A CHURCH DICTIONARY.
ABACUS. The upper member of a capital. (SeeCapital.)
In semi-Norman and early English architecture, the abacus of engaged shafts is frequently returned along the walls, in a continued horizontal string: perhaps the last lingering recognition of the effect of the capital in representing that horizontal line, which was so decided in the classic architrave, and to which the spirit of Gothic architecture is in the main so greatly opposed.
ABBA. A Syriac word signifying Father, and expressive of attachment and confidence. St. Paul says,Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cryAbba, Father. (Rom. viii. 15; comp. Gal. iv. 6.) The word is derived from the HebrewAb: and, if we may ascend still higher, that word itself (as many others which occur in that language) proceeds from the voice of nature; being one of the most obvious sounds, to express one of the first and most obvious ideas.
ABBÉ. The designation assumed in France, before the Revolution, by certain persons, who, whether in the higher orders of the ministry or not, ostensibly devoted themselves to theological studies, in the hope that the king would confer upon them a real abbey,i.e.a certain portion of the revenues of a real abbey. Hence it became the common title of unemployed secular priests. In Italy the wordAbatewas similarly used, to designate one who merely adopted the clerical habit. [Vocabolario della Crusca.]
ABBEY. The habitation of a society devoted to religion. It signifies a monastery, of which the head was an Abbot or Abbess. (SeeAbbot.) Of cathedral abbeys the bishop was considered to be virtually the abbot: and therefore the Presbyteral Superior of these establishments was styled Prior. The abbey of Ely was constituted a cathedral in 1109: when the Abbot Harvey was made bishop. The abbacy was henceforward united to the bishopric: and therefore it is that the bishops of Ely still occupy the first stall on the right side of the choir, usually assigned to the dean: the dean’s stall being the first on the left side, formerly occupied by the prior. (SeeMonasteries.)
Cranmer begged earnestly of Henry VIII. that he would save some of the abbeys, to be reformed and applied to holy and religious uses, but his petition, and the exertions of Latimer for the same purpose, were in vain. For the arrangement of the several buildings of an abbey, seeCathedralandMonastery.
ABBOT. The Father or Superior of an abbey of monks, or male persons, living under peculiar religious vows. The wordabbotcomes, through the late Latinabbas, from the Syriacabba—father. (SeeAbba.) The word Father, in its various forms of Papa, Abbas, Padre, Père, &c., has in all countries and all ages of Christianity been applied as a title of respect to the superior clergy and priesthood. In some parts of the East and in Ireland, this term, abbas or abbat, was frequently confounded with that of bishop, from the fact of the abbots being in the early times bishops also.
Among the abbeys in England before the dissolution, were some which gave the title ofMitred Abbot[or Abbots general, orsovereign] to the superiors of them. These mitred abbots sat and voted in the House of Lords. They held of the kingin capite per baroniam, their endowments being at least an entire barony, which consisted of thirteen knights’ fees. The following are the abbeys which conferred this distinction on their abbots: St. Alban’s, Glastonbury, St. Peter’s, Westminster; St. Edmondsbury,St. Bennet’s of Holm, Bardney, Shrewsbury, Croyland (or Crowland), Abingdon, Evesham, Gloucester, Ramsey, St. Mary’s, York; Tewkesbury, Reading, Battle, Winchcomb, Hide by Winchester, Cirencester, Waltham, Malmesbury, Thorney, St. Augustine’s, Canterbury; Selby, Peterborough, St. John’s, Colchester; to which was added, not long before the Reformation, Tavistock. All mitred abbots were of the Benedictine order, except those of Waltham and Cirencester, who were Augustinians. This fact Fuller has overlooked. (SeeDugdale’s Monasticon.)
But it is to be observed, that there were two other lords of parliament, heads of religious houses, who were not abbots: (1.) The prior of St. John’s of Jerusalem, of the Knights Hospitallers in England. He ranked before the mitred abbots, and was considered the first baron in England. (2.) The prior of Coventry; a solitary instance in England of the presbyteral head of a cathedral being a spiritual peer. Of the abbots, the abbot of Glastonbury had the precedence, tillA. D.1154, when Pope Adrian VII., an Englishman, from the affection he entertained for the place of his education, assigned this precedence to the abbot of St. Alban’s. In consequence, Glastonbury ranked next after him, and Reading had the third place.
According to the ancient laws of Christendom, confirmed by general councils, all heads of monasteries, whether abbots or priors, owed canonical obedience to their diocesan. And the same law subsisted till the Reformation, wherever special exemptions had not been granted, which, however, were numerous. Cowell, as quoted by Johnson in his Dictionary, (voceAbbot,) erroneously says that themitredabbots were exempted from episcopal jurisdiction, but that the other sorts (i. e. the non-mitred) were subject to their diocesans. The truth is, that the former endeavoured after their own aggrandizement in every possible way, but had no inherent right of exemption from the fact of their being lords of parliament, or being invested with the mitre. Thus it appears fromDugd. Monast.that Gloucester, Winchcomb, and Tewkesbury were subject to the visitation and jurisdiction of the bishop of Worcester, till the Reformation; Croyland, Peterborough, Bardney, and Ramsey to the bishop of Lincoln; St. Mary in York, and Selby, to the archbishop of York, and Coventry to the bishop of Lichfield. The abbots, unless specially exempted, took the oath of canonical obedience to their diocesan, and after election, were confirmed by him, and received his benediction. [Fuller, Collier, Willis’s Mitred Abbeys.] In Ireland the abbots who were mitred, or lords of parliament, were those of St. Mary, Dublin; St. Thomas, Dublin; Monastereven, Baltinglass, Dunbrody, Duisk, Jerpoint, Bective, Mellifont, Tracton, Monasternenagh, Owney, and Holycross. All these were of the Cistercian order, except the abbot of St. Thomas, who was of St. Victor. The other parliamentary lords, heads of religious houses, were the cathedral priors of Christ Church, Dublin, and of Downpatrick; the priors of Allhallows, Dublin; Conall, Kells, (in Kilkenny,) Louth, Athassel, Killagh, Newton, and Rathboy. All these were of the Augustinian order, except the prior of Down, who was a Benedictine, the preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers at Wexford, and the prior of the Knights Hospitallers at Kilmainham. (SeeMonks.)
ABBESS. The Mother or Superior of an abbey of nuns, or female persons living under peculiar religious vows and discipline.
ABECEDARIAN HYMNS. Hymns composed in imitation of the acrostic poetry of the Hebrews, in which each verse, or each part, commenced with the first and succeeding letters of the alphabet, in their order. This arrangement was intended as a help to the memory. St. Augustine composed a hymn in this manner, for the common people to learn, against the error of the Donatists. (SeeAcrostics.)
