ἔγειραι ὁ καθεύσων,καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν,καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ χριστός.
ἔγειραι ὁ καθεύσων,καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν,καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ χριστός.
ἔγειραι ὁ καθεύσων,καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν,καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ χριστός.
ἔγειραι ὁ καθεύσων,
καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν,
καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ χριστός.
However this may be, it is to be hoped that the recent discoveries of early Christian hymns in the Syriac language may throw light on this subject; and here Dr. Burgess’s late translation of the hymns of Ephrem Syrus may be consulted with advantage. The Evening Hymn of the first or second century, preserved by St. Basil, and given inRouth’s Reliquiæ Sacræ, is an interesting illustration of the ancient Christian songs.
The wordsongin the Old Testament is in the HebrewShir. Many of the Psalms are so denominated: sometimes simplyShir, at other timesMizmor Shir(Psalm-Song), orShir Mizmor(Song-Psalm). It is not, perhaps, possible to distinguish them in style or subject from other Psalms. The word appears by comparison of different passages of Scripture to mean anything sung to instrumental music, as these instruments are called in Scripture instruments ofShir, i. e. accompanying vocal music. See 2 Chron. v. 13.
SONGS OF DEGREES. (SeeDegrees, andPsalms.)
SORTES. A method of divination borrowed by some superstitious Christians from the heathen, and condemned by several councils. The heathen, opening Virgil at hazard, took the first words they found as indicating future events, and this process they calledSortes Virgilianæ. The superstitious imitators of this custom used the Bible in the same way, and called their divinationsSortes sacræ.
SOUTHCOTTIANS. The deluded followers of one Johanna Southcot, a servant girl at Exeter, who, towards the close of the last century, gave herself out as the woman in the wilderness, mentioned in the Apocalypse, and declared that she held converse with spirits, good and bad, and with theHoly Ghosthimself. She gave sealed papers, which were called her “seals,” to her followers, which were to protect them from all evil of this life and the next. In 1814, having fallen from indulgence and want of exercise into a habit of body which gave her the appearanceof pregnancy, she announced herself the mother of the approaching Shiloh. She died, however, and her body was opened, revealing the real cause of her appearance; but her death and burial did not undeceive her followers, though no resurrection of their leader has yet taken place.
SPANDRIL. The triangular portion of wall between two arches, or an arch and the adjoining wall; or between the side of an arch and the square panel in which it is set. The latter is a remarkable feature in perpendicular doorways, being often richly ornamented with figures, foliage, or heraldic shields.
SPIRE. The high pyramidal capping or roof of a tower. The earliest spires still existing in England are Early English; and in this style, as well as in the next, or Geometric, it is generally of the form called a broach. In the Decorated, the broach and the parapetted spire occur indifferently; in the Perpendicular, the latter almost exclusively, though there is a large portion of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire in which Perpendicular broaches are not uncommon. Many of our loftiest spires were formerly of timber, covered with lead: such was the spire of St. Paul’s cathedral, the highest in the kingdom; such is still the remarkable twisted spire of Chesterfield. Several smaller spires of this kind remain in the southern counties, but the perishableness of the material has led to the destruction of by far the greater number of them.
SPLAY. The slanting expansion inwards of windows, for the wider diffusion of light. This is usually very great in Norman windows, where the external aperture is small.
SPONSORS. In the administration of baptism, these have from time immemorial held a distinguished and important place. Various titles have been given them significative of the position they hold, and the duties to which they are pledged. Thus they are calledsponsors, because in infant baptism theyrespondor answer for the baptized. They aresureties, in virtue of the security given through them to the Church, that the baptized shall be “virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life.” And from the spiritual affinity here created, by which a responsibility almost parental is undertaken by the sureties, in the future training of the baptized, the termsgodfather and godmotherhave taken their rise.
(For the rubrics and canons on this subject seeGodfather.)
In the ancient Church they reckoned three sorts of sponsors: 1. For children, who could not renounce, or profess, or answer for themselves. 2. For such adult persons, as by reason of sickness or infirmity were in the same condition as children, incapable of answering for themselves. 3. For all adult persons in general.
The sponsors for children were obliged to answer to all the interrogatories usually made in baptism, and then to be the guardians of their Christian education. In most cases, parents were sponsors for their own children; and the extraordinary cases in which they were presented by others were such, where the parent could not or would not perform that kind office for them; as when slaves were presented for baptism by their masters; or children, whose parents were dead, were brought by any charitable persons, who would take pity on them; or children exposed by their parents, who were sometimes taken up by the holy virgins of the Church, and by them presented unto baptism. In these cases, where strangers became sureties for children, they were not obliged, by virtue of their suretyship, to maintain them; but the Church was charged with this care, and they were supported out of the common stock. All that was required of such sponsors was, first, to answer to the several interrogatories in baptism; and, secondly, to take care, by good admonitions and instructions, that they performed their part of the covenant they engaged in.
The second sort of sponsors were to answer for such adult persons as were incapable of answering for themselves. These were such as were suddenly struck speechless, or seized with a frenzy through the violence of some distemper, and the like. And they might be baptized, if their friends could testify that they had beforehand desired baptism. In which case the same friends became sponsors for them, making the very same answers for them that they did for children.
The third sort of sponsors were for such adult persons as were able to answer for themselves; for these also had their sureties, and no persons anciently were baptized without them. It was no part of the office of these sponsors to answer to the interrogatories made in baptism: the adult persons were to answer for themselves, according to that plain sentence of the gospel, “He is of age, let him answer for himself.” The only business of sponsors, in this case, was to be guardians of their spiritual life, and to take care of their instruction and morals, both beforeand after baptism. This office was chiefly imposed upon the deacons for the men, and the deaconesses for the women.
Anciently, there was no prohibition of any sorts of men from performing this charitable office; excepting only catechumens, energumens, heretics, and penitents; that is, persons who as yet were never in full communion with the Church, or such as had forfeited the privileges of baptism and Church communion by their crimes or errors; such persons being deemed incapable of assisting others, who stood in need of assistance themselves. In the time of Charles the Great, the Council of Mentz forbade fathers to be sponsors for their own children: and this was the first prohibition of this sort.
It is observable, that anciently no more than one sponsor was required, namely, a man for a man, and a woman for a woman. In the case of infants, no regard was had to the difference of sex: for a virgin might be sponsor for a male child, and a father for his children, whether male or female. This practice was confirmed by the Council of Mentz, upon a reason which is something peculiar: for they concluded, that, because there is but oneGod, one faith, and one baptism, therefore an infant ought to have but one sponsor.—Bingham.
SQUINCH. More properlyPendentive. A small arch thrown across the angle of a square tower, to receive one of the sides of an octagonal spire or lantern. In broach spires the external slant over this arch is also called a squinch.
STALLS. In a cathedral or collegiate church, and often in parish churches, certain seats constructed for the clergy and other members of the Church, and intended for their exclusive use. These stalls are placed in that portion of the building called thechoir, or the part in which Divine service is usually performed.
