VICE-DEAN, or SUBDEAN. In cathedrals of the new foundation, one of the canons is annually chosen to represent the dean in his absence; and as such he ranks next to him in the choir and chapter.
VIDAME:Vicedominus. The vicegerent, or official of a bishop in temporals. A dignitary in a few foreign cathedrals is thus called: a sort of subdean.
VIGIL. The night or evening before certain holy-days of the Church. In former times it was customary to have religious services on these eves, and sometimes to spend a great part of the night in prayer and other devotions, to qualify the soul for the better observance of the festival itself on the morrow. These nights thus spent were calledvigilsorwatchings, and are still professedly observed in the Church of England.
This term originated in a custom of the early Christians, who fasted and watched the whole night previous to any great festival; henceVigiliæ, Vigils, or watchings, fromVigilo, to watch.—As a military custom this was most ancient. The Jews seem originally to have divided the night into three watches; but in the New Testament we read of “the fourth watch of the night,” (Mark vi. 48,) a custom, perhaps, introduced by their conquerors, the Romans, who divided their night into four vigils. The primitive Christians might have been inclined to this custom from various references to it in the Gospel; particularly in the close of the parable of the ten virgins; though it is not improbable that the secrecy with which they were obliged to meet, “for fear of the Jews,” (John xx. 19,) and other persecutors, went far towards establishing it. This, like many other innocent or necessary ceremonies, having been at length abused, the nocturnal vigils were abolished, about the year 420, and turned into evening fasts, preparatory to the principal festival. But it appears that a vigil was observed on All Hallows Day, by watching and ringing of bells all night long, even till the year 1545, when Henry VIII., in his letter to Cranmer, as to “creeping to the cross,” &c., desired it might be abolished.
It is not every festival which has a vigil preceding it. Those appointed by the Church are as follows:—
Before the Nativity of ourLord.
the Purification and Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.Easter Day.Ascension Day.Pentecost.St. Matthias.St. John Baptist.St. Peter.St. James.St. Bartholomew.St. Matthew.St. Simon and St. Jude.St. Thomas.St. Andrew.All Saints.
the Purification and Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.Easter Day.Ascension Day.Pentecost.St. Matthias.St. John Baptist.St. Peter.St. James.St. Bartholomew.St. Matthew.St. Simon and St. Jude.St. Thomas.St. Andrew.All Saints.
the Purification and Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.Easter Day.Ascension Day.Pentecost.St. Matthias.St. John Baptist.St. Peter.St. James.St. Bartholomew.St. Matthew.St. Simon and St. Jude.St. Thomas.St. Andrew.All Saints.
the Purification and Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.
Easter Day.
Ascension Day.
Pentecost.
St. Matthias.
St. John Baptist.
St. Peter.
St. James.
St. Bartholomew.
St. Matthew.
St. Simon and St. Jude.
St. Thomas.
St. Andrew.
All Saints.
It has been given as a reason why the other holy-days have no vigils before them, that they generally happened between Christmas and the Purification, or between Easter and Whitsuntide, seasons of joywhich the Church did not think fit to break into by fasting and humiliation.—See fully on this subject,Wheatly on the Common Prayer.
VIRGIN MARY. (SeeMariolatryandMother of God.) The mother of our BlessedLordandSaviour,Jesus Christ. What follows is from the celebrated Bishop Bull. “She was of all the women, of all the virgins in Israel, elected and chosen byGodto be the instrument of bringing into the world the long-desiredMessias. All the virtuous daughters of Jacob, a good while before the revelation of ourSaviour, but especially in the age when he appeared, (the time wherein they saw the more punctual and remarkable prophecies concerning the coming of theMessiasfulfilled,) desired, and were not without hopes, each of them, that they might have had this honour done unto them. But it was granted to none of all these holy women and virgins, but to the Virgin Mary. And therefore ‘all generations shall call her blessed.’
“The Blessed Virgin Mary was the only woman that took off the stain and dishonour of her sex, by being the instrument of bringing that into the world, which should repair and make amends for the loss and damage brought to mankind by the transgression of the first woman, Eve. By a woman, as the principal cause, we were first undone; and by a woman, as an instrument underGod, a Saviour and a Redeemer is born to us. And the Blessed Virgin Mary is that woman. Hence Irenæus, in his fifth book, makes a comparison between the virgin Eve, (for such the ancients believed her to be till after her transgression,) and the Virgin Mary. ‘Seductionem illam solutam,’ &c., i. e. ‘That seduction being dissolved, whereby the virgin Eve designed for man was unhappily seduced; the Virgin Mary, espoused to man, by the truth, happily received the glad tidings from an angel. For as the former was seduced by the speech of an angel to flee fromGod, having transgressed his commandments: so the latter, by the word also of an angel, received the good news,ut portaretDeum, that she should bearGodwithin her, being obedient to his word. And as the former was seduced to flee fromGod, so the latter was persuaded to obeyGod. So that the Virgin Mary became the comforter of the virgin Eve.’ Where the last words of the holy martyr are grossly misinterpreted by the Latin translator, and have given to the Papists to conclude from them, that Eve was saved by the intercession of the Virgin Mary. A most absurd conceit, unworthy of the learned and holy Father, or indeed of any man else of common sense; for who knows not that Eve was past all need of intercession, before ever the Blessed Mary could be capable of making intercession for her? Doubtless the Greek word used by Irenæus here wasπαράκλητος, which, as it signifies ‘an advocate,’ so it also as frequently signifies ‘a comforter,’ and so ought to have been rendered here. But, you will say, how did Eve receive comfort from the Blessed Virgin Mary? I answer, in that gracious promise delivered byGodhimself in the sentence passed on the serpent, after Eve’s seduction by him, where it is said, ‘that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head.’ Every man now knows that the seed there spoken of isChrist; and, consequently, that the individual woman, whose immediate seed he was to be, is the Blessed Virgin Mary. The holy Virgin was the happy instrument of the saving incarnation of theSonofGod, who hath effectually crushed the old serpent, the devil, and destroyed his power over all those that believe on himself, and thereby she became the instrument of comfort to Eve and all other sinners. This is certainly all the good Father intended by that expression.
