The Arminian view is that God, knowing what the life of every man born into the world shall be, and foreseeing that some "will refuse the evil and choose the good," hath elected them to eternal life. (SeeArminianism.)
The Catholic view is that God of his mercy elects certain of His creatures for a place in the visible Church, and thus causes them to be placed in "a state of salvation," of which, however, they may fall short by their own perverseness.
The Church of England, as a branch of the great Church Catholic, is believed to teach this latter view, as will be seen by a study of her Liturgy.
ELEMENTS. The Bread and Wine used in Holy Communion (SeeCommunion, Holy). In Holy Baptism, Water, wherein the person is baptized, is theElement.
ELEVATION. In Articles xxv. and xxviii. reference is made to a ceremony of the Church of Rome, called the Elevation of the Host, which consists in the consecrated wafer being held up, or elevated, for the adoration of the people. Bp. Harold Browne says, "Elevating the Host resulted from a belief in transubstantiation. . . .There is evidently no Scriptural Authority for the Elevation of the Host, the command being, 'Take, eat.' The Roman ritualists themselves admit that there is no trace of its existence before the 11th or 12th centuries." (SeeNote on Art. xxviii.)
EMBER DAYS. In early times special fasts were appointed at the four seasons of the year, and of later years they have been made to have a special reference to the ordination of clergy which immediately follows them. The derivation of the name is uncertain. The days thus set apart, and now used for supplicating God's blessing on those about to be ordained, are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the 1st Sunday in Lent, after Whit Sunday, after the 14th of September, and after the 13th of December. Special Collects are appointed for use on these days.
EMMANUEL, or IMMANUEL. A Hebrew word, used as a name of our Lord, and meaning, "God with us," Isaiah vii.14; Matt. i.23.
ENDOWMENT. The permanent provision for the support of the ministry. The annual sum derived from the endowments of the Established Church amounts to rather more thanfour millions sterling. Of this sum—Tithes and Rents voluntarily given to the Church of England by charitable persons before the Reformation bring in about L1,950,000; Tithes, Rents, and Interest on Money voluntarily given to the Church of England since the Reformation bring in about L2,250,000. Thus the total of the yearly value of endowments is about L4,200,000. Of this the State receives as taxes about L200,000, which leaves a net yearly value of endowments of about; L3,500,000, which is paid to the clergy, of whom there are about 20,000. It is thus divided: 2 Archbishops, 28 Bishops, 73 Archdeacons, receive about L173,000; 30 Deans, 132 Canons, 128 Minor Canons, 600 Singers, Lay Officers and Servants, receive about L203,000; 19,600 other Clergy, Rectors, Vicars, and Curates receive about L3,124,000. The average, therefore, is just L3, 10s. a week for each clergyman.
To supplement its endowments, which were voluntarily given by private persons, the Church receives, by free gifts from her own members, about five millions and a half sterling every year. This money isallspent on Schools, Church Institutions, Charities, Relief of the Poor, Foreign Missions, Expenses attendant upon the regular performance of Divine Worship, and Building and Restoring Churches (SeeEstablishment.)
EPIPHANY. A Greek word, meaning "manifestation." The term applied to that festival of the Church observed on Jan. 6th, in commemoration of our Lord'smanifestationto the Wise Men from the East, the representatives of the Gentile world.
EPISCOPACY. The term applied to the Apostolical form of government, which consisted in the appointment of a Bishop as anOverseer(for that is the meaning of the Greek word) of a particular Church. (SeeOrders.)
EPISTLE. The name given to theLettersof the Apostles, which the Church has admitted as forming part of the Canon of the New Testament (seeBible). St. Paul wrote fourteen, if we allow the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by him. St. James wrote one, which, like others addressed to no particular Church, is called ageneralEpistle. St. Peter wrote two Epistles; St. John, three; and St. Jude, one. Those portions of Scripture read in the Communion Service, and called Epistles, have been used, with few alterations, for 1200 years by the Church of England.
EPISTOLER. The 24th Canon directs that "In all cathedral and collegiate churches the Holy Communion shall be administered, . . . the principal minister using a decent cope, and being assisted with the gospeller and epistoler." So, in the advertisements published in the seventh year of Elizabeth, we read, "The principal minister shall use a cope with gospeller and epistoler agreeably."
ERASTIANISM. The heresy of Erastus, a German, born 1524. His main principle was that the source of all pastoral authority is the civil magistrate, who, whether Christian or not, possesses an inherent right to nominate and commission teachers of religion, and is under no necessity of admitting the least difference between priests and laymen.
ESCHATOLOGY. A term applied to doctrines relative to the state after death.
ESTABLISHMENT and ENDOWMENT. These two terms are constantly linked together in the publications of the Liberation Society, and by other enemies of the Church of England, as though they formed one and the same thing. In truth, they are wholly distinct, and are descriptive of two quite different features of the Church of England. It isEstablished, and it is alsoEndowed. It is called the former because it is established in this country by the Law of the land, and professes the acknowledged religion of the State. If the Church were disestablished to-morrow she would still continue to be the true Church of God in this country, because her origin, doctrine, and constitution are Apostolic. Besides being called a "State Church," the Church of England has also been called a "StatepaidChurch." It is well to remember that the Parochial Clergy, and all others except Army and Navy Chaplains and the like, do not receive one farthing from the State. The property, orEndowment, of the Church was the voluntary gift of private individuals in all ages, who, out of regard to the spiritual interests of those who lived upon their estates, built churches, and endowed them for the maintenance of religious worship. The State has no right to alienate any portion whatever of that property from the purpose for which it was given. (SeeChurch of EnglandandEndowment.)
EUCHARIST. A term applied to the Holy Communion (which see), derived from the Greek, and meaning, "a giving of thanks." It is used in the Latin version of our Articles.
EVANGELICALS,seeChurch Parties.
EVANGELISTS. Properly, preachers of the "Evangel," or Gospel, of Christ; Eph. iv. 11. The term now is limited to the four writers of the Gospel.
EVES, or VIGILS. The nights or evenings before certain Holy Days of the Church. A list of days which have vigils may be found in the beginning of the Prayer Book, in the table of the Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence, to be observed in the year. (SeeVigil.)
EVEN-SONG. Evening Prayer. The word occurs in the table of ProperLessons at the commencement of the Prayer Book. (SeeMorningPrayer.)
EVOLUTION. A name given to the theory of the origin of animal life, set forth by certain scientists. Thus they tell us that the account given us in Genesis of the Creation is certainly wrong. That man was not created as man, but that he has grown to be what he is through a series of stages. According to Professor Haeckel, the pedigree of man is as follows:—1.Monera—formless little lumps of mucus matter supposed to be originated by spontaneous generation. 2.Amoebae—a little piece of protoplasm enclosing a kernel. 3.Synamoebae—a collection of Amoebae. 4.Planaeada. 5.Gastraeada, or primaeval "stomach animals." 6.Turbellaria, or worms of a very simple kind. 7.Scolecida, worms of a higher class. 8.Himatega, or worms of a higher class still. 9.Acrania, or skull-less animals. 10.Monorrhina, or animals with one nostril. 11.Selachii, or primaeval fish. 12.Dipneusta, or mud-fish. 13.Sozobranchia, or gilled amphibians. 14.Sozura, or tailed amphibians. 15.Protamnia. 16.Primary Mammals. 17.Pouched animals. 18.Prosimiae, or semi-apes. 19.Tailed Apes. 20.Man-like Apes. 21.Ape-like Men. 22.Men.
