EVANGELICAL. Agreeable to the gospel, or “evangel.” The term is used by that class of dissenters whose private judgment leads them to regard as Scriptural the facts of ourLord’sDivinity and atonement, to distinguish them from another class of dissenters, whose private judgment leads them to hold these sacred truths as unscriptural. (See theEvangelical Magazine.) The name is sometimes given to those persons who conform to the Church, but whose notions are supposed more nearly to coincide with the opinions of dissenters than with the doctrines of the Church; thereby most unjustly insinuating that the principles of all consistent members of the Church are not according to the gospel. The use of terms of distinction among members of the Church is much to be reprobated: among sects it cannot be avoided. In the strict and proper sense of the words, he who is truly evangelical must be a true member of the Church, and every true member of the Church must be truly evangelical.
EVANGELISTS. Persons chosen by the apostles to preach the gospel. It being impracticable for the twelve only to preach the gospel to all the world, Philip, among others, was engaged in this function. As for their rank in the Church,St. Paul places them after the apostles and prophets, but before the pastors and teachers, (Eph. iv. 11,) which makes Theodoret call them apostles of the second rank: they had no particular flock assigned, as bishops or ordinary pastors, but travelled from one place to another, according to their instructions received from the apostles, to whom they returned after they had executed their commission, so that, in short, this office, being extraordinary, expired with the apostles.
The title of Evangelists is now more particularly given to those four holy persons who wrote the history of ourSaviour.
EVENS, or VIGILS. The nights or evenings before certain holy-days of the Church. Vigils are derived from the earliest periods of Christianity. In those times of persecution Christians held their assemblies in the night, in order to avoid detection. On these occasions they celebrated the memory ofChrist’sdeath in the holy mysteries. When persecution had intermitted and finally ceased, although Christians were able to celebrate all their rites, and to minister the sacraments in the day-time, yet a custom which had commenced from necessity was retained from devotion and choice. The reason why some of the festivals have evens or vigils assigned, and some have not, appears to be this, that the festivals which have no vigils fall generally between Christmas and the Purification, or between Easter and Whitsuntide; which were always esteemed such seasons of joy that the Church did not think fit to intermingle them with any days of fasting and humiliation. To this rule there are exceptions, which may be severally accounted for, but such seems to be the rule: e.g. There is no vigil on St. Michael’s day, because, as Dr. Bisse remarks, the saints entered into joy through sufferings, and therefore their festivals are preceded by fasts; which circumstance is not applicable to the angels ofGod. St. Paul’s day commemorates not his martyrdom, but his conversion; St. Luke was not an apostle, nor does the calendar represent him as a martyr. The holy-days which have vigils may be seen in the Prayer Book, in the table of the Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence to be observed in the Year.
The eves are in some respects observed in colleges and choirs as Sundays. For example, in those places where the choral service was not daily, it was nevertheless performed on Saturday evenings and eves, as is still usual; though in some choirs the custom has fallen into abeyance. But in all colleges the regulation of the 17th canon is still observed, which directs that “all masters and fellows of colleges and halls, and all the scholars and students in either of the universities, shall in their churches and chapels, upon all Sundays, holy-days,and their eves, at the time of Divine service, wear surplices, according to the order of the Church of England; and such as are graduates, shall agreeably wear with their surplices such hoods as do severally appertain to their degrees.” At Oxford, however, except at Christ Church, the rule is not generally understood as applying to any but foundation members.
It is difficult to determine what analogy these evening services, preceding Sundays and holy-days, bear to those of the unreformed Church of England. The service for the vigil, in the Breviary, is not at vespers. There is a distinct service for the vigil from matins to nones inclusive, which has collects, &c. different from that of the Sunday or holy-day which it precedes. Ordinary Sundays have not vigils, either in our Church or in the Roman, except at Easter and Pentecost. By our calendar, therefore, the eve of the Sunday is plainly a different matter from the vigil. Though the collect for the Sunday is uniformly read on the preceding Saturday evening, it is not read when the holy-day has no vigil or eve. The Saturday evening service is to be considered as an introduction to that of Sunday.
Some clergymen doubt whether, in case of a holy-day with a vigil or eve falling on a Monday, the collect for that holy-day is to be read on the Sunday evening or on the Saturday. That thevigilorfastday must be kept on the Saturday, and not on the Sunday, is plain from the calendar. But whether this keeping of the vigil includes thecommemorationof the holy-day by reading the collect, is not so evident. The question must first be solved, whether the service of the preceding evening is avigil service, or thefirst vespers.—Jebb.
EVEN-SONG. (SeeLiturgy, Common Prayer.) Evening prayer, which is appointed to be sung or said. The office of even-song, or evening prayer, is a judicious abridgment of the offices of vespers (i. e. even-song) and compline, as used in our Church before the Reformation; and it appears that the revisers of our offices formed the introduction to evening prayer from those parts of both vespers and compline which seemed best suited to this place, and which presented uniformity with the introduction to morning prayer.
Even-songoccurs in the table of ProperLessons for Sundays and Holy-days, and Proper Psalms. It is in fact the same as the old word vespers; and only differs from the other authorized expression, evening prayer, in having more special reference to the psalms and hymns, and the anthem, those holysongswhich make up so large a portion of the service.
EXALTATION OF THE CROSS. A festival of the Greek and Romish Churches observed on the 14th of December. It is founded on the following legend:
In the reign of Heraclius, Chosroes, king of Persia, sacked Jerusalem, and, together with other plunder, carried off that part of the cross left there in memory of ourSaviour, by the empress Helena, which Chosroes sent into Persia. After many battles, in which the Persian was always defeated, Heraclius had the good fortune to recover the cross. This prince carried it to Jerusalem himself; and, laying aside his imperial ornaments, marched with it on his shoulders to the top of Mount Calvary, from whence it had been taken. The memory of this action was perpetuated by the festival of the re-establishment, or (as it is now called) the exaltation of the cross.
The latter name was given to this festival, because on this day they exalted or set up the cross in the great church at Constantinople, in order to show it to the people.
EXAMINATION FOR ORDERS. By Canon 35, “The bishop, before he admit any person to holy orders, shall diligently examine him, in the presence of those ministers that shall assist him at the imposition of hands; and if the bishop have any lawful impediment, he shall cause the said ministers carefully to examine every such person so to be ordered.... And if any bishop or suffragan shall admit any to sacred orders who is not so examined, and qualified as before we have ordained, [viz. in Canon 34,] the archbishop of his province, having notice thereof, and being assisted therein by one bishop, shall suspend the said bishop or suffragan so offending, from making either deacons or priests for the space of two years.”