“The Blessed Virgin was consecrated to be a temple of the Divinity in a singular manner. For the eternalSonofGod, by an ineffable conjunction, united himself to that human nature, which was miraculously conceived and formed in her, even whilst it was within her; and so he that was born of her, at the very time that he was born of her, wasΘεανθρωπος,Godand Man. O astonishing condescension of theSonofGod! O wonderful advancement of the Blessed Virgin! and therefore we daily sing in our Te Deum, ‘Thou art the King of Glory, OChrist; Thou art the everlastingSonof theFather. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.’ Upon which account, the fathers of the third General Council at Ephesus, convened against Nestorius, approved the title ofΘιοτοκος, ‘the Mother ofGod,’ given to the Blessed Virgin.”
A little afterwards he says, “I will mention some few instances of extravagant honour which the Papists give, but which we of the Church of England utterly refuse to yield to the Blessed Virgin, out of a true zeal to the honour ofGod.
“We will not give her lavish and excessive attributes, beyond what the Holy Scriptures allow her, and the holy men ofthe primitive Church afforded her. We will call her ‘blessed,’ as the mother of ourLordin the sense above explained. But we dare not call her ‘queen of heaven,’ ‘queen of angels, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles,’ ‘source of the fountain of grace,’ ‘refuge of sinners,’ ‘comfort of the afflicted,’ ‘advocate of all Christians,’ as she is called in that Litany of our Lady, still used in their devotions. For we have no instance of such attributes given to the Blessed Virgin in the Holy Scriptures, and they are too big for any mere creature.
“We will not ascribe those excellencies to her that she never had nor could have; as a fulness of habitual grace, more grace than all the angels and archangels ofGodput together ever had; that she was born without original sin, and never committed any the least actual sin, and consequently, never needed a saviour. These are wild things, which very many of the Papists, drunk with superstition, say of her.
“We will not give her the honour of invocation, or praying to her, as all the Papists do, for the unanswerable reasons above mentioned. Indeed, as long as that one text of Scripture remains in our Bibles, which we read, (1 Tim. ii. 5,) ‘There is oneGod, and one Mediator betweenGodand men, the ManChrist Jesus,’ we shall never be persuaded, by any sophistry or subtle distinctions of our adversaries, to betake ourselves to the mediation of the Blessed Virgin, much less of any other saint. Much more do we abhor the impiety of those among the Papists, who have held it disputable, whether the milk of the Blessed Virgin, or the blood of her Son, be to be preferred; and at last could pitch upon no better resolution than this, that the milk and blood should be mixed together, and both compound a medicine for their souls.
“We abhor to divide the Divine kingdom and empire, giving one-half, the better half, the kingdom of mercy, to the Blessed Virgin, and leaving only the kingdom of justice to her Son. This is downright treason against the only universal King and Monarch of the world.
“We are astonished at the doxology which some great and learned men of the Church of Rome have not been ashamed to close their printed books with, ‘LausDeoDeiparæque Virgini:’ ‘Praise be toGod, and the Virgin-mother.’
“We should tremble every joint of us, to offer any such recommendation as this to the Virgin Mary. Hear, if you can without horror, a prayer of theirs to her. It is this: ‘O my Lady, holy Mary, I recommend myself into thy blessed trust and singular custody, and into the bosom of thy mercy, this night and evermore, and in the hour of my death, as also my soul and my body; and I yield unto thee all my hope and consolation, all my distress and misery, my life and the end thereof, that by thy most holy intercession, and by thy merits, all my works may be directed and disposed, according to thine and thySon’swill. Amen.’ What fuller expressions can we use to declare our absolute affiance, trust, and dependence on the eternalSonofGodhimself, than they here use in this recommendation to the Virgin? Yea, who observes not, that the will of the Blessed Virgin is expressly joined with the will of herSon, as the rule of our actions, and that so as that her will is set in the first place. A plain smatch of their old blasphemous impiety, in advancing the Mother above the Son, and giving her a commanding power over him. Can they have the face to say, that all this is no more than desiring the Blessed Virgin to pray for them, as we desire the prayers of one another on earth? And yet this recommendation is to be seen in a Manual of Prayers and Litanies, printed at Antwerp no longer ago than 1671, and thatpermissu superiorum, in the Evening Prayers for Friday. A book it is, to my knowledge, commonly to be found in the hands of our English Papists; for I had it from a near relation of mine, (who had been perverted by the emissaries of Rome, but is since returned again to the communion of the Church of England,) who assured me that she used it herself, by the direction of her confessor, in her private devotions.”
No instance of Divine honour paid to Mary (remarks Coleman from Augusti) is recorded of an earlier date than the fifth century. Cyril of Alexandria, and Proklus of Constantinople, were the first to pay these honours to her. Festivals to her memory began to be held about the year 431, but were not generally observed until the sixth century. From this time until the sixteenth century, they were general in all the Western Churches, though differing in number and in rank, in the several countries of Europe. The Greek Church observes only three great festivals of this description.
The following is a brief enumeration of the principal festivals in question.
1. The festival of the Purification. Candlemas, Feb. 2, instituted in the sixth century.
2. Of the Annunciation, popularly styled Lady Day, March 25th, an early festival,styled by St. Bernhard,radix omnium festorum.
3. Of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, instituted by Urban VI. 1389.
4. Of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, Aug. 15th, early instituted. Mary was the tutelary divinity of France; and for this reason this day was observed with peculiar care. It was also the birthday of Napoleon, and accordingly was observed under his dynasty as the great festival of the nation.
5. Of the Nativity of Mary, Sept. 8th, instituted in the Eastern Church in the seventh century; in the Western, in the eleventh or twelfth.
6. Of the Naming of Mary,A. D.1513.
7. Of Conception. This feast, according to Bellarmine, was not necessarily dependent upon the question so fiercely discussed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries respecting the immaculate conception.
