It has been customary to speak of the doctrine of forensic justification as if it were a Calvinistic doctrine. That Calvin held it is not to be denied, but all history bears witness that it is not apeculiarityof the Calvinistic system.
Calvin was born in 1509, and he was yet a schoolboy, or a pluralist in the Romish Church, (as he became in his twelfth year,) when Luther was using this doctrine, asthedoctrine by which to lay low the whole fabric of Romish superstition.
Again, it was the doctrine of our English reformers, as most clearly stated in our Articles and Homilies; and Archbishop Laurence has triumphantly established the historical fact, that our reformers were not Calvinists.
If we wish for a clear statement of the doctrine of forensic justification, we may indeed refer to Bishop Andrewes; and the theology of Andrewes had certainly no affinity to that of Calvin. Let the reader peruse with attention the following passage from his sermon on justification.
“In the Scripture, then, there is a double righteousness set down, both in the Old and in the New Testament.
“In the Old, and in the very first place that righteousness is named in the Bible: ‘Abraham believed, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.’ A righteousness accounted. And again, in the very next line, it is mentioned, ‘Abraham will teach his house to do righteousness.’ A righteousness done. In the New likewise. The former, in one chapter, even the fourth to the Romans, no fewer than eleven times,Reputatum est illi ad justitiam. A reputed righteousness. The latter in St. John: ‘My beloved, let no man deceive you, he that doeth righteousness is righteous.’ A righteousness done. Which is nothing else but our just dealing, upright carriage, honest conversation. Of these, the latter the philosophers themselves conceived and acknowledged; the other is proper to Christians only, and altogether unknown in philosophy. The one is a quality of the party; the other, an act of the judge declaring or pronouncing righteous. The one ours by influence or infusion, the other by account or imputation. That both these there are, there is no question. The question is, whether of these the prophet here principally meaneth in this Name? This shall we best inform ourselves of by looking back to the verse before, and without so looking back we shall never do it to purpose. There the prophet setteth one before us, in his royal judicial power, in the person of a king, and of a king set down to execute judgment; and this he telleth us, before he thinks meet to tell us his name. Before this king, thus set down in his throne, there to do judgment, the righteousness that will stand against the law, our conscience, Satan, sin, the gates of hell, and the power of darkness; and so stand that we may be delivered by it from death, despair, and damnation; and entitled by it to life, salvation, and happiness eternal; that is righteousness indeed, that is it we seek for, if we may find it. And that is not this latter, but the former only; and therefore that is the true interpretation ofJehovah justitia nostra. Look but how St. Augustine and the rest of the Fathers, when they have occasion to mention that place in the Proverbs,Cum Rex justus sederit in solio, quis potest dicere, Mundum est cor meum?—look how they interpret it then, and it will give us light to understand this name; and we shall see, that no name will serve then, but this name. Nor this name neither, but with this interpretation of it. And that theHoly Ghostwould have it ever thus understood, and us ever to represent before our eyes this King thus sitting in his judgment-seat, when we speak of this righteousness, it is plain two ways. 1. By way of position. For the tenor of the Scripture touching our justification all along runneth in judicial terms, to admonish us still what to set before us. The usual joining of justice and judgment continually all along the Scriptures, show it is a judicial justice we are to set before us. The terms of, 1. A judge: ‘It is theLordthat judgeth me.’ 2. A prison: Kept and shut up under Moses. 3. A bar: ‘We must all appear before the bar.’ 4. A proclamation: ‘Who will lay anything to the prisoner’s charge?’ 5. An accuser: ‘The accuser of our brethren.’ 6. A witness: ‘Our conscience bearing witness.’ 7. An indictment upon these: ‘Cursed be he that continueth not in all the words of this law to do them;’ and again, ‘He that breaketh one is guilty of all.’ A conviction that all may beὑπόδικοι, ‘guilty’ or culpable ‘beforeGod.’ Yea, the very delivering of our sins under the name of ‘debts;’ of the law under the name of a ‘handwriting;’ the very terms of ‘an advocate,’ of ‘a surety made under the law;’ of a pardon, or ‘being justified from those things which by the law we could not:’—all these, wherein for the most part this is still expressed, what speak they but that the sense of this name cannot be rightly understood, nor what manner of righteousness is in question, except we still have before our eyes this samecoram rege justo judicium faciente.”—Bishop Andrewes’ Sermon on Justification in Christ’s Name.See alsoBarrow’s Sermon on Justification.Waterland on Justification.Heurtley on Justification.Stanley Faber on Justification.
KEYS, POWER OF THE. The authority existing in the Christian priesthood of administering the discipline of the Church, and communicating or withholding its privileges; so called from the declaration ofChristto St. Peter, (Matt. xvi. 19,) “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.” The power here promised was afterwards conferred on St. Peter and the other apostles, when theSaviourbreathed on them and said, “Receive ye theHoly Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soeversins ye retain, they are retained.” (Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18; John xx. 23.)
The power of the keys is only a ministerial power. By administering the sacraments, they who have that power do that which conveys grace to certain souls. But whose souls are these? The souls of faithful and repentant men. They who are qualified will receive the outward ordinance which conveys to them the pardon they require: but, to those who are not qualified by repentance and faith, no blessing can be conveyed; the blessing of the minister will return to him again.
The power of the keys must likewise refer to the authority of spiritual rulers to “bind” their people by some ordinances, and to “loose” them from others, when they have been abused, always excepting the two sacraments of the gospel, baptism and the eucharist, which, instituted by ourLordhimself, are always binding. When the bishops of a Church bind their people by an ordinance, their act is ratified in heaven: and they who seek grace through that ordinance, receive it. Whereas, if they loose us from an ordinance, as from many ordinances we were loosed at the Reformation, this act again is ratified in heaven, and to observe that ordinance becomes superstition, not religion.
Upon Peter’s confession, thatJesuswas “theChrist, theSonof the livingGod,” 1. He promiseth to build his Church upon the rock of that truth, and the rock confessed in it; 2. He promiseth “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” to Peter only, of all the apostles; meaning thereby, that he should be the man that should first unlock the door of faith and of the gospel unto the Gentiles, which was accomplished in Acts x. And, 3. He giveth him power of “binding and loosing,” and this power the other disciples had in common with him. “Binding and loosing,” in the language and style most familiarly known to the Jewish nation, (and it can be little doubted thatChristspeaketh according to the common and most familiar sense of the language,) did refer more properly to things than to persons; therefore he saith, (Matt. xvi. 19,)ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς, notὃν; and in Matt. xviii. 18,ὅσα ἐὰν δήσητε, notὃσους. The phrase, “to bind and to loose,” in their vulgar speech, meant, to prohibit and to permit; or, to teach what is prohibited or permitted, what lawful, what unlawful; as may appear by these instances—a few produced, whereas thousands may be alleged out of their writings. “Our wise men say that in Judah they did work on the Passover eve till noon, but in Galilee not at all; and as for the night, the school of Shammaiboundit, that is, forbade to work on it, or taught that it was unlawful; but the school of Hillelloosedit till sunrising, or taught that it was lawful to work till sunrise.” They are speaking about washing in the baths of Tiberias on the sabbath, and they determine how far this was lawful in these words, “Theyboundwashing to them, but theyloosedsweating;” meaning, they taught that it was lawful to go into the bath to sweat, but not to bathe for pleasure. “They send not letters by the hand of a Gentile on the eve of the sabbath, nor on the fifth day of the week. Nay, on the fourth day of the week, the school of Shammaiboundit, but the school of Hillelloosedit.” “Women may not look in a looking-glass on the sabbath; but if it were fastened upon a wall, Rabbiloosedthe looking into it; but the wise manboundit.” “R. Jochanan went from Tsipporis to Tiberias; he saith, ‘Why brought ye me to this elder? for what Iloose, hebindeth; and what Ibind, helooseth.’” “The scribes haveboundleaven;” that is, they have prohibited it. “They have, upon necessity,loosedsalutation on the sabbath;” that is, they have permitted it, or taught that it was lawful.