Of common right, this examination pertaineth to the archdeacon, saith Lyndewood; and so saith the canon law, in which this is laid down as one branch of the archidiaconal office. Which is also supposed in our present form of ordination, both of priests and deacons, where the archdeacon’s office is to present the persons that are apt and meet. And for the regular method of examination, we are referred by Lyndewood to the canon upon that head, inserted in the body of the canon law, viz. When the bishop intends to hold an ordination, all who are desirous to be admitted into the ministry are to appear on the fourth day before the ordination; and then the bishop shall appoint some of the priests attending him, and others skilled in the Divine law, and exercised in the ecclesiastical sanctions, who shall diligently examine the life, age, and title of the persons to be ordained; at what place they had their education; whether they be well learned; whether they be instructed in the law ofGod; and they shall be diligently examined for three days successively; and so on the Saturday, they who are approved shall be presented to the bishop.
EXAMINATION BEFORE INSTITUTION. In the first settlement of the Church of England, the bishops of the several dioceses had them under their own immediate care, and that of the clergy living in a community with them, whom they sent abroad to several parts of their dioceses, as they saw occasion to employ them; but by degrees, they found it necessary to place presbyters within such a compass, that they might attend upon the service ofGodamongst the inhabitants. These precincts, which are since called parishes, were at first much larger; and when lords of manors were inclined to build churches for their own convenience, they found it necessary to make some endowments, to oblige those who officiated in their churches to a diligent attendance: upon this, the several bishops were very well content to let those patrons have the nomination of persons to those churches, provided they were satisfied of the fitness of those persons, and that it were not deferred beyond such a limited time. So that the right of patronage is really but a limited trust; and the bishops are still in law the judges of the fitness of the persons to be employed in the several parts of their dioceses. The patrons never had the absolute disposal of their benefices upon their own terms; but if they did not present fit persons within the limited time, the care of the places did return to the bishop, who was then bound to provide for them.
By the statuteArticuli cleri, 9 Edward II. s. 1, c. 13, it is enacted as follows:—“It is desired that spiritual persons, whom our lord the king doth present unto benefices of the Church, (if the bishop will not admit them, either for lack of learning, or for other cause reasonable,) may not be under the examination of lay persons in the cases aforesaid, as it is now attempted,contrary to the decrees canonical; but that they may sue unto a spiritual judge for remedy, as right shall require.” The answer:—“Of the ability of a person presented unto a benefice of the Church, the examination belongeth to a spiritual judge; so it hath been used heretofore, and shall be hereafter.”
“Of the ability of a person presented”—De idoneitate personæ: so that it is required by law, that the person presented beidonea persona; for so be the words of the king’s writ,præsentare idoneam personam. And thisidoneitasconsisteth in divers expressions against persons presented:—1. Concerning the person, as if he be under age or a layman. 2. Concerning his conversation, as if he be criminous. 3. Concerning his inability to discharge his pastoral duty, as if he be unlearned, and not able to feed his flock with spiritual food. And the examination of the ability and sufficiency of the person presented belongs to the bishop, who is the ecclesiastical judge; and in this examination he is a judge, and not a minister, and may and ought to refuse the person presented, if he be notidonea persona.
“The examination belongeth to a spiritual judge;” and yet in some cases, notwithstanding this statute,idoneitas personæshall be tried by the country, or else there should be a failure of justice, which the law will not suffer; as if the inability or insufficiency be alleged in a man that is dead, this case is out of the statute; for in such case the bishop cannot examine him; and, consequently, though the matter be spiritual, yet shall it be tried by a jury; and the court, being assisted by learned men in that profession, may instruct the jury as well of the ecclesiastical law in that case, as they usually do of the common law.
By a constitution of Archbishop Langton:—“We do enjoin, that if any one be canonically presented to a church, and there be no opposition, the bishop shall not delay to admit him longer than two months, provided he be sufficient.”
But by Canon 95—“Albeit by former constitutions of the Church of England, every bishop hath had two months’ space to inquire and inform himself of the sufficiency and qualities of every minister after he hath been presented unto him to be instituted into any benefice, yet for the avoiding of some inconveniences, we do now abridge and reduce the said two months unto eight and twenty days only. In respect of which abridgment we do ordain and appoint that no double quarrel shall hereafter be granted out of any of the archbishops’ courts, at the suit of any minister whatsoever, except he shall first take his personal oath, that the said eight and twenty days at the least are expired after he first tendered his presentation to the bishop, and that he refused to grant him institution thereupon; or shall enter into bond with sufficient sureties to prove the same to be true; under pain of suspension of the granter thereof from the execution of his office for half-a-yeartoties quoties, to be denounced by the said archbishop, and nullity of the double quarrel aforesaid so unduly procured, to all intents and purposes whatsoever. Always provided, that within the said eight and twenty days, the bishop shall not institute any other to the prejudice of the said party before presented,sub pœna nullitatis.
“Every bishop hath had.”—The canon mentions bishops, only because institution belongeth to them of common right; but it must also be understood to extend to others, who have this right by privilege or custom, as deans, deans and chapters, and others who have peculiar jurisdiction. Concerning whom it hath been unanimously adjudged, that if the archbishop shall give institution to any peculiar belonging to any ecclesiastical person or body, it is only voidable; because they being not free from this jurisdiction and visitation, the archbishop shall be supposed to have a concurrent jurisdiction, and in this case only to supply the defects of the inferiors, till the contrary appears. But if the archbishop grant institution to a peculiar in a lay hand, it is null and void; because he can have no jurisdiction there.
“To inquire and inform himself.”—In answer to an objection made, that the bishop ought to receive the clerk of him that comes first, otherwise he is a disturber, Hobart saith, the law is contrary; for as he may take competent time to examine the sufficiency and fitness of a clerk, so he may give convenient time to persons interested, to take knowledge of the avoidance, (even in case of death, and where notice is to be taken and not given,) to present their clerks to it.
Canon 39. “No bishop shall institute any to a benefice, who hath been ordained by any other bishop, except he first show unto him his letters of orders; and bring him a sufficient testimony of his former good life and behaviour, if the bishop shall require it; and, lastly, shall appear upon due examination to be worthy of his ministry.”
“Except he first show unto him his letters of orders.”—And by the 13 & 14 Charles II. c. 4, no person shall be capable to be admitted to any parsonage, vicarage, benefice, or other ecclesiastical promotion or dignity whatsoever, before such time as he shall be ordained priest, and bring a sufficient testimony of his former good life and behaviour. By the ancient laws of the Church, and particularly of the Church of England, the four things in which the bishop was to have full satisfaction in order to institution, were age, learning, behaviour, and orders. And there is scarce any one thing which the ancient canons of the Church more peremptorily forbid, than the admitting clergymen of one diocese to exercise their function in another, without first exhibiting the letters testimonial and commendatory of the bishop by whom they were ordained; and the constitutions of the Archbishops Reynolds and Arundel show that the same was the known law of the English Church, to wit, that none should be admitted to officiate (not so much as a chaplain or curate) in any diocese in which he was not born or ordained, unless he bring with him his letters of orders, and letters commendatory of his diocesan.
And, lastly, “shall appear, upon due examination, to be worthy of his ministry.”—As to the matter of learning, it hath been particularly allowed, not only by the courts of the King’s Bench and Common Pleas, but also by the High Court of Parliament, that the ordinary is not accountable to any temporal court, for the measures he takes or the rules by which he proceeds, in examining and judging (only he must examine in convenient time, and refuse in convenient time); and that the clerk’s having been ordained (and so presumed to be of good abilities) doth not take away or diminish the right which the statute above recited doth give to the bishop to whom the presentation is made to examine and judge.