VISITATION. This is that office which is performed by the bishop usually once in three years, or by his archdeacon every year, by visiting the churches throughout the diocese. It is the duty of a commissary to summon the churchwardens and sidesmen to a visitation, but he has no authority to summon any other persons; but if he does summon those persons, and they, refusing to appear, should be excommunicated for this contempt, a prohibition would be granted. (Noy, 122.) Two things are requisite in these visitations: 1st, The charge. 2nd, The inquiry. The charge consists of such things as the visitor thinks proper to impart to the clergy; but usually it is to put them in mind of their duty, and to persuade them to perform it. The inquiry formerly consisted of several articles taken out of the canons; and the bishop’s visitation being accounted an episcopal synod, there were at that time certain persons who attended it, and who were calledTestes Synodales, orJuratores Synodi, and they were to present those who were negligent in performing religious offices, or any irregularities amongst the clergy, both in respect to their morals and behaviour, and likewise all dilapidations, and generally what they found to be amiss in the diocese. The bishop at first exercised this jurisdiction alone; it was what was implied in his very office; and this he was to do in every parish throughout his diocese once a year, there to examine the minister and the people, which he might do with more ease at that time, because parish churches were not so numerous then as afterwards. When this was disused, then ecclesiastical persons were to be assembled in a certain place, and inquiry was made, upon oath, concerning the state of the clergy, and at this place they were all bound to appear.
Afterwards, when bishops came to be ministers of state, and to attend the courts of kings, which began in the Norman reigns, then archdeacons were vested with this jurisdiction under the bishops, and visited in those years wherein the bishops did not. But still the bishops were to visit once in three years, and being then the king’s barons and statesmen, they came with very great equipage, insomuch that, by the Council of Lateran, their number was limited according to their qualities, viz. if the visitor was an archbishop, he was not to have above fifty horses in his retinue; if a bishop, he was not to exceed thirty; if a cardinal, then twenty-five; if an archdeacon, he was to have no more than seven, and a dean but two; and if they respectively exceeded those numbers, then no procuration was due for the maintenance of the supernumeraries. But even this was very chargeable to the parochial clergy, for the visitor was to be maintained at their expense a day and night in every parish; and, therefore, it was thought fit to turn that charge into a certain sum, which is now called procurations, and this is paid to archdeacons in that very year wherein bishops visit, for it is by some affirmed to be due to themratione officii; and some say it is due to them by virtue of the statute of 33 Henry VIII. c. 5, by which these duties are made pensions. The first of these opinions is contrary to several canons, which not only enjoin personal visitations, but expressly forbid any procurations to be paid where the archdeacon himself did not visit in person. But notwithstanding those canons, custom has so far prevailed, that the archdeacons receive these fees in the bishop’s triennials, when they do not visit in person; but instead of that they hold two chapters about Easter and Michaelmas, and there, by themselves or their officials, they formally inquire into the state and condition of the Church, which inquiry is now called a visitation, and for which they are entitled to these fees.
Visitation, as commonly understood, denotes the act of the bishop, or other ordinary, going his circuit through his diocese or district, with a full power of inquiry into such matters as relate to church government and discipline. By the canon law visitations were to be once a year, but that was intended of parochial visitations,or a personal repairing to every church, as appears not only from the assignment of procurations, but also by the indulgence, where every church cannot be conveniently repaired to, of calling together the clergy and laity from several parts into one convenient place, that the visitation of them may not be postponed. From this indulgence and the great extent of the dioceses grew the custom of citing the clergy and people to attend visitations at particular places. But as to parochial visitation, or the inspection into the fabrics, mansions, utensils, and ornaments of the church, that care has long devolved upon the archdeacons, who, at their first institutions in the ancient church, were only to attend the bishops at their ordination and other public services in the cathedral, but being afterwards occasionally employed by them in the exercise of jurisdiction, not only the work of parochial visitation, but also the holding of general synods or visitations, when the bishop did not visit, came by degrees to be known and established branches of the archdiaconal office as such, which by this means attained to the dignity of ordinary, instead of delegated jurisdiction; and by these degrees came on the present practice of triennial visitations by bishops; so as the bishop is not only not obliged by law to visit annually, but is actually restrained from it.
“By the 137th canon it is enjoined, that forasmuch as a chief and principal cause and use of visitation is, that the bishop, archdeacon, or other assigned to visit, may get some knowledge of the state, sufficiency, and ability of the clergy and other persons whom they are to visit, we think it convenient that every parson, vicar, curate, schoolmaster, or other person licensed whatsoever, do at the bishop’s first visitation, or at the next visitation after his admission, show and exhibit unto him his letters of orders, institution, and induction, and all other his dispensations, licenses, of faculties whatsoever, to be by the said bishop either allowed or (if there be just cause) disallowed and rejected, and, being by him approved, to be (as the custom is) signed by the registrar, and that the whole fees accustomed to be paid in the visitations in respect of the premises, be paid only once in the whole time of every bishop, and afterwards but half of the said accustomed fees in every other visitation during the said bishop’s continuance.”
Gibson says, that none but the bishop or other person exercising ecclesiastical authority by commission from him, has rightde jure communito require these exhibits of the clergy; therefore, if the archdeacon require it, it must be on the foot of custom, the beginning whereof, he says, has probably been encroachment, since it is not likely that any bishop should give to the archdeacon and his official a power of allowing or disallowing such instruments as have been granted by himself or his predecessors. The canon last mentioned appears to be in observance now, for it is the practice for each clergyman to exhibit these letters of orders, &c. on his first attendance at the bishop’s visitation, and on the first appointment to an office, &c. in any diocese, as well as upon several other occasions.
By a constitution of Othobon it is ordained, that archdeacons visit the churches profitably and faithfully by inquiring of the sacred vessels and vestments, and how the service is performed, and generally of temporals and spirituals, and what they find to want correction that they correct diligently. And it was further ordained by this, as well as by other constitutions, that they should not extort money by giving sentence unjustly.
By a constitution of Archbishop Reynolds, it was enjoined that archdeacons and their officials in the visitation of churches have a diligent regard of the fabric of the church, and especially of the chancel, to see if they want repair; and if they find any defects of that kind, limit a certain time under a penalty within which they shall be repaired.
By a constitution of Archbishop Langton, archdeacons in their visitation are to see that the offices of the church are duly administered, and shall take an account in writing of all the ornaments and utensils of churches, and of the vestments and books, and shall require them to be presented before them every year, that they may see what has been added and what lost.
It is said that the archdeacon, although there be not a cause, may visit once a year; and if there be a cause, he may visit oftener; and that where it is said in the canon law, he ought to visit from three years to three years, this is to be understood so that he shall visit from three years to three years of necessity, but that he may visit every year if he will.