ABEYANCE, from the Frenchbayer, to expect, is that which is in expectation, remembrance, and intendment of law. By a principle of law, in every land there is a fee simple in some body, or else it is inabeyance; that is, though for the present it be in no man, yet it is in expectancy belonging to him that is next to enjoy the land.—Inst.
Thus if a man be patron of a church, and presenteth a clerk to the same; the fee of the lands and tenements pertaining to the rectory is in the parson; but if the parson die, and the church becometh void, then is the fee inabeyance, until there be a new parson presented, admitted, and inducted. For the frank tenement of the glebe of a parsonage, during the time the parsonage is void, is in no man; but inabeyanceor expectation, belonging to him who is next to enjoy it.—Terms of the Law.
ABJURATION. A solemn renunciation in public, or before a proper officer, of some doctrinal error. A formal abjuration is often considered necessary by the Church, when any person seeks to be received into her communion from heresy orschism. A form for admitting Romish recusants into the Church of England was drawn up by one of the Houses of Convocation of 1714, but did not receive the royal sanction. It is as follows:
A Form for admitting Converts from the Church of Rome, and such as shall renounce their errors.
The bishop, or some priests appointed by him for that purpose, being at the communion table, and the person to be reconciled standing without the rails, the bishop, or such priest as is appointed, shall speak to the congregation as followeth:
Dearly beloved,
We are here met together for the reconciling of a penitent (lately of the Church of Rome, or lately of the separation) to the Established Church of England, as to a true and sound part ofChrist’sholy Catholic Church. Now, that this weighty affair may have its due effect, let us in the first place humbly and devoutly pray to AlmightyGodfor his blessing upon us in that pious and charitable office we are going about.
Prevent us, OLord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help, that in this and all other our works, begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy name, and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life, throughJesus ChristourLord.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
AlmightyGod, who showest to them that be in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness; grant unto all them that are or shall be admitted into the fellowship ofChrist’sreligion, that they may eschew those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same, through ourLord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Psalm cxix. 161.
Let my complaint come before thee, OLord; give me understanding according to thy word.
Let my supplication come before thee; deliver me according to thy word.
My lips shall speak of thy praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.
Yea, my tongue shall sing of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteous.
Let thine hand help me, for I have chosen thy commandments.
I have longed for thy saving health, OLord, and in thy law is my delight.
O let my soul live, and it shall praise thee and thy judgments shall help me.
I have gone astray, like a sheep that is lost; O seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The Lesson. LukeXV.to ver. 8.
Then drew near unto him the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? and when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing; and when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance.
The hymn to be used when the penitent comes from the Church of Rome.
Psalm cxv. to ver. 10.
Not unto us, OLord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the praise, for thy loving mercy and for thy truth’s sake.
Wherefore shall the heathen say: Where is now theirGod?
As for ourGod, he is in heaven; he hath done whatsoever pleased him.
Their idols are silver and gold, even the work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, and speak not; eyes have they, and see not; they have ears, and hear not; noses have they, and smell not; they have hands, and handle not; feet have they, and walk not; neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them are like unto them, and so are all such as put their trust in them.
But thou, house of Israel, trust thou in the Lord; he is their succour and defence.
Glory be to theFather, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
If the penitent comes from the separation, then this is to be used.
Psalm cxxii.
I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of theLord.
Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself.
For thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of theLord, to testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the name of theLord.
For there is the seat of judgment, even the seat of the house of David.
O pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions’ sake I wish thee prosperity.
Yea, because of the house of theLordourGod, I will seek to do thee good.
Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
Then the bishop sitting in a chair, or the priest standing, shall speak to the penitent, who is to be kneeling, as follows:
Dear brother, or sister,
I have good hope that you have well weighed and considered with yourself the great work you are come about, before this time; but inasmuch as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, that you may give the more honour toGod, and that this present congregation ofChristhere assembled may also understand your mind and will in these things, and that this your declaration may the more confirm you in your good resolutions, you shall answer plainly to these questions, which we in the name ofGodand of his Church shall propose to you touching the same:
Art thou thoroughly persuaded that those books of the Old and the New Testament, which are received as canonical scriptures by this Church, contain sufficiently all doctrine requisite and necessary to eternal salvation through faith inJesus Christ?
Answer. I am so persuaded.
Dost thou believe inGodtheFatherAlmighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and inJesus Christ, his only begottenSonourLord, and that he was conceived of theHoly Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, that he went down into hell, and also did rise again the third day, that he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand ofGodtheFatherAlmighty, and from thence shall come again, at the end of the world, to judge the quick and the dead?
And dost thou believe in theHoly Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and everlasting life after death?
Answer. All this I stedfastly believe.
Art thou truly sorrowful that thou hast not followed the way prescribed in these Scriptures for the directing of the faith and practice of a true disciple ofChrist Jesus?
Answer. I am heartily sorry, and I hope for mercy throughJesus Christ.
Dost thou embrace the truth of the gospel in the love of it, and stedfastly resolve to live godly, righteously, and soberly in this present world all the days of thy life?
Answer. I do embrace it, and do so resolve,Godbeing my helper.
Dost thou earnestly desire to be received into the communion of this Church, as into a true and sound part ofChrist’sholy Catholic Church?
Answer. This I earnestly desire.
If the penitent come from the Church of Rome, this question is to follow:
Dost thou renounce all the errors and superstitions of the present Romish Church, so far as they are come to thy knowledge?
Answer. I do from my heart renounce them all.
If the penitent from the Church of Rome be in holy orders, let these further questions be asked:
Dost thou in particular renounce the twelve last articles added in the confession, commonly called “the Creed of Pope Pius IV.,” after having read them, and duly considered them?
Answer. I do upon mature deliberation reject them all, as grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word ofGod.
Dost thou acknowledge the supremacy of the kings and queens of this realm, as by law established, and declared in the thirty-seventh article of religion?
Answer. I do sincerely acknowledge it.
Wilt thou then give thy faithful diligence always so to minister the doctrine and sacraments, and the discipline ofChrist, as theLordhath commanded, and as this Church and realm hath received the same, according to the commandments ofGod, so that thou mayest teach the people with all diligence to keep and observe the same?
Answer. I will do so by the help of theLord.
Wilt thou conform thyself to the liturgy of the Church of England, as by law established?
Answer. I will.
If the penitent come from the separation, these questions are to be asked:
Dost thou allow and approve of the orders of bishops, priests, and deacons [as what have been in the Church ofChristfrom the time of the apostles]; and wilt thou, as much as in thee lieth, promote all due regard to the same good order and government of the Church ofChrist?
[Note.That within the crotchets is to be used only when the penitent hath been a teacher in some separate congregation.]