EXARCH. An officer in the Greek Church, whose business it is to visit the provinces allotted to him, in order to inform himself of the lives and manners of the clergy; take cognizance of ecclesiastical causes; the manner of celebrating Divine service; the administration of the sacraments, particularly confession; the observance of the canons; monastic discipline; affairs of marriages; divorces, &c.
The title of exarchs, borrowed from the civil administration of the empire, was given about the fourth century to the chief bishops of certain large provinces; as the bishops of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, and of Ephesus.
EXCOMMUNICATION is an ecclesiastical censure, whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is for the time cast out of the communion of the Church.
Excommunication is of two kinds, the lesser and the greater: the lesser excommunication is the depriving the offender of the use of the sacraments and Divine worship; and this sentence is passed by judges ecclesiastical, on such persons as are guilty of obstinacy or disobedience, in not appearing upon a citation, or not submitting to penance, or other injunctions of the court.
The greater excommunication is that whereby men are deprived, not only of the sacraments and the benefit of Divine offices, but of the society and conversation of the faithful.
If a person be excommunicated generally, as if the judge say,I excommunicate such a person, this shall be understood of the greater excommunication.
The law in many cases inflicts the censure of excommunicationipso factoupon offenders; which nevertheless is not intended so as to condemn any person without a lawful trial for his offence: but he must first be found guilty in the proper court; and then the law gives that judgment. And there are divers provincial constitutions, by which it is provided, that this sentence shall not be pronounced (in ordinary cases) without previous monition or notice to the parties, which also is agreeable to the ancient canon law.
By Canon 65. “All ordinaries shall in their several jurisdictions carefully see and give order, that as well those who for obstinate refusing to frequent Divine service established by public authority within this realm of England, as those also (especially those of the better sort and condition) who for notorious contumacy, or other notable crimes, stand lawfully excommunicate, (unless within three months immediately after the said sentence of excommunication pronounced against them, they reform themselves, and obtain the benefit of absolution,) be every six months ensuing, as well in the parish church as in the cathedral church of the diocese in which they remain, by the minister, openly in the time of Divine service upon some Sunday, denounced and declared excommunicate, that others may be thereby both admonished to refrain their company and society, and excited the rather to procure a writde excommunicato capiendo, thereby to bring and reduce them intodue order and obedience. Likewise the registrar of every ecclesiastical court shall yearly, between Michaelmas and Christmas, duly certify the archbishop of the province of all and singular the premises aforesaid.”
By Canon 68. “If the minister refuse to bury any corpse, except the party deceased were denounced excommunicated by the greater excommunication, for some grievous and notorious crime, and no man able to testify of his repentance, he shall be suspended by the bishop from his ministry for the space of three months.”
But by the rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, the Burial Office shall not be used for any that die excommunicate.
EXEAT. The permission given by the authorities in a college, to personsin statu pupillari, to leave their college residence for a time.
EXEDRÆ, in ecclesiastical antiquity, is the general name of such buildings as were distinct from the main body of thechurches, and yet within the bounds of the Church, taken in its largest sense. Thus Eusebius, speaking of the church of Paulinus at Tyre, says, “When that curious artist had finished his famous structure within, he then set himself about theexedræ, or buildings that joined one to another by the sides of the church.” Among theexedræ, the chief was thebaptistery, or place of baptism. Also the two vestries, or sacristies, as we should call them, still found in all Oriental churches; viz. theDiaconicum, wherein the sacred utensils, &c. were kept; and theProthesis, where the side-table stood, on which the elements before consecration were placed.—Jebb.
EXEMPTION, in the ecclesiastical sense of the word, means a privilege given by the pope to the clergy, and sometimes to the laity, to exempt or free them from the jurisdiction of their respective ordinaries.
When monasteries began to be erected, and governed by abbots of great quality, merit, and figure, these men, to cover their ambition, and to discharge themselves from the subjection which they owed to the bishops, procured grants from the court of Rome, to be received under the protection of St. Peter, and to be put immediately under subjection to the pope. This request being for the interest of the court of Rome, inasmuch as it contributed greatly to the advancement of the papal authority, all the monasteries were presently exempted. The chapters also of cathedral churches obtained exemptions upon the same score.
St. Bernard, who lived at the time when this invention was first put in practice, took the freedom to tell Pope Eugenius III. that it was no better than an abuse, and that it was by no means defensible, that an abbot should withdraw himself from the obedience due to his bishop; that the Church militant ought to be governed by the precedent of the Church triumphant, in which no angel ever said, “I will not be under the jurisdiction of an archangel.”
In after ages this abuse was carried so far, that, for a small charge, private priests procured exemption from the jurisdiction of their bishop. The Council of Trent made a small reformation in this matter, by abolishing the exemption of particular priests and friars, not living in cloisters, and that of chapters in criminal causes.—Sarpi’s Council of Trent.
EXHORTATION. By this general name the addresses of the minister to the people in the liturgy are called. While they are said, the people stand, in sign of respectful attention, but do not repeat them after the minister, since they are not addresses to the Almighty made in their name, but addresses to them only.
The ancient Church, indeed, had no such exhortations as those in our Communion Service; for their daily, or at least weekly, communions made it known that there was then no solemn assembly of Christians without it, and every one (not under censure) was expected to communicate. But now, when the time is somewhat uncertain, and our long omissions have made some of us ignorant, and others forgetful of this duty; most of us unwilling, and all of us more or less indisposed for it; it was thought both prudent and necessary to provide these exhortations to be read “when the minister gives warning of the communion, which he is always to do upon the Sunday, or some holy-day immediately preceding.”
As to the composures themselves, they are so extraordinary suitable, that if every communicant would duly weigh and consider them, they would be no small help towards a due preparation. The first contains proper exhortations and instructions how to prepare ourselves; the latter is more urgent, and applicable to those who generally turn their backs upon those holy mysteries, and shows the danger of those vain and frivolous excuses which men frequently make for their staying away. For which reason it is appointed by the rubric to be used instead of the former, whenever the minister shall observe that the people are “negligent to come.”—Wheatly.
The service of the Church of England is distinguished by the number and fitness of its exhortations. These are: one at the beginning of Morning and Evening Prayer; two in the Communion Service, when notice is given of the holy communion; another at the time of celebration. Five in the Baptismal Service; two in the office for receiving those into the Church who have been privately baptized; and five in the Baptism of those of Riper Years; one in the Confirmation Office; two in the Solemnization of Matrimony; two in the Visitation of the Sick; one in the Churching Service; two in the Commination Service; besides those in the Ordination Service. These may be considered as so many sermons of the Church, which assert her doctrines, and fully show what she expects from the faith and practice of her children.
EXODUS. (From the Greekἔξοδος,going out; the term generally applied to the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.) The second book of the Bible is so called, because it is chiefly occupied with the account of that part of the sacred history. It comprehends the transactions of 145 years, from the death of Joseph in 2369B. C.to the building of the Tabernacle in 2114.