In ancient times, all members of the cathedral, including lay clerks or vicars, had their stalls: though the inferior members had not always fixed stalls appropriated to each individual. Unless when the community was very small, there was an upper and lower range of stalls, called theprima et secunda forma, (or gradus,) the upper appropriated to the canons or prebendaries, (and sometimes the priest vicars or minor canons,) the lower to the other members. The designation of the respective dignitaries and canons were written on their stalls; in some few instances, those of the minor canons or priest vicars also. The destruction of the ancient stalls, as at Canterbury, and of the lower range of stalls, as in many places, is a barbarism much to be lamented.
The same word is also used to signify any benefice, which gives the person holding it a seat, or stall, with the chapter, in a cathedral or collegiate church.
STANDING. The posture enjoined by the Church at several parts of Divine service, as, for instance, at the exhortation with which the service of morning and evening commences, and at the ecclesiastical hymns. In the primitive Church the sermon was listened to standing; and in some churches the people stood praying on theLord’sday, and during the fifty days after Easter, because it was not then so fitting to look downwards to the earth, as upwards to their risen and ascended Lord.
STATIONS. The weekly fasts of Wednesday and Friday. Not long after Justin Martyr’s time, the Church observed the custom of meeting solemnly for Divine worship on Wednesdays and Fridays, which days are commonly called thestationary days, because they continued their assemblies on those days to a great length, till three o’clock in the afternoon: for which reason they had also the name ofsemi-jejunia, or half fasts, in opposition to the Lent fasts, which always held till evening.—Bingham.Station, in the Romish Church, denotes certain churches in which indulgences are granted on certain days. It is also a ceremony wherein the clergy go out of the choir and sing before an image.
STEEPLE. The tower of a church with all its appendages, as turret, octagon, and spire. It is often incorrectly confounded with the spire.
STEPHEN’S, ST., DAY. A festival of the Christian Church, observed on the 26th of December, in honour of the protomartyr, St. Stephen.
STIPENDIARIES. Members of collegiate choirs, who do not possess an independent estate, but are paid stipends. At Christ Church in Dublin there are both vicars choral and stipendiaries, the latter generally succeeding to vacant vicarages. There were also formerly five stipendiaries at Tuam; and four at the now ruined cathedral of Enachdune.—Harris’s Ware. Cotton’s Facti Eccl. Hib.
STOLE, or ORARIUM. A long and narrow scarf with fringed extremities, that crossed the breast to the girdle, and thence descended in front on both sides as low as the knees. The deacon wore it over the left shoulder, and in the Latin Church joined under the right arm, but in the Greek Church with its two extremities, one in front and the other hanging downhis back. The wordἄγιοςwas sometimes thrice embroidered on it instead of crosses. It is one of the most ancient vestments used by the Christian clergy, and in its mystical signification represented the yoke ofChrist.—Palmer.
STOUP. A bason to receive holy water, often remaining in porches, or in some other place near the entrance of the church, and towards the right hand of a person entering.
SUBCHANTER. (SeeSuccentor.)
SUBDEACONS. An inferior order of clergy in the Christian Church, so called from their being employed in subordination to the deacons.
The first notice we have of this order in any writers, is about the middle of the third century, when Cyprian lived, who speaks of subdeacons as settled in the Church in his time. The author of the “Constitutions” refers them to an apostolical institution, and brings in St. Thomas the apostle, giving directions to bishops for their ordination. But in this he is singular, it being the general opinion that subdeacons are merely of ecclesiastical institution.
As to their office, it was to fit and prepare the sacred vessels and utensils of the altar, and deliver them to the deacons in the time of Divine service; but they were not allowed to minister as deacons at the altar; no, not so much as to come within the rails of it, to set a paten or cup, or the oblations of the people, thereon. Another of their offices was, to attend the doors of the church during the Communion Service. Besides which offices in the church, they had another out of the church, which was, to carry the bishop’s letters or messages to foreign Churches. As to their ordination, it was performed without imposition of hands; and the ceremony consisted in their receiving an empty paten and cup from the hands of the bishop, and an ewer and towel from the archdeacon.
The singularity of the Church of Rome was remarkable in keeping to the exact number of seven subdeacons; whereas in other Churches the number was indefinite.
The employment of the subdeacons in the Romish Church is, to take care of the holy vessels, to prepare and pour water upon the wine in the chalice, to sing the Epistle at solemn masses, to bring and hold the book of the Gospels to the deacon, to give it the priest to kiss, to carry the cross in processions, and to receive the oblations of the people. The bishop, when he confers the order of subdeacon, causes the candidate to lay his hands on a cup and paten, both empty, saying to him at the same time, “Videte cujus ministerium vobis traditur,” &c. “Take care of the ministry which is committed to your charge, and present yourself untoGodin such a manner as may be agreeable to him.” After which, the candidate lays his hand on the Epistles, and the bishop says, “Receive this book, and the power of reading the Epistles in the holy Church ofGod.” The person to be ordained must present himself clothed in a white albe, and holding a lighted taper in his right hand. After the litanies, &c., the bishop clothes him with the amict, saying, “Accipe amictum, per quem designatur castigatio vocis,” that is, “Receive the amict, which denotes the bridle of speech.” He then puts the maniple on his left arm, telling him that it signifies the fruit of good works; and clothes him with the dalmatica, letting him know that it is the garment of joy.
The office of subdeacon does not subsist in the Church of England. It is, however, mentioned in the statutes of Henry the Eighth’s foundations, and is considered to be identical withEpistoler. The four subdeacons at Hereford are lay clerks.—Bingham.
SUBDEAN. An officer in cathedrals, who assists the dean in maintaining the discipline of the Church. In some cathedrals of the old foundation he was a permanent dignitary: in others, a minor canon or vicar choral, and then his jurisdiction was merely over the inferior members. (SeeVice Dean.)
SUBINTRODUCTÆ. (SeeAgapetæ.)
SUBLAPSARIANS. Those who hold thatGodpermitted the first man to fall into transgression without absolutely predetermining his fall; or that the decree of predestination regards man as fallen, by an abuse of that freedom which Adam had, into a state in which all were to be left to necessary and unavoidable ruin, who were not exempted from it by predestination. (SeeSupralapsarians.)
SUBSTANCE. In relation to theGodhead, that which forms the Divine essence or being—that in which the Divine attributes inhere. In the language of the Church, and agreeably with holy writ,Christis said to be of the samesubstancewith theFather, beingbegotten, and therefore partaking of the Divine essence; notmade, as was the opinion of some of the early heretics. (SeeHomoousion,Person, andTrinity.)
SUCCENTOR. The precentor’s deputy in cathedral churches. Sometimes thisofficer was a dignitary, as at York still and formerly at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Paris, &c.; and at York he is calledSuccentor Canonicorum, to distinguish him from the other subchanter, who is a vicar choral. In most churches however the subchanter is a vicar or minor canon, as at St. Paul’s, Hereford, Lichfield, St. Patrick’s, &c.