Answer. I do approve it, and will endeavour that it may be so regarded, as much as in me lieth.
Wilt thou conform thyself to the liturgy of the Church of England, as by law established, and be diligent in attending the prayers and other offices of the Church?
Answer. I will do so by the help ofGod.
If the penitent be one who has relapsed, the following question is to be asked:
Art thou heartily sorry, that when thou wast in the way of truth, thou didst so little watch over thy own heart, as to suffer thyself to be led away with the shows of vain doctrine? and dost thou stedfastly purpose to be more careful for the future, and to persevere in that holy profession, which thou hast now made?
Answer. I am truly grieved for my former unstedfastness, and am fully determined byGod’sgrace to walk more circumspectly for the time to come, and to continue in this my profession to my life’s end.
Then the bishop, or priest, standing up, shall say:
AlmightyGod, who hath given you a sense of your errors, and a will to do all these things, grant also unto you strength and power to perform the same, that he may accomplish his work, which he hath begun in you, throughJesus Christ. Amen.
The Absolution.
AlmightyGod, our heavenlyFather, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life, throughJesus ChristourLord. Amen.
Then the bishop, or priest, taking the penitent by the right hand, shall say unto him:
I N., bishop of ——, or I A. B., do upon this thy solemn profession and earnest request receive thee into the holy communion of the Church of England, in the name of theFather, and of theSon, and of theHoly Ghost.
People: Amen.
Then the bishop, or priest, shall say theLord’sPrayer, with that which follows, all kneeling.
Let us pray.
OurFather, which art in heaven, &c.
OGodof truth and love, we bless and magnify thy holy name for thy great mercy and goodness in bringing this thy servant into the communion of this Church: give him (or her) we beseech thee, stability and perseverance in that faith of which he (or she) hath in the presence ofGodand of this congregation witnessed a good confession. Suffer him (or her) not to be moved from it by any temptations of Satan, enticements of the world, the scoffs of irreligious men, or the revilings of those who are still in error; but guard him (or her) by thy grace against all these snares, and make him (or her) instrumental in turning others from the errors of their ways, to the saving of their souls from death, and the covering a multitude of sins. And in thy good time, OLord, bring, we pray thee, into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived; and so fetch them home, blessedLord, to thy flock, that there may be one fold under one Shepherd, theLord Jesus Christ; to whom with theFatherand theHoly Spiritbe all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
Then the bishop, or priest, standing up (if there be no communion at that time), shall turn himself to the person newly admitted, and say:
Dear brother, or sister,
Seeing that you have by the goodness ofGodproceeded thus far, I must put you in mind, that you take care to go on in that good way into which you are entered; and for your establishment and furtherance therein, that, if you have not been confirmed, you endeavour to be so the next opportunity, and receive the holy sacrament of theLord’ssupper. And mayGod’sHoly Spirit ever be with you. Amen.
The peace ofGod, which passeth all understanding, keep your heart and mind byChrist Jesus. Amen.—Cardwell’s Synodalia. Wilkins’s Concilia.
ABSOLUTION. (SeeConfession,Penance.) The power of absolution consists in removing the guilt and punishment of sin, and receiving the guilty person into favour, as if he were perfectly innocent. This is variously expressed in holy Scripture.It is sometimes made the same with justification, which is the acquitting a person from guilt, and looking upon him as perfectly righteous. It is opposed to condemnation, which is a laying of sin to his charge. This power is expressed by remitting or retaining of sin, which is the pardoning or punishing of it. It is called sometimes the power of opening and shutting the kingdom of heaven, which is by admitting into, or excluding out of, the Church; for none can be received into the kingdom of glory hereafter but such as are admitted into the church or kingdom of grace here: called therefore the power of the keys. It is called in St. Matthew the power of binding and loosing, (xvi. 19,) “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth,” &c. Sinners are said to be “tied and bound with the chain of their sins,” to be “holden with cords,” and to be “in the bond of iniquity.” Now to loosen this bond, to untie those cords, and so be freed from these chains, is done by what we call the power of absolution, or remission of sins: and so the words of St. Matthew are the same in effect with those of St. John, “Whose soever sins ye remit,” &c. This power of pardoning is annexed to some acts of religion, instituted by God for this purpose, and executed only byChrist’sministers. As, 1. Baptism was ordained for the remission of sins; so St. Peter told his converts, (Acts ii. 38,) “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you,” &c. 2. The holy sacrament of the eucharist was instituted for this purpose: as we read, Matt. xxvi. 28, whereChrist’sbody is said to be broken, and “his blood shed for many for the remission of sins.” 3. The preaching the word is for the proclaiming of pardon, called therefore the ministry, or word, of reconciliation. (2 Cor. v. 18.) 4. The prayer of the elders over the sick hath joined to it the forgiveness of sins. (Jas. v. 14.) Now these ministerial acts for the “remission of sins,” are peculiar only to the “priest’s office:” neither is the virtue or effect of them to be imparted to any other; for to them it is said, and to no other, “whose sins ye remit,” &c.; and therefore a pardon pronounced by them must be of greater efficacy than by any ordinary person.—Hole.
The authority and power of conferring absolution on penitents, wherewith our graciousSaviourhath so clearly vested his ministerial successors, “whose soever sins ye remit,” &c., having been abused by the Church of Rome into a lucrative market of pardons and indulgences, it is no wonder that Luther, and all our first reformers, should have taken infinite offence at a practice so flagitious, and so directly contrary to the command ofChrist, “freely ye have received, freely give.” This, however, should not have been a reason, as it was with too many, for rejecting all absolutions. The true doctrine is, and must be, this: For the consolation of his Church, and particularly of such as class with the penitent publican in the gospel,Christhath left with his bishops and presbyters a power to pronounce absolution. This absolution is on condition of faith and repentance in the person or persons receiving it. On sufficient appearance of these, and on confession made with these appearances in particular persons, the bishop or presbyter, as the messenger ofChrist, is to pronounce it. But he cannot search the heart;Godonly, who can, confirms it. The power of absolution is remarkably exercised by St. Paul, though absent, and depending on both report and the information of theHoly Spirit, in regard to the Corinthian excommunicated for incest. The apostle, speaking in the character of one to whom the authority of absolution had been committed, saith to the Church of Corinth, “to whom ye forgave anything, I forgive also.” (2 Cor. ii. 10.) Thus the penitent was pardoned and restored to communion by delegated authority, in the person ofChrist, lest such an one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow, and lest Satan should get an advantage over us. As these reasons for compassion still remain, it seems evident that the Church should still retain the same power of showing that compassion, as far as human understanding may direct its application.—Skelton.