EXORCISMS (fromἐξορκίζω, toconjure) were certain prayers used of old in the Christian churches for the dispossessing of devils. This custom of exorcism is as ancient as Christianity itself, being practised by ourSaviour, the apostles, and the primitive Church; and the Christians were so well assured of the prevalency of their prayers upon these occasions, that they publicly offered the heathens to venture their lives upon the success of them.
In the form of baptism, in the liturgy of the 2 Edward VI., it was ordered thus:—“Then let the priest, looking upon the children, say, ‘I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of theFather, of theSon, and of theHoly Ghost, that thou come out and depart from these infants, whom ourLord Jesus Christhath vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, to be made members of his body, and of his holy congregation; therefore, thou cursed spirit, remember thy sentence, remember thy judgment, remember the day to be at hand wherein thou shalt burn in fire everlasting, prepared for thee and thy angels; and presume not hereafter to exercise any tyranny towards these infants whomChristhath bought with his precious blood, and by this his holy baptism called to be of his flock.’”
There was a custom which obtained in the early ages of the Church, which was to exorcise the baptized person, or to cast Satan out of him, who was supposed to have taken possession of his body in his unregenerate state. But because, in process of time, many superstitious and unwarrantable practices mixed with this ancient rite, especially in the Roman Church, our Reformers wisely thought fit to lay it quite aside, and to substitute in lieu of it these short excellent prayers: wherein the minister and the congregation put up their petitions to AlmightyGod, that the child may be delivered from the power of the devil, and receive all the benefits of the Divine grace and protection, without the ancient ceremony attending it.—Dr. Nicholls.
Canon 72. “No minister shall, without the licence of the bishop of the diocese, under his hand and seal, attempt, upon any pretence whatsoever, to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of the imputation of imposture or cozenage, and deposition from the ministry.”
EXORCISTS were persons ordained in the latter end of the third century, on purpose to take care of such as were demoniacs, or possessed with evil spirits. In the first ages of Christianity there were many persons who are represented as possessed with evil spirits, and exorcism was performed not by any particular set of men, but afterwards it was judged requisite by the bishops to appropriate this office by ordination. They are still a separate order in the Church of Rome.
EXPECTATION WEEK. The whole of the interval between Ascension Day and Whit Sunday is so called, because at this time the apostles continued in earnest prayer and expectation of the Comforter.
EXPIATION. A religious act, by which satisfaction or atonement is made for some crime, the guilt removed, and the obligation to punish cancelled. (Lev. xv. 15.)
EXPIATION, THE GREAT DAY OF. An annual solemnity of the Jews, observed upon the 10th day of the month Tisri, which answers to our September. The Hebrews call itChippur, that is, “pardon,” because the sins of the whole people were then expiated or pardoned. (Lev. xvi. 29, 30.) On this occasion, the high priest laid aside his pectoral and embroidered ephod, because it was a day of humiliation. He offered first a bullock and a ram for his own sins and those of the priests; then he received from the heads of the people two goats for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, to be offered in the nameof the whole multitude. It was determined by lot, which of the goats should be sacrificed, and which set at liberty. After this, he perfumed the sanctuary with incense, and sprinkled it with blood. Then, coming out, he sacrificed the goat upon which the lot had fallen. This done, the goat which was to be set at liberty being brought to him, he laid his hands upon its head, confessed his sins and the sins of the people, and then sent it away into some desert place.
The great day of Expiation was a day of rest and strict fasting: they confessed themselves ten times, and repeated the name ofGodas often: on this day likewise they put an end to all differences, and were reconciled to each other. Many Jews spent the night preceding the day of Expiation in prayer and penitential exercises. It was customary for the high priest to separate from his wife seven days before this solemnity. Upon the vigil, some of the elders attended the high priest, and their business was to prevent his eating too much, lest he should fall asleep. He was likewise to swear, that he would not change the ancient rites in any particular. On the day itself, the high priest washed himself five times, and changed his habit as often. When the ceremony was over, the high priest read the law, and gave the blessing to the people.—Buxtorf, Synag. Jud.c. xx.Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, t. v. lib. vii. c. 15.
The modern Jews prepare themselves for the great day of Expiation by prayer, and ablution. They carry wax candles to the synagogue: the most devout have two, one for the body, and the other for the soul. The women at the same time light up candles in their houses, from the brightness of which, and the consistency of the tallow or wax, they form presages. The whole day is spent in strict fasting, without exception of age or sex. At the conclusion of the solemnity, the high priest gives the blessing to the people; who return home, change their clothes, and sit down to a good meal.
The Jews believe, that Adam repented, and began his penance, on the solemn day of Expiation; that, on the same day, Abraham was circumcised, and Isaac bound in order to be sacrificed; lastly, that on this day, Moses descended from Mount Sinai, with the new tables of the law.
As sacrificing is now impracticable to the modern Jews, in regard that their temple is destroyed, they sacrifice a cock on this occasion, instead of the legal victims, in the manner following. The men take each of them a cock in their hands, and the women a hen. Then the master of the family walks into the middle of the room, and repeating several verses out of the Psalms, dashes the cock thrice on the head, pronouncing these words; “Let this cock pass as an exchange for me; let him stand in my place; let him be an expiation for me; let death befall this cock, but life and happiness belong to me, and all the people of Israel. Amen.” This prayer is thrice repeated by the master of the family; for himself, his children, and the strangers of his family. Then they proceed to kill the cock, and throw his entrails upon the top of the house, that the crows may come and carry them away, together with the sins of the family, into the wilderness: this is done by way of resemblance with the scape goat.
It is of this fast we are to understand that passage of the Acts, where St. Luke says, that St. Paul comforted those who were with him in the ship, “when sailing was become dangerous, because the fast was already past.” (Acts xxvii. 9.) For tempests are very frequent in the month of September, in which this solemnity falls, and this was much about the time that St. Paul took his voyage to Rome.
EXTRAVAGANTS. (SeeDecretals.) A name given to those decretal epistles of the popes after the Clementines. The first Extravagants are those of John XXIII., successor to Clement V.; they were so named because, at first, they were not digested, nor ranged with the other papal constitutions, but seemed to be, as it were, detached from the canon law; and they retained the same name when they were afterwards inserted into the body of the canon law. The collection of decretals, in 1483, were called theCommon Extravagants, notwithstanding they were likewise embodied with the rest of the canon law.
EXTREME UNCTION. Of extreme unction the Romish Council of Trent asserts, “The holy unction of the sick was instituted by ourLord Christ, as truly and properly a sacrament of the New Testament, as is implied, indeed, in St. Mark; but commended and declared to the faithful by James, the apostle and brother of theLord. “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of theLord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and theLordshall raise him up, and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.”” From which words, as the Church hathlearned from apostolic tradition handed down, she teaches the matter, form, proper minister, and effect of this wholesome sacrament; for the Church has understood that the matter is oil blessed by the bishop, for unction most aptly represents the grace of theHoly Spiritwherewith the soul of the sick man is invisibly anointed: then that the form consists of these words, “By this anointing,” &c.
