying of corn for the use of the army.

Another sort of immunity which the clergy enjoyed, was their exemption from civil offices in the Roman empire. But this privilege was confined to such of the clergy as had no estates, but what belonged to the Church by the laws of Constantine. For the Christian princes always made a wide difference between the public patrimony of the Church, and the private estates of such of the clergy as had lands of a civil or secular tenure. For the one, the clergy were obliged to no duty or burden of civil offices; but for the other, they were, and could not be excused from them otherwise than by providing proper substitutes to officiate for them.

After this account of the privileges of the ancient Christian clergy, it may not be improper to take some notice of the principal laws made for the regulation of their lives and conversations.

And, first, we may observe what sort of crimes were thought worthy of degradation. It was not every slight failing or infirmity, for which a clergyman was degraded, but only crimes of a deeper dye, such as theft, murder, fraud, perjury, sacrilege, and adultery: to which may be added, drinking and gaming, those two great consumers of time, and enemies to all noble undertakings and generous services; as, also, the taking of money upon usury, which is condemned by many of the ancient canons as a species of covetousness and cruelty. And therefore, instead of lending upon usury, the clergy were obliged to be exemplary for the contrary virtues, hospitality and charity to the poor, frugality, and a contempt of the world. And, to guard against defamation and scandal, it was enacted by the canons of several councils, that no bishops, presbyters, or deacons should visit widows and virgins alone, but in the company and presence of some other of the clergy, or some grave Christians.

With regard to the laws, more particularly relating to the exercise of the duties and offices of their function, the clergy were, in the first place, obliged to lead studious lives. But it was not all sorts of studies that were equally recommended to them: the principal was the study of the Holy Scriptures, as being the fountains of that learning, which was most proper for their calling. Next to the Scriptures, they were to study the canons of the Church, and the best ecclesiastical authors. In after ages, in the time of Charles the Great, we find some laws obliging the clergy to read, together with the canons, Gregory’s book “De Cura Pastorali.” As to other books, they were more cautious and sparing in the study and use of them. Some canons forbad a bishop to read heathen authors; nor was he allowed to read heretical books, except when there was occasion to confute them, or to caution others against the poison of them. But the prohibition of heathen learning was to be understood with a little qualification. It was only forbidden so far as it tended to the neglect of Scripture and more useful studies. We pass over the obligations incumbent on them to attend the daily service of the Church, to be pious and devout in their public addresses to God, to be zealous in defending the truth, and maintaining the unity of the Church, &c.

By the ecclesiastical laws, no clergyman was allowed to relinquish or desert his station without just grounds and leave: yet, in some cases, resignation was allowed of,—such as old age, sickness, or other infirmity. No clergyman was to remove from one diocese to another, without the consent, and letters dimissory, of his own bishop. The laws were no less severe against all wandering clergymen, or such as, having deserted their own church, would fix in no other, but went roving from place to place: these some of the ancients called βακαντιβοι or Vacantivi. By the laws of the Church, the bishops were not to permit such to officiate in their dioceses, nor indeed so much as to communicate in their churches. Other laws there were, which obliged the clergy to residence, or a constant attendance upon their duty. The Council of Sardica has several canons relating to this matter. Others inhibited pluralities, or the officiating in two parochial churches. In pursuance of the same design, of keeping the clergy strict and constant to their duty, laws were also made to prohibit them following any secular employment, which might divert them too much from their proper business and calling. In some times and places, the laws of the Church were so strict about this matter, that they would not suffer a bishop, or presbyter, to be left trustee to any man’s will. By other laws they were prohibited from taking upon them the office of pleading at the bar in any civil contest.

Another sort of laws respected the outward behaviour of the clergy. Such were the laws against corresponding and conversing too freely with Jews, and Gentile philosophers; and the canons which restrained them from eating and drinking in a tavern, or being present at the public theatres. To this sort of laws we may reduce the ancient rules which concern the garb and habit of the clergy; which were to be such as might express the gravity of their minds, without any affectation, or superstitious singularity. As to the kind or fashion of their apparel, it does not appear, for several ages, that there was any other distinction observed therein between them and the laity, than the modesty and gravity of their garb, without being tied to any certain habit, or form of dress.

These were the principal laws and regulations by which the clergy of the primitive Christian Church were governed; and it is remarkable, that the apostate emperor Julian was so convinced of their excellency, that he had a design of reforming the heathen priesthood upon the model of the Christian clergy.

The clergy of the Church of Rome are distinguished into regular and secular. The regular clergy consist of those monks, or religious, who have taken upon them holy orders, and perform the offices of the priesthood in their respective monasteries. The secular clergy are those who are not of any religious order, and have the care and direction of parishes. The canons of such cathedrals as were not monastic foundations were so called; i.e. secular canons. In the Saxon times these might be married. The Protestant clergy are all seculars.

The Romish Church forbids the clergy of her communion to marry, and pretends that a vow of perpetual celibacy, or abstinence from conjugal society, was required of the clergy, as a condition of their ordination, even from the apostolical ages. But the contrary is evident from innumerable examples of bishops and presbyters, who lived, in those early ages, in a state of matrimony.—Bingham. (See Celibacy.)

CLERK. This word is in fact only an abbreviation of the word clericus, or clergyman. It is still used, in a few instances, to designate clergymen: as clerk of the king’s closet, clerks in orders in certain parish churches. In foreign churches, it is usually applied to the ministers in minor orders. But it is now used to designate certain laymen, who are appointed to conduct or lead the responses of the congregation, and otherwise to assist in the services of the church. In most cathedrals and collegiate churches, and in some colleges, there are several of these lay clerks (see Vicar Choral, Secondary, and Stipendiary); in parish churches, generally, there is but one, who is styled the parish clerk. These were, originally, real clerks, i. e. clergymen, generally in minor orders, who assisted the officiating priest. But the minor orders have long ceased to be conferred, except as symbolical steps towards the higher grades of the ministry; so that in countries of the Romish communion, as well as among ourselves, the office which used to be performed by one or more clergymen has devolved upon laymen. There can be little doubt that, in parishes where there are more than one clergyman resident, the duties of the parish clerk should be performed by them, especially in leading the responses, singing, giving notices, &c.; but long custom has so familiarized us to the services of a lay-clerk, that we permit him, as of right, to do even in the presence of the clergy what, strictly speaking, belongs to the clerical office. It is a great fault in a congregation when they permit the lay-clerk to do more than lead them in the responses or their singing. The eighteenth canon directs all persons, man, woman, and child, to say in their due places, audibly with the minister, the Confession, the LORD’S Prayer, and the Creed, and make such other answers to the public prayer as are appointed in the Book of Common Prayer; and the laity forfeit a high privilege when they leave their share of the service to the lay-clerk alone.

Clerks are mentioned in the Prayer Book in the Rubric before the second occurrence of the LORD’S Prayer, in Morning and Evening Prayer: “The minister, clerks, and people shall say the Lord’s Prayer with a loud voice:” in the Marriage Service, “The minister and clerks, going to the Lord’s table, shall say or sing this Psalm following:” in the Burial Service, “The priest and clerks meeting the corpse at the entrance of the churchyard, &c., shall say or sing:” and when they are come to the grave, “The priest shall say, or the priest and clerks shall sing:” and in the Commination Service, “The priest and clerks, kneeling, (in the place where they are accustomed to say the Litany,) shall say this Psalm, Miserere mei, Deus.” The clerk in the singular number is mentioned but once only, which is in the Marriage Service; where the man is directed to lay the ring on the book “with the accustomed duty to the priest and clerk.”—Jebb.

Canon 91. Parish clerks to be chosen by the minister.—No parish clerk upon any vacation shall be chosen, within the city of London, or elsewhere within the province of Canterbury, but by the parson or vicar: or, where there is no parson or vicar, by the minister of that place for the time being; which choice shall be signified by the said minister, vicar, or parson, to the parishioners the next Sunday following, in the time of Divine service. And the said clerk shall be of twenty years of age at the least, and known to the said parson, vicar, or minister, to be of honest conversation, and sufficient for his reading, writing, and also for his competent skill in singing, if it may be. And the said clerks so chosen shall have and receive their ancient wages without fraud or diminution, either at the hands of the churchwarden, at such times as hath been accustomed, or by their own collection, according to the most ancient custom of every parish.

Since the making of this canon, the right of putting in the parish clerk has often been contested between incumbents and parishioners, and prohibitions prayed, and always obtained, to the spiritual court, for maintaining the authority of the canon in favour of the incumbent, against the plea of custom in behalf of the parishioners.

All incumbents once had the right of nomination of the parish clerks, by the common law and custom of the realm.

Parish clerks, after having been duly chosen and appointed, are usually licensed by the ordinary. And when they are licensed, they are sworn to obey the minister.

By a recent regulation, (7 & 8 Vict. c. 59,) persons in holy orders may be appointed to the office of parish clerk, which is to be held under the same tenure as that of a stipendiary curacy. Lay-clerks may also be dismissed by the minister, without the intervention of a mandamus from the Queen’s Bench.

By 7 & 8 Wm. III. c. 35, a parish clerk, for assisting at a marriage, without banns or licence, shall forfeit five pounds for every such offence.

CLINIC BAPTISM. Baptism on a sick bed (κλινη) was so called in the primitive Church. In the earlier ages of Christianity certain solemn days were set apart for the administration of holy baptism, and only on extraordinary occasions were converts baptized, except on one or other of those days; but if one already a candidate for baptism fell sick, and if his life was endangered, he was allowed to receive clinic baptism. There was, however, a kind of clinics to whom great suspicion attached; some persons who were converts to the doctrines of Christianity would not be baptized while in health and vigour, because of the greater holiness of life to which they would account themselves pledged, and because they thought that baptism administered on their death-bed would wash away the sins of their life. Such persons, though they recovered after their baptism, were held to be under several disabilities, and especially they were not admitted as candidates for holy orders.

CLOISTER. (See Monastery.) A covered walk, not unusually occupying the four sides of a quadrangle, which is almost an invariable appendage to a monastic or ancient collegiate residence. The most beautiful cloister remaining in England is at Gloucester cathedral. Several of the cathedrals which were not monastic have or had cloisters; as York, old St. Paul’s, Chichester, Exeter, Hereford, Lincoln, Salisbury, Wells; formerly St. Patrick’s in Dublin; and some colleges, as New College, Magdalen, and Corpus at Oxford; Winchester College. A cloister was projected for King’s College by the founder, but never executed. St. George’s Chapel at Windsor has also a cloister.

CLUNIAC MONKS. Religious of the order of Clugni. It is the first branch of the order of St. Benedict.

St. Bernon, abbot of Gigniac, of the family of the earls of Burgundy, was the founder of this order. In the year 910, he built a monastery for the reception of Benedictine monks, in the town of Clugni, situated in the Maconnois, a little province of France, on the river Saone. The noble abbey of Clugni was destroyed in 1789.

The monks of Clugni (or Cluni) were remarkable for their sanctity. They every day sang two solemn masses. They so strictly observed silence, that they would rather have died than break it before the hour of prime. When they were at work, they recited psalms. They fed eighteen poor persons every day, and were so profuse of their charity in Lent, that one year, at the beginning of Lent, they distributed salt meat, and other alms, among 7000 poor.

The preparation they used for making the bread which was to serve for the eucharist is worthy to be observed. They first chose the wheat grain by grain, and washed it very carefully. Then a servant carried it in a bag to the mill, and washed the grindstones, and covered them with curtains. The meal was afterwards washed in clean water, and baked in iron moulds.

The extraordinary discipline observed in the monasteries of Clugni soon spread its fame in all parts. France, Germany, England, Spain, and Italy, desired to have some of these religious, for whom they built new monasteries. They also passed into the East; and there was scarcely a place in Europe where the order was not known.

The principal monasteries in which the discipline and rules of Clugni were observed, were those of Tulles in the Limousin, Aurillac in Auvergne, Bourgdieu and Massa in Berri, St. Benet on the Loire in the Orleanois, St. Peter le Vif at Sens, St. Allire of Clermont, St. Julian of Tours, Sarlat in Perigord, and Roman-Mourier in the country of Vaux.

This order was divided into ten provinces, being those of Dauphiné, Auvergne, Poitiers, Saintonge, and Gascony, in France; Spain, Italy, Lombardy, Germany, and England.

At the general chapters, which were at first held yearly, and afterwards every three years, two visitors were chosen for every province, and two others for the monasteries of nuns of this order, fifteen definitors, three auditors of causes, and two auditors of excuses. There were formerly five principal priories, called the five first daughters of Clugni; but, since the dissolution of the monasteries in England, which involved that of St. Pancrace, at Lewes in Sussex, there remained but four principal priories, being those of La Charité sur Loire, St. Martin des Champs at Paris, Souvigni, and Souxillanges.

The Cluniac monks were first brought into England by William, earl of Warren, about the year of our LORD, 1077. These religious, though they lived under the rule of St. Benedict, and wore a black habit, yet, because their discipline and observances differed in many things from those of the Benedictines, therefore they were not called Benedictines, but monks of the order of Clugni. In the reign of Henry V., the Cluniac monasteries, by reason of the war between England and France, were cut off from the obedience of the abbot of Clugni, nor were they permitted to have any intercourse with the monasteries of their order out of England. The monasteries of Cluniac monks in England amounted in number to thirty-eight.—Broughton’s Bibliotheca Historico-Sacra.

COADJUTOR. In cases of any habitual distemper of the mind, whereby the incumbent is rendered incapable of the administration of his cure, such as frenzy, lunacy, and the like, the laws of the Church have provided coadjutors. Of these there are many instances in the ecclesiastical records, both before and since the Reformation; and we find them given generally to parochial ministers, (as most numerous,) but sometimes also to deans, archdeacons, prebendaries, and the like; and no doubt they may be given, in such circumstances, at the discretion of the ordinary, to any ecclesiastical person having ecclesiastical cure and revenue.

CŒNOBITES. Monks, who lived together in a fixed habitation, and formed one large community under a chief, whom they called father or abbot. The word is derived from κοινοβιον, vitæ communis societas. (See Monks.)

COLIDEI. (See Culdees.)

COLLATION. This is where a bishop gives a benefice, which either he had as patron, or which came to him by lapse.

This is also a term in use among ecclesiastical writers to denote the spare meal on days of abstinence, consisting of bread or other fruits, but without meat.

COLLECTS. These are certain brief and comprehensive prayers, which are found in all known liturgies and public devotional offices. Ritualists have thought that these prayers were so called, because they were used in the public congregation or collection of the people; or from the fact of many petitions being here collected together in a brief summary; or because they comprehend objects of prayer collected out of the Epistles and Gospels. But whatever may be the origin of the term, it is one of great antiquity. It is indeed difficult to trace the antiquity of repeating collects at the end of the service. It certainly, however, prevailed in our own Church, the Church of England, even during the period preceding the Norman Conquest. The very collects that we still use, formed part of the devotional offices of our Church long before the Reformation. They are generally directed to GOD the FATHER, in the name of JESUS CHRIST our LORD; for so they usually conclude, though sometimes they are directed to CHRIST himself, who is GOD co-equal and co-eternal with the FATHER. They consist usually of two parts, an humble acknowledgment of the adorable perfection and goodness of GOD, and a petition for some benefits from him. Among the advantages resulting from the regulation of the Church in making use of these short collects are,—the relief they give to the worshipper; the variety they throw into the service; the fixing of attention by new impulses of thought; the solemnizing of the mind by frequent invocations of the hearer of prayer; the constant reference of all our hopes to the merits and mediation of CHRIST, in whose name every collect is offered; and, lastly, the inspiring feeling, that in them we are offering up our prayers in the same words which have been on the lips of the martyrs and saints of all ages.

The more usual name in the Latin Church was collectæ, collects, because the prayers of the bishop, which in any part of the service followed the joint prayers of the deacon and congregation, were both a recollection and recommendation of the prayers of the people. In this sense Cassian takes the phrase, colligere orationem, when speaking of the service in the Egyptian monasteries and Eastern churches, he says, “after the psalms they had private prayers, which they said partly standing and partly kneeling; which being ended, he that collected the prayer rose up, and then they all rose up together with him, none presuming to continue longer upon the ground, lest he should seem rather to pursue his own prayers than go along with him who collected the prayers, or closed up all with his concluding collect.” Where we may observe, that a collect is taken for the chief minister’s prayer at the close of some part of Divine service, collecting and concluding the people’s preceding devotions. Uranius, speaking of one John, bishop of Naples, who died in the celebration of Divine service, says, “he gave the signal to the people to pray, and then, having summed up their prayers in a collect, he yielded up the ghost.”—Bingham.