Sacerdotal absolution does not necessarily require any particular or auricular confession of private sins; forasmuch as that the grand absolution of baptism was commonly given without any particular confession. And therefore the Romanists vainly found the necessity of auricular confession upon those words of ourSaviour,Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them: as if there could be no absolution without particular confession; when it is so plain, that the great absolution of baptism (the power of which is founded by the ancients upon this very place) required no such particular confession. We may hence infer, that the power of any sacerdotal absolution is only ministerial; because the administration of baptism, (which is the most universal absolution,) so far as man is concerned in it, is nomore than ministerial. All the office and power of man in it is only to minister the external form, but the internal power and grace of remission of sins is properlyGod’s; and so it is in all other sorts of absolution.—Bingham.
The bishops and priests of the whole Christian Church have ever used to absolve all that truly repented, and at this day it is retained in our Church as a part of the daily office; which being so useful, so necessary, and founded on holy Scripture, needs not any arguments to defend it, but that the ignorance and prejudice of some make them take offence at it, and principally because it hath been so much abused by the Papal Church. We may declare our abhorrency of these evil uses of absolution; though in that sober, moderate, and useful manner we do perform it, we do not vary from the prime intention ofChrist’scommission, and the practice of antiquity: absolution was instituted byJesus, and if it have been corrupted by men, we will cast away the corruptions, not the ordinance itself.—Comber.
Sin is compared to a bond, (Acts viii. 23; Prov. v. 22,) because it binds down the soul by its guilt and power, and hinders it from free converse withGod, yea, makes it liable to eternal condemnation: butJesuscame to unloose these bonds, and actually did so to divers, when he was upon earth, and left this power to his apostles and their successors, when he went to heaven; and this unloosing men from the bond of their sins is that which we properly callabsolution, and it is a necessary and most comfortable part of the priest’s office. But the sectaries do wholly disown this power, and are so bold as to deride us for the use thereof: yet it is certain thatChristdid give his disciples the power of binding and loosing, (Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18,) or, as it is elsewhere called, of remitting sins, (John xx. 22, 23,) frequently repeating this commission, and solemnly promising to ratify in heaven what they did on earth. It is plain also, that the apostles exercised this power, (Acts ii. 38; 2 Cor. ii. 10,) and gave their successors a charge to use it also (Gal. vi. 1; James v. 14, 15); and the primitive histories do abundantly testify they did so very often; so that they must cancel all those lines of Scripture, and records of antiquity also, before they can take away this power. Nor can they fairly pretend it was a personal privilege dying with the apostles, since the Church hath used it ever since, and penitents need a comfortable application of their pardon now, as well as they did then: and whereas they object with the Jews, that “none can forgive sins butGodonly,” (Luke v. 21,) we reply, thatGodalone can exercise this power in his own right, but he may and hath communicated it to others, who did it in his name, and by his authority; or, as St. Paul speaks,in the person of Christ(2 Cor. ii. 10); so that St. Ambrose saith, “Godhimself forgives sins by them to whom he hath granted the power of absolution.”—Comber.
Calvin’s liturgy has no form of absolution in it: but he himself says that it was an omission in him at first, and a defect in his liturgy; which he afterwards would have rectified and amended, but could not. He makes this ingenuous confession in one of his epistles: “There is none of us,” says he, “but must acknowledge it to be very useful, that, after the general confession, some remarkable promise of Scripture should follow, whereby sinners might be raised to the hopes of pardon and reconciliation. And I would have introduced this custom from the beginning, but some fearing that the novelty of it would give offence, I was over-easy in yielding to them; so the thing was omitted.” I must do that justice to Calvin here, by the way, to say, that he was no enemy to private absolution neither, as used in the Church of England. For in one of his answers to Westphalus he thus expresses his mind about it: “I have no intent to deny the usefulness of private absolution: but as I commend it in several places of my writings, provided the use be left to men’s liberty, and free from superstition, so to bind men’s consciences by a law to it, is neither lawful nor expedient.” Here we have Calvin’s judgment, fully and entirely, for the usefulness both of public and private absolution. He owns it to be a defect in his liturgy, that it wants a public absolution.—Bingham.
Calvin’s own account of his facility merits attention. In his character, flexibility of disposition appears to be a lineament either so faint, or so obscured by more prominent features of a different cast, that it has generally escaped vulgar observation. His panegyrist, the learned translator of Mosheim’s Eccles. Hist., [Maclaine,] describes him as surpassing most of the reformers “in obstinacy, asperity, and turbulence.”—Shepherd.
This penitence our Church makes not a new sacrament, (as doth the Church of Rome,) but a means of returning to the grace ofGodbestowed in baptism. “They which in act or deed sin after baptism,(saith our homily,) when they turn toGodunfeignedly, they are likewise washed by this sacrifice from their sins.”—Puller.
If our confession be serious and hearty, this absolution is as effectual as ifGoddid pronounce it from heaven. So says the Confession of Saxony and Bohemia, and so says the Augustan Confession; and, which is more, so says St. Chrysostom in his fifth homily upon Isaiah, “Heaven waits and expects the priest’s sentence here on earth; theLordfollows the servant, and what the servant rightly binds or looses here on earth, that theLordconfirms in heaven.” The same says St. Gregory (Hom. 20) upon the Gospels: “The apostles (and in them all priests) were madeGod’svicegerents here on earth, in his name and stead to retain or remit sins.” St. Augustine and Cyprian, and generally all antiquity, say the same; so does our Church in many places, particularly in the form of absolution for the sick; but, above all, holy Scripture is clear, (St. John xx. 23,) “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.” Which power of remitting sins was not to end with the apostles, but is a part of the ministry of reconciliation, as necessary now as it was then, and therefore to continue as long as the ministry of reconciliation; that is, to the end of the world. (Eph. iv. 12, 13.) When therefore the priest absolves,Godabsolves, if we be truly penitent. Now, this remission of sins granted here to the priest, to whichGodhath promised a confirmation in heaven, is not the act of preaching, or baptizing, or admitting men to the holy communion. But this power of remitting sins, mentioned John xx., was not granted (though promised, Matt. xvi. 19) tillnow, that is, after the resurrection, as appears by the ceremony ofbreathing, signifying that then it was given: and secondly, by the wordreceive, used in that place, (ver. 22,) which he could not properly have used, if they had been endued with this power before. Therefore the power of remitting, which hereGodauthorizes, and promises certain assistance to, is neither preaching nor baptizing, but some other way of remitting, viz. that which the Church calls absolution. And if it be so, then, to doubt of the effect of it, (supposing we be truly penitent, and such asGodwill pardon,) is to question the truth ofGod: and he that, under pretence of reverence toGod, denies or despises this power, does injury toGod, slighting his commission, and is no better than a Novatian, says St. Ambrose.—Sparrow.