At these archdiaconal visitations the churchwardens are to make presentments; and though their duty in that particular has become in practice, to a great extent, obsolete, yet it may be well to state thelaw of the Church upon the subject. The following canons relate to these presentments.
Canon 113. “Because it often cometh to pass, that churchwardens, sidemen, questmen, and such other persons of the laity as are to take care for the suppressing of sin and wickedness, as much as in them lieth, by admonition, reprehension, and denunciation to their ordinaries, do forbear to discharge their duties therein, either through fear of their superiors, or through negligence, more than were fit, the licentiousness of these times considered, we do ordain, that hereafter every parson and vicar, or in the lawful absence of any parson and vicar, then their curates and substitutes, may join in every presentment with the said churchwardens, sidemen, and the rest above mentioned, at the times of visitation, if they the said churchwardens and the rest will present such enormities as are apparent in the parish; or if they will not, then every such parson and vicar, or, in their absence as aforesaid, their curates, may themselves present to their ordinaries at such times, and when else they think it meet, all such crimes as they have in charge or otherwise, as by them (being the persons that should have the chief care for the suppressing of sin and impiety in their parishes) shall be thought to require due reformation. Provided always, that if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the minister, for the unburdening of his conscience, and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him, we do not any way bind the said minister by this our constitution, but do straitly charge and admonish him, that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secrecy, (except they be such crimes as by the laws of this realm his own life may be called in question for concealing the same,) under pain of irregularity.”
Canon 116. “It shall be lawful for any godly-disposed person, or for any ecclesiastical judge, upon knowledge or notice given unto him or them, of any enormous crime within his jurisdiction, to move the minister, churchwardens, or sidemen, as they tender the glory ofGodand reformation of sin, to present the same, if they shall find sufficient cause to induce them thereunto, that it may be in due time punished and reformed.”
Canon 119. “For the avoiding of such inconveniences as heretofore have happened, by the hasty making of bills and presentments upon the days of visitation and synods, it is ordered, that always, hereafter, every chancellor, archdeacon, commissary, and every other person having ecclesiastical jurisdiction, at the ordinary time when the churchwardens are sworn, and the archbishop and bishops, when he or they do summon their visitation, shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the churchwardens, questmen, and sidemen of every parish, or to some of them, such books of articles as they or any of them shall require (for the year following) the said churchwardens, questmen, and sidemen to ground their presentments upon, at such times as they are to exhibit them. In which book shall be contained the form of the oath which must be taken immediately before every such presentment; to the intent that, having beforehand time sufficient, not only to peruse and consider what their said oath shall be, but the articles also whereupon they are to ground their presentments, they may frame them at home both advisedly and truly, to the discharge of their own consciences, (after they are sworn,) as becometh honest and godly men.”
Canon 115. “Whereas, for the reformation of criminous persons and disorders in every parish, the churchwardens, questmen, sidemen, and other such church officers are sworn, and the minister charged, to present as well the crimes and disorders committed by the said criminous persons, as also the common fame which is spread abroad of them, whereby they are often maligned, and sometimes troubled, by the said delinquents or their friends; we do admonish and exhort all judges, both ecclesiastical and temporal, as they regard and reverence the fearful judgment-seat of the highest Judge, that they admit not in any of their courts any complaint, plea, suit or suits, against any such churchwardens, questmen, sidemen, or other church officers, for making any such presentments, nor against any minister for any presentments that he shall make: all the said presentments tending to the restraint of shameless impiety, and considering that the rules both of charity and government do presume that they did nothing therein of malice, but for the discharge of their consciences.”
Canon 116. “No churchwardens, questmen, or sidemen of any parish shall be enforced to exhibit their presentments to any having ecclesiastical jurisdiction above once in every year where it hath been no oftener used, nor above twice in every diocese whatsoever, except it be at the bishop’s visitation: provided always, that, as good occasion shall require, it shall belawful for every minister, churchwardens, and sidemen, to present offenders as oft as they shall think meet: and for these voluntary presentments no fee shall be taken.”
Canon 117. “No churchwardens, questmen, or sidemen, shall be called or cited, but only at the said time or times before limited, to appear before any ecclesiastical judge whatsoever, for refusing at other times to present any faults committed in their parishes, and punishable by ecclesiastical laws. Neither shall they or any of them, after their presentments exhibited at any of those times, be any further troubled for the same, except upon manifest and evident proof it may appear that they did then willingly and wittingly omit to present some such public crime or crimes as they knew to be committed, or could not be ignorant that there was then a public fame of them, or unless there be very just cause to call them for the explanation of their former presentments: in which case of wilful omission, their ordinaries shall proceed against them in such sort as in causes of wilful perjury in a court ecclesiastical it is already by law provided.”
Canon 118. “The office of all churchwardens and sidemen shall be reputed to continue until the new churchwardens that shall succeed them be sworn, which shall be the first week after Easter, or some week following, according to the direction of the ordinary; which time so appointed shall always be one of the two times in every year when the minister, and churchwardens, and sidemen of every parish shall exhibit to their several ordinaries the presentments of such enormities as have happened in their parishes since their last presentments. And this duty they shall perform before the newly chosen churchwardens and sidemen be sworn, and shall not be suffered to pass over the said presentments to those that are newly come into that office, and are by intendment ignorant of such crimes, under pain of those censures which are appointed for the reformation of such dalliers and dispensers with their own consciences and oaths.”
Canon 116. “For the presentments of every parish church or chapel, the registrar of any court where they are to be exhibited shall not receive in one year above 4d., under pain, for every offence therein, of suspension from the execution of his office for the space of a month,toties quoties.”
Canon 26. “No minister shall in any wise admit to the receiving of the holy communion any churchwardens or sidemen, who, having taken their oaths to present to their ordinaries all such public offences as they are particularly charged to inquire of in their several parishes, shall (notwithstanding the said oaths, and that their faithful discharge of them is the chief means whereby public sins and offences may be reformed and punished) wittingly and willingly, desperately and irreligiously, incur the horrible crime of perjury, either in neglecting or in refusing to present such of the said enormities and public offences as they know themselves to be committed in their said parishes, or are notoriously offensive to the congregation there, although they be urged by some of their neighbours, or by their minister, or by the ordinary himself, to discharge their consciences by presenting of them, and not to incur so desperately the said horrible sin of perjury.”