Thousands of instances of this nature might be produced, by all which it is clear that the Jews’ use of the phrase was of their doctors’ or learned men’s teaching what waslawfuland permitted, and what wasunlawfuland prohibited. Hence is that definition of such men’s office and work: “A wise man that judgeth judgment, and maketh unclean and maketh clean,bindethandlooseth, that is, teacheth what is clean and unclean, what is permitted or prohibited.” And Maimonides, giving the relation of their ordaining of elders, and to what several employments they were ordained, saith thus, “A wise man that is fit to teach all the law, the consistory had power to ordain him to judge, but not to teachboundandloose: or power to teachboundandloose, but not a judge in pecuniary matters; or power to both these, but not to judge in matters of mulct,” &c. So that the ordination of one to that function,—which was more properly ministerial, or to teach the people their duty, as, what was lawful, what not; what they were to do, and what not to do,—was to such a purpose, or to such a tenor as this, “Take thou the power tobindandloose, or to teach what is bound and loose.” By this vulgar and only sense of this phrase in the nation, the meaning ofChristusing it thus to his disciples is easily understood, namely, that he first doth instate them in a ministerial capacity to teach what bound and loose, what to be done and what not; and this as ministers: and thus all ministers successively, to the end of the world. But, as they were apostles, of that singular and unparalleled order as the like were never in the Church again, he gives them power to “bind and loose” in a degree above all ministers that were to follow: namely, that whereas some part of Moses’s law was now to stand in practice, and some to be laid aside; some things under the law prohibited, were now to be permitted; and some things, then permitted, to be now prohibited, he promiseth the apostles such assistance of hisSpirit, and giveth them such power, that what they allowed to stand in practice should stand, and what to fall, should fall; “what they bound in earth should be bound in heaven,” &c.—Lightfoot.
There is one thing still behind, which we must by no means omit, especially upon this occasion, and that is, the power of governing the Church which ourLordleft with his apostles and their successors to the end of the world; but so that he, according to his promise, is always present with them at the execution of it. For this power is granted to them in the very charter to which this promise is annexed; for here ourLordgives them commission not only to baptize, but likewise to teach those who are his disciples, to observe whatsoever he had commanded. Whereby they are empowered both to declare what are those commands ofChristwhich men ought to observe, and also to use all means to prevail upon men to observe them; such as in correcting or punishing those who violate, rewarding and encouraging those who keep them. But ourSaviour’skingdom being, as himself saith, not of this world, but purely spiritual, he hath authorized his substitutes in the government of it to use rewards and punishments of the same nature; even to admonish delinquents in his name to forsake their sins; and if they continue obstinate, and neglect such admonitions, to excommunicate, or cast them out of his Church; and, upon their repentance, to absolve and receive them in again. This power ourSaviourfirst promised to St. Peter, and in him to the rest of the apostles. But it was not actually conferred upon them till after his resurrection, when, having breathed on them, he said unto them, “Receive theHoly Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” As if he should have said, “I, theSonof man, having power upon earth also to forgive sins, do now commit the same to you; so that whose sins soever are remitted or retained by you, are so by me also.” From whence it is plain, both that the apostles received power to remit and retain sins, and thatChristhimself concurs with them in the exercise of that power; and how he doth it, even by hisHoly Spiritnow breathed into them. To explain the full extent and latitude of this power would require more time than can be allowed upon this day, whereon it is to be exercised; and therefore I shall observe only two things concerning it, whereof the first is, that how great soever the power be which ourLordcommitted to his apostles and their successors for the government of his Church in all ages, it is but ministerial; they act only under him as his ministers and stewards, and must one day give an account to him of all their actions. Yea, whatsoever power they have of this nature, it is still his power in their hands; they derive it continually from him, who is always present with them. And, therefore, as they themselves need to have a care how they exert this power, or neglect the exerting of it, so others had need take care, too, that they neither resist nor despise it.—Beveridge.
Bishop Jeremy Taylor expresses, with great clearness, the primitive doctrine on this subject: “The same promise of binding and loosing (which certainly was all that the keys were given for) was made afterwards to all the apostles, (Matt. xviii.,) and the power of remitting and retaining, which in reason, and according to the style of the Church, is the same thing in other words, was actually given to all the apostles; and unless that was the performing the first and second promise, we find it not recorded in Scripture how or when, or whether yet or no, the promise be performed.” And again: “If the keys were only given and so promised to St. Peter, that the Church hath not the keys, then the Church can neither bind nor loose, remit nor retain, which God forbid: if any man should endeavour to answer this argument, I leave him and St. Austin to contest it.”
The apostles knew nothing of any different power conveyed to one of their number beyond what was common to him with the rest, as we may reasonably conclude, since there is no record of any authority exercised on the one side, or of obedience rendered on the other.
The proposed distinction is, indeed, utterly untenable, and the whole testimony of antiquity is against it; yet it is maintained by some of the chief Roman commentators. Maldonat, for instance, who is one of the best known and most popular, in his exposition of this place, declares the keys to have been given to Peter, that is, the power of binding and loosing, of opening and shutting, in subordination toChristalone, while the rest of the apostles received only an inferior jurisdiction. For this interpretation he advances no proof at all, except the mention of the keys in the address to Peter, and the omission in what was spoken to the rest, which he pronounces an irrefragable argument; and on the foundation of this alleged separate gift to Peter he builds the right of jurisdiction for his successors, extending to the supreme decision of spiritual causes on earth, and the regulating the condition of souls in purgatory. Cornelius Van den Steen, or à Lapide, as he is usually called, seems to have followed the interpretation of Maldonat, and says, that by the keys is signified the power of order and jurisdiction granted to Peter over the whole Church; and thatChristexplains his meaning in the words which follow. He falls into the fallacy of representing the term “rock” as conveying the notion of government; and then, as if this were an unquestionably accurate representation, he goes on to blend figures which have nothing in common, and assumes that in this way the supreme power of the pope is adequately proved. Like his predecessor, he vindicates the most unlimited exercise of it, whether in enforcing obedience, or in granting dispensations, in enacting ecclesiastical laws, pronouncing excommunications and other censures, delivering decisions on questions of faith, with other acts which fall under the head of binding, or those of an opposite character, which belong to the power of loosing. In order to dispose of the difficult fact that Christ is recorded to have given the same power of binding and loosing to others as well, he affirms that Peter was first singled out, to signify that the rest of the apostles were committed to his care as his subjects, and that he was empowered to control, limit, or take away their jurisdictions as he should see fit; though it is clear both that the apostles exercised, in point of fact, the highest Church discipline, and that there is not a word which implies their having done so by delegation. He very characteristically confirms his exposition by a synodical letter, which the great Roman annalist had given up as spurious some years before.