The following are the canons upon the subject passed by that council.
Canon I. If any shall say, that extreme unction is not truly or properly a sacrament instituted by ourLord Christ, and declared by the blessed apostle James; but only a rite received from the Fathers, or a human invention; let him be accursed.
Canon II. If any shall say, that the holy anointing of the sick does not confer grace, nor remit sins, nor relieve the sick, but that it has ceased, as if it were formerly only the grace of healing; let him be accursed.
Canon III. If any shall say, that the rite and usage of extreme unction, which, the holy Roman Church observes, is contrary to the sentence of the blessed apostle James, and, therefore, should be changed, and may be despised by Christians without sin; let him be accursed.
Canon IV. If any shall say, that the presbyters of the Church, whom St. James directs to be called for the anointing of the sick, are not priests ordained by the bishops, but elders in age, in any community; and that, therefore, the priest is not the only proper minister of extreme unction; let him be accursed.
Here the institution of extreme unction by ourLordis implied by Mark vi. 13, where it is said of the apostles, that “they anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” But, by-and-by, (session 22, ch. 1,) we are told that the Christian priesthood was not instituted until ourLord’slast supper. Either, then, extreme unction is no sacrament, or they who are no priests can administer a sacrament; for the apostles were not priests, according to the Church of Rome, at the time spoken of by St. Mark. But, further, a sacrament is a visible form of invisible grace; but the passage in St. Mark speaks only of healing the body; and, therefore, Cajetan, as cited by Catharinus, rejects this text as inapplicable to this sacrament; and Suarez (in part iii. disp. 39, sect. 1, n. 5) says, that “when the apostles are said to anoint the sick and heal them, (Mark vi. 13,) this was not said in reference to the sacrament of unction, because their cures had not of themselves an immediate respect to the soul.” Nor will this pretended sacrament derive more assistance from the passage in St. James, in which they say that the institution by ourLordis proclaimed and declared by that apostle, at least if Cardinal Cajetan is any authority, who is thus cited by Catharinus in his Annotationes, Paris, 1535, p. 191, de Sacramento Unctionis Extremæ. “Sed et quod scribit B. Jacobus, ‘Infirmatur quis in vobis?’ &c., pariter negat reverendissimus ad hoc sacramentum pertinere, ita scribens, nec ex verbis, nec ex effectu, verba hæc loquuntur de sacramentali unctione extremæ unctionis, sed magis de unctione quam instituit Dominus Jesus exercendum in ægrotis. Textus enim non dicit, Infirmatur quis ad mortem? sed absolutè, Infirmatur quis?” &c. But that this rite, which they now call a sacrament, was originally applied chiefly to the healing of the body, is manifest from the prayers which accompanied it. “Cura quæsumus, Redemptor noster, gratia Spiritüs Sanctilanguores istius infirmi,” and so the directions, “in loco ubi plus dolor imminet, amplius perungatur.” Let the patient have most oil applied in the part where the pain is greatest.—Sacr. Gregor.by Menard, Paris, 1542, p. 252. From all which we come to the conclusion, that the allegations of the Council of Trent on this matter must be pronounced “not proven.” Which, if it were a mere opinion, would be of no great consequence. But when their assertion is supported by anathema, and every communicant in their Church bound to believe it as necessary to salvation, it serves to show the cruelty of this Roman mother both to her own children, and to them whom she reckons strangers. It is in vain that the Roman writers attempt to strengthen their cause by appeals to the Greek mysteries. The Greek mysteries and the Latin sacraments are not synonymous. And as concerns this of unction, which (as its epithet “extreme,” which the Romans have added, implies) is designed for personsin articulo mortis, orin exitu vitæ, as we have it in the third chapter, this derives as little countenance from the Greek Church as it does from St. James. For, in the Greek Church, the service of anointing is used to persons in any illness; and is used by them solely for recovery from sickness, as the following prayer at the application of the oil clearly shows. “O holyFather, the physician of our souls and bodies, who didst send thine only-begotten Son, ourLord Jesus Christ, toheal all diseases, and to deliver us from death, heal this thy servant M. from the bodily infirmity under which he now labours, and raise him up by the grace ofChrist.”—Perceval, Roman Schism. King’s Greek Church.
Now that this miraculous gift (of healing all manner of diseases) is ceased, there is no reason why the mere ceremony of anointing with oil should continue; which yet is still used in the Church of Rome, and made a sacrament; though it signify nothing; for they do not pretend to heal men by it, nay, they pretend the contrary, because they never use it but in extremity, and where they look upon the person as past recovery; and if they do not think so, they would not use it.—Abp. Tillotson.
EZEKIEL, THE PROPHECY OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. Ezekiel was the son of Buzi, of the house of Aaron. He was carried captive to Babylon with Jechoniah. He began to prophesy in the fifth year of this captivity, which is the æra by which he reckons in all his prophecies. He continued to prophesy during twenty years. He was contemporary with Jeremiah, who prophesied at the same time in Judea. He foretold many events, particularly the destruction of the temple; the fatal catastrophe of those who revolted from Babylon to Egypt; and, at last, the happy return of the Jews into their own land. He distinctly predicts the plagues which were to fall upon the enemies of the Jews, as the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. He foretells the coming of the Messiah, and the flourishing state of his kingdom.—Du Pin, Canon of Scripture, b. i. c. iii. § 20.
The greatest part of this prophecy is easy, plain, and intelligible, referring chiefly to the manners and corruption of that degenerate age. Of all the prophets, Ezekiel abounds the most in enigmatical visions. His style (in the opinion of St. Jerome) is neither eloquent nor mean, but between both. He abounds in fine sentences, rich comparisons, and shows a great deal of learning in profane matters. The beginning and end of this book (by reason of the abstruse mysteries contained in them) were forbidden to be read by the Jews, before thirty years of age.
Ezekiel was called to be a prophet by being carried in a vision to Jerusalem, and there shown all the several sorts of idolatry, which were practised by the Jews in that place. This makes the subject of the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of his prophecies. At the same timeGodpromised to those of the captivity, who kept themselves from these abominations, that he would be their protector, and restore them to the land of Israel. This is his theme in the 15th and following chapters. The 26th, 27th, and 28th chapters contain the threatenings ofGod’sjudgments against Tyre, for insulting on the calamitous estate of Judah and Jerusalem. To these we may add his prophecy concerning the captivity of Zedekiah, contained in the 12th chapter; and that against Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, in the 33rd. These are the principal prophecies of this book.—Prideaux, Connect. p. i. b. i.
It is said, that Ezekiel was put to death by the prince of his people, because he exhorted him to leave idolatry. It is pretended likewise, that his body was deposited in the same cave wherein Shem and Arphaxad were laid, on the bank of the Euphrates. His tomb, they say, is still to be seen: the Jews keep a lamp always burning in it, and boast, that they have there the prophet’s book, written with his own hand, which they read every year upon the great day of Expiation.