Canon 121. “In places where the bishop and archdeacon do, by prescription or composition, visit at several times in one and the same year, lest for one and the self-same fault any of his Majesty’s subjects should be challenged and molested in divers ecclesiastical courts, we do order and appoint, that every archdeacon or his official, within one month after the visitation ended that year and the presentments received, shall certify under his hand and seal, to the bishop or his chancellor, the names and crimes of all such as are detected and presented in his said visitation, to the end the chancellor shall henceforth forbear to convent any person for any crime or cause so detected or presented to the archdeacon. And the chancellor, within the like time after the bishop’s visitation ended and presentments received, shall, under his hand and seal, signify to the archdeacon or his official the names and crimes of all such persons, which shall be detected or presented unto him in that visitation, to the same intent as aforesaid. And if these officers shall not certify each other as is here prescribed, or after such certificate shall intermeddle with the crimes or persons detected and presented in each other’s visitation, then every of them so offending shall be suspended from all exercise of his jurisdiction by the bishop of the diocese until he shall repay the costs and expenses which the parties grieved have been at by that vexation.”
As to legal proof: in case the party presented denies the fact to be true, the making good the truth of the presentment, that is, the furnishing the court with all proper evidences of it, undoubtedly rests upon the person presenting. And as thespiritual court in such case is entitled by law to call upon churchwardens to support their presentments, so are churchwardens obliged, not only by law, (Dr. Gibson says,) but also in conscience, to see the presentment effectually supported; because, to deny the court those evidences which induced them to present upon oath, is to desert their presentment, and is little better, in point of conscience, than not to present at all, inasmuch as, through their default, the presentment is rendered ineffectual as to all purposes of removing the scandal, or reforming the offender. And from hence he takes occasion to wish that the parishioners would think themselves bound (as on many accounts they certainly are bound) to support their churchwardens in seeing that their presentments are rendered effectual. In any point which concerns the repairs or ornaments of churches, or the providing conveniences of any kind for the service ofGod, when such defects as these are presented, the spiritual judge immediately, and of course, enjoins the churchwarden presenting to see the defect made good, and supports him in repaying himself by a legal and reasonable rate upon the parish. But what he intends is, the supporting the churchwardens in the prosecution of such immoral and unchristian livers as they find themselves obliged by their oath to present, as fornicators, adulterers, common swearers, drunkards, and such like, whose example is of pernicious consequence, and likely to bring many evils upon the parish.
It is customary for the archdeacon at his visitation, to call upon one of his clergy to preach what is called a visitation sermon; and although it appears that formerly it was the duty of the visitor himself to preach this sermon, it seems to be doubtful whether the clergyman so called upon by the archdeacon may refuse.
VISITATION OF THE SICK. In so uncertain a world, where sickness sometimes interrupts the very joys of marriage, it is no wonder that the sad office should be placed next to matrimony; for all people in all conditions, of all ages and sexes, are subject to diseases continually; so that when any person falls sick, those that are in health must “remember them, as being themselves also in the body,” (Heb. xiii. 3, ) and liable to the same calamities; and all Christians are commanded to visit their neighbours in this estate, and are promised they shall be rewarded byGodfor so doing. (Ps. xli. 1, 2; Matt. xxv. 34, 36; James i. 27; Eccles. vii. 35.) And in the primitive times they were famous for this piece of charity. But it is especially the duty of the clergy to visit the sick, a duty instituted and enjoined byGodhimself: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of theLord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and theLordshall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James v. 14, 15.) In which words (being the original and foundation of this office) we may note, first, that the duty is enjoined by Divine authority, and therefore it is not barely a point of civility, but an act of religion, and a necessary duty whichGodrequires from us. Secondly, the time to perform it is, “when any are sick among us;” for then the parties have most need of comfort, advice, and prayers to support them and procure help for them, as also to prepare them for their last and great account; and then these religious exercises will do us most good, because sickness embitters the world and endears heaven to us, making us pray devoutly, and hearken willingly to holy advice; so that this happy opportunity must not be lost; nor may it be deferred till the sick persons be very weak and nigh to death, for then they are incapable either to join in the office, or to receive the main benefits thereof; and the word in St. James is, “if any be infirm” (ver. 14); to note, this should be done in the beginning of sickness, and not put off till the physicians give men over. Thirdly, as to the manner of performing this duty; the sick man (or his friends) must “send for” the priest, who else may either not know of his sickness, or when it may be seasonable to visit; and if he come unsent for, it is more than he is obliged to do; but yet it is an act of great charity, becauseGodrequires the elders of the Church shall do this duty. The sick man must pray for himself (ver. 13); and his neighbours may pray with him and for him (ver. 16); but neither of these sufficeth; he must send for the minister besides, who, now the Church is settled, lives not far from him, and he is most able to give counsel, and most likely to prevail, becauseGodrequires him to perform this office, which is described in St. James. 1. By “praying over him,” that is, beside him, in the house where he lies sick. And sinceGodenjoins prayer shall be made, and doth not prescribe the form; as all other Churches have made properforms, so hath ours also composed this, which is the most full and useful office on this occasion extant in the world. 2. In St. James’s time, and as long as the miraculous gift of healing continued, they “anointed the sick with oil also in the name ofJesus,” not to convey any grace to the soul, (as the Papists now pretend to do by their extreme unction, lately made a sacrament,) but to work a miraculous cure, which was the usual effect in those ages. But the power and gift being now ceased, the reformed Churches left off the oil, which was the sign, because the thing signified was now taken away. But yet we retain all the substantial parts of this office. 3. Here are by St. James set down “the benefits” which may be obtained by it, which are annexed to the “prayer of faith,” the part which was not ceremonial, and which continues still as the benefits also shall do, namely, this shall be a means “to save the sick;” and more particularly, 1. “TheLordshall raise him up,” that is, ifGodsee that health be good for him, the devout performing of this office shall contribute to his recovery; or, 2. However, (because men are mortal and must die at some time,) it shall be a means to procure “forgiveness” of the sins he “hath committed;” not the priest only will absolve him upon his penitent confession, butGodwill seal his pardon, and then, whether life or death follow, the man shall be happy. Wherefore, as we love our friends, or our own souls, all care must be taken that this necessary and profitable office be not neglected. The method of performing which in this Church may be thus described: The usual office contains, 1. Supplications to avert evil, in the salutation and short litany. 2. Prayers to procure good things, in theLord’sPrayer and the two collects. 3. Exhortations prescribed in the large form of exhortation; and directions in the rubric, to advise the sick man to forgive freely, to give liberally, to do justice in settling his estate, and to confess his sins humbly and ingenuously untoGod’sminister now with him. 4. Consolations, in the absolution, the prayer toGodto confirm it; in the 71st Psalm, and the concluding benedictions.