This may be all true, and yet Genesis need not be false. Genesis begins with man as man, and not with man as a Monera—supposing he ever was such. But when scientists speak of the principle of life as being the outcome of an act of spontaneous generation without any external creative power, then we must disagree with them. The principle of life is hidden with God alone, and must come from God. Nor does it in any way affect our belief in Almighty God, whether He was pleased to create man from the first in "His own image," or whether He was pleased to make him first pass through the preliminary stages Professor Haeckel enumerates!
EXCOMMUNICATION. An ecclesiastical censure, whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is for the time cast out of the communion of the church. The first rubric in the Office for the Burial of the Dead prohibits the use of the Service for any that die excommunicate.
EXHORTATION. The name given to the various addresses in the Liturgy.They are nearly all the production of the Reformers. The BurialOffice is the only Service of the Prayer Book which has not one ormore of these exhortations.
EXTREME UNCTION. One of the seven so-called Sacraments of the Church of Rome. It consists in the application of consecrated olive oil, by a priest, to the five organs of sense of a dying person. It is considered as conveying God's pardon and support in the last hour. It is administered when all hope of recovery is gone, and generally no food is permitted to be taken after it. This custom is founded on Mark vi. 13, and James v. 14, 15, but in both these places it is evident that the anointing should be for therecoveryof the sick. When miraculous powers ceased in the Church, it was reasonable that the unction should cease also.
FACULTY. An order by the Bishop of a diocese to award some privilege not permitted by common law. A faculty is necessary in order to effect any important alterations in a church, such as the erection of a gallery or an organ. Without a faculty a person is not entitled to erect a monument within the walls of a church.
FAITH. Man is justified by God in respect of, and by means of, Faith in Christ. It is not the principal cause for our Justification, that being God's mercy; it is not the meritorious cause of our Justification, for that is Christ's death; audit is not the efficient cause of our Justification, for that is the operation of the Holy Spirit; but it is theinstrumenton ourside, by which we rely on God's word, and appeal to Him for mercy, and receive a grant of pardon, and a title to the evangelical promises of God.
FALD STOOL. The desk at which the Litany is usually said. In the rubric before the penitential psalm in the Commination Service a special place is mentioned for the saying of the Litany, and this we know from the Injunctions of 1549 was to be "in the midst of the Church," thus marking the congregational character of the service.
FALL OF MAN,seeSin, Original.
FASTING. The Romanist regards the use of fasting, or abstinence, as a means of grace; the Protestant regards it only as a useful exercise, recommended in Scripture, for the subduing of the flesh to the Spirit.
FASTS. Days appointed by the Church for the particular discipline of the flesh, and for a peculiar sorrow for sin. A list of these days is given at the commencement of the Prayer Book.
FATHER, GOD THE,seeTrinity, The Holy.
FATHERS, THE. A term applied generally to all the ancient orthodoxChristian writers. St. Bernard, who flourished in the twelfthcentury, is reputed to be the last of the Fathers. TheSchoolmen(which see) succeeded the Fathers. Those writers who knew theApostles personally are calledApostolicalFathers; such wereHermas, Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Polycarp. OtherFathers of the early Church were Justin, Irenaeus, Clement ofAlexandria, and Tertullian. In the third century we have Origen andCyprian, and succeeding them Eusebius, Athanasius, Ambrose, Basil,Jerome or Hieronymus, John Chrysostom, and Augustine.
The writings of the Fathers are most valuable to us as showing us what were the doctrines and ceremonies of the first Christians. The Tractarian movement was of great service in calling attention to the well-nigh forgotten mine of theological wealth stored up in these writers. Pusey has published a library of the works of the Fathers in English.
FEASTS, or FESTIVALS. These are days of rejoicing in the Church, in commemoration of some great truth of Christianity, or of some great example of Holy Life. The commencement of the Prayer Book furnishes us with a list of these Holy Days. The rubric, after the Nicene Creed, directs that "The Curate shall then declare to the people what holy days, or fasting days are in the week following to be observed."
FELLOWSHIP. A settled income bestowed by a college on a student as a reward for distinguished scholarship. Various conditions are associated with these prizes in the different colleges.
FERIA. A day which is neither a feast nor a fast.
FLAGON,seeAltar Vessels.
FONT. From a Latin word, meaning afountain. The vessel holding the water for Baptism. The 81st Canon says it is to be made of stone. By ancient custom it is usually placed at the West end of the Church, near the door, as signifying that Holy Baptism is the entrance into Christ's Mystical Body, the Church.
FORMULARY, seeLiturgy. A formulary is a book containing the rites, ceremonies, and prescribed forms of the Church. The formulary of the Church of England is the Book of Common Prayer.
FREE WILL. see Article x. The doctrine of our Church is that although man has a perfectly free will to choose good or evil, yet we prefer the animal life to the spiritual life, and, through the badness of our perverse will, shall continue to prefer it until prevented by the grace of God.
FUNERAL SERVICE,seeBurial of the Dead.
GHOST, THE HOLY,seeTrinity, The Holy.
GLEBE. Land belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice, and which forms part of its endowment, the freehold being vested in the Incumbent.
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. "Glory be (to God) on high." A hymn in the Communion Office, sometimes called the Angelic Hymn, because the first part was sung by angels at Bethlehem. It has been used by the Church for more than 1,500 years, and, in substance, was sung by Polycarp at his martyrdom.
GLORIA PATRI. "Glory be to the Father." This is one of the oldest doxologies of the Church; in substance, at least, it is as old as the 4th century. It is directed to be said at the end of every Psalm, thus turning Jewish praises into Christian hymns.
GNOSTICS. Early heretics who boasted of their superiorknowledge, for that is the meaning of the word, just asagnosticmeanswithout knowledge. This heresy dates back to Apostolic days, Simon Magus being considered its founder.
They mixed up the Christian faith with systems based on Platonism, Oriental Philosophy, or corrupt Judaism. St. John is believed to have written against the gnostics in certain parts of his Gospel.
GOD,seeTrinity, The Holy. The wordGodcan be traced back no further as yet than the GothicGutha, but no one knows its root.
GOD-FATHER,seeSponsors.
GOD-MOTHER,seeSponsors.
GOLDEN NUMBER. A term used in the elaborate tables placed at the beginning of the Prayer Book for the finding of Easter. The Golden Number of a year marks its place in a cycle, called the Metonic Cycle (from Meton, an Athenian astronomer B.C. 432), of nineteen years. The year A.D. 1 was fixed as the second year of such a cycle. Hence the rule given to find the Golden Number, viz., "Add one to the year of our Lord, and then divide by 19; the remainder, if any, is the Golden Number; but if there be no remainder, then 19 is the Golden Number."
GOOD FRIDAY. The day regarded as the anniversary of our Saviour's death. It has been observed from the first age of the Church as a day of peculiar solemnity, to be spent in fasting and humiliation.