Our Church has not appointed the indicative form of absolution to be used in all these senses, but only once in the office of the sick, and that may reasonably be interpreted, (according to the account given out of St. Jerome,) a declaration of the sinner’s pardon, upon the apparent evidences of a sincere repentance, and the best judgment the minister can make of his condition; beyond which none can go, but the searcher of hearts, to whom alone belongs the infallible and irreversible sentence of absolution. The indicative form, “I absolve thee,” may be interpreted to mean no more than a declaration ofGod’swill to a penitent sinner, that, upon the best judgment the priest can make of his repentance, he esteems him absolved beforeGod, and accordingly pronounces and declares him absolved. As St. Jerome observes, the priests under the old law were said to cleanse a leper, or pollute him; not that they were the authors of his pollution, but that they declared him to be polluted, who before seemed to many to have been clean. As, therefore, the priest makes the leper clean or unclean, so the bishop or presbyter here binds or looses, not properly making the guilty or the guiltless; but according to the tenor of his office, when he hears the distinction of sins, he knows who is to be bound, and who is to be loosed. Upon this also, the master of the sentences (following St. Jerome) observes, that the priests of the gospel have that right and office which the legal priests had of old under the law in curing the lepers. These, therefore, forgive sins, or retain them, whilst they show and declare that they are forgiven or retained byGod. For the priests “put the name of theLord” upon the children of Israel, but it was he himself that blessed them, as it is read in Num. vi. 27.—Bingham.
Our Church maintains, appealing to Scripture for the proof of it, that some power of absolving or remitting sins, derived from the apostles, remains with their successors in the ministry; and accordingly, at the ordination of priests, the words of our Saviour, on which the power is founded, are solemnly repeated to them by the bishop, and the power at the same time conferred. We do not pretend it is in any sort adiscretionarypower of forgiving sins, for the priest has nodiscernment of the spiritand hearts of men, as the apostles had, but a power of pronouncing authoritatively, in the name ofGod, who has committed to the priest the ministry of reconciliation,hispardon and forgiveness to all true penitents and sincere believers.ThatGodalone can forgive sins, that he is the sole author of all blessings, spiritual as well as temporal, is undeniable: but that he can declare his gracious assurance of pardon, and convey his blessings to us, by what means and instruments he thinks fit, is no less certain. In whatever way he vouchsafes to do it, it is our duty humbly and thankfully to receive them; not to dispute his wisdom in the choice of those means and instruments; for, in that case, he that despiseth, despiseth not man, butGod.—Waldo.
The following remarks on our forms of absolution occur in “Palmer’s Origines Liturgicæ.”
“An absolution followed the confession formerly in the offices of the English churches, for prime, or the first hour of the day. We may, perhaps, assign to the absolution thus placed, an antiquity equal to that of the confession, thoughGemma Animæand Durandus do not appear expressly to mention it. The sacerdotal benediction of penitents was in the earliest times conveyed in the form of a prayer toGodfor their absolution; but, in after ages, different forms of benediction were used, both in the East and West. With regard to these varieties ofform, it does not appear that they were formerly considered of any importance. A benediction seems to have been regarded as equally valid, whether it was conveyed in the form of a petition or a declaration, whether in the optative or the indicative mood, whether in the active or the passive voice, whether in the first, second, or third person. It is true that a direct prayer toGodis a most ancient form of blessing; but the use of a precatory, or an optative form, by no means warrants the inference, that the person who uses it is devoid of any divinely instituted authority to bless and absolve in the congregation ofGod. Neither does the use of a direct indicative form of blessing or absolution imply anything but the exercise of an authority whichGodhas given, to such an extent, and under such limitations, as Divine revelation has declared.”
In the primitive Church absolution was regarded to consist of five kinds: sacramental, by baptism and the eucharist; declaratory, by word of mouth and doctrine; precatory, by imposition of hands and prayer; judicial, by relaxation of Church censures.—Bingham.
The Absolution in the Order for Morning and Evening Prayer was first inserted in the Second Book of King Edward VI. It can be pronounced by the priestonly or alone. At the last review the wordMinisterin the rubric preceding the absolution, was changed intoPriest: this change being obviously adopted from the Scotch Prayer Book in Charles I.’s time, where the word in the same place isPresbyter. The other two absolutions are coeval with our reformed Prayer Book. The ministerial absolution of persons unquiet in conscience, before receiving the holy communion, is mentioned in the first exhortation on giving notice of the communion; and the absolution of excommunicated persons in the 65th Canon.
ABSTINENCE. (SeeFasting.) In the Romish Church, fasting and abstinence admit of a distinction, and different days are appointed for each of them. On their days of fasting, they are allowed but one meal in four and twenty hours; but, on days of abstinence, provided they abstain from flesh, and make but a moderate meal, they are indulged in a collation at night. The times by them set apart for the first are, all Lent, except Sundays, the Ember days, the vigils of the more solemn feasts, and all Fridays except those that fall within the twelve days of Christmas, and between Easter and the Ascension. Their days of abstinence are all the Sundays in Lent, St. Mark’s day, if it does not fall in Easter week, the three Rogation days, all Saturdays throughout the year, with the Fridays before excepted, unless either happen to be Christmas day. The reason why they observe St. Mark as a day of abstinence is, as we learn from their own books, in imitation of St. Mark’s disciples, the first Christians of Alexandria, who, under this saint’s conduct, were eminent for their great prayer, abstinence, and sobriety. They further tell us, that St. Gregory the Great, the apostle of England, first set apart this day for abstinence and public prayer, as an acknowledgment of the Divine mercy, in putting a stop to a mortality in his time at Rome.
We do not find that the Church of England makes any difference between days of fasting and days of abstinence. It is true, in the title of the table of Vigils, &c., she mentions fasts and days of abstinence separately; but when she comes to enumerate the particulars, she calls them all days of fasting or abstinence, without distinguishing between the one and the other. Nor does she anywhere point out to us what food is proper for such times or seasons, or seem to place any part of religion in abstaining from any particular kinds of meat. It is true, by a statute, (5 Eliz. 5,) none were allowed to eat fleshon fish-days, (which are there declared to be all Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in the year,) without a licence first obtained, for which they are to pay a yearly fine, (except such as are sick, who may be licensed either by the bishop or minister,) under penalty of three pounds’ forfeiture, or three months’ imprisonment without bail, and of forty shillings’ forfeiture for any master of a family that suffers or conceals it. But then this is declared to be a mere political law, for the increase of fishermen and mariners, and repairing of port towns and navigation, and not for any superstition to be maintained in the choice of meats. For, by the same act, whosoever, by preaching, teaching, writing, &c., affirms it to be necessary to abstain from flesh for the saving of the soul of man, or for the service ofGod, otherwise than other politic laws are or be, is to be punished as a spreader of false news. That is, he must suffer imprisonment till he produce the author; and, if he cannot produce him, must be punished at the discretion of the king’s council. The sections of this act which relate to eating fish on Wednesdays, were repealed by 27 Eliz. c. 11.