SUCCESSION, APOSTOLICAL, or UNINTERRUPTED. (SeeApostolical Succession.) The doctrine of a regular and continued transmission of ministerial authority, in the succession of bishops, from the apostles to any subsequent period. To understand this, it is necessary to premise, that the powers of the ministry can only come from one source—the greatHeadof the Church. By his immediate act the apostles or first bishops were constituted, and they were empowered to send others, as he had sent them. Here then was created the first link of a chain which was destined to reach fromChrist’sascension to his second coming to judge the world. And as the ordaining power was confined exclusively to the apostles, (seeEpiscopacy,) no other men or ministers could possibly exercise it: from them alone was to be obtained the authority to feed and govern the Church of all future ages. By the labours of the apostles, the Church rapidly spread through the then known world, and with this there grew up a demand for an increase of pastors. Accordingly, the apostles ordained elders or presbyters in all churches; but the powers given to these terminated in themselves; they could not communicate them to others. A few therefore were consecrated to the same rank held by the apostles themselves, and to these the full authority of the Christian ministry was committed, qualifying them to ordain deacons and presbyters, and, when necessary, to impart their full commission to others. Here was the second link of the chain. For example: Paul and the other apostolic bishops were the first. Timothy, Titus, and others, who succeeded to the same ministerial powers, formed the second. A third series of bishops were in like manner ordained by the second, as time advanced, and a fourth series by the third. And here the reader will perceive what is meant byuninterrupted succession, viz. a perfect and unbroken transmission of the original ministerial commission from the apostles to their successors, by the progressive and perpetual conveyance of their powers from one race of bishops to another. The process thus established was faithfully carried on in every branch of the universal Church. And as the validity of the ministry depended altogether on the legitimacy of its derivation from the apostles, infinite care was taken in the consecration of bishops, to see that the ecclesiastical pedigree of their consecrators was regular and indisputable. In case that any man broke in upon the apostolical succession, by “climbing up some other way,” he was instantly deposed. A great part of the ancient canons were made for regulating ordinations, especially those of bishops, by providing that none should be ordained, except in extraordinary cases, by less than three bishops of the same province; that strange bishops should not be admitted to join with those of the province on such occasions, but those only who were neighbours and well known, and the validity of whose orders was not disputed. The care thus taken in the early ages to preserve inviolate the succession from the apostles, has been maintained in all Churches down to the present day. There are in existence, catalogues of bishops from our own time back to the day of Pentecost. These catalogues are proofs of the importance always attached by the Church to a regular genealogy in her bishops. And they, as well as the living bishops themselves, are proofs of the reality of an apostolical succession. It has been well remarked, thatChrist Jesushas taken more abundant care to ascertain the succession of pastors in his Church, than ever was taken in relation to the Aaronical priesthood. For, in this case, the succession is transmitted from seniors to juniors, by the most public and solemn action, or rather series of actions, that is ever performed in a Christian Church; an action done in the face of the sun, and attested by great numbers of the most authentic witnesses, as consecrations always were. And we presume it cannot bear any dispute, but that it is now more easily to be proved that the archbishop of Canterbury was canonically ordained, than that any person now living is the son of him who is called his father; and that the same might have been said of any archbishop or bishop that ever sat in that or any other episcopal see, during the time of his being bishop.
Such then is uninterrupted succession; a fact to which every bishop, priest, and deacon, in the wide world, looks as the ground of validity in his orders. Without this, all distinction between a clergyman and a layman is utterly vain, for no security exists that heaven will ratify the acts of an illegally constituted minister on earth. Without it, ordination confers none but humanly derived powers.
The following acute observation occurs in Morgan’s “Verities:”
The succession of Canterbury from Augustine,A. D.597, to Tillotson, 1691, includes seventy-nine archbishops, giving each an average reign of less than fourteen years. The view in which some persons, opposed to the indispensability of the apostolic succession, try to place it—as a single chain of single links, from some one single apostle, of which one link, wanting or broken, breaks the succession—if very contrary to the facts to be illustrated, is yet very original. Grant each apostle to have founded twenty churches, here are at least,ab origine, two hundred and forty successions apostolically commenced. Considering how these have reproduced themselves a thousand-fold, and that each episcopal link succeeded the last as publicly as kings their predecessors, the “one chain” is not a very fortunate comparison.
SUFFRAGANS. The word properly signifies all the provincial bishops who are under a metropolitan, and they are called his suffragans, because he has power to call them to his provincial synods to give theirsuffragesthere.
The name is also used to denote a class resembling thechorepiscopi, or country bishops, of the ancient Church. (SeeChorepiscopus.)
In the very beginning of the Reformation here, viz. an. 26 Henry VIII. c. 14, an act passed to restore this order of men under the name ofsuffragan bishops. The preamble recites, that good laws had been made for electing and consecrating archbishops and bishops, but no provision was made for suffragans, which had been accustomed here for the more speedy administration of the sacraments, and other devout things, &c.; therefore it was enacted that the places following should be the sees of bishops suffragans: Bedford, Berwick, Bridgewater, Bristol, Cambridge, Colchester, Dover, St. Germain, Guildford, Gloucester, Grantham, Hull, Huntingdon, Isle of Wight, Ipswich, Leicester, Marlborough, Moulton, Nottingham, Penrith, Southampton, Shaftesbury, Shrewsbury, Taunton, Thetford. The bishop of each diocese shall by petition present two persons to the king, whereof he shall allow one to be the suffragan, and thereupon direct his mandate to the archbishop to consecrate him, which was to be done after this manner: first it recites that the bishop, having informed the king that he wanted a suffragan, had therefore presented two persons to him who were qualified for that office, praying that the king would nominate one of them; thereupon he nominated P. S., being one of the persons presented, to be suffragan of the see of Ipswich, requiring the archbishop to consecrate him. The bishop thus consecrated was to have no greater authority than what was limited to him by commission from the bishop of the diocese, and was to last no longer. This act was repealed by 1 & 2 Philip & Mary, cap. 8; but it was revived by 1 Elizabeth, and during the reign of that sovereign we find notices of suffragans at Dover and elsewhere. Bishop Gibson mentions Dr. Stean, suffragan of Colchester about 1606, as among the last of these suffragans. But, although the law has not been acted on in later times, it is still unrepealed.
SUFFRAGE. A vote, token of assent and approbation, or, as in public worship, the united voice and consent of the people in the petitions offered.
The term is also used in the Prayer Book to designate a short form of petition, as in the Litany. Thus, in the Order for the Consecration of Bishops, we read that in the Litany as then used, after the words, “That it may please thee to illuminate all bishops,” &c., the propersuffrageshall be, “That it may please thee to bless this our brother elected,” &c. The versicles immediately after the creed, in Morning and Evening Prayer, are also denominated suffrages, as in the instance quoted by Johnson, “Thesuffragesnext after the creed shall stand thus.Common Prayer, Form of Thanksgiving for May 29.” (SeeVersicle.)
The Litany in “the Ordering of Deacons” is headedthe Litany and Suffrages. By suffrages here seems to be meant the latter part of the Litany, called the supplication. (See Wheatly in loc. andSupplications.) In some old choral books these are called thesecond suffrages.
SUNDAY. (SeeLord’s Day.) The ancients retained the name Sunday, orDies Solis, in compliance with the ordinary forms of speech; the first day of the week being so called by the Romans, because it was dedicated to the worship of the sun. Thus Justin Martyr, describing the worship of the Christians, speaks of the day which is calledthat of the sun.
Besides the most solemn parts of Christian worship, which were always performed on Sundays, this day was distinguished by a peculiar reverence and respect expressed towards it in the observation of some special laws and customs. Among these we may reckon, in the first place, those imperial laws, which suspended all proceedingsat law on this day, excepting only such as were of absolute necessity, or eminent charity, such as the manumission of slaves, and the like. This was the same respect that the old Roman laws paid to the heathen festivals, which were exempted from all other juridical business, except in cases of necessity or charity. Neither was it only business of the law, but all secular and servile employments that were superseded on this day, still excepting acts of necessity and mercy. Constantine, indeed, allowed works of husbandry, as earing and harvest, to be done on Sundays: but this permission was never well approved of by the Church, which endeavoured to observe a just medium in the observation of theLord’sday, neither indulging Christians in unnecessary works on that day, nor wholly restraining them from working, if a great occasion required it.
Another thing which the Christian laws took care of, to secure the honour and dignity of theLord’sday, was, that no ludicrous sports or games should be followed on this day. There are two famous laws of the two Theodosiuses to this purpose, expressly forbidding the exercises of gladiators, stage-plays, and horse-races in the circus, to be exhibited to the Christians. And by the ecclesiastical laws, these sorts of diversions were universally forbidden to all Christians, on account of the extravagances and blasphemies that were committed in them. But all such recreations and refreshments, as tended to the preservation or conveniency of the life of man, were allowed on theLord’sday. And therefore Sunday was always a day of feasting, and it was never allowable to fast thereon, not even in Lent.
The great care and concern of the primitive Christians, in the religious observation of theLord’sday, appears, first, from their constant attendance upon all the solemnities of public worship, from which nothing but sickness, imprisonment, banishment, or some great necessity, could detain them: secondly, from their zeal in frequenting religious assemblies on this day, even in times of the hottest persecution, when they were often beset and seized in their meetings and congregations: thirdly, from their studious observation of the vigils, or nocturnal assemblies, that preceded theLord’sday: fourthly, from the eager attendance on sermons—in many places, twice on this day; and their constant resorting to evening prayers, where there was no sermon: lastly, from the severe censures inflicted on those who violated the laws concerning the religious observation of this day; such persons being usually punished with excommunication, as appears from the Apostolical Constitutions, and the canons of several councils.
In the Romish Breviary and other offices, we meet with a distinction of Sundays into those of the first and second class. Sundays of the first class are, Palm Sunday, Easter Day, Advent, Whitsunday, &c. Those of the second class are the common Sundays of the year.—Bingham.
SUPEREROGATION. In the Romish Church, works of supererogation are those good deeds which are supposed to have been performed by saints,over and abovewhat is required for their own salvation. These constitute an inexhaustible fund, on which the pope has the power of drawing at pleasure, for the relief of the Church, by the application of some portion of this superabundant merit, to meet a deficiency in the spiritual worth of any of its members.
On this doctrine of the Church of Rome our Church thus speaks in the fourteenth Article:—“Voluntary works besides, over and aboveGod’scommandments, which they call works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety; for by them men do declare, that they do not only render untoGodas much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required; whereasChristsaith plainly, ‘When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofitable servants.’”
The works here mentioned are called in the Romish Church likewise by the name of “counsels” and “evangelical perfections.” They are defined by their writers to be “good works, not commanded byChrist, but recommended;” rules which do not oblige all men to follow them, under the pain of sin; but yet are useful to carry them on to a sublimer degree of perfection than is necessary in order to their salvation. But there are no such counsels of perfection in the gospel; all the rules, set to us in it, are in the style and form of precepts; and, though there may be some actions of more heroical virtue and more sublime piety than others, to which all men are not obliged by equal and general rules; yet such men, to whose circumstances and station they belong, are strictly obliged by them, so that they should sin if they did not put them in practice.—Dr. Nicholls. Bp. Burnet.
SUPPLICATIONS. The following part of this Litany [beginning with theLord’sPrayer] we call theSupplications, which were first collected and put into this form, when the barbarous nations first began to overrun the empire about six hundred years afterChrist: but, considering the troubles of the Church militant, and the many enemies it always hath in this world, this part of the Litany is no less suitable than the former at all times whatsoever.—Wheatly.(SeeLitanyandSuffrage.) In many choirs and at the universities this latter part of the Litany is performed by a different minister from the former: in apparent compliance with the rubric, which before theLord’sPrayer directs that thePriestshall say it. And when the Litany is sung to the organ, it is usual to sing the responses in the Supplications without that accompaniment.
SUPRALAPSARIANS. The way in which they understand the Divine decrees, has produced two distinctions of Calvinists, viz. Sublapsarians and Supralapsarians. The former term is derived from two Latin words,sub, below or after, andlapsus, the fall; and the latter fromsupra, above, andlapsus, the fall. The Sublapsarians assert, thatGodhad only permitted the first man to fall into transgression, without absolutely predetermining his fall; their system of decrees, concerning election and reprobation, being, as it were, subsequent to that event. On the other hand, the Supralapsarians maintained thatGodhad, from all eternity, decreed the transgression of man. The Supralapsarian and Sublapsarian schemes agree in asserting the doctrine of predestination, but with this difference, that the former supposes thatGodintended to glorify his justice in the condemnation of some, as well as his mercy in the salvation of others; and for that purpose decreed that Adam should necessarily fall, and by that fall bring himself and all his offspring into a state of everlasting condemnation. The latter scheme supposes, that the decree of predestination regards man as fallen by an abuse of that freedom which Adam had, into a state in which all were to be left to necessary and unavoidable ruin, who were not exempted from it by predestination.
SUPREMACY. Lord Chief Justice Hale says, The supremacy of the Crown of England in matters ecclesiastical is a most indubitable right of the Crown, as appeareth by records of unquestionable truth and authority.—1H. H.75.
Lord-Chief Justice Coke says, That, by the ancient laws of this realm, this kingdom of England is an absolute empire and monarchy, consisting of one head, which is the king; and of a body, consisting of several members, which the law divideth into two parts, the clergy and laity, both of them, next and immediately underGod, subject and obedient to the head.—5Co.8. 40.Caudrey’s case.
By the parliament of England, in the 16 Rich. II. c. 5, it is asserted, that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times, that it hath been in no earthly subjection, but immediately subject toGodin all things touching the regality of the same Crown, and to none other.
And in the 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12, it is thus recited: “By sundry and authentic histories and chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed, that this realm of England is an empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one supreme head and king, having dignity and royal estate of the imperial crown of the same; unto whom a body politic, compact of all sorts and degrees of people, divided in terms and by names of spirituality and temporality, been bounden and owen to bear, next untoGod, a natural and humble obedience; he being also furnished by the goodness and sufferance of AlmightyGod, with plenary, whole, and entire power, pre-eminence, authority, prerogative, and jurisdiction, to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of persons, resiants within this realm, in all cases, matters, debates, and contentions, without restraint or provocation to any foreign princes or potentates of the world; in causes spiritual by judges of the spirituality, and causes temporal by temporal judges.”
Again, 25 Hen. VIII. c. 21. The realm of England, recognising no superior underGodbut only the king, hath been and is free from subjection to any man’s laws, but only to such as have been devised, made, and obtained within this realm for the wealth of the same, or to such other as, by sufferance of the king, the people of this realm have taken at their free liberty by their own consent to be used amongst them, and have bound themselves by long use and custom to the observance of the same, not as to the observance of the laws of any foreign prince, potentate, or prelate; but as to the customed and ancient laws of this realm, originally established as laws of the same by the said sufferance, contents, and custom, and none otherwise.
The Church of England declares, Can. 1, “As our duty to the king’s most excellentMajesty requireth, we first decree and ordain, that the archbishop from time to time, all bishops, deans, archdeacons, parsons, vicars, and all other ecclesiastical persons, shall faithfully keep and observe, and as much as in them lieth shall cause to be observed and kept of others, all and singular laws and statutes made for restoring to the Crown of this kingdom the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical, and abolishing of all foreign power repugnant to the same. Furthermore, all ecclesiastical persons having cure of souls, and all other preachers, and readers of divinity lectures, shall, to the uttermost of their wit, knowledge, and learning, purely and sincerely, (without any colour of dissimulation,) teach, manifest, open, and declare, four times every year at the least, in their sermons and other collation and lectures, that all usurped and foreign power (forasmuch as the same hath no establishment nor ground by the law ofGod) is for most just causes taken away and abolished, and that therefore no manner of obedience or subjection within his Majesty’s realms and dominions is due unto any such foreign power; but that the king’s power, within his realms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and all other his dominions and countries, is the highest power underGod, to whom all men, as well inhabitants as born within the same, do byGod’slaws owe most loyalty and obedience, afore and above all other powers and potentates in the earth.”
Canon 2. “Whoever shall affirm, that the king’s Majesty hath not the same authority in causes ecclesiastical that the godly kings had amongst the Jews and Christian emperors of the primitive Church, or impeach any part of his regal supremacy in the said causes restored to the crown, and by the laws of this realm therein established, let him be excommunicatedipso facto, and not restored but only by the archbishop, after his repentance and public revocation of those his wicked errors.”
Canon 26. “No person shall be received into the ministry, nor admitted to any ecclesiastical function, except he shall first subscribe (amongst others) to this article following: that the king’s Majesty, underGod, is the only supreme governor of this realm, and of all other his Highness’s dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal; and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within his Majesty’s said realms, dominions, and countries.”
And the 37th Article declares, that “The queen’s Majesty hath the chief power in this realm of England, and other her dominions; unto whom the chief government of all estates of this realm, whether they be ecclesiastical or civil, in all causes doth appertain; and is not, nor ought to be, subject to any foreign jurisdiction. But when we attribute to the queen’s Majesty the chief government, we give not thereby to our princes the ministering, either ofGod’sword or of the sacraments; but that only prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly princes in Holy Scripture by God himself, that is, that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God, whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal, and restrain with the civil sword the stubborn and evil-doers. The bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England.”
By the 1 Eliz. c. 1, it is enacted as follows, viz. that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, spiritual or temporal, shall use, enjoy, or exercise any manner of power, jurisdiction, superiority, authority, pre-eminence, or privilege, spiritual or ecclesiastical, within this realm, or any other her Majesty’s dominions or countries, but the same shall be abolished thereout for ever; any statute, ordinance, custom, constitutions, or any other matter or cause whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding. (S. 16.)
And such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities, and pre-eminence, spiritual and ecclesiastical, as by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power or authority have heretofore been, or may lawfully be, exercised or used for the visitation of the ecclesiastical state and persons, and for reformation, order, and correction of the same, and of all manner of errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities, shall for ever be united and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm. (S. 17.)
And if any person shall bywriting,printing,teaching,preaching express words,deedoract, advisedly, maliciously, and directly affirm, hold, stand with, set forth, maintain, or defend the authority, pre-eminence, power, or jurisdiction, spiritual or ecclesiastical, of any foreign prince, prelate, person, state, or potentate whatsoever, heretofore claimed, used, or usurped within this realm, or any other her Majesty’s dominions or countries; or shall advisedly, maliciously, and directly put in use, or execute, anything for the extolling,advancement, setting forth, maintenance, or defence of any such pretended or usurped jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence, and authority, or any part thereof; he, his abettors, aiders, procurers, and counsellors shall, for the first offence, forfeit all his goods, and if he hath not goods to the value of £20 he shall also be imprisoned for a year, and the benefices of every spiritual person offending shall also be void; for the second offence shall incur a præmunire; and for the third shall be guilty of high treason. (S. 27–30.)
But no person shall be molested for any offence committed only bypreaching,teaching, orwords, unless he be indicted within one half year after the offence committed. (S. 31.)
And no person shall be indicted or arraigned but by the oath of two or more witnesses; which witnesses, or so many of them as shall be living, and within the realm at the time of the arraignment, shall be brought face to face before the party arraigned, if he require the same. (S. 37.)
If any person shall by writing, cyphering, printing, preaching, or teaching, deed or act, advisedly and wittingly, hold or stand with, to extol, set forth, maintain or defend the authority, jurisdiction, or power of the bishop of Rome or of his see, heretofore claimed, used, or usurped, within this realm, or in any of her Majesty’s dominions; or by any speech, open deed, or act, advisedly and wittingly attribute any such manner of jurisdiction, authority, or pre-eminence to the said see of Rome, or to any bishop of the same see for the time being; he, his abettors, procurers, and counsellors, his aiders, assistants, and comforters, upon purpose and to the intent so set forth, further and extol the said usurped power, being indicted or presented within one year, and convicted at any time after, shall incur a præmunire.—5Eliz.c. 1, s. 2.
And the justices of assize, or two justices of the peace, (one whereof to be of the quorum,) in their sessions, may inquire thereof, and shall certify the presentment into the King’s Bench in forty days, if the term be then open; if not, at the first day of the full term next following the said forty days: on pain of £100. (S. 3.)
And the justices of the King’s Bench, as well upon such certificate as by inquiry before themselves, shall proceed thereupon as in cases of præmunire. (S. 4.)
But charitable giving of reasonable alms to an offender, without fraud or covin, shall not be deemed abetting, procuring, counselling, aiding, assisting, or comforting. (S. 18.)
The papal encroachments upon the king’s sovereignty in causes and over persons ecclesiastical, yea, even in matters civil, under that loose pretence ofin ordine ad spiritualia, had obtained a great strength and long continuance in this realm, notwithstanding the security the Crown had by the oaths of fealty and allegiance; so that there was a necessity to unrivet those usurpations, by substituting by authority of parliament a recognition by oath of the king’s supremacy, as well in causes ecclesiastical as civil; and thereupon the oath of supremacy was framed.—1H. H.75.