Both these writers were theologians of the highest repute, the one professor at Paris, the other at Louvain. They may be fairly taken to express the judgment of the party at present dominant in the Roman Church. Nothing can be more extravagant than their interpretations, or more feebly supported by proofs; yet they are indispensable to the position of the ultramontanes. This extreme doctrine, revived by the Jesuits, for it was invented a century earlier, has no pretence of confirmation from any of the primitive expositors of Scripture. They declare, with one voice, that the keys were given to the Church in the person of Peter. In the words of Ambrose, “what is said to Peter, is said to the apostles.” Cyprian and Origen, Jerome and Basil, are of one mind on this point. The statement of Augustine, repeated in a multitude of places, is as clear as possible that the Church received the power of the keys, and not an individual apostle. The Fathers were not writing with any view to the present controversy; and many of their expressions, taken separately, would give a very untrue representation of their meaning, by making them maintain opinions which, in their time, had not been even suggested. Thus Cyprian, in his treatise on the unity of the Church, applies the disputed texts to Peter; but then he speaks of him as the type of unity, the representative of a great principle; and to guard his meaning against perversion, he states, in the plainest terms, that the rest of the apostles were what Peter was, and had equal participation of honour and authority. So the Fathers continually speak of him as figuring the oneness of the Church universal. They exalt his chair, but they are careful to explain that they are speaking, not of an individual bishop possessing supreme authority, which was the farthest from their thoughts, but of that one undivided episcopacy, to use Cyprian’s well-known words, of which every bishop possesses a portion.
Dupin affirms that the Fathers are unanimous in assigning ecclesiastical power, either to the Church generally, or to the apostles, and, after them, to bishops; that there is not one to be found who holds it to have been given to Peter and his successors alone; and that they have guarded against any wrong inference which might be drawn from the promise given to Peter, by showing that he was regarded as the representative of the Church. He furnishessome authorities on this subject, not only from the early Fathers, but from popes, great bishops of the Roman Church, scholastic writers, and universities; and he adds, that the number of passages which might be adduced is infinite. The same great writer states strongly the importance of the question: for if, as he says, the power of the keys belongs to the pope alone, there can be no doubt that he has authority over the whole Church; since, upon this hypothesis, neither the Church nor its prelates can have any other power than such as they derive from him.
In the Council of Paris, held in the eighth century, under the emperors Louis and Lothaire, the bishops expressly claimed this power of binding and loosing, without any reference to the successor of St. Peter. The Council of Constance, in its fourth session, declared, in the strongest language, that the Church has its jurisdiction immediately fromChrist; and this judgment was embodied in acts of the highest significancy and importance. The Council of Basle, in its first session, passed a decree in exactly the same spirit, and almost in the very same words. Æneas Sylvius, the historian of the council, and afterwards Pius II., expressly vindicates the text in question from the interpretation which favours the pontifical authority. So Cardinal de Cusa, writing at the same period, claims for the other apostles the very same power of binding and loosing which was conveyed to Peter by the words ofChrist. And John Gerson refers to this very place, in maintaining the superiority of a council to a pope. Even in the Council of Trent, we find the Cardinal of Lorraine speaking to the same effect; and though he may be worthless as a theologian, he is valuable as a witness. He alleged various passages, from Augustine and others, in proof that bishops derive their jurisdiction immediately fromGod. And, indeed, the whole argument of the French and Spanish prelates in favour of the divine right of episcopacy was based on the very interpretation of ourLord’swords which the Jesuit school condemns.
The canonists bear the same testimony. Thus Van Espen, and there are few higher authorities, delivers it as the doctrine of the Fathers on this subject, that, whileChristspoke to Peter in the singular, he made conveyance of the powers in question to all the apostles. Duaren speaks to the same effect. He affirms that the power of binding and loosing was given to the Church, and not to an individual.
Some even of the Roman commentators give a similar interpretation. Thus Nicholas de Lyra says that, as the confession of Peter was the confession of the rest, so the power given to him was bestowed on all. D’Espence and many others give the same exposition.
The severe rebuke administered to Peter, following so closely upon his confession, puts another difficulty in the way of those who insist on his great personal prerogatives. Gregory de Valentia proposes, as a rule of interpretation, that some things are to be taken as addressed to Peter in his public, and some in his private, character. Thus he supposes him to have been called the Rock in the former, and Satan in the latter; but this distinction is arbitrary, and obviously invented to serve a purpose. We shall not be more disposed to adopt the opinion of Hilary, who would have us consider the one part of the sentence addressed to Peter, the other to the evil spirit. But while, with the great body of ancient doctors, we admit the sin, we may well believe thatGodin his wisdom overruled it for good, by making it a warning that we should not think even of this eminent apostle more highly than we ought to think.—S. Robins.
KINDRED. (SeeConsanguinity.)
KING’S EVIL. This disease is connected with the ecclesiastical history of England by the power to cure it, which was for many centuries attributed to the kings of England, and which was, from the time of Edward the Confessor, held to be exercised as a part of the religion attached to the person of the king. The cure, too, was always accompanied by a religious service.
The kings of France also claimed the gift of healing, (but upon no other occasions than at their coronation,) and the ceremony was used at the coronation of Charles X., at Rheims. George I. made no pretensions to this gift, and it has never been claimed by his successors.
Bishop Bull says, “that divers persons desperately labouring under the king’s evil, have been cured by the mere touch of the royal hands, assisted with the prayers of the priests of our Church attending, is unquestionable, unless the faith of all our ancient writers, and the consentient report of hundreds of most credible persons in our own age, attesting the same, is to be questioned.”—Sermon on St. Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh.
In January, 1683, a proclamation was issued by the privy-council, and was ordered to be published in every parish in the kingdom, enjoining that the time for presenting persons for the “public healings”should be from the feast of All-saints, till a week before Christmas; and after Christmas until the first day of March, and then to cease till Passion week.
The office for the ceremony was called “The Ceremonies,” or “Prayers for the Healing.” The Latin form was used in the time of Henry VII., and was reprinted by the king’s printer in 1686. The English forms were essentially the same, with some modifications. These occur in the Common Prayer Books of the reigns of Charles I., Charles II., James II., and Anne (and, as it appears from Mr. Stephens’s own statement, in that of George I., in 1715). They all vary; and a new one appears to have been drawn up for each sovereign, so late as 1719. (SeePegge’s Curialia Miscellanea, 161; taken from a folio Prayer Book, 1710. Also Kennet’s Register, 731, and Sparrow’s Articles, 165, which latter form seems to have been used in the reign of Charles I.) In Mr. Stephens’s editions of the Common Prayer Book, from which the foregoing article has been abridged, the Latin form is given, (i. 997,) and the English form in 1715 (1002).
The following is the form inSparrow’s Collections, printed in 1684.