The Jewish Sanhedrim, we are told, once took it under their consideration, whether they should not suppress the prophecy of Ezekiel, on account of the obscurity of some parts of it; but that Rabbi Chananias prevented this design, by offering to remove all the difficulties. His proposal, they say, was accepted, and a present was made him of three hundred tun of oil for the use of his lamp, while he was employed in this undertaking. We may easily discover, that this is a mere fable and an hyperbole of the Talmudists.
EZRA. One of the canonical books of Scripture is called the Book of Ezra.
The book of Ezra was written in the latter end of the author’s life, and comprehends the transactions of about eighty, or, as some say, a hundred years. It includes the history of the Jews from the time of Cyrus’s edict for their return, to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus. In this book are recorded the number of those Jews who returned from the captivity, Cyrus’s proclamation for the rebuilding of the temple, the laying of the foundations thereof, &c. Part of this book was written in the Chaldee language, namely, from the eighth verse of the fourth chapter to the twenty-seventh verse of the seventh chapter; all the rest was written in Hebrew.
FACULTY COURT belongs to the archbishop of Canterbury, and his officeris called the Master of the Faculties. His power is to grant dispensation to marry, to eat flesh on days prohibited, to hold two or more benefices ordinarily incompatible, and such like.
FAITH. (SeeGrace, Justification.) “We are accounted righteous beforeGod, only for the merit of ourLordandSaviour Jesus Christ, by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.”—ArticleXI.
Faith, in its generic sense, either means the holding rightly the creeds of the Catholic Church, or means that very Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. Thus, when the priest is directed, in the office for the Baptism of those of Riper Years, to inquire into the faith of the candidate, he asks his assent to one of the creeds; and, in the office for the Visitation of the Sick, he is required to use the same test, and this of course agrees with St. Paul’s statement: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
It should be noted, that we are justifiedbyfaith, notbecause offaith; for there is no more “merit” in our faith, than in our works. Faith therefore is not the cause, but the condition, of our justification, which is solely to be attributed to the bounty ofGod, and the merits ofChrist.—Archdeacon Welchman.
I am sensible, says Dr. Waterland, that some very eminent men have expressed a dislike of the phrase, of the instrumentality of faith; and have also justly rejected the thing, according to the false notion which some had conceived of it. It cannot, with any tolerable sense or propriety, be looked upon as an instrument of conveyance in the hand of the efficient or principal cause; but it may justly and properly be looked upon as the instrument of reception in the hand of the recipient. It is not the mean by which the grace is wrought, effected, or conferred; but it may be, and is, the mean by which it is accepted or received: or, to express it a little differently, it is not the instrument of justification in the active sense of the word, but it is in the passive sense of it. It cannot be for nothing that St. Paul so often and so emphatically speaks of man’s being justified by faith, or through faith inChrist’sblood; and that he particularly notes it of Abraham, that he believed, and that his faith was counted to him for justification; when he might as easily have said, had he so meant, that man is justified by faith and works, or that Abraham, to whom the gospel was preached, was justified by gospel faith and obedience. Besides, it is certain, and is on all hands allowed, that, though St. Paul did not directly and expressly oppose faith to evangelical works, yet he comprehended the works of the moral law under those works which he excluded from the office of justifying, in his sense of justifying, in those passages; and further, he used such arguments as appear to extend to all kinds of works: for Abraham’s works were really evangelical works, and yet they were excluded. Add to this, that if justification could come even by evangelical works, without taking in faith in the meritorious sufferings and satisfaction of a mediator, then might we have “whereof to glory,” as needing no pardon; and then might it be justly said, that “Christdied in vain.” I must further own, that it is of great weight with me, that so early and so considerable a writer as Clemens of Rome, an apostolical man, should so interpret the doctrine of justifying faith, so as to oppose it plainly even to evangelical works, however exalted. It runs thus: “They (the ancient patriarchs) were all, therefore, greatly glorified and magnified; not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they themselves wrought, but through his good pleasure. And we also, being called through his good pleasure inChrist Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, neither by our own wisdom, or knowledge, or piety, or the works which we have done in holiness of heart, but by that faith by which AlmightyGodjustified all from the beginning.” Here it is observable, that the wordfaithdoes not stand for the whole system of Christianity, or for Christian belief at large, but for some particular self-denying principle by which good men, even under the patriarchal and legal dispensations, laid hold on the mercy and promises ofGod, referring all, not to themselves or their own deservings, but to Divine goodness, in and through a mediator. It is true, Clemens elsewhere, and St. Paul almost everywhere, insists upon true holiness of heart, and obedience of life, as indispensable conditions of salvation or justification; and of that one would think there could be no question among men of any judgment or probity: but the question about conditions is very distinct from the other question about instruments; and, therefore, both parts may be true, viz. that faith and obedienceare equallyconditions, and equally indispensable where opportunities permit; and yet faith over and above is emphatically theinstrumentboth of receiving and holding justification, or a title to salvation.
To explain this matter more distinctly, let it be remembered, thatGodmay be considered (as I before noted) either as a party contracting with man, on very gracious terms, or as a judge to pronounce judgment upon him.
Man’s first coming into covenant (supposing him adult) is by assenting to it, and accepting of it, to have and to hold it on such kind of tenure asGodproposes: that is to say, upon a self-denying tenure, considering himself as a guilty man, standing in need of pardon, and of borrowed merits, and at length resting upon mercy. So here the previous question is, whether a person shall consent to hold a privilege upon this submissive kind of tenure or not? Such assent or consent, if he comes into it, is the very thing which St. Paul and St. Clemens call faith; and this previous and general question is the question which both of them determine against any proud claimants who would hold by a more self-admiring tenure.
Or, if we next considerGodas sitting in judgment, and man before the tribunal, going to plead his cause; here the question is, What kind of plea shall a man resolve to trust his salvation upon? Shall he stand upon his innocence, and rest upon strict law; or shall he plead guilty, and rest in an act of grace? If he chooses the former, he is proud, and sure to be cast; if he chooses the latter, he is safe so far, in throwing himself upon an act of grace. Now this question also, which St. Paul has decided, is previous to the question, what conditions even the act of grace itself finally insists upon? A question which St. James in particular, and the general tenor of the whole Scripture, has abundantly satisfied; and which could never have been made a question by any considerate or impartial Christian. What I am at present concerned with is to observe, that faith is emphatically the instrument by which an adult accepts the covenant of grace, consenting to hold by that kind of tenure, to be justified in that way, and to rest in that kind of plea, putting his salvation on that only issue. It appears to be a just observation which Dr. Whitby makes, (Pref. to the Epist. to Galat.p. 300,) that Abraham had faith (Heb. xi. 8) before what was said of his justification in Gen. xv. 6, and afterwards more abundantly, when he offered up his son Isaac; but yet neither of those instances was pitched upon by the apostle as fit for his purpose, because in both, obedience was joined with faith: whereas, here was a pure act of faith, without works, and of this act of faith it is said, “it was imputed to him for righteousness.” The sum is, none of our works are good enough to stand by themselves before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.Christonly is pure enough for it at first hand, and they that areChrist’sat second hand, in and through him. Now, because it is by faith that we thus interpose, as it were,ChristbetweenGodand us, in order to gain acceptance by him; therefore faith is emphatically the instrument whereby we receive the grant of justification. Obedience is equally a condition or qualification, but not an instrument, not being that act of the mind whereby we look up toGodandChrist, and whereby we embrace the promises.—Waterland on Justification.