GOSPEL,seeBible.
GOSPELLER. The priest or deacon who, in the Communion Service, reads the Gospel, standing at the north side of the Altar. (SeeEpistoler.)
GRACE. Favour. A word used with various meanings in Holy Scripture.The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of man.
GRADUATE,seeDegree. One who has passed through the curriculum of a University, and has had a degree conferred on him.
GREEK CHURCH,seeChurch, The Catholic.
GREGORIAN MUSIC,seeChurch Music.
GUILD. In the Church, a Society formed for a certain purpose, and governed by certain rules; to promote personal piety; or active usefulness.
HADES. Unfortunately two distinct words in the original of the New Testament have both been translatedHell.Hadesis one of these words;Gehennais the other. The latter is applied only to the place of the damned,Hadesis the abode of departed spirits, good and bad, waiting for the final Judgment. When, in the Creed, we say of our Lord that He "descended into Hell," it should be "intoHades," showing that alive and dead He was perfect man.
It is generally believed that a foretaste of final joy or woe is experienced in Hades by the spirits waiting for their doom.
HEAVEN. The final abode of the blessed.
HELL. The final abode of the damned. (SeeHades.)
HERESY. From a Greek word meaning "a choice," and thus an adoption and obstinate holding of a doctrine not taught by the Catholic Church. Heresies began very early in the Church, even in Apostolic times. (SeeGnostic.) The heresies of the present day are for the most part revivals of the heresies of the first six centuries.
HERETIC. One who holds doctrines opposed to those of the CatholicChurch. (See above.)
HETERODOX. Contrary to the faith of the true Church.
HIERARCHY. Properly,ruleinsacredmatters. The apostolic order of ministry.
HIGH CHURCH,seeChurch Parties.
HOLY DAY. A festival of the Church. (SeeFeast.)
HOLY GHOST.seeTrinity, The Holy.
HOLY THURSDAY.seeAscension Day.
HOLY WEEK. Some consider the termsHoly WeekandPassion Weekequally to apply to the week preceding Easter—the last week in Lent. This is Dr. Hook's opinion. Others restrict the termHoly Weekto the week commencing with Palm-Sunday, and call the week preceding thatPassion Week. Undoubtedly the fifth Sunday in Lent was commonly called in old times Passion Sunday, because of the anticipation of the Passion in the Epistle.
HOMILIES. The Homilies of the Church of England are two books of discourses, composed at the time of the Reformation, and appointed to be read in churches, on "any Sunday or Holy Day, when there is no sermon." Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer are thought to have composed the first volume; the second is supposed to be by Bishop Jewel, 1563.
HOODS. The ornamental fold which hangs down the back of a graduate to mark his degree. (SeeDegree.) The 58th Canon provides that "every minister saying the public prayers, or ministering the Sacraments, or other rites of the Church, if they are graduates, shall wear upon their surplice, at such times, suchhoodsas by the orders of the Universities are agreeable to their degrees." The same Canon goes on to say "It shall be lawful for such ministers as are not graduates to wear upon their surplices, instead ofhoods, some decent tippet of black, so it be not silk."
HYMN,seeChurch Music.
IDOLATRY. The worship of any person or thing but the one true God, whether it be in the form of an image or not.
IMMERSION,seeBaptism, Infant.
IMPOSITION, or LAYING ON OF HANDS,seeOrdinal.
IMPROPRIATION. Ecclesiastical property, the profits of which are in the hands of a layman. Impropriations have arisen from the confiscation of monasteries in the time of Henry VIII., when, instead of restoring the tithes to Church purposes, they were given to Court favourites.
INCARNATION. The act whereby Christ, the "Word, was made flesh."The "taking of the Manhood into God."
INCUMBENT. A person in possession of a benefice. (SeeBenefice.)
INDEPENDENTS. The first body of Dissenters which actually broke away from the Church of England was that of theIndependents, or—as they are nowadays perhaps more intelligibly called—theCongregationalists. An Independent sect seems to have existed about the year 1568, the whole question in dispute between them and the Church being then, as it is still, essentially one of "discipline," or Church Polity. They made each congregation a body corporate, governed exclusively by itself, and disclaim, more or less, every form of union between churches. In doctrine they are strictly Calvinistic, and, reviving the ancient heresy of Donatus, they profess to receive only accredited or really serious Christians into their fellowship, and to exclude any who may prove themselves unworthy members.
The Independents are sometimes calledBrownists, from Robert Brown, a clergyman of the Church of England, who was the first to secede from her ranks, and who, retreating to Holland, set up a separatist communion.
There are 76 County and other Associations at home and in the Colonies, with 3,895 meetinghouses, and 1,039 preaching stations, 300 being foreign mission stations; of ministers and missionaries they have about 3,500. They reckon to have about 360,000 members in the British dominions.
INDUCTION. The ceremony whereby a minister is put in actual possession of the living to which he has been presented.
INFALLIBILITY. The claim set up by the Church of Rome, either for the Pope, or the Church, or for the Pope and the Church consenting together; of absolute freedom from error in deciding questions of faith and doctrine. Roman divines are not agreed among themselves as to preciselywherethe infallibility of their Church is found. Certain it is that Councils and Popes have contradicted and anathematized each other.
INNOCENTS' DAY, THE HOLY. This festival has been observed ever since the 3rd century, in memory of the slaughtered children of Bethlehem (Matt. ii. 16.) Its old English name is Childermas, and it is kept on December 28th; the attendants on the nativity being St. Stephen, a martyr in will and deed, December 26th; St. John the Divine, a martyr in will though not in deed, December 27th; and The Holy Innocents, martyrs in deed but not in will, December 28th.
INSPIRATION. The extraordinary and supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit on the human mind, by which the sacred writers were qualified to set forth the things of God. In this sense the word occurs in 2 Tim. iii. 16. (SeeBible.)
The word is also used of the ordinary influence of the Holy Spirit on the heart of man, as "Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by theinspirationof Thy Holy Spirit."
INSTITUTION. The legal act by which the Bishop commits to a clergyman the cure of a church.
INSTITUTIONS, CHURCH,seeSocieties.
INTROIT,seeChurch Music
IRVINGITES. The followers of Edward Irving, a minister of the Scottish establishment, who was born in 1792, and died in 1834. He was deposed from the Presbyterian ministry for teaching that our Lord's nature was peccable, or capable of sin. He gathered a congregation round him in London, and now has many followers both in Scotland and England, and also in Germany. His followers entertain peculiar notions about the millennium, and they claim to exercise the power of prophecy, to have the miraculous gift of tongues, and to be able to raise the dead.
The Irvingites call themselves "The Catholic and Apostolic Church," and among their ministers number apostles, prophets, angels, evangelists, &c. They use as much as possible the liturgies of the Church in their worship, and observe a very ornate ritual. In their principal places of worship the Holy Communion is administered daily, and throughout the day many other Services are held.
They recognise the three Creeds of the Catholic Church as their rule of faith.
They have 19 places for public worship, besides many preaching stations, in England; the principal erection is in Gordon Square, London, and is a large building of considerable architectural pretensions.