AT THE HEALING.The Gospel written in the 16th chapter of St. Mark, beginning at the 14th verse.
AT THE HEALING.The Gospel written in the 16th chapter of St. Mark, beginning at the 14th verse.
AT THE HEALING.
The Gospel written in the 16th chapter of St. Mark, beginning at the 14th verse.
Jesusappeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and cast in their teeth their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen that he was risen again from the dead. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to all creatures: He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these tokens shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall drive away serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.[6]They shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover.So when theLordhad spoken unto them, he was received into heaven, and is on the right hand ofGod. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, theLordworking with them, and confirming the word with miracles following.
The Gospel written in the 1st chapter of St. John, beginning at the 1st verse.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was withGod, and the Word wasGod. The same was in the beginning withGod. All things were made by it, and without it was made nothing that was made. In it was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was sent fromGoda man whose name wasJohn. The same came as a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light.[7]That Light was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came among his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to be made sons ofGod, even them that believed on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor yet of the will of man, but ofGod. And the same Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw the glory of it, as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
THE PRAYERS.
THE PRAYERS.
THE PRAYERS.
Vers.Lord have mercy upon us.
Resp.Lord have mercy upon us.
Vers.Christ have mercy upon us.
Resp.Christ have mercy upon us.
Vers.Lord have mercy upon us.
Resp.Lord have mercy upon us.
Our Father which art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
(These Answers are to be made by them that come to be healed.)
(These Answers are to be made by them that come to be healed.)
(These Answers are to be made by them that come to be healed.)
Vers.OLord, save thy servants.
Resp.Which put their trust in thee.
Vers.Send help unto them from above.
Resp.And evermore mightily defend them.
Vers.Help us, OGodour Saviour.
Resp.And for the glory of thy Name deliver us; be merciful unto us sinners for thy Name’s sake.
Vers.OLord, hear our prayer.
Resp.And let our cry come unto thee.
O Almighty God, who art the giver of all health, and the aid of them that seekto Thee for succour, we call upon Thee for thy help and goodness mercifully to be showed unto these thy servants, that they being healed of their infirmity, may give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church, throughJesus ChristourLord. Amen.
The grace of ourLord Jesus Christ, and the love ofGod, and the fellowship of theHoly Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.
The same form appears at the end ofL’Estrange’s Alliance of the Divine Offices, 1699. It seems that in some of Queen Anne’s Prayer Books, (not in 1715, as stated by Mr. Stephens,) the form was altered, by the omission of the second Gospel, and the addition of certain prayers.
There seems to be little doubt that, by the mere force of imagination, a cure was not unfrequently occasioned.
KINGS, BOOKS OF. Two canonical books of the Old Testament, so called, because they contain the history of the kings of Israel and Judah, from the beginning of the reign of Solomon down to the Babylonish captivity, for the space of near 600 years; taking into the account the two preceding Books of Samuel. In the Greek Bibles, as well as in the Latin, the two Books of Samuel are called the First and Second Books of Kings; so that in these copies of the Bible there are four Books of Kings. Anciently these four were but two in the Hebrew Bibles, the first whereof was called Samuel, and the second Kings, or Kingdoms: but at present, in the Hebrew copies, the first of these books is styled the First and Second Book of Samuel; and the other, the First and Second of Kings, as in our English version of the Bible.
It is probable that the two Books of Kings were composed by Ezra, who extracted them out of the public records which were kept of what passed in that nation.
KIRK OF SCOTLAND. (SeePresbyterians.) The Kirk of Scotland acknowledges as its founder the celebrated John Knox, a disciple of Calvin. From its foundation, it adopted the doctrine and ecclesiastical government of the Church of Geneva. In 1581, King James, with his whole family and the whole nation, subscribed a confession of faith, with a solemn league and covenant, obliging themselves to maintain and defend the Protestant religion and Presbyterian government. The title of this confession is, “A General Confession of the true Christian Faith and Religion, according toGod’sWord, and Acts of our Parliament, subscribed by the King’s Majestic and his Household; with sundrie others. To the glory ofGod, and good example of all men. At Edinburgh, the 28th day of Januarie. The year of ourLord1581. And in the 14th year of his Majestie’s reign.” (SeeConfessions of Faith.)
KISS OF PEACE. (SeePax.) This form of salutation, as a token of Christian affection, appears to have been an apostolic custom. (Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26; 1 Pet. v. 14.) It was one of the rites of the eucharistic service in the primitive Church. It was omitted on Good Friday in remembrance of the traitorous kiss of Judas Iscariot.—Augusti.
KNEELING. The posture which the Church prescribes in prayer, acts of confession, &c.
The practice of kneeling in confession, in prayer, and in adoration, is of great antiquity; a reference to it being apparently made in Isaac’s blessing on Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. 29,)—compared with his brother’s subsequent conduct, (xlii. 6,) and with the edict of Pharaoh, “Bow the knee” (xli. 43); and again in the second commandment. (Exod. xx. 5.) David says, “Let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the “Lordour Maker.”” (Ps. xcv. 6.) “We will go into his tabernacle, and fall low on our knees before his footstool.” (cxxxii. 7.) Solomon “kneeled on his knees” before the altar of theLord, with his hands spread up to heaven. (1 Kings viii. 54.) Ezra fell upon his knees, and spread out his hands untoGod, and made his confession. (Ezra ix. 5–15.) Daniel “kneeled upon his knees three times a day,” and prayed “as he did aforetime.” (Dan. vi. 10.) The holy martyr Stephen “kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,” praying for his murderers. (Acts vii. 60.) So Peter “kneeled down, and prayed,” (Acts ix. 40,) and also St. Paul. (Acts xx. 36; xxi. 5.)
That the posture was a customary one may be inferred from the conduct of the man beseechingChristto heal his son, (Matt. xvii. 14,) and of the rich young man, (Mark x. 17,) as also of the leper (Mark i. 40); but the example of our blessedLordhimself, who, though without sin, yet “kneeled down” when he prayed, (Luke xxii. 41,) cannot but recommend the practice to every devout worshipper. Some of the early Christians so frequently used this posture of humility, as visibly to wear away the floor on which they kneeled;and Eusebius says of St. James the Just, that he had, by the continual exercise of his devotions, contracted a hardness on his knees, like that on the knees of camels. The practice was altogether so common, that prayer itself was termedκλίσις γονάτων—“bending the knees.” It is to be noticed, however, that the primitive Christians, out of a peculiar regard for theLord’sday, and the joyful season between Easter and Whitsuntide, did (with the exception of the penitents, who were denied this privilege) then perform their whole devotionsstanding, instead of kneeling: and this custom was confirmed by the Council of Nice, for the sake of uniformity. It was from this circumstance, probably, that the Ethiopic and Muscovitish Churches adopted the attitude of standing, generally, a custom which they continue to this day.