There is not any one word which hath more significations than this hath in the word ofGod, especially in the New Testament. It sometimes signifies the acknowledgment of the trueGod, in opposition to heathenism; sometimes the Christian religion, in opposition to Judaism; sometimes the believing the power ofChristto heal diseases; sometimes the believing that he is the promised Messias; sometimes fidelity or faithfulness; sometimes a resolution of conscience concerning the lawfulness of anything: sometimes a reliance, affiance, or dependence onChristeither for temporal or spiritual matters; sometimes believing the truth of all Divine relations; sometimes obedience toGod’scommands in the evangelical, not legal sense; sometimes the doctrine of the gospel, in opposition to the law of Moses; sometimes it is an aggregate of all other graces; sometimes the condition of the second covenant in opposition to the first: and other senses of it also there are, distinguishable by the contexture, and the matter treated of where the word is used.—Hammond, Practical Catechism.
FAITH, IMPLICIT. (SeeImplicit Faith.)
FAITHFUL. This was the favourite and universal name uniformly used in the primitive Church, to denote those who had been instructed in the Christian religion, and received by baptism into the communion of the Church. The apostolical Epistles are all addressed to “faithful men,” that is, to those who formed the visible Church in their respective localities; thosewho had made profession of the faith ofChristin holy baptism.
FALD STOOL. A small desk, at which the Litany is enjoined to be sung or said. It is generally placed, in those churches in which it is used, in the middle of the choir, sometimes near the steps of the altar. This word is probably derived from the barbarous Latin,falda, a place shut up, a fold. (SeeLitany.)
FALDISTORY. The episcopal seat, or throne, within the chancel; but more particularly, the bishop’s chair, near the altar, mentioned in the Ordination Service, in which he sits, while addressing the candidates for orders, &c.
FALL OF MAN. (SeeOriginal Sin.) The loss of those perfections and that happiness which his Maker bestowed on man at his creation, for the transgression of a positive command, given for the trial of his obedience. This doctrine may be stated in the language of our ninth Article:—“Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk,) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, thatnaturally is engenderedof the offspring of Adam, whereby man isvery fargone (the Latin isquam longissimei. e.as far as possible) from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore, in every person born into this world, it deservethGod’swrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greekφρόημα σάρχος, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law ofGod. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the apostle doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin.”
FAMILIARS OF THE INQUISITION. (SeeInquisition.) In order to support the cruel proceedings of the Inquisition in Spain, great privileges were bestowed upon such of the nobility as were willing to degrade themselves so far as to become familiars of the holy office. The king himself assumed the title, and was protector of the order.
The business of these familiars was to assist in the apprehending of such persons as were accused, and to carry them to prison; upon which occasion the unhappy person was surrounded by such a number of these officious gentlemen, that, though he was neither fettered nor bound, there was no possibility of escaping out of their hands. As a reward of this base employment, the familiars were allowed to commit the most enormous actions, to debauch, assassinate, and kill with impunity. If they happened to be prosecuted for any crime, the Inquisition took upon itself the prosecution, and immediately the familiar entered himself as their prisoner; after which he was at liberty to go where he pleased, and act in all things as if he were free.
A gentleman, a familiar of the holy office at Corduba, having killed a person, the inquisitors were so strongly solicited against him, that they could not help condemning him pursuant to the laws. But the rest of the gentleman familiars getting a horse ready for him, and a sum of money, let him privately out of prison. Another, being put in prison for having disputed on free-will and grace, (for which any other person would have been punished with the utmost severity,) was only admonished not to argue any more upon religion, and presently set at liberty.—Broughton.
FANATICISM. When men add to enthusiasm and zeal for the cause which they believe to be the cause of truth, a hatred of those who are opposed to them, whether in politics or religion, they fall into fanaticism, and thus violating the law of Christian charity, are guilty of a great sin.
FARSE. An addition, used before the Reformation, in the vernacular tongue, to the Epistle in Latin, anciently used in some churches, forming an explication or paraphrase of the Latin text, verse by verse, for the benefit of the people. The subdeacon first repeated each verse of the epistle orlectioin Latin, and two choristers sang the farse or explanation. The following is an example from the Epistle with afarsefor new-year’s day. “Good people, for whose salvation God deigned to clothe himself in flesh, and humbly live in a cradle, who has the whole world in his hands, render him sweet thanks, who in his life worked such wonders, and for our redemption humbled himself even to death.”—Lectio Epistolæ, &c.Then follows the lesson from the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus, and then thefarseproceeds. “St. Paul sent this ditty,” &c.—SeeBurney’s History of Music, ii. 256.
FASTING. (SeeAbstinenceandFasts.) Abstinence from food.
By the regulations of the Church, fasting, though not defined as to its degree, is inculcated at seasons of peculiar penitence and humiliation, as a valuable auxiliary tothe cultivation of habits of devotion and self-denial. Respecting its usefulness, there does not appear to have been much diversity of opinion until late years. Fasting was customary in the Church ofGodlong before the introduction of Christianity, as may be seen in the Old Testament Scriptures. That it was sanctioned by ourSaviourand his apostles, is equally plain. And that it was intended to continue in the future Church can scarcely be questioned; forChristgave his disciples particular instructions respecting it, and in reprobating the abuses of it among the Pharisees, never objects to its legitimate use. He even declares, that after his ascension his disciples should fast: “The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.” (Luke v. 35.) Accordingly, in the Acts of the Apostles occur several notices of fastings connected with religious devotions. St. Paul evidently practised it with some degree of frequency. (2 Cor. xi. 27.) He also recognises the custom, as known in the Corinthian Church, and makes some observations implying its continuance. From the days of the apostles to the present time, fasting has been regarded under various modifications as a valuable auxiliary to penitence. In former times, Christians were exceedingly strict in abstaining from every kind of food for nearly the whole of the appointed fast days, receiving only at stated times what was actually necessary for the support of life. At the season of Lent, much time was spent in mortification and open confession of sin, accompanied by those outward acts which tend to the control of the body and its appetites; a species of godly discipline still associated with the services of that solemn period of the ecclesiastical year.
In the practice of fasting, the intelligent Christian will not rest in the outward act, but regard it only as a means to a good end. All must acknowledge that this restraint, even upon the innocent appetites of the body, is eminently beneficial in assisting the operations of the mind. It brings the animal part of our nature into greater subservience to the spiritual. It tends to prevent that heaviness and indolence of the faculties, as well as that perturbation of the passions, which often proceed from indulgence and repletion of the body. It is thus highly useful in promoting that calmness of mind and clearness of thought, which are so very favourable to meditation and devotion. The great end of the observance is to “afflict the soul,” and to increase a genuine contrition of heart, and godly sorrow for sin. This being understood, abstinence will be approved ofGod, and made conducive to a growth in spiritual life.