JAMES'S (St.) DAY. July 25th. The day on which the Church celebrates the memory of the Apostle St. James the Great, or the Elder. He was one of the sons of Zebedee, and a brother of St. John the Divine. He was the first of the Apostles to suffer martyrdom. (Acts xii. 2.)
JESUITS, or SOCIETY OF JESUS. A Roman Catholic Society founded by Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, born in 1491. Members of the Order bind themselves to yield the most blind, implicit, and unlimited obedience to the General of the Order. Before the conclusion of the 16th century the Jesuits had obtained the chief direction of the youthful mind in every Roman Catholic country in Europe. They had become the confessors of almost all its monarchs, and the spiritual guides of nearly every person distinguished for rank or influence. At different periods they obtained the direction of the most considerable courts, and took part in every intrigue and revolution. Their great principle of action is not so much the advance of Christianity, as the extension of the Papal power; and in effecting this, their great maxim is "the end will justify the means." The Society is still flourishing, and has a power which is probably as little imagined as it is unknown to all but themselves.
JESUS,seeTrinity, The Holy.
JOHN (St.) BAPTIST'S DAY. June 24th. This feast commemorates, not the martyrdom, but the miraculous birth of St. John Baptist. It is the only nativity, besides that of our Lord, that is kept by the Church; although September 8th is marked in our Calendar for the commemoration of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The festival has been observed since the 4th or 5th century.
JOHN (St.) THE EVANGELIST'S DAY. December 27th. This festival, with those of St. Stephen and the Holy Innocents, immediately follows on Christmas Day. "Martyrdom, love, and innocence are first to be magnified, as wherein Christ is most honoured." The eagle is supposed to be emblematic of St. John the Evangelist.
JUBILATE DEO. Psalm c, appointed to be sung in the Morning Service instead of the Benedictus, when the latter happens to be read in the Gospel for St. John Baptist, or the lesson for the day.
JUSTIFICATION. This term signifies our being accounted just or righteous in the sight of God, not for any merit in ourselves, but solely for the sake of Christ, and by our faith in Him. The 11th Article of the Church of England treats of this. All believers are justified by Christ, but that does not necessarily imply that they are sanctified; the one is a work wrought exterior to ourselves, the other is the work of the Holy Spirit in the individual heart of man.
KEYS, POWER OF THE. The authority existing in the Christian Priesthood of administering the discipline of the Church, and communicating or withholding its privileges. It is so called from our Lord's words to St. Peter in Matt. xvi. 19.
KINDRED, TABLE OF. The Table of Kindred and Affinity found at the end of our Prayer Book was drawn up by Archbishop Parker, in 1563. It rests on an Act of Henry VIII., and is designed to be an authoritative interpretation of it. The whole is based on Lev. xviii. 6-18. The principles on which it is drawn up are the following:—
(a) It places both sexes on the same footing, forbidding to the man whatever is forbidden to the woman.
(b) It forbids marriage to a man on the grounds of near kindred or consanguinity; omitting, however, prohibition of marriage between cousins as not being forbidden in the Levitical Law, nor definitely by the Canon Law.
(c) Acting on the important principle sanctioned by our Lord Himself, that "man and wife are one flesh," it puts affinity, or connection by marriage, on exactly the same footing as kindred, or connection by blood, affirming that a man's wife's connections are to be held strictly as his own. It is for this reason,—a reason distinctly based upon Holy Scripture,—that the marriage with a "deceased wife's sister" is forbidden.
KNEELING. The practice of kneeling in confession, in prayer, and in adoration, is of great antiquity. David says, "Let us worship and bow down, let uskneelbefore the Lord our Maker," Psalm cxv. 6. See also Ps. cxxxii. 7; 1 Kings viii. 54; Ezra ix. 5-15; Dan. vi. 10; Acts vii. 60; Acts ix. 40; Acts xx. 36, xxi. 5. Our blessed Lord Himself "kneeled down" when He prayed, Luke xxii. 14. How the example of David and Solomon, Ezra and Daniel, St. Stephen, St. Peter and St. Paul, nay, of our Saviour Himself, condemns the lolling, irreverent posture assumed by too many Christians of the present day in the public worship of the Lord of Hosts!
KYRIE ELEISON. Two Greek words, meaning "Lord, have mercy." The responses to the Commandments are so called.
LAITY, LAYMAN. A baptized member of the Church, not being an ecclesiastic. The term "layman" denotes a positive rank, not the mere lack of rank.
LAMBETH DEGREES. The Archbishop of Canterbury has the power of conferring degrees in any of the faculties of the University to which he himself belongs. These degrees are calledLambeth Degrees. The Archbishop exercised this power as Legate of the Pope, retaining it (like the power of granting special marriage licences) under the Tudor legislation.
LAPSE. When a patron neglects to present a clergyman to a benefice within his gift, within six months after its vacancy, the beneficelapsesto the Bishop; if he does not collate within six months, itlapsesto the Archbishop: and if he does not collate within six months, it lapses to the Crown.
LATTER-DAY SAINTS,seeMormonists.
LAY BAPTISM. Baptism administered by laymen. Although notauthorizedin our Prayer Book, such baptisms have always been held valid by the Church of England. It is better that children should receive lay baptism than not be baptized at all.
LAYING ON OF HANDS,seeOrdination. This ceremony has always been esteemed an essential part of ordination, and rests on undoubted Scriptural authority. It is also the form, in the Anglican Church, by which the Bishop conveys the grace of Confirmation.
LECTURN, or LECTERN. The desk from which the Lessons are read. The form frequently adopted is that of the eagle, doubtless with some reference to the eagle, the symbol of St. John. The eagle lectern in Peterborough Cathedral was given in 1471.
LENT. The name is probably derived from the old EnglishLencten, "Spring," from its always being observed at the Spring-tide of the year. The forty days fast before Easter are so called. In primitive times the duration of the fast appears to have been forty hours. The present custom of reckoning forty days, exclusive of the Sundays, prevails from the 7th century.
LESSONS. The portions of Holy Scripture read in Morning and Evening Prayer. The calendar of lessons now in use was authorized on Jan. 1st, 1873. The lessons were then made generally shorter, by the selection of parts of chapters containing one complete subject and no more. A choice of lessons was given in many cases, that the same portions of Scripture might not be read twice on the same day in churches with three Sunday services. By the present arrangement the main substance of the whole of the Old Testament is now read through once every year; and the New Testament twice, except the book of Revelation, which, with a few omissions, is read once in the year.
LETTERS OF ORDERS. A certificate given by the Bishop to every one whom he ordains, whether Priest or Deacon. Churchwardens have the power to require the exhibition of the Letters of Orders of any minister assisting in the church of which they are guardians.
LITANY. In the 4th century this name began specially to be applied to a Form of Supplication, used in times of need, which was sung in procession, with hymns and frequent responses, and with collects at the various halting places. The old Litanies bore a general resemblance to ours. In 1544 Cranmer, by desire of the king, drew up the first English Litany, which was compiled principally from ancient sources. The Litany at first was a separate service. In 1662 it was ordered to be sung after Morning Prayer. The Act of Uniformity of the present reign, 1872, allows it to be used in the Morning or Evening, or as a separate service. It was ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays only in 1549; Sundays were added in 1552.
LITERATE. This term, applied to a Clergyman, means one who has not taken a degree, and is not a member of a Theological College.
LITURGY. From a Greek word, meaning a public act or duty; it is now popularly used of the entire Book of Common Prayer, although formerly it was applied only to the Service for administering the Holy Eucharist.
As each different part of the Prayer Book is discussed under its own heading, this article will be confined to (a) why a formulary is used; (b) the history of our own.
(a) Forms of Prayer were used in the Jewish Church. Moses and Miriam used a prescribed form as a thanksgiving for the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus xv God appointed a form of prayer, Deut. xxi. 7, 8; also a benediction, Num. vi. 22, 26. Moses used a form of prayer, Num. x. 35, 36. Josephus and Philo tell us that the worship both in the Temple and in the Synagogues consisted of a settled form of prayer; this our Lord sanctioned by His frequent presence. He Himself gave us a form of prayer—the Lord's Prayer. He promises a special blessing on congregational worship. Matt, xviii. 19; the "agreement" must pre-suppose a settled form. Traces of forms of prayer some think are found in the New Testament.
The voice of history is unanimous on this point, nearly all theFathers testifying to the use of formularies.
Common sense reasons are plentiful, as, for instance, that in Eccles. v. 2. A formulary makes the congregation independent of the minister's mood, or ability, or piety, or orthodoxy.
(b) History. Before the time of Augustine (597) the English Church had its own National Use, largely derived from the East, through the Galilean Church. It is certain that the entire Roman Ritual was never used, although attempts were made to force it upon the Anglo-Saxon Church. There was a considerable variety in the manner of performing Divine Service in the different Dioceses, each having its own particular "Use." (SeeSarum, Use of.)
The earliest Liturgy in general use in England was the book of Offices, "secundum usum Sarum," hence called the "Sarum Use," compiled by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1078. This book contained much that had been in use from very early times. At the Reformation it became necessary to remove the Roman corruptions which had accumulated in the various Office books, the "Breviaries," the "Missals," the "Manuals," &c. One objection common to them all was that they were in Latin.
The object of the Reformers was to retain as much of the old as was free from error. The first English Prayer Book was theKing's Primer, published 1545; and a Communion Service was put forth in 1548. TheFirst Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1549, was drawn up by a Commission of Bishops and Divines under Cranmer and Ridley; anOrdinalwas added in 1550.
TheSecond Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1552, was a revised form of the older book. Cranmer, Peter Martyr, and Bucer assisted in the revision, and much was added from Hermann's Consultation (which see). This Prayer Book was almost identical with the one in use now. Abolished during the reign of Mary, it was restored by Queen Elizabeth, 1559, with a few alterations. In 1604 a Conference was held at Hampton Court under James I., between Church and Puritan Divines, when some further alterations were made in deference to Puritan objections. The last revision was made in 1661, at the Savoy Conference, under Charles II., between Bishops and Presbyterian Divines. The Prayer Book then took the form which we have now, save that in 1859 the services for use on Nov. 5th, May 29th, and Jan. 30th (Charles the Martyr) were removed. In 1873 a revised Table of Lessons was put forth. In 1872 permission was given to use the Shortened Service, to separate the services, and to use hymns.
For further particulars the reader is referred to the articles on the various different services of the Church.
LIVING,seeBenefice.
LOGOS. Greek, aword. Christ is called "The Word" because in HimGod is revealed to man. (John i.) The Jews sometimes spoke of theMessiah as the "Word of God."
LORD, OUR,seeTrinity, The Holy.
LORD'S DAY. The first day of the week, so called by St. John, Rev. i. 10. Sunday has ever been kept as the weekly festival in commemoration of our Lord's resurrection on that day. In the fourth Commandment, and elsewhere, we receive stringent directions to keep theseventhday—that is to say, the Sabbath, or Saturday—holy. It will be well to see on what authority Christians have hallowed thefirst, instead of thelast, day of the week. We find from writers who were contemporary with the Apostles, or who immediately succeeded them, that Christians were always accustomed to meet on the first day of the week for the performance of their religious exercises. We find them asserting that this festival was instituted by the Apostles, who acted under the immediate direction and influence of the Holy Ghost. From the constant practice of the Apostles in keeping this day holy, it is believed by many that they must have had especial directions to that effect from their risen Lord, who, we know, gave them instructions relating to "the kingdom of God."—His Church,—during the forty days He was with them. And more, it was often while they were gathered together, celebrating the festival of theLord's Day, that the Lord Himself appeared among them.
LORD'S PRAYER. The prayer taught us by our blessed Lord as the model of all our devotions. (Matt. vi. 9.) But it is not only a model of prayer, but an express form to accompany all our worship. (Luke xi. 2.) Thus we find it frequently in our Prayer Book, no Service being without it. The often repetition of it, however, in our Sunday Service is caused by the fact of three separate Services being used as one whole.
LORD'S SUPPER,seeCommunion, Holy.
LORD'S TABLE,seeAltar.
LOW CHURCH,seeChurch Parties.
LOW SUNDAY. The Sunday after Easter is calledLow Sunday, because, although it partakes in some sort of the festal nature of Easter, it being the Octave, yet it is a festival of a much lower degree than Easter itself.
LUKE'S (St.) DAY. October 18. Kept in commemoration of St. Luke, the companion of St. Paul, the author of the third Gospel, and also probably of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. He is believed to have been a physician, and his writings prove that he was a man of education. According to St. Augustine, his symbol is the ox, the Sacrificial Victim.
LUTHERANS. The followers of Martin Luther, an Augustine monk, a German, born 1483. He was the great Reformer of the Continent. They retain the use of the Altar, some of the ancient vestments, lighted tapers, incense, crucifix, confession, &c. At the time of the Reformation, the Lutherans, meeting with nothing but opposition from the Bishops, were constrained to act without them, and consequently they are in much the same position as the Scottish Presbyterian body, though not from the same cause. The Lutherans earnestly protested, that they much wished to retain episcopacy, but that the Bishops forced them to reject sound doctrine, and therefore they were unable to preserve their allegiance to them. The ritual and liturgies differ in the various Lutheran countries, but in fundamental articles they all agree.
LYCH GATE. A covered gate of the churchyard where the body (Leich, a corpse) rests on its way to burial.
MAGNIFICAT. The song of the Blessed Virgin, Luke i. It is the first canticle of Evening Prayer, and has been sung in the Church from very early times.
MANIPLE, or MANUPLE,seeVestment.
MARIOLATRY. The worship, or cultus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the principal errors of the Church of Rome, and on the increase.
MARK'S (St.) DAY. April 25th. St. Mark was a companion of St. Peter, and is thought to have written his Gospel under St. Peter's directions. This evangelist is symbolized by theMan.
MARRIAGE,seeMatrimony, Holy.
MARTINMAS. November 11th. A festival formerly kept in honour of St.Martin, Bishop of Tours, in France, in 374.
MARTYR. One who lays down his life for his religion. The word means a "witness." St. Stephen was the first, or proto-martyr.
MARY, The BLESSED VIRGIN. We admit to her the title of "Mother ofGod," but protest against her being worshipped. No instance ofDivine honour beingpaidher is earlier than the fifth century.Two festivals only in the Church of England are kept in her honour,viz., the Purification, and the Annunciation.
MASS. In Latin,Missa, with which word congregations were accustomed to be dismissed. Then it was used for the congregation itself, and finally became applied only to the Communion Service.
MATERIALISM. One of the philosophies of the day which looks upon everything as the out-come of mere physical energy; denies the soul, and every spiritual force; and regards matter as eternal.
MATINS,seeMorning Prayer.
MATRIMONY, HOLY. With regard to the Marriage Laws, the Church and the State are not agreed. The former maintains Holy Matrimony to be a religious ceremony, while the State recognises the legality of mere civil contracts, and allows people to enter into the nuptial state by a civil ceremony. We find the early Fathers distinctly stating that marriage is of a sacred nature. Paley, in his Moral Philosophy, says, "Whether it hath grown out of some tradition of the Divine appointment of marriage in the persons of our first parents, or merely from a design to impress the obligation of the marriage-contract with a solemnity suited to its importance, the marriage-rite, in almost all countries of the world, has been made a religious ceremony; although marriage, in its own nature, and abstracted from the rules and declarations which the Jewish and Christian Scriptures deliver concerning it, be properly a civil contract, and nothing more." It was forbidden in the 4th century during Lent, and so custom and propriety forbid it now during the same season. In the Manual marriages were prohibited in the following seasons:—(a) Advent to the octave of Epiphany, (b) Septuagesima to the octave of Easter inclusive, (c) Rogation Sunday to Trinity Sunday.
The Roman Church has exalted Holy Matrimony into a Sacrament.
The State so far recognises the position of the Church with regard to Holy Matrimony that no clergyman can be forced to marry a divorced person, though he may be obliged to lend his church to any other who will perform the ceremony.
MATRIMONY, THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF. Of all our services this preserves most of the older Office in the Sarum Manual. Some of the hortatory portions come as usual from Hermann's Consultation. There has been no change since 1549, except the omission of the ceremony of giving gold and silver to the bride as "tokens of spousage."
The Service is divided into two parts (a) the Marriage Service proper, performed in the body of the Church; (b) the succeeding service at the Holy Table, evidently intended as an introduction to the Holy Communion which should follow.
The Banns. From a barbarous Latin word meaning an edict or proclamation. In 1661 the rubric directed them to be published immediately before the offertory sentences. The marriage Acts of the Georges are supposed to set aside this rubric, and to order them to be published after the Second Lesson. It is doubtful whether this does not apply to the Evening Service only, in places where there is no Morning Service.
TheLicenceof the Bishop makes the publication of Banns unnecessary. Without a Special Licence, Marriage can be solemnized only between the hours of 8 and 12 in the forenoon.
(a)The Marriage Serviceproper should be performed in "the body of the church" (see rubric, 1661) the place selected being generally the Chancel steps.
TheExhortation, 1549, from the "Consultation" chiefly; it rests on the following passages of Holy Scripture:—Gen. ii. 24; Matt. xix. 5; Eph. v. 22-33; John ii. 1-11; Heb. xiii. 4. No impediment being alleged, theEspousalorBetrothalfollows. The joining of hands is from time immemorial the pledge of covenant, and is here an essential part of the Marriage Ceremony. The words of the betrothal are agreeable to the following passages: 1 Cor. xi. 1-12; Eph. v. 22-33; Col. iii. 18, 19; 1 Tim. ii. 10-14; 1 Peter iii. 1-7.
TheMarriage Riteitself. The use of the ring is probably of pre-Christian antiquity. The old Service directed it to be worn on the fourth finger because "there is a vein leading direct to the heart."
Gold and Silver was also given the bride in 1549, but omitted in 1552. The word "worship" means "honour," as in Wycliffe's Testament, Matt. xix. 19, "Worshipthy father and thy mother."
(b)The Post-Matrimonial Service. The rubric directs only the "minister or clerks" to go to the Lord's Table, but the practice is to carry out the older rubric, 1549, "Then shall they"—the whole marriage party—"go into the Quire." A second Psalm is added for use in cases when the language of the first would be unsuitable. The following rubric is almost unique, in directing the Priest to turn his face to the people. TheVersiclesare substantially the same as those used at the Visitation of the Sick and in the Churching of Women. The concluding rubric dates from 1661; the rubric in 1549 definitely ordered the reception of Holy Communion.
MATTHEW'S (St.) DAY. Sept. 21st. This Apostle and Evangelist, before his call to the apostleship, was known as Levi, the publican, or tax-gatherer. He may possibly have been the brother of St. James the Less, and of St. Thomas also. He was the first to write a Gospel, which he addressed to the Jews, his aim being to show that Jesus was the Messiah. It is probable that he alone, of all the New Testament writers, wrote in Hebrew. His symbol is the Lion, according to St. Augustine.
MATTHIAS'S (St.) DAY. Feb. 24th. Of St. Matthias we know simplynothing, except that he was elected to the vacant place in theApostolic College, caused by the desertion and death of the traitorJudas; Acts i. 15 to end.
MAUNDY THURSDAY. The Thursday before Easter, being the day on which our Lord instituted the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. The name is a corruption of the Latin wordmandatum, meaning a command, in allusion to the "New Commandment" of mutual love.
MESSIAH,seeTrinity, The Holy.
METHODISTS. The original Methodists are the Wesleyans, but already this sect has split up into numerous sections, or "Churches," as they call themselves. The leading sub-divisions will each have a separate notice. The leading idea of Methodism is a revival of religion by a free appeal to the feelings, and the method adopted is an elaborate system of "societies," and preaching the doctrine of "sensible conversion."
The "people called Methodists," or Wesleyans, are the followers of John Wesley, who was born in 1703. He took his degree at Oxford, and was ordained in 1725. He held a Fellowship at Lincoln College until his marriage in 1752. While at Oxford, he, with his brother Charles, of Christ Church, and his friend Whitefield, of Pembroke, and some twelve others, determined to live under a common rule of strict and serious behaviour; to receive frequently the Holy Communion; and to adopt a methodical and conscientious improvement of their time. After ordination, these two brothers, John and Charles, set to work to revive a spirit of religion in the Church of England, of which they were priests, and were aided by the good-will and sound paternal advice of some of the Bishops.
In 1735 John Wesley went out as a missionary to Georgia, in America, but the settlers rejected his services, and his mission to the Indians was a failure. On his voyage out, he unfortunately came under the influence of some Moravians; and on returning to England, after a three years' absence, he became a regular member of the Moravian Society in London. It was here he learnt the two peculiar doctrines of subsequent Wesleyanism, viz.: (1) instantaneous and sensible conversion, (2) the doctrine of perfection,i.e., of a Christian Maturity, on attaining which, he that is (in the Wesleyan sense) "born again," "born of God," sinneth not. If, however, we take into view Wesley's own persistent affirmation in later times, "I have uniformly gone on for fifty years, never varying from the doctrine of the Church at all;" and many other such passages, we cannot escape the inevitable conclusion that the very doctrine on which his modern followers have built their separation from the Church, is nothing else than a transient andforeignelement in their great founder's teaching.
In 1744 Wesley called around him his most trusted friends,—six clergymen of the Church of England and four lay preachers, and held what we should now call aRetreat; this meeting, however, is regarded by the Wesleyans as the first regular "Conference" of the Methodist Societies. It was in 1784 that Wesley drew up a "Deed of Declaration," which was formally enrolled in Chancery, establishing Methodism in the eye of the Law. This was anunintentionalstep on the part of Wesley towards an ultimate separation from the Church. Now it was too that he made his second great mistake of consecrating an English Clergyman as bishop, and two laymen as presbyters of the American Societies. This was the origin of the Episcopal Methodists of America. John Wesley died in 1791, almost his last printed utterance being, "I declare that I live and die a member of the Church of England; and none who regard my opinion or advice will ever separate from it." (John Wesley,Arminian Magazine,April, 1790.)
Four years after his death, in 1795, the separation took place, and the Conference allowed the preachers to administer the Lord's Supper. No sooner was the severance complete than the punishment followed. In 1795 theMethodist New Connexionsplit away from them, under a man named Kilham. In 1810 thePrimitive Methodistscaused another schism. In 1815 theBible Christiansseceded, and so on. What would John Wesley have thought of all this? Only nine months before his death, he had solemnly charged his preachers: "In God's name, stop there! Be Church of England men still!" (Wesley, Sermons, iii. 268). And his dying breath was spent in a prayer for the Church!
The Minutes of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference for the year 1883-4 give the following statistics:—
Members. 1. In Great Britain 407,085 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 24,384 3. In Foreign Missions 70,747 4. South African Conference 20,739 5. French Conference 1,856 Total 524,811
On Trial. 1. In Great Britain 34,399 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 668 3. In Foreign Missions 5,299 4. South African Conference 9,093 5. French Conference 168 Total 49,627
Ministers. 1. In Great Britain 1,545 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 181 3. In Foreign Missions 285 4. South African Conference 93 5. French Conference 28 Total 2,137
On probation.1. In Great Britain 912. In Ireland & Irish Missions 163. In Foreign Missions 984. South African Conference 745. French Conference —Total 279
Supernumeries.1. In Great Britain 2842. In Ireland & Irish Missions 423. In Foreign Missions 94. South African Conference 105. French Conference 3Total 348
Ministers and full members in the Australian Wesleyan Methodist "Church," and in the Methodist "Church" of Canada are under their respective Conferences, and consequently are not enumerated above.
Whitaker's Almanack for 1883 gives the following statistics for Wesleyan Methodism in Great Britain. It will be seen that its figures are slightly larger than those given above.
Ministers. 2,170Lay Preachers. 15,450Members. 418,229On Probation. 40,653Chapels. 6,978Sunday Scholars. 829,666
The finance of Wesleyan Methodism for 1880 was nearly as follows:—
Missionary Fund L138,346Home Mission Income 34,210Education of Minister's Children 22,036Chapel Building 292,599Training Candidates for Ministry 12,130Total L499,321
During the past four years the Wesleyan Methodists have raised a"Thanksgiving Fund" amounting to L303,600.
METHODIST ASSOCIATION. In 1834 a controversy arose among the Methodists as to the propriety of establishing a Wesleyan Theological Institution; and a minister who disapproved of such a measure, and prepared and published some remarks against it, was expelled from the Connexion. Sympathizers with him were in like manner expelled. Hence the formation of theMethodist Association, which differs from the parent Society in a few particulars of Church government. This Society is now joined with theWesleyan Reform Association, and with the Protestant Methodists, the union being effected in 1857. The amalgamation is known by the name of "The United Methodist Free Churches." They number—
Ministers. 377Lay Preachers. 3,134Members. 66,297Sunday Scholars 8,599On Probation. 1,233Chapels. 186,254
METHODISTS, CALVINISTIC. Up to 1751, John Wesley and George Whitefield had worked in harmony, but then arose a difference of opinion between them on the doctrine of election, which resulted in their separation. Whitefield held the Calvinistic view, Wesley the Arminian.
After Whitefield's death, in 1769, his followers gradually settledinto two separate religious bodies, one being theLady Huntingdon'sConnexion, or, as it is sometimes called, theEnglish CalvinisticMethodists, and the other theWelsh Calvinistic Methodists.
Whitefield was chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, and it was by his advice she became the patroness of his followers, and founded a college for the education of Calvinistic preachers. The doctrines of this connexion are almost identical with those of the Church of England, interpreted, of course, in a Calvinistic sense, and her liturgy is generally employed. They have no general ecclesiastical government, and have become virtually Congregational Societies.
TheWelsh Calvinistic Methodistsowe their origin in a great degree to a Mr. Harris, who did for Wales much what Wesley and Whitefield did for England. He instituted "Private Societies" in 1736, but it was not till 1811 that the connexion separated from the Church. Their Church government differs slightly from Wesleyanism, and their doctrines are said to be in accordance with the 39 Articles, interpreted in a Calvinistic sense.
Chapels 1,343Ministers and Preachers 981Deacons 4,317Members 5,029On probation 177,383Sunday Scholars 119,358
During the year 1881-82, L163,875 was collected for various religious purposes.
METHODIST, NEW CONNEXION. This party, under a Mr. Kilham, split off from the Wesleyans in 1795, four years after the Wesleyans had left the Church of England. In doctrines, and in all essential and distinctive features, it remains the same as its parent society. The grand distinction rests upon the different degrees of power allowed in each communion to the laity, theMethodist New Connexionallowing them to participate in Church government, whereas the Wesleyans leave Church government in the hands of the ministers.
Ministers 179Lay Preachers 1,225Members 418,229On probation 442Chapels 79,697Sunday Scholars 4,277
METHODISTS, PRIMITIVE. The "Primitives," or "Ranters," as they are sometimes called, represent more truly the original genius of Wesleyan Methodism than any other of the various bodies into which the original secession from the Church of England has split up. Some still kept to camp-meetings and the like, after the original connexion had given them up. This practice was condemned by the Conference of 1807, and the consequence was the birth of thePrimitive Methodist Connexionin 1810. Messrs. Hugh Bourne and William Clowes may be looked upon as the fathers of this body. Their doctrines are precisely the same as those of the original connexion.
Ministers 1,152Lay Preachers 15,728Members 191,329Chapels 4,397Sunday Scholars 394,238
METHODIST REFORMERS. In 1849 certain points in Methodist procedure were attacked in anonymous pamphlets called "Fly Sheets," which resulted in the expulsion of many ministers from the original Society. They, with those sympathising with them, have set up a distinct machinery of methodism, although still regarding themselves as Wesleyan Methodists, illegally expelled.
METROPOLITAN. A Bishop who presides over a province is called aMetropolitan.
MICHAEL (St.) & ALL ANGELS. A festival observed on the 29th of September. St. Michael is described in the Old Testament as the guardian angel of the Jewish people; and in the New Testament he is the great archangel fighting for God and His Church against the devil. (SeeAngel.)
MILITANT, THE CHURCH. The name given to the Church on earth in thePrayer following the Offertory.Militantmeansfighting, andis used of the Church on earth in contra-distinction to the ChurchTriumphant, the Church above.