Walapidus Strabo, as quoted by Wheatly, says that they are so called because the priest collects the petitions of all in a compendious brevity. To which Dr. Bisse assents, and considers the word to mean the collecting into one prayer the petitions which were anciently divided between him and the people by versicles and responses. They are in fact used in contradistinction to the alternate versicles, and the larger and less compendious prayers.

Morinus, in his notes on Greek Ordination, remarks on the resemblance between the Greek word συναπτὴ, and the Latin collecta: but shows that the συναπτὴ, though meaning a connected prayer, has a very different use. The συναπτὴ was sometimes a sort of litany, sometimes a set of versicles resembling the “preces” of the Roman Church, or our versicles and responses after the Creed. The συναπτὴ μέγαλη, again, is like our Prayer for the Church Militant. The Greek εὐχὴ, said after the συναπτὴ, is more like our collect: but there is nothing exactly resembling it in the Greek formularies. Their prayers are generally much longer.

The collects are (for the most part) constructed upon one uniform rule, consisting of three parts. (1.) The commemoration of some special attribute of GOD. (2.) A prayer for the exercise of that attribute in some special blessing. (3.) A prayer for the beneficial and permanent consequences of that blessing. The punctuation of the Prayer Book most accurately brings out the meaning of the collects. The apodosis of the sentence is (for the most part) begun by a capital letter.

In many of the collects, GOD is desired to hear the petitions of the people, those that the people had then made before the collect. These come in at the end of other devotions, and were by some of old called missæ, that is to say, dismissions, the people being dismissed upon the pronouncing of them and the blessing; the collects themselves being by some of the ancients called blessings, and also sacramenta, either for that their chief use was at the communion, or because they were uttered per sacerdotum, by one consecrated to holy offices.—Sparrow.

Our Reformers observed, first, that some of those collects were corrupted by superstitious alterations and additions, made by some later hand. Secondly, that the modern Roman missals had left some of the primitive collects quite out, and put in their stead collects containing some of their false opinions, or relating to their innovations in practice. Where the mass had struck out an old, and put in a new, collect, agreeable to their new and false doctrines or practices, there the Reformers restored the old collect, being pure and orthodox. At the restoration of King Charles II., even those collects made or allowed at the Reformation were strictly reviewed, and what was deficient was supplied, and all that was but incongruously expressed was rectified; so that now they are complete and unexceptionable, and may be ranked into three several classes. First, the ancient primitive collects, containing nothing but true doctrine, void of all modern corruptions, and having a strain of the primitive devotion, being short, but regular, and very expressive; so that it is not possible to touch more sense in so few words: and these are those taken out of Pope Gregory’s Sacramentary, or out of those additions made to it by the abbot Grimoaldus. Many of these were retained in their native purity in the missals of York and Salisbury, and the breviaries; but were no more depreciated by standing there than a jewel by lying on a dunghill. The second order of collects are also ancient as to the main; but where there were any passages that had been corrupted, they were struck out, and the old form restored, or that passage rectified; and where there was any defect it was supplied. The third order are such as had been corrupted in the Roman missals and breviaries, and contained something of false doctrine, or at least of superstition, in them; and new collects were made, instead of these, at the Reformation, under King Edward VI.; and some few which were wanting were added, anno 1662.—Comber.

The objection, that our service is taken from the Popish, affects chiefly the collects. But those of ours which are the same with theirs, are mostly derived from prayer books brought over in the days of that pope by whose means our Saxon ancestors were converted to Christianity, above 1100 [now 1200] years ago; and they were old ones then, much older than the main errors of Popery.—Secker.

It appears that the service of the Church is far more ancient than the Roman missal, properly speaking. And whoever has attended to the superlative simplicity, fervour, and energy of the prayers, will have no hesitation in concluding, that they must, the collects particularly, have been composed in a time of true evangelical light and godliness.—Milner’s Church Hist.

It is the boast of the Church of England, and her praise, that her Common Prayer corresponds with the best and most ancient liturgies which were used in the Church in the most primitive and purest times.—Directions to Commissioners in 1661.

Here I entreat the people to remember that these collects, and the following prayers, are to be vocally pronounced by the minister only, though the people are obliged to join mentally therein. Wherefore let none of the congregation disturb the rest, especially those that are near them, by muttering over their prayers in an audible manner, contrary to the design and rule of the Church, which always tells the people when their voices are allowed to be heard, and consequently commands them at all other times to be silent, and to speak to GOD in a mental manner only.—Bennett.

COLLECTS FOR THE DAY. Our Church, endeavouring to preserve not only the spirit, but the very forms, as much as may be, and in a known tongue, of ancient primitive devotion, has retained the same collects.

For the object, they are directed to GOD, in the name of “JESUS CHRIST our LORD;” a few are directed to CHRIST; and in the Litany some supplications to the HOLY GHOST, besides that precatory hymn of “Veni Creator,” in the book of Ordination. Some collects, especially for great festivals, conclude with this acknowledgment,—that CHRIST, with the FATHER, and the HOLY GHOST, “liveth and reigneth, one GOD, world without end.” This seems to be done to testify what the Scripture warrants, that although, for more congruity, we in the general course of our prayers go to the FATHER by the SON, yet that we may also invocate both the SON and the HOLY GHOST; and that while we call upon one, we equally worship and glorify all three together.

For their form and proportion, as they are not one long-continued prayer, but divers short ones, they have many advantages; the practice of the Jews of old, in whose prescribed devotions we find a certain number of several prayers or collects, to be said together; the example of our LORD in prescribing a short form; and the judgment and practice of the ancient Christians in their liturgies. St. Chrysostom, among others, commends highly, short and frequent prayers with little distances between. And they are most convenient for keeping away coldness, distraction, and illusions from our devotion; for what we said in praise of short ejaculations, is true also concerning collects; and that not only in respect of the minister, but the people also, whose minds and affections become hereby more erect, close, and earnest, by the oftener breathing out their hearty concurrence, and saying all of them “Amen” together, at the end of each collect. The matter of them is most excellent. It consists usually of two parts; an humble acknowledgment of the adorable perfection and goodness of GOD, and a congruous petition for some benefit from him. The first is seen not only in the collects for special festivals or benefits, but in those also that are more general; for even in such what find we in the beginning of them, but some or other of these and the like acknowledgments?—That GOD is almighty, everlasting, full of goodness and pity; the strength, refuge, and protector of all that trust in him; without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy. That there is no continuing in safety without him; that such is our weakness and frailty, that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, to do any good, or to stand upright, and therefore cannot but fall. That we put no trust in anything that we do, but lean only upon the help of his heavenly grace. That he is the author and giver of all good things; from whom it comes that we have an hearty desire to pray, or do him any true or laudable service. That he is always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we desire or deserve; having prepared for them that love him such good things as pass man’s understanding.—Sparrow.

That most of our collects are very ancient, appears by their conformity to the Epistles and Gospels, which were selected by St. Hierom, and put into the lectionary ascribed to him. Many believed he first framed them for the use of the Roman Church, in the time of Pope Damasus, above 1300 [now nearly 1500] years ago. Certain it is that Gelasius, who was bishop of Rome above 1200 years since, [A. D. 492–6,] did range those collects, which were then used, into order, and composed some new ones; and that office of his was again corrected by Pope Gregory the Great, A. D. 600, whose Sacramentary contains most of those collects which we now use.—Comber.

One of the principal reasons why our public devotions are, and should be, divided into short collects, is this,—our blessed SAVIOUR hath told us, that whatsoever we ask the FATHER in his name he will give it us. It cannot then but be necessary that the name of CHRIST be frequently inserted in our prayers, that so we may lift up our hearts unto him, and rest our faith upon him, for the obtaining those good things we pray for. And therefore, whatsoever we ask of GOD, we presently add, “through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.”—Wheatly.

The petitions are not in one long prayer, but several short ones; which method is certainly as lawful as the other, and, we think, more expedient. It reminds us oftener of the attributes of GOD and merits of CHRIST, which are the ground of our asking in faith; and, by the frequency of saying “Amen,” it stirs up our attention and warms our devotions, which are too apt to languish.—Secker.

We may refer to Shepherd on the Common Prayer for a classified arrangement of the collects; (1.) which were retained from ancient liturgies at the Reformation; (2.) which were altered by the Reformers and reviewers; and (3.) which were composed anew. Those composed anew in 1549 are the collects for the 1st and 2nd Sunday in Advent, Christmas, the Epiphany, Quinquagesima, Ash-Wednesday, 1st Sunday in Lent, 1st and 2nd Sundays after Easter; St. Thomas’s day, St. Matthias’s, St. Mark’s, St. Barnabas’s, St. John Baptist’s, St. Peter’s, St. James’s, St. Matthew’s, St. Luke’s, St. Simon and St. Jude’s; All-Saints’. In 1552, St. Andrew’s. In 1662, 3rd Sunday in Advent; 6th Sunday after Epiphany; Easter Even. The prayers denominated collects in our liturgy are those of the day, and the 2nd and 3rd at Morning and Evening Prayer respectively; the Prayer for all Conditions of Men, which is called also a collect; the prayer preceding the ten commandments, the prayer for the sovereign in the Communion Service, and the six occasional collects following it; the prayer following the LORD’S Prayer in the Confirmation Service; the prayer preceding the psalm in the Visitation of the Sick, that in the Communion of the Sick, and the prayer preceding the blessing in the Burial of the Dead; three in the Ordering of Priests and Deacons respectively, and one in the Consecration of Bishops.

COLLEGE. A community. Hence we speak of an episcopal college, or college of bishops. It was an old maxim of Roman law, that by fewer than three persons a college could not be formed. Hence, as a bishop is to be consecrated not by a single bishop, but by a synod or college, at least three are required to be present at each consecration. Every corporation, in the civil law, is called a college, and so it has been applied in England, in some rare instances, irrespective of social combinations: and abroad it was very extensively applied to incorporated boards. But in England it generally implies a society of persons, living in a common habitation, and bound together by statutes which have respect to their daily life. The minor corporations of the universities, and those of Eton and Winchester, are specially so termed: and residences for the members, a chapel, hall, and library, are considered as essential features of the college. As it is unquestionable that our academical colleges were all instituted for the promotion of godliness, as well as of human knowledge, that they were intended to be handmaids of the Church, as their highest function, besides nurseries of good learning, they deserve special notice in a Church Dictionary. All cathedral and collegiate churches are colleges; and the word in this sense comprehends all the members of each establishment, whether inferior or superior. The buildings of some of our cathedrals containing the residence of the members, are still often popularly called “the college.” The word is also applied to those inferior corporations attached to the cathedrals of old foundation. (See Minor Canons and Vicars Choral.)

The colleges of our universities are each independent societies, having their own statutes, and property as strictly their own as that of any lay proprietor. Still they are connected with a greater corporation, which is called the university. It has been commonly thought, that these relations between minor and major academical corporations is an anomaly peculiar to England. The fact is otherwise. The most ancient universities, as Paris, Bologna, and Salamanca, had each several colleges, which bore an analogous relation to the university. (See University.)

COLLEGIATE CHURCHES. Churches with a body of canons and prebendaries, &c., and inferior members, with corporate privileges. The services and forms in these churches are, or ought to be, like those in cathedral churches. The number of collegiate churches has been much diminished since the Reformation; those at present existing in England, are Westminster, Windsor, Southwell, Wolverhampton, Middleham, and Brecon; and in Ireland, the collegiate church of Galway.

COLLYRIDIANS. Certain heretics that worshipped the Virgin Mary as a goddess, and offered cake in sacrifice to her; they appeared in the fourth century, about the year 373. Their name is derived from κολλυρα, a little cake.

COMMANDRIES. New houses of the same kind among the Knights Hospitallers as the Preceptories among the Templars. (See Preceptories.)

COMMEMORATIONS. The recital of the names of famous martyrs and confessors, patriarchs, bishops, kings, great orthodox writers, munificent benefactors: which recitation was made at the altar out of diptychs or folded tables. There are Commemoration days at Oxford and Cambridge, on which the names of all the known benefactors to the universities are proclaimed, special psalms and lessons recited, and special collects and versicles. These have been coeval with the Reformation, and sanctioned by the highest authority. (See Diptychs.)

COMMENDAM. Commendam is a living commended by the Crown to the care of a clergyman until a proper pastor is provided for it. These commendams for some time have been seldom or never granted to any but bishops, who, when their bishoprics were of small value, were, by special dispensation, allowed to hold their previous benefices, which, on their promotion, had devolved into the patronage of the Crown.

COMMENDATORY LETTERS. (See Literæ formatæ.)

COMMENTARY. An exposition; a book of annotations on Holy Scripture.

In selecting a commentary much care is necessary, because a skilful commentator may wrest the Scriptures so as to make them support his private opinion. A Calvinist makes Scripture speak Calvinism, an Arminian makes it speak Arminianism. The question to be asked, therefore, is, According to what principle does the annotator profess to interpret Scripture? If he takes the Church for his guide; if he professes to interpret according to the doctrines of the Church, although he may err in a matter of detail, he cannot seriously mislead us. We may instance the third chapter of St. John’s Gospel. How very different will be the meaning of that chapter interpreted by a Calvinist, who denies the scriptural doctrine of baptismal regeneration, from the meaning which will be attached to it by one who holds the truth as it is taught in the Church, and who, with the Church of England, in the Office for the Baptism of Persons in Riper Years, applies what is said in that chapter to baptismal grace.

To give a complete list of commentaries is, in such a work as the present, impossible. The reader who would pursue the subject is referred to the authorities mentioned in the next article, Commentators. Some of the leading commentaries most used in the Church of England are here given.

Theophylact; the last edition of whose works is that published at Venice, 1754–1763, in four volumes, folio. In Theophylact we have the pith of St. Chrysostom, whose works also are useful, especially his Homilies on St. Matthew and on St. Paul’s Epistles. They have lately been translated.

“Critici Sacri, sive Annotata doctissimorum Virorum in Vetus ac Novum Testamentum; quibus accedunt Tractatus varii Theologico-Philologici,” 9 tomis in 12 voluminibus. Amsterdam, 1698, folio.

This is considered the best edition of this great work, which was first published in London, in 1660, in nine volumes, folio, under the direction of the celebrated Bishop Pearson and other learned divines. In 1701 there were published at Amsterdam, “Thesaurus Theologico-Philologicus,” in two volumes folio, and two additional volumes in 1732. These complete the work.

“Mathæi Poli Synopsis Criticorum aliorumque SS. Interpretum,” London, 1669–1674; five volumes, folio. This has been reprinted, the best edition being that of Utrecht, 1686. It is a valuable abridgment and consolidation of the “Critici Sacri.” It gives the conclusions, without the arguments, of that work.

Bishop Hall’s “Contemplations on the Old and New Testament,” of which valuable work there have been several reprints.

Patrick, Lowth, Whitby, and Arnold’s “Commentary on the Bible.” London, 1727–1760: seven volumes, folio. Reprinted in 4to, 1821; and lately in large 8vo. This is a standard work.

“An Exposition of the Old and New Testament,” by the Rev. Matthew Henry: folio, five volumes. There have been many reprints of this truly excellent commentary.

“A Commentary on the Books of the Old and New Testaments, in which are inserted the Notes and Collections of John Locke, Esq., Daniel Waterland, D. D., and the Earl of Clarendon and other learned persons, with Practical Improvements.” London, 1770: three volumes, folio. This was reprinted in six volumes, 4to, in 1801, by Dr. Coke, a Methodist, with some retrenchments and unimportant additions, and goes by the name of “Coke’s Commentary.” It is very useful for practical purposes.

“The Holy Bible, with Original Notes and Practical Observations,” by Thomas Scott, M. A., Rector of Aston Sandford: London. This has been often reprinted.

“The Holy Bible, with Notes,” by Thomas Wilson, D. D., Bishop of Sodor and Man: London, 1785: three volumes, 4to. Whatever comes from the pen of Bishop Wilson is valuable; but the notes are rather suggestive than illustrative.

“The Holy Bible, with Notes explanatory and practical;” taken principally from the most recent writers of the United Church of England and Ireland, prepared and arranged by Dr. D’Oyley and Bishop Mant. Oxford and London, 1817: three volumes, 4to, and since reprinted. This work, published under the sanction of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, is perhaps the most sound and useful that we possess.