Bingham remarks (book xiii. 8. 4) that though these two postures of prayer were very indifferent in their own nature, yet it was always esteemed an instance of great negligence, or great perverseness, to interchange them unseasonably one for the other, that is, to pray kneeling on theLord’sday, when the Church required standing; or standing on other days, when the rules and custom of the Church required men to kneel. And therefore, as the Canons of Nice and of the Councilin Trulloreflect upon those who were superstitiously bent upon kneeling on theLord’sday, so others with equal severity complain of the remissness and negligence of such as refused to kneel at other times, when the Church appointed it. It is a very indecent and irregular thing, says Cæsarius of Arles, that when the deacon cries out, “Let us bend the knee,” the people should then stand erect as pillars in the Church. These were but small observations in themselves, but of great consequence, we see, when done perversely, to the scandal and disorder of the Church, whose great rule in all such cases is that of the apostle, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”
In the whole of the primitive religious service there is not any circumstancecasual; every particular, every gesture, isinstructive. In the presence ofGodman fell upon his face to the ground; and, by that act, humbly confessed hisoriginal: hencebowing to the groundis the formalwordforworshipping, which it was high treason to practise toward any idol. And when, from that posture, man raised himself to praise and to blessGod, he raised himself no further than the knee, still so far retaining the posture of humility; and from this posture thewordto signifyblessingis taken. As bowing to the ground is used to signify worshipping,kneelingis used to signifyblessing.—Forbes’ Thoughts on Religion.
Posture of bodyis a thing which, how slight soever it may now be thought to be, yet is not without its moment, if either Scripture, or reason, or the practice of holy men, may be our judges. For if we ought toglorify God in our bodies, as well as in our spirits; if we are forbidden to bow down before a graven image, lest we should thereby be thought byGodto impart his honour to it; in fine, if ourSaviourrefused to fall down, and worship the devil, upon the account ofGod’schallenging that honour unto himself; then must it be thought to be our duty to make use of such a posture of body towardsGod, as may bespeak our inward reverence, and particularly in prayer, which is one of the most immediate acts of the glorification of him.—Towerson on the Creed.
St. Augustine says, “I know not how it comes to pass, but so it is, that though these motions of the body be not made without a foregoing motion of the mind, yet, again, by the outward and visible performance of them, that more inward and invisible one, which caused them, is increased; and so the affection of the heart, which was the cause of their being done, is itself improved by the doing of them.”—Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis.
In the morning and evening service, the minister or priest is directed to kneel (with the people) at the Confession,Lord’sPrayer, and two versicles which follow; the versicles after the Creed, (a lesser Litany,) and theLord’sPrayer following, and at the Collects. No position is enjoined for the Litany; but universal custom prescribes kneeling. In the Communion Service, the priest is to kneel only at the general confession, at the prayer immediately following the Sanctus, and when receiving the holy communion. The directions for the people are not as explicit here as elsewhere; but they are directed to kneel in the part before the sermon, with the following exceptions,—at the reading of the Gospel (for the Epistle no posture is prescribed) and at the Creed. After the sermon they are directed to kneel only at the confession, and the reception of the communion.
KNELL. A bell tolled at funerals.
KORAH, SONGS OR PSALMS OF THE SONS OF. The “sons of Korah” formed one of the three choirs of the temple, all Levites. They are sometimes called Korhites, or Kohathites, being descendedfrom Kohath, the second son of Levi; Kohath’s grandson being Korah. Heman was the director of this choir in the time of King David: but it seems not to have survived the captivity, as the sons of Asaph are alone named by Nehemiah. Twelve psalms are inscribed Psalms or Songs of the Sons of Korah; and are supposed to have been specially performed by that choir, or composed by some of its members. They are the forty-second to the forty-ninth, eighty-fourth, eighty-fifth, eighty-seventh, and eighty-eighth.—Jebb.
KYRIE ELEISON. The Greek of “Lordhave mercy” upon us. This earnest and pathetic appeal of the penitent heart has, from the apostolic age, been freely incorporated into the liturgies of the Church. It is perpetually repeated in the Greek liturgies; and in our own it is of frequent occurrence: so frequent, indeed, that exceptions have sometimes been taken to our forms, as tinctured with an overabundant sorrow and self-abasement, for those who are called to be the sons ofGod. The fault, however, is fortunately on the right side; and, as Bishop Sparrow remarks, on the Kyrie between the commandments, if there be any that think this might have been spared, as being fitter for poor publicans than saints, let them turn to the parable of the publican and Pharisee going up to the temple to pray, (Luke xviii.,) and here they shall receive an answer. It generally precedes theLord’sPrayer. In the Litany, each of the three clauses is repeated severally by both minister and people. In the First Book of King Edward VI., it was used at the beginning of the Communion Service, and the figure iii. was prefixed to each clause, to signify that each was to be preceded three times. The Kyrie Eleison is generally called “the Lesser Litany.”
KYRIE, “OLord,” (in Church music,) the vocative of the Greek word signifyingLord, with which word all the musical masses in the Church of Rome commence, that is, the above-mentionedKyrie Eleison. Hence it has come to be used substantively for the whole piece, as one may say,a beautiful Kyrie, a Kyrie well executed, &c.It is sometimes applied to the responses between the commandments in our Prayer Book.—Jebb.
LABARUM. The celebrated imperial standard used by Constantine the Great. Near the extremity of the shaft of a lance, sheathed in plates of gold, was affixed, in a horizontal position, a small rod, so as to form the exact figure of a cross. From this transverse little bar hung drooping a small purple veil of the finest texture, interwoven with golden threads, and starred with brilliant jewels. Above this rose the sacred monogram ofJesus Christencircled with a golden crown. Under this banner were his victories gained. It was carried near the emperor, and defended specially by the flower of his army. The etymology of the word is utterly unknown.
LAITY, LAYMAN. The people (λαὸς) as distinguished from the clergy. This distinction was derived from the Jewish Church, and adopted into the Christian by the apostles themselves. Every one knows that the offices of the priests and Levites among the Jews were distinct from those of the people. And so it was among Christians from the first foundation of the Church. Wherever any number of converts were made, as soon as they were capable of being formed into a Church, a bishop or a presbyter, with a deacon, was ordained to minister to them, as Epiphanius delivers from the ancient histories of the Church.
Every true Christian Church is a body of men associated for religious purposes, and composed of two distinct classes,—the clergy and the laity: the clergy especially and divinely set apart for sacred offices; the laity exercising the duties and receiving the privileges of religion, in the midst of temporal occupations and secular affairs. But the clergy are thus set apart, not for their own benefit only, but for the benefit of the Church in general, of their lay brethren among the rest; and the laity also are bound to employ their temporal opportunities not for themselves exclusively, but for the Church in general, and for their clerical brethren among the rest. They who minister at the altar, minister for those who partake of the altar; and they who partake of the altar are bound to support those who minister at the altar; and this is one out of a thousand applications of the general principles of communion, and of the reciprocal rights and privileges on which it is founded.
Compacted by these reciprocal duties and privileges, but still more truly and effectually by ordinances and sacraments, and by a divine and mystical agency which animates all with one spirit, and sanctifies all with one grace, clergy and laity together form but one body. The clergy alone no more constitute the Church, either in a spiritual, in an ecclesiastical, or in a political sense, than do the laity alone; and the Church has no existence, no duties, no rights, no authority, except as it iscomposed of both clergy and laity. It is because they forget this that we continually hear persons speaking of the Church as it were only an hierarchy. If regulations of any kind are proposed for the prosperity of the Church, they start at the sound as if it meant the aggrandizement of the clergy: if the Church is said to be in danger, they only think of the fall of mitres and the impoverishing of benefices. The real truth is, that the Church’s privilege and authority belong to the whole body, whoever may be their immediate recipients and executors; and whoever maintains them, whether he be lay or clerical, maintains his own rights and his own patrimony.