Secondly, there are added, 1. Extraordinary prayers for a sick child, for one past recovery, for a dying person, and for one troubled in conscience. 2. The manner of administering the communion to the sick.—Dean Comber.
As to the form of prayer to be used on this occasion, it is left to the prudence of the Church; sinceGodhath only in general ordered prayers to be made, but not prescribed any particular words, therefore several Churches have made and used several forms proper for the occasion. The Greek Church hath a very large office in their Euchologion; which seems to have been much corrupted by the superstitious additions of later ages, though some of the ancient prayers may yet be discerned there. The most ancient of the Western Church are those which bear the names of St. Ambrose and St. Gregory; and that which Cardinal Bona cites with this title, “Pro infirmis,” written about 900 (1040) years ago, and supposed to be part of the old Gallican service. And upon the Reformation, the several Protestant Churches had their several forms, which are in use amongst them at this day. But this office of the Church of England may be thought to excel all that are now extant in the world; and it exactly agrees with the method of the primitive visitation of the sick in St. Chrysostom’s time.—Dean Comber.
VISITATORIAL POWER. Every corporation, whether lay or ecclesiastical, is visitable by some superior; and every spiritual person being a corporation sole, is visitable by the ordinary. There is, however, in our ecclesiastical polity, an exception to this rule; for, by composition, the archbishop of Canterbury never visits the bishop of London. During a visitation, all inferior jurisdictions are inhibited from exercising jurisdiction: but this right, from the inconvenience attending the exercise of it, is usually conceded; so that the exercise of jurisdiction in the inferior court is continued notwithstanding.
VOLUNTARY. A piece of music played on the organ, usually after the Psalms, sometimes after the second lesson. This was formerly more usual than now; and was practised in many cathedrals, where it is now laid aside, as at St. Paul’s, and Christ Church in Dublin. In the latter place it is transferred to another interval of the service. The name is derived from its performance not being obligatory, but optional with those who are in authority. Pieces of music played at other intervals of the service are properly called symphonies. Lord Bacon approves of voluntaries as affording time for meditation.
VULGAR TONGUE. This expression in the baptismal office stood formerly “in the English tongue.” The alteration was made in compliance, as it should seem, with a suggestion of Bishop Cosin, that “suppose, as it often falls out, that childrenof strangers, which never intend to stay in England, be brought there to be baptized,” it would be exceptionable that “they also should be exhorted and enjoined to learn those principles of religion in the English tongue.”
VULGATE. The name given to what is called the vulgar Latin translation of the Bible. It was a name anciently applied to any popular edition; and the Septuagint, as Dr. Hody remarks, was sometimes so called by St. Jerome. This is the most ancient version of the whole Scriptures into Latin now extant, and the only one which the Church of Rome acknowledges to be authentic.
The Vulgate of the Old Testament was translated, almost word for word, from the Greek of the Septuagint; the author of it is not known, or so much as guessed at. It was a long time known by the name of the Italic version, as being of very great antiquity in the Latin Church. (SeeItalic Version.) It was commonly in use, before St. Jerome made a new one from the Hebrew. St. Austin preferred this Vulgate before all the other Latin versions, as rendering the words and sense of the sacred text more closely and justly than any of the rest. It was since corrected from the emendations of St. Jerome; and it is the mixture of the ancient Italic version with the corrections of St. Jerome, that is now called the Vulgate, and which the Council of Trent has declared to be authentic. The version of St. Jerome, however, forms the main part of the Vulgate, with the exception of some of the apocryphal books, and the Psalter. The translation of the latter from the Hebrew was not adopted publicly by the Western Church, though still to be found in his works. The Psalter was twice corrected by him from the old Italic version; the first recension was for a long time used in the Roman Church, the latter was first adopted by the Churches of Gaul and Britain, and was finally adopted by the Western Church by an ordinance of Pius V. The old Roman Psalter being still, however, used at the Vatican, at St. Mark’s, Venice, and in part of the diocese of Britain.
A revision of the Vulgate was made by order of Sixtus V., and published at Rome in 1590. But this, though pronounced by papal authority to be authentic, became such an object of ridicule among the learned from its gross inaccuracies, that his successor, Gregory XIV., caused it to be suppressed, and anotherauthenticVulgate was published in 1592, by Clement VIII.—Walton’s Prolegomena. Hodius de Bibl. text. orig. Horne’s Introd.
The Vulgate of the New Testament is, by the Romanists, generally preferred to the common Greek text. The priests read no other at the altar; the preachers quote no other in the pulpit, nor the divines in the schools. (SeeBible.)
WAFERS. The bread which is used in the eucharist by the Romanists, and by Lutheran Protestants in theLord’ssupper, is so designated. In the ancient Church, so long as the people continued to make oblations of bread and wine, the elements for the use of the eucharist were usually taken out of them; and, consequently, so long, the bread was that common leavened bread, which they used upon other occasions; and the use of wafers, and unleavened bread, was not known in the Church till the eleventh or twelfth centuries. This is now acknowledged by the most learned writers of the Romish communion. The school divines, who maintain that the primitive Church always consecrated in unleavened bread, argue that we must suppose they followed the example of ourSaviour, who celebrated his last supper with unleavened bread. But ecclesiastical history, and the writings of the ancient Fathers, unanimously testify the contrary; and it is noted by Epiphanius, as a peculiar rite of the Ebionite heretics, that they celebrated the eucharist with unleavened bread and water only.