Which oath, as finally established by the 1 Will. III. c. 8, is as follows: “I A. B. do swear, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes, excommunicated or deprived by the pope or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm: so help meGod.”
But, lastly, the usurped jurisdiction of the pope being abolished, and there being no longer any danger to the liberties of the Church or State from that quarter; and divers of the princes of this realm having entertained more exalted notions of the supremacy, both ecclesiastical and civil, than were deemed consistent with the legal establishment and constitution; it was thought fit at the Revolution to declare and express, how far the regal power, in matters spiritual as well as temporal, doth extend; that so, as well the just prerogative of the Crown on the one hand, as the rights and liberties of the subject on the other, might be ascertained and secured. Therefore by the statute of the 1 W. III. c. 6, it is enacted as followeth:
“Whereas by the law and ancient usage of this realm, the kings and queens thereof have taken a solemn oath upon the evangelists at their respective coronations, to maintain the statutes, laws, and customs of the said realm, and all the people and inhabitants thereof in their spiritual and civil rights and properties; but forasmuch as the oath itself, on such occasion administered, hath heretofore been framed in doubtful words and expressions, with relation to ancient laws at this time unknown; to the end therefore that one uniform oath may be in all times to come taken by the kings and queens of this realm, and tothem respectively administered, at the times of their and every of their coronation, it is enacted that the following oath shall be administered to every king or queen who shall succeed to the imperial crown of this realm, at their respective coronations, by one of the archbishops or bishops of this realm of England for the time being, to be thereunto appointed by such king or queen respectively, and in the presence of all persons that shall be attending, assisting, or otherwise present at such their respective coronations: that is to say,
“The archbishop or bishop shall say, ‘Will you solemnly promise and swear, to govern the people of the kingdom of England, and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same?’ The king or queen shall say, ‘I solemnly promise so to do.’
“Archbishop or bishop: ‘Will you to your power cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all your judgments?’ The king and queen shall answer, ‘I will.’
“Archbishop or bishop: ‘Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws ofGod, the true profession of the gospel, and Protestant reformed religion established by law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rites and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them?’ The king or queen shall answer, ‘All this I promise to do:’ after this, laying his or her hand upon the holy Gospels, he or she shall say, ‘The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep: so help meGod:’ and shall then kiss the book.”
By the Act of Union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, 5 Anne, c. 8, it is enacted, that after the demise of her Majesty Queen Anne, the sovereign next succeeding, and so for ever afterwards every king or queen succeeding to the royal government of the kingdom of Great Britain, at his or her coronation, shall in the presence of all persons who shall be attending, assisting, or otherwise then and there present, take and subscribe an oath to maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof as by law established, within the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and the dominion of Wales and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the territories thereunto belonging.
And shall also swear and subscribe, that they shall inviolably maintain and preserve the settlement of the true Protestant religion, with the government, worship, discipline, right, and privileges of the Church of Scotland, as then established by the laws of that kingdom. (The foregoing authorities are quoted fromBurn.)
By the Church of England, the sovereign is thus regarded as being over all persons, and over all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil, supreme. On this head an objection is raised against the Church of England, as if her ministers derived their authority from the Crown. This objection is thus answered by Palmer: 1. We must insist upon it that theprinciples of the Church of England, with reference to the authority of the civil magistrate in ecclesiastical affairs, cannot be determined in any way by the opinions of lawyers, or the preambles of acts of parliament. We nowhere subscribe to either one or the other. 2. The opinion of the temporal power itself as to its own authority in ecclesiastical affairs, and its acts in accordance with such opinions, are perfectly distinct from the principles of the Church of England on these points. We are not bound to adopt such opinions, or approve such acts of temporal rulers, nor even to approve every point of the existing law. 3. The clergy of England, in acknowledging the supremacy of the king,A.D.1531, did so, as Burnet proves, with the important proviso, “quantum per Christi legem licet;” whichoriginal condition is ever to be supposedin our acknowlegment of the royal supremacy. Consequently we give no authority to the prince, except what is consistent with the maintenance of all those rights, liberties, jurisdictions, and spiritual powers, “which the law ofChristconfers on his Church.” 4. The Church of England believes the jurisdiction and commission of her clergy to come fromGod, by apostolic succession, as is evident from the ordination service, and has beenprovedby the Papist Milner himself (“Letters to a Prebendary,” Let. 8); and it is decidedly the doctrine of the great majority of her theologians. 5. The acts of English monarchs have been objected in proof of their views on the subject. We are not bound to subscribe to those views. If their acts were wrong in any case, we never approved them, though we may have been obliged by circumstances to submit to intrusions and usurpations. But since this is a favourite topic with Romanists, let us view the matter a little on another side. I ask, then, whether the parliaments of France did not, for a long series of years,exercise jurisdiction over the administration of the sacraments, compelling the Roman bishops and priests of France to give the sacrament to Jansenists, whom they believed to be heretics? Did they not repeatedly judge in questions of faith, viz. as to the obligation of the bull “Unigenitus?” Did they not take cognizance of questions of faith and discipline to such a degree, that they were said to resemble “a school of theology?” I ask whether the clergy of France in their convocations were notwhollyunder the control of the king, who could prescribe their subjects of debate, prevent them from debating, prorogue, dissolve, &c.?
Did they not repeatedly beg in vain from the kings of France, for a long series of years, to be permitted to hold provincial synods for the suppression of immorality, heresy, and infidelity? Is not this liberty still withheld from them, and from every other Roman Church in Europe? I further ask whether the emperor Joseph II. did notenslavethe Churches of Germany and Italy? Whether he did not suppress monasteries, suppress and unite bishoprics? Whether he did not suspend the bishops from conferring orders, exact from them oaths of obedience to all his measures present and future, issue royal decrees for removing images from churches, and for the regulation of Divine worship down to the minutest points, even to the number of candles at mass? Whether he did not take on himself to silence preachers who had declaimed against persons of unsound faith? Whether he did not issue decrees against the bull “Unigenitus,” thus interfering with the doctrinal decision of the whole Roman Church? I ask whether this conduct was not accurately imitated by the grand duke of Tuscany, the king of Naples, the duke of Parma; whether it did not become prevalent in almost every part of the Roman Church; and whether its effects do not continue to the present day? I again ask, whether “Organic Articles” were not enacted by Buonaparte in the new Gallican Church, which placed everything in ecclesiastical affairs under the government? Whether the bishops were not forbidden by the emperor to confer orders without the permission of government; whether the obvious intention was not to place the priests, even in their spiritual functions, under the civil powers? And, in fine, whether these obnoxious “Organic Articles” are not, up to the present day, in almost every point in force? I again inquire whether the order of Jesuits was not suppressed by the mere civil powers, in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, &c.; whether convents, monasteries, confraternities, friars, and monks, and nuns, of every sort and kind, were not extinguished, suppressed, annihilated by royal commission, and by the temporal power, in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, &c., and in opposition to the petitions and protests of the pope and the bishops? I again ask, whether the king of Sicily does not, in his “Tribunal of the Monarchy,” up to the present day, try ecclesiastical causes, censure, excommunicate, absolve? Whether this tribunal did not, in 1712, give absolution from episcopal excommunications; and whether it was not restored by Benedict XII. in 1728?