And the part of the laity in the Church is no more purely political, than the part of the clergy is purely spiritual. Nothing could be less just than to deny to the laity a spiritualcharacter, although they are not appointed to spiritualoffices. The sacraments which the ministers distribute, and the laity partake with them, are spiritual; the one (that is, holy baptism) originating, the other (that is, the blessed eucharist) continuing a spiritual character in the recipients. The minister offers up spiritual lauds and prayers for his flock. Even external discipline has a spiritual object, and would be both absurd and unjust, if exercised over those who are not members of the Church spiritual as well as visible. And, finally and principally, the ever blessed fountain and stream of a true spiritual character, without whom no external sacrament or rite can be to any purpose, even theHoly Ghost, is purchased byChristfor his whole Church; and sent fromHimand from theFather, not exclusively upon any order of men, but upon all, from the highest order of the clergy to the least and lowest of the laity who maintain their spiritual character. As the precious unguent poured upon Aaron’s head, flowed not only over his own beard, but even to the skirts of his clothing; so does that spiritual stream of a holy character flow from the Head of the Church, not on those only whoseofficeissacred, but on those also whosecharacterissanctified; not only upon those whose part it is to govern, but on those also who must obey in spiritual things. And so it is that the mystical temple ofChrist“groweth together inChrist, which is the Head; from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body.”
And this is, indeed, the right clue to the interpretation of those passages of Scripture in which allChrist’speople are designated as priests, and which have been perverted into an authority for the exercise of clerical functions by the laity. It is the spiritualcharacter, not the spiritualoffice, of every Christian, of which St. Peter speaks, when he says, “Ye also, as living stones, are built up,a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices untoGodbyJesus Christ.” And again, “Ye are a chosen generation,a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” So also when St. John says, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kingsand priestsuntoGodtheFather, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever:” and when Moses declares of the Israelites, as they typified the Christian Church, “Ye shall be unto mea kingdom of priests, and aholy nation:” they convey an assurance to us, not of the priestly office, but of the spiritual character and privileges of every member of the Church ofChrist.
And it is as partaking in this spiritual character with them that the laity share with the clergy in many other things. They have the same privilege of the Christian altar, and for their children the same privilege of the Christian font: the promises ofGodto them are the same; and spiritual benefits, both present and future, clergy and laity share together: their duties are almost all of them in common, varying principally in the external manner in which they are to be performed: and even where there is the most apparent exclusion of the laity from the ceremonial, they are by no means excluded from the authority which sanctions the ceremonial. It would be most wicked and presumptuous for a layman to take on himself the ordination of another, or the consecration of the eucharist; but it would be nothing short of heresy, though a new heresy, to deny that the bishop and the priest perform these acts with that authority which is vested in the Church, as a society of faithful men, lay as well as clerical. It is in the name, not of the clergy, but of the Church, that the bishop confirms and ordains; that the minister pronounces absolution and a blessing; that discipline is enforced, and penitents are restored: and in all these cases the minister is the representative and instrument, not of the clergy, nor of his individual bishop, but of the Church at large. But it is not only in the authority and privileges of the Church, but in its responsibility also, that the laity areincluded. If a Church fall into heresy, or error of doctrine or of practice, though the hierarchy may be the chief instigators and movers of such error, yet the laity, still maintaining their communion, are necessarily involved in their sin. And so, on the other hand, if the laity fall into spiritual error, the clergy also are responsible, and involved in the sin. It mattered not whether it were the heresy of the Nicolaitanes, or the religious indifference of the body of a Church which had left its first love: the candlestick was removed, not from the clergy only in the one case, nor from the laity only in the other, but all were swept away together. The laity among the Arians were not excused because they left the Catholic faith in company with their bishops; nor were those of the clergy, who, in latter days, cast off episcopal authority because of the clamours of the people, thus justified.Godonly can precisely judge of the degree of sin in parties thus situated; but as a point of sound theory in religion and theology, the clergy are concerned in the errors of their flocks; the laity are involved in the heresies and schisms, and other ecclesiastical crimes, of their bishops and pastors.
This mutual responsibility of clergy and laity would result even from the principles of a civil polity, of the nature of which the Church, as a society, necessarily partakes: but they follow still more manifestly among the consequences of her spiritual union; and are plainly stated in the sacred Scriptures, by the rules of which the Church is ever to be judged. Surely nothing can be clearer than the words of St. Paul, “Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it; now ye are the body ofChrist, and members in particular.”
Thus we see that, in matters purely spiritual, the laity are very seriouslyresponsiblefor the proceedings of the Church as carried on, well or ill, by its appointed ministers. How greatly they areinterestedin the same matters, needs not to be proved at much length; since the validity of the sacraments, the soundness of doctrine, the catholicity of fellowship, certainly concern them quite as nearly as the clergy themselves. But so soon as we take into consideration those matters in which the Church partakes of the nature of a civil polity, we find the interest of the laity in its regulations so much increased, that sometimes they are even more nearly concerned than the clergy themselves. A single line of George Herbert will illustrate these principles; he says,
“The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church says now.”
Here in the Scriptural part, (the propriety and benefit of fasting,) laity and clergy are concerned equally; but so soon as the Church exerts its authority in the way of polity, (to determine the time,) the laity, upon whose secular habits a religious exercise makes a greater incursion, are by far the most concerned. The same thing holds in every rule for the regulation of penance or communion, for the determining of the proper recipients of baptism, the proper candidates for holy orders, and the like. And to go a step farther; there are parts of the ecclesiastical polity which are spiritual only by accident, and indirectly; such as the means used in collecting funds for charitable or religious purposes, and for the carrying on of the government of the Church; and in these the immediate and direct interest of the laity is altogether paramount.
These, which are the true Church principles on the subject of the clergy and the laity, will be sufficient to answer the charge of priestcraft against those of the clergy who enforce sound principles on this subject; and to make those of the laity who wish to act up to the high principles which they profess, feel that as churchmen they possess a sacred character which must not be lightly compromised, and spiritual privileges which they may well think worth contending for, against the low principles of dissenters and quasidissenters.—Poole on the Admission of Lay Members to the Synods of the Church in Scotland.
LAMBETH ARTICLES. Certain articles so called because they were drawn up at Lambeth, in the year 1595, by the then archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London.