The distinction between the Protestant and the Romish view of fasting is this, that the Roman regards the use of fasting as a means of grace; the Protestant, only as a useful exercise. It isnota means of grace, for it is nowhere ordained as such in the Scriptures of the New Testament; but it is a useful preparation for the means of grace, and as such the Scriptures have assumed that it will be resorted to by Christians.
FASTS. Those days which are appointed by the Church as seasons of abstinence and peculiar sorrow for sin. These are the forty days of Lent, including Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; the Ember days, the three Rogation days, and all the Fridays in the year, (except Christmas Day,) and the eves or vigils of certain festivals.
By Canon 72. “No minister shall, without the licence and direction of the bishop under hand and seal, appoint or keep any solemn fasts, either publicly, or in any private houses, other than such as by law are, or by public authority shall be, appointed, nor shall be wittingly present at any of them; under pain of suspension for the first fault, of excommunication for the second, and of deposition from the ministry for the third.”
By the rubric, the table of Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence to be observed in the Year, is as followeth, (which, although not in words, yet in substance, is the same with what is above expressed in the aforesaid statute,) viz. “The evens or vigils before the Nativity of ourLord, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, St. Matthias, St. John Baptist, St. Peter, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon and St. Jude, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, All Saints. And if any of these feasts fall upon a Monday, then the vigil or fast day shall be kept upon the Saturday, and not upon the Sunday, next before it.” (SeeFasting.)
That fasting or abstinence from our usual sustenance is a proper means to express sorrow and grief, and a fit method to dispose our minds towards the consideration of anything that is serious, nature seems to suggest; and therefore all nations, from ancient times, have used fasting as a part of repentance, and as a means to avert the anger ofGod. This is plain in thecase of the Ninevites, (Jonah iii. 5,) whose notion of fasting, to appease the wrath ofGod, seems to have been common to them with the rest of mankind. In the Old Testament, besides the examples of private fasting by David, (Ps. lxix. 10,) and Daniel, (Dan. ix. 3,) and others, we have instances of public fasts observed by the whole nation of the Jews at once upon solemn occasions. (See Lev. xxiii. 26, &c.; 2 Chron. xx. 3; Ezra viii. 21; Jer. xxxvi. 9; Zech. viii. 19; Joel i. 14.) It is true indeed, in the New Testament, we find no positive precept, that expressly requires and commands us to fast; but ourSaviourmentions fasting with almsgiving and prayer, which are unquestionable duties (Matt. vi. 1–18); and the directions he gave concerning the performance of it sufficiently suppose its necessity. And he himself was pleased, before he entered upon his ministry, to give us an extraordinary example in his own person, by fasting forty days and forty nights. (Matt. iv. 2.) He excused, indeed, his disciples from fasting, so long as he, “the bridegroom, was with them;” because that being a time of joy and gladness, it would be an improper season for tokens of sorrow; but then he intimates at the same time, that though it was not fit for them then, it would yet be their duty hereafter: for “the days,” says he, “will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall fast.” (Matt. ix. 15.) And accordingly we find, that, after his ascension, the duty of fasting was not only recommended, (1 Cor. vii. 5,) but practised by the apostles, as any one may see by the texts of Scripture here referred to. (Acts xiii. 2, and xiv. 23; 1 Cor. ix. 27; 2 Cor. vi. 5, and xi. 27.) After the apostles, we find the primitive Christians very constant and regular in the observation of both their annual and weekly fasts. Their weekly fasts were kept on Wednesdays and Fridays, because on the one ourLordwas betrayed, on the other crucified. The chief of their annual fasts was that of Lent, which they observed by way of preparation for their feast of Easter.
In the Church of Rome, fasting and abstinence admit of a distinction, and different days are appointed for each of them. But I do not find that the Church of England makes any difference between them. 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 the one from the other. The times she sets apart are such as she finds to have been observed by the earliest ages of the Church.—Wheatly.
FATHERS, THE. A term of honour applied generally to all the ancient Christian writers, whose works were in good repute in the Church, and who were not separated from its communion or from its faith. St. Bernard, who flourished in the twelfth century, is reputed to be the last of the Fathers. The Christian theologians after his time, adopted a new style of treating religious matters, and were called scholastics. Those writers who conversed with the apostles are generally called apostolical Fathers, as Ignatius, &c.
Of the authority of the Fathers, the Rev. Geo. Stanley Faber very justly observes: “Among unread or half-read persons of our present somewhat confident age, it is not an uncommon saying, thatTHEYdisregard the early Fathers; and thatTHEYwill abide by nothing but the Scriptures alone. If bya disregard of the early Fathers, they mean that they allow them not individually that personal authority which the Romanists claim for them, they certainly will not havemefor their opponent. And accordingly I have shown, that in the interpretation of the Scripture terms,ElectionandPredestination, I regard the insulated individual authority of St. Augustine just as little as I regard the insulated individual authority of Calvin.
“But if bya disregard of the early Fathers, they mean that they regard them not as evidence of theFACTofwhatdoctrines were or were not received by the primitive Church, and from her were or were not delivered to posterity, they might just as rationally talk of the surpassing wisdom of extinguishing the light of history, by way of more effectually improving and increasing our knowledge of past events; for, in truth, under the aspect in which they are specially important tous, the early Fathers are neither more nor less than so many historical witnesses.
“And if, byan abiding solely by the decision of Scripture, they mean that, utterly disregarding the recorded doctrinal system of that primitive Church which conversed with, and was taught by, the apostles, they will abide by nothing save their own crude and arbitrary private expositions of Scripture; we certainly may well admire their intrepidity, whatever we may think of their modesty; for in truth, by such a plan, while they call upon us to despise the sentiments of Christian antiquity, so far as we can learn them, upon distinct historical testimony, they expectus to receive, without hesitation, and as undoubted verities,their ownmore modern upstart speculations upon the sense ofGod’sholy word; that is to say, the evidence of the early Fathers, and the hermeneutic decisions of the primitive Church, we may laudably and profitably contemn, butthemselveswe must receive (for they themselves are content to receive themselves) as well nigh certain and infallible expositors of Scripture.”
The Apostolic Fathers are those writers of the apostolic age, whose names are given to certain treatises still extant; though some of them are spurious. These were Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp.
FEASTS, FESTIVALS, or HOLY-DAYS. Among the earliest means adopted by the holy Church for the purpose of impressing on the minds of her children the mysterious facts of the gospel history, was the appointment of a train of anniversaries and holy-days, with appropriate services commemorative of all the prominent transactions of the Redeemer’s life and death, and of the labours and virtues of the blessed apostles and evangelists. These institutions, so replete with hallowed associations, have descended to our own day; and the observance of them is commended by the assent of every discerning and unprejudiced mind, and is sustained by the very constitution of our nature, which loves to preserve the annual memory of important events, and is in the highest degree reasonable, delightful, profitable, and devout.