With us, therefore, neither Church nor State makes any difference in the kinds of meat; but as far as the former determines in the matter, she seems to recommend an entire abstinence from all manner of food till the time of fasting be over; declaring in her homilies, that fasting (by the decree of the six hundred and thirty fathers, assembled at the Council of Chalcedon, which was one of the four first general councils, who grounded their determination upon the sacred Scriptures, and long-continued usage or practice both of the prophets and other godly persons, before the coming ofChrist, and also of the apostles and other devout men in the New Testament) is a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food from the body, for the determined time of fasting.—Wheatly.
ABYSSINIA. The Abyssinian Church was founded early in the fourth century. Its first bishop, Frumentius, received consecration from St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and to this day theAbundof Abyssinia is consecrated by the Alexandrian patriarch. In the sixth century the Christians of Abyssinia fell into the heresy of the Monophysites, in which they still remain; and they also agree with the Greek Church in denying the procession of theHoly Ghostfrom theSon. In the fifth, and again in the seventeenth, century, attempts were made to reduce the Abyssinian Christians to obedience to the Roman see, but the attempt in both instances utterly failed. The number of Christians in Abyssinia is said to amount to three millions.
ACŒMETÆ. (Ἁκοιμηταί, Watchers.) An order of monks instituted at the beginning of the fifth century at Constantinople, who were divided into three classes, who performed the Divine service by rotation, and so continued night and day without intermission.
ACEPHALI. (ἀandκεφαλὴ, literally,without a head.) The name given to those of the Egyptian Eutychians, who, after Peter Magus, bishop of Alexandria, had signed theHenoticonof Zeno,A. D.482, formed a separate sect. (SeeHenoticon.) The word is also applied to those bishops who were exempt from the jurisdiction of a metropolitan or patriarch.
ACOLYTH, or ACOLYTE, (ἀκολουθος,) in our old English called Collet, was an inferior church servant, who, next under the subdeacon, waited on the priests and deacons, and performed the meaner offices of lighting the candles, carrying the bread and wine, &c. He was allowed to wear the cassock and surplice. In the Church of Rome it was accounted one of the minor orders. In the Greek Church it is supposed to be another name for the order of subdeacons, according to Bingham.—Jebb.
ACROSTIC. A form of poetical composition among the Hebrews, composed of twenty-two lines, or stanzas, according to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, each line or stanza beginning with each letter in its order. Of the several poems of this character, there are twelve in all, in the Old Testament, viz. Psalms xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., cxix., cxlv. Part of Proverbs xxxi. Lament. i., ii., iii., iv. Psalm cxix. is the most remarkable specimen. It still retains in the Bible translation the name of the several letters of the Hebrew alphabet, to mark its several divisions. This Psalm consists of twenty-two stanzas, (the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet,) each division consisting of eight couplets; the first line of each couplet beginning with that letter of the alphabet which marks the division. Psalm xxxvii. consists of twenty-two quatrains; the first line only of each quatrain being acrostical. Lam. i. and ii., of twenty-two triplets, the first line of each only being acrostical. Lam. iii., of twenty-two triplets also, but with every line acrostical. Lam. iv. and Psalms xxv., xxxiv., and cxv., and part of Prov. xxxi., of twenty-two couplets, the first line only of eachbeing acrostical. Psalms cxi. and cxii., of twenty-two lines each, in alphabetical order. The divisions of the Hebrew poetry into lines, not metrical, but rhythmical and parallel in sentiment, is very much elucidated by the alphabetical or acrostical poems.—Jebb.
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. One of the canonical books of the New Testament. It contains a great part of the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul, beginning at our Lord’s ascension, and continued down to St. Paul’s arrival at Rome, after his appeal to Cæsar; comprehending in all about thirty years. St. Luke has been generally considered the author of this book; and his principal design in writing it was to obviate the false Acts, and false histories, which began to be dispersed up and down the world. The exact time of his writing it is not known; but it must have been written at least two years after St. Paul’s arrival at Rome, because it informs us that St. Paul “dwelt two whole years in his own hired house.” Perhaps he wrote it while he remained with St. Paul, during the time of his imprisonment, Acts xxviii. 30.
St. Luke wrote this work in Greek; and his language is generally purer, and more elegant, than that of the other writers of the New Testament. Epíphanius (Hæres.xxx. chap. 3 and 6) tells us that this book was translated by the Ebionites out of Greek into Hebrew, that is, into Syriac, which was the common language of the Jews in Palestine; but that those heretics corrupted it with a mixture of many falsities and impieties, injurious to the memory of the apostles. St. Jerome assures us, that a certain priest of Asia added to the true, genuine Acts, the voyages of St. Paul and St. Thecla, and the story of baptizing a lion. Tertullian (de Baptismo, chap. xvii.) tells us that St. John the evangelist, having convicted this priest of varying from the truth in this relation, the good man excused himself, saying, he did it purely out of love to St. Paul.
The Marcionites and Manichæans, because they were sensible that this book too plainly condemned their errors, rejected it out of the Canon of Scripture. (Tertull.contra Marcion, lib. 5.)
There were several spuriousActs of The Apostles; particularly, I. The Acts of the Apostles, supposed to be written by Abdias, the pretended bishop of Babylon, who gave out, that he was ordained bishop by the apostles themselves, when they were upon their journey into Persia. II. The Acts of St. Peter: this book came originally from the school of the Ebionites. III. The Acts of St. Paul, which is entirely lost. Eusebius, who had seen it, pronounces it of no authority. IV. The Acts of St. John the Evangelist; a book made use of by the Encratites, Manichæans, and Priscillianists. V. The Acts of St. Andrew; received by the Manichæans, Encratites, and Apotactics. VI. The Acts of St. Thomas the Apostle; received particularly by the Manichæans. VII. The Acts of St. Philip: this book the Gnostics made use of. VIII. The Acts of St. Matthias. Some have imagined that the Jews for a long time had concealed the original Acts of the Life and Death of St. Matthias, written in Hebrew; and that a monk of the abbey of St. Matthias at Treves, having got them out of their hands, procured them to be translated into Latin, and published them. But the critics will not allow them to be genuine and authentic.—Cotelerius. Fabricius Apocr. N. T. Tillemont, Hist. Eccles.