It appears that towards the close of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the errors of Calvinism had spread among the clergy of the Church of England. These errors were opposed by some of the most learned divines of Cambridge. But the opponents of Calvinism were denounced as persons addicted to Popery; and the heads of houses ventured to censure one divine because he denied some points of Calvinistic doctrine, and spoke disrespectfully of Calvin, Peter Martyr, and others. Archbishop Whitgift, and some other bishops, were inclined to take part with the heads of houses at Cambridge, and, adhering to the popular side, to condemn the orthodox divines.They met together at Lambeth palace, and there Archbishop Whitgift, Dr. Vaughan, elect of Bangor, Dr. Fletcher, elect of London, Dr. Tyndall, dean of Ely, and the Calvinistic divines from Cambridge, digested under the nine following heads what are called the Lambeth Articles:
“1.Godhath from eternity predestinated certain persons to life, and hath reprobated certain persons unto death. 2. The moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life is not the foresight of faith, or of perseverance, or of good works, or of anything that is in the persons predestinated; but the alone will ofGod’sgood pleasure. 3. The predestinate are a predetermined and certain number, which can neither be lessened nor increased. 4. Such as are not predestinated to salvation shall inevitably be condemned on account of their sins. 5. The true, lively, and justifying faith, and the spirit ofGodjustifying, is not extinguished, doth not utterly fail, doth not vanish away in the elect, either finally or totally. 6. A true believer, that is, one who is endued with justifying faith, is certified by the full assurance of faith that his sins are forgiven, and that he shall be everlastingly saved byChrist. 7. Saving grace is not allowed, is not imparted, is not granted to all men, by which they may be saved if they will. 8. No man is able to come toChrist, unless it be given him, and unless theFatherdraw him; and all men are not drawn by theFather, that they may come to hisSon. 9. It is not in the will or power of every man to be saved.”
These articles, asserting the most offensive of the Calvinistic positions, were not accepted by the Church, and consequently were of no authority, although they were employed at the time to silence those by authority against whom argument could not prevail. The prelates who drew them up acted without authority, for they were not assembled in a synod. A synod is an assembly of bishops and presbyters duly convened. In this instance there was no convention. The meeting was a mere private conference; and the decision was of no more weight than the charge of a bishop delivered without a consultation with his clergy, which is only the expression of a private opinion, it may be that even of an Arian or Sabellian; and which, though heard with respect, is only to be treated as the opinion of an individual, until the clergy have officially received it as orthodox: it was to be received with respect, and examined with reference not to the authority with which it was given, but according to its merits. There can be no greater proof of the absence of Calvinism from the Thirty-nine Articles than the fact, that the very persons who were condemning the orthodox for innovation, were compelled to invent new articles before they could make our Church Calvinistic. The conduct of the archbishop gave much offence to many pious persons, and especially to the queen; and this attempt to introduce Calvinism into our Church entirely failed.
LAMBETH DEGREES. The popular designation given to degrees conferred by the archbishop of Canterbury, who has the power of giving degrees in any of the faculties. This is supposed to be a relic of legislative authority.
LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. A canonical book of the Old Testament. (SeeJeremiah.)
This book is a kind of funeral elegy on the death of the good king Josiah, as appears from what is recorded: “Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel; and behold they are written in the Lamentations.” This is confirmed by the Jewish historian Josephus.
St. Jerome imagines this prophet laments the loss of Josiah, as the beginning of those calamities which followed: accordingly he prophetically bewails the miserable state of the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem; though some are of opinion, the Lamentations were composed after the taking of Jerusalem.
The first two chapters of this book are employed in describing the calamities of the siege of Jerusalem. In the third, the author deplores the persecutions he himself had suffered. The fourth turns upon the desolation of the city and temple, and the misfortune of Zedekiah. The fifth chapter is a kind of form of prayer for the Jews in their dispersion and captivity. At the end of all, he speaks of the cruelty of the Edomites, who had insulted Jerusalem in her misery.
The first four chapters of the Lamentations are in acrostic verse, and abecedary; every verse or couplet beginning with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in their alphabetical order.
There is a preface to the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in the Greek, and in the Vulgar Latin, which is not in the Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee Paraphrase, nor in the Syriac; and which was manifestly added by way of Argument of the book.
LAMMAS DAY. A festival of the Romish Church, otherwise calledSt. Peter’s chains, orSt. Peter in the fetters, in memory of the imprisonment of that apostle. Two derivations have been given of the nameLammas. 1st, The literal sense, arising from a ludicrous notion of the vulgar, that St. Peter was patron of thelambs, from ourSaviour’swords to him, “Feed my lambs.” 2. From a Saxon word, meaning “Loaf-mass,” it having been the custom of the Saxons to offer on this day (August 1) an oblation of loaves made of new wheat, as the first-fruits of their new corn.
LAMPADARY. An officer in the ancient Church of Constantinople; so called, because it was his business to see that the lamps of the church were lighted, and to carry a taper before the emperor, the empress, and the patriarch, when they went to church, or in procession. The taper, borne before the emperor, was encompassed with several golden circles representing crowns: those carried before the empress and patriarch had but one. These tapers were emblematical, and signified that these illustrious personages were to enlighten the rest of the world by the splendour of their virtues.
LANTERN. The central tower of a cross church, when it is open over the cross. This seems always to have been the vernacular term for such a tower. Thus, William de Chambre says of Bishop Skirlaw, “Magnam partem campanilis, vulgolantern,ministerii Eboracensis construxit.”
LAPSE. When a patron neglects to present a clergyman to a benefice in his gift, within six months after its vacancy, the benefice lapses to the bishop; and if he does not collate within six months, it lapses to the archbishop; and if he neglects to collate within six months, it lapses to the Crown.
LAPSED. Those persons were so called, who in time of persecution denied the faith ofChrist; but again, on persecution ceasing, sought reconciliation and Church communion.
The discipline with which such persons were visited included a long absence from the holy eucharist, which however was not denied them in case of extreme illness. And the maternal solicitude of the Church for her sons was so great, that when dangerous sickness was prevalent, or when another persecution seemed to impend, it somewhat relaxed the rule. This is especially shown in the conduct and writings of St. Cyprian; in whose times the case of the lapsed was brought before the Church, by circumstances, more fully, and was also more clearly determined, than it had been before. One of his most celebrated tracts refers especially to their case.
Different circumstances gave to different individuals of the lapsed the names ofSacrificati,Thurificati, andLibellatici. (See these words.) TheTraditoreswere not held wholly free from the crime of the lapsed. (SeeTraditors.)
Those who absolutely and for ever fell away were classed by the Church as heathens, and had of course no ecclesiastical position, however low.
LATERAN COUNCILS. Under this head, to which reference has been made under the article onCouncils, we shall include all the councils of the Romish Church.
Lateran (I.)in the year 1123. It was convened by Pope Calixtus II., who presided in person. It consisted of 300 bishops. It decreed that investiture to ecclesiastical dignities was the exclusive right of the Church; and that the practice of secular princes giving such investiture was an usurpation. The celibacy of the clergy was also decreed.
Lateran (II.)in 1139, composed of nearly 1000 bishops, under the presidency of Pope Innocent II. It decided on the due election of this pope, and condemned the errors of Peter de Bruys and Arnold of Brescia.
Lateran (III.)in 1179. At this council, with Pope Alexander III. at their head, 302 bishops condemned what they were pleased to call the “errors and impieties” of the Waldenses and Albigenses.
Lateran (IV.)in 1215, composed of 412 bishops, under Innocent III., had for its objects the recovery of the Holy Land, reformation of abuses, and the extirpation of heresy.
Lyons (I.)in 1245, consisting of 140 bishops, was convened for the purpose of promoting the Crusades, restoring ecclesiastical discipline, and dethroning Frederick II., emperor of Germany. It was also decreed at this council that cardinals should wear red hats.
Lyons (II.)in 1274. There were 500 bishops and about 1000 inferior clergy present. Its principal object was the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches.
Viennein Gaul, 1311, consisting of 300 bishops, who were convoked to suppress the Knights Templars, condemn those who were accused of heresy, and assist the Christians in Palestine.
Constance, in 1414–1418. The German emperor, the pope, 20 princes, 140counts, more than 20 cardinals, 7 patriarchs, 20 archbishops, 91 bishops, 600 other clerical dignitaries, and about 4000 priests, were present at this celebrated ecclesiastical assembly, which was occasioned by the divisions and contests that had arisen about the affairs of the Church. From 1305–1377, the popes had resided at Avignon; but in 1378, Gregory XI. removed the papal seat back to Rome: after his death, the French and Italian cardinals could not agree upon a successor, and so each party chose its own candidate. This led to a schism, which lasted forty years. Indeed, when the emperor Sigismund ascended the throne, in 1411, there werethreepopes, each of whom had anathematized the two others. To put an end to these disorders, and to stop the diffusion of the doctrines of Huss, Sigismund went in person to Italy, France, Spain, and England, and (as the emperor Maximilian I. used to say, in jest, performing the part of the beadle of the Roman empire) summoned a general council. The pretended heresies of Wickliff and Huss were here condemned, and the latter, notwithstanding the assurances of safety given him by the emperor, was burnt, July 7, 1415; and his friend and companion, Jerome of Prague, met with the same fate, May 30, 1416. The three popes were formally deposed, and Martin V. was legally chosen to the chair of St. Peter.
Basle, 1431, under the presidency of the cardinal legate Juliano Cæsarini of St. Angelo, after holding not fewer than forty-five sessions, terminated its labours, May 16, 1443. Its objects, which were partly attained, were to extirpate heresies, limit the power of the pope, effect a reformation of the clergy, and consolidate the interests of the Church. Its decrees are not admitted into any of the Roman collections, and are considered of no authority by the Roman lawyers. They are, however, recognised in points of canon law in France and Germany; and though some later concordats have modified the application of them, they have never been formally and entirely annulled.
Florence, 1439–1442. It was composed of 141 bishops, the patriarch of Constantinople, and the legates of the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. It effected a renunciation of schism on the part of the Greeks, and an abjuration of heresy on the part of the Armenians.
Lateran (V.)in 1512, convened by Pope Julius II., to oppose another held by nine cardinals of high rank the year before at Pisa, with a view to bridle his wild animosity, turbulence, and contumacy. It declared that council schismatic, abolished the Pragmatic Sanction, and strengthened the power of the Roman see.
Trent, convoked and opened by Paul III. in 1545; continued under Julius III.; and, after numerous interruptions, brought to a close in 1563, under the pontificate of Pius IV. Its object was professedly to reform ecclesiastical abuses, but really to counteract and crush the Reformation. (SeeTrent.)
LATITUDINARIANS. Certain divines so called from the latitude of their principles. The term is chiefly applied to some divines of the seventeenth century, who were attached to the English establishment, as such, but regarded episcopacy, and forms of public worship, as among the things indifferent. They would not exclude from their communion those who differed from them in those particulars. Many of the latitudinarian divines commenced as Calvinists, and ended as Socinians.
LATTER-DAY SAINTS. (SeeMormonists.)
LATRIA. (SeeDulia.)
LAUDS. The service which followed next after the nocturn was so designated before the Reformation. It was sometimes called matin lauds. The lauds are now, in the reformed Church of England, merged in the matins. The office of Lauds contains the Benedicite and the Benediction, as that of Matins does the Te Deum. Both have psalmody and hymns.
LAUDS, in Church music, hymns of praise.
LAURA. A name given to a collection of little cells at some distance from each other, in which the hermits of ancient times lived together in a wilderness. These hermits did not live in community, but each monk provided for himself in his distinct cell. The most celebrated Lauras mentioned in ecclesiastical history were in Palestine; as the Laura of St. Euthymius, St. Saba, the Laura of the Towers, &c. The most ancient monasteries in Ireland were Lauras.
LAVACRUM. (SeePiscina.)
LAY BAPTISM. (SeeBaptism.) Baptism administered by persons not in holy orders, i. e. by laymen.
It is a first principle in the Church ofGod, that no one has a right to execute any function of the ministry, till he has been lawfully invested with the ministerial office. It is also confessed that the administration of baptism is one of the functionsof the ministry. It follows, therefore, that none have arightto administer baptism, but those holding ministerial authority. Here, then, there can be no dispute; laymen have norightto baptize. But what if theyshouldbaptize in spite of this virtual interdict? Is there any force or validity in an act done in open violation of a fixed principle of the Church? Here is the important question of the controversy—the very “pith of the matter;” and it resolves itself into this simple inquiry:—Suppose that a layman has norightto baptize, has he also noability? The distinction between these it will be well to keep in view. A man may haveabilityto do an action without therightto exercise that ability, and sovice versâ. And again, a citizen may be in full possession of intellectual and physical qualifications for a public office; but without eitherrightorabilityto perform the authoritative acts of such an office, till these are conferred upon him by the superior power. Whence then does a layman derive anyabilityto baptize? We do not here mean the ability to perform the physical acts of reciting the form, and pouring the water, (for these are in every one’s power,) but that of standing asGod’sagent in effecting “a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness;” in conferring remission of sins, and declaring that “hereby,” in this very act of usurpation, “children of wrath are made the children of grace.” How can any one, not a lawful minister, possess ability to this extent? With all humility we reply, that we know not, unless the sacrament workex opere operato: and thus the Romish Church is so far consistent in allowing midwives and others to baptize. She does believe that the sacrament worksex opere operato; but is it not a little singular that the extremes of ultra-Protestantism and Romanism should here meet? If a layman should perform the external part of ordination, confirmation, absolution, consecration of the eucharist, &c., we agree in the conclusion, that this is null and void, because he has no power over the internal and spiritual part of such offices. If baptism, therefore, be anything more than an external ceremony, the same conclusion would seem to follow, for anything we can learn from Scripture to the contrary. We have no proof thatChristever promised to sanction lay baptism; or that he conferred the power of baptizing on any but the clergy; or that the apostles ever imparted it to any other but clergy; or thatChristever pledged himself to bind or loose in heaven what laymen might bind or loose on earth. To say the least, then, there is very great uncertainty as to the spiritual effect of baptisms administered by those whom neither the Head of the Church, nor his apostles, ever commissioned to baptize. This appears to us a manifest result of the principle from which we started: and, unless that principle be preserved, we see not how the integrity of the Church can be maintained, or how the prerogatives and powers of the ministry can be asserted; or why, except as a mere matter of expediency, there should be any ministry at all. For, if it be granted that though laymen have norightto perform priestly offices, yet, if they choose, theycanperform them; i. e. their usurped acts are ratified in heaven, equally with those of an empowered ministry; this is to overturn the very foundations of apostolic order; to deprive the clergy of their Divine commission, or to effectually neutralize it; and, finally, to reduce their office, in the judgment of the world, to the low rank of a mere literary profession, or ecclesiastical employment.