How the change in this matter was made, and the exact time when, is not easily determined. Cardinal Bona’s conjecture seems probable enough; that it crept in upon the people’s leaving off to make their oblations in common bread; which occasioned the clergy to provide it themselves, and they, under pretence of decency and respect, brought it from leaven to unleaven, and from a loaf of common bread, that might be broken, to a nice and delicate wafer, formed in the figure of aDenarius, or penny, to represent the pence, for which ourSaviourwas betrayed; and then also the people, instead of offering a loaf of bread, as formerly, were ordered to offer a penny, which was either to be given to the poor, or to be expended upon something pertaining to the sacrifice of the altar.
This alteration in the eucharistical bread occasioned great disputes between the Eastern and Western Churches, which divided about it; for the Western Church ran so far into an extreme, as almost to lose the nature of the sacramental element,by introducing a thing that could hardly be called bread, instead of that common staff of life, which ourLordhad appointed to be the representative of his body in the eucharist. But there wanted not some discerning and judicious men, who complained of this abuse, as soon as it began to be introduced.
The first Common Prayer Book of King Edward VI. enjoins unleavened bread to be used throughout the whole kingdom, for the celebration of the eucharist. It was ordered to beround, in imitation of the wafers, used by the Greek and Roman Churches; but it was to bewithout all manner of print, the wafers usually having the impression either of a crucifix or the holy lamb; andsomething more large and thickerthan the wafers, which were of the size of a penny. This rubric, affording matter for scruple, was set aside at the review of the liturgy in the fifth of King Edward; and another inserted in its room, by which it was declared sufficient, thatthe bread be such as is usually eaten at the table with other meats. By the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, wafer bread seems to have been again enjoined, for among other orders this was one, “For the more reverence to be given to these holy mysteries—the sacramental bread, &c., made and formed plain without any figure thereupon, of the same fineness and fashion round, though somewhat bigger in compass and thickness, as the usual bread and wafers, heretofore called singing cakes, which served for the use of private mass.”
WAGER. (SeeBattleandOrdeal.)
WAKE. (SeeDedication.)
WALDENSES. (SeeAlbigenses.) Some difficulty exists as to the origin and history of the sect to which this name has been attached. According to Mosheim, the sect originated with Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, about the year 1160. They flourished chiefly in thevalleysof Piedmont; and hence, rather than from Peter Waldo or Valdo, it is supposed by some that they acquired the name ofValdensesorVaudois. From the perusal of the Scriptures and other writings, and from comparing the doctrines of Scripture with the superstitions and practices of the age in which he lived, Waldo perceived the corruption of the existing mediæval Church, and, in advance of his age, became a reformer. He shared the fate of those who are so circumstanced. He had many followers, and exposed both himself and them to suspicion and persecution. It is probable that, in attacking error, the Waldenses themselves sometimes became erroneous. They are accused of having maintained the unlawfulness of oaths and of infant baptism, and of being seditious. These charges were easily made, but writers of celebrity have undertaken to confute them. The marvel is, that, when every attempt was made to blacken their character, the success of their accusers was not greater than it has proved to be. It is certain that they were austere, if not morose, in their practice; that they prohibited wars and law suits, penal punishments, and all attempts to acquire wealth.
Those of them who dwelt in the valleys of Piedmont in the seventeenth century, were subjected by the Church of Rome to the most barbarous and inhuman persecutions, especially in the years 1655, 1656, and 1696. The most horrible scenes of violence and bloodshed were exhibited in this theatre of papal tyranny, and the Waldenses at last owed their existence and support to the interference of the English and Dutch governments.
WARBURTONIAN LECTURE. A lecture founded by Bishop Warburton, to prove the truth of revealed religion in general, and the Christian in particular, from the completion of the prophecies in the Old and New Testament which relate to the Christian Church, especially to the apostasy of papal Rome. To this foundation we owe the admirable discourses of Hurd, Halifax, Bagot, Davison, and many others.
WARDEN. The head of some colleges, and the superior of some conventual churches, in which the chapter remains, is called a warden. The head of the collegiate church of Galway is called warden: as was the case at Manchester, till the erection of the collegiate church there into a cathedral.
WEDNESDAY. This day has been marked in many cases by the Church with an especial religion. Thus it was often added to Friday as a weekly fast, and in our own Church it is numbered among the rogation and ember days; besides which, throughout the year the Litany is appointed to be sung or said on Wednesday, as well as on Sunday and Friday after Morning Prayer.
WESLEYANS. (SeeMethodists.)
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. (SeeAssembly of Divines.)
WESTMINSTER CONFESSION. (SeeConfessions of Faith.)
WHITSUNDAY. One of the great festivals of the Church, held in commemoration of the descent of theHoly Ghoston the day of Pentecost. It occursten days after Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day. The reason of this day being called Whitsunday, or more properly Whitesunday, is, because on this day, being a remarkable time for baptism, the catechumens, who were then baptized, as well as those who had been baptized before at Easter, appeared in the ancient Church in white garments. It has also been thought that the name was symbolical of those vast diffusions of light and knowledge which were then shed upon the apostles, in order to the enlightening of a world then in the darkness of superstition and idolatry.
This day theHoly Ghostcame down from heaven upon his Church, as the Epistle tells, according to the promise of the Gospel; in honour of whom and of his gifts we keep this holy day.—Bp. Sparrow.
As to the name, the most received opinion is, that the word is at length “Whitesunday;” so called from the white garments worn by the persons baptized in the ancient Church. For the administering of which sacrament, Easter, and this, and the Sundays between, were the most solemn seasons. Particularly on this day, the last of those Sundays, (when that solemnity determined, and the preparation for it had been extended to the utmost length,) as well on that account, as for the deserved veneration due to so great a festival, vast numbers offered themselves to be received to baptism. And, in token of their being cleansed from all past sins, as well as for an emblem of that innocence and purity, to which they then obliged themselves, they were clad in white; and from the multitude of such vestments then put on, are supposed to have given occasion for thisLord’sday being distinguished by that name.—Dean Stanhope.
The reason why this time was of old appointed for solemn baptism, was, 1. Because this day the apostles were baptized with theHoly Ghostand fire (Acts ii. 3). 2. Because this day 3000 were baptized by the apostles (Acts ii. 41). In memory of which, the Church ever after held a solemn custom of baptizing at this feast.—Bp. Sparrow.
Some conclude from St. Paul’s earnest desire of being at Jerusalem at this time, that the observation of it as a Christian festival is as old as the apostles; but, whatever St. Paul’s design was, we are assured that it hath been universally observed from the very first ages of Christianity.—Wheatly.