ADAMITES. A sect of Christian heretics who imitated Adam’s nakedness before his fall, believing themselves as innocent since their redemption by the death ofChrist, and therefore met together naked upon all occasions, asserting that if Adam had not sinned, there would have been no marriages. They sprang from the Carpocratians and Gnostics, and followed the errors of an infamous person called Prodicus. They gave the name of deity to the four elements, rejected prayer, and said it was not necessary to confessJesus Christ. This sect was renewed in Flanders by one Tanchelm, (1115–1124,) who being followed by 3000 soldiers, committed all kinds of vice, calling their villanies by a spiritual name. In the 15th century one Picard, so called from the country of his birth, renewed it in Bohemia, from whence the sect spread into Poland: it was said they met in the night, and used these words, (originally ascribed to the Priscillianists in the 4th century,)Swear, forswear, and discover not the secret.
ADMINISTRATOR. An ancient officer of the Church, whose duty was to defend the cause of the widows, orphans, and all others who might be destitute of help.
ADMINISTRATION, in an ecclesiastical sense, is used to express the giving or dispensing the sacrament of our Lord.—In its more general use it signifies the distribution of the personal effects of intestates, which is made by the ordinary according to the enactment of sundry statutes; the principal of which is 22 and 23 Car. II. cap. x.
ADMONITION. The first step of ecclesiastical censure, according to the words of the apostle, “a man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.” (Tit. iii. 10.) This part of episcopal discipline always precedes excommunication; which, however, must necessarily follow, if the offender continue contumacious, and hardened in his error or crime. Vide Canon 64, &c. The word also occurs in the Ordination Service: “following with a glad mind and will their godly admonition.”—Jebb.
ADMONITIONISTS. Certain Puritans in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who were so called from being the authors of the “Admonition to the Parliament,” 1571, in which everything in the Church of England was condemned, which was not after the fashion of Geneva. They required every ceremony to be “commanded in the Word,” and set at nought all general rules and canons of the Church.
ADOPTIANS. Heretics in several parts of Spain, who held that ourSaviourwasGodonly by adoption. Their notions were condemned at Frankfort in the year 794.
ADOPTION. To adopt is to make him a son who was not so by birth. The Catechism teaches us that it is in holy baptism that “we are made members ofChrist,children ofGod, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.”Godsent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal. iv. 4, 5.)
ADORATION. This word signifies a particular sort of worship, which the Pagans gave to their deities: but, amongst Christians, it is used for the general respect and worship paid toGod. The heathens paid their regard to their gods, by putting their hands to their mouths, and kissing them. This was done in some places standing, and sometimes kneeling; their faces were usually covered in their worship, and sometimes they threw themselves prostrate on the ground. The first Christians in their public prayers were wont to stand; and this they did always on Sundays, and on the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost, in memory of ourLord’sresurrection, as is still common in the Eastern Churches. They were wont to turn their faces towards the east, either because the East is a title given toChristin the Old Testament, (as by Zachariah, vi. 12, according to the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate,) or else to show that they expected the coming ofChristat the last day from the east.
ADULT BAPTISM. (SeeBaptism.)
ADVENT. For the greater solemnity of the three principal holidays, Christmas day, Easter day, and Whit-Sunday, the Church hath appointed certain days to attend them: some to go before, and others to come after them. Before Christmas are appointed four “Advent Sundays,” so called because the design of them is to prepare us for a religious commemoration of theadventor coming ofChristin the flesh. The Roman ritualists would have the celebration of this holy season to be apostolical, and that it was instituted by St. Peter. But the precise time of its institution is not so easily to be determined; though it certainly had its beginning before the year 450, because Maximus Taurinensis, who lived about that time, writ a homily upon it. And it is to be observed, that, for the more strict and religious observation of this season, courses of sermons were formerly preached in several cathedrals on Wednesdays and Fridays, as is now the usual practice in Lent. And we find by the Salisbury Missal, that, before the Reformation, there was a special Epistle and Gospel relating toChrist’sadvent, appointed for those days during all that time.—Wheatly.
It should be observed here, that it is the peculiar computation of the Church, to begin her year, and to renew the annual course of her service, at this time of Advent, therein differing from all other accounts of time whatsoever. The reason of which is, because she does not number her days, or measure her seasons, so much by the motion of the sun, as by the course of ourSaviour; beginning and counting on her year with him, who, being the true “Sun of righteousness,” began now to rise upon the world, and, as “the Day-star on high,” to enlighten them that sat in spiritual darkness.—Bp. Cosin, Wheatly.
The lessons and services, therefore, for the four first Sundays in her liturgical year, propose to our meditations the two-fold advent of ourLord Jesus Christ; teaching us that it is he who was to come, and did come, to redeem the world; and that it is he also who shall come again, to be our judge. The end proposed by the Church in setting these two appearances ofChristtogether before us, at this time, is to beget in our minds proper dispositions to celebrate the one and expect the other; that so with joy and thankfulness we may now “go to Bethlehem, and see this great thing which is come to pass, which theLordhath made known to us,” even the Son ofGodcome to visit us in greathumility; and thence, with faith unfeigned and hope immoveable, ascend in heart and mind to meet the same Son ofGodin the air, coming in glorious majesty to judge the quick and dead.—Bp. Horne.
ADVOCATE, the word used in our Bibles as a translation of the Greekπαράκλητος, (seeParaclete,) which signifies one who exhorts, defends, comforts; also one who prays or intercedes for another. It is an appellation given to theHoly Spiritby ourSaviour. (John xiv. 16; xv. 26.)
ADVOCATES are mentioned in the 96th, 131st, and 133rd English Canons, as regular members of the Ecclesiastical Courts. The pleaders, or superior practitioners, in all the English and Irish Church Courts are so called. In London they form a corporation, or college, called Doctors’ Commons; because all Advocates must be Doctors of Law, and they formerly lived together in a collegiate manner, with a common table, &c. The candidate Advocates obtain a fiat from the archbishop of Canterbury, and are admitted by the judge to practise. In Ireland they do not form a college: they must be Doctors of Law, but generally practise in the common law or equity courts, besides. They are admitted to practise by the judge of the Prerogative Court. The pleaders in the supreme courts in Scotland, and generally throughout Europe, are called Advocates. The institution of the order is very ancient. About the time of the emperor Alexander Severus (seeButler’sLife of L’Hopital) three ranks of legal practitioners were established: theorators, who were the pleaders; theadvocates, who instructed the orators in points of law; and thecognitores, orprocuratores, who discharged much the same office as proctors or attorneys now. The first order gradually merged into the second.—Jebb.
ADVOWSON, is the right of patronage to a church, or an ecclesiastical benefice; and he who has the right of advowson is called the patron of the church, from his obligation to defend the rights of the church from oppression and violence. For when lords of manors first built churches upon their own demesnes, and appointed the tithes of those manors to be paid to the officiating ministers, which before were given to the clergy in common, the lord, who thus built a church and endowed it with glebe or land, had of common right a power annexed of nominating such minister as he pleased (provided he were canonically qualified) to officiate in that church, of which he was the founder, endower, maintainer, or, in one word, the patron.