Is there a Roman Church on the continent of Europe, where the clergy can communicate freely with him whom they regard as their spiritual head; or where all papal bulls, rescripts, briefs, &c. are not subjected to a rigorous surveillance on the part of government, and allowed or disallowed at its pleasure? In fine, was not Gregory XVI. himself compelled, in his encyclical letter of 1832, to utter the most vehement complaints and lamentations, at the degraded condition of the Roman obedience? Does he not confess that the Church is “subjected toearthly considerations,” “reduced to a base servitude,” “the rights of its bishopstrampled on?” These are all certain facts: I appeal in proof of them to the Roman historians, and to many other writers of authority; and they form but a part of what might be said on this subject. Romanists should blush to accuse the Church of England for the acts of our civil rulers in ecclesiastical matters. They should remember those words, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
But it will be objected, all this was contrary at least to the principles of the Roman Church, while English theologians, on the contrary, exaggerate the authority of the civil magistrate in ecclesiastical affairs. We admit unequivocally, that some of our theologians have spoken unadvisedly on this subject. But what of that? Can they have gone further than the whole school of Gallican writers, of modern canonists, and reforming theologians, in the Romish Church, whose object is to overthrow the papal power, and render the Church subservient in all things to the State? Do Romanists imagine that we are ignorant of the principles of Pithouand the Gallican School, of Giannone, Van Espen, Zallwein, De Hontheim, Ricci, Eybel, Sioch, Rechberger, Oberhauser, Riegger, Cavallari, Tamburini, and fifty others, who were tinged with the very principles imputed to us? Do they forget that theirclergyin many parts have petitionedprincesto remove thecanonical lawof celibacy? In fine, is it not well known, that there is a conspiracy among many of their theologians, to subject the discipline of the Church to the civil magistrate? It is really too much for Romanists to assail us on the very point where they are themselves most vulnerable, and where they are actually most keenly suffering. Our Churches, though subject to some inconvenience, and lately aggrieved by the suppression of bishoprics in Ireland, contrary to the solemn protests of the bishops and clergy, are yet in a far more respectable and independent position than the Roman Churches. Those amongst us who maintain the highest principles of the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church, have reason to feel thankful that we have not yet fallen to the level of the Church of Rome.
SUPREMACY, PAPAL. The fourth Lateran Council, in the year 1215, is the first of those called general which recognised the authority of the Roman see as supreme over the Church. In the fifth canon the Roman Church is said to have “a principality of power over all others, as the mother and mistress of all Christian believers;” and all other patriarchs are required to receive their palls from the Roman pontiff. The titles of universal pope and universal patriarch, first used by the bishops of Constantinople, and afterwards applied indifferently to the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, as appears by the letters of the emperor Constantine Pogonatus, in Labbe and Cossart, vol. vi. pp. 593, 599, were titles of honour, and did not imply universal jurisdiction. There was no allusion to it in any former general council; so that, up to 1215, it was free for a man to think how he pleased concerning it. And not only were men free to deny the papal supremacy, they were bound to resist and reject it, in all places where it could not be proved to have been from the beginning. For so it was decreed by the third general council, which was assembled at Ephesus,A. D.431, “that none of the bishops, most beloved ofGod, do assume any other province that is not, and was not formerly, and from the beginning, subject to him, or those who were his predecessors. But if any have assumed any church, that he be forced to restore it, that so the canons of the fathers be not transgressed, nor worldly pride be introduced under the mask of this sacred function. The holy general synod hath therefore decreed, that the right of every province, formerly, and from the beginning, belonging to it, be preserved clear and inviolable.” This decree was passed on the occasion of an attempt by the patriarch of Antioch to usurp authority over the churches of the island of Cyprus, which had not been formerly under his jurisdiction, and is worthy of notice to the members of the Churches of England and Ireland. For as it is beyond denial, from the conduct of the British and Irish bishops, that the Churches in these islands knew no subjection to Rome up to the close of the sixth century, it is certain that every exercise of jurisdiction which the bishop of Rome practised afterwards for a time in this kingdom, was in violation of the decrees of the Catholic Church, and that the Churches here were merely acting in obedience to those decrees, when, after having made trial of that cruel bondage, they were enabled to release themselves from it. There is one other thing not unworthy of notice as concerns this point. By the creed of Pope Pius, all communicants in the Church of Rome are required to acknowledge as part of that “faith without which no man can be saved,” “the holy Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church, for the mother and mistress of all Churches.” It should be known that the Fathers assembled in the second general council, Constantinople,A. D.381, gave the title which is here claimed for Rome to the Church of Jerusalem, as appears from their synodical epistle. “We acknowledge the most venerable Cyril, most beloved ofGod, to be bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, which is the mother of all Churches.”—SeeConc.ii. 866. Thus then it appears, that in order to obtain communion in Rome, it is necessary to record an opinion directly at variance with that of a general council universally acknowledged.
The following has been abbreviated from Mr. Sanderson Robins’s very able treatise on the Evidence of Scripture against the Claims of the Church of Rome.
“The earlier popes knew nothing of the modern view which makes Peter and his alleged successors to be the supreme pastors, and all other bishops subordinate and deriving authority from them. Launoy cites no fewer than forty who employ the term fellow-bishop, and fellow-priest; which utterly contradicts the opinion ofBellarmine and his school. The very formula which indicates the invasion of episcopal independence, ‘By the grace of the apostolic see,’ is not to be traced farther back than the middle of the thirteenth century. Yet Duval argues that because the jurisdiction of bishops can be limited or taken away by the pope, it is not derived immediately from Christ. The converse is the true proposition; because it is derived immediately from Christ, it cannot be limited or taken away by the pope.
“The interpretation which assigns supreme power to the pope as Peter’s successor, would make him universal bishop, and leave nothing but vicarial power to all other bishops, which is exactly the conclusion so strenuously resisted by Gregory the Great, when he feared the growing importance of the see of Constantinople. Bellarmine admits the title to be antichristian and profane; but when he attempts to draw a distinction in favour of the powers claimed for the bishop of Rome, he reasons illogically, as Launoy has abundantly proved.
“The witness of the Bible remains, in spite of all efforts to conceal or pervert its meaning by those who are interested in defending an adverse system. It represents the office ofChristas incommunicable and unapproachable. He is the Root, from which the branches derive life and strength; the Shepherd, who knows his sheep, and is known of them; the heavenly Bridegroom, to whom the Church is espoused. So, again, he is ‘the Head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.’ When the title is ascribed to another, there is insurmountable difficulty involved. If Peter, or the bishop of Rome, is the head, then the Church must in the same sense be his body, which no one ventures to say. The distinction, again, between a visible and an invisible head has not the least show of Scripture proof, and is no better than an invention to meet an obvious difficulty. Nor is it of any avail to speak, as some do, ofChristas the essential, and Peter as the ministerial head, because whatever relation to the Church is represented by the figure, can exist only under the former, that is, by the union of believers toChrist, which is maintained through the ministry of the word and sacraments.