It is impossible to enumerate the commentators on separate books of the Bible, but we may mention Dean Graves on the Pentateuch, Bishops Horne and Horsley on the Psalms, Bishop Lowth on Isaiah, Dr. Blayney on Jeremiah, Archbishop Newcome on Ezekiel, Mr. Wintle on Daniel, Bishop Horsley on Hosea, Dr. Blayney on Zechariah, Dr. Stock on Malachi, Dr. Pococke on Hosea, Joel, Micah, and Malachi; Archbishop Newcome on the Twelve Minor Prophets.

On the New Testament, we may refer to Hammond, Whitby, Burkitt, Doddridge, Bishop Pearce, Dr. Trapp, Bishop Porteus on St. Matthew, Biscoe on the Acts, Macknight, Bishop Fell, Bishop Davenant, Pyle on the Epistles, Archbishop Leighton on St. Peter, Mede, Daubeny, Lowman, Sir Isaac Newton, and Bishop Newton on the Apocalypse. We have omitted, in this list, contemporary writers, for obvious reasons, and we have referred to commentaries chiefly used by English churchmen; the more learned reader will, not without caution, have recourse to foreign critics also; of whom we may mention, as persons much consulted, Vitringa, Tittmann, Bengel, Olshausen, Tholuck, Wolfius, Raphelius, Calmet, and Hengstenberg. The “Catena Aurea” of Thomas Aquinas has lately been translated; but it is useful rather to the antiquarian and the scholar, than to those who wish to ascertain the exact meaning of Scripture; and in the quotations from the Fathers, Aquinas is not to be depended upon.

COMMENTATORS. “A complete history of commentators,” says Mr. Hartwell Horne, “would require a volume of no ordinary dimensions.” The reader who is desirous of prosecuting this subject, will find much interesting information relative to the early commentators in Rosenmüller’s “Historia Interpretationis Librorum Sacrorum in Ecclesiâ Christianâ, inde ab Apostolorum Ætate usque ad Origenem, 1795–1814.” This elaborate work treats exclusively of the early commentators. Father Simon’s “Histoire Critique de Vieux Testament,” 4to, 1680, and his “Histoire Critique des Principaux Commentateurs du Nouveau Testament,” 4to, Rotterdam, 1689, contain many valuable strictures on the expositors of the Old and New Testament up to his own time. In 1674 was published at Frankfort, in two volumes folio, Joh. Georg. Dorschei “Biblia Numerata, seu Index Specialis in Vetus Testamentum ad singula omnium Librorum Capita et Commenta.” It contains a list of commentators, 191 in number, who had illustrated every book, chapter, or verse of the Scriptures, with reference to the books, chapters, and pages of their several works. The merits and demerits of commentators are likewise discussed in Walchius’s “Bibliotheca Theologica Selecta;” in Ernesti’s “Institutio Interpretis Novi Testamenti;” in Morus’s “Acroases Academicæ.” Professor Keil, in his “Elementa Hermeneutices Novi Testamenti,” and Professor Beck, in “Monogrammata Hermeneutices, Librorum Novi Fœderis,” Seiler’s Biblical Hermeneutices, (translated from the German by Dr. Wright, 1835,)—respectively notice the principal expositors of the Scriptures.

COMMINATION, means a threat or denunciation of vengeance. There is an ancient office in the Church of England, entitled, “A Commination, or denouncing of GOD’S Anger and Judgment against Sinners, with certain Prayers, to be used on the first Day of Lent, and at other times, as the Ordinary shall appoint.” This office, says Mr. Palmer, is one of the last memorials we retain of that solemn penitence, which during the primitive ages occupied so conspicuous a place in the discipline of the Christian Church. In the earliest ages, those who were guilty of grievous sins were solemnly reduced to the order of penitents; they came fasting and clad in sackcloth and ashes on the occasion, and after the bishop had prayed over them, they were dismissed from the church. They then were admitted gradually to the classes of hearers, substrati, and consistentes, until at length, after long trial and exemplary conduct, they were again decreed worthy of communion. This penitential discipline at length, from various causes, became extinct, both in the Eastern and Western Churches: and, from the twelfth or thirteenth century, the solemn office of the first day of Lent was the only memorial of this ancient discipline in the West. The Church of England has long used this office nearly as we do at present, as we find almost exactly the same appointed in the MS. Sacramentary of Leofric, which was written for our Church about the ninth or tenth century; and year by year she directs her ministers to lament the defection of the godly discipline we have been describing.

The preface which the Church has prefixed to this office will supply the room of an introduction. It informs us that, “in the primitive Church, there was a godly discipline; that, at the beginning of Lent, such persons as stood convicted of notorious crimes were put to open penance, and punishment in this world, that their souls might be saved in the day of the LORD; and that others, admonished by their example, might be the more afraid to offend.” The manner in which this discipline was inflicted, is thus recorded by Gratian: On the first day of Lent the penitents were to present themselves before the bishop, clothed with sackcloth, with naked feet, and eyes turned to the ground: and this was to be done in the presence of the principal clergy of the diocese, who were to judge of the sincerity of their repentance. These introduced them into the Church, where the bishop, all in tears, and the rest of the clergy, repeated the seven penitential psalms. Then, rising from prayers, they threw ashes upon them, and covered their heads with sackcloth; and then with mournful sighs declared to them, that as Adam was cast out of paradise, so they must be cast out of the Church. Then the bishop commanded the officers to turn them out of the church doors, and all the clergy followed after, repeating that curse upon Adam, “In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread.” The like penance was inflicted upon them the next time the sacrament was administered, which was the Sunday following. And all this was done, to the end that the penitents, observing how great a disorder the Church was in by reason of their crimes, should not lightly esteem of penance.

Though this discipline was severe, yet the many good consequences of it showed it worthy the imitation of the Church in succeeding ages; so that it was anciently exercised in our own, as well as in foreign churches. But in latter ages, during the corruption of the Church of Rome, this godly discipline degenerated into a formal and customary confession upon Ash Wednesdays, used by all persons indifferently, whether penitents or not, from whom no other testimony of their repentance was required, than that they should submit to the empty ceremony of sprinkling ashes upon their heads. But this our wise reformers prudently laid aside as a mere shadow and show; and not without hearty grief and concern, that the long continuance of the abominable corruptions of the Romish Church, in their formal confessions and pretended absolutions, in their sale of indulgences, and their sordid commutations of penance for money, had let the people loose from those primitive bands of discipline, which tended really to their amendment, but to which, through the rigour and severity it enjoins, they found it impracticable to reduce them again. However, since they could not do what they desired, they desired to do as much as they could; and therefore, till the said discipline may be restored again, (which is rather to be wished than expected in these licentious times,) they have endeavoured to supply it as well as they were able, by appointing an office to be used at this season, called “A Commination, or denouncing of GOD’S Anger and Judgments against Sinners;” that so the people, being apprized of GOD’S wrath and indignation against their wickedness and sins, may not be encouraged, through the want of discipline in the Church, to follow and pursue them; but be moved, by the terror of the dreadful judgments of GOD, to supply that discipline to themselves, by severely judging and condemning themselves, and so to avoid being judged and condemned at the tribunal of GOD.

2. But, besides “the first day of Lent,” on which it is expressly enjoined, it is also supposed, in the title of it, to be used “at other times, as the ordinary shall direct.” This was occasioned by the observation of Bucer; for it was originally ordered upon Ash Wednesdays only, and therefore in the first Common Prayer Book, it had no other title, but “The First Day of Lent, commonly called Ash Wednesday.” But Bucer approving of the office, and not seeing reason why it should be confined to one day, and not used oftener, at least four times a year, the title of it was altered when it came to be reviewed; from which time it was called, “A Commination against Sinners, with certain Prayers to be used at divers times in the Year.” How often, or at what particular times, we do not find prescribed; except that Bishop Cosin informs us from the Visitation Articles of Archbishop Grindal for the province of Canterbury, in the year 1576, that it was appointed three times a year; namely, on one of the three Sundays next before Easter, on one of the two Sundays next before Pentecost, and on one of the two Sundays next before Christmas; that is, I suppose the office was appointed yearly to be used on these three days, as well as on Ash Wednesday. For that Ash Wednesday was then the solemn day of all, and on which this office was never to be omitted, may be gathered from the preface, which is drawn up for the peculiar use of that day. And accordingly we find, that, in the Scotch Common Prayer, a clause was added, that it was to be used “especially on the first day of Lent, commonly called Ash Wednesday.” However, in our own liturgy, the title stood as above, till the last review, when a clause was added for the sake of explaining the word commination; and the appointing of the times on which it should be used was left to the discretion of the bishop, or the ordinary. So that the whole title, as it stands now, runs thus: “A Commination, or denouncing of GOD’S Anger and Judgments against Sinners, with certain Prayers to be used on the first Day in Lent, and at other Times, as the Ordinary shall appoint.” The ordinaries, indeed, seldom or never make use of the power here given them, except that sometimes they appoint part of the office, namely, from the fifty-first Psalm to the end, to be used upon solemn days of fasting and humiliation. But as to the whole office, it is never used entirely but upon the day mentioned in the title of it, namely, “the first day of Lent.”—Wheatly.

The Commination properly means that part of the special service which precedes the Psalm; the rest coming under the title of “certain prayers;” and it would seem that the latter are alone to be used at other times that the ordinary shall appoint.—Jebb.

COMMISSARY, is a title of jurisdiction, appertaining to him that exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in places so far distant from the chief city, that the chancellor cannot call the people to the bishop’s principal consistory court without great trouble to them.

Chancellors, or bishops’ lawyers, were first introduced into the Church by the 2nd canon of the Council of Chalcedon, and were men trained up in the civil and canon law, to direct bishops in matters of judgment relating to ecclesiastical affairs.

Whatever the extent of the chancellor’s authority as a judge may be, throughout the diocese, with relation to the bishop’s, it is quite clear that the commissary’s authority extends only to such particular causes, in such parts of the diocese, for which he holds the bishop’s commission to act.

In the Clementine constitutions this officer is termed officialis foraneus. By the 21st of Henry VIII. c. 13, he shall not be within the statute of non-residence; he may grant licences; he may excommunicate, and prove a last will and testament; but that shall be in the name of the ordinary; and a grant of such power does not hold good beyond the life of the ordinary, and does not bind his successor: where, by prescription or by composition, there are archdeacons, who have jurisdiction in their archdeaconries, as in most places they have, there the office of commissary is superfluous.—See Gibson’s Codex, vol. i. Introductory Discourse, p. 25.

COMMON PRAYER. (See Liturgy.) By Common Prayer we are to understand a form of prayer adapted and enjoined for common or universal use: in the vernacular language, such as may be understood of people, and in which they are required to join with one heart and voice. It is contrasted with those services which have either actually or virtually become exclusive, or confined to but a few: such as the forms of matins in the Roman breviary, which from its extreme length, and from the inconvenience of the hour when it is prescribed to be recited, are impracticable to the people, to all in fact but the inmates of monasteries or collegiate churches. Such, indeed, are all those services which are written in a language which is no longer vernacular.

Bishop Sparrow observes, that the Common Prayer contains in it many holy offices of the Church; as prayers, confessions of faith, holy hymns, divine lessons, priestly absolutions, and benedictions; all which are set and prescribed, not left to private men’s fancies to make or alter. So it was of old ordained. Conc. Carthag. can. 106, “It is ordained, that the prayers, prefaces, and impositions of hands, which are confirmed by the Synod, be observed and used by all men: these, and no other.” So is our 14th English Canon.... “And as these offices are set and prescribed, so are they moreover appointed to be one and the same throughout the whole national Church.”

By Canon 4. “Whosoever shall affirm that the form of GOD’S worship in the Church of England, established by law, and contained in the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, is a corrupt, superstitious, or unlawful worship of GOD, or containeth anything in it that is repugnant to the Scriptures, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored but by the bishop of the place, or archbishop, after his repentance and public revocation of such his wicked errors.”

By Canon 38. “If any minister, after he has subscribed to the Book of Common Prayer, shall omit to use the form of prayer, or any of the orders or ceremonies prescribed in the Communion Book, let him be suspended; and if after a month he does not reform and submit himself, let him be excommunicated; and then, if he shall not submit himself within the space of another month, let him be deposed from the ministry.”

And by Canon 98. “After any judge ecclesiastical has pronounced judicially against contemners of ceremonies, for not observing the rites and orders of the Church of England, or for contempt of public prayer, no judge ad quem shall allow of his appeal, unless the party appellant do first personally promise and avow, that he will faithfully keep and observe all the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, as also the prescribed form of Common Prayer, and do likewise subscribe to the same.

COMMUNION. This is one of the names given to the sacrament of the eucharist, and was undoubtedly taken from St. Paul’s account of that sacrament, where he teaches, as the learned Dr. Waterland observes, that the effect of this service is the communion of the body and blood of CHRIST. (1 Cor. x. 16.) He does not, indeed, call the sacrament by that name, as others have done since. He was signifying what the thing is, or what it does, rather than how it was then called. (See Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, and Consecration of the Elements.)

The office for the Holy Communion is a distinct office, and there is no direction at what time of the day it shall be used, only custom, in accordance with the almost invariable usage of Christendom, has determined that it shall be used in the forenoon. The communion is appointed for every Sunday, only the Church has ordered that there shall be no communion except four (or three at least) communicate with the priest. The absence of the weekly eucharist therefore proves one of two things; either that the sin of the people is so great that even in large parishes three such persons ready to communicate are not to be found every Sunday, and so only part of the service can be used; or else if three communicants can be found, the sin of the clergy is great in not having weekly communion. “In cathedral and collegiate churches, where there are many priests and deacons, they shall all receive the communion with the priest every Sunday at the least.” We here subjoin the directions of the canons and rubric.

The rubric decrees, there shall none be admitted to the holy communion until such time as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed.

By the canons of Archbishop Peckham, 1279, it is ruled that none shall give the communion to the parishioner of another priest, without his manifest licence; which ordinance shall not extend to travellers, or to persons in danger, nor to cases of necessity.

And by Canon 28. “The churchwardens or questmen, and their assistants, shall mark, as well as the minister, whether any strangers come often and commonly from other parishes to their church, and show their minister of them, lest perhaps they be admitted to the LORD’S table amongst others; which they shall forbid, and remit such home to their own parish churches and ministers, there to receive the communion with the rest of their own neighbours.”

Rubric. “And if any be an open and notorious evil liver, or have done any wrong to his neighbours by word or deed, so that the congregation be thereby offended, the curate, having knowledge thereof, shall call him and advertise him, that in anywise he presume not to come to the LORD’S table until he has openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former naughty life, that the congregation may thereby be satisfied, which before were offended; and that he has recompensed the parties to whom he has done wrong; or at least declare himself to be in full purpose so to do, as soon as he conveniently may.”

Rubric. “The same order shall the curate use with those between whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign, not suffering them to be partakers of the LORD’S table until he know them to be reconciled. And if one of the parties so at variance be content to forgive, from the bottom of his heart, all that the other has trespassed against him, and to make amends for that he himself has offended, and the other party will not be persuaded to a godly unity, but remain still in his frowardness and malice, the minister in that case ought to admit the penitent person to the holy communion, and not him that is obstinate. Provided that every minister so repelling any, as is specified in this or the next preceding paragraph of this rubric, shall be obliged to give an account of the same to the ordinary, within fourteen days after at the farthest; and the ordinary shall proceed against the offending person according to the canon.”

By Canon 26. “No minister shall in anywise admit to the receiving of the holy communion any of his cure or flock, which be openly known to live in sin notorious without repentance; nor any who have maliciously and openly contended with their neighbours; nor any churchwardens or sidesmen who refuse or neglect to make presentment of offences according to their oaths.”

By Canon 27. “No minister, when he celebrateth the communion, shall wittingly administer the same to any but to such as kneel, under pain of suspension; nor, under the like pain, to any that refuse to be present at public prayers, according to the order of the Church of England; nor to any that are common and notorious depravers of the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and of the orders, rites, and ceremonies therein prescribed; or of anything that is contained in the book of ordering priests and bishops; or to any that have spoken against and depraved his Majesty’s sovereign authority in causes ecclesiastical; except every such person shall first acknowledge to the minister before the churchwardens his repentance for the same, and promise by word (if he cannot write) that he will do so no more; and except (if he can write) he shall first do the same under his handwriting, to be delivered to the minister, and by him sent to the bishop of the diocese, or ordinary of the place. Provided that every minister so repelling any (as is specified either in this or the next preceding constitution) shall upon complaint, or being required by the ordinary, signify the cause thereof unto him, and therein obey his order and direction.”

By Canon 109. “If any offend their brethren, either by adultery, whoredom, incest, or drunkenness, or by swearing, ribaldry, usury, or any other uncleanness, or wickedness of life, such notorious offenders shall not be admitted to the holy communion till they be reformed.”

Canon 71. “No minister shall administer the holy communion in any private house, except it be in times of necessity, when any being either so impotent as he cannot go to the church, or very dangerously sick, are desirous to be partakers of this holy sacrament, upon pain of suspension for the first offence, and excommunication for the second. Provided that houses are here reputed for private houses, wherein are no chapels dedicated and allowed by the ecclesiastical laws of this realm. And provided also, under the pains before expressed, that no chaplains do administer the communion in any other places, but in the chapels of the said houses; and that also they do the same very seldom upon Sundays and holy-days; so that both the lords and masters of the said houses and their families shall at other times resort to their own parish churches, and there receive the holy communion at least once every year.”

Canon 22. “We do require every minister to give warning to his parishioners publicly in the church at morning prayer, the Sunday before every time of his administering that holy sacrament, for their better preparation of themselves; which said warning we enjoin the said parishioners to accept and obey, under the penalty and danger of the law.”

And by the rubric. “The minister shall always give warning for the celebration of the holy communion upon the Sunday or some holy-day immediately preceding.”

Rubric. “So many as intend to be partakers of the holy communion shall signify their names to the curate, at least some time the day before.”

Rubric. “There shall be no celebration of the LORD’S supper, except there be a convenient number to communicate with the priest, according to his discretion. And if there be not above twenty persons in the parish, of discretion to receive the communion, yet there shall be no communion, except four (or three at the least) communicate with the priest. And in cathedral and collegiate churches and colleges, where there are many priests and deacons, they shall all receive the communion with the priest every Sunday at the least, except they have reasonable cause to the contrary.” The rubric implies daily communion. “The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, appointed for the Sunday, shall serve all the week after, when it is not in this book otherwise ordered.” In the First Book of King Edward, daily communion is expressly mentioned. “Upon Wednesdays and Fridays ... though there be none to communicate with the priest, yet these days, after the Litany ended, the priest shall ... say all things at the altar, appointed to be said at the celebration of the LORD’S supper, until after the offertory.” “In cathedral churches, or other places, where there is daily communion,” &c. From the Pietas Londinensis it appears that in some London churches at the beginning of the last century, the communion was celebrated daily in the octaves of the great festivals. And a remembrance of this daily communion was formerly kept up at Durham, where, in Bishop Cosin’s time, the ante-communion was daily performed, as it still is at St. Patrick’s, on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent.

Canon 82. “Whereas we have no doubt but that in all churches convenient and decent tables are provided and placed for the celebration of the holy communion, we appoint that the same tables shall from time to time be kept and repaired in sufficient and seemly manner, and covered in time of Divine service with a carpet of silk or other decent stuff, thought meet by the ordinary of the place, if any question be made of it, and with a fair linen cloth at the time of the ministration as becometh that table; and so stand, saving when the holy communion is to be administered, at which time the same shall be placed in so good sort within the church or chancel, as thereby the minister may be more conveniently heard of the communicants in his prayer and ministration, and the communicants also more conveniently and in more number may communicate with the said minister.”

By Canon 20. “The churchwardens, against the time of every communion, shall, at the charge of the parish, with the advice and direction of the minister, provide a sufficient quantity of fine white bread, and of good and wholesome wine, for the number of communicants that shall receive there; which wine shall be brought to the communion table in a clean and sweet standing pot or stoop of pewter, if not of purer metal.”

And by the rubric. “The bread and wine for the communion shall be provided by the curate and churchwardens at the charge of the parish. And to take away all occasion of dissension and superstition, which any person has or might have concerning the bread and wine, it shall suffice that the bread be such as is usual to be eaten, but the best and purest wheat bread that conveniently may be gotten.”

In the rubric, in the communion service of the Second Edward VI., it was ordained, that, “whyles the clearkes do syng the offertory, so many as are disposed shall offer to the poore mennes boxe, every one accordinge to his habilitie and charitable mynde.”

And by the present rubric, “whilst the sentences of the offertory are in reading, the deacons, churchwardens, or other fit person appointed for that purpose, shall receive the alms for the poor, and other devotions of the people, in a decent basin, to be provided by the parish for that purpose, and reverently bring it to the priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon the holy table.” And “after the Divine service ended, the money given at the offertory shall be disposed of to such pious and charitable uses as the minister and churchwardens shall think fit; wherein if they disagree, it shall be disposed of as the ordinary shall appoint.”

Rubric. “Such ornaments of the church, and of the ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, shall be retained and be in use as were in this Church of England by the authority of parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI.” And by the rubric of 2 Edward VI., which had this authority of parliament, it is ordained, that “upon the day, and at the time appointed for the ministration of the holy communion, the priest that shall execute the holy ministry shall put upon him the vesture appointed for that ministration; that is to say, a white albe plain, with a vestment or cope: and where there be many priests or deacons, then so many shall be ready to help the priest in the ministrations as shall be requisite, and shall have upon them likewise the vestures appointed for their ministry, that is to say, albes with tunicles. And whensoever the bishop shall celebrate the holy communion in the church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon him, besides his rochet, a surplice or albe, and a cope or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain.”

And by Canon 24. “In all cathedral churches, the holy communion shall be administered upon principal feast days, sometimes by the bishop, if he be present, and at sometimes by a canon or prebendary, the principal minister using a decent cope, and being assisted with the Gospeller and Epistler agreeably, according to the advertisements published anno 7 Eliz.”

Art. 28. “Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the supper of the LORD cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.”

Art. 30. “The cup of the LORD is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the LORD’S sacrament, by CHRIST’S ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.”

And by the statute of the 1 Edward VI. c. 1. “Forasmuch as it is more agreeable to the first institution of the said sacrament, and more conformable to the common use and practice of the apostles and of the primitive Church, for above 500 years after CHRIST’S ascension, that the same should be administered under both the kinds, of bread and wine, than under the form of bread only; and also it is more agreeable to the first institution of CHRIST, and to the usage of the apostles and the primitive Church, that the people should receive the same with the priest, than that the priest should receive it alone; it is enacted that the said most blessed sacrament be commonly delivered and ministered unto the people, under both the kinds, that is to say, of bread and wine, except necessity otherwise require. And also that the priest which shall minister the same shall, at the least one day before, exhort all persons which shall be present likewise to resort and prepare themselves to receive the same. And when the day prefixed cometh, after godly exhortation by the minister made, (wherein shall be further expressed the benefit and comfort promised to them which worthily receive the holy sacrament, and danger and indignation of GOD threatened to them which shall presume to receive the same unworthily, to the end that every man may try and examine his own conscience before he shall receive the same,) the said minister shall not, without a lawful cause, deny the same to any person that will devoutly and humbly desire it; not condemning hereby the usage of any Church out of the king’s dominions.”

Rubric. “If any of the bread and wine remain unconsecrated, the curate shall have it to his own use; but if any remain of that which was consecrated, it shall not be carried out of the church, but the priest, and such other of the communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall immediately after the blessing reverently eat and drink the same.”

By a constitution of Archbishop Langton it is enjoined, that no sacrament of the Church shall be denied to any one, upon the account of any sum of money; but if anything hath been accustomed to be given by the pious devotion of the faithful, justice shall be done thereupon to the churches by the ordinary of the place afterwards.

And by the rubric. “Yearly at Easter, every parishioner shall reckon with the parson, vicar, or curate, or his or their deputy or deputies, and pay to them or him all ecclesiastical duties, accustomably due, then and at that time to be paid.”

By the ancient canon law, every layman (not prohibited by crimes of a heinous nature) was required to communicate at least thrice in the year, namely, at Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas; and the Council of Agdæ, A. D. 500, enacted that the secular clergy not communicating at those times were not to be reckoned amongst the Catholics. The fourth Council of Lateran, A. D. 1215, reduced the necessary number of times to one, and the Council of Trent has sanctioned this as the rule for the Romish Church. Our reformers laudably reverted to the earlier order, directing by the rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, that “every parishioner shall communicate at least three times in one year, of which Easter to be one.”

And by Canon 21. “In every parish church and chapel where sacraments are to be administered, the holy communion shall be administered by the parson, vicar, or minister, so often, and at such times, as every parishioner may communicate at the least three times in the year, whereof the feast of Easter to be one; according as they are appointed by the Book of Common Prayer. And the churchwardens or questmen, and their assistants, shall mark, (as well as the minister,) whether all and every of the parishioners comes so often every year to the holy communion as the laws and constitutions do require.” Canon 28. “And shall yearly, within forty days after Easter, exhibit to the bishop or his chancellor, the names and surnames of all the parishioners, as well men as women, which being of the age of sixteen years received not the communion at Easter before.”

By Canon 24. “All deans, wardens, masters, or heads of cathedral and collegiate churches, prebendaries, canons, vicars, petty canons, singing men, and all others of the foundation, shall receive the communion four times yearly at the least.” And by Canon 23. “In all colleges and halls, within both the universities, the masters and fellows, such especially as have any pupils, shall be careful that all their said pupils, and the rest that remain among them, do diligently frequent public service and sermons, and receive the holy communion, which we ordain to be administered in all such colleges and halls the first and second Sunday of every month; requiring all the said masters, fellows, and scholars, and all the rest of the students, officers, and all other the servants there, so to be ordered, that every one of them shall communicate four times in the year at the least, kneeling reverently and decently upon their knees, according to the order of the communion book prescribed in that behalf.”

By the 1 Edward VI. c. 1. “Whosoever shall deprave, despise, or contemn the most blessed sacrament of the body and blood of our SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, commonly called the sacrament of the altar, and in Scripture, the supper and table of the LORD, the communion and partaking of the body and blood of CHRIST, in contempt thereof, by any contemptuous words or by any words of depraving, despising, or reviling; or whosoever shall advisedly in any other wise contemn, despise, or revile the said most blessed sacrament, contrary to the effects and declaration above-said, shall suffer imprisonment of his body, and make fine and ransom at the king’s will.”

Rubric. “Upon the Sundays, and other holy-days, (if there be no communion,) shall be said all that is appointed at the communion, until the end of the general prayer for the whole state of CHRIST’S Church militant here in earth, together with one or more of the collects last before rehearsed, concluding with the blessing.”

Since the death of CHRIST hath reconciled GOD to mankind, and his intercession alone obtains all good things for us, we are enjoined to make all our prayers in his name; and, as a more powerful way of interceding, to commemorate his passion by celebrating the holy eucharist, which in the purest ages was always joined to their public and common prayers. (Acts ii. 42.) And as evidence that our Church wishes it were so still, she appoints a great part of this office to be used on all Sundays and holy-days, and orders the priest to say it at the altar, the place where all the prayers of the Church of old were wont to be made, because there was the proper place to commemorate JESUS our only Mediator, by whom all our prayers become accepted. And hence the ancients call this office “the service of the altar,” which in the time of celebration was then also, as our rubric now enjoins, covered with a fair linen cloth. As for the primitive and original form of administration, since CHRIST did not institute any one method, it was various in divers churches, only all agreed in using the LORD’S Prayer, and reciting the words of institution, which therefore some think was all the apostles used; but their successors in several churches added several devout forms thereunto, which being joined to the original order used by the founder of each church, was for greater honour called by the name of that first author; and hence we have now the liturgy used at Jerusalem, called “The Liturgy of St. James;” that of Alexandria, called “The Liturgy of St. Mark;” that of Rome, called “The Liturgy of St. Clement;” with others of lesser value: which, by the fancy of adding to them in every age, have contracted many superstitions of later times, and yet do still contain many genuine and substantial pieces of true primitive devotion, easily distinguished from the modern and corrupt additions. But since none of these apostolical liturgies were believed of Divine institution, St. Basil and St. Chrysostom made new forms for their own churches, now generally used in the East; and St. Ambrose and St. Gregory the Great composed sacramentaries for their several churches; and the Christians in Spain had a peculiar order for this office, called the Mazarabic form; the Gallican Church had another distinct from all these; so had the Irish Church, and St. Gregory was so far from imposing the Roman missal on this Church of England, that he advises Augustine the monk to review all liturgies, and take out of them what was best, and so to compose a form for this nation. And when the Roman missal (afterward imposed here) was shamefully corrupted, our judicious reformers made use of this ancient and just liberty; and, comparing all liturgies, they have out of them all extracted what is most pure and primitive, and so composed this admirable office, which, as Bishop Jewel affirms, “comes as nigh as can be to the apostolic and ancient Catholic Church,” and indeed is the most exact now extant in the Christian world, the explaining whereof will effectually serve to assist the communicant in order to a worthy preparation before the receiving, devout affections in receiving, and the confirming of his holy purposes afterwards: for it doth instruct us in all that is necessary to be known and to be done in this sacred and sublime duty, and is contrived in this curious method. (See Liturgy.)

The whole communion office consists of four parts. First, a more general preparation to the communion, and as either common to the whole congregation in the exercise of, 1. Repentance, by the LORD’S Prayer, the collect for Purity, and the ten commandments. 2. Holy desires, by the collects for the King and the Day. 3. Of obedience, by the hearing of the Epistle and Gospel. 4. Of faith, by repeating the Creed. 5. Of charity, by the Offertory and the prayer for the holy Catholic Church: or else this general preparation is proper to those who ought to communicate, namely, the warning before the communion, and the exhortation to it. Secondly, there is the more immediate preparation, contained in, 1. The proper instructions, in the exhortation at the communion, and the immediate invitation. 2. The form of acknowledging our offences, in the confession. 3. The means of insuring our pardon, by the absolution, and the sentences. 4. The exciting our love and gratitude, in the preface, and the hymn called Trisagium. Thirdly, there is the celebration of the mystery, consisting of, 1. The communicant’s humble approach, in the address. 2. The minister’s blessing the elements, in the prayer of consecration. 3. His distributing them according to the form of administration. Lastly, there is the post-communion, containing, 1. Prayers and vows, in the LORD’S Prayer, the first and second prayers after the Communion. 2. Praises and thanksgiving, in the Gloria in excelsis. 3. The dismission by the final blessing.—Dean Comber.

This service is called “The Communion Service” in the liturgy; and well it were that the piety of the people were such as to make it always a communion. The Church, as appears by her pathetical exhortation before the communion, and the rubric after it, labours to bring men oftener to communicate than she usually obtains. Private and solitary communions, of the priest alone, she allows not; and therefore, when others cannot be had, she appoints only so much of the service as relates not of necessity to a present communion, and that to be said at the holy table: and upon good reason; the Church thereby keeping, as it were, her ground, visibly minding us of what she desires and labours towards, our more frequent access to that holy table: and in the mean while, that part of the service, which she uses, may perhaps more fitly be called “the second service” than “the communion.” And so it is often called, though not in the rubric of the liturgy, yet in divers fast-books, and the like, set out by authority. If any should think, that it cannot properly be called the second service, because the morning service and Litany go before it, which indeed are two distinct services,—whereby this should seem to be the third, rather than the second service,—it is answered, that sometimes the communion service is used upon such days as the Litany is not; and then it may, without question, be called the second service. Nay, even then, when the Litany and all is used, the communion service may be very fitly called the second service; for though, in strictness of speech, the Litany is a service distinct, yet in our usual acceptation of the word service,—namely, for a complete service with all the several parts of it, psalms, readings, creeds, thanksgivings, and prayers,—so the Litany is not a service, nor so esteemed, but called “the Litany,” or supplications; and looked upon sometimes, when other offices follow, as a kind of preparative, though a distinct form, to them, as to the Communion, Commination, &c. And therefore it was a custom in some churches, that a bell was tolled while the Litany was saying, to give notice to the people that the communion service was now coming on.—Bp. Sparrow.

Of the many compellations given to this sacrament in former ages, our Church has very wisely thought fit to retain these two (namely, the exhortation before and the rubric after the communion service) in her public service, as those which are most ancient and scriptural. As for the name of “the LORD’S supper,” which name the Papists cannot endure to have this sacrament called by, because it destroys their notion of a sacrifice, and their use of private mass, we find this given to it, as its proper name in the apostles’ time, by St. Paul himself, “when ye come together into one place, this is not to eat the LORD’S supper.” (1 Cor. xi. 20.) And this name is frequently given to it by ancient writers. So for “the communion;” this is plainly another scriptural name of the same holy sacrament. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of CHRIST?” (1 Cor. x. 16.) Which name is given to it, partly, because by this we testify our communion with CHRIST our Head; partly, because it unites us together with all our fellow-Christians; partly, because all good Christians have a right to partake of it; hence, with St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, “to communicate” is the common word to express the participation of this sacrament.—Dr. Nicholls.

The reason why it is enjoined that notice shall be given to the minister when we intend to communicate is, that the minister of the parish may have time to inform himself of the parties who design to receive: so that, if there be any among them who are not duly qualified, he may persuade them to abstain for some time; or, in case of their refusal, repel them. Now, in several cases, persons may be unqualified to partake of this sacrament, either by the prescript of GOD’S word, or by the canons of the Church.

1. A want or a contempt of the rite of confirmation unqualifies persons to receive; for the rubric of the Common Prayer, which is confirmed by the Act of Uniformity, says, “No one shall be admitted to the holy communion, until such time as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed.” This is agreeable to the provisions of the ancient Church; and the only reasonable impediment to confirmation is the want of a bishop near the place.

2. Persons excommunicate, or who are doing penance by church censure for any notorious fault, are unqualified to receive; for such persons are shut out from the communion, and therefore called excommunicate.

3. Persons under phrensy are unqualified to partake of the holy communion. And all persons, under the foregoing want of qualification, may lawfully be refused admission to the communion by the minister; for the ecclesiastical law imposes great penalties upon the minister, who shall give them the communion in such cases.

4. A person may be unqualified by notorious wickedness, or flagitiousness of life. But of this more in the next note.—Dr. Nicholls.

In the primitive times, when discipline was strictly maintained, all such persons, as soon as known, were put under censure; but if, before censure, they offered themselves at the communion, they were repelled. And indeed such severe discipline might not be amiss, whilst it was grounded only upon piety and zeal for GOD’S honour, as it was in those devout times. But, afterwards, some persons being debarred from the communion out of private pique and resentment, an imperial injunction prohibited all, both bishops and presbyters, from shutting out any one from the communion, before just cause be shown that the holy canons do give them power so to do. And the canon law did not allow a discretionary power to the priest to thrust away every ill person from the sacrament: “a vicious person, offering himself to receive the communion, is not to be expelled, but is to be carried privately aside, and to be exhorted not to receive the communion.” Indeed the later canonists did interpret this only of occult crimes, and such as were not generally known; allowing only persons “notoriously guilty” to be expelled; and of this opinion were the compilers of our rubrics in Edward the Sixth’s time, as appears from their wording this rubric, “If any be an open and notorious evil liver,” &c. But, however, they limited this discretionary power of the minister, obliging him, even in “notorious” crimes, to “admonish” such persons first to abstain, and only upon obstinacy to repel. But, nevertheless, this formerly gave occasion to several exceptions and disputes; and therefore, in the last revision of the Common Prayer, repulsion was not left to the absolute power of the minister, but he was obliged to give notice thereof to the diocesan, and to take his advice therein. And still it remains so uncertain, what is “notoriety,” both in presumption, law, and fact, that a minister is not out of danger of transgressing his rule, if, before judicial conviction of a crime, he goes further than admonishing any person to abstain.—Dr. Nicholls. Our law in England will not suffer the minister to judge any man as a notorious offender, but him who is convicted by some legal sentence.—Bp. Andrewes.

Notoriety in fact is one thing, and notoriety in presumption is another. And in either case it should be a notoriety in law too, to indemnify the minister for proceeding upon the rubric, or to render him safe, in point of law, for repelling any person from the communion.

Upon the whole of the matter, however, though this rubric may “require some explanation,” as Bishop Cosin remarks, “for the avoiding of disputes and doubts between the communicants and curates;” yet, if it be taken in all its parts, namely, that no person, however “notoriously wicked,” shall be withheld from the communion, till he be admonished to withdraw himself; and that when he is repelled upon his obstinacy, it is only till such time as the advice of the ordinary can be had therein, to whom the curate is obliged to give early notice of such his act; it seems in this view the best, and I think the only ecclesiastical, rule we have to go by in such case; nor doth it appear liable to exceptions, unless it be in that particular, of how far we are safe in acting according to it.

But, as this is properly a point of law, it is not so fit for me to undertake any determination of it; it must be left to the gentlemen of that profession. Only thus much I would put in, that, if a clergyman’s conduct in this matter shall appear to be upright, dispassionate, and disinterested, (and I wish it may never appear otherwise,) so as to gain the approbation of reasonable and indifferent persons,—which I think it would gain in all notorious and flagrant cases, which are those mentioned in the rubric,—it is to be hoped and presumed, that the interpreters of the law would, in their turn too, show him all the favour and regard they could.—Archdeacon Sharp.

COMMUNION OF THE SICK. In this office we have an example of the benevolent care exhibited by the Church towards her suffering members. As all mortal men be subject to many sudden perils, diseases, and sicknesses, and ever uncertain what time they shall depart out of this life, the Church has not only provided for their baptism, and for the visitations of the pastor, but has authorized and directed the administration to them of “the most comfortable sacrament of the body and blood of CHRIST.”

Although the Church maintains that the eucharist, as a general rule, is to be publicly administered in the consecrated house of GOD, and has signified her disapproval of solitary communion in all cases; yet, when by sickness her members are incapable of presenting themselves at the altar, there is a wise and tender relaxation of her usages, corresponding with the peculiar necessity of the case. This too “is exactly conformable to the most early practice of the primitive Church; for there is nothing more frequently mentioned by the ancient writers, than the care of the Church to distribute the eucharist to all dying persons that were capable of receiving it.”

“There are many instances,” says Palmer, “in antiquity, of the celebration of the eucharist in private for the sick. Thus Paulinus, bishop of Nola, caused the eucharist to be celebrated in his own chamber, not many hours before his death. Gregory Nazianzen informs us, that his father communicated in his own chamber, and that his sister had an altar at home; and Ambrose is said to have administered the sacrament in a private house at Rome. The Church is therefore justified in directing the eucharist to be consecrated in private houses, for the benefit of the sick; and she has taken care, in the rubric immediately preceding the office, that the sacrament shall be decorously and reverently administered.”

In the distribution of the elements, the rubric orders that the sick person shall receive last. This is done, “because those who communicate with him, through fear of some contagion, or the noisomeness of his disease, may be afraid to drink out of the same cup after him.”

By a constitution of Archbishop Peckham, the sacrament of the eucharist shall be carried with due reverence to the sick, the priest having on at least a surplice or stole, with a light carried before him in a lantern, with a bell, that the people may be excited to due reverence; who by the minister’s direction shall be taught to prostrate themselves, or at least to make humble adoration, wheresoever the KING OF GLORY shall happen to be carried under the cover of bread.

But by the rubric of the 2 Edward VI. it was ordered, that there shall be no elevation of the host, or showing the sacrament to the people.

By the present rubric, before the office for the Communion of the Sick, it is ordered as follows: “Forasmuch as all mortal men be subject to many sudden perils, diseases, and sicknesses, and ever uncertain what time they shall depart out of this life; therefore, to the intent they may be always in a readiness to die whensoever it shall please Almighty GOD to call them, curates shall diligently from time to time (but especially in the time of pestilence or other infectious sickness) exhort their parishioners to the often receiving of the holy communion of the body and blood of our SAVIOUR CHRIST, when it shall be publicly administered in the church; that, so doing, they may, in case of sudden visitation, have the less cause to be disquieted for lack of the same. But if the sick person be not able to come to the church, and yet is desirous to receive the communion in his house, then he must give timely notice to the curate, signifying also how many there are to communicate with him, (which shall be three, or two at the least,) and having a convenient place in the sick man’s house, with all things necessary so prepared, that the curate may reverently minister, he shall there celebrate the holy communion.

“But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the curate, or for lack of company to receive with him, or by any other just impediment, do not receive the sacrament of CHRIST’S body and blood, the curate shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and stedfastly believe that JESUS CHRIST hath suffered death upon the cross for him, and shed his blood for his redemption; earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefore; he doth eat and drink the body and blood of our SAVIOUR CHRIST profitably to his soul’s health, although he do not receive the sacrament with his mouth.

“In the time of plague, sweat, or other such like contagious times of sickness or diseases, when none of the parish can be gotten to communicate with the sick in their houses, for fear of infection, upon special request of the deceased, the minister may only communicate with him.”

It has been the constant usage of the Church, in all probability derived from the apostolical times, for persons dangerously sick to receive the holy sacrament of the LORD’S supper for their spiritual comfort and assistance. Hence this private communion obtained the name of viaticum among the Latins, and a correspondent name among the Greeks; that is, provision, as it were, laid in to sustain them in their journey to the other world. Our Church follows this example of the primitive ages. And rather than the sick man should want so necessary a comfort, we are allowed to dispense it in a private house, and to a small company, which in other cases we avoid. Indeed there are divers weighty reasons why the dying Christian should receive this sacrament, and why ministers should persuade them to it, and labour to fit them for the worthy receiving of it. For, 1. This is the highest mystery of religion, and fittest for those who are by sickness put into a heavenly frame and are nearest to perfection. 2. This is GOD’S seal of remission to all that receive it with penitence and faith. 3. This arms them against the fear of death, by setting JESUS before them, who died for them, and hath pulled out the sting of death. 4. This assures them of their resurrection, by keeping them members of CHRIST’S body. (John vi. 54.) 5. It declares they die in the peace and communion of the true Church, out of which there is no salvation. And if the sick man have done all the duties in the foregoing office, he is prepared to die, and therefore fit for this communion; and if he do receive it with devotion, the comfortable assurances of GOD’S love which he gets here will never leave him till he see GOD face to face. We shall only add, that, lest the fears of the Divine displeasure which sick men are very apt to entertain, should trouble their minds, and hinder their joy and comfort in this holy ordinance, the Church hath chosen a peculiar Epistle and Gospel on purpose to comfort them and deliver them from these fears, and also made a proper collect to beg patience for them under this their affliction. All which are so plain they need no explication, but only require the sick man’s devout attention, and then it is hoped they will not fail of their desired effect.—Dr. Nicholls. Dean Comber.

COMMUNION OF SAINTS. (See Saints.) This is an article of the Creed in which we profess to believe, as a necessary and infallible truth, that such persons as are truly sanctified in the Church of CHRIST, while they live among the crooked generations of men, and struggle with the miseries of this world, have fellowship with GOD the FATHER, (1 John i. 3; 2 Peter i. 4,) with GOD the SON, (1 John i. 3; 2 John 9; John xvii. 20, 21, 23,) with GOD the HOLY GHOST, (Phil. ii. 1; 2 Cor. xiii. 14,) as dwelling with them, and taking up THEIR habitations in them; that they partake of the care and kindness of the blessed angels, who take delight in the ministration for their benefit, being “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb. i. 14; Luke xv. 10; Matt, xviii. 10); that besides the external fellowship which they have in the word and sacraments, with all the members of the Church, they have an intimate union and conjunction with all the saints on earth, as the living members of CHRIST. (1 John i. 7; Col. ii. 19.) Nor is this union separated by the death of any; but as CHRIST, in whom they live, is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, so have they fellowship with all the saints, who, from the death of Abel, have departed in the true faith and fear of GOD, and now enjoy the presence of the FATHER, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. (Heb. xii. 22, 23.) “Indeed,” says Bishop Pearson, from whom this article is taken, “the communion of saints in the Church of CHRIST with those who are departed is demonstrated by their communion with the saints alive. For if I have communion with a saint of GOD as such, while he liveth here, I must still have communion with him when he is departed hence; because the foundation of that communion cannot be removed by death. The mystical union between CHRIST and his Church, the spiritual conjunction of the members with the head, is the true foundation of that communion which one member hath with another, all the members living and increasing by the same influence which they receive from him. But death, which is nothing else but the separation of the soul from the body, maketh no separation in the mystical union, no breach of the spiritual conjunction; and, consequently, there must continue the same communion, because there remaineth the same foundation. Indeed the saint before his death had some communion with the hypocrite, as hearing the word, professing the faith, receiving the sacraments together; which being in things only external, as they were common to them both, and all such external actions ceasing in the person dead, the hypocrite remaining loseth all communion with the saint departing, and the saints surviving cease to have farther fellowship with the hypocrite dying. But seeing that the true and unfeigned holiness of man, wrought by the powerful influence of the Spirit of GOD, not only remaineth, but also is improved after death; seeing that the correspondence of the internal holiness was the true communion with other persons during life, they cannot be said to be divided by death, which hath no power over that sanctity by which they were first conjoined. But although this communion of the saints in paradise and on earth, upon the mystical union of CHRIST their head, be fundamental and internal, yet what acts or external operations it produces is not so certain. That we communicate with them in hope of that happiness which they actually enjoy is evident; that we have the Spirit of GOD given us as an earnest, and so a part of their felicity, is certain. But what they do in heaven in relation to us on earth particularly considered, or what we ought to perform in reference to them in heaven, besides a reverential respect and study of imitation, is not revealed unto us in the Scriptures, nor can be concluded by necessary deduction from any principles of Christianity. They who first found this part of the article in the creed, and delivered their exposition to us, have made no greater enlargement of this communion, as to the saints of heaven, than the society of hope, esteem, and imitation on our side, of desires and supplications on their side; and what is now taught by the Church of Rome is as an unwarrantable, so a novitious, interpretation.”

COMMUNION IN ONE KIND. The principal advocates of Popery at the beginning of the Reformation were not willing to own, that the universal practice of the primitive Church was against the modern sacrilege of denying the cup to the people; and, therefore, though they confessed there were some instances in antiquity, of communion under both kinds, yet they maintained the custom was not universal. So Eckius and Harding, and many others. But they who have since considered the practice of the ancient Church more narrowly, are ashamed of this pretence, and freely confess, that for twelve centuries there is no instance of the people’s being obliged to communicate only in one kind, in the public administration of the sacrament; but in private they think some few instances may be given. This is Cardinal Bona’s distinction. “It is very certain,” says he, “that anciently all in general, both clergy and laity, men and women, received the holy mysteries in both kinds, when they were present at the solemn celebration of them, and they both offered and were partakers. But out of the time of sacrifice, and act of the Church, it was customary always and in all places to communicate only in one kind. In the first part of the assertion all agree, as well Catholics as sectaries; nor can any one deny it, that has the least knowledge of ecclesiastical affairs. For the faithful always and in all places, from the very first foundation of the Church to the twelfth century, were used to communicate under the species of bread and wine; and in the beginning of that age the use of the cup began by little and little to be laid aside, whilst many bishops interdicted the people the use of the cup, for fear of irreverence and effusion.” (Book ii. c. 18, n. 1.) And what they did first for their own Churches, was afterward confirmed by a canonical sanction of the Council of Constance [A. D. 1414].... At this day the Greeks, and Maronites, and Abyssins, and all the Orientals, never communicate but in both kinds, as Bona himself confesses (Book ii. c. 18, n. 2).—Bingham. The following is the decree of the popish Council of Constance [A. D. 1418] on this subject.

“Whereas, in some parts of the world, certain persons rashly presume to assert, that the Christian people ought to receive the holy sacrament of the eucharist under both kinds of bread and wine; and do everywhere communicate the laity, not only in the bread, but also in the wine; and pertinaciously assert also, that they ought to communicate after supper, or else not fasting, doing this contrary to the laudable custom of the Church, which is agreeable to reason, which they damnably endeavour to reprobate as sacrilegious, this present holy general Council of Constance, lawfully assembled in the HOLY GHOST, earnestly desiring to protect the safety of the faithful against this error, after much and mature deliberation had of many who are learned both in Divine and human law, declares, decrees, and determines, that, although CHRIST instituted this venerable sacrament after supper, and administered it to his disciples under both kinds of bread and wine, yet, notwithstanding this, the laudable authority of the sacred canons, and the approved custom of the Church has observed, that this sacrament ought not to be performed after supper, nor be received by the faithful unless fasting, except in the case of sickness, or any other necessity, either duly conceded or admitted by the Church; and, in like manner, that although in the primitive Church this sacrament was received of the faithful under both kinds, yet for the avoiding any dangers and scandals, the custom has reasonably been introduced, that it be received by the officiating persons under both kinds, but by the laity only under the kind of bread; since it is to be believed most firmly, and in nowise to be doubted, that the whole body and blood of CHRIST is truly contained as well under the species of bread as under that of wine.”

On which we may fairly remark, “full well ye reject the commandment of GOD, that ye may keep your own tradition.” For CHRIST, when he celebrated the Eucharist, gave the cup to all who were present; and when he appointed his apostles his ministers to celebrate it, he bade them do the same, “Do this in remembrance of me.” But ye say, whosoever shall dare to do as CHRIST has bidden him, shall be effectually punished. Can human impiety exceed this?—Perceval.

COMMUNION TABLE. A name for the altar in the Christian Church. It is both altar and table. An altar with respect to the oblation; a table with respect to the feast. (See Altar.)

COMMUTATION OF PENANCE. Penance is an ecclesiastical punishment, used in the discipline of the Church, which affects the body of the penitent; by which he is obliged to give public satisfaction to the Church for the scandal he has occasioned by his evil example. Commutation of Penance is the permission granted by the ecclesiastical judge to pay a certain sum of money for pious uses, in lieu of public penance. (See Penitents.)

COMPETENTES. An order of catechumens in the primitive Church, being the immediate candidates for baptism.

COMPLINE, or COMPLETORIUM, was, before the Reformation, the last service of the day. This hour of prayer was first appointed by the celebrated abbot Benedict, in the sixth century.

The Church of England, at the revision of our offices in the reign of Edward the Sixth, only prescribed public worship in the morning and the evening; and in making this regulation she was perfectly justified: for though it is the duty of Christians to pray continually, yet the precise times and seasons of prayer, termed canonical hours, do not rest on any Divine command; nor have they ever been pronounced binding on all Churches by any general council: neither has there been any uniformity in the practice of the Christian Church in this respect. Besides this, the Churches of the Alexandrian patriarchate, which were founded by the holy evangelist Mark, only appointed two public assemblies in the day; and no more were customary, even in the monasteries of Egypt, the rest of the day being left for private and voluntary prayer and meditation. Thus also the Church of England left her clergy and people to follow in private the injunction of the apostle, to “pray without ceasing;” for, as John Cassian observes, a voluntary gift of praise and prayer is even more acceptable to GOD than those duties which are compelled by the canons; and, certainly, the Church of England did not intend that her children should offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving only in the morning and evening when she appointed those seasons for public worship. Indeed, we find that a book of private devotion, containing offices for several hours of prayer, and entitled the “Horarium,” was published by royal authority, A. D. 1560, from which Dr. Cosin, bishop of Durham, chiefly derived his “Collection of Private Devotion,” &c. The office of Evensay, or Evening Prayer, is a judicious abridgment of the office of Evensay and Compline, as formerly used by the English Church.—Palmer.

CONCEPTION (IMMACULATE) OF THE HOLY VIRGIN. The immaculate conception is a festival of the Roman Church, observed on December 8, in honour of the alleged conception of the Virgin Mary without sin. The doctrine itself was invented about the middle of the twelfth century. The devotion offered to the Blessed Virgin having grown to an extravagant height, it was asserted by some obscure theologians, not only that she was sanctified from her birth, but also that she was conceived without sin. The opinion was at first generally condemned, and it would have had its place among other forgotten heresies, if Duns Scotus, the great opponent of the Dominicans, had not undertaken its defence.

The testimony of Scripture to the universal corruption of human nature is as plain as possible, and no trace of any exception is to be found. The witness of the primitive Church is equally clear, and not a single writer, for more than a thousand years, can be cited as having given the least countenance to the modern view.

But although the Roman Church has afforded the highest sanction and encouragement to a doctrine which is condemned alike by Scripture and the Fathers, the inconsistencies and contradictions of its authorized teaching on the subject are endless. The Council of Basle, for instance, in its thirty-sixth session, declared the belief in the immaculate conception to be conformable to the Catholic faith; but on the other side it is urged, that the council was in schism when it passed the decree, on account of the deposition which it had pronounced against Eugenius. The Council of Trent, in its decree on the subject of original sin, expressly stated that it had no intention of including the Blessed Virgin in the terms which it employed; but in conclusion it only enjoined the observance of the decree of Sixtus IV., which left the question open. The parties of Dominicans and Franciscans were so equally balanced that the Council did not venture to pronounce in favour of the one at the expense of the other. Their disputes were only kept from proceeding to extremity by the intervention of the legate. Pius V. in the same way, forbade the censure of those who denied, as well as of those who affirmed, the doctrine. Gregory XV. prohibited the imputation of original sin to the Blessed Virgin, even in private disputations; but he made an exception in favour of the Dominicans, that is to say, while giving his highest sanction to the dogma, he granted an immunity to those who had from the first resisted it. Alexander VII. decreed that the immaculate conception is a pious doctrine and worthy of honour, but he forbade the censure of those who should reject it. The university of Paris, at one period, compelled all candidates for the highest degree in theology to bind themselves to defend it; while at the same time the chief authority in the Church permitted its denial. Austria received from Benedict XIII. the grant of an office for the immaculate conception, but the phrase itself is carefully excluded from the prayers. The evidence, such as it is, on both sides is equally conflicting. The Franciscans, for instance, produced a revelation of St. Bridget in favour of the doctrine, while the Dominicans appealed to a similar revelation made to St. Catherine of Sienna, in which the contrary is affirmed. A question was raised in consequence, whether one of the so called saints is not to be believed rather than the other, though both have their place as objects of worship in the Roman calendar.

To sober-minded Christians it seems as idle a question as ever occupied the time, or roused the bad passions, of theological disputants, since, according to Thomas Aquinas and others, it regards only an inconceivably minute instant of time; yet it sufficed at one period to throw the whole kingdom of Spain into confusion, and it has furnished for centuries the watchword of parties in the Roman Church, who have maintained the fiercest opposition to each other; and the controversy is still undecided. Although it is said that the doctrine is full of blessing, that the whole of Christendom is devoutly waiting for its authoritative declaration, and that this would be the great glory and joy of an age which is to witness the restoration of catholicity, the See of Rome is restrained by great and insurmountable difficulties. If the immaculate conception were decreed to be a necessary article of faith, no one could deny that an addition had been made to the ancient creeds, and in a case to which even the loose principle of development could hardly be made applicable: while at the same time there would be an implied condemnation not only of the primitive fathers, but of the greatest theologians whom the Church of Rome has ever produced.

CONCEPTION OF OUR LADY. A religious order in the Romish Church, founded by Beatrix de Sylva, sister of James, first count of Portolegro, in the kingdom of Portugal. This lady, being carried to the court of Castile by Elizabeth, daughter of Edward, king of Portugal, whom the king of Castile had married, and the king falling in love with her on account of her beauty, the jealous queen locked her up in a chamber, where she left her without meat or drink for three days. In this condition she implored the assistance of the Virgin Mary, who, according to the legendary statement, appeared to her and comforted her, promising her a speedy release, which soon happened. But Beatrix, fearing the further resentment of the queen, privately withdrew from court, and fled to Toledo; where arriving, she retired to a monastery of Dominican nuns, in which she continued forty years in the practice of all sorts of austerities. Here she again imagined, or pretended, that the Virgin Mary reappeared to her, and inspired her with the desire of founding an order in honour of her own immaculate conception. To this end she obtained of the queen a grant of the palace of Galliana, where was a chapel dedicated to the honour of St. Faith. Beatrix, accompanied by twelve young maids of the Dominican monastery, took possession of it in the year 1484. These religious were habited in a white gown and scapulary, and a blue mantle, and wore on their scapulary the image of the Blessed Virgin. Pope Innocent VIII. confirmed the order in 1489, and granted them permission to follow the rule of the Cistercians. The pious foundress died in the year 1490, at sixty-six years of age.

After the death of Beatrix, Cardinal Ximenes put the nuns of the Conception under the direction of the Franciscans, as being the most zealous defenders of the immaculate conception; at the same time, he gave them the rule of St. Clara to follow. The second convent of the order was founded in the year 1507, at Torrigo, in the diocese of Toledo, which produced seven others, the first of which was at Madrid. This order passed into Italy, and got footing in Rome and Milan. In the reign of Louis XIV., king of France, the Clarisses of the suburb of St. Germain, at Paris, embraced the order of the Conception. These religious, besides the grand office of the Franciscans, recite on Sundays and holy-days a lesser office, called the office of the Conception of the Holy Virgin.—Broughton.

CONCEPTION, MIRACULOUS. The production of the human nature of the SON of GOD out of the ordinary course of generation, by the power of the HOLY GHOST. (Matt. i. 18, 25.)

It were not difficult to show that the miraculous conception, once admitted, naturally brings after it the great doctrines of the incarnation and the atonement. The miraculous conception of our LORD evidently implies some higher purpose of his coming than the mere business of a teacher. The business of a teacher might have been performed by a mere man, enlightened by the prophetic spirit. For whatever instruction men have the capacity to receive, a man might have been made the instrument to convey. Had teaching, therefore, been the sole purpose of our SAVIOUR’S coming, a mere man might have done the whole business, and the supernatural conception had been an unnecessary miracle. He, therefore, who came in this miraculous way, came upon some higher business, to which a mere man was unequal. He came to be made a sin-offering for us, that we might be made the righteousness of GOD in him.—Bp. Horsley.

CONCLAVE. The place where the cardinals meet for the choosing of a new pope: the assembly itself is also called by this name, and it depends upon the members themselves to choose the place, although for some time the Vatican has been constantly used. Here they erect, in a large apartment, as many cells of deal wood as there are cardinals, with lodges and places for the conclavists, who shut themselves in to wait and serve the cardinals. These little chambers have their numbers, and are drawn by lot, so that it often happens that cardinals of different factions lodge near one another. These are made up during the nine days’ ceremony for the pope’s funeral; during which time anybody may go in and see the cells, which are hung on the outside with green serge or camlet, only those that belong to the favourites of the deceased, or are such as had been promoted by him, are covered with deep violet-coloured cloth, and over each are the arms of the cardinal who lives in it. Between the cells and the windows of the palace there is a long gallery for the convenience of the conclave, and it is from this that the cells receive their light. The day after the pope’s burial, that is, the tenth after his decease, the cardinals, having heard mass, invoke the HOLY GHOST (as they term it) and go in procession two by two into the conclave, where they all meet in the chapel every morning and evening for a scrutiny, which is done by writing their suffrages in little billets, and putting them into a chalice that stands upon the altar: when all are put in, two cardinals are chosen by the rest to read those openly who are named, and to keep an account of the number of each, and this is done till two-thirds join for the same person; but a pope is seldom chosen after this manner. When it appears that after the scrutiny they do not agree, they come to what they call an accez or access, that is, a trial whether he who has most voices in the scrutiny could reach to two-thirds; but it is observable that they cannot give their suffrages in the accez to those whom they have appeared for in the scrutiny. If this does not succeed, they have recourse to the way of inspiration, (as they term it,) which is an open declaration, or rather combination of many cardinals to cry together such a cardinal is pope. For example, Altieri Papa is begun by one or two chiefs of a party, when they find suffrages enough to assure them that this method will not fail, and then the rest of the cardinals are forced to join, that they may not incur the pope’s displeasure, who would be chosen in spite of them. The scrutiny is managed in the following manner: each cardinal prepares his billet, wherein he writes his own name and that of the person for whom he votes, and another word of device; the cardinal’s name is written under the fold of the paper, and sealed with a seal for that purpose. The name of the chosen is written by the conclavist under another fold without the seal, and the word by which the cardinal knows that it is his name which is read, is written on the outside, as Deo volente, or the like; the fold which covers the cardinal’s name is never opened until the pope be chosen, who, to know those who voted for him, unfolds all. The motto serves in the accez, that it may appear that each cardinal has given another besides that in the scrutiny, seeing two billets with different persons under the same name; and at the end of the scrutiny and accez, if the suffrage be not sufficient to complete the election, they burn all the billetings that the electors’ names may be kept secret. Each cardinal during the conclave is allowed but two servants, or three at most, and this only to princes, or for some particular privilege. Several seek for this employment because the new-elected pope gives each conclavist three or four hundred livres, and they have the pleasure of seeing all that passes: yet the place is troublesome enough, because they must take in their meat and drink from a certain place common to all that live in the same part, must wait at table, and be as strictly confined as their masters.—Augusti.

CONCORDANCE, a dictionary or index to the Bible, wherein all the leading words are ranged alphabetically, and the books, chapters, and verses wherein they occur, referred to, to assist in finding out passages, and comparing the several significations of the same word. The earliest attempt at a Concordance is the collection of parallel passages in the margin of the 5th volume of the Complatensian Polyglot. The first English Polyglot was published by John Merbeck, or Marbeck, a celebrated English musician, in 1550.

Of English Concordances, Cruden’s is well known and valued by every biblical student.

Crutwell’s “Concordance of Parallels” is useful, but the number of parallel passages referred to, and sometimes the slightness of their connexion, renders the work less useful on ordinary occasions than the marginal references in our Bibles.

Gastrell’s “Christian Institutes,” Locke and Dodd’s “Common-place Book of Scripture,” Strutt’s work with the same title, and Matthew Talbot’s “Analysis of the Holy Bible,” all assume the character of a concordance. The best Hebrew concordance is Calasios. For the Septuagint, Trommius, for the Greek Testament, Schmidt, (a very beautiful 12mo edition of which was edited by Mr. Greenfield in 1830,) and for the Vulgate, Cardinal Hugo’s Concordance may be consulted.

CONCORDAT. An instrument executed in 1801, between Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII., to which the present Gallican Church owes its origin, in a much stronger sense than any in which the Romanist can refer the origin of the Church of England to the Reformation. For an account of this concordat the reader is referred to the article on the Church of France. (See Church.)

CONCORDAT. There is also a much earlier agreement between the crown of France and the pope, generally known by the same name, viz. the agreement of Francis I. with Pope Leo X. in 1516, to abolish the Pragmatic Sanction; and here we must observe, that Clothaire II. issued an edict in 615, approved by all the bishops of his kingdom, assembled at the fifth Council of Paris, by which he ordered that no bishop, though chosen by the clergy and people, should be consecrated if the king did not approve of him: and he that should be nominated by the king should be accepted, if the metropolitan found no just cause to reject him. Now King Charles VII., in the Council of Bourges, in 1439, established the Pragmatic Sanction, whereby part of the clergy, without consulting with the people or the archbishops, or other bishops of provinces, chose their bishops, leaving the king the privilege of consenting to and confirming the election if he liked it. This the court of Rome resented; the court first desired, and afterwards in the Lateran Council cited, this king and the clergy of France to appear and give their reasons, why they did not abolish that ordinance; whereupon King Francis I. made this agreement, called a Concordat, with Pope Leo X., whereby the king had the power to nominate such as he thought fit for bishops, &c.; and the pope, if he found no fault, either in respect of the capacity or life of the person in nomination, was to issue the papal bull for the consecration. The parliament, clergy, and the university of Paris were much against registering this agreement; and, though they consented to it at last, yet they solemnly protested, that they did it only in obedience to the king’s repeated commands. This concordat differed from that of Clothaire, that the pope, by this, had no power to examine the ability of the person elected; so that, in his time, they consecrated their bishops, without troubling themselves to send to Rome for bulls. (See Pragmatic Sanction.)

CONCORDAT, GERMANIC, or the Concordat of Germany. A treaty relating to ecclesiastical affairs, made in 1488, between Pope Nicholas V. and the emperor Frederick III., confirmed by Clement VIII. and Gregory XIII. It comprehended four parts; in the first of which the pope reserved to himself the conferring of all vacant benefices at Rome, and 100 days’ journey from it, of whatever degree, either secular or regular, which before went by election, without exception of cardinals or other officers of the holy see. The second concerns the elections that are to be confirmed by the pope, as metropolises, cathedrals, and monasteries, depending immediately on the pope, and having the privilege of canonical election. The third concerns livings that are successively given by the popes and their proper patrons; that the pope has the privilege to confer both secular and regular livings, for the months of January, March, May, July, September, November; and the bishop or archbishop within the district of their dioceses during the other months. The fourth and last part speaks of the annates or first-fruits, after the death or removal of the incumbent.

CONDIGNITY and CONGRUITY. Terms used by the schoolmen to express their peculiar opinions relative to human merit and deserving. The Scotists maintain that it is possible for man in his natural state so to live as to deserve the grace of GOD, by which he may be enabled to obtain salvation; this natural fitness (congruitas) for grace, being such as to oblige the Deity to grant it. Such is the merit of congruity. The Thomists, on the other hand, contend that man, by the Divine assistance, is capable of so living as to merit eternal life, to be worthy (condignus) of it in the sight of GOD. In this hypothesis, the question of previous preparation for the grace which enables him to be worthy, is not introduced. This is the merit of condignity.

Article XIII. “Works done before the grace of CHRIST, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to GOD, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in JESUS CHRIST, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school-authors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea, rather, for that they are not done as GOD hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.”

CONDUCT. A name given to chaplains of colleges in the university of Cambridge and at Eton; meaning a “Capellanus conductitius.” (See Chaplain.)

CONFALON, or GONFALON, Society of the. So called from the Gonfalon, or banner, bearing the figure of the Virgin Mary, which was their ensign.—Raynaldus. A confraternity of seculars in the Church of Rome, called penitents, established first of all by some Roman citizens in 1267: and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1576. Henry III. began one at Paris in 1583, and himself assisted in the habit of a penitent, at a procession wherein the cardinal of Guise carried the cross, and his brother the duke of Mayenne was master of the ceremonies.

CONFESSION. (See Auricular Confession.) The verbal acknowledgment of sin. The following are the rules laid down by the Church of England on this subject. The Warning for the Celebration of the Holy Communion: “Because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy communion but with a full faith in GOD’S mercy, and with a quiet conscience; therefore, if there be any of you who by this means cannot quiet his conscience therein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned minister of GOD’S word, and open his grief, that by the ministration of GOD’S holy word he may receive the benefit of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice to the quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness.” Rubric, in the Office for the Visitation of the Sick: “Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession, the priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort.” By the 113th canon, empowering ministers to prevent offences at the court of visitation, it is provided that “if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the minister, for the unburdening of his conscience, and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him, he shall not in anywise be bound by this constitution, but is strictly charged and admonished that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever, any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secrecy, (except they be such crimes as, by the laws of this realm, his own life may be called in question for concealing the same,) under pain of irregularity.”

In the primitive Church, no other confession of sins was required in order to receive baptism than the general renunciation of the devil and all his works.

Nor did the Church lay any obligation on the consciences of men, to make either public or private confession of their sins to any but GOD, in order to qualify them for the communion. The confessions of the primitive Christians were all voluntary, and not imposed upon them by any laws of the Church. Notwithstanding which it must be owned, that private confession, though not absolutely required, yet was allowed and encouraged by the ancients, in some cases, and upon special occasions. For, first, they advised men, in case of lesser sins, to make confession mutually to each other, that they might have each other’s prayers and assistance, according to the advice of St. James, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.” Which, though it be produced by the Romanists in favour of auricular confession to a priest, yet the ancients understood it only as a direction to Christians to confess mutually to each other. 2. In case of injuries done to any private person, it was expected that the offender should make a private confession of his fault to the person injured. 3. When men were under any perplexities of mind, or troubles of conscience, this was another case in which they were directed to have recourse to some pastor, and to take his counsel and advice. 4. Origen gives another reason for confessing private sins to the priest, which is, that he was the fittest judge when it was proper to do public penance for private offences. (See Penitentiary.)—Bingham, b. xv. ch. 8, § 6.

The Romish Church not only requires confession as a duty, but has advanced it to the dignity of a sacrament; and this greatly adds to the power of the clergy of that Church over the laity. “Confession submits a fearful penitent, whose conscience is oppressed with scruples, loaded with remorse, and weakened by the remembrance of its sins, to the absolute will of a cunning priest, who beholds sceptres at his feet, humbles crowns, and makes those tremble who strike terror into whole nations.” Confession, in the Church of Rome, must be made in the day-time, and, if possible, when there are people in the church. As soon as the penitent comes up to the confessional, or the seat of the priest who confesses, he makes the sign of the cross, and asks the confessor’s blessing. Then the penitent kneels, with his hands clasped and uplifted. The confessional is open before, and has two lattice windows in it, one on each side. The confessor sits with his cap on his head, and his ear stooped towards the penitent, in which posture he receives his confession in a whisper; whence it is called auricular confession. This ended, the priest uncovers himself, and stretching out his right hand towards the penitent, pronounces the absolution. (See Penance.)—Casal de Veter. Christ. Ritib. Alet’s Ritual.

That confession is a custom observed in the Greek Church is past all dispute. Ricaut calls this practice “One of the fundamental pillars of the Eastern Churches; the axis upon which their whole ecclesiastical polity turns, and that without which the clergy would no longer have any authority or influence over the consciences of the people, and would very seldom be able to reprove them in a country where they could fly to the arms of infidels for shelter and protection against the censures and reprehensions of their own pastors.” There are four stated times in the year for confession. The penitent withdraws with the priest to some remote corner of the church, where he sits down, with his head uncovered, and the confessor assures him, the angel of the Lord is there present to take his confession, exhorting him at the same time to conceal none of his sins. After confession, the penitent receives absolution, and gives the priest a small gratuity of money for his trouble. If we may credit a judicious and learned traveller, the practice of confession is enormously abused by the Greeks. If a penitent acknowledges he has robbed another, the priest asks him whether the person injured be a native of his own country, or a Frank: if the penitent answers, the latter, “Then there is no harm done,” says the priest, “provided we share the booty between us.” These are natural consequences of the ignorance and poverty of the Greeks in general.—Tournefort’s Voyages.

“It standeth with us in the Church of England,” saith Hooker, “as touching public confession, thus: First, seeing day by day we in our Church begin our public prayers to Almighty GOD with public acknowledgment of our sins, in which confession every man, prostrate before his glorious majesty, crieth against himself, and the minister with one sentence pronounceth universally all clear whose acknowledgment hath proceeded from a true penitent mind, what reason is there every man should not, under the general terms of confession, represent to himself his own particulars whatsoever, and adjoining thereto that affection which a contrite spirit worketh, embrace to as full effect the words of Divine grace, as if the same were severally and particularly uttered, with addition of prayers, imposition of hands, and all ceremonies and solemnities, that might be used for the strengthening of men’s affiance in GOD’S peculiar mercy towards them? The difference of general and particular forms in confession, is not so material that any man’s safety or ghostly good should depend upon it.” “As for private confession,” says Bishop Jewel, “abuses and errors set apart, we condemn it not, but leave it at liberty.”—Broughton. Bingham.

All that can plainly be deduced from the scriptural doctrine concerning confession is this, that, in common or ordinary sins, we are to acknowledge them before Almighty GOD, either particularly in our private, or generally in our public devotion; but as for some sins of a more extraordinary kind, the heinousness whereof ordinary Christians may not be sufficiently apprized of, or which may be attended with such nice circumstances as perplex their consciences, here resort is proper to be made to the ministers of the Church, who, as physicians of the soul, are best able to advise the fittest remedies upon such uncommon emergencies. Matters of this kind stood within these limits for a considerable time after the first propagating of the gospel; but, during the piety of very early times, another sort of confession came in use, for it having been the practice for excommunicates, before their reception into the Church, to make a solemn confession of their faults before the whole congregation, some persons who had fallen into a great sin, though they had never been censured for it, thought it a part of their duty to take upon themselves a public shame for it, by discovering it to the whole congregation they were members of, and to desire their prayers to GOD for their pardon. Some difficulties and inconvenience arising from this practice, about the year 360, the office of a public penitentiary in the Greek Church began, who was to be a presbyter of good conversation, prudent, and one who could keep a secret; to whom those who were lapsed into any greater sin might confess it; and he, according to his discretion, was to enjoin a penance for it. But still there was no command for all people to confess their sins to this presbyter. In the Latin Church, the practice of public confession to the whole congregation continued 100 years longer, viz. till the time of Pope Leo, which was about the year 450, who, by an injunction of his, did abrogate it; and, after some time, the Greek Church began to grow weary of this private confession to a penitentiary, and so laid it aside. But whilst private confession to ministers was practised, in some of the earlier ages of the Church, recourse was had to them only as spiritual physicians and counsellors, as appears by many passages of antiquity. In the Council of Lateran, A. D. 1215, every person, of each sex, was obliged once in a year to confess to the minister of his parish, the sins which he had been guilty of. Auricular confession to the priest being thus established, some of the school divines of the Romish Church carried it to further lengths, making it to be an article of faith; to be received by the priest, not ministerially, but judicially and authoritatively; that every single sin must be discovered to them, with all its aggravating circumstances, &c. All which horrible tyranny over men’s consciences, and diving into the secrets of families and governments, was confirmed by the Council of Trent. The excellent compilers of our liturgy, willing to settle this upon the ancient bottom, ordered only a general confession of sins to be pronounced by all persons indifferently, not requiring any particular confessions to be made, thereby coming much nearer to the apostolical practice than the Roman liturgy can pretend to, in all which service there is no confession which the people share in; for their “Confiteor tibi, Domine,” &c. in the mass, relates to the priest, and the “Confiteor Deo omnipotenti,” “Beatæ Mariæ,” &c. in the breviary, is the confession only of the clergy.—Nicholls.

Forms of confession are generally to be met with in the liturgies of antiquity, but a form superior, or equal, to our own is nowhere to be found. Our confession, like the prayer which JESUS taught us, though concise, is comprehensive and full. It is conceived in general terms, yet at the same time it is so particular, that it includes every kind of sin. Where the minister is not too precipitate, when he allows the congregation time to repeat it, with such deliberation, that their hearts may go along with their words, each individual may, and ought, under the general form, to make a particular mental confession of his own personal sins, known only to GOD and his own conscience.—SHEPHERD.

At the time of the review of the liturgy, A. D. 1661, it was objected by the Presbyterian clergy against this Confession, that there was no preparatory prayer for GOD’S assistance and acceptance; and that it was defective in not clearly expressing “original sin,” nor enumerating actual sins with their aggravations. To which it was answered by the Episcopalian commissioners, that the preparatory sentences, and the preceding exhortation, amply supplied this; and that the form being so general is rather a perfection than a defect, as in such case all may join, since in many things we offend all. And as to the notice of original sin, they conceived that to be sufficiently acknowledged in the sentence, (with others, as the “devices and desires of our own hearts,” &c.,) “and there is no health in us.” With respect to the general terms used throughout the Common Prayer Book, dissenters have complained of such expressions as, “that we may do GOD’S will”—“that we may be kept from all evil,” &c.; to which the Episcopalians properly remark, “these are almost the very terms in the LORD’S Prayer; so that they must reform that, before they can pretend to amend our liturgy in these petitions.”

The reader may judge how far the objections are worthy of notice, by the form composed by Calvin himself, and used by the French reformed Churches, which is as follows:—“O LORD GOD, eternal and almighty FATHER, we acknowledge and confess before thy sacred Majesty, that we are miserable sinners, conceived and born in sin and iniquity; prone to evil, and indisposed to every good work; and that being vicious, we make no end of transgressing thy holy commandments. Hereby we call destruction upon ourselves from thy just judgment. But yet, O LORD, we are heartily sorry for having offended thee, and we condemn ourselves and sins by true repentance, desiring thy grace may relieve our misery. Therefore, O GOD, merciful FATHER, vouchsafe us thy mercy, in the name of thy SON JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Blot out our sins, and purge away all our filth, and daily increase in us the gifts of thy HOLY SPIRIT. That we, acknowledging our iniquity from the bottom of our hearts, may more and more displease ourselves, and be excited to true repentance; which, mortifying us and all our sins, may produce in us the fruits of righteousness and innocence, acceptable unto thee through the same JESUS CHRIST our LORD.” It appears, indeed, that our Confession was in great measure suggested by this form, or rather by the translation of it made by Valerandus Pollanus, for the reformed congregation of Strasburg.—See Laurence’s Bampton Lectures.

There is hardly anything in public worship which requires more caution and prudence in the ordering of it, than that confession of sin which is to be made by the whole congregation; it may be too loose and general on the one side, or it may be too particular and distinct on the other. There may be this inconvenience in a confession very short and general, that takes in all, that it does not so well serve to excite or to express that due sense of sin, nor to exercise that humility and self-abasement, wherewith we should always confess our sins to GOD. On the other hand, the inconvenience of a very particular and distinct confession of sins will be this, that some sins, with their aggravations, may be confessed in the name of the whole congregation, of which it is by no means to be supposed that all are guilty; and then they, who through the grace of GOD have been kept from them, cannot in good earnest make such confession.—Clagett’s Answer to Dissenters.

The General Confession with the Absolution, was first inserted in the Morning and Evening Prayer, by the Second Book of King Edward VI.

A Confession was formerly recited in the office for the first hour of the morning, according to the rites of the English Churches. It occurred in the course of prayers which came at the end of the service: and had this arrangement been regarded by the reformers, the Confession and Absolution would now be placed immediately before the collect for the day. There were, however, good reasons for placing the Confession at the beginning of the office. Christian humility would naturally induce us to approach the infinitely holy GOD with a confession of our sinfulness and unworthiness; and this position of the Confession is justified by the practice of the Eastern Church in the time of Basil, who observes that the people all confessed their sins with great contrition, at the beginning of the nocturnal service, and before the psalmody and lessons commenced.—Palmer.

Even in the most penitential parts of our service, even in the midst of accommodation to the wants of persons entering on a course of amendment, there is a prospect opened, of mature, established, and victorious Christianity.... Our “Almighty and most merciful Father” is entreated not only to remit the punishment, but to abolish the power of sin. And the absolution and remission of our sins itself, is made to consist, not merely in the reversal of a sentence, and removal of a curse, but in the influence of the Holy Spirit, consequent on true repentance, and productive, not of mere temporary and outward amendment, but of that inward abiding “purity and holiness, for the rest of our life,” which, “at the last,” will bring us to “God’s eternal joy.”—Bishop Jebb.

CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. The systems of theology drawn up by foreign reformers were frequently called Confessions of Faith. The following are the Confessions of the different Churches.

1. That of the Greek Church, entitled “The Confessions of the True and Genuine Faith,” which was presented to Mohammed II., in 1453, but which gave place to the “Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Greek Church,” composed by Mogila, metropolitan of Kiev, in Russia, and approved in 1643, with great solemnity, by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. It contains the standard of the principles of the Russian Greek Church.—See Mr. Palmer’s (of Magd. Coll. Oxf.) Collection of Russian Symbolical Books; and Mr. Neale’s Hist. of the Greek Church.

2. The Church of Rome, though she has always received the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, had no fixed public and authoritative symbol till the Council of Trent. A summary of the doctrines contained in the canons of that council is given in the creed published by Pius IV., (1564,) in the form of a bull. It is introduced by the Nicene Creed, to which it adds twelve articles, comprising those doctrines which the Church of Rome finally adopted after her controversies with the Reformers. (See Creed of Pope Pius IV.)

3. The Lutherans call their standard books of faith and discipline, “Libri Symbolici Ecclesiæ Evangelicæ.” They contain the three creeds above mentioned, the Augsburg Confession, the Apology for that Confession by Melancthon, the Articles of Smalcald, drawn up by Luther; the Catechisms of Luther; and, in many churches, the Form of Concord, or Book of Torgau. The best edition is that by Tittmann, Leipsic, 1817. The Saxon, (composed by Melancthon,) Wurtemberg, Suabian, Pomeranian, Mansfeldtian, and Copenhagen Confessions agree in general with the symbolical books of the Lutherans, but are of authority only in the countries from which they are respectively called.

4. The Confessions of the Calvinistic Churches are numerous. The following are the principal:—(1.) The Helvetic Confessions are three—that of Basle, 1530; the Summary and Confession of the Helvetic Churches, 1536; and the “Expositio Simplex,” &c., 1566, ascribed to Bullinger. (2.) The Tetrapolitan Confession, 1531,—which derives its name from the four cities of Strasburg, Constance, Memmingen, and Lindau, by the deputies of which it was signed,—is attributed to Bucer. (3.) The Palatine or Heidelberg Confession, framed by order of the Elector Palatine John Casimir, 1575. (4.) The Confession of the Gallic Churches, accepted at the first synod of the reformed, held at Paris, 1559. (5.) The Confession of the Reformed Churches in Belgium, drawn up in 1559, and approved in 1561. (6.) The Confession of Faith of the Kirk of Scotland, which was that composed by the assembly at Westminster, was received as the standard of the Scotch national faith, in 1690.—See the following article. See also Harmony of Confessions, or the Faith of Christian and Reformed Churches, 1643; and Sylloge Confessionum, sub tempus Reformandæ Ecclesiæ, Oxon. 1804.

CONFESSION OF FAITH, WESTMINSTER. The Confession of Faith which was drawn up by the Puritans in England, and which is adopted by the Scottish establishment. The ordinance under which the assembly which drew up this Confession sat at Westminster commences thus:

An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, for the calling of an Assembly of learned and godly Divines, and others, to be consulted with by the Parliament, for the settling of the government and liturgy of the Church of England; and for vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the said Church from false aspersions and interpretations. June 12, 1643.

Whereas, amongst the infinite blessings of Almighty God upon this nation, none is nor can be more dear unto us than the purity of our religion; and for that, as yet, many things remain in the liturgy, discipline, and government of the Church, which do necessarily require a further and more perfect reformation than as yet hath been attained; and whereas it hath been declared and resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, that the present Church-government by archbishops, their chancellors, commissars, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers depending upon the hierarchy, is evil, and justly offensive and burdensome to the kingdom, a great impediment to reformation and growth of religion, and very prejudicial to the state and government of this kingdom; and therefore they are resolved that the same shall be taken away, and that such a government shall be settled in the Church as may be most agreeable to God’s holy word, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace of the Church at home, and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland, and other Reformed Churches abroad; and, for the better effecting hereof, and for the vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the Church of England from all false calumnies and aspersions, it is thought fit and necessary to call an Assembly of learned, godly, and judicious Divines, who, together with some members of both the Houses of Parliament, are to consult and advise of such matters and things, touching the premises, as shall be proposed unto them by both or either of the Houses of Parliament, and to give their advice and counsel therein to both or either of the said Houses, when, and as often as, they shall be thereunto required.

The Confession consists of thirty-three chapters, of which the following are the heads:—

CHAP. I. Of the Holy Scripture. II. Of God, and of the Holy Trinity. III. Of God’s Eternal Decree. IV. Of Creation. V. Of Providence. VI. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof. VII. Of God’s Covenant with Man. VIII. Of Christ the Mediator. IX. Of Free Will. X. Of Effectual Calling. XI. Of Justification. XII. Of Adoption. XIII. Of Sanctification. XIV. Of Saving Faith. XV. Of Repentance unto Life. XVI. Of Good Works. XVII. Of the Perseverance of the Saints. XVIII. Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation. XIX. Of the Law of God. XX. Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience. XXI. Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath-day. XXII. Of lawful Oaths and Vows. XXIII. Of the Civil Magistrate. XXIV. Of Marriage and Divorce. XXV. Of the Church. XXVI. Of Communion of Saints. XXVII. Of the Sacraments. XXVIII. Of Baptism. XXIX. Of the Lord’s Supper. XXX. Of Church Censures. XXXI. Of Synods and Councils. XXXII. Of the State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead. XXXIII. Of the last Judgment.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was approved by the general assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, on the 27th of August, 1647, Sess. 23, and was ratified by Act of the Scottish Parliament, 7th February, 1649.—See next article.

CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE KIRK OF SCOTLAND, or THE NATIONAL COVENANT.

Subscribed at first by the King’s Majesty, and his Household, in the Year 1580; thereafter by persons of all ranks in the year 1581, by ordinance of the Lords of secret council, and acts of the General Assembly; subscribed again by all sorts of persons in the year 1590, by a new ordinance of council, at the desire of the General Assembly: with a general bond for the maintaining of the true Christian religion, and the King’s person; and, together with a resolution and promise, for the causes after expressed, to maintain the true religion, and the King’s Majesty, according to the foresaid Confession and acts of Parliament, subscribed by Barons, Nobles, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons, in the year 1638: approven by the General Assembly 1638 and 1639; and subscribed again by persons of all ranks and qualities in the year 1639, by an ordinance of council, upon the supplication of the General Assembly, and act of the General Assembly, ratified by an act of Parliament 1640; and subscribed by King Charles II. at Spey, June 23, 1650, and Scoon, January 1, 1651.

We all and every one of us under-written, protest, That, after long and due examination of our own conscience in matters of true and false religion, we are now throughly resolved in the truth by the word and Spirit of God: and therefore we believe with our hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm, before God and the whole world, that this only is the true Christian faith and religion, pleasing God, and bringing salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel; and is received, believed, and defended by many and sundry notable kirks and realms, but chiefly by the kirk of Scotland, the King’s Majesty, and three estates of this realm, as God’s eternal truth, and only ground of our salvation; as more particularly is expressed in the Confession of our Faith, established and publickly confirmed by sundry acts of Parliaments, and now of a long time hath been openly professed by the King’s Majesty, and whole body of this realm both in burgh and land. To the which Confession and Form of Religion we willingly agree in our conscience in all points, as unto God’s undoubted truth and verity, grounded only upon his written word. And therefore we abhor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine; but chiefly all kind of Papistry in general and particular heads, even as they are now damned and confuted by the word of God and Kirk of Scotland. But, in special, we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God, upon the kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men; all his tyrannous laws made upon indifferent things against our Christian liberty; his erroneous doctrine against the sufficiency of the written word, the perfection of the law, the office of Christ, and his blessed evangel; his corrupted doctrine concerning original sin, our natural inability and rebellion to God’s law, our justification by faith only, our imperfect sanctification and obedience to the law; the nature, number, and use of the holy sacraments; his five bustard sacraments, with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrine, added to the ministration of the true sacraments without the word of God; his cruel judgment against infants departing without the sacrament; his absolute necessity of baptism; his blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation, or real presence of Christ’s body in the elements, and receiving of the same by the wicked, or bodies of men; his dispensations with solemn oaths, perjuries, and degrees of marriage forbidden in the word, his cruelty against the innocent divorced; his devilish mass; his blasphemous priesthood; his profane sacrifice for sins of the dead and the quick; his canonization of men; calling upon angels or saints departed, worshipping of imagery, relicks, and crosses; dedicating of kirks, altars, days; vows to creatures; his purgatory, prayers for the dead; praying or speaking in a strange language, with his processions, and blasphemous litany, and multitude of advocates or mediators; his manifold orders, auricular confession; his desperate and uncertain repentance; his general and doubtsome faith; his satisfactions of men for their sins; his justification by works, opus operatum, works of supererogation, merits, pardons, peregrinations, and stations; his holy water, baptizing of bells, conjuring of spirits, crossing, sayning, anointing, conjuring, hallowing of God’s good creatures, with the superstitious opinion joined therewith; his worldly monarchy, and wicked hierarchy; his three solemn vows, with all his shavellings of sundry sorts; his erroneous and bloody decrees made at Trent, with all the subscribers or approvers of that cruel and bloody band, conjured against the kirk of God. And finally, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signs, and traditions brought in the kirk, without or against the word of God, and doctrine of this true reformed kirk; to the which we join ourselves willingly, in doctrine, faith, religion, discipline, and use of the holy sacraments, as lively members of the same in Christ our Head: promising and swearing, by the great name of the LORD our GOD, that we shall continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this kirk,[3] and shall defend the same, according to our vocation and power, all the days of our lives; under the pains contained in the law, and danger both of body and soul in the day of God’s fearful judgment.

And seeing that many are stirred up by Satan, and that Roman Antichrist, to promise, swear, subscribe, and for a time use the holy sacraments in the kirk deceitfully, against their own conscience; minding hereby, first, under the external cloak of religion, to corrupt and subvert secretly God’s true religion within the kirk; and afterward, when time may serve, to become open enemies and persecutors of the same, under vain hope of the pope’s dispensation, devised against the word of God, to his greater confusion, and their double condemnation in the day of the Lord Jesus: we therefore, willing to take away all suspicion of hypocrisy, and of such double dealing with God, and his kirk, protest, and call the Searcher of all hearts for witness, that our minds and hearts do fully agree with this our Confession, promise, oath, and subscription: so that we are not moved with any worldly respect, but are persuaded only in our conscience, through the knowledge and love of God’s true religion imprinted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as we shall answer to him in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed.

And because we perceive, that the quietness and stability of our religion and kirk doth depend upon the safety and good behaviour of the King’s Majesty, as upon a comfortable instrument of God’s mercy granted to this country, for the maintaining of his kirk, and ministration of justice amongst us; we protest and promise with our hearts, under the same oath, hand-writ, and pains, that we shall defend his person and authority with our goods, bodies, and lives, in the defence of Christ, his evangel, liberties of our country, ministration of justice, and punishment of iniquity, against all enemies within this realm or without, as we desire our God to be a strong and merciful defender to us in the day of our death, and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory eternally. Amen.

Likeas many Acts of Parliament, not only in general do abrogate, annul, and rescind all laws, statutes, acts, constitutions, canons civil or municipal, with all other ordinances, and practique penalties whatsoever, made in prejudice of the true religion, and professors thereof; or of the true kirk, discipline, jurisdiction, and freedom thereof; or in favours of idolatry and superstition, or of the Papistical kirk: as Act 3, Act 31, Parl. 1, Act 23, Parl. 11, Act 114, Parl. 12, of King James VI. That Papistry and superstition may be utterly suppressed, according to the intention of the Acts of Parliament, repeated in the fifth Act, Parl. 20, King James VI. And to that end they ordain all Papists and priests to be punished with manifold civil and ecclesiastical pains, as adversaries to God’s true religion, preached, and by law established, within this realm, Act 24, Parl. 11, King James VI.; as common enemies to all Christian government, Act 18, Parl. 16, King James VI.; as rebellers and gainstanders of our Sovereign Lord’s authority, Act 47, Parl. 3, King James VI.; and as idolaters, Act 104, Parl. 7, King James VI. But also in particular, by and attour the Confession of Faith, do abolish and condemn the Pope’s authority and jurisdiction out of this land, and ordains the maintainers thereof to be punished, Act 2, Parl. 1, Act 51, Parl. 3, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 114, Parl. 12, King James VI., do condemn the Pope’s erroneous doctrine, or any other erroneous doctrine repugnant to any of the articles of the true and Christian religion, publicly preached and by law established in this realm; and ordains the spreaders and makers of books, or libels, or letters or writs of that nature, to be punished, Act 46, Parl. 3, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 24, Parl. 11, King James VI., do condemn all baptism conform to the Pope’s kirk, and the idolatry of the mass; and ordains all sayers, wilful hearers, and concealers of the mass, the maintainers and resetters of the priests, Jesuits, trafficking Papists, to be punished without any exception or restriction, Act 5, Parl. 1, Act 120, Parl. 12, Act 164, Parl. 13, Act 193, Parl. 14, Act 1, Parl. 19, Act 5, Parl. 20, King James VI., do condemn all erroneous books and writs containing erroneous doctrine against the religion presently professed, or containing superstitious rites and ceremonies Papistical, whereby the people are greatly abused, and ordains the home-bringers of them to be punished, Act 25, Parl. 11, King James VI., do condemn the monuments and dregs of bygone idolatry, as going to crosses, observing the festival days of saints, and such other superstitious and Papistical rites, to the dishonour of God, contempt of true religion, and fostering of great error among the people; and ordains the users of them to be punished for the second fault as idolaters, Act 104, Parl. 7, King James VI.

Likeas many Acts of Parliament are conceived for maintenance of God’s true and Christian religion, and the purity thereof, in doctrine and sacraments of the true church of God, the liberty and freedom thereof, in her national, synodal assemblies, presbyteries, sessions, policy, discipline, and jurisdiction thereof; as that purity of religion, and liberty of the church was used, professed, exercised, preached, and confessed, according to the reformation of religion in this realm. As for instance, the 99th Act, Parl. 7, Act 25, Parl. 11, Act 114, Parl. 12, Act 160, Parl. 13, of King James VI., ratified by the 4th Act of King Charles. So that the 6th Act, Parl. 1, and 68th Act, Parl. 6, of King James VI., in the year of God 1579, declare the ministers of the blessed evangel, whom God of his mercy had raised up, or hereafter should raise, agreeing with them that then lived, in doctrine and administration of the sacraments; and the people that professed CHRIST, as he was then offered in the evangel, and doth communicate with the holy sacraments (as in the reformed kirks of this realm they were presently administrate) according to the Confession of Faith, to be the true and holy kirk of Christ Jesus within this realm. And decerns and declares all and sundry, who either gainsay the word of the evangel received and approved as the heads of the Confession of Faith, professed in Parliament in the year of God 1560, specified also in the first Parliament of King James VI., and ratified in this present Parliament, more particularly do express; or that refuse the administration of the holy sacraments, as they were then ministrated; to be no members of the said kirk within this realm, and true religion presently professed, so long as they keep themselves so divided from the society of Christ’s body. And the subsequent Act 69, Parl. 6, of King James VI. declares, that there is no other face of kirk, nor other face of religion, than was presently at that time, by the favour of God, established within this realm: “Which therefore is ever styled God’s true religion, Christ’s true religion, the true and Christian religion, and a perfect religion;” which, by manifold Acts of Parliament, all within this realm are bound to profess, to subscribe the articles thereof, the Confession of Faith, to recant all doctrine and errors repugnant to any of the said articles, Act 4 and 9, Parl. 1, Acts 45, 46, 47, Parl. 3, Act 71, Parl. 6, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 24, Parl. 11, Act 123, Parl. 12, Act 194 and 197, Parl. 14, of King James VI. And all magistrates, sheriffs, &c. on the one part, are ordained to search, apprehend, and punish all contraveners: For instance, Act 5, Parl. 1, Act 104, Parl. 7, Act 25, Parl. 11, King James VI.; and that, notwithstanding of the King’s Majesty’s licences on the contrary, which are discharged, and declared to be of no force, in so far as they tend in anywise to the prejudice and hinder of the execution of the Acts of Parliament against Papists and adversaries of true religion, Act 106, Parl. 7, King James VI. On the other part, in the 47th Act, Parl. 3, King James VI. it is declared and ordained. Seeing the cause of God’s true religion and his Highness’s authority are so joined, as the hurt of the one is common to both; that none shall be reputed as loyal and faithful subjects to our sovereign Lord, or his authority, but be punishable as rebellers and gainstanders of the same, who shall not give their confession, and make their profession of the said true religion: and that they who, after defection, shall give the confession of their faith of new, they shall promise to continue therein in time coming, to maintain our sovereign Lord’s authority, and at the uttermost of their power to fortify, assist, and maintain the true preachers and professors of Christ’s religion, against whatsoever enemies and gainstanders of the same; and, namely, against all such, of whatsoever nation, estate, or degree they be of, that have joined or bound themselves, or have assisted, or assist, to set forward and execute the cruel decrees of the Council of Trent, contrary to the true preachers and professors of the word of God; which is repeated, word by word, in the articles of pacification at Perth, the 23rd of February, 1572, approved by Parliament the last of April, 1573, ratified in Parliament 1587, and related Act 123, Parl. 12, of King James VI.; with this addition, “That they are bound to resist all treasonable uproars and hostilities raised against the true religion, the King’s Majesty, and the true professors.”

Likeas, all lieges are bound to maintain the King’s Majesty’s royal person and authority, the authority of Parliaments, without the which neither any laws or lawful judicatories can be established, Acts 130 and 131, Parl. 8, King James VI., and the subjects’ liberties, who ought only to live and be governed by the King’s laws, the common laws of this realm allenarly, Act 48, Parl. 3, King James I., Act 79, Parl. 6, King James IV.; repeated in the Act 131, Parl. 8, King James VI.; which if they be innovated and prejudged, “the commission anent the union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England, which is the sole act of the 17th Parl. of King James VI., declares,” such confusion would ensue as this realm could be no more a free monarchy: because, by the fundamental laws, ancient privileges, offices, and liberties of this kingdom, not only the princely authority of his Majesty’s royal descent hath been these many ages maintained, but also the people’s security of their lands, livings, rights, offices, liberties, and dignities preserved. And, therefore, for the preservation of the said true religion, laws, and liberties of this kingdom, it is statute by the 8th Act, Parl. 1, repeated in the 99th Act, Parl. 7, ratified in the 23rd Act, Parl. 11, and 114th Act, Parl. 12, of King James VI., and 4th Act, Parl. 1, of King Charles I., “That all Kings and Princes at their coronation, and reception of their princely authority, shall make their faithful promise by their solemn oath, in the presence of the eternal God, that, enduring the whole time of their lives, they shall serve the same eternal God, to the uttermost of their power, according as he hath required in his most holy word, contained in the Old and New Testament; and according to the same word, shall maintain the true religion of Christ Jesus, the preaching of his holy word, the due and right ministration of the sacraments now received and preached within this realm, (according to the Confession of Faith immediately preceding,) and shall abolish and gainstand all false religion contrary to the same; and shall rule the people committed to their charge, according to the will and command of God revealed in his foresaid word, and according to the laudable laws and constitutions received in this realm, nowise repugnant to the said will of the eternal God; and shall procure, to the uttermost of their power, to the kirk of God, and whole Christian people, true and perfect peace in all time coming; and that they shall be careful to root out of their empire all heretics and enemies to the true worship of God, who shall be convicted by the true kirk of God of the foresaid crimes.” Which was also observed by his Majesty, at his coronation in Edinburgh, 1633, as may be seen in the order of the coronation.

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