MILLENNIUM. Latin,a thousand years. Certain people look for a return of Christ to the earth before the end of the world, and hold that there will be a first or particular resurrection limited to the good, and a reign of Christ with all the saints upon the earth for a thousand years, ormillennium. This doctrine is chiefly based upon a most literal interpretation of part of the book of Revelation (chap, xx.), which is confessedly the most figurative and mystical book in the Bible.
MINOR CANONS. Priests in Collegiate Churches next in rank to the Canons and Prebendaries, but not of the Chapter. They are responsible for the performance of daily service, and should be well skilled in Church music.
MINISTER.One who serves. A term applied generally to the clergy about the time of the Great Rebellion. It is equivalent to the Greek word renderedDeacon. An effort was unsuccessfully made in 1689 to substituteministerforpriestthroughout the Prayer Book wherever the latter word occurred.
MIRACLE. Latin,A Wonder. The general notion of miracles, viz., that they are necessary proofs or credentials of our Saviour's commission from God, can scarcely be maintained on Scriptural grounds. (Matt. vii. 28.) A better definition of miracles is given by Archbishop Thomson: "The miracles of the Gospel are works done by Christ in the course of His divine mission of mercy, which could not have proceeded from ordinary causes then in operation, and therefore proved the presence of a superhuman power, and which, by their nature and drift, showed that this power was being exerted in the direction of love and compassion for the salvation of mankind."
If the miraculous works of Christ were disproved and done away with, two miracles would still remain which are unassailable, viz., the character of Christ, and the message of Christ. Therefore the question is not whether miracles by themselves are probable, but whether the Lord from heaven, who lived on this earth—for none could have invented the story of His life; who left a message on earth—for none could have invented that message; added to his utterances certain marvels of love and compassion to draw men's eyes towards Him for their good. This may be called thehistoricconsideration of miracles; thescientificis briefly as follows:—We are told that the phenomena of nature are so many links in a chain of causes and effects, and to suppose that God breaks through this chain, is to make God contradict Himself. To this it may be answered that apart from any question of miracles, there are already flaws in this chain of causation, or rather, powers from without that can shake it, as, for instance, the outbreak of a war rendering a country, which should have been fertile, barren and wasted. Holy Scripture is not responsible for the phrase, "suspension of the laws of nature." Theologians do not dogmatise about the nature of miracles, and it would be well if science were less zealous for the inviolability of laws, the outside limits of which she cannot now ascertain. Miracles are but a part of the Gospel, and we judge them by the setting in which they are placed. Those who received them at first were not made Christians by them. (Mark ix. 23, 24.) To us they are not even the beginning of faith, for Christ was our Teacher and Friend before our infant minds could conceive what miracles meant. He, the sinless Lord, is our first miracle; His teaching is our second miracle; and a third may be added, viz., the transforming power of the Gospel in human hearts.
The reader is referred to the sermon onMiraclesin ArchbishopThomson's "Life in the Light of God's Word," "The Reign of Law," bythe Duke of Argyll, and Sir Edmund Beckett's "Review of Hume andHuxley on Miracles."
MISSION.A sending forth. The power or commission to preach the Gospel. Thus our blessed Lord gave His disciples and their successors their mission, when He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."
MISSION. An effort to awaken or increase spiritual life in aParish by means of special Services and Sermons.
MISSIONARY SOCIETIES,seeSocieties.
MORAVIANS, or UNITED BRETHREN. A sect generally said to have arisen under Nicholas Lewis, a German nobleman of the last century, and thus called because among the first converts were some Moravian families. They themselves claim to have sprung from the Greek Church in the ninth century. Hook says, "It is sometimes supposed that because the Moravians have Bishops they are less to be blamed than other dissenting sects. But, to say nothing of the doubt that exists with respect to the validity of their orders, an Episcopal Church may be, as the English Moravians and Romanists in this country are, in a state of schism. And the very fact that the difference between them and the Church is not great, if this be so, makes the sin of their schism, in not conforming, yet greater." In England theMoraviansnumber 5,000 members, 6,000 scholars, and have 32 chapels and preaching stations.
MORMONISTS, or LATTER DAY SAINTS. The founder of this sect was Joseph Smith, born in 1805, of poor parents, in the State of Vermont, U.S. At the age of 15 he declared himself to have seen a vision of "two personages," who informed him that all existing Christian sects were erroneous. According to his own account, this vision was repeated three years afterwards, when he was informed that the American Indians were a remnant of the Israelites, and that certain prophetical writings of the Jews were buried in a spot from which he was destined to rescue them. The absurd story goes on to say that Joseph Smith accordingly found in a stone box, just covered with earth, in Ontario, the "Record," consisting of gold plates engraven with "Reformed Egyptian" characters. Although discovered in 1823, the angel would not allow Smith to remove them until 1827. Luckily he also discovered the Urim and Thummim in the same box with the golden plates, and by its aid he was able to translate a portion of the revelation, which, when complete, composed a large volume. This volume he called the "Book of Mormon," "Mormon" meaning, as he explained,more good, from "mor," a contraction formore, and "mon," the Egyptian forgood.Mormon, too, was the name of a supposed prophet living in the fourth or fifth century. The golden plates, said to have been discovered in the above extraordinary manner, were never publicly produced, but three witnesses were found to testify that they had actually seen the plates, an angel having exhibited them. These three witnesses were the two brothers and the father of Smith. Four other witnesses of the name of Whitmer also testified the same. The "Book of Mormon" was succeeded by a "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," being a collection of special revelations made to Smith and his associates. Followers soon began to flock around the new "prophet," as Smith called himself. But at the same time much hostility was shown to the sect. They were expelled from different States, until at last they settled in Illinois. An altercation between the "Saints" and the county resulted in the imprisonment of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum; but in 1844 a mob broke into the prison and the brothers were shot. Brigham Young succeeded to the post of "prophet." Fresh troubles with the State caused another migration of the "Saints" in 1846, who, after much suffering, settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. There they have prospered, and the settlement itself, by the name of Utah, has been admitted to the United States Confederacy. They send missionary agents to all parts of the world to make fresh converts. The practice of polygamy they justify by their doctrine concerning "spiritual wives." They have published a "Creed," in which they profess their belief in the Holy Trinity, in Salvation through Christ, in the necessity of the Sacraments and the ordinary means of grace. They further believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit continue. They believe in the word of God recorded in the Bible, and in the Book of Mormon. They look for the restoration of the Jews, and expect a millennium. They have 82 congregations in England.
MORNING PRAYER Theconstructionof the Morning and Evening Services is so similar that they will both be considered under this heading. It will be noticed that the Services recognise distinctly what may be called God's part and man's part in the communion of worship. They open by the message of God to His people, calling for penitence and promising forgiveness, which is met by the response of the Confession. Next pardon is pronounced in God's Name, which naturally awakens in the pardoned soul the outburst of Praise and Thanksgiving in the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms and the Canticles. Then the voice of God is again heard in the Lessons, and His revelation is accepted by the response of faith in the Creed. Lastly, in the sense of His grace and the knowledge of His will, we turn to Prayer for ourselves and for others, and end with the commendation of all to His blessing.