“There is an utter and hopeless disagreement, and on a point which involves supreme government. It is no secondary question, but one, as Dupin reminds us, which includes all ecclesiastical discipline. And yet, whether pope is superior to council, or the reverse; and whether the pope enjoys his prerogatives by Divine right, or ecclesiastical, has never been defined, though the decision is above all things required. In the Council of Trent, where the delivery of a clear, intelligible doctrine might have been reasonably expected, there was, instead, a prohibition of all discussion on the subject. It is not even settled whether, by disagreement on the question, persons incur the peril of heresy; Gerson holds the affirmative, and Bossuet sides with him, while Duval and others maintain the negative. The truth is, that the Roman Church has authorized two opposite conclusions, which have been enforced as the one party or the other prevailed. It is not the mere contention of private doctors, whose judgment might on either side be disavowed, but it is the Church itself which speaks inconsistently by its synodical decisions. It has, indeed, been demanded unreasonably, and sometimes incautiously allowed, that no statements of doctrine should be attributed to the Roman Church as authoritative, but such as are contained in the decrees of the Council of Trent, in the creed of Pius IV., and in the catechism. But it is to be observed, in the first place, that the decisions of the council avowedly do not extend beyond such points as had been brought into question by Protestants, and, at the same time, had not been disputed among Romanists themselves, for it was expressly enjoined that no definition should be made about any matter controverted among ‘Catholics’ themselves. The creed and the catechism have no more than the authority of the individual pope, by whom they were promulgated. It is true that this office was remitted to the bishop of Rome by the members of the council, but they possessed no such power of delegation. They might have adopted any decree of the pope, and have given it synodical sanction; but their consent previous to the consideration, or even knowledge of its contents, could not afford any weight additional to that which the pope alone could give. And, in the next place, the index of books, the catechism, the breviary, and the missal, possess equal authority, for they are enumerated together in the decree passed at the close of the council; that is, they possess as much authority as the decree of a pope could give them, and less than that which belongs to the decree of a council which has papal confirmation. It is true that, in the last of the articles which Pius IV. added to the creed of the Church Catholic,there is a profession of adherence to the decrees of general councils; but then no Romanist can tell what is and what is not a general council. It depends on the school to which he belongs, and on which side of the mountains he happens to live. Some so-called general councils, as Bellarmine tells us, are received, some are rejected, and some partly approved and partly reprobated; which, as Leslie says truly, ‘is going through all the degrees of uncertainty.’ The chief difficulty arises from those which flatly contradict each other, and which yet, from indispensable considerations, the Roman Church is obliged to acknowledge; they are chiefly such as pronounce upon this question of the supreme authority. At Pisa, and Constance, and Basle, the superiority of a council was distinctly and absolutely affirmed; and obedience required from all persons of whatever dignity, including the pope. In the Council of Florence it was decreed that the pope, as the successor of Peter, and as the vicar ofChrist, is head of the whole church, the father and teacher of all Christians, and that plenary power fromChristwas given him, in the person of St. Peter, to feed the universal flock. The Lateran Council under Leo X. decreed that the pope has full authority over all councils, to summon, transfer, and dissolve them. It is to be observed, that these conflicting decisions of great Roman councils are no more than the embodying in decrees the opposite interpretations of that text which forms the main Scripture authority for all papal assumptions. No Latin council is to be compared with that of Constance for importance or dignity; and by its acts, accepted and confirmed through the whole Western Church, it rejected the exposition which Romanists are now trying to enforce. M. de Maistre, the chief papal champion in the present century, disposes of the difficulty in a very characteristic way. When pressed with the Decrees of Constance, he says that the answer is easy: the council talked nonsense, like the English Long Parliament, or the Constituent Assembly, or the National Convention, &c.
“Our opponents boast that their Church is the same everywhere; but we cross the Alps, and find the whole system of ecclesiastical doctrine changed. The very term, ultramontane, which is universally recognised as the distinction of a school, bears witness that diversities have not only subsisted at different periods, but exist at the same time in different places. The Gallican Church has, doubtless, been the stronghold of those who deny the absolute power of the pope; but they have had their advocates among distinguished members of the Roman communion in all countries. Panormitan represented them in Italy, Cardinal de Cusa in Germany, and in Spain Alphonso Tostato, of whom Bellarmine says that he was the wonder of the world for his learning. Nay, even in the university of Paris, and among the doctors of the Sorbonne, we find the contest raging with the utmost violence, and the great teachers in vehement antagonism. Sometimes we see the representative of the pope brought into collision with the theological professor; as when Richer maintained the prevalent opinions of his Church against Cardinal du Perron, who, being a convert from Protestantism, was, of course, extravagant on the other side. Then, at the close of the century, we have Roccaberti, archbishop of Valentia, unsparing in his condemnation of the Gallicans, and calling on the pope to put them down. While Bossuet, on the other hand, affirms that the doctrine which he maintained had always been held in the Church; though he does not attempt to prove that there had not been another distinct line of teaching.”
SURCINGLE. The belt by which the cassock is fastened round the waist.
SURETY. (SeeSponsors.)
SURPLICE. A white linen garment, worn by the Christian clergy and other ministers of the Church, in the celebration of Divine services, and also, on certain days, by members of colleges, whether clerical or lay. It is, in Latin,superpelliceum, a name which Cardinal Bona says was not older than 600 years before his time, (the middle of the seventeenth century,) and was so called from the white garment which was placed by ecclesiastics,super pelles, over the garments of dressed skins worn by the northern nations.
This habit seems to have been originally copied from the vestments of the Jewish priests, who, byGod’sown appointment, were to put on a white linen ephod at the time of public service. And its antiquity in the Christian Church may be seen from Gregory Nazianzen, who advised the priests to purity, because a little spot is soon seen in a white garment; but more expressly from St. Jerome, who, reproving the needless scruples of such as opposed the use of it, says, “what offence can it be toGod, for a bishop or priest to proceed to the communion in a white garment?” The ancients called this garment, from its colour,Alba, theAlbe, a word in later times applied to a surplice with close sleeves.
The surplice is white, to represent the innocence and righteousness with whichGod’sministers ought to be clothed. As for the shape of it, it is a thing so perfectly indifferent, that no reason need to be assigned for it; though Durandus has found out one: for that author observes, that, as the garments used by the Jewish priesthood were girt tight about them, to signify the bondage of the law; so the looseness of the surplices used by the Christian priests signifies the freedom of the gospel.
It is objected by dissenters from the Church of England, against the use of the surplice, that it is a rag of Popery, and has been abused by the Papists to superstitious and idolatrous uses. But this is no just objection against it; for, if the surplice, or some such white garment, was in use among the primitive Christians, the Church is justified in following their example, notwithstanding the abuses thereof by those of the Romish or any other communion.