Advowsons are of two sorts, advowsons appendant, and advowsons in gross. When annexed to a manor or land, so as to pass with them, they are appendant; for so long as the church continues annexed to the possession of the manor, as some have done from the foundation of the church to this day, the patronage or presentation belongs to the person in possession of the manor or land. But when the property of the advowson has been once separated from that of the manor by legal conveyance, it is called an advowson in gross, or at large, and exists as a personal right in the person of its owner, independent of his manor or land. Advowsons are also either presentative, collative, donative, or elective. An advowson presentative is where the patron has a right to present the parson to the bishop or ordinary to be instituted and inducted, if he finds him canonically qualified. An advowson collative is where the bishop is both patron and ordinary. An advowson donative is where the king, or any subject by his licence, founds a church or chapel, and ordains that it shall be merely in the gift or disposal of the patron; subject to his visitation only, and not to that of the ordinary; and vested absolutely in the clerk by the patron’s deed of donation, without presentation, institution, or induction.
As to presentations to advowsons: where there are divers patrons, joint-tenants, or tenants in common, and they vary in their presentment, the ordinary is not bound to admit any of their clerks; and if the six months elapse within which time they are to present, he may present by the lapse; but he may not present within the six months; for if he do, they may agree and bring aquare impeditagainst him, and remove his clerk. Where the patrons are co-parceners, the eldest sister, or her assignee, is entitled to present; and then, at the next avoidance, the next sister shall present, and so by turns one sister after another, till all the sisters, or their heirs, have presented, and then the eldest sister shall begin again, except they agree to present together, or by composition to present in some other manner. But if the eldest presents together with another of her sisters, and the other sisters every one of them in their own name, or together, the ordinary is not bound to receive any of their clerks, but may suffer the church to lapse. But in this case, before the bishop can take advantage of the lapse, he must direct a writ to inquire the right of patronage.Where an advowson is mortgaged, the mortgager alone shall present, when the church becomes vacant: and the mortgagee can derive no advantage from the presentation in reduction of his debt. If a woman has an advowson, or part of an advowson, to her and her heirs, and marries, the husband may not only present jointly with his wife, during the coverture, but also after her death the right of presenting during his life is lodged in him, as tenant by courtesy, if he has children by her. And even though the wife dies without having had issue by her husband, so that he is not tenant by courtesy, and the church remains vacant at her death, yet the husband shall present to the void turn; and if in such case he does not present, his executor may. If a man, seized of an advowson, takes a wife, and dies, the heir shall have two presentations, and the wife the third, even though her husband may have granted away the third turn. Or, if a manor, to which an advowson is appendant, descends to the heir, and he assigns dower to his mother of the third part of the manor, with the appurtenances, she is entitled to the presentation of the third part of the advowson; the right of presentation being a chose in action which is not assignable. If an advowson is sold, when the church is vacant, it is decided that the grantee is not entitled to the benefit of the next presentation. If, during the vacancy of a church, the patron die, his executor, or personal representative, is entitled to that presentation, unless it be a donative benefice, in which case the right of donation descends to the heir. But if the incumbent of a church be also seized in fee of the advowson of the same church, and die, his heir, and not his executors, shall present.
As to the manner in which advowsons descend, it has been determined, that advowsons in gross cannot descend from the brother to the sister of the entire blood, but they shall descend to the brother of the half blood, unless the first had presented to it in his lifetime, and then it shall descend to the sister, she being the next heir of the entire blood.
ÆONS. (Αίῶνες, ages.) The name given by some of the Gnostic heretics to the spiritual beings, whom they supposed to haveemanatedfrom the Divinity. (SeeValentinus.)
AERIANS. A small sect founded by Aërius, a presbyter of Sebaste, in the lesser Armenia, aboutA. D.355. St. Augustine tells us that Aërius, the author of this heresy, was mortified at not attaining the episcopate; and having fallen into the heresy of Arius, and having been led into many strange notions by impatience of the control of the Church, he taught, among other things, that no difference ought to be recognised between a bishop and a presbyter; whereas, until then, even all sectaries had acknowledged the episcopate as a superior order, and had been careful at their outset to obtain episcopal ordination for their ministers. Thus Aërius revenged himself upon the dignity to which he had unsuccessfully aspired; and he has left his history and his character to future ages, as an argument almost as forcible as direct reasoning and evidence, of the apostolical ordinance of the episcopate.
AFFINITY. (Fromaffinis.) Relation by marriage. Relation contracted by the husband to the kindred of the wife, and by the wife to those of the husband. It is opposed to consanguinity, or relation by birth.—Johnson.(SeeConsanguinity.)
AFFUSION. Although dipping or plunging into the water were the more ancient practice, and more universal in the primitive times, yet sprinkling or pouring water on the head of the baptized person was of great antiquity in the Church likewise. It had its beginning in the cases of sick persons chiefly, who could not come to the public baptistery, nor could the weakness of their constitution admit of their being dipped all over in the water; and, therefore, the sprinkling or pouring of a small quantity of water upon the face or head was judged sufficient. In the fourth and fifth centuries aspersion was more common. After the heathen nations were converted to Christianity, and by that means the baptisms of adults were less frequent, the tenderness of children’s bodies, especially in the colder countries, not enduring to be dipped in water, the use of sprinkling generally succeeded in the Church, instead of that of dipping. And, indeed, during the more early ages of the Church, and when adults were frequently baptized, there were some particular cases when aspersion was used instead of immersion; as in that of some young women noticed by St. Chrysostom. Our Church, with great moderation, does not totally lay aside immersion, if the strength of the child will bear it, as indeed it seldom will without danger in our cold country; in which case she admits aspersion only, rather than occasion any injury or danger to the body of a tender babe; wisely considering, that, in the sight ofGod, “mercy is better than sacrifice.”—Dr. Nicholls.
Either of these modes of administering baptism is sufficient. For it is not in thisspiritual washing, as it is in the bodily, where, if the bath be not large enough to receive the whole body, some parts may be foul, when the rest are cleansed. The soul is cleansed after another manner; a little water can cleanse the believer, as well as a whole river. The old fashion was to dip or sprinkle the person “thrice,” to signify the mystery of the Trinity. The Church so appointed then because of some heretics that denied the Trinity: upon the same ground, afterwards, it was appointed to do it but once, (signifying the unity of substance in the Trinity,) lest we should seem to agree with the heretics that did it thrice. This baptizing is to be at the “font.”—Bp. Sparrow.