This day is called Pentecost, because there are fifty days betwixt the true passover and Whitsunday. As there were fifty days from the Jews’ passover to the giving of the law to Moses in Mount Sinai, which law was written with the finger ofGod(for from the fourteenth day of the first month, the day of the passover, to the third day of the third month, the day of the law’s giving, Exod. xix. 1, 16, are fifty days); so from the true passover, which was celebrated whenChristwas offered up for us, are fifty days to this time, when theHoly Ghostcame down upon the Church, to write the new law of charity in their hearts. Upon this meditation, St. Augustine breaks out thus: “Who would not prefer the joy and pleasure of these mysteries, before all the empires of the world? Do you not see, that as the two seraphim cry one to another, Holy, holy, holy,” (Isa. vi. 3,) “so the two Testaments, Old and New, faithfully agreeing, evince the sacred truth ofGod?” It should be noted, that we must not count the fifty days from the very day of the passover, but from the Sunday following; and soGoddirected the Jews, (Lev. xxiii. 15,) speaking of their Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, “and ye shall count from the morrow after the sabbath; from that day seven weeks shall be complete.”—Bp. Sparrow.
The first lesson for the morning contains the law of the Jewish Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks, which was a type of ours; for as the law was at this time given to the Jews from Mount Sinai, so also the Christians upon this day received the new evangelical law from heaven, by the administration of theHoly Ghost. The first lesson for the evening is a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles to the kingdom ofChrist, through the inspiration of the apostles by the Spirit ofGod; the completion of which prophecy is recorded in both the second lessons, but especially in the portion of Scripture for the Epistle, which contains a particular description of the first wonderful descent of theHoly Ghostupon the apostles, who were “assembled together in one place,” in expectation of that blessed Spirit, according to the promise of ourSaviourmentioned in the Gospel.—Wheatly.
The same harmony of Epistle, Gospel, and collect, and lessons, and Psalms, that has been observed upon Christmas, and Easter, and Ascension, may with pleasure be mentioned upon this day.—Bp. Sparrow.It is observed as a Scarlet dayat the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and at several cathedrals on this day, as on the two following, the service is performed in a more solemn manner than usual, as at Christmas and Easter.
WICLIFITES. The followers of John Wickliff. He was of Merton college in Oxford, where he took his doctor’s degree with great reputation. He was once sent ambassador by EdwardIII.to the pope. He preached against the real presence, pilgrimages, purgatory, &c., so strenuously at Oxford, that the monks prevailed with Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, to silence him. He was rector of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, much favoured by the great men in his time, and is justly reckoned the first reformer. The fame of him reached to Rome, and occasioned Pope Gregory XI. to write to Richard II. to assist the bishops in suppressing Wickliff and his followers. In Henry IV.’s time, his books were condemned at Oxford; and at last, when the Council of Constance met, about 1428, they condemned him, with this sentence: “That John Wickliff, being a notorious heretic, and obstinate, and dying in his heresy, his body and bones, if they may be discerned from the bodies of other faithful people, should be taken up out of the ground, and thrown away far from the burial of the Church.” The bishop of Lincoln executed this sentence, and forty-one years after his burial he burnt the remains, (which was more than the sentence commanded,) and cast them into a neighbouring brook called the Swift. The followers of Wickliff were called Lollards. Wickliff’s notions were: “The Scriptures ought to be in the vulgar tongue, contain all things necessary to salvation, may be understood by every well-disposed man: he declared against traditions, the pope’s authority, their power over the temporalities of kings, and pronounced the pope to be the chiefest antichrist. He taught that the Church of Rome may err; he rejected merit of works, transubstantiation, and owned but two sacraments; he was against images, auricular confession, pardons, indulgences, and monastic vows; he approved the marriage of priests.”
WILL, FREE. (SeeFree Will.)
WISDOM, THE BOOK OF. An apocryphal book of Scripture; so called, on account of the wise maxims and useful instructions contained therein.
The Book of Wisdom is commonly ascribed to King Solomon, either because the author imitated that king’s manner of writing, or because he sometimes speaks in his name. It is certain Solomon was not the author of it; for it was not written in Hebrew, nor was it inserted in the Jewish canon, nor is the style like Solomon’s: and therefore St. Jerome observes justly, that it smells strongly of the Grecian eloquence; that it is composed with art and method, after the manner of the Greek philosophers, very different from that noble simplicity, so full of life and energy, to be found in the Hebrew books. It has been attributed by many of the ancients to Philo, a Jew, but more ancient than he whose works are now extant. But it is commonly ascribed to an Hellenistical Jew, who lived since Ezra, and about the time of the Maccabees.
It may properly be divided into two parts: the first is a description and encomium of wisdom; the second, beginning at the tenth chapter, is a long discourse in the form of prayers, wherein the author admires and extols the wisdom ofGod, and of those who honour him; and discovers the folly of the wicked, who have been the professed enemies of the good and virtuous in all ages of the world.
WORD, THE. (SeeJesus.) The only-begottenSonof theFather, the uncreatedWisdom, the second person of the mostHoly Trinity, equal and consubstantial with theFather. St. John the Evangelist, more expressly than any other, has opened to us the mystery of the Word ofGod, when he tells us, “In the beginning was theWord, and theWordwas withGod, and theWordwasGod. The same was in the beginning withGod. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” The Chaldee paraphrasts, the most ancient Jewish writers extant, generally use the nameMemra, orWord, where Moses puts the nameJehovah. In effect, according to them, it wasMemrawho created the world; who appeared to Abraham in the plain of Mamre; and to Jacob at Bethel. It wasMemrato whom Jacob appealed to witness the covenant between him and Laban. The sameWordappeared to Moses at Sinai; gave the law to the Israelites; spoke face to face with that lawgiver; marched at the head of that people; enabled them to conquer nations, and was a consuming fire to all who violated the law of theLord. All these characters, where the paraphrast uses the wordMemra, clearly denote AlmightyGod. ThisWordtherefore wasGod, and the Hebrews were of this opinion at the time that the Targum was composed.
WORKS. (SeeGood Works,Justification,andSanctification.) The doctrine of our Church on the subject of works is contained in the following articles: