Book ii

. c. 18, n. 2).—_Bingham._ The following is the decree of the popish Council of Constance [A. D. 1418] on this subject.

“Whereas, in some parts of the world, certain persons rashly presume to assert, that the Christian people ought to receive the holy sacrament of the eucharist under both kinds of bread and wine; and do everywhere communicate the laity, not only in the bread, but also in the wine; and pertinaciously assert also, that they ought to communicate after supper, or else not fasting, doing this contrary to the laudable custom of the Church, which is agreeable to reason, which they damnably endeavour to reprobate as sacrilegious, this present holy general Council of Constance, lawfully assembled in the HOLY GHOST, earnestly desiring to protect the safety of the faithful against this error, after much and mature deliberation had of many who are learned both in Divine and human law, declares, decrees, and determines, that, although CHRIST instituted this venerable sacrament after supper, and administered it to his disciples under both kinds of bread and wine, yet, notwithstanding this, the laudable authority of the sacred canons, and the approved custom of the Church has observed, that this sacrament ought not to be performed after supper, nor be received by the faithful unless fasting, except in the case of sickness, or any other necessity, either duly conceded or admitted by the Church; and, in like manner, that although in the primitive Church this sacrament was received of the faithful under both kinds, yet for the avoiding any dangers and scandals, the custom has reasonably been introduced, that it be received by the officiating persons under both kinds, but by the laity only under the kind of bread; since it is to be believed most firmly, and in nowise to be doubted, that the whole body and blood of CHRIST is truly contained as well under the species of bread as under that of wine.”

On which we may fairly remark, “full well ye reject the commandment of GOD, that ye may keep your own tradition.” For CHRIST, when he celebrated the Eucharist, gave the cup to all who were present; and when he appointed his apostles his ministers to celebrate it, he bade them do the same, “Do this in remembrance of me.” But ye say, whosoever shall dare to do as CHRIST has bidden him, shall be effectually punished. Can human impiety exceed this?—_Perceval._

COMMUNION TABLE. A name for the altar in the Christian Church. It is both altar and table. An altar with respect to the oblation; a table with respect to the feast. (See _Altar_.)

COMMUTATION OF PENANCE. Penance is an ecclesiastical punishment, used in the discipline of the Church, which affects the body of the penitent; by which he is obliged to give public satisfaction to the Church for the scandal he has occasioned by his evil example. Commutation of Penance is the permission granted by the ecclesiastical judge to pay a certain sum of money for pious uses, in lieu of public penance. (See _Penitents_.)

COMPETENTES. An order of catechumens in the primitive Church, being the immediate candidates for baptism.

COMPLINE, or COMPLETORIUM, was, before the Reformation, the last service of the day. This hour of prayer was first appointed by the celebrated abbot Benedict, in the sixth century.

The Church of England, at the revision of our offices in the reign of Edward the Sixth, only prescribed public worship in the morning and the evening; and in making this regulation she was perfectly justified: for though it is the duty of Christians to pray continually, yet the precise times and seasons of prayer, termed canonical hours, do not rest on any Divine command; nor have they ever been pronounced binding on all Churches by any general council: neither has there been any uniformity in the practice of the Christian Church in this respect. Besides this, the Churches of the Alexandrian patriarchate, which were founded by the holy evangelist Mark, only appointed two public assemblies in the day; and no more were customary, even in the monasteries of Egypt, the rest of the day being left for private and voluntary prayer and meditation. Thus also the Church of England left her clergy and people to follow in private the injunction of the apostle, to “pray without ceasing;” for, as John Cassian observes, a voluntary gift of praise and prayer is even more acceptable to GOD than those duties which are compelled by the canons; and, certainly, the Church of England did not intend that her children should offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving only in the morning and evening when she appointed those seasons for public worship. Indeed, we find that a book of private devotion, containing offices for several hours of prayer, and entitled the “Horarium,” was published by royal authority, A. D. 1560, from which Dr. Cosin, bishop of Durham, chiefly derived his “Collection of Private Devotion,” &c. The office of Evensay, or Evening Prayer, is a judicious abridgment of the office of Evensay and _Compline_, as formerly used by the English Church.—_Palmer._

CONCEPTION (IMMACULATE) OF THE HOLY VIRGIN. The immaculate conception is a festival of the Roman Church, observed on December 8, in honour of the alleged conception of the Virgin Mary without sin. The doctrine itself was invented about the middle of the twelfth century. The devotion offered to the Blessed Virgin having grown to an extravagant height, it was asserted by some obscure theologians, not only that she was sanctified from her birth, but also that she was conceived without sin. The opinion was at first generally condemned, and it would have had its place among other forgotten heresies, if Duns Scotus, the great opponent of the Dominicans, had not undertaken its defence.

The testimony of Scripture to the universal corruption of human nature is as plain as possible, and no trace of any exception is to be found. The witness of the primitive Church is equally clear, and not a single writer, for more than a thousand years, can be cited as having given the least countenance to the modern view.

But although the Roman Church has afforded the highest sanction and encouragement to a doctrine which is condemned alike by Scripture and the Fathers, the inconsistencies and contradictions of its authorized teaching on the subject are endless. The Council of Basle, for instance, in its thirty-sixth session, declared the belief in the immaculate conception to be conformable to the Catholic faith; but on the other side it is urged, that the council was in schism when it passed the decree, on account of the deposition which it had pronounced against Eugenius. The Council of Trent, in its decree on the subject of original sin, expressly stated that it had no intention of including the Blessed Virgin in the terms which it employed; but in conclusion it only enjoined the observance of the decree of Sixtus IV., which left the question open. The parties of Dominicans and Franciscans were so equally balanced that the Council did not venture to pronounce in favour of the one at the expense of the other. Their disputes were only kept from proceeding to extremity by the intervention of the legate. Pius V. in the same way, forbade the censure of those who denied, as well as of those who affirmed, the doctrine. Gregory XV. prohibited the imputation of original sin to the Blessed Virgin, even in private disputations; but he made an exception in favour of the Dominicans, that is to say, while giving his highest sanction to the dogma, he granted an immunity to those who had from the first resisted it. Alexander VII. decreed that the immaculate conception is a pious doctrine and worthy of honour, but he forbade the censure of those who should reject it. The university of Paris, at one period, compelled all candidates for the highest degree in theology to bind themselves to defend it; while at the same time the chief authority in the Church permitted its denial. Austria received from Benedict XIII. the grant of an office for the immaculate conception, but the phrase itself is carefully excluded from the prayers. The evidence, such as it is, on both sides is equally conflicting. The Franciscans, for instance, produced a revelation of St. Bridget in favour of the doctrine, while the Dominicans appealed to a similar revelation made to St. Catherine of Sienna, in which the contrary is affirmed. A question was raised in consequence, whether one of the so called saints is not to be believed rather than the other, though both have their place as objects of worship in the Roman calendar.

To sober-minded Christians it seems as idle a question as ever occupied the time, or roused the bad passions, of theological disputants, since, according to Thomas Aquinas and others, it regards only an inconceivably minute instant of time; yet it sufficed at one period to throw the whole kingdom of Spain into confusion, and it has furnished for centuries the watchword of parties in the Roman Church, who have maintained the fiercest opposition to each other; and the controversy is still undecided. Although it is said that the doctrine is full of blessing, that the whole of Christendom is devoutly waiting for its authoritative declaration, and that this would be the great glory and joy of an age which is to witness the restoration of catholicity, the See of Rome is restrained by great and insurmountable difficulties. If the immaculate conception were decreed to be a necessary article of faith, no one could deny that an addition had been made to the ancient creeds, and in a case to which even the loose principle of development could hardly be made applicable: while at the same time there would be an implied condemnation not only of the primitive fathers, but of the greatest theologians whom the Church of Rome has ever produced.

CONCEPTION OF OUR LADY. A religious order in the Romish Church, founded by Beatrix de Sylva, sister of James, first count of Portolegro, in the kingdom of Portugal. This lady, being carried to the court of Castile by Elizabeth, daughter of Edward, king of Portugal, whom the king of Castile had married, and the king falling in love with her on account of her beauty, the jealous queen locked her up in a chamber, where she left her without meat or drink for three days. In this condition she implored the assistance of the Virgin Mary, who, according to the legendary statement, appeared to her and comforted her, promising her a speedy release, which soon happened. But Beatrix, fearing the further resentment of the queen, privately withdrew from court, and fled to Toledo; where arriving, she retired to a monastery of Dominican nuns, in which she continued forty years in the practice of all sorts of austerities. Here she again imagined, or pretended, that the Virgin Mary reappeared to her, and inspired her with the desire of founding an order in honour of her own immaculate conception. To this end she obtained of the queen a grant of the palace of Galliana, where was a chapel dedicated to the honour of St. Faith. Beatrix, accompanied by twelve young maids of the Dominican monastery, took possession of it in the year 1484. These religious were habited in a white gown and scapulary, and a blue mantle, and wore on their scapulary the image of the Blessed Virgin. Pope Innocent VIII. confirmed the order in 1489, and granted them permission to follow the rule of the Cistercians. The pious foundress died in the year 1490, at sixty-six years of age.

After the death of Beatrix, Cardinal Ximenes put the nuns of the Conception under the direction of the Franciscans, as being the most zealous defenders of the immaculate conception; at the same time, he gave them the rule of St. Clara to follow. The second convent of the order was founded in the year 1507, at Torrigo, in the diocese of Toledo, which produced seven others, the first of which was at Madrid. This order passed into Italy, and got footing in Rome and Milan. In the reign of Louis XIV., king of France, the Clarisses of the suburb of St. Germain, at Paris, embraced the order of the _Conception_. These religious, besides the grand office of the Franciscans, recite on Sundays and holy-days a lesser office, called the office of the Conception of the Holy Virgin.—_Broughton._

CONCEPTION, MIRACULOUS. The production of the human nature of the SON of GOD out of the ordinary course of generation, by the power of the HOLY GHOST. (Matt. i. 18, 25.)

It were not difficult to show that the miraculous conception, once admitted, naturally brings after it the great doctrines of the incarnation and the atonement. The miraculous conception of our LORD evidently implies some higher purpose of his coming than the mere business of a teacher. The business of a teacher might have been performed by a mere man, enlightened by the prophetic spirit. For whatever instruction men have the capacity to receive, a man might have been made the instrument to convey. Had teaching, therefore, been the sole purpose of our SAVIOUR’S coming, a mere man might have done the whole business, and the supernatural conception had been an unnecessary miracle. He, therefore, who came in this miraculous way, came upon some higher business, to which a mere man was unequal. He came to be made a sin-offering for us, that we might be made the righteousness of GOD in him.—_Bp. Horsley._

CONCLAVE. The place where the cardinals meet for the choosing of a new pope: the assembly itself is also called by this name, and it depends upon the members themselves to choose the place, although for some time the Vatican has been constantly used. Here they erect, in a large apartment, as many cells of deal wood as there are cardinals, with lodges and places for the conclavists, who shut themselves in to wait and serve the cardinals. These little chambers have their numbers, and are drawn by lot, so that it often happens that cardinals of different factions lodge near one another. These are made up during the nine days’ ceremony for the pope’s funeral; during which time anybody may go in and see the cells, which are hung on the outside with green serge or camlet, only those that belong to the favourites of the deceased, or are such as had been promoted by him, are covered with deep violet-coloured cloth, and over each are the arms of the cardinal who lives in it. Between the cells and the windows of the palace there is a long gallery for the convenience of the conclave, and it is from this that the cells receive their light. The day after the pope’s burial, that is, the tenth after his decease, the cardinals, having heard mass, invoke the HOLY GHOST (as they term it) and go in procession two by two into the conclave, where they all meet in the chapel every morning and evening for a scrutiny, which is done by writing their suffrages in little billets, and putting them into a chalice that stands upon the altar: when all are put in, two cardinals are chosen by the rest to read those openly who are named, and to keep an account of the number of each, and this is done till two-thirds join for the same person; but a pope is seldom chosen after this manner. When it appears that after the scrutiny they do not agree, they come to what they call an accez or access, that is, a trial whether he who has most voices in the scrutiny could reach to two-thirds; but it is observable that they cannot give their suffrages in the accez to those whom they have appeared for in the scrutiny. If this does not succeed, they have recourse to the way of inspiration, (as they term it,) which is an open declaration, or rather combination of many cardinals to cry together _such a cardinal is pope_. For example, _Altieri Papa_ is begun by one or two chiefs of a party, when they find suffrages enough to assure them that this method will not fail, and then the rest of the cardinals are forced to join, that they may not incur the pope’s displeasure, who would be chosen in spite of them. The scrutiny is managed in the following manner: each cardinal prepares his billet, wherein he writes his own name and that of the person for whom he votes, and another word of device; the cardinal’s name is written under the fold of the paper, and sealed with a seal for that purpose. The name of the chosen is written by the conclavist under another fold without the seal, and the word by which the cardinal knows that it is his name which is read, is written on the outside, as _Deo volente_, or the like; the fold which covers the cardinal’s name is never opened until the pope be chosen, who, to know those who voted for him, unfolds all. The motto serves in the accez, that it may appear that each cardinal has given another besides that in the scrutiny, seeing two billets with different persons under the same name; and at the end of the scrutiny and accez, if the suffrage be not sufficient to complete the election, they burn all the billetings that the electors’ names may be kept secret. Each cardinal during the conclave is allowed but two servants, or three at most, and this only to princes, or for some particular privilege. Several seek for this employment because the new-elected pope gives each conclavist three or four hundred livres, and they have the pleasure of seeing all that passes: yet the place is troublesome enough, because they must take in their meat and drink from a certain place common to all that live in the same part, must wait at table, and be as strictly confined as their masters.—_Augusti._

CONCORDANCE, a dictionary or index to the Bible, wherein all the leading words are ranged alphabetically, and the books, chapters, and verses wherein they occur, referred to, to assist in finding out passages, and comparing the several significations of the same word. The earliest attempt at a Concordance is the collection of parallel passages in the margin of the 5th volume of the Complatensian Polyglot. The first English Polyglot was published by John Merbeck, or Marbeck, a celebrated English musician, in 1550.

Of English Concordances, Cruden’s is well known and valued by every biblical student.

Crutwell’s “Concordance of Parallels” is useful, but the number of parallel passages referred to, and sometimes the slightness of their connexion, renders the work less useful on ordinary occasions than the marginal references in our Bibles.

Gastrell’s “Christian Institutes,” Locke and Dodd’s “Common-place Book of Scripture,” Strutt’s work with the same title, and Matthew Talbot’s “Analysis of the Holy Bible,” all assume the character of a concordance. The best Hebrew concordance is Calasios. For the Septuagint, Trommius, for the Greek Testament, Schmidt, (a very beautiful 12mo edition of which was edited by Mr. Greenfield in 1830,) and for the Vulgate, Cardinal Hugo’s Concordance may be consulted.

CONCORDAT. An instrument executed in 1801, between Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII., to which the present Gallican Church owes its origin, in a much stronger sense than any in which the Romanist can refer the origin of the Church of England to the Reformation. For an account of this concordat the reader is referred to the article on the _Church of France_. (See _Church_.)

CONCORDAT. There is also a much earlier agreement between the crown of France and the pope, generally known by the same name, viz. the agreement of Francis I. with Pope Leo X. in 1516, to abolish the Pragmatic Sanction; and here we must observe, that Clothaire II. issued an edict in 615, approved by all the bishops of his kingdom, assembled at the fifth Council of Paris, by which he ordered that no bishop, though chosen by the clergy and people, should be consecrated if the king did not approve of him: and he that should be nominated by the king should be accepted, if the metropolitan found no just cause to reject him. Now King Charles VII., in the Council of Bourges, in 1439, established the Pragmatic Sanction, whereby part of the clergy, without consulting with the people or the archbishops, or other bishops of provinces, chose their bishops, leaving the king the privilege of consenting to and confirming the election if he liked it. This the court of Rome resented; the court first desired, and afterwards in the Lateran Council cited, this king and the clergy of France to appear and give their reasons, why they did not abolish that ordinance; whereupon King Francis I. made this agreement, called a Concordat, with Pope Leo X., whereby the king had the power to nominate such as he thought fit for bishops, &c.; and the pope, if he found no fault, either in respect of the capacity or life of the person in nomination, was to issue the papal bull for the consecration. The parliament, clergy, and the university of Paris were much against registering this agreement; and, though they consented to it at last, yet they solemnly protested, that they did it only in obedience to the king’s repeated commands. This concordat differed from that of Clothaire, that the pope, by this, had no power to examine the ability of the person elected; so that, in his time, they consecrated their bishops, without troubling themselves to send to Rome for bulls. (See _Pragmatic Sanction_.)

CONCORDAT, GERMANIC, or the Concordat of Germany. A treaty relating to ecclesiastical affairs, made in 1488, between Pope Nicholas V. and the emperor Frederick III., confirmed by Clement VIII. and Gregory XIII. It comprehended four parts; in the first of which the pope reserved to himself the conferring of all vacant benefices at Rome, and 100 days’ journey from it, of whatever degree, either secular or regular, which before went by election, without exception of cardinals or other officers of the holy see. The second concerns the elections that are to be confirmed by the pope, as metropolises, cathedrals, and monasteries, depending immediately on the pope, and having the privilege of canonical election. The third concerns livings that are successively given by the popes and their proper patrons; that the pope has the privilege to confer both secular and regular livings, for the months of January, March, May, July, September, November; and the bishop or archbishop within the district of their dioceses during the other months. The fourth and last part speaks of the annates or first-fruits, after the death or removal of the incumbent.

CONDIGNITY and CONGRUITY. Terms used by the schoolmen to express their peculiar opinions relative to human merit and deserving. The Scotists maintain that it is possible for man in his natural state so to live as to _deserve_ the grace of GOD, by which he may be enabled to obtain salvation; this natural _fitness_ (_congruitas_) for grace, being such as to oblige the Deity to grant it. Such is the _merit of congruity_. The Thomists, on the other hand, contend that man, by the Divine assistance, is capable of so living as to merit eternal life, to be _worthy_ (_condignus_) of it in the sight of GOD. In this hypothesis, the question of previous preparation for the grace which enables him to be _worthy_, is not introduced. This is the _merit of condignity_.

Article XIII. “Works done before the grace of CHRIST, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to GOD, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in JESUS CHRIST, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school-authors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea, rather, for that they are not done as GOD hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.”

CONDUCT. A name given to chaplains of colleges in the university of Cambridge and at Eton; meaning a “Capellanus conductitius.” (See _Chaplain_.)

CONFALON, or GONFALON, Society of the. So called from the Gonfalon, or banner, bearing the figure of the Virgin Mary, which was their ensign.—_Raynaldus._ A confraternity of seculars in the Church of Rome, called penitents, established first of all by some Roman citizens in 1267: and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1576. Henry III. began one at Paris in 1583, and himself assisted in the habit of a penitent, at a procession wherein the cardinal of Guise carried the cross, and his brother the duke of Mayenne was master of the ceremonies.

CONFESSION. (See _Auricular Confession_.) The verbal acknowledgment of sin. The following are the rules laid down by the Church of England on this subject. _The Warning for the Celebration of the Holy Communion_: “Because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy communion but with a full faith in GOD’S mercy, and with a quiet conscience; therefore, if there be any of you who by this means cannot quiet his conscience therein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other discreet and learned minister of GOD’S word, and open his grief, that by the ministration of GOD’S holy word he may receive the benefit of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice to the quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness.” _Rubric, in the Office for the Visitation of the Sick_: “Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession, the priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort.” By the 113th canon, empowering ministers to prevent offences at the court of visitation, it is provided 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, he shall not in anywise be bound by this constitution, but is strictly charged and admonished 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.”

In the primitive Church, no other confession of sins was required in order to receive baptism than the general renunciation of the devil and all his works.

Nor did the Church lay any obligation on the consciences of men, to make either public or private confession of their sins to any but GOD, in order to qualify them for the _communion_. The confessions of the primitive Christians were all voluntary, and not imposed upon them by any laws of the Church. Notwithstanding which it must be owned, that private confession, though not absolutely required, yet was allowed and encouraged by the ancients, in some cases, and upon special occasions. For, first, they advised men, in case of lesser sins, to make confession mutually to each other, that they might have each other’s prayers and assistance, according to the advice of St. James, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed.” Which, though it be produced by the Romanists in favour of _auricular confession to a priest_, yet the ancients understood it only as a direction to Christians to confess mutually to each other. 2. In case of injuries done to any private person, it was expected that the offender should make a private confession of his fault to the person injured. 3. When men were under any perplexities of mind, or troubles of conscience, this was another case in which they were directed to have recourse to some pastor, and to take his counsel and advice. 4. Origen gives another reason for confessing private sins to the priest, which is, that he was the fittest judge when it was proper to do public penance for private offences. (See _Penitentiary_.)—_Bingham_, b. xv. ch. 8, § 6.

The Romish Church not only requires confession as a duty, but has advanced it to the dignity of a sacrament; and this greatly adds to the power of the clergy of that Church over the laity. “Confession submits a fearful penitent, whose conscience is oppressed with scruples, loaded with remorse, and weakened by the remembrance of its sins, to the absolute will of a cunning priest, who beholds sceptres at his feet, humbles crowns, and makes those tremble who strike terror into whole nations.” Confession, in the Church of Rome, must be made in the day-time, and, if possible, when there are people in the church. As soon as the penitent comes up to the confessional, or the seat of the priest who confesses, he makes the sign of the cross, and asks the confessor’s blessing. Then the penitent kneels, with his hands clasped and uplifted. The confessional is open before, and has two lattice windows in it, one on each side. The confessor sits with his cap on his head, and his ear stooped towards the penitent, in which posture he receives his confession in a whisper; whence it is called _auricular confession_. This ended, the priest uncovers himself, and stretching out his right hand towards the penitent, pronounces the absolution. (See _Penance_.)—_Casal de Veter. Christ. Ritib. Alet’s Ritual._

That confession is a custom observed in the Greek Church is past all dispute. Ricaut calls this practice “One of the fundamental pillars of the Eastern Churches; the axis upon which their whole ecclesiastical polity turns, and that without which the clergy would no longer have any authority or influence over the consciences of the people, and would very seldom be able to reprove them in a country where they could fly to the arms of infidels for shelter and protection against the censures and reprehensions of their own pastors.” There are four stated times in the year for confession. The penitent withdraws with the priest to some remote corner of the church, where he sits down, with his head uncovered, and the confessor assures him, _the angel of the Lord is there present to take his confession_, exhorting him at the same time to conceal none of his sins. After confession, the penitent receives absolution, and gives the priest a small gratuity of money for his trouble. If we may credit a judicious and learned traveller, the practice of confession is enormously abused by the Greeks. If a penitent acknowledges he has robbed another, the priest asks him whether the person injured be a native of his own country, or a _Frank_: if the penitent answers, the latter, “Then there is no harm done,” says the priest, “provided we share the booty between us.” These are natural consequences of the ignorance and poverty of the Greeks in general.—_Tournefort’s Voyages._

“It standeth with us in the Church of England,” saith Hooker, “as touching public confession, thus: First, seeing day by day we in our Church begin our public prayers to Almighty GOD with public acknowledgment of our sins, in which confession every man, prostrate before his glorious majesty, crieth against himself, and the minister with one sentence pronounceth universally all clear whose acknowledgment hath proceeded from a true penitent mind, what reason is there every man should not, under the general terms of confession, represent to himself his own particulars whatsoever, and adjoining thereto that affection which a contrite spirit worketh, embrace to as full effect the words of Divine grace, as if the same were severally and particularly uttered, with addition of prayers, imposition of hands, and all ceremonies and solemnities, that might be used for the strengthening of men’s affiance in GOD’S peculiar mercy towards them? The difference of general and particular forms in confession, is not so material that any man’s safety or ghostly good should depend upon it.” “As for private confession,” says Bishop Jewel, “abuses and errors set apart, we condemn it not, but leave it at liberty.”—_Broughton. Bingham._

All that can plainly be deduced from the scriptural doctrine concerning confession is this, that, in common or ordinary sins, we are to acknowledge them before Almighty GOD, either particularly in our private, or generally in our public devotion; but as for some sins of a more extraordinary kind, the heinousness whereof ordinary Christians may not be sufficiently apprized of, or which may be attended with such nice circumstances as perplex their consciences, here resort is proper to be made to the ministers of the Church, who, as physicians of the soul, are best able to advise the fittest remedies upon such uncommon emergencies. Matters of this kind stood within these limits for a considerable time after the first propagating of the gospel; but, during the piety of very early times, another sort of confession came in use, for it having been the practice for excommunicates, before their reception into the Church, to make a solemn confession of their faults before the whole congregation, some persons who had fallen into a great sin, though they had never been censured for it, thought it a part of their duty to take upon themselves a public shame for it, by discovering it to the whole congregation they were members of, and to desire their prayers to GOD for their pardon. Some difficulties and inconvenience arising from this practice, about the year 360, the office of a public penitentiary in the Greek Church began, who was to be a presbyter of good conversation, prudent, and one who could keep a secret; to whom those who were lapsed into any greater sin might confess it; and he, according to his discretion, was to enjoin a penance for it. But still there was no command for all people to confess their sins to this presbyter. In the Latin Church, the practice of public confession to the whole congregation continued 100 years longer, viz. till the time of Pope Leo, which was about the year 450, who, by an injunction of his, did abrogate it; and, after some time, the Greek Church began to grow weary of this private confession to a penitentiary, and so laid it aside. But whilst private confession to ministers was practised, in some of the earlier ages of the Church, recourse was had to them only as spiritual physicians and counsellors, as appears by many passages of antiquity. In the Council of Lateran, A. D. 1215, every person, of each sex, was obliged once in a year to confess to the minister of his parish, the sins which he had been guilty of. Auricular confession to the priest being thus established, some of the school divines of the Romish Church carried it to further lengths, making it to be an article of faith; to be received by the priest, not ministerially, but judicially and authoritatively; that every single sin must be discovered to them, with all its aggravating circumstances, &c. All which horrible tyranny over men’s consciences, and diving into the secrets of families and governments, was confirmed by the Council of Trent. The excellent compilers of our liturgy, willing to settle this upon the ancient bottom, ordered only a general confession of sins to be pronounced by all persons indifferently, not requiring any particular confessions to be made, thereby coming much nearer to the apostolical practice than the Roman liturgy can pretend to, in all which service there is no confession which the people share in; for their “_Confiteor tibi, Domine_,” &c. in the mass, relates to the priest, and the “_Confiteor Deo omnipotenti_,” “_Beatæ Mariæ_,” &c. in the breviary, is the confession only of the clergy.—_Nicholls._

Forms of confession are generally to be met with in the liturgies of antiquity, but a form superior, or equal, to our own is nowhere to be found. Our confession, like the prayer which JESUS taught us, though concise, is comprehensive and full. It is conceived in general terms, yet at the same time it is so particular, that it includes every kind of sin. Where the minister is not too precipitate, when he allows the congregation time to repeat it, with such deliberation, that their hearts may go along with their words, each individual may, and ought, under the general form, to make a particular mental confession of his own personal sins, known only to GOD and his own conscience.—SHEPHERD.

At the time of the review of the liturgy, A. D. 1661, it was objected by the Presbyterian clergy against this Confession, that there was no preparatory prayer for GOD’S assistance and acceptance; and that it was defective in not clearly expressing “original sin,” nor enumerating actual sins with their aggravations. To which it was answered by the Episcopalian commissioners, that the preparatory sentences, and the preceding exhortation, amply supplied this; and that the form being so general is rather a perfection than a defect, as in such case all may join, since in many things we offend all. And as to the notice of original sin, they conceived that to be sufficiently acknowledged in the sentence, (with others, as the “devices and desires of our own hearts,” &c.,) “and there is no health in us.” With respect to the general terms used throughout the Common Prayer Book, dissenters have complained of such expressions as, “that we may do GOD’S will”—“that we may be kept from all evil,” &c.; to which the Episcopalians properly remark, “these are almost the very terms in the LORD’S Prayer; so that they must reform that, before they can pretend to amend our liturgy in these petitions.”

The reader may judge how far the objections are worthy of notice, by the form composed by Calvin himself, and used by the French reformed Churches, which is as follows:—“O LORD GOD, eternal and almighty FATHER, we acknowledge and confess before thy sacred Majesty, that we are miserable sinners, conceived and born in sin and iniquity; prone to evil, and indisposed to every good work; and that being vicious, we make no end of transgressing thy holy commandments. Hereby we call destruction upon ourselves from thy just judgment. But yet, O LORD, we are heartily sorry for having offended thee, and we condemn ourselves and sins by true repentance, desiring thy grace may relieve our misery. Therefore, O GOD, merciful FATHER, vouchsafe us thy mercy, in the name of thy SON JESUS CHRIST our LORD. Blot out our sins, and purge away all our filth, and daily increase in us the gifts of thy HOLY SPIRIT. That we, acknowledging our iniquity from the bottom of our hearts, may more and more displease ourselves, and be excited to true repentance; which, mortifying us and all our sins, may produce in us the fruits of righteousness and innocence, acceptable unto thee through the same JESUS CHRIST our LORD.” It appears, indeed, that our Confession was in great measure suggested by this form, or rather by the translation of it made by Valerandus Pollanus, for the reformed congregation of Strasburg.—See _Laurence’s Bampton Lectures_.

There is hardly anything in public worship which requires more caution and prudence in the ordering of it, than that confession of sin which is to be made by the whole congregation; it may be too loose and general on the one side, or it may be too particular and distinct on the other. There may be this inconvenience in a confession very short and general, that takes in all, that it does not so well serve to excite or to express that due sense of sin, nor to exercise that humility and self-abasement, wherewith we should always confess our sins to GOD. On the other hand, the inconvenience of a very particular and distinct confession of sins will be this, that some sins, with their aggravations, may be confessed in the name of the whole congregation, of which it is by no means to be supposed that all are guilty; and then they, who through the grace of GOD have been kept from them, cannot in good earnest make such confession.—_Clagett’s Answer to Dissenters._

The General Confession with the Absolution, was first inserted in the Morning and Evening Prayer, by the Second Book of King Edward VI.

A Confession was formerly recited in the office for the first hour of the morning, according to the rites of the English Churches. It occurred in the course of prayers which came at the end of the service: and had this arrangement been regarded by the reformers, the Confession and Absolution would now be placed immediately before the collect for the day. There were, however, good reasons for placing the Confession at the beginning of the office. Christian humility would naturally induce us to approach the infinitely holy GOD with a confession of our sinfulness and unworthiness; and this position of the Confession is justified by the practice of the Eastern Church in the time of Basil, who observes that the people all confessed their sins with great contrition, at the beginning of the nocturnal service, and before the psalmody and lessons commenced.—_Palmer._

Even in the most penitential parts of our service, even in the midst of accommodation to the wants of persons entering on a course of amendment, there is a prospect opened, of mature, established, and victorious Christianity.... Our “Almighty and most merciful Father” is entreated not only to remit the punishment, but to abolish the power of sin. And the absolution and remission of our sins itself, is made to consist, not merely in the reversal of a sentence, and removal of a curse, but in the influence of the Holy Spirit, consequent on true repentance, and productive, not of mere temporary and outward amendment, but of that inward abiding “purity and holiness, for the rest of our life,” which, “at the last,” will bring us to “God’s eternal joy.”—_Bishop Jebb._

CONFESSIONS OF FAITH. The systems of theology drawn up by foreign reformers were frequently called Confessions of Faith. The following are the Confessions of the different Churches.

1. That of the Greek Church, entitled “The Confessions of the True and Genuine Faith,” which was presented to Mohammed II., in 1453, but which gave place to the “Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Greek Church,” composed by Mogila, metropolitan of Kiev, in Russia, and approved in 1643, with great solemnity, by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. It contains the standard of the principles of the Russian Greek Church.—See _Mr. Palmer’s_ (of Magd. Coll. Oxf.) Collection of Russian Symbolical Books; and _Mr. Neale’s_ Hist. of the Greek Church.

2. The Church of Rome, though she has always received the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, had no fixed public and authoritative symbol till the Council of Trent. A summary of the doctrines contained in the canons of that council is given in the creed published by Pius IV., (1564,) in the form of a bull. It is introduced by the Nicene Creed, to which it adds twelve articles, comprising those doctrines which the Church of Rome finally adopted after her controversies with the Reformers. (See _Creed of Pope Pius IV_.)

3. The Lutherans call their standard books of faith and discipline, “Libri Symbolici Ecclesiæ Evangelicæ.” They contain the three creeds above mentioned, the Augsburg Confession, the Apology for that Confession by Melancthon, the Articles of Smalcald, drawn up by Luther; the Catechisms of Luther; and, in many churches, the Form of Concord, or Book of Torgau. The best edition is that by Tittmann, Leipsic, 1817. The Saxon, (composed by Melancthon,) Wurtemberg, Suabian, Pomeranian, Mansfeldtian, and Copenhagen Confessions agree in general with the symbolical books of the Lutherans, but are of authority only in the countries from which they are respectively called.

4. The Confessions of the Calvinistic Churches are numerous. The following are the principal:—(1.) The Helvetic Confessions are three—that of Basle, 1530; the Summary and Confession of the Helvetic Churches, 1536; and the “Expositio Simplex,” &c., 1566, ascribed to Bullinger. (2.) The Tetrapolitan Confession, 1531,—which derives its name from the four cities of Strasburg, Constance, Memmingen, and Lindau, by the deputies of which it was signed,—is attributed to Bucer. (3.) The Palatine or Heidelberg Confession, framed by order of the Elector Palatine John Casimir, 1575. (4.) The Confession of the Gallic Churches, accepted at the first synod of the reformed, held at Paris, 1559. (5.) The Confession of the Reformed Churches in Belgium, drawn up in 1559, and approved in 1561. (6.) The Confession of Faith of the Kirk of Scotland, which was that composed by the assembly at Westminster, was received as the standard of the Scotch national faith, in 1690.—See the following article. See also Harmony of Confessions, or the Faith of Christian and Reformed Churches, 1643; and Sylloge Confessionum, sub tempus Reformandæ Ecclesiæ, Oxon. 1804.

CONFESSION OF FAITH, WESTMINSTER. The Confession of Faith which was drawn up by the Puritans in England, and which is adopted by the Scottish establishment. The ordinance under which the assembly which drew up this Confession sat at Westminster commences thus:

An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, for the calling of an Assembly of learned and godly Divines, and others, to be consulted with by the Parliament, for the settling of the government and liturgy of the Church of England; and for vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the said Church from false aspersions and interpretations. June 12, 1643.

Whereas, amongst the infinite blessings of Almighty God upon this nation, none is nor can be more dear unto us than the purity of our religion; and for that, as yet, many things remain in the liturgy, discipline, and government of the Church, which do necessarily require a further and more perfect reformation than as yet hath been attained; and whereas it hath been declared and resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, that the present Church-government by archbishops, their chancellors, commissars, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers depending upon the hierarchy, is evil, and justly offensive and burdensome to the kingdom, a great impediment to reformation and growth of religion, and very prejudicial to the state and government of this kingdom; and therefore they are resolved that the same shall be taken away, and that such a government shall be settled in the Church as may be most agreeable to God’s holy word, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace of the Church at home, and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland, and other Reformed Churches abroad; and, for the better effecting hereof, and for the vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the Church of England from all false calumnies and aspersions, it is thought fit and necessary to call an Assembly of learned, godly, and judicious Divines, who, together with some members of both the Houses of Parliament, are to consult and advise of such matters and things, touching the premises, as shall be proposed unto them by both or either of the Houses of Parliament, and to give their advice and counsel therein to both or either of the said Houses, when, and as often as, they shall be thereunto required.

The Confession consists of thirty-three chapters, of which the following are the heads:—

CHAP. I. Of the Holy Scripture. II. Of God, and of the Holy Trinity. III. Of God’s Eternal Decree. IV. Of Creation. V. Of Providence. VI. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof. VII. Of God’s Covenant with Man. VIII. Of Christ the Mediator. IX. Of Free Will. X. Of Effectual Calling. XI. Of Justification. XII. Of Adoption. XIII. Of Sanctification. XIV. Of Saving Faith. XV. Of Repentance unto Life. XVI. Of Good Works. XVII. Of the Perseverance of the Saints. XVIII. Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation. XIX. Of the Law of God. XX. Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience. XXI. Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath-day. XXII. Of lawful Oaths and Vows. XXIII. Of the Civil Magistrate. XXIV. Of Marriage and Divorce. XXV. Of the Church. XXVI. Of Communion of Saints. XXVII. Of the Sacraments. XXVIII. Of Baptism. XXIX. Of the Lord’s Supper. XXX. Of Church Censures. XXXI. Of Synods and Councils. XXXII. Of the State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead. XXXIII. Of the last Judgment.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was approved by the general assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, on the 27th of August, 1647, Sess. 23, and was ratified by Act of the Scottish Parliament, 7th February, 1649.—See next article.

CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE KIRK OF SCOTLAND, or THE NATIONAL COVENANT.

Subscribed at first by the King’s Majesty, and his Household, in the Year 1580; thereafter by persons of all ranks in the year 1581, by ordinance of the Lords of secret council, and acts of the General Assembly; subscribed again by all sorts of persons in the year 1590, by a new ordinance of council, at the desire of the General Assembly: with a general bond for the maintaining of the true Christian religion, and the King’s person; and, together with a resolution and promise, for the causes after expressed, to maintain the true religion, and the King’s Majesty, according to the foresaid Confession and acts of Parliament, subscribed by Barons, Nobles, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons, in the year 1638: approven by the General Assembly 1638 and 1639; and subscribed again by persons of all ranks and qualities in the year 1639, by an ordinance of council, upon the supplication of the General Assembly, and act of the General Assembly, ratified by an act of Parliament 1640; and subscribed by King _Charles II._ at _Spey, June 23, 1650_, and _Scoon, January 1, 1651_.

We all and every one of us under-written, protest, That, after long and due examination of our own conscience in matters of true and false religion, we are now throughly resolved in the truth by the word and Spirit of God: and therefore we believe with our hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm, before God and the whole world, that this only is the true Christian faith and religion, pleasing God, and bringing salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel; and is received, believed, and defended by many and sundry notable kirks and realms, but chiefly by the kirk of Scotland, the King’s Majesty, and three estates of this realm, as God’s eternal truth, and only ground of our salvation; as more particularly is expressed in the Confession of our Faith, established and publickly confirmed by sundry acts of Parliaments, and now of a long time hath been openly professed by the King’s Majesty, and whole body of this realm both in burgh and land. To the which Confession and Form of Religion we willingly agree in our conscience in all points, as unto God’s undoubted truth and verity, grounded only upon his written word. And therefore we abhor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine; but chiefly all kind of Papistry in general and particular heads, even as they are now damned and confuted by the word of God and Kirk of Scotland. But, in special, we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God, upon the kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men; all his tyrannous laws made upon indifferent things against our Christian liberty; his erroneous doctrine against the sufficiency of the written word, the perfection of the law, the office of Christ, and his blessed evangel; his corrupted doctrine concerning original sin, our natural inability and rebellion to God’s law, our justification by faith only, our imperfect sanctification and obedience to the law; the nature, number, and use of the holy sacraments; his five bustard sacraments, with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrine, added to the ministration of the true sacraments without the word of God; his cruel judgment against infants departing without the sacrament; his absolute necessity of baptism; his blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation, or real presence of Christ’s body in the elements, and receiving of the same by the wicked, or bodies of men; his dispensations with solemn oaths, perjuries, and degrees of marriage forbidden in the word, his cruelty against the innocent divorced; his devilish mass; his blasphemous priesthood; his profane sacrifice for sins of the dead and the quick; his canonization of men; calling upon angels or saints departed, worshipping of imagery, relicks, and crosses; dedicating of kirks, altars, days; vows to creatures; his purgatory, prayers for the dead; praying or speaking in a strange language, with his processions, and blasphemous litany, and multitude of advocates or mediators; his manifold orders, auricular confession; his desperate and uncertain repentance; his general and doubtsome faith; his satisfactions of men for their sins; his justification by works, _opus operatum_, works of supererogation, merits, pardons, peregrinations, and stations; his holy water, baptizing of bells, conjuring of spirits, crossing, sayning, anointing, conjuring, hallowing of God’s good creatures, with the superstitious opinion joined therewith; his worldly monarchy, and wicked hierarchy; his three solemn vows, with all his shavellings of sundry sorts; his erroneous and bloody decrees made at Trent, with all the subscribers or approvers of that cruel and bloody band, conjured against the kirk of God. And finally, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signs, and traditions brought in the kirk, without or against the word of God, and doctrine of this true reformed kirk; to the which we join ourselves willingly, in doctrine, faith, religion, discipline, and use of the holy sacraments, as lively members of the same in Christ our Head: promising and swearing, by the great name of the LORD our GOD, that we shall continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this kirk,[3] and shall defend the same, according to our vocation and power, all the days of our lives; under the pains contained in the law, and danger both of body and soul in the day of God’s fearful judgment.

And seeing that many are stirred up by Satan, and that Roman Antichrist, to promise, swear, subscribe, and for a time use the holy sacraments in the kirk deceitfully, against their own conscience; minding hereby, first, under the external cloak of religion, to corrupt and subvert secretly God’s true religion within the kirk; and afterward, when time may serve, to become open enemies and persecutors of the same, under vain hope of the pope’s dispensation, devised against the word of God, to his greater confusion, and their double condemnation in the day of the Lord Jesus: we therefore, willing to take away all suspicion of hypocrisy, and of such double dealing with God, and his kirk, protest, and call the Searcher of all hearts for witness, that our minds and hearts do fully agree with this our Confession, promise, oath, and subscription: so that we are not moved with any worldly respect, but are persuaded only in our conscience, through the knowledge and love of God’s true religion imprinted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as we shall answer to him in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed.

And because we perceive, that the quietness and stability of our religion and kirk doth depend upon the safety and good behaviour of the King’s Majesty, as upon a comfortable instrument of God’s mercy granted to this country, for the maintaining of his kirk, and ministration of justice amongst us; we protest and promise with our hearts, under the same oath, hand-writ, and pains, that we shall defend his person and authority with our goods, bodies, and lives, in the defence of Christ, his evangel, liberties of our country, ministration of justice, and punishment of iniquity, against all enemies within this realm or without, as we desire our God to be a strong and merciful defender to us in the day of our death, and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory eternally. _Amen._

Likeas many Acts of Parliament, not only in general do abrogate, annul, and rescind all laws, statutes, acts, constitutions, canons civil or municipal, with all other ordinances, and practique penalties whatsoever, made in prejudice of the true religion, and professors thereof; or of the true kirk, discipline, jurisdiction, and freedom thereof; or in favours of idolatry and superstition, or of the Papistical kirk: as Act 3, Act 31, Parl. 1, Act 23, Parl. 11, Act 114, Parl. 12, of King James VI. That Papistry and superstition may be utterly suppressed, according to the intention of the Acts of Parliament, repeated in the fifth Act, Parl. 20, King James VI. And to that end they ordain all Papists and priests to be punished with manifold civil and ecclesiastical pains, as adversaries to God’s true religion, preached, and by law established, within this realm, Act 24, Parl. 11, King James VI.; as common enemies to all Christian government, Act 18, Parl. 16, King James VI.; as rebellers and gainstanders of our Sovereign Lord’s authority, Act 47, Parl. 3, King James VI.; and as idolaters, Act 104, Parl. 7, King James VI. But also in particular, by and attour the Confession of Faith, do abolish and condemn the Pope’s authority and jurisdiction out of this land, and ordains the maintainers thereof to be punished, Act 2, Parl. 1, Act 51, Parl. 3, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 114, Parl. 12, King James VI., do condemn the Pope’s erroneous doctrine, or any other erroneous doctrine repugnant to any of the articles of the true and Christian religion, publicly preached and by law established in this realm; and ordains the spreaders and makers of books, or libels, or letters or writs of that nature, to be punished, Act 46, Parl. 3, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 24, Parl. 11, King James VI., do condemn all baptism conform to the Pope’s kirk, and the idolatry of the mass; and ordains all sayers, wilful hearers, and concealers of the mass, the maintainers and resetters of the priests, Jesuits, trafficking Papists, to be punished without any exception or restriction, Act 5, Parl. 1, Act 120, Parl. 12, Act 164, Parl. 13, Act 193, Parl. 14, Act 1, Parl. 19, Act 5, Parl. 20, King James VI., do condemn all erroneous books and writs containing erroneous doctrine against the religion presently professed, or containing superstitious rites and ceremonies Papistical, whereby the people are greatly abused, and ordains the home-bringers of them to be punished, Act 25, Parl. 11, King James VI., do condemn the monuments and dregs of bygone idolatry, as going to crosses, observing the festival days of saints, and such other superstitious and Papistical rites, to the dishonour of God, contempt of true religion, and fostering of great error among the people; and ordains the users of them to be punished for the second fault as idolaters, Act 104, Parl. 7, King James VI.

Likeas many Acts of Parliament are conceived for maintenance of God’s true and Christian religion, and the purity thereof, in doctrine and sacraments of the true church of God, the liberty and freedom thereof, in her national, synodal assemblies, presbyteries, sessions, policy, discipline, and jurisdiction thereof; as that purity of religion, and liberty of the church was used, professed, exercised, preached, and confessed, according to the reformation of religion in this realm. As for instance, the 99th Act, Parl. 7, Act 25, Parl. 11, Act 114, Parl. 12, Act 160, Parl. 13, of King James VI., ratified by the 4th Act of King Charles. So that the 6th Act, Parl. 1, and 68th Act, Parl. 6, of King James VI., in the year of God 1579, declare the ministers of the blessed evangel, whom God of his mercy had raised up, or hereafter should raise, agreeing with them that then lived, in doctrine and administration of the sacraments; and the people that professed CHRIST, as he was then offered in the evangel, and doth communicate with the holy sacraments (as in the reformed kirks of this realm they were presently administrate) according to the Confession of Faith, to be the true and holy kirk of Christ Jesus within this realm. And decerns and declares all and sundry, who either gainsay the word of the evangel received and approved as the heads of the Confession of Faith, professed in Parliament in the year of God 1560, specified also in the first Parliament of King James VI., and ratified in this present Parliament, more particularly do express; or that refuse the administration of the holy sacraments, as they were then ministrated; to be no members of the said kirk within this realm, and true religion presently professed, so long as they keep themselves so divided from the society of Christ’s body. And the subsequent Act 69, Parl. 6, of King James VI. declares, that there is no other face of kirk, nor other face of religion, than was presently at that time, by the favour of God, established within this realm: “Which therefore is ever styled God’s true religion, Christ’s true religion, the true and Christian religion, and a perfect religion;” which, by manifold Acts of Parliament, all within this realm are bound to profess, to subscribe the articles thereof, the Confession of Faith, to recant all doctrine and errors repugnant to any of the said articles, Act 4 and 9, Parl. 1, Acts 45, 46, 47, Parl. 3, Act 71, Parl. 6, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 24, Parl. 11, Act 123, Parl. 12, Act 194 and 197, Parl. 14, of King James VI. And all magistrates, sheriffs, &c. on the one part, are ordained to search, apprehend, and punish all contraveners: For instance, Act 5, Parl. 1, Act 104, Parl. 7, Act 25, Parl. 11, King James VI.; and that, notwithstanding of the King’s Majesty’s licences on the contrary, which are discharged, and declared to be of no force, in so far as they tend in anywise to the prejudice and hinder of the execution of the Acts of Parliament against Papists and adversaries of true religion, Act 106, Parl. 7, King James VI. On the other part, in the 47th Act, Parl. 3, King James VI. it is declared and ordained. Seeing the cause of God’s true religion and his Highness’s authority are so joined, as the hurt of the one is common to both; that none shall be reputed as loyal and faithful subjects to our sovereign Lord, or his authority, but be punishable as rebellers and gainstanders of the same, who shall not give their confession, and make their profession of the said true religion: and that they who, after defection, shall give the confession of their faith of new, they shall promise to continue therein in time coming, to maintain our sovereign Lord’s authority, and at the uttermost of their power to fortify, assist, and maintain the true preachers and professors of Christ’s religion, against whatsoever enemies and gainstanders of the same; and, namely, against all such, of whatsoever nation, estate, or degree they be of, that have joined or bound themselves, or have assisted, or assist, to set forward and execute the cruel decrees of the Council of Trent, contrary to the true preachers and professors of the word of God; which is repeated, word by word, in the articles of pacification at Perth, the 23rd of February, 1572, approved by Parliament the last of April, 1573, ratified in Parliament 1587, and related Act 123, Parl. 12, of King James VI.; with this addition, “That they are bound to resist all treasonable uproars and hostilities raised against the true religion, the King’s Majesty, and the true professors.”

Likeas, all lieges are bound to maintain the King’s Majesty’s royal person and authority, the authority of Parliaments, without the which neither any laws or lawful judicatories can be established, Acts 130 and 131, Parl. 8, King James VI., and the subjects’ liberties, who ought only to live and be governed by the King’s laws, the common laws of this realm allenarly, Act 48, Parl. 3, King James I., Act 79, Parl. 6, King James IV.; repeated in the Act 131, Parl. 8, King James VI.; which if they be innovated and prejudged, “the commission anent the union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England, which is the sole act of the 17th Parl. of King James VI., declares,” such confusion would ensue as this realm could be no more a free monarchy: because, by the fundamental laws, ancient privileges, offices, and liberties of this kingdom, not only the princely authority of his Majesty’s royal descent hath been these many ages maintained, but also the people’s security of their lands, livings, rights, offices, liberties, and dignities preserved. And, therefore, for the preservation of the said true religion, laws, and liberties of this kingdom, it is statute by the 8th Act, Parl. 1, repeated in the 99th Act, Parl. 7, ratified in the 23rd Act, Parl. 11, and 114th Act, Parl. 12, of King James VI., and 4th Act, Parl. 1, of King Charles I., “That all Kings and Princes at their coronation, and reception of their princely authority, shall make their faithful promise by their solemn oath, in the presence of the eternal God, that, enduring the whole time of their lives, they shall serve the same eternal God, to the uttermost of their power, according as he hath required in his most holy word, contained in the Old and New Testament; and according to the same word, shall maintain the true religion of Christ Jesus, the preaching of his holy word, the due and right ministration of the sacraments now received and preached within this realm, (according to the Confession of Faith immediately preceding,) and shall abolish and gainstand all false religion contrary to the same; and shall rule the people committed to their charge, according to the will and command of God revealed in his foresaid word, and according to the laudable laws and constitutions received in this realm, nowise repugnant to the said will of the eternal God; and shall procure, to the uttermost of their power, to the kirk of God, and whole Christian people, true and perfect peace in all time coming; and that they shall be careful to root out of their empire all heretics and enemies to the true worship of God, who shall be convicted by the true kirk of God of the foresaid crimes.” Which was also observed by his Majesty, at his coronation in Edinburgh, 1633, as may be seen in the order of the coronation.

In obedience to the commandment of God, conform to the practice of the godly in former times, and according to the laudable example of our worthy and religious progenitors, and of many yet living amongst us, which was warranted also by act of council, commanding a general band to be made and subscribed by his Majesty’s subjects of all ranks; for two causes: one was, For defending the true religion, as it was then reformed, and is expressed in the Confession of Faith above written, and a former large Confession established by sundry acts of lawful General Assemblies and of Parliaments, unto which it hath relation, set down in public Catechisms; and which hath been for many years, with a blessing from Heaven, preached and professed in this kirk and kingdom, as God’s undoubted truth, grounded only upon his written word. The other cause was, For maintaining the King’s Majesty, his person and estate; the true worship of God and the King’s authority being so straitly joined, as that they had the same friends and common enemies, and did stand and fall together. And finally, being convinced in our minds, and confessing with our mouths, that the present and succeeding generations in this land are bound to keep the foresaid national oath and subscription inviolable.

We Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons undersubscribing, considering divers times before, and especially at this time, the danger of the true reformed religion, of the King’s honour, and of the public peace of the kingdom, by the manifold innovations and evils, generally contained, and particularly mentioned in our late supplications, complaints, and protestations; do hereby profess, and before God, his angels, and the world, solemnly declare, That with our whole heart we agree, and resolve all the days of our life constantly to adhere unto and to defend the foresaid true religion, and (forbearing the practice of all innovations already introduced in the matters of the worship of God, or approbation of the corruptions of the public government of the kirk, or civil places and power of kirkmen, till they be tried and allowed in free assemblies and in parliament) to labour, by all means lawful, to recover the purity and liberty of the Gospel, as it was established and professed before the foresaid novations. And because, after due examination, we plainly perceive, and undoubtedly believe, that the innovations and evils contained in our supplications, complaints, and protestations, have no warrant of the word of God, are contrary to the articles of the foresaid Confession, to the intention and meaning of the blessed reformers of religion in this land, to the above-written Acts of Parliament; and do sensibly tend to the re-establishing of the Popish religion and tyranny, and to the subversion and ruin of the true reformed religion, and of our liberties, laws, and estates; we also declare, That the foresaid Confessions are to be interpreted, and ought to be understood of the foresaid novations and evils, no less than if every one of them had been expressed in the foresaid Confessions; and that we are obliged to detest and abhor them, amongst other particular heads of Papistry abjured therein. And therefore, from the knowledge and conscience of our duty to God, to our King and country, without any worldly respect or inducement, so far as human infirmity will suffer, wishing a further measure of the grace of God for this effect; we promise and swear, by the GREAT NAME OF THE LORD OUR GOD, to continue in the profession and obedience of the foresaid religion; and that we shall defend the same, and resist all these contrary errors and corruptions, according to our vocation, and to the uttermost of that power that God hath put in our hands, all the days of our life.

And in like manner, with the same heart, we declare before God and men, That we have no intention nor desire to attempt anything that may turn to the dishonour of God, or to the diminution of the King’s greatness and authority; but, on the contrary, we promise and swear, That we shall, to the uttermost of our power, with our means and lives, stand to the defence of our dread Sovereign the King’s Majesty, his person and authority, in the defence and preservation of the foresaid true religion, liberties, and laws of the kingdom; as also to the mutual defence and assistance every one of us of another, in the same cause of maintaining the true religion, and his Majesty’s authority, with our best counsel, our bodies, means, and whole power, against all sorts of persons whatsoever; so that whatsoever shall be done to the least of us for that cause, shall be taken as done to us all in general, and to every one of us in particular. And that we shall neither directly nor indirectly suffer ourselves to be divided or withdrawn, by whatsoever suggestion, combination, allurement, or terror, from this blessed and loyal conjunction; nor shall cast in any let or impediment that may stay or hinder any such resolution as by common consent shall be found to conduce for so good ends; but, on the contrary, shall by all lawful means labour to further and promote the same: and if any such dangerous and divisive motion be made to us by word or writ, we, and every one of us, shall either suppress it, or, if need be, shall incontinent make the same known, that it may be timeously obviated. Neither do we fear the foul aspersions of rebellion, combination, or what else our adversaries, from their craft and malice, would put upon us; seeing what we do is so well warranted, and ariseth from an unfeigned desire to maintain the true worship of God, the majesty of our King, and the peace of the kingdom, for the common happiness of ourselves and our posterity.

And because we cannot look for a blessing from God upon our proceedings, except with our profession and subscription we join such a life and conversation as beseemeth Christians who have renewed their covenant with God; we therefore faithfully promise for ourselves, our followers, and all others under us, both in public, and in our particular families, and personal carriage, to endeavour to keep ourselves within the bounds of Christian liberty, and to be good examples to others of all godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we owe to God and man.

And, that this our union and conjunction may be observed without violation, we call the LIVING GOD, THE SEARCHER OF OUR HEARTS, to witness, who knoweth this to be our sincere desire and unfeigned resolution, as we shall answer to JESUS CHRIST in the great day, and under the pain of God’s everlasting wrath, and of infamy and loss of all honour and respect in this world: most humbly beseeching the LORD to strengthen us by his HOLY SPIRIT for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with a happy success; that religion and righteousness may flourish in the land, to the glory of GOD, the honour of our King, and peace and comfort of us all. In witness whereof, we have subscribed with our hands all the premises.

The article of this covenant, which was at the first subscription referred to the determination of the General Assembly, being now determined; and thereby the five articles of Perth, the government of the kirk by bishops, and the civil places and power of kirkmen, upon the reasons and grounds contained in the Acts of the General Assembly, declared to be unlawful within this kirk, we subscribe according to the determination aforesaid.

This, together with the Solemn League and Covenant, (which see,) is bound up with and added to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and published by authority of the Scottish Establishment. But an eminent member of that establishment officiating at present as a dissenting minister in London, asserts that no licentiate or minister of the Scottish Establishment has signed or been asked to sign this, or the Solemn League and Covenant, for the last 150 years. This does not, however, exonerate the religious community which still publishes these documents authoritatively from the charge of intolerance; and all classes of Episcopalians, including of course the Church of England, are involved in these fearful anathemas.

CONFESSION OF AUGSBOURG, or AUGUSTAN CONFESSION. A confession of faith, drawn up by Melancthon, and presented by him and Luther to the emperor Charles V. at Augsbourg, in the year 1530. It was divided into two parts, and was designed to support all the points of the Lutheran reformation, and to show the heterodoxy of the Church of Rome.—_Maimbourg, Hist. du Lutheranisme_.

The first part contained twenty-one articles. The first acknowledged and agreed to all the decisions of the first four general councils, concerning the Trinity. The second admitted of original sin, but defined it differently from the Church of Rome, making it to consist only in concupiscence. The third contained the substance of the Apostles’ Creed. The fourth maintained, against the Pelagians, that a man cannot be justified by the mere strength and capacity of nature; and, against the Roman Catholics, that justification is the effect of faith, exclusive of good works. The fifth agreed with the Church of Rome, that the word of GOD, and the sacraments, are the means of conveying the HOLY SPIRIT, but differed from that communion, by asserting that this Divine operation is never present without faith. The sixth affirmed, that our faith ought to produce good works, purely in obedience to GOD, and not in order to our own justification. The seventh made the true Church to consist of none but the righteous. The eighth acknowledged the validity of the sacraments, though administered by hypocrites or wicked persons. The ninth asserted, against the Anabaptists, the necessity of infant baptism. The tenth acknowledged the presence of the body and blood of CHRIST under the consecrated elements; adding, that this mysterious presence in the holy sacrament continued with the elements only during the time of receiving, and that the eucharist ought to be given in both kinds. The eleventh granted the necessity of absolution to penitents, but denied their being obliged to make a particular confession of their sins. The twelfth condemned the Anabaptists, who affirm, that whoever is once justified cannot fall from grace; as also the Novatians, who refused absolution to sins committed after baptism; asserting withal, against the Church of Rome, that a repenting sinner is not made capable of forgiveness by any acts of penance whatever. The thirteenth required actual faith from those who participate of the sacraments. The fourteenth forbad those, who were not lawfully called, to teach in the Church, or administer the sacraments. The fifteenth appointed the observation of the festivals, and prescribed the ceremonies of the Church. The sixteenth acknowledged the obligation of civil laws. The seventeenth acknowledged the resurrection, heaven, and hell, and condemned the two following errors of the Anabaptists and Fifth-monarchy men; viz. That the punishment of the devils and the damned will have an end, and that the saints will reign with Christ a thousand years upon earth. The eighteenth declared, that our wills are not sufficiently free, in actions relating to the promoting of our salvation. The nineteenth maintained, that, notwithstanding God created man, and still continues to preserve him, God neither is, nor can be, the author of sin. The twentieth affirmed, that good works are not altogether unprofitable: and the twenty-first forbad the invocation of saints.

The second part of the Augustan Confession is altogether in opposition to the Church of Rome, referring to the seven principal abuses, on which the Lutherans found the necessity of separating from the communion of that Church. The first head enjoined communion in both kinds, and forbad the procession of the holy sacrament. The second condemned the celibacy of priests. By the third, private masses were abolished, and some part at least of the congregation were obliged to communicate with the priest. The fourth declared against the necessity of making a particular confession of sins to the priest. The fifth rejected tradition. The sixth disallowed of monastic vows: and the seventh asserted, that the power of the Church consisted only in preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments.

This confession of faith was signed by the Elector of Saxony, and his eldest son, by the Marquis of Brandenbourg, by the Landgrave of Hesse, the Prince of Hainault, and the republics of Nuremberg and Rutlingua. It was argued before the emperor Charles V., but rejected; the Roman Catholics having a majority of votes in the council. This was followed by a conference between seven deputies of each party; in which, Luther being absent, Melancthon, by his mollifying explanations, brought both sides to an agreement in relation to fifteen of the first twenty-one articles. But the conference broke up without adjusting all the differences between them.

CONFESSIONAL. (See _Confession_ and _Auricular Confession_.) An enclosed seat or recess in Roman churches where penitents make confession to the priests.

CONFESSOR. A name given to those who confessed the doctrine of CHRIST before heathen or persecuting judges; or to those who firmly endured punishment for defending the faith: if they died under their torments they were called _martyrs_. Our LORD says that he will confess before his heavenly FATHER them that shall _confess_ him before men. (Matt. x. 32.) The Church of England can bless GOD for having honoured her with many confessors, especially during the persecution which was, under the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell, raised against her by Presbyterians, Independents, and Infidels. In the time of Queen Mary, also, there were confessors, as well as martyrs.

CONFESSOR, in the Romish Church, is a priest who receives confession. (See _Auricular Confession_.)

CONFIRMATION. This is a Latin word which signifies _strengthening_. It is used to express the rite in which the indwelling grace of the HOLY GHOST is sought for those who have been made children of GOD in baptism; to which sacrament it is, strictly speaking, a supplemental rite. This ordinance is called _confirmation_, because they who duly receive it are _confirmed_ or strengthened for the fulfilment of their Christian duties by the grace therein bestowed upon them. The words which accompany confirmation in the Eastern Churches are, “The seal of the gift of the HOLY GHOST:” and the effect of it is well expressed in that ancient prayer which, from the earliest times, has been used in all the Western Churches: “Almighty and everlasting GOD, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants, by water and the HOLY GHOST, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins,—pour into them thy sevenfold Spirit, the Holy Comforter from heaven;” or, “Strengthen them, we beseech thee, with the HOLY GHOST, the Comforter.” In the Greek and African Churches confirmation is administered with chrism, an unguent consecrated by a bishop; in the Latin Churches with the same, at a bishop’s hands; in the English Churches, by laying on of the bishop’s hands, the only rite mentioned in connexion with it in the Scriptures: “Then laid they their hands upon them, and they received the HOLY GHOST.” (Acts viii. 17.)

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, confirmation (there spoken of under the term “laying on of hands”) is ranked among the chief fundamentals of Christian doctrine, (Heb. vi. 2,) and must therefore be of perpetual obligation. In the first ages of the Church, confirmation appears to have been administered in all cases as soon after baptism as possible, as it continues to be in the Greek and African Churches. But in the Western Churches, for the last three or four hundred years, the bishops have interposed a delay of seven years after infant baptism: which delay in the English Churches has latterly been extended to fifteen or sixteen years—the determination of the age being left to the bishop. At the last revision of our Prayer Book, in 1661, confirmation was made an occasion of requiring from those who have been baptized in infancy, a renewal, in their own persons, of the engagements of the baptismal covenant. The dispositions of mind required of those who would benefit by confirmation are the same which are necessary to fit men for receiving grace in the sacraments; namely, repentance and faith: without which, where persons are capable of them, neither this nor any of the means of grace can benefit those to whom they are administered.

No persons are admissible to the holy communion unless they have been confirmed, or are ready and desirous to be confirmed.—_Rubric._

When children are well instructed in the vow made for them at baptism, by the Church Catechism, it is then required they should take it upon themselves, and be confirmed by the bishop: which holy rite of confirmation, though it were not instituted by CHRIST, and so be not properly a sacrament, yet the apostles did lay their hands on such as had been before baptized by an inferior minister. (Acts viii. 14–17; and xix. 6.) This custom the primitive Church imitated in the bishops laying on their hands with holy prayers, upon persons that had been baptized; which was believed to convey the HOLY SPIRIT to them for enabling them to keep their vow. And this holy rite is still retained in the Eastern and Western Churches, and in all Protestant Churches where they have bishops. And we have an excellent office for it, containing, first, the preparation for it by a serious admonition to all that come to it, a solemn engagement from the parties to keep their vow, with some acts of praise and prayer suited to the occasion. Secondly, the rite itself consists of the ceremony, which is the laying on of the bishop’s hands, and his benediction. Thirdly, the office is concluded with prayers; general, as the LORD’S Prayer; and peculiar to the occasion, as the two collects; and with a final blessing.

The person who doth confirm is a bishop, to which order the ancient Church did always reserve the dispensing of this rite, because the apostles only did this (Acts viii. 14); and therefore the bishops are highly obliged to take care that all in their dioceses, who need and desire it, may not want the opportunity of coming to it. The persons who are to be confirmed are all that have been baptized, from the time they come to years of discretion, or however to be able to understand the nature of their baptismal vow, which they are here to take upon themselves; and since we baptize infants, it is more necessary to bring them to confirmation; and their godfathers can no way better acquit themselves of the charge they have undertaken, than by taking care, as the Church in this exhortation requires, that they may learn their catechism, and understand their vow; and here solemnly, before GOD and many witnesses, renew it in their own name. For, secondly, the bishop doth particularly inquire, if they do here in GOD’S presence, and before all the congregation, renew that solemn vow in their own names made at their baptism; and if they do engage to perform and do what was promised for them by their sureties: to which they must every one answer, with great reverence and serious consideration, that “they do.” Thirdly, the bishop and the priests that are present begin their devotions, encouraging the parties who have promised this, by minding them that they shall have “help” from him that made heaven and earth, (Psal. cxxiv. 7,) and praising GOD for bringing these persons into so blessed a condition. (Psal. cxiii. 2.) Finally, desiring him to hear the prayers now to be made for them. Fourthly, there is a larger form of prayer made by the bishop, wherein he first acknowledges GOD’S mercy in granting them regeneration and pardon of their sins in their baptism; and now that they are to exercise that warfare they then engaged themselves to, he prays for a larger supply of GOD’S holy Spirit with its sevenfold gifts (Isa. xi. 2); so that they may be made so wise as to understand their duty, and so strong as to perform it, desiring they may by his ministry have these gifts conveyed to them now, and, by their diligent improving of them, keep them for ever.

Being thus prepared, the rite itself is now to be administered by the ancient ceremony of laying the bishop’s hand on the head of each person, used by the apostles as the means of conveying the HOLY SPIRIT (Acts viii. 17); whence the whole office is called _laying on of hands_ (Heb. vi. 2); (yet the Papists omit this apostolical ceremony, and use the anointing with chrism, which came later into the Church). The bishop also gives a solemn blessing to every one, desiring GOD to defend that person with his heavenly grace, from forsaking his faith, or breaking GOD’S commandments; that is, to take him for his own, and seal him with his Spirit, so that he may ever after look on him as one of his own children, and praying that he may daily increase in grace and grow wiser and better, until he be fit for that heavenly kingdom which GOD hath promised to him in baptism; and this prayer thus offered up by a holy man, and one of the chief officers of CHRIST’S Church, shall be effectual to the obtaining of the SPIRIT for all that have duly prepared themselves, and do sincerely make and renew this vow. And now the bishop concludes the office, first with the usual form, desiring GOD may be with them, to assist them in these prayers, as they also desire he may be with his spirit who is to offer them; calling also upon GOD, as the common Father of all that are confirmed, and so in covenant with him: to which is joined the proper collect, beginning with a preface, which confesseth, that this good desire and resolution of these persons to keep their vow came from GOD, and by him they must have grace acceptably to perform it. And then here are petitions for them, first, that as the bishop’s hand was over them, so the good hand of his providence signified thereby may be ever over them to preserve them: secondly, that the HOLY SPIRIT, now imparted to them by this holy rite, may be ever with them, the blessed effect of which is here declared to be, that this will make them understand GOD’S word, and enable them to obey it, so that at the end of their lives they may be certainly saved through JESUS CHRIST; to whom, with the whole Trinity, for these means of salvation, we offer up our praises and acknowledgments: and to this is added a devout collect out of the Communion Service, that GOD, who hath sealed these his vowed servants with his Spirit, will direct, sanctify, and govern their souls and bodies in the ways of his laws, so that they may ever be holy, safe, and happy. Finally, the office is concluded with the bishop’s blessing, who now in the name of GOD wishes the blessing of the FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST may be now bestowed on you, and remain upon you for ever. Thus our Church appoints this necessary and pious office shall be done; and the due administration thereof would highly conduce to make the benefits of baptism more visible, to increase knowledge and piety in the younger sort, and to secure them from being seduced by Papists or sectaries; it would make the Church to flourish and be at unity, and convey mighty blessings to all that reverently and devoutly receive it: wherefore, as the bishops are ready to do their part, let all that want it be willing and very desirous to come, and let parents and masters, and especially godfathers and godmothers, encourage them to come to it, and labour to fit them for it, that it may be done to GOD’S glory and their comfort.—_Dean Comber._

CONFIRMATION OF A BISHOP. To understand what is meant by the confirmation of a bishop, it may be proper to state the process adopted in England before a presbyter can be consecrated to the episcopal office, the king having issued his _congé d’ élire_ to the dean and chapter, and nominating, in his “letters missive,” the person whom he thinks fit to be chosen. The dean and chapter are obliged, within twenty days next after the receipt of this licence, to make the election, which being accepted by the party elected, is certified both to the sovereign and to the archbishop of the province. If the dean and chapter fail to certify the election within twenty days after the delivery of the “letters missive,” they incur the penalty of præmunire; and if they refuse to elect, the king may nominate by letters patent. The election being certified, the king grants his royal assent under the great seal, directed to the archbishop, commanding him to confirm and consecrate the bishop thus elected; and the archbishop subscribes it “_fiat confirmatio_,” and grants a commission to his vicar-general for that purpose. The vicar-general issues a citation to summon opposers, which is affixed on the door of Bow Church, and three proclamations are made thereof; this being certified to the vicar-general, at the time and place appointed, the proctor for the dean and chapter exhibit the royal assent, and the archbishop’s commission directed to the vicar-general. After this, a long and formal process is gone through, and after six proclamations for opposers, if none appear, they are pronounced _contumacious_. It is then decreed to proceed to sentence. The bishop elect takes the oaths of office, the sentence is subscribed by the vicar-general, and the election is ratified and decreed to be good. (See _Bishops, Election of_.)

Not only bishops, but deans of many cathedrals, were confirmed by their diocesans; as at St. Paul’s in London, and St. Patrick’s in Dublin. See _Oughton Ordo Judicium_ de ecclesici Cathedr. cxxvii., and _Mason’s_ Hibernia, p. 219.

CONFORMITY, DECLARATION OF. A declaration is required of all persons who are to be licensed or instituted to an ecclesiastical charge in the Church of England, in the following words:—“I, A. B., do declare that I will conform to the liturgy of the Church of England, as it is now by law established.” This declaration is to be made and subscribed before the bishop or his commissary, and the making and subscription thereof is to be testified under the episcopal seal of the bishop, and under the hand of the bishop or his commissary. (See also _Reading in_.)

CONGÉ D’ ÉLIRE. This is a French term, and signifies _leave to choose_: and is the king’s writ or licence to the dean and chapter of the diocese to choose a bishop, in the time of vacancy of the see. Prior to the reign of Henry I., the kings of England used to invest bishops with the ring and staff, in virtue of their donative right. Henry I. so far ceded this right as to give a _congé d’ élire_ to deans and chapters for the election of bishops. Henry VIII. added “letters missive,” nominating the person whom he required them to elect, under pain of præmunire; and Edward VI. (1 Edw. VI. c. 1, 2) abolished elections by writ of _congé d’ élire_, as being “indeed no elections,” and “seeming also derogatory and prejudicial to the king’s prerogative royal, to whom only appertaineth the collation and gift of all archbishoprics, and bishoprics, and suffragan bishops, within his Highness’s said realm.” The statute goes on to enact, “That no election of any archbishop or bishop shall be made by the dean and chapter;” but that the king by his “letters patent, at all times when the archbishopric or bishopric be void, shall confer the same to any person whom the king shall think meet.” This statute was repealed by Queen Mary, and never afterwards revived. The law now rests upon the 25 Henry VIII. c. 20, which statute was revived by Queen Elizabeth.—_Burn._ (See _Jurisdiction_.) But in Ireland, the act of 2 Eliz. c. 4, established the same manner of appointment by the sovereign, without election, as the English act of Edward, and so it has continued to this day.

CONGREGATION. In its largest sense, this word includes the whole body of Christian people, considered as assembled, not locally, but in some act of fellowship, as when it is said, “Let the congregation of saints praise HIM:” but the word is more commonly used for the worshippers, being members of the true Church assembled in a particular place; a sense in which the word is plainly used in the prayer for the Church militant, where an especial distinction is made between _all_ GOD’S people, or the congregation of the saints, and the particular congregation present when the prayer is used: “To all THY people give THY heavenly grace, and especially to this congregation here present.” The word _congregation_ follows therefore the use of the word _Church_; we use “_The_ Church” for the whole body of CHRIST’S people, and “_a_ Church,” or “_this_ Church,” for a particular portion of them. And as _a_ Church is the immediate bond of union to each individual with _the_ Church, so is _a_ congregation the immediate company with which the individual joins, and the immediate sign of his adherence to _the_ congregation of saints. Thus, in the Order of Confirmation, the preface declares that _before the Church_ children should ratify their baptismal vow, and they are consequently asked by the bishop whether they do this “in the presence of GOD and _of this congregation_.” Congregation and Church are considered by our translators convertible terms: e.g. Psal. xxii. 22, “In the midst of the _congregation_” is rendered in Heb. ii. 12, “In the midst of the _Church_.”

CONGREGATION IN THE PAPAL COURT, means a committee of cardinals met for the despatch of some particular business, and each congregation is denominated from the peculiar business it has to despatch.

I. _The Pope’s Congregation_, instituted by Sixtus V.—They are to prepare the most difficult beneficiary matters, which are afterwards to be debated in the consistory, in the presence of the pope. This congregation is composed of several cardinals, whose number is not fixed. The cardinal-deacon, or, in his absence, some other cardinal chosen by the pope _pro tempore_, presides in this assembly. The affairs treated in it are, the erecting of new sees and cathedral churches; re-unions, suppressions, and resignations of bishoprics, coadjutorships, alienations of church revenues; and, lastly, the taxes and annates of all the benefices to which the pope collates.

II. _The Congregation of the Holy Office_, or _Inquisition._ This congregation was instituted by Pope Paul III., at the desire of Cardinal Caraffa, who, being afterwards raised to the pontificate under the name of Paul IV., enlarged the privileges thereof, to which Sixtus V. added statutes, by which means this tribunal became so powerful and formidable, that the Italians at that time used to say, “_Il sommo pontifice Sisto non la perdonarebb’ a Christo_,” i. e. “Pope Sixtus would not pardon Christ himself.”

This congregation generally consists of twelve cardinals, and sometimes many more, as also of a considerable number of prelates and divines of different orders, both secular and regular, who are called _Consulters_ and _Qualificators of the Holy Office_. This congregation takes cognizance of heresies, and all novel opinions; as also of apostasy, magic, witchcraft, the abuse of the sacraments, and the spreading of pernicious books. For this purpose, an assembly is held every Wednesday at the general of the Jacobins, and every Thursday before the pope, who is president thereof.

The palace of the Holy Office serves likewise by way of prison for such as are accused or suspected of the above-mentioned crimes; who, in case they are found guilty, are delivered over to the secular arm. But at present they seldom go further than punishing them with perpetual imprisonment. Nor is this tribunal as rigorous and severe as in Spain, Portugal, and other countries where the Inquisition is established. (See _Inquisition_.)

III. _The Congregation de Propagandâ Fide._—It was instituted by Gregory XV., and consists of eighteen cardinals, one of the secretaries of state, an apostolical prothonotary, a referendary, an assistant or lateral judge, and a secretary of the Holy Office. All these prelates and officers meet in the pope’s presence, as often as occasion requires, in order to examine whatever may be of advantage to religion, and to consult about missions, &c.

IV. _The Congregation for explaining the Council of Trent._—At the breaking up of that council, Pius IV. deputed certain cardinals who had assisted in it, to put an end to all doubts which might arise concerning its decrees. Sixtus V. fixed this congregation, and empowered it to interpret all points both of discipline and faith. This congregation meets once a week at the palace of the senior cardinal, the whole assembly being composed of persons of that dignity. The president is chosen out of the body by the pope, and is paid twelve hundred crowns of gold yearly out of the apostolic chamber. The other cardinals have no salaries, but think it the highest honour to assist in explaining the most important matters relating to religion.

V. _The Congregation of the Index._—The fathers of the so-called Council of Trent, considering the great number of pernicious and heretical books published since the invention of printing, deputed certain cardinals, and other divines, to examine into such books. These deputies drew up a list of them, divided into several classes; and the council gave orders for correcting, in a second impression, whatever these examiners had altered or expunged. Pope Pius V. confirmed the establishment of this congregation, and empowered it to examine all books written since the Council of Trent, and all such as shall be published hereafter. This congregation is composed of several cardinals, and a secretary of the order of St. Dominic; but it seldom assembles, except on affairs of the highest importance. (See _Indexes_.)

VI. _The Congregation of Immunities_, established by Pope Urban VIII., in order to obviate the difficulties and disputes which arose in the judgments of such suits as were carried on against churchmen for various matters, whether civil or criminal. This congregation is composed of several cardinals, nominated by his Holiness, and takes cognizance of all ecclesiastical immunities and exemptions. It is held in the palace of the senior cardinal every Tuesday.

VII. _The Congregation of Bishops and Regulars._—Pope Sixtus V., in the beginning of his pontificate, united two congregations, under the name above-mentioned. It is composed of a certain number of cardinals at his Holiness’s pleasure, and of a prelate, who is the secretary thereof, and has six writers under him. This congregation has power to regulate all such disputes as arise between bishops and the monastic orders, and assembles every Friday for that purpose.

VIII. _The Congregation for the Examination of Bishops_, instituted by Gregory XIV., to examine into the qualifications of all such churchmen as are nominated to bishoprics. It is composed of eight cardinals, six prelates, ten divines of different orders, both secular and regular, some of whom must be doctors of the canon law. These examiners are chosen by the pope, and assemble in his palace every Tuesday and Friday, when any affair is to be examined. All the Italian bishops are obliged to submit to this examination before they are consecrated; and for this purpose they present themselves upon their knees before his Holiness, who is seated in an easy chair, whilst the examiners, standing on each hand of him, interrogate them on such heads of divinity and the canon law as they think proper. Such as are raised to the cardinalate, before they are made bishops, are dispensed from this examination; as are all cardinal-nephews.

IX. _The Congregation of the Morals of Bishops_, instituted by Pope Innocent XI., to inquire into the morals of churchmen recommended to ecclesiastical dignities. It is composed of three cardinals, two bishops, four prelates, and a secretary, who is the pope’s auditor. It is held alternately in the palaces of the three cardinals, where they examine very strictly the certificates of the life and manners of the candidates. However, those who have led irregular lives, find several ways of eluding the examination of this tribunal.

X. _The Congregation for the Residence of Bishops._—It has the power of enjoining, or dispensing with, the residence of the Italian bishops, and obliging all abbots to reside in their several communities. It consists of three cardinals, three prelates, and a secretary. But, having very little business, they assemble but seldom, and that only at the request of such bishops or abbots as desire to be absent from their churches, for reasons specified in their petitions.

XI. _The Congregation for such Monasteries as are to be suppressed._—This congregation was instituted by Pope Innocent X., to inquire into the state of the Italian monasteries, and to suppress those whose temporalities were so far diminished, that the remainder was not sufficient for the maintenance of six religious. It is composed of eight cardinals and a certain number of monks, deputed by the provincials of orders to take care of their interests. This assembly regulates the pretensions of founders and benefactors, and their heirs, and disposes of the remains of the temporalities of abandoned and ruined houses: it likewise examines the petitions of such communities, or cities, as desire to rebuild, and found anew, any monastery, for which it despatches the proper instruments.

XII. _The Congregation of the Apostolical Visitation._—It is composed of a certain number of cardinals and prelates, whose business it is to visit, in the name of the pope, as archbishop of Rome, the six bishoprics, suffragans to the metropolis of Rome.

XIII. _The Congregation of Relics._—It is composed of six cardinals and four prelates and their business is to superintend the relics of ancient martyrs, that are said to be frequently found in catacombs and other subterraneous places in Rome, and to distinguish their bones, shrines, and tombs, from those of the heathens, who were buried undistinguished in those subterraneous caverns. After the congregation has pronounced sentence on the validity of any relics, they are consigned to the vicar and the pope’s sacristan, who distribute them to such as desire them.

XIV. _The Congregation of Indulgences._—This congregation, the number of whose cardinals and prelates is not fixed, assembles in the palace of the senior cardinal, to examine into the causes and motives of those who sue for indulgences. The registrar of this congregation sends the minutes and conclusions of petitions to the secretary of the briefs, who despatches them under the fisherman’s seal.

XV. _The Congregation of Rites._—Pope Sixtus V. founded this congregation to regulate the ceremonies and rites of the new offices of saints, which are added to the Romish calendar, when any person is canonized. It has authority to explain the rubrics of the mass-book and breviary, when any difficulties are started in relation thereto; and its power extends to pronounce sentence, from which there is no appeal, on all disputes relating to the precedency of churches. It is composed of eight cardinals and a secretary, who assemble once a month in the palace of the senior cardinal.

XVI. _The Congregation for the Building of Churches._—Pope Clement VIII. founded this congregation, to superintend the building of St. Peter’s church, adjoining to the Vatican, and it is employed, to this day, in repairing and beautifying it. It consists of eight cardinals and four prelates, who assemble at the palace of the senior cardinal on the Monday or Saturday nearest to the beginning and middle of each month. This congregation has the peculiar privilege of altering the last wills and testaments of those who bequeath sums to be employed in pious uses, and to apply the money towards supporting the fabric of St. Peter’s.—_Broughton._

CONGREGATION is also applied in England to one of the assemblies of the university of Oxford, consisting of Regents, who transact the ordinary business of the university.

CONGREGATIONALISTS are nearly the same as Independents. (See _Independents_.) The chief point of difference is that the Congregationalists hold the principle of a _communion_ of Churches.

CONGRUITY. (See _Condignity_.)

CONSANGUINITY. Alliance by blood, as _affinity_ is alliance by marriage.

Certain degrees of consanguinity are among the impediments to marriage, both by the law of nature and by the revealed word of GOD. These degrees, as well as those of affinity, are defined by the Church, and are expressed in a table drawn up by Archbishop Parker, in 1563, and set forth by authority. This table is as follows:

A Table of Kindred and Affinity, wherein whosoever are related are forbidden in Scripture and our laws to marry together.

_A man may not marry his_

1 GRANDMOTHER, 2 Grandfather’s Wife, 3 Wife’s Grandmother.

4 Father’s Sister, 5 Mother’s Sister, 6 Father’s Brother’s Wife.

7 Mother’s Brother’s Wife, 8 Wife’s Father’s Sister, 9 Wife’s Mother’s Sister.

10 Mother, 11 Step-Mother, 12 Wife’s Mother.

13 Daughter, 14 Wife’s Daughter, 15 Son’s Wife.

16 Sister, 17 Wife’s Sister, 18 Brother’s Wife.

19 Son’s Daughter, 20 Daughter’s Daughter, 21 Son’s Son’s Wife.

22 Daughter’s Son’s Wife, 23 Wife’s Son’s Daughter, 24 Wife’s Daughter’s Daughter.

25 Brother’s Daughter, 26 Sister’s Daughter, 27 Brother’s Son’s Wife.

28 Sister’s Son’s Wife, 29 Wife’s Brother’s Daughter, 30 Wife’s Sister’s Daughter.

_A woman may not marry with her_

1 GRANDFATHER, 2 Grandmother’s Husband, 3 Husband’s Grandfather.

4 Father’s Brother, 5 Mother’s Brother, 6 Father’s Sister’s Husband.

7 Mother’s sister’s Husband, 8 Husband’s Father’s Brother, 9 Husband’s Mother’s Brother.

10 Father, 11 Step-Father, 12 Husband’s Father.

13 Son, 14 Husband’s Son, 15 Daughter’s Husband.

16 Brother, 17 Husband’s Brother, 18 Sister’s Husband.

19 Son’s Son, 20 Daughter’s Son, 21 Son’s Daughter’s Husband.

22 Daughter’s Daughter’s Husband, 23 Husband’s Son’s Son, 24 Husband’s Daughter’s Son.

25 Brother’s Son, 26 Sister’s Son, 27 Brother’s Daughter’s Husband.

28 Sister’s Daughter’s Husband, 29 Husband’s Brother’s Son, 30 Husband’s Sister’s Son.

CONSECRATION. The solemn act of dedicating anything or person to a Divine service and use.

CONSECRATION OF A BISHOP. By this we mean the separating of a person for the holy office of a bishop, by imposition of hands and prayer. According to a canon of the first Nicene Council, there must be four, or at least three, bishops present at the consecration of a bishop. The form used in the Church of England may be found in the Book of Common Prayer. And it is stated in the preface thereto, that “no one shall be accounted or taken to be a bishop, or suffered to execute the same function, unless he be called, tried, and admitted thereunto according to that form, or _hath had formerly episcopal consecration_.” The concluding portion of this sentence recognises the validity of consecrations given in foreign churches by any other form adopted by those Churches. Thus a French, or an Italian, or a Greek bishop, conforming to the rules of the Church of England, requires no fresh consecration, but is at liberty to officiate among us.

By the eighth canon, “Whoever shall affirm or teach, that the form and manner of making and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth anything in it that is repugnant to the word of GOD; or that they who are made bishops, priests, or deacons in that form are not lawfully made, nor ought to be accounted, either by themselves or others, to be truly either bishops, priests, or deacons, until they have some other calling to those Divine offices; let him be excommunicated _ipso facto_, not to be restored until he repent, and publicly revoke such his wicked errors.”

And by the thirty-sixth of the Thirty-nine Articles, “the book of consecration of archbishops and bishops, and ordering of priests and deacons, lately set forth in the time of Edward VI., and confirmed at the same time by authority of parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such consecrating and ordering; neither hath it anything that of itself is superstitious and ungodly. And therefore whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the rites of that book, since the second year of the forenamed King Edward unto this time, or hereafter shall be consecrated or ordered according to the same rites, we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and lawfully consecrated and ordered.” And by the Act of Uniformity in the 13th and 14th Charles II., all subscriptions to be made unto the Thirty-nine Articles shall be construed to extend (touching the said thirty-sixth article) to the book containing the form and manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating of bishops, priests, and deacons, in this said act mentioned, as the same did heretofore extend unto the book set forth in the time of King Edward VI. (13 & 14 Charles II. c. 4, s. 30, 31.)

Here we may allude to the Nag’s Head story, one of the most flimsy, as well as wicked, inventions of the Romanists, to invalidate the orders of the Church of England. It refers to the consecration of Archbishop Parker, on which depends the validity of orders in the English Church: for if Archbishop Parker’s consecration was not good, all those who were consecrated by him were not bishops, because he could not confer that character upon others which he had not himself.

The Papists assert that his consecration was irregular, both as to the place where it was performed, which they say was at the Nag’s Head Tavern, Cheapside, and as to the manner of doing it, which they say was by one of the bishops then present, who laid the Bible on Dr. Parker’s head, and then pronounced the words, “Take thou authority,” &c. It is further objected, that three of the four bishops then present were only bishops elect, and had no sees; and that the other was a suffragan.

The story, which has long since been abundantly refuted, and which is now given up by the best authorities among the Romanists, was as follows: The queen issued forth her warrant, directed to the bishop of Llandaff; to Dr. Scory, elect of Hereford; Dr. Barlow, elect of Chichester; Dr. Coverdale, elect of Exeter; and Dr. Hodgkins, suffragan of Bedford. All these persons met at the Nag’s Head Tavern, where it had been usual for the dean of the Arches and the civilians to refresh themselves, after any confirmation of a bishop; and there one Neale, who was Bonner’s chaplain, peeped through a hole in the door, and saw all the other bishops very importunate with Llandaff, who had been dissuaded by Bonner to assist in this consecration, which he obstinately refusing, Dr. Scory bid the rest kneel, and he laid the Bible on each of their shoulders or heads and pronounced these words, “Take thou authority,” &c., and so they stood up all bishops. This story was certainly invented after the queen’s reign; for if it had been true, it is so remarkable, that some of the writers of that time would undoubtedly have taken notice of it. But Bishop Burnet has discovered the falsity of it, from an original manuscript of the consecration of this very archbishop, which was done in the chapel at Lambeth, on Sunday, the 17th of December, in the first year of the queen’s reign, where Dr. Parker came a little after five in the morning in a scarlet gown and hood, attended by the said four bishops, and lighted by four torches; and there, after prayers, Dr. Scory preached; and then the other bishops presented the archbishop to him, and the mandate for his consecration being read by a doctor of the civil law, and he having taken the oaths of supremacy, and some prayers being said, according to the form of consecration then lately published, all the four bishops laid their hands on the archbishop’s head, and said, “Receive the HOLY GHOST,” &c. And this was done in the presence of several other clergy. See Archbishop Bramhall’s “Consecration and Succession of Protestant Bishops Justified,” with the additions in vol. iii. of his works, Oxford, 1844.

CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES. The law recognises no place as a church until it has been consecrated by the bishop.

In the Church of England the bishop is left to his own discretion as to the form he will use in the consecration of a church; but in the 21 Henry VIII. c. 13, which limits the number of chaplains that each person may have, one reason assigned why a bishop may retain six chaplains is because he must occupy that number in the consecration of churches.

The custom of solemnly setting apart, from ordinary and secular use, whatever is appropriated to the service of Almighty GOD, has the highest possible sanction; for many are the instances of it recorded in the Holy Scriptures. True it is that there is no record of any such ceremonial having been used among Christians in reference to churches, before the fourth century, though some ritualists are of opinion that a form of dedication was common much earlier. No sooner, however, was the sword of persecution sheathed, and GOD permitted his Church to serve him in all godly quietness, than such solemnities became general. Then, as Eusebius tells us, “there was an incessant joy, and there sprung up for all a certain celestial gladness, seeing every place, which but a short time before had been desolated by the impieties of the tyrants, reviving again, and recovering from a long and deadly distemper; temples again rising from the soil to a lofty height, and receiving a splendour far exceeding those which had been formerly destroyed.” And again: “after this the sight was afforded us, so eagerly desired and prayed for by all,—the festivals of dedications, and consecrations of the newly-erected houses of prayer throughout the cities. After this, the convention of bishops, the concourse of foreigners from abroad, the benevolence of people to people, the unity of the members of CHRIST concurring in one harmonious body. Then was it according to the prophetic declaration, mystically indicating what would take place, ‘bone was brought to bone, and joint to joint,’ and whatsoever other matters the Divine word faithfully intimated before. There was, also, one energy of the Divine Spirit pervading all the members, and one soul among all, one and the same ardour of faith, one song of praise to the Deity; yea now, indeed, complete and perfect solemnities of the prelates and heads of the Church, sacred performances of sacred rites, and solemn rituals of the Church. Here you might hear the singing of psalms; there, the performance of divine and sacred mysteries. The mystic symbols of our SAVIOUR’S passion were celebrated; and, at the same time, each sex of every age, male and female, with the power of the mind, and with a mind and whole heart rejoicing in prayer and thanksgiving, gave glory to GOD, the author of all good. Every one of the prelates present also delivered panegyrical discourses, desirous of adding lustre to the assembly, according to the ability of each.” One such discourse, pronounced by Eusebius himself, still remains.

In his Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives an instance of the ceremonial thus described in the consecration, amid a full synod of bishops of the church of Jerusalem, which Constantine had built over our SAVIOUR’S sepulchre, A. D. 335. Socrates records a similar consecration of the famous church of Antioch, called _Dominicum Aureum_, which was begun by Constantine and finished by Constantius, A. D. 341. Testimony to the prevalency of this custom is also borne by St. Athanasius, who defends himself in his apology to Constantius, (c. 14–18,) when charged with having used a building for public worship, before it was dedicated by the emperor, and consecrated by himself, on the ground of necessity; for since during Lent the congregations in the ordinary churches had been so crowded as to prove injurious to the persons present, and anticipating still more crowded assemblies at Easter, he thought himself justified, under such circumstances, to use an edifice which was unconsecrated. St. Gregory Nazianzen likewise speaks of this ceremonial as an ancient custom παλαιὸς νόμος.

Such then were the offices connected with the consecration of churches in primitive times. Bishops, from distant provinces, with a vast concourse of clergy and laity, were present; an appropriate sermon or sermons were preached; the holy eucharist was _always_ administered; in the course of which prayers suitable to the occasion were offered. Of these prayers one is still preserved in the writings of St. Ambrose.

On this model it was that the consecration services of the Church Catholic were formed, each church, at first, varying in non-essentials, as circumstances may have required.

In the English Church, various records of very early date exist relating to the consecration of churches. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who professes to follow Gildas, says that in the time of King Lucius (A. D. 162) pagan temples were consecrated in Britain to the honour of the true GOD. And we find from Bede, that the passage just quoted from Eusebius was applicable to our own island. It is known that Bertha, wife of Ethelbert, king of Kent, repaired or rebuilt a church, first built by the Romans, and had it dedicated to the honour of St. Martin of Tours, an eminent saint among the Christians of her native country. This was the church granted by Ethelbert to Augustine, on his landing in the isle of Thanet, A. D. 596. Some time after his arrival, Gregory the Great sent Augustine particular instructions about the dedication of the temples of the Anglo-Saxons; and when the bishop had his episcopal see assigned him in the royal city, he recovered therein a church, which he was informed had been built by the ancient Roman Christians, and consecrated it in the name of our holy SAVIOUR, GOD and LORD, JESUS CHRIST. From the same historian we learn, that Laurentius, Augustine’s successor in the primacy, consecrated a church to St. Peter and St. Paul, afterwards called St. Augustine’s, in honour of Augustine, who had commenced building it. Mellitus, who succeeded Laurentius, consecrated the church of the Holy Mother of GOD, built by King Eadbald, A. D. 622. There is a detailed account of the consecration of the church of Ripon, by Wilfrid, archbishop of York, A. D. 665, given in the Life of that prelate, written by Eddius and Fridegode. Numerous subsequent canons are found, bearing on the same subject. For instance, one of Archbishop Ecgbriht’s “Excerptions,” A. D. 740, relates to the consecration of churches. In Archbishop Wilfrid’s canons, A. D. 816, it is ordered:

“When a church is built, let it be consecrated by the bishop of its own diocese, according to the ministerial book.”

Again, in the canons of Archbishop Corboyl, A. D. 1126, in the canons at Westminster, A. D. 1138, and in Archbishop Richard’s canons, A. D. 1175, similar injunctions are given.

From the constitutions of Otho, A. D. 1237, it would appear—so unfounded is the boast of the Romanists, that the time when Popery was dominant in England was a period of reverence and devotion never since known to her Church—that this solemnity was then much neglected. This is evident from the first of these canons, which, after observing that the dedication of royal temples is known to have taken its beginning from the Old Testament, and was observed by the holy fathers in the New Testament, under which it ought to be done with the greater care and dignity, &c., goes on to enact,

“That _because we have ourselves seen, and heard by many, that so wholesome a mystery is despised, at least neglected, by some_, (for we have found many churches, and some cathedrals, not consecrated with holy oil though built of old,) we, therefore, being desirous to obviate so great a neglect, do ordain and give in charge, that all cathedrals, conventual and parochial churches, which are ready built, and their walls perfected, be consecrated by the diocesan bishops, to whom they belong, or others authorized by them, within two years: and let it so be done in a like time in all churches hereafter to be built; and lest so wholesome a statute grow into contempt, if such like places be not dedicated within two years from the time of their being finished, we decree them to remain interdicted from the solemnization of masses until they be consecrated, unless they be excused for some reasonable cause.”

In the constitutions of Othobon, A. D. 1268, there is a similar canon.

From these canons it is plain, that the office of consecration had contracted many of those Romish superstitions which were retained until the Reformation. Not that our reformers, when reforming the other services of the Church, extended their labours to that of consecration. Indeed, as that was a period, to use the words of Bishop Short, when more churches were destroyed than built, there was no immediate use for the service in question. This task was reserved for Bishop Andrews, whose service was compiled, as were all the offices of the English Church, from the formularies in use before the Reformation.

Unanswerable as was Hooker’s defence of the consecration of churches, it was insufficient to protect Laud from the clamour of his implacable enemies, when he consecrated St. Catherine Cree church, as bishop of London, in 1630. And in the well-known London petition, presented to the Long Parliament, by the notorious Alderman Pennington, about ten years later, the consecration of churches was not forgotten to be included “among the manifold evils, pressures, and grievances, caused, practised, and occasioned by the prelates and their dependants.”

At the Restoration the custom revived, and the subject was again discussed; but as there was no authorized office, (Laud, having been prevented from drawing up a form, as he intended, in the convocation of 1640,) the preparation of one was committed to Bishop Cosin in the convocation of 1661. When prepared it was presented to the house, and referred to a committee of four bishops for revision, but nothing seems ultimately to have been done about it. Since that period each bishop has adopted any form he thought best, though perhaps the form of consecrating churches, chapels, and churchyards, or places of burial, which was sent down by the bishops to the lower houses of convocation, (1712,) and altered by a committee of the whole house, is the one, not that it is enjoined by any competent authority, now most generally used.—_Teale._

Different rites were prepared by Barlow, bishop of Lincoln, Patrick, bishop of Ely, and King, bishop of London.—_Palmer; Supplement_. (See _Harrington, on the Consecration of Churches_.)

CONSECRATION OF THE ELEMENTS. The following is the rubric with reference to the consecration of the elements in the LORD’S supper: “When the priest, standing before the table, hath so ordered the bread and wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands, he shall say the prayer of consecration.” If it be asked, whether the priest is to say this prayer standing before the table, or at the north end of it, I answer, at the north end of it; for, according to the rules of grammar, the participle “standing” must refer to the verb “ordered,” and not to the verb “say.” So that, whilst the priest is “ordering the bread and wine,” he is to stand before the table; but when he says the prayer, he is to stand so as “that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread before the people,” which must be on the north side. For if he stood “before” the table, his body would hinder the people from seeing; so that he must not stand there, and consequently he must stand on the north side; there being, in our present rubric, no other place mentioned for performing any part of this office. In the Romish Church indeed they always stand “before” the altar during the time of consecration, in order to prevent the people from being eye-witnesses of their operation in working their pretended miracle; and in the Greek Church they shut the chancel door, or at least draw a veil or curtain before it, I suppose, upon the same account. But our Church, that pretends no such miracle, enjoins, we see, the direct contrary to this, by ordering the priest so “to order the bread and wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread and take the cup into his hands before the people.” And with this view it is probable the Scotch liturgy ordered, that, “during the time of consecration, the presbyter should stand at such a part of the holy table, where he may with the more ease and decency use both his hands.”—_Wheatly._

The consecration of the elements being always esteemed an act of authority, and standing being therefore a more proper posture, as well as a more commodious one, for this purpose, the priest is here directed to stand.—_Collis._

We do not eat our common food without first praying for a blessing on it; which pious custom is so universal, that it is certainly a piece of natural religion; how much more then are we obliged, before we eat and drink this bread and wine, which CHRIST designed to set forth the mystery of his death, to consecrate it and set it apart by a solemn prayer; especially since CHRIST himself in the institution of this sacred ordinance, while he was teaching his apostles how to celebrate it, did use a form of blessing over it (Matt. xxvi. 26); which St. Paul calls “giving thanks.” (1 Cor. xi. 24.) Wherefore all churches in the world, from the apostles’ days, have used such a form, the ancient and essential part of which is the words of our SAVIOUR’S institution; for, since he makes this sacramental charge, it hath been thought fit by all churches to keep his own words, which being pronounced by a lawful priest, do properly make the consecration; wherefore our Church has cut off all the later superstitious additions, by which the Roman Church hath corrupted this form, and given us a prayer of consecration, consisting only of the words of our SAVIOUR’S institution, and a proper prayer to introduce it. The first part is a prayer directed to “Almighty GOD our heavenly FATHER,” commemorating his mercy in giving his SON to die for us, and the all-sufficient merit of his death, together with his command for our remembering it in this sacrament; and on these grounds desiring that, since we obey him in thus celebrating it, we may therein receive CHRIST’S body and blood. The second part is the repetition of the words and actions of our LORD at the institution, concerning both the time and the manner of its institution.—_Dean Comber._

If it be here demanded, to what words the consecration of the elements ought to be ascribed, I answer, to the prayer of the faithful offered by the priest, and to the words of institution repeated by him. This was the sense of the ancient Church of CHRIST, which used them both in their eucharistical offices; and never held, that the elements were changed from their common to a more sublime use and efficacy by the bare repeating of the words, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood,” as the Papists absurdly hold. To bring about this change must be the work of the HOLY GHOST; and thereupon it is requisite, that we should pray to GOD, to endue the elements with this life-giving virtue. Now the words of institution can by no means be called a prayer: they were addressed by our SAVIOUR to his disciples, and not to GOD: to them he said, “Take and eat.” When we use them, they are historical, recounting what our LORD said and did, when he ordained this sacrament. And though when he said, “This is my body, this is my blood,” these words effectually made them so, showing that it was his will and pleasure that they should be taken as his sacramental body and blood; though the virtue of those words, once spoken by CHRIST, doth still operate towards making the bread and wine his body and blood; yet, as now used and spoken by the priest, they do not contain in them any such power, unless they be joined with prayer to GOD.

Our LORD himself did, besides pronouncing them, give thanks and bless the elements. Thus our Church uses prayer, as well as the words of institution; and doth not attribute the consecration to the one without the other. “If the consecrated bread or wine be all spent, before all have communicated, the priest,” it is true, is ordered by the rubric to “consecrate more,” by repeating only the words of institution. But the virtue of the prayer, which the Church hath last made, is to be understood as concurring therewith; and this is only a particular application to these particular elements. Hence comes the propriety of saying “Amen” at the end of those words; which would not be so properly added, unless it referred back to the preceding petitions. And that this is the sense of the Church of England is further plain, in that she in her rubric calls this “the prayer of consecration,” in which the words of institution are contained; and it is addressed to Almighty GOD, &c., whereas the words of CHRIST were not supplicatory to GOD, but declaratory to his disciples.

After the same manner, in the “Office of Public Baptism,” in imitation of the custom of the ancient Christians, who dedicated the baptismal water to the holy and spiritual use for which it was designed, our Church not only repeats the words of institution of that other sacrament, but likewise adds a solemn prayer, that GOD would “sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin.” And, as in that sacrament she joins the prayer of the faithful to the words of CHRIST, so in the sacrament of the altar she thinks them both necessary to complete the consecration.—_Archdeacon Yardley._

A prayer of consecration, or setting apart the bread and wine to the sacred purpose in which they are about to be employed, hath been used for that end at least 1600 years. And the mention which ours makes of the institution of the LORD’S supper, from the words, “who in the same night that he was betrayed,” to the conclusion, is in every old liturgy in the world. The Romanists have put into their prayer of consecration names of saints, and commemorations of the dead which we have thrown out. And indeed we have left nothing that so much as needs explaining, unless it may be useful to observe, that our SAVIOUR’S “one oblation of himself” is opposed to the various kinds of oblations under the law; and, “once offered,” to the continual repetition of them: though probably a further view was to intimate, that he is not, as the Papists pretend, really sacrificed anew in this holy ordinance.—_Abp. Secker._

The death of CHRIST, if we regard the persons for whom it was undergone, is a “sacrifice;” if we regard him who offered it, it is a free “oblation;” if we consider him to whom it was offered, it is a “satisfaction;” and, in every one of these respects, it is “full, perfect, and sufficient:” or, particularly, it is a “full satisfaction,” a “perfect oblation,” and a “sufficient sacrifice;” not, like the legal offerings, for the sins of one kind, or the offences of one nation or of one person, but for the sins of all the world. Let none therefore mistake, or imagine we are about to sacrifice CHRIST again, as the Roman Church falsely teacheth; for that is not only needless and impossible, but a plain contradiction to St. Paul, who affirms, that JESUS was offered only “once” (Heb. ix. 26; x. 10, 12); and by that “one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (ver. 14); so that there needs “no more offering for sin” (ver. 18).—_Dean Comber._

From these passages of the Epistle to the Hebrews it is plain, to use Bishop Overall’s words, that “CHRIST can be no more offered, as the doctors and priests of the Roman party fancy it to be, and vainly think that, every time they say mass, they offer up and sacrifice CHRIST anew, as properly and truly as he offered up himself in his sacrifice upon the cross. And this is one of the points of doctrine, and the chief one, whereof the Popish mass consisteth; abrogated and reformed here by the Church of England, according to the express word of GOD.”

CONSERVATORIES. Public schools of music in Italy, so called because they are intended to preserve the purity of the science and practice of music. The _Conservatorios_ are pious foundations, kept up at the expense of rich citizens, in which orphans, foundlings, and the children of poor parents are boarded, lodged, and taught gratuitously. There are separate foundations for pupils of each sex. These institutions, which ought to provide the churches of Italy with well-instructed choristers, and to limit their attention to this object, do in fact supply the theatre, as well as the Church, with the most admired performers. See _Dr. Burney’s_ Present State of Music in France and Italy, for an account of these conservatorios.

CONSISTENTES. (English, _Co-standers_.) The last order of penitents in the primitive Church, so called from their having the liberty, after other penitents, energumens, and catechumens were dismissed, to stand with the faithful at the altar, and join in the common prayers, and see the oblation offered; but yet they might neither make their own oblations, nor partake of the eucharist with them.—_Bingham._

CONSISTORY. A word used to denote the Court Christian, or Spiritual Court. Every bishop has his consistory court held before his chancellor or commissary, in his cathedral church, or other convenient place of his diocese, for ecclesiastical causes. In the Church of England, before the Norman Conquest, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was not separated from the civil; for the earl and bishop sat in one court, that is, in the ancient county court.

CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OF. This council assembled in 1414, by the combined authority of the emperor and the pope. It was attended by thirty cardinals, three patriarchs, twenty archbishops, one hundred and fifty bishops, besides an immense number of the inferior clergy. It included sovereign princes, electors of Germany, as well as representatives from every country in communion with Rome. Its objects were, to put an end to the schism, to reform the Church, and to put down the so-called heresy of Bohemia.

During a period of nearly forty years rival popes had claimed the see of Rome; and the whole of Christendom had been scandalized by their intrigues, their falsehoods, and their mutual anathemas. Each side had the support of universities and of learned divines. Each pleaded a Divine revelation, which was said to have been communicated on behalf of the one to St. Bridget, and of the other to St. Catherine of Sienna.

The council not only removed the two popes whose title had been previously disallowed, but also deposed the third, who had been legitimately appointed, and had forfeited his right by many and great crimes. The wickedness of John XXIII. seems to have been almost without parallel. Some charges against him were indeed suppressed, because it was thought that the papacy itself would be endangered by their publication; but enough was proved on unquestionable testimony to insure unanimous consent to his deposition.

In the mean while the necessity of reformation was urged on all sides. In the council itself, cardinals and bishops, as well as other divines, declaimed against the ignorance and vicious lives of the clergy, which bore testimony to the ill effects resulting from the lengthened schism; while the German people presented a memorial demanding reformation of the evils by which they affirmed the Church to be overrun, and that it should take place of all other business. A vehement contest on this subject ensued between the secular and ecclesiastical authorities, somewhat similar to that which afterwards occurred at Trent; but in the end the urgent duty was postponed until the election of the pope had taken place, and then it was successfully evaded.

John Huss, who was a learned and eloquent man, of blameless life, and of great influence, arrived at Constance soon after the meeting of the council. He had embraced the opinions of Wickliff, and had been especially earnest in denouncing the avarice and immoralities of the priests, as well as the frauds practised upon the people by pretended miracles. He was accused and thrown into prison. The emperor at first expressed great indignation at his arrest, but having been influenced by members of the council, he not only withdrew his protection, but deputed the elector palatine, as vicar of the empire, to place him in the hands of the secular magistrate. The pleas on which this breach of faith have been defended by Roman writers are inconsistent and self-contradictory. Some endeavour to maintain that Huss did not possess the safe-conduct until after his arrest; some, that he broke the conditions on which it was granted; and some, that no engagement of the emperor could limit the authority of the council. All impartial judges have long been agreed in condemning the act as a deep and indelible disgrace to the Roman Church. The letters of the martyr himself, as well as the language of his defence, describe in touching and Christianly terms, the harshness and injustice with which he was treated. Having resisted all efforts to procure his recantation, whether by threats or persuasion, he was condemned, and met his death with wonderful calmness and heroism, on the 7th July, 1415. The immediate effect of his condemnation, and that of Jerome of Prague, which speedily followed, was to kindle the flames of civil war in Bohemia, during which the names of Wickliff and Huss formed the watchword on the one side, and that of the pope on the other. It is said that the descendant of Sigismund, in the fourth generation, believed himself to be suffering under the wrath of God on account of his ancestor’s sin.

In the fourth and fifth sessions, the absolute superiority of a general council over the pope was expressed in the form of an exact decree. It was declared that the council holds its authority directly from Christ; and that all persons, including those of papal dignity, are amenable to its jurisdiction, and are liable to punishment for disobedience. No language could be more precise than that which was employed. The same doctrine had been previously asserted in the Council of Pisa; and was afterwards confirmed in the Council of Basle. It was the judgment of the constitutional party which had gradually become strong in the Roman Church; and it was now embodied in the solemn act by which three popes were set aside, and Martin V. substituted in their place; in the validity of whose appointment the papal succession is inseparably bound up. The decision of the council was gravely and deliberately adopted; and it had the fullest support of the learned divines who were present, such as Cardinal P. d’ Ailli, who had been chancellor of the university of Paris, and his still more illustrious pupil and successor John Gerson, who, beyond all other theologians, influenced and represented the mind of that age. It has always furnished an insurmountable difficulty to controversialists of the ultramontane school. They cannot reject its authority without giving up the legitimacy of every pope since Martin V.; while, on the other hand, it is plainly at variance with the decrees of the Council of Florence.

The decrees of their fourth and fifth sessions have been strenuously maintained by the Gallican Church, especially by Bossuet, and the very learned men who shared his opinions in the seventeenth century; as well as by the universities of Paris, Louvain, and Cologne.

Materials for the history of the Council of Constance are provided abundantly by the invaluable collection of documents made by H. Von der Hardt.

CONSUBSTANTIAL. Co-essential; of the same substance with another. Thus we say of our blessed LORD, that he is _consubstantial_ with the FATHER, being “of one substance with the FATHER.” The term (ὁμοούσιος) was first adopted by the fathers in the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, to express more precisely the orthodox doctrine, and to serve as a precaution against the subtleties of the Arians, who admitted every thing _except_ the consubstantiality, using a word similar in sound, but very different in meaning, ὁμοιούσιος. This word is still the distinguishing criterion between the catholic or orthodox Christian and the Arian heretic.

CONSUBSTANTIATION. The Romish divines fell into the error of endeavouring to explain the _manner_ in which our blessed LORD is present in the eucharist. (See _Transubstantiation_.) Luther and his followers, while opposing the Romanists, fell into a similar error, only insisting on a different manner of explaining the inexplicable mystery. Luther and his followers maintained, that, after the consecration of the elements, the body and blood of our SAVIOUR are substantially present together with the bread and wine. This doctrine is called _consubstantiation_. They believe that the real body and blood of our LORD are united in a mysterious manner, through the consecration, with the bread and wine, and are received with and under them in the sacrament of the LORD’S supper.

CONTRITION. (See _Attrition_.) Romanists define contrition to be a sorrow for sin, with a sincere resolution of reforming. The word is derived from the Latin _conterere_, to break or bruise. The Psalmist says, “A broken and a _contrite_ heart, O GOD, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm li. 17.)—_Conc. Trident._ § 14, c. 4.

CONVENT. A religious house; a monastery; more usually used to signify a nunnery. For its architectural arrangements, see _Monastery_.

CONVENTICLE. A diminutive of convent, denoting properly a cabal, or secret assembly of a part of the monks of a convent, to make a party in the election of an abbot. It is now the legal term to denote any place of worship used by those who depart from the Church of England.

By the 73rd canon it is thus ordained: “Forasmuch as all _conventicles_ and secret meetings of priests and ministers have ever been justly accounted very hateful to the state of the Church wherein they live, we do ordain that no priests or ministers of the Word of GOD, nor any other persons, shall meet together in any private house, or elsewhere, to consult upon any matter or course to be taken by them, or upon their motion or direction by any other, which may any way tend to the impeaching or depraving of the doctrine of the Church of England, or the Book of Common Prayer, or any part of the government or discipline now established in the Church of England, under pain of excommunication _ipso facto_.”

CONVERSION. A change of heart and life from sin to holiness. This change, when it takes place in a heathen or an infidel, comprises a reception and confession of the truths of Christianity: when it takes place in a person already baptized and a Christian in profession, it implies a saving and influential impression on his heart, of those truths which are already received by the mind and acknowledged with the lips. To the heathen and infidel conversion is absolutely and always necessary to salvation. The baptized Christian may by GOD’S grace so continue in that state of salvation in which he was placed in baptism, (see _Church Catechism_,) that conversion, in this sense, is not necessary to him: still even he, day by day, will fall into sins of infirmity, and he will need renewal or renovation: and all these—the daily renewal of the pious Christian, the conversion of the nominal Christian, and the conversion of the infidel or heathen—are the work of the Holy Spirit of GOD on the hearts of men.

Some persons have confused _conversion_ with _regeneration_, and have taught that all men—the baptized, and therefore in fact regenerate—must be regenerated afterwards, or they cannot be saved. Now this is in many ways false; for regeneration, which the LORD JESUS CHRIST himself has connected with holy baptism, cannot be repeated: moreover, not all men (though indeed most men do) fall into such sin after baptism, that conversion, or, as they term it, regeneration, is necessary to their salvation; and if a regeneration were necessary to them, it could only be obtained through a repetition of baptism, which were an act of sacrilege. Those who speak of this supposed regeneration, uncharitably represent the orthodox as denying the necessity both of regeneration and of conversion; because they themselves call these by wrong names, and the orthodox only proclaim their necessity in their true sense.

They who object to the expression _Baptismal Regeneration_, by regeneration mean, for the most part, the first influx of irresistible and indefectible grace; grace that cannot be repelled by its subject, and which must issue in his final salvation. Now, of such grace our Church knows nothing, and of course, therefore, means not by regeneration at baptism the first influx of such grace. That the sins, original and actual, of the faithful recipient of baptism, are washed away, she doth indeed believe; and also that grace is given to him by the immediate agency of the HOLY SPIRIT; yet so that the conscience thus cleansed may be again defiled, and that the baptized person may, and often does, by his own fault, fall again into sin, in which if he die he shall without doubt perish everlastingly; his condemnation not being avoided, but rather increased, by his baptismal privilege. So that, in fact, we say not that any one is regenerated at baptism, according to the meaning of these words in the lips of our opponents. And if they will not admit that baptism is the Divinely appointed medium of regeneration in our sense of that term, what grace can they imagine so trifling as to comport with their views of that sacrament, and at the same time so lofty and essential, as to be contemplated by CHRIST in the solemn institution of a sacrament; and in his declarations concerning the efficacy and necessity of that sacrament; and by the apostles, and the whole Church, in their sense of the same matter, and their consequent practice? What approaches most nearly to that grace of their own imagining, which they call regeneration, is the repentance not to be repented of, and followed by fruits of righteousness to the glory of GOD’S grace, and to the salvation of the Christian, which we call _conversion_ or renewal, and attribute to the same SPIRIT from whom we receive our new life at baptism; and which we hold to be as necessary to the salvation of one who has fallen from his baptismal purity, (and who has not so fallen?) as we hold _baptismal_ regeneration to be, and as they hold their _supposed_ regeneration. Except in words, then, we and our opponents are more nearly agreed than is at first sight apparent; and if the choice of terms be the chief point at issue, we have this to say for the expressions which we use, that they are consentient, and even identical, with those which are used in the Scriptures; and that they are the same which the whole Church employed, until the days of certain founders of sects, called after their own names at the continental Reformation; so that they rest on the highest possible grounds of Scripture and authority.—_Poole._ (See _Regeneration_.)

CONVOCATION (see _Synod_.) is an assembly of the bishops and other clergy of each of the provinces of the Church of England to consult on matters ecclesiastical. As much is in these days said of convocation, and as many seem to think that a convocation must be holden to settle the disputes now unhappily prevailing among the clergy, it may be interesting if we extend this article, that we may supply our readers with a history of convocations. It will be abridged from the account given by Dr. Burn.

That the bishop of every diocese in England, as in all other Christian countries, had power to convene the clergy of his diocese, and, in a common synod or council, with them to transact such affairs as specially related to the order and government of the churches under his jurisdiction, is not to be questioned. These assemblies of the clergy were as old almost as the first settlement of Christianity amongst us, and, amidst all other revolutions, continued to be held till the time of King Henry VIII.

What the bishop of every diocese did within his own district, the archbishop of each province, after the kingdom was divided into provinces, did within his proper province. They called together first the bishops, afterwards the other prelates, of their provinces; and by degrees added to these such of their inferior clergy as they thought needful. In these two assemblies of the clergy (the diocesan synods and provincial councils) only the spiritual affairs of the Church were wont for a long time to be transacted: so that, in this respect, there was no difference between the bishops and clergy of our own and of other Christian churches. Our metropolitans and their suffragans acted by the same rules here as they did in all other countries. They held these assemblies by the same power, convened the same persons, and did the same things in them. When the papal authority had prevailed here, as in most other kingdoms and countries in Europe, by the leave of our kings, and at the command of the legates sent from Rome, another and yet larger sort of councils was introduced amongst us, of the bishops and prelates of the whole realm. These were properly national Church councils, and were wont to be held for some special designs, which either the pope, the king, or both, had to promote by them.

But besides these synods common to us with all other Christian Churches, and which were in their nature and end, as well as constitution, properly and purely ecclesiastical, two other assemblies there were of the clergy of this realm, _peculiar to our own state and country_; in which the clergy were convened, not for the spiritual affairs of the Church, but for the good and benefit of the realm, and to act as members of the one as well as of the other. Now the occasion of these was this: when the faith of CHRIST was thoroughly planted here, and the piety of our ancestors had liberally endowed the bishops and clergy of the Church with temporal lands and possessions, not only the opinion which the political government had of their prudence and piety prompted it to take the most eminent of them into the public councils, but the interest which they had by that means in the state made it expedient so to do, and to commit the direction and management of offices and affairs to them. Hence our bishops first, and then some of our other prelates, (as abbots and priors,) were very early brought into the great councils of the realm, or parliament, and there consulted and acted together with the laity. And in process of time, our princes began to have a further occasion for them. For being increased both in number and in wealth, not only our kings, but the people began to think it reasonable, that the clergy should bear a part in the public burdens, as well as enjoy their share of the public treasure. Hence our Saxon ancestors, under whom the Church was the most free, yet subjected the lands of the clergy to the threefold necessity of castles, bridges, and expeditions. And the granting of aids in these cases brought on assemblies of the clergy, which were afterwards distinguished by the name of convocations.

In the Saxon times, the lords spiritual (as well as the other clergy) held by frankalmoigne, but yet made great part (as was said) of the grand council of the nation; being the most learned persons that, in those times of ignorance, met to make laws and regulations. But William the Conqueror turned the frankalmoigne tenures of the bishops and some of the great abbots into baronies; and from thenceforwards they were obliged to send persons to the wars, or were assessed to the escuage, (which was a fine or payment in money instead thereof,) and were obliged to attend in parliament. But the body of the clergy had no baronies, and holding by frankalmoigne, were in a great measure exempt from the charges which were assessed upon the laity, and were therefore by some other way to be brought under the same obligation. In order hereunto several measures were taken, till at last they settled into that method which finally obtained, and set aside the necessity of any other way. First, the pope laid a tax upon the Church for the use of the king; and both their powers uniting, the clergy were forced to submit to it. Next, the bishops were prevailed with, upon some extraordinary occasions, to oblige their clergy to grant a subsidy to the king, in the way of a benevolence; and for this, letters of security were granted back by the king to them, to insure them that what they had done should not be drawn into example or consequence. And these concessions were sometimes made by the bishops in the name of their clergy; but the common way was, that every bishop held a meeting of the clergy of his diocese. Then they agreed what they would do; and empowered first the bishops, afterwards their archdeacons, and finally proctors of their own, chosen for that end, to make the concession for them.

Thus stood this matter till the time of Edward the First, who, not willing to continue at such a precarious rate with his clergy, took another method; and, after several other experiments, fixed at last upon an establishment, which has, to a certain extent, continued ever since, viz. that the earls and barons should be called to parliament as formerly, and embodied in one house; and that the tenants in burgage should also send their representatives; and that the tenants by knight’s service, and other soccage tenants in the counties, should send their representatives; and these were embodied in the other house. He designed to have the clergy as a third estate; and as the bishops were to sit _per baroniam_ in the temporal parliament, so they were to sit with the inferior clergy in convocation. And the project and design of the king was, that, as the two temporal estates charged the temporalities, and made laws to bind all temporal things within this realm; so this other body should have given taxes to charge the spiritual possessions, and have made canons to the ecclesiastical body: to this end was the _præmunientes_ clause (so called from the first word thereof) in the summons to the archbishops and bishops, by which he required them to summon such of their inferior clergy to come with them to parliament, as he then specified and thought sufficient to act for the whole body of the clergy. This altered the convocation of the Church of England from the foreign synods; for these were totally composed of the bishops, who were pastors of the Church; and therefore the bishops only were collected to compose such foreign synods, to declare what was the doctrine, or should be the discipline, of the Church.

Edward I. projected making the clergy a third estate, dependent on himself; and, therefore, not only called the bishops, whom as barons he had a right to summon, but the rest of the clergy, that he might have their consent to the taxes and assessments made on that body. But the clergy, foreseeing they were likely to be taxed, alleged that they could not meet under a temporal authority, to make any laws or canons to govern the Church. And this dispute was maintained by the archbishops and bishops, who were very loath the clergy should be taxed, or that they should have any interest in making ecclesiastical canons, which formerly were made by the sole authority of the bishops; for even if those canons had been made at Rome, yet, if they were not made in a general council, they did not think them binding here, unless they were received by some provincial constitution of the bishops. The whole body of the Church being thus dissatisfied, the archbishops and bishops threatened to excommunicate the king: but he and the temporal estate took it so ill that the clergy would not bear any part of the public charge, that they were beforehand with them, and the clergy were all outlawed, and their possessions seised into the king’s hands. This so humbled the clergy that they at last consented to meet. And to take away all pretence, there was a summons, besides the _præmunientes_ clause, to the archbishop, that he should summon the bishops, deans, archdeacons, colleges, and whole clergy of his province. From hence, therefore, the bishops, deans, archdeacons, colleges, and clergy, met by virtue of the archbishop’s summons; to which, being an ecclesiastical authority, they could not object. And so the bishops and clergy came to convocation by virtue of the archbishop’s summons; they esteeming it to be in his power, whether he would obey the king’s writ or not: but when he had issued his summons, they could not pretend it was not their duty to come. But the _præmunientes_ writ was not disused; because it directed the manner in which the clergy were to attend, to wit, the deans and archdeacons in person, the chapter by one, and the clergy by two proctors. So that the clergy were doubly summoned; first, by the bishop, to attend the parliament; and, secondly, by the archbishop, to appear in convocation. And that the archbishop might not appear to summon them solely in pursuance of the king’s writ, he for the most part varied in his summons from the king’s writ, both as to the time and place of their meeting. And lest it might be thought still (of which they were very jealous) that their power was derived from temporal authority, they sometimes met on the archbishop’s summons without the king’s writ; and in such convocation the king demanded supplies, and by such request owned the episcopal authority of convening. So that the king’s writ was reckoned by the clergy no more than one motive for their convening. From henceforward, instead of making one state of the kingdom, as the king designed, the clergy composed two ecclesiastical synods, i. e. of Canterbury and York, under the summons of each of the archbishops; and being forced into those two synods before mentioned, they sat and made canons, by which each respective province was bound, and gave aids and taxes to the king. But the archbishop of Canterbury’s clergy, and that of York, assembled each in their own province; and the king gratified the archbishops, by suffering this new body of convocation to be formed in the nature of a parliament. The archbishop sat as king; his suffragans sat in the upper house as his peers; the deans, archdeacons, and the proctor for the chapter represented the burghers; and the two proctors for the clergy, the knights of the shire. And so this body, instead of being one of the estates as the king designed, became an ecclesiastical parliament, to make laws, and to tax the possessions of the Church.

But although they thus sat as a parliament, and made laws for the Church, yet they did not make a part of the parliament properly so called. Sometimes indeed the lords, and sometimes the commons, were wont to send to the convocation for some of their body to give them advice in spiritual matters: but still this was only by way of advice; for the parliament have always insisted that their laws, by their own natural force, bind the clergy; as the laws of all Christian princes did in the first ages of the Church. And even the convocation tax always passed both houses of parliament, since it could not bind as a law till it had the consent of the legislature.

Thus the case stood when the act of submission (25 Henry VIII. c. 19) was made; by which it is enacted as followeth:—“Whereas the king’s humble and obedient subjects, the clergy of this realm of England, have not only acknowledged, according to the truth, that the convocation of the same clergy is, always hath been, and ought to be assembled only by the king’s writ; but also submitting themselves to the king’s Majesty have promised, _in verbo sacerdotii_, that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt, allege, claim, or put in ure, enact, promulge, or execute any new canons, constitutions, ordinances, provincial or other, or by whatsoever name they shall be called, in the convocation, unless the king’s most royal assent and licence may to them be had, to make, promulge, and execute the same, and that his Majesty do give his most royal assent and authority in that behalf: it is therefore enacted, according to the said submission, that they, nor any of them, shall presume to attempt, allege, claim, or put in ure any constitutions or ordinances provincial, by whatsoever name or names they may be called, in their convocations in time coming (which shall always be assembled by authority of the king’s writ); unless the same clergy may have the king’s most royal assent and licence to make, promulge, and execute such canons, constitutions, and ordinances, provincial or synodal; upon pain of every one of the said clergy doing contrary to this act, and being thereof convict, to suffer imprisonment, and make fine at the king’s will.”

It was resolved upon this statute, by the two chief justices and divers other justices, at a committee before the lords in parliament, in the eighth year of James I., 1. That a convocation cannot assemble at their convocation without the assent of the king. 2. That after their assembly they cannot confer, to constitute any canons, without licence of the king. 3. When they upon conference conclude any canons, yet they cannot execute any of their canons without the royal assent. 4. That they cannot execute any after the royal assent, but with these four limitations: (1.) that they be not against the prerogative of the king; nor (2.) against the common law; nor (3.) against the statute law; nor (4.) against any custom of the realm.

The clergy having continued to tax themselves in convocation as aforesaid, these assemblies were regularly kept up till the act of the 13 Charles II. c. 4, was passed, when the clergy gave their last subsidy: it being then judged more advantageous to continue the taxing them by way of landtax and poll-tax, as it had been in the time of the Long Parliament during the civil wars.

And in the year 1664, by a private agreement between Archbishop Sheldon and the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, and other the king’s ministers, it was concluded that the clergy should silently waive the privilege of taxing their own body, and permit themselves to be included in the money bills prepared by the commons. And this hath made convocations unnecessary to the Crown, and inconsiderable in themselves.

And since that time the clergy have been allowed to vote in choosing knights of the shire, as other freeholders, which in former times they did not.

And from that time the convocation has never passed any synodical act; and from thenceforth, until the year 1700, for the most part they were only called, and very rarely did so much as meet together in a full body, and with the usual solemnity. It is true that, during the remainder of King Charles the Second’s reign, when the office of prolocutor was void by death or promotion, so many of the lower house came together as were thought sufficient to choose a new one; and those members that were about the town commonly met, during parliament, once a week, had prayers read, and were formally continued till the parliament was dissolved, and the convocation together with it. And in King James the Second’s time, the writs issued out of course, but the members did not meet. In the year 1689, after the accession of William and Mary to the throne, a convocation was not only called, but began to sit in due form; but their resolutions came to nothing. And from thence till the year 1700 they were only called, but did not meet; but in that year, and ever since, at the meeting of the parliament, the convocation of the clergy has likewise been solemnly opened, and the lower clergy have been permitted to form themselves into a house, and to choose their prolocutor; nor have they been finally dismissed as soon as that solemnity was over, but they continued from time to time till the parliament hath broke up, or been dissolved. And now it seems to be agreed that they are of right to be assembled concurrently with parliaments, and may act and proceed as provincial councils, when her Majesty in her royal wisdom shall judge it expedient.

In Ireland, the convocations of the four provinces assembled all together in Dublin; and were formed exactly upon the model of those of England; consisting of the upper house, consisting of the bishops; and of the lower, consisting of deans, archdeacons, proctors of the chapters, and proctors of the clergy of each diocese.—See _Wilkins’s Concilia_, iv. 496, and for the rules and privileges of the convocation, iv. 632.

Mr. Stephens, in his Introduction to the Irish Common Prayer Book, (xxxvii. &c.,) remarks that, “In 1615, a convocation of the Irish clergy, formed after the model of the English convocation, assembled in Dublin. _This seems to have been the first convocation ever held in Ireland._ The clergy do not appear to have granted any subsidies, or ever to have claimed the right of taxing themselves.... In the reign of Henry VIII. there does not seem to be any reference of ecclesiastical matters to the convocation, nor any claim of exemption on the part of the clergy.” [He then quotes the preamble of 28 Henry VIII. c. 12.] “In the second year of Elizabeth a parliament was assembled, and no mention is made of a convocation, though acts with respect to the Church were passed. And in the third year of Elizabeth there was not any parliament, yet she signifies her pleasure to Lord Sussex, the lord lieutenant, for a general meeting of the clergy, and the establishment of the Protestant religion. This of course was an order to summon not a convocation, but the ancient synod of the clergy, which had the power of settling all matters concerning religion.... In Ireland the provincial synod had not been suspended, and by their consent given at three different times in the reign of Edward, ... the clergy revived the use of the English liturgy, and expressed their conformity to the doctrine of the English Church.” There is, indeed, a passage in the Manuscript Collections of Dudley Loftus, which has been adduced as proof of a convocation having been held in 1560: “This year was held a convocation of bishops at the queen’s command, for establishing the Protestant religion.” But he must have used the word _convocation_ merely “to express a meeting of the bishops, and would have adopted a very different phraseology to describe the meeting of the convocation.” See also _Ebrington’s_ Life of Ussher, 38–40. As before observed, (see _Church of Ireland_,) no provision whatever has been made since the Irish Union, for the assembling even formally of the convocation of the Irish province of the Church. Still it appears (vide 11 Parl. Reg. 164 and 274) that it was by no means intended that the Irish provinces should be deprived of their convocations. It was proposed on the 20th April, 1800, that the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of Ireland, should be summoned to sit in the convocation of the United Church. Mr. Pitt expressly said, in proposing the amendment to this resolution, “that the prosperity of the Church of Ireland never could be permanent, unless it be a part of the Union to have, as a guard, power to the United Parliament to make some provision in this respect;” i.e. convocation. “And afterwards,” he said, “it was judged better to omit the insertion of any provisional article respecting the convocation, till the Union actually took place.” This pledge has never been redeemed.—See an article on the _United Church and its Synods_, in the _Law Review_ for Feb. 1851.

In Scotland, by an act of parliament, 1663, an order was made for regulating the meetings of the national synod, or, as it is called in England, the convocation of the Church of Scotland; and an act was passed, That this synod shall consist of the two archbishops and their suffragans, all the deans and archdeacons, the fixed moderators, along with one minister of every presbytery, and one commissioner from each of the four universities: That the synod, then constituted, is to meet at such places and times as his Majesty by proclamation shall appoint, and is to debate, treat, consider, consult, conclude, and determine upon such pious matters, causes, and things, concerning the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this Church, as his Majesty shall, from time to time, under his loyal hand, deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the archbishop of St. Andrew’s, president of the said national assembly, to be by him offered to their consideration: That unless his Majesty or his commissioner be present, no national assembly can be held: And that no act, canon, order, or ordinance, shall be owned as an act of the national synod of the Church of Scotland, but such as shall have been considered, consulted, and agreed upon by the president and major part of the number above specified.—_Skinner’s Eccles. Hist. of Scotland._

COPE. (_Cappa_, called also pallium, or pluviale.) A kind of cloak worn during Divine service by the clergy. It reaches from the neck nearly to the feet, and is open in front, except at the top, where it is united by a band or clasp. It is in use in the Western Church only; and is probably only a modification of the vestment, or chasuble. The latter, in the Roman Church, is used by the officiating priest at mass only; the other, by all orders of the clergy in procession, &c., on solemn occasions. The rubrics of King Edward VI., still legally in force, prescribe a cope or vestment for the priest administering the holy communion, and for the bishops, when executing any public ministration in the church; for which a vestment may be substituted either by priest or bishop. By the 24th canon the cope only is prescribed to the priest administering the communion, and that only in cathedral churches. But the rubric being subsequently enacted, which refers to the regulation of Edward VI.’s First Prayer Book, the latter is more strictly to be considered as the law of the Church. It was used in several churches and college chapels in the 17th century, (see _Jebb’s Church Service_, p. 217,) and was in use at Durham cathedral and Westminster till the middle of the last century. De Foe, in his anonymous Tour through England, 1762, says that “the old vestments, which the clergy before the Reformation wore, are still used on Sundays and holidays, by the residents.” And Dr. Collis, in his _Rubric of the Church of England examined_, 1737, says that “no copes are worn at present in any cathedral or collegiate church in the ministration of the holy communion, except in the churches of Westminster and Durham.” The cope has always been worn by officiating bishops, and by the dean and prebendaries of Westminster at coronations, and occasionally at state funerals.

COPIATÆ. The office of the Copiatæ, (κοπιάω, to travail,) who are called in Latin _Fossarii_, was to superintend funerals, and to see that all persons had a decent burial. They performed their office gratuitously towards the poor.—_Cave._

COPTS. The Monophysite, or Jacobite, Christians of Egypt, who have been for eleven centuries in possession of the patriarchal chair of Alexandria, and the dominant sect among the Christians of that region, are called Copts. They were placed in possession of the Egyptian churches on the irruption of the Saracens in the seventh century. Their numbers are now perhaps about 100,000. They have three liturgies, one ascribed to St. Basil, which they use on fast days; that of St. Cyril, which they use in Lent; and that of St. Gregory, which they use on festivals. Their service is very much crowded with ceremonies. The Coptic tongue, in which their worship is conducted, is to them a dead language, and not even understood by many of their priests. Their habits of life are ascetic, and they have many monasteries. They have a patriarch, who resides at Cairo, but takes his title from Alexandria.

CORBEL. A bracket. A projection supporting a weight; and so _corbel-table_, a table or horizontal projection supported by corbels. Corbel-tables are almost confined to the Norman, Transition, and Early English periods. Corbels in other places are of course continued; they are often of extreme beauty.

CORDELIERS. (_Monks of the Order of St. Francis._) They wear coarse grey cloth with a little cowl, and a rope girdle with three knots; from this girdle they are called Cordeliers. They are the same with the Minorites; but had the name of Cordeliers given them upon this occasion, they having repulsed the infidels in a war which St. Louis made against them, the king asked their name, and was answered, they were _des Gens des Cordelies_—people with cords about them. (See _Franciscans_.)

CORONATION. The solemn religious rite by which a sovereign prince is consecrated to his high office, in which also the queen consort in Christian countries is usually associated with her husband, not for office’ sake, but _honoris gratia_.

By ancient custom the coronation of the sovereign of England belongs to the archbishop of Canterbury, and that of the queen consort to the archbishop of York. The place is Westminster Abbey. The kings of Scotland were crowned at Scone.

According to Mr. Palmer, (Supplement,) the coronation of sovereigns may be traced to A. D. 457, when Leo was crowned emperor by Anatolius, patriarch of Constantinople. Pepin was the first French monarch who was crowned. The first coronation in England was that of Egferth king of Mercia; and we have still the forms used in the time of the Heptarchy, from which our coronation service (slightly modified from time to time) is substantially derived.—See _Dr. Silver’s Coronation Service, or Consecration of the Anglo-Saxon Kings_.

It is a form of immemorial prescription, substantially the same as that used at the inauguration of our Christian monarchs in Saxon times, and sanctioned by the solemn approval of all the estates of the realm, the nobility, the clergy, and the people, assembled at its celebration. The prayers are framed in the best spirit of antiquity, with the rhythm so characteristic of primitive forms, and with an elevation and majesty of sentiment unsurpassed in any part of our liturgy. The service is, however, peculiarly valuable, as recording certain high religious and political principles, which of course must be considered as receiving the full sanction of the Church and nation. Thus, there is an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of CHRIST over the whole world, and the derivation of all kingly power from Him. “When you see this orb set under the cross, remember that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ our Redeemer. For He is the Prince of the kings of the earth, King of kings, and Lord of lords; so that no man can reign happily, who derives not his authority from Him, and directs not all his actions according to His laws.” It is declared that Christian sovereigns, like the Jewish kings of old, are consecrated to the fulness of their office by the religious rite of unction, and that their function is not merely secular. “Bless and sanctify thy chosen servant Victoria, who by our office and ministry is now to be anointed with this oil, and consecrated Queen of this realm.” There is a strict recognition of the prerogative of the clergy, empowered as the ministers of CHRIST, to assert the dominion of our LORD, who exalts her to her holy dignity: “Stand firm and hold fast from henceforth the seat and the state of royal and imperial dignity, which is this day delivered to you in the name and by the authority of Almighty God, and by the hands of us the bishops and servants of God, though unworthy: and as you see us to approach nearer to God’s altar, so vouchsafe the more graciously to continue to us your royal favour and protection. And the Lord God Almighty, whose ministers we are, and the stewards of his mysteries, establish you therein in righteousness, that it may stand fast for evermore.”—_Palmer._

CORNET. A species of horn or trumpet formerly much used in the Church service; in the king’s chapel especially. Dr. Rimbault, in his Notes on Roger North’s Memoirs of Music, states, that in the Statutes of Canterbury cathedral, provision is made for players on sackbuts and _cornets_, on high festivals. After the Restoration, as appears from North’s Life of Guildford, the cornet was used at Durham and York cathedrals; and Matthew Lock says, that for about a year after the opening of the Royal Chapel, the cornet was used to supply the want of treble voices.

Evelyn, in his Memoirs, (21 Dec. 1663,) complains of violins being substituted in the Royal Chapel, “instead of the ancient, grave, and solemn wind-music, accompanying the organ:” and that “we no more heard the _cornet_, which gave life to the organ, that instrument quite left off, in which the English were so skilful.”—_Jebb._

CORPORAL. This is the name given to the linen cloth which is spread over the body, (_corpus_,) or consecrated bread, after the communion. It was of common use in the Church in the fifth century, as is evident from the testimony of Isidore of Pelusium, who observes that the design of using it was to represent the body of our SAVIOUR being wrapped in fine linen by Joseph of Arimathea.

The direction concerning this “fair linen cloth” in our Order of the Holy Communion is as follows: “When all have communicated, the minister shall return to the LORD’S table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth.” Our reformers may have been influenced in their retention of this decent ceremony after consecration, as a protest against the elevation of the host, and “gazing” at the sacrament.

CORPUS CHRISTI, FEAST OF. A Roman festival, instituted by Pope Urban IV., A. D. 1264, and observed on the Thursday of the week after Pentecost. The institution was the natural result of the acceptance of the doctrine of transubstantiation. Hildebert of Tours was the first who made use of the high-sounding term _transubstantiatio_. Most of the earlier scholastics, and the disciples of Lanfranc in particular, had, however, previously defended both the doctrine of the change of the bread into the body of CHRIST, and that of the _accidentia sine subjecto_; but it was not made an article of faith till the time of Innocent III. By the institution of the Corpus Christ day, by Urban, this doctrine was expressed in a liturgical form, and its popularity was secured. The festival was established in honour of the consecrated host, and with a view to its adoration. Its origin is connected with some of those “lying wonders,” in which we read one of the marks of the scriptural condemnation of the Church of Rome. The Romish legend states that, in 1230, Juliana, a nun of Liege, while looking at the full moon, saw a gap in its orb; and, by a peculiar revelation from heaven, learned that the moon represented the Christian Church, and the gap the want of a certain festival—that of the adoration of the body of CHRIST in the consecrated host—which she was to begin to celebrate, and announce to the world. In 1264, while a priest at Bolsena, who did not believe in the change of the bread into the body of CHRIST, was going through the ceremony of benediction, drops of blood fell on his surplice, and when he endeavoured to conceal them in the folds of his garment, formed bloody images of the host. The bloody surplice is still shown as a relic at Civita Vecchia. It was in this year that Pope Urban published his bull, and it is with such authority that the Church of Rome is contented!

CORSNED. (See _Ordeal_.)

COUNCILS. (See _Synod_.) _General_ or _œcumenical_ councils, or synods, are assemblies of bishops from all parts of the Church, to determine some weighty controversies of faith or discipline. Of such councils the Catholic or Universal Church has never received or approved more than six, although the Romish Church acknowledges several others. This is one of the many instances in which the Romish Church is at variance with the Catholic Church. The first Catholic Council is that of Nice, which was convened by the emperor Constantine, A. D. 325, to terminate the controversy raised by Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, who denied the Divinity of the SON of GOD, maintaining that he was a creature brought forth from nothing, and susceptible of vice and virtue. The council condemned his doctrine as heretical, and declared the faith of the Church in that celebrated creed called the Nicene Creed, which is repeated by us in the Communion Service, and which has, ever since its promulgation, been received and venerated by the Universal Church, and even by many sects and heretics. This council also made several regulations in matters of discipline. The second general council was that of Constantinople, assembled by the emperor Theodosius the Elder, in 381, to appease the troubles of the East. The heresy of Macedonius, who blasphemously taught that the HOLY GHOST was a creature, was herein anathematized, and the Nicene Creed was brought into its present form by the addition of some passages concerning the orthodox doctrine of the incarnation, and of the real Divinity of the HOLY GHOST. The third general council was assembled at Ephesus, A. D. 431, by the emperor Theodosius the Younger, to determine the controversy raised by Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, who declaimed against the title of _Theotokos_, (Mother of GOD,) which the Church had long applied to the mother of him who was both GOD and man; and taught that the Son of man and GOD the Word were different persons, connected only by a moral or apparent union, contrary to the Scripture, which declared that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and that GOD purchased the Church “with his own blood.” (Acts xx. 28.) By this council the Nestorian heretics were condemned. The fourth general council was assembled by the emperor Marcian, in 451, at Chalcedon. This council published a confession, or definition of faith, in which the doctrine and creed of the three preceding Councils of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus, were confirmed, and the orthodox doctrine of the existence of two perfect and distinct natures, the Divine and human, in the unity of the person of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, was clearly defined. Eutyches, and Dioscorus bishop of Alexandria, who maintained that there was only one nature in our LORD JESUS CHRIST, after the incarnation or union of the Divinity and humanity, were condemned as heretics by this council. The fifth general council, commonly called the Second Council of Constantinople, was convened by the emperor Justinian, in 553; but it is only to be viewed as a supplement to the third general council, being engaged like it in condemning the Nestorian heresy. The sixth council, called the Third Council of Constantinople, was assembled in 680, by the emperor Constantine Pogonatus. It stands in the same relation to the fourth council that the fifth does to the third. “These are the only councils,” says Mr. Palmer, “which the Universal Church has ever received and approved as general.” The doctrine of these general councils, having been approved and acted on by the whole body of the Catholic Church, and thus ratified by an universal consent, which has continued ever since, is irrefragably true, unalterable, and irreformable; nor could any Church forsake or change the doctrine without ceasing to be Christian.

In the act of the first of Elizabeth ... the commissioners, in their judgment of heresies, were enjoined to adhere, in the first place, to the authority of the canonical Scriptures; secondly, to the decisions of the first four general councils; and thirdly, to the decision of any other general council, founded on the _express_ and _plain_ words of Holy Scripture. In this act, one particular deserves, and demands, very special attention; namely, the unqualified deference paid to the first four general councils. The latest of these councils sat and deliberated in the year 451. A point of time, therefore, is fixed, previously to which the Church of England unreservedly recognises the guidance of the Catholic Church, in the interpretation of Christian verities.—_Bishop Jebb, Appendix to Practical Sermons._

_Provincial_ councils consist of the metropolitan and the bishops subject to him. _Diocesan_ councils are assemblies of the bishop and his presbyters to enforce canons made by general or provincial councils, and to consult and agree upon rules of discipline for themselves. (For an account of the Romish councils, see _Lateran_. For the authority of councils in the Church of England, see _Heresy_.)

COUNSEL. Besides the common signification of the word, it is frequently used in Scripture to signify the designs or purposes of GOD, or the orders of his providence. (Acts iv. 28, and Psalm lxxiii. 24.) It also signifies his will concerning the way of salvation. (Luke vii. 30; Acts xx. 27.)

This word is also used by the doctors of the Romish Church, to denote those precepts which they hold to be binding upon the faithful, in virtue of an implied direction or recommendation of our LORD and his apostles. Thus the celibacy of the clergy is numbered by them among “evangelical counsels,” which, receiving the acceptance of the Church, they hold, heretically, to be equally binding with the commands of canonical Scripture.

COURT CHRISTIAN. The ecclesiastical courts are so designated. In the Church of England there are six spiritual courts.

1. _The Archdeacon’s Court_, which is the lowest, and is held in such places where the archdeacon, either by prescription or composition, has jurisdiction in spiritual or ecclesiastical causes within his archdeaconry. The judge of this court is called the official of the archdeaconry.

2. The _Consistory Courts_ of the archbishops and bishops of every diocese, held in their cathedral churches, for trial of all ecclesiastical causes within the diocese. The bishop’s chancellor or commissary is the judge.

3. The _Prerogative Court_, held at Doctors’ Commons, in London, in which all testaments and last wills are proved, and administrations upon the estates of intestates granted, where the party dies beyond seas or within his province, leaving _bona notabilia_.

4. The _Arches Court_, (so called because anciently held in the _arched_ church of St. Mary, in Cheapside, London,) is that which has jurisdiction upon appeal in all ecclesiastical causes, except what belong to the Prerogative Court. The judge is the official principal of the archbishop.

5. The _Court of Peculiars_, of the archbishop of Canterbury, subservient to, and in connexion with, that of the Arches.

6. The _Court of Delegates_, so called because the judges are delegated and sit in virtue of the king’s commission, under the great seal, _pro hac vice_, upon appeals to the king on ecclesiastical matters. The powers of this court are now in England transferred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It remains in Ireland. (See _Delegates_, and _Appeal_.)

COVENANT. A mutual agreement between two or more parties. (Gen. xxi. 32.) In the Hebrew the word signifies, 1. A disposition, dispensation, institution, or appointment of GOD to man. (Hebrews ix. 16, 17, 20.) 2. The religious dispensation or institution which GOD appointed to Abraham and the patriarchs. (Acts iii. 25; Luke i. 72; Acts vii. 8.) 3. The dispensation from Sinai. (Heb. viii. 9; Gal. iv. 24.) 4. The dispensation of faith and free justification, of which CHRIST is the MEDIATOR, (Heb. vii. 22–viii. 6,) and which is called _new_ in respect of the _old_ or Sinai covenant, (2 Cor. iii. 6; Heb. viii. 8, 13; ix. 15,) and whence the New Covenant or Testament became the title of the books in which this new dispensation is contained. Into this covenant we are admitted by union with CHRIST; and into union with CHRIST all infants, and such adults as are properly qualified by faith and repentance, may be admitted in holy baptism. (Gal. iii. 27.) 5. The old dispensation is used for the books of Moses containing that dispensation by St. Paul. (2 Cor. iii. 14.)

We renew our baptismal covenant in our confirmation, and in each faithful participation of the eucharist.

COVENANT OF REDEMPTION. This is said to be the mutual stipulation between the everlasting FATHER and the co-eternal SON, relating to the salvation of our fallen race, previously to any act upon the part of CHRIST under the character of Mediator. That there was such a covenant, either tacit or express, we may assuredly conclude, from the importance of the work undertaken by GOD the Son, and the awful sacrifice made for its accomplishment. All the prophecies which relate to what was to be done by the MESSIAH on the one hand, and the benefits and rewards which were to be conferred upon him and his people on the other, may properly be considered as intimations of such a covenant. (1 Pet. i. 11. Compare John xvii. 1–5, 14; vi. 37; Tit. i. 2; 2 Tim. i. 9; Rev. xiii. 8; Ps. lxxxix. 19.)

By this covenant, the everlasting SON, who, with the FATHER and the HOLY SPIRIT, is without beginning, GOD of God, Light of light, very GOD of very God, undertook to become incarnate, to dwell a certain time upon earth, subject to the law of human nature; directing his whole conduct while he should continue here, in such a manner as most effectually to promote the honour of his Father and the salvation of his people; that at length he would voluntarily deliver himself to sufferings and death, and remain for a time in the grave; thereby, in human nature, offering a satisfaction to the law of perfect obedience to the will of the Creator, which human nature had violated, and removing the obstacle to the operation of Divine mercy, which Divine justice interposed; also, that, after his resurrection and ascension into heaven, he would employ his renewed life as the GOD-Man, and his extensive authority in the mediatorial kingdom, to the same great purposes which engaged him to become incarnate. (Ps. xl. 6–9; Heb. x. 5–10; Isa. lxi. 1–3; Luke iv. 18; Isa. i. 5, 6.) GOD the Father, on the other hand, stipulated to produce a human body for his co-eternal SON, in the womb of the Virgin; that he would strengthen his human nature by the gifts and graces of the HOLY SPIRIT, for the extraordinary work before him; that he would raise him from the dead, and elevate his human nature to the right hand of power; and that he would accept the atonement when offered. It is added, that GOD the Holy Ghost stipulated to regenerate, renew, and sanctify those of mankind, whom GOD the Father gave to his Son. (Besides the texts given above, see Isa. vii. 14; xi. 2, &c.; lii. 13–15; liii. 10–12; lv. 4, 5; xlix. 1–12, compared with Luke ii. 32; 2 Cor. vi. 2; Rev. vii. 16, 17; Ps. ii. 7–9; Luke xxii. 29; John v. 22–29; Heb. xii. 2.)

COVENANT, in ecclesiastical history, denotes a contract or convention agreed to by the Scots in 1638, for maintaining the Presbyterian religion free from innovation. In 1581, the general assembly of Scotland drew up a confession of faith, or national covenant, condemning the episcopal government of the Christian Church, under the name of hierarchy. It was signed by James VI., who was compelled to enjoin it upon all his subjects. It was again subscribed in 1590 and 1596; and, in 1638, it was taken with an oath on the part of the subscribers, to maintain religion in the state it was in in 1580. The oath annexed to the confession of faith received the name of _Covenant_, and those who subscribed it were called _Covenanters_. (See _Confession of Faith_, _Westminster_.)

CREDENCE, or CREDENTIAL. A table or shelf near the altar, on which the bread and wine to be used in the eucharist are placed, previously to consecration, called in the Greek Church τράπεζα προθεσέος, _mensa propositionis_. The table of Prothesis in the Greek Church is placed in a side vestry; and here many prefatory prayers and ceremonies are performed, before the priest goes into the chancel. The word _credence_ appears to be derived from the Italian “_credenzare_,” to taste meats and drink before they were offered to be enjoyed by another; an ancient court practice, which was performed by the cup-bearers and carvers, who for this reason were also called in German _credenzer_. Hence also the _credenz-teller_—credence-plate, on which cup-bearers _credenced_ the wine; and, in general, a plate on which a person offers anything to another: _credenztisch_, credence-table, a sideboard, an artificial cupboard with a table for the purpose of arranging in order and keeping the drinking apparatus therein. (See _Adelung’s German Dictionary_, word “_Credenzen_.”) This table or shelf is used for the more convenient observance of the rubric following the Offertory sentences, in which it is directed: “And when there is a communion, the priest shall THEN place upon the table so much bread and wine as he shall think sufficient.” Where the staff of the clergy is large, the rubric can be conveniently observed without this aid. Archbishop Laud, (_Troubles and Tryal_, ch. 33,) in his chapel at Lambeth, had a credential, (or side-table,) from which the elements were fetched, and set reverently upon the communion table. He defends this, by saying that both Bishop Andrewes and some other bishops used it so all their time, and no exception taken. From the plan of the chapel of Bishop Andrewes, in Archbishop Laud’s possession, and adduced as evidence against him by Prynne, it appears that the credential was placed on the south side of the communion table, the vessels for the communion being placed upon it. There are many credences in various churches; among others, in the collegiate and in St. John’s churches, Manchester, and in the parish church at Ludlow, where they have been in use from time immemorial.—_Jebb._

CREED. (See _Apostles’ Creed_, _Athanasian Creed_, _Nicene Creed_.) By the word _creed_ (from _credo_, I believe) is meant the substance of the Christian’s faith. There are three creeds recognised by the Catholic Church,—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. The Latin name for creed is _symbolum_, which signifies a watchword, or signal in war. Ludolph of Saxony, in his Life of CHRIST, describes the creeds of the Catholic Church thus: “There are three symbols, (watchwords or tokens, such as are used among soldiers of a garrison, to recognise their comrades, and to detect insidious intruders,)—the first of the Apostles, the second of the Nicene Council, the third of St. Athanasius; the first for instruction in the faith, the second for the explanation of the faith, the third for defence of the faith.” Three in name, but one in fact, and which, except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

The cause of a gradual adoption of a series of creeds is simply this: the truth being but one and unvarying, the plain assertion of it is, in the first instance, all that is necessary, all that can be done for it: and this was done by the Apostles’ Creed. Error, on the other hand, is multiform; and consequently, as error upon error continued to rise, correctives unthought of before were to be found to meet the exigency: hence the Nicene Creed. Again, subsequent to that, new errors were broached, the old were revived, clever evasions of the terms of the existing creeds were invented, the vehemence of opponents was increased; but all desiring still, with all their mischievous errors, to be within the pale of the Church, it became still more imperatively necessary to fence in the Church from such dangers; and the creed called that of St. Athanasius, was compiled from the logical forms of expression which prevail in his writings, and those of similar champions of the catholic faith, and was very soon adopted by the Church as an additional bulwark to preserve that faith in its original integrity and purity. Luther calls this creed, “the bulwark of the Apostles’ Creed.”

It is a mistake to imagine that creeds were, at first, intended to teach, in full and explicit terms, all that should be necessary to be believed by Christians. They were designed rather for hints and minutes of the main _credenda_, to be recited by catechumens before baptism; and they were purposely contrived short, that they might be the more easily retained in memory, and take up the less time in reciting. Creeds, very probably, at first, were so far from being paraphrases or explications of the form of baptism, (or of Scripture texts,) that they went no farther, or very little farther, than the form itself, and wanted as much explaining and paraphrasing, in order to be rightly and distinctly understood, as any other words or forms could do. Hence it was that the catechumens were to be instructed in the creed, previously to baptism, for many days together. As heresies gave occasion, new articles were inserted; not that they were originally of greater importance than any other articles omitted, but the opposition made to some doctrines rendered it the more necessary to insist upon an explicit belief and profession of them.—_Waterland’s Sermons on the Divinity of Christ._

As the apostles had foretold, “false teachers” crept into the Church, and “privily brought in damnable heresies, denying the LORD that bought them,” even “the only LORD GOD, and our LORD JESUS CHRIST.” (2 Pet. ii. 1, and Jude 4.) As these spread their poison, it became necessary to provide an antidote; for which purpose it was wisely ordered, that creeds, or summaries of the Christian faith, should be drawn up, and published for general use.—_Waldo._

As to the primitive Churches, their constant way was to enlarge their creeds in proportion to the growth of heresies, that so every corruption arising to the faith of CHRIST might have an immediate remedy. The design was to keep up, as strictly as possible, the whole fabric of the Christian faith as it stands in Scripture; and if any part came to be attacked, they were then to bend all their cares to succour and relieve that part, in order still to secure the whole. The sum of Christian practice is contained in two brief rules,—to love GOD, and to love one’s neighbour. But mistakes and perverse sentiments may arise; to correct and remove which it may be necessary to enlarge the rule of practice, and to branch it out into many other particulars.—_Waterland on the Athanasian Creed._

If our creeds be found fault with for not being expressed in scriptural terms only, let them bear the blame who, by an artful misapplication of Scripture terms at first, made it necessary for the guardians of the faith to express the Scripture doctrine in other terms, more explicit, and not so liable to be perverted and abused.—_Wheatly on the Creeds._

We must ever lament that the misapplied curiosity of men should have made it at all necessary to enlarge upon mysterious doctrines. It might have been fortunate for the peace and tranquillity of the Christian Church, if the Apostles’ Creed had been sufficient. But since men will be “wise above what is written,” some remedy must be found out, which may either satisfy or restrain their curiosity. And whoever peruses the several parts of the Athanasian Creed will find, that, so far from creating minute inquiries concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, it is more especially calculated to discountenance and prevent them. Sublime truths require modesty and caution in our expressions; and whatever checks presumption, prepares the mind for the reception of sound and useful doctrine. The abuse of Scriptural language first occasioned a deviation from it in creeds, and common candour will compel all parties to acknowledge the difficulty of finding proper words to express so much as it was intended for us to know, and no more.—_Croft’s Bamp. Lectures._

CREED OF POPE PIUS IV. A succinct and explicit summary of the doctrine contained in the canons of the Council of Trent, is expressed in the creed which was published by Pius IV. in 1564, in the form of a bull, and which usually bears his name. It is received throughout the whole Roman Catholic Church; every person who is admitted into the Roman Catholic Church publicly reads and professes his assent to it. It is by these additional articles to the Nicene Creed, that the Romish Church cuts itself off from the Church Catholic, and becomes heretical.

The tenor of it is as follows: “I, N., believe and profess, with a firm faith, all and every one of the things which are contained in the Symbol of Faith, which is used in the holy Roman Church, viz.

“I believe in one GOD the FATHER Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one LORD JESUS CHRIST, the only begotten SON of GOD, Light of light, true GOD of true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial to the FATHER, by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the HOLY GHOST of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the FATHER, and will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end; and in the HOLY GHOST, the LORD and Life-giver, who proceeds from the FATHER and the SON; who, together with the FATHER and the SON, is adored and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins, and I expect the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

“I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions and observances of the same Church.

“I also admit the sacred Scriptures according to the sense which the holy mother Church has held, and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; nor will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

“I profess also, that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by JESUS CHRIST our LORD, and for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for every one; viz. baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony, and that they confer grace; and of these, baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be reiterated without sacrilege.

“I also receive and admit the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, received and approved in the solemn administration of all the above-said sacraments.

“I receive and embrace all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent, concerning original sin and justification.

“I profess likewise, that in the mass is offered to GOD a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our LORD JESUS CHRIST; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation.

“I confess also, that, under either kind alone, whole and entire, CHRIST and a true sacrament is received.

“I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful.

“Likewise that the saints reigning together with CHRIST, are to be honoured and invocated, that they offer prayers to GOD for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.

“I most firmly assert, that the images of CHRIST, and of the Mother of _God_ ever virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained; and that due honour and veneration are to be given to them.

“I also affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by CHRIST in the Church; and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.

“I acknowledge the holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all Churches; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman bishop, the successor of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, and vicar of JESUS CHRIST.

“I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever condemned and anathematized by the Church.

“This true catholic faith, out of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, I, N., promise, vow, and swear most constantly to hold and profess the same, whole and entire, with GOD’S assistance, to the end of my life. Amen.”

CRESSELLE. An instrument of wood, made use of in the Romish Church during Passion week, instead of bells, to give notice of Divine service. This is done in imitation of the primitive Christians, who, they suppose, made use of such an instrument, before the invention of bells, to call their brethren secretly to prayers. There are mysteries in the _Cresselle_. It represents CHRIST praying on the cross, and calling nations to his preaching; as also his humility, &c.—_Jebb._

CREST. (In ecclesiastical architecture.) An ornamental finish at the top of a screen, or other subordinate feature.

CROSIER. A crosier is the pastoral staff of an archbishop, and is to be distinguished from the pastoral staff of a bishop; the latter terminating in an ornamented crook, while the crosier always terminates in a cross. At the end of the Common Prayer Book established in the second year of Edward VI., which is referred to as still obligatory, so far as the ornaments of the church and of the ministers thereof are concerned, in the rubric immediately before the Morning Prayer it is ordered,—“Whensoever the bishop shall celebrate the holy communion, or execute any other public office, he shall have upon him, besides his rochet, an alb, and cope or vestment, _and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne by his chaplain_.”

CROSS. The cross was the instrument of death to our most blessed LORD and SAVIOUR, and it has been considered in all ages by the Church as the most appropriate emblem, or symbol, of the Christian religion. The sign of the cross was made in the primitive Church in some part of almost every Christian office. The Church of England, in the constitutions of 1603, has a long canon (the 30th) on this subject, wherein it is said: “The HOLY GHOST, by the mouths of the apostles, did honour the name of the cross, being hateful among the Jews, so far that, under it, he comprehended not only CHRIST crucified, but the force, effects, and merits of his death and passion, with all the comforts, fruits, and promises which we receive or expect thereby. Secondly, the honour and dignity of the name of the cross begat a reverent estimation even in the apostles’ times, for aught that is known to the contrary, of the sign of the cross, which the Christians shortly after used in all their actions; thereby making an outward show and profession, even to the astonishment of the Jews, that they were not ashamed to acknowledge him for their LORD and SAVIOUR, who died for them upon the cross. And this sign they not only used themselves, with a kind of glory, when they met with any Jews, but signed therewith their children, when they were christened, to dedicate them by that badge to his service, whose benefits bestowed upon them in baptism, the name of the cross did represent. And this use of the sign of the cross was held in the primitive Church, as well by the Greeks as by the Latins, with one consent, and great applause. At which time, if any had opposed themselves against it, they would certainly have been censured as enemies of the name of the cross, and consequently of CHRIST’S merits, the sign whereof they could no better endure. This continual and general use of the sign of the cross, is evident by many testimonies of the ancient Fathers. Thirdly, it must be confessed that, in process of time, the sign of the cross was greatly abused in the Church of Rome, especially after that corruption of Popery had once possessed it. But the abuse of a thing doth not take away the lawful use of it. Nay, so far was it from the purpose of the Church of England to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, or any such like Churches, in all things that they held and practised, that, as Bishop Jewel’s “Apology of the Church of England” confesseth, it doth with reverence retain those ceremonies which do neither endamage the Church of GOD, nor offend the minds of sober men; and only departed from them in those particular points wherein they were fallen, both from themselves in their ancient integrity, and from the apostolical Churches which were their first founders. In which respect, amongst some other very ancient ceremonies, the sign of the cross in baptism hath been retained in this Church, both by the judgment and practice of those reverend fathers and grave divines in the days of King Edward VI., of whom some constantly suffered for the profession of the truth; and others, being exiled in the time of Queen Mary, did, after their return, in the beginning of the reign of our late dread sovereign, continually defend and use the same.”

The sign of the cross is appointed to be used at baptism. After the priest hath baptized the child, he receives it into the congregation, by this solemnity declaring that he is by baptism made a member of the Church. (1 Cor. xii. 13.) “We are all baptized into one body.” And when he thus receives it, he signs it with the sign of the cross, as of old it was wont, according to St. Augustine; and on the forehead, the seat of blushing and shame, that he may not hereafter blush and be ashamed of the disgraced cross of CHRIST, as St. Cyprian saith. By this badge is the child dedicated to his service, whose benefits, bestowed upon him in baptism, the name of the cross in Holy Scripture does represent. Whosoever desires to be fully satisfied concerning the use of the cross in baptism, let him read the thirtieth canon of our Church, in the year 1603.—_Bp. Sparrow._

The Church, studious to retain this ancient and universal ceremony of the purest primitive times, was also careful to decline all fear of superstitious intendment; as if she thought the sacrament imperfect without it. Therefore, whereas the primitive mode made it to usher in baptism, our Church inverted the order, and made it come after, and so to follow it, as she expressly first declareth, “the child to be received into the congregation of _Christ’s_ flock, as a perfect member thereof, and not by any power ascribed to the sign of the cross.” (Canon 30.) And further to assure all distrustful minds, that she maketh it not of the substance of the sacrament, she hath totally omitted it in the office of private baptism.—_L’ Estrange._

The child, being now baptized, is become a member of the Christian Church, into which the minister (as a steward of GOD’S family) doth solemnly receive it; and, for the clearer manifestation that it now belongs to CHRIST, solemnly signs it in the forehead with the sign of the “cross.” For the better understanding of which primitive ceremony, we may observe, that it was an ancient rite for masters and generals to mark the foreheads or hands of their servants and soldiers with their names or marks, that it might be known to whom they did belong; and to this custom the angel in the Revelation is thought to allude: “Hurt not the earth, &c., till we have sealed the servants of our GOD in their foreheads” (Rev. vii. 3): thus again the retinue of the LAMB are said to “have his FATHER’S name written in their foreheads” (chap. xiv. 1). And thus, lastly, in the same chapter, as CHRIST’S flock carried his mark on their foreheads, so did his great adversary the beast sign his servants there also: “If any man shall receive the mark of the beast in his forehead, or in his hand,” &c. (ver. 9). Now that the Christian Church might hold some analogy with those sacred applications, she conceived it a most significant ceremony in baptism, (which is our first admission into the Christian profession,) that all her children should be signed with the cross on their foreheads, signifying thereby their consignment up to CHRIST; whence it is often called by the ancient Fathers, the “LORD’S signet” and “CHRIST’S seal.”—_Wheatly._

The true sense and intention of the Church of England in appointing this sign appears from Dr. Burgess’s sense of the matter, which was accepted by King James the First, and affirmed by the archbishop of Canterbury [Bancroft] to be the sense of the Church. His words are these which follow:—“I know it is not made any part of the sacrament of baptism, which is acknowledged by the canon to be complete without it, and not perfected or bettered by it.

“I understand it not as any sacramental, or operative, or efficacious sign bringing any virtue to baptism, or the baptized.

“Where the book says, ‘and do sign him with the sign of the cross in token,’ &c., I understand the book not to mean, that the sign of the cross has any virtue in it to effect or further this duty; but only to intimate and express by that ceremony, by which the ancients did avow their profession of CHRIST crucified, what the congregation hopeth and expecteth hereafter from the infant; namely, that he shall not be ashamed to profess the faith of CHRIST crucified, into which he was even now baptized.

“And therefore also when the 30th canon saith, that the infant is ‘by that sign dedicated unto the service of CHRIST,’ I understand that dedication to import, not a real consecration of the child, which was done in baptism itself; but only a ceremonial declaration of that dedication, like as the priest is said to make clean the leper, whose being clean he only declared.”

The Church’s use of the sign of the cross and her expressions concerning it, are fairly capable of this construction; and so authentic a declaration is sufficient to satisfy any sober inquirer, that this sense not only may be, but ought to be, received.—_Dr. Bennet._

The heathens were wont to deride the Christians, and to speak disdainfully of them, as worshippers of a malefactor crucified. To encounter which reproach, and to show that they “gloried in the cross of CHRIST,” (Gal. vi. 14,) taking it to be an honour, not an ignominy; they assumed this ceremony of signing themselves with the cross, both in baptism, and at several other times. And this sign being significant of a duty to be elicited by future practice, good reason had our Church to continue it.—_L’ Estrange._

It is, in brief, a mark, by which we, as the primitive Christians did, declare our religion, and no more than that, wherewith we conclude all our prayers and thanksgivings, when we say through JESUS CHRIST our LORD and SAVIOUR.—_Clutterbuck._

Upon the whole, the ceremony is exceeding proper, and very innocent; used by most Christians; approved by all the ancients, and by some of the most eminent reformed divines expressly; and condemned by no Church: so that, if this ceremony be rejected by any, they ought to consider that the fault is in themselves, not in the thing, at which offence is taken, but none justly given, if the Church be but rightly understood.—_Dean Comber._

CRUCIFIX. A cross upon which a sculptured or carved image of the body of our LORD is fastened. It is much used by the Romanists and the Lutheran Protestants, to excite in their minds a strong idea of our SAVIOUR’S passion. It has never been used in the Church of England since the Reformation, on the ground of its having been abused to superstition and idolatry.

CRUSADE. A name given to the Christian expeditions against the infidels, for the recovery of the Holy Land out of their hands, because they who engaged themselves in the undertaking wore a cross on their clothes, and had one in their standards. There were eight crusades. The first, in 1096, at the solicitation of the Greek emperor and patriarch of Jerusalem. Peter the Hermit, who was the preacher of this crusade, was made general of a great army, a thing that did not very well agree with his profession, being a priest; and all the princes,—Hugo the Great, count of Vermandois, brother to Philip I. king of France; Robert, duke of Normandy; Robert, count of Flanders; Raymond, count of Toulouse and St. Giles; Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lorraine, with his brothers, Baldwin and Eustace; Stephen, count of Chartres and Blois; Hugo, count of St. Paul, with a great number of other lords, took different ways to meet at Constantinople. The first who marched his troops was the famous Godfrey de Bouillon, who had a greater share than any of the rest in this undertaking, though not the command of the whole army. He commenced his march Aug. 15, 1096, with 10,000 horse and 70,000 foot; and before the other princes were come to Constantinople, passing the Hellespont, besieged Nice, which, notwithstanding the double-dealing of the Greek emperor Alexis, after six weeks’ siege, was surrendered to him; after which he victoriously entered Syria and took Antioch. Jerusalem was taken in 1099, and Godfrey of Bouillon chosen king; a little after which the Christians gained the famous battle of Ascalon against the sultan of Egypt; which victory put an end to the first crusade; for the princes and lords, with those who followed them, believing they had fully accomplished the vow they had made, took their leave of Godfrey, and returned to their respective countries.

The second crusade was in 1144, and this was headed by the emperor Conrad III. and Louis VII. of France: the emperor’s army was either destroyed by the enemy, or perished through the treachery of the Greek emperor and his brother-in-law; and the second army, through the unfaithfulness and treachery of the Christians of Syria, was forced to quit the siege of Damascus.

The third crusade was in 1188, after the taking of Jerusalem by Saladin, sultan of Egypt. The most distinguished persons engaged in this expedition were the emperor Frederick Barbarossa; Frederick, duke of Swabia, his second son; Leopold, duke of Austria; Berthold, duke of Moravia; Herman, marquis of Baden; the counts of Nassau, Thuringen, Meissen, and Holland, and above sixty more of the chief princes of the empire, with divers bishops. Barbarossa, in spite of the emperor of Constantinople, having got into Asia Minor, defeated the sultan at Iconium, but, drawing near to Syria, sickened and died in 1190: however his son Frederick led the army to Antioch, and joined with Guy, king of Jerusalem, in the siege of Ptolemais, but, failing of success, he died soon after, which proved the ruin of his army. Nevertheless, Richard, king of England, and Philip Augustus, king of France, arriving some months after in the Holy Land, with a great force, compelled Ptolemais to surrender, July 12, 1191. After which, Philip returned home in discontent, while the brave King Richard concluded a peace with Saladin, upon these conditions,—that all the coast from Joppa to Tyre should be left to the Christians, and that Saladin should have all the rest of Palestine, except Ascalon, which was to belong to the party who, at the end of the truce, obtained possession of it; and that, during the truce, which was to last three years, three months, three weeks, and three days, it should be lawful for the Christians to go to Jerusalem in small companies, to pay their devotions there.

The fourth was undertaken in 1195, by the emperor Henry VI., after Saladin’s death: his army started for the Holy Land three several ways, and, he himself at length arriving at Ptolemais, the Christians gained several battles against the infidels, and took many towns; but the death of the emperor compelled them to quit the Holy Land, and return into Germany.

The fifth crusade was published by the artifice of Pope Innocent III. in 1198. Most of the adventurers in this expedition employed themselves in taking Zara for the Venetians, and afterwards in making war against the Greek emperor; and those who proceeded to Palestine suffered a defeat in 1204.

The sixth crusade began in 1228, in which the Christians took the town of Damietta, but were forced to surrender it again. The emperor Frederick, in 1229, went to the Holy Land, and next year made a peace with the sultan for ten years, upon these conditions—that the sultan should deliver to the Christians the towns of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Tyre, and Sidon, but the temple of Jerusalem should be left to the Saracens, to perform the free exercise of their law; after which the emperor returned home. About 1240, Richard, earl of Cornwall, and brother to Henry III., king of England, arrived in Palestine, but, finding all efforts useless, while the Templars and Hospitallers continued their disputes and private animosities, he, with the advice of the duke of Burgundy, the great master of the Hospitallers, and chief persons of the crusade, accepted the advantageous conditions the sultan offered, whereby the Christians were to enjoy some lands in Palestine, then in the soldan’s possession. In 1244, the Corasmins, the descendants of the ancient Parthians, fell upon the Christians in Palestine, and almost extirpated them.

The seventh crusade was led by St. Louis, king of France, who appeared before Damietta, after the feast of Whitsuntide, in 1249. He took it, but after some battles his army was at last defeated, and himself taken prisoner; after which a truce was concluded for ten years, and the Christians were to keep what they were in possession of, except Damietta, which was to be delivered to the sultan for the king’s ransom, with a great sum of money; this done, the king sailed for Syria, and having put Acre and other sea-ports in a good condition, returned home in 1254.

The same prince put himself at the head of the eighth crusade in 1270, and laying siege to Tunis without success, died there: but his son, Philip the Bold, and Charles, king of Sicily, afterwards brought the king of Tunis to agree to a truce for ten years, upon condition that he should set all the slaves of his kingdom at liberty; that he should give the Dominican and Franciscan friars leave to preach the gospel in his territories, and build monasteries, and baptize all those that should desire it, besides a sum of money to be paid Charles yearly. About this time, Prince Edward of England arrived at Ptolemais with a small force of 300 men. He hindered Benzdoctar from laying siege to Ptolemais, but was obliged soon after to quit the Holy Land on account of his father’s death, and his consequent succession to the crown of England. In 1291 the town of Ptolemais, or Acre, was taken, and the Christians were driven out of Syria. Since which time there has been no crusade, though the popes have more than once attempted to stir up Christians to the undertaking.

CRYPT. The subterranean vault under any portion of a church. The original use of the crypt seems to have been to increase the number of places for altars; they were also sometimes used as places of burial, not as being set apart for that purpose, but that persons would desire to be buried before this or that altar, or in some particular place in the crypt, as they chose any part of the church for the same purpose.

The crypt is generally found under the east end of the church, and it is often the oldest part of it, and, as such, full of interest to the student of ecclesiastical architecture and antiquities. It often contains evidence of the form and extent of the church in its original condition, which would elsewhere be sought in vain. The most remarkable crypts in England are those of Canterbury, Gloucester, and Rochester. At Wrexham and Ripon portions of the Saxon remains are retained in the crypt, and at York the size and form of the Norman choir is displayed in the older portion of the crypt.

CULDEES. [_Kelidei_, or _Colidei_.] The name Culdee is derived from the Gaelic Gille De, (or Irish Ceile De,) which signifies God’s servant. There is an evident affinity between this and the _cultores Dei_ of the Latin: and the same affinity has been remarked between many of the Latin and Gallic words. There seems every reason for believing that the name of Culdees was bestowed on the indigenous clergy of the country from the time it was Christianized.—_Lyon’s Hist. of St. Andrews._

As to the Culdees, it is very certain that there was a sort of monks, and of secular priests also, who went under that appellation, not only among the Scots, but among the Britons and Irish, and even also among the northern English, who were first converted by the Scots, particularly in the cathedral of York.—_Goodall_, Preliminary Dissert. prefixed to _Bp. Russell’s_ edition of _Keith’s Scottish Bishops_.

The Culdees were, as far as antiquarians can discover, the first order of monks that settled in the British Isles; and wherever the Celtic language was used, whether in Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, the name of Culdee was given to every one, who, relinquishing the temporal pursuits of life, joined an association of a religious character, for the purpose of fasting, meditation, and prayer.—_Bishop Russell’s_ Supplement to the above Dissertation.

The name was not exclusively applied to the followers of St. Columba at Iona, but establishments of the Culdees were founded by Columba, a native of Ireland, in 563, and for a long period remained independent of the see of Rome, and free from the corruptions of that Church. The abbot of Iona was their head; not that he assumed episcopal authority (for the superiority of bishops, _quoad spiritualia_, was acknowledged even by Columba himself, who refused to consecrate the eucharist, as we are told by Adamnan in his Life of that abbot, in the presence of a bishop); but because he exercised full authority over his monks _quoad civilia_.—See _Lyon’s Hist. of St. Andrews_.

The Colidei, or Culdees in general, (as appears from the old authorities, and from Ware,) were in fact the ancient collegiate clergy of Ireland and Scotland; including those who led a monastic life, that is, under vows of celibacy; yet including communities of cathedral canons, who were frequently married, though living together near their cathedral, with an abbot or prior at their head. In Scotland the Culdees constituted the chapter of several cathedrals, and elected the bishop, as Mr. Goodall shows from charters and documents still extant. At St. Andrew’s they were the sole chapter and electors of the bishop till 1140, when canons regular were introduced, who shared the privileges of the Culdees till 1273. Great jealousy subsisted between these ancient communities, and the interior secular canons and monks; who in the course of time expelled or superseded the Culdees. There was no difference of doctrine however between them; for the Culdees, though originally independent of Rome, adopted Roman systems, like the other clergy. The causes of dispute were those differences in discipline, and those jealousies which have ever prevailed among rival communities. The Culdees had in many instances a kind of hereditary succession to their benefices.

Ware (Antiq. of Ireland, chap. xxxvi. sect. 4, ed. Harris) states, that there were some secular priests, called Colidei, who served in the cathedral church of Armagh, and their president was called Prior of the College of the Colidei; and was in the nature of a chanter to that church: elected by Colidei, and confirmed by the archbishop. (Harris adds, that it was a body corporate, and had considerable estates, till these fell to the _Crown_ on the abdication of the community after the Reformation.) Ware gives other instances in Ireland. The ministers of York cathedral were called _Colidei_ in the time of Athelstan.

In a fine MS. Antiphonary anciently belonging to Armagh cathedral, and now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, there are several entries of the obits of the _Colidei_ of Armagh.

Some derive the name from _Cylle_, which signifies in Gaelic a cell, and _tee_, or _dee_, a house. But the derivation given above seems the most consistent with history and tradition.

CUP. (See _Communion in one Kind_.) The sacred vessel in which the consecrated wine in the LORD’S supper is conveyed to the communicant, distinguished from the _flagon_, in which the wine is brought to the altar, and in which, if more than the cup will conveniently hold is required, it is consecrated. The rubric directs that it shall be _delivered_ to each communicant.

Rubric. “When the priest, standing before the table, hath so ordered the bread and wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands, he shall say the prayer of consecration, as followeth.” And in the prayer of consecration, “Here he is to take the cup into his hand,” and, “Here to lay his hand upon every vessel (be it chalice or flagon) in which there is any wine to be consecrated.”

“The minister that delivereth the cup to any shall say, THE BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,” &c.

Article 30. “The cup of the LORD is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the LORD’S sacrament, by CHRIST’S ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.”

This article is directed against the Romish custom of denying the cup to the laity, concerning which it may be enough to say, that it is clearly and confessedly contrary to the custom of the Church; that for twelve centuries there was no instance to be adduced of any receiving in one kind at the public celebration of the eucharist; and that it was even accounted sacrilege to deprive any of either part of our blessed LORD’S ordinance.—See _Bingham_, xv. 5, and xvi. 6–27.

It appears from the unanimous testimony of the Fathers, and from all the ancient rituals and liturgies, that the sacrament of the LORD’S supper was, in the early ages of the Church, administered in both kinds, as well to the laity as to the clergy. The practice of denying the cup to the laity arose out of the doctrine of transubstantiation. The belief that the sacramental bread and wine were actually converted into the body and blood of CHRIST, naturally produced, in a weak and superstitious age, an anxious fear lest any part of them should be lost or wasted. To prevent anything of this kind in the bread, small wafers were used, which were put at once into the mouths of the communicants by the officiating ministers; but no expedient could be devised to guard against the occasional spilling of the wine in administering it to large congregations. The bread was sopped in the wine, and the wine was conveyed by tubes into the mouth, but all in vain; accidents still happened, and therefore it was determined that the priests should entirely withhold the cup from the laity. It is to be supposed that a change of this sort, in so important an ordinance as that of the LORD’S supper, could not be effected at once. The first attempt seems to have been made in the twelfth century; it was gradually submitted to, and was at last established by the authority of the Council of Constance, in the year 1414; but in their decree they acknowledged that “CHRIST did institute this sacrament of both kinds, and that the faithful in the primitive Church did receive both kinds; yet a practice being reasonably introduced to avoid some dangers and scandals, they appoint the custom to continue of consecrating in both kinds, and of giving to the laity only in one kind,” thus presuming to depart from the positive commands of our LORD respecting the manner of administering the sign of the covenant between himself and mankind. From that time it has been the invariable practice of the Church of Rome to confine the cup to the priests. And it was again admitted at the Council of Trent, that the LORD’S supper was formerly administered in both kinds to all communicants, but it was openly contended that the Church had power to make the alteration, and that they had done it for weighty and just causes. These causes are not stated in the canon of the council. The reformed churches, even the Lutheran, which maintains the doctrine of consubstantiation, restored the cup to the laity. In a convocation held in the first year of Edward the Sixth’s reign, it was unanimously voted that the sacrament of the LORD’S supper should be received in both kinds by the laity as well as the clergy; and therefore it is remarkable that there was nothing on this subject in the articles of 1552: both this and the preceding article [the 29th] were added in 1562.—_Bp. Tomline._

Wherever the institution of the Lord’s supper is mentioned, there is not the least hint that the clergy are to receive it in one manner, and the laity in another. And if one part of this sacrament be more necessary than the other, it seems to be the cup; since it represents the blood of CHRIST, to which remission of sins and our redemption are more often ascribed in Scripture than to his body. It is trifling in the Romanists to say that the blood is with the body: since in the eucharist we commemorate, not the life of our LORD, but his death, in which the blood was separated from his body; (see 1 Cor. xi. 26; Luke xxii. 19, 20;) and to represent his blood, thus separated from his body, the cup was consecrated apart by him. CHRIST himself also seems to have guarded designedly against this piece of sacrilege of denying the cup to the laity, by commanding that “all” should drink of the cup. (Matt. xxvi. 27.) And in Mark xiv. 23, it is said, that “_all_ drank of it;” which is nowhere expressly said of eating the bread. See also 1 Cor. xi. 26–28, in all which verses the Corinthians in general are expressly required to “drink of that cup.”—_Archdeacon Welchman. Veneer._

There is not any one of all the controversies that we have with the Church of Rome, in which the decision seems more easy and shorter than this. And, as there is not any one in which she has acted more visibly contrary to the gospel than in this, so there is not any one that has raised higher prejudices against her, that has made more forsake her, and has possessed mankind more against her, than this. This has cost her dearer than any other.—_Bp. Burnet._

For the material of the cup, see _Chalice._

CURATE. The person who has the cure of souls in a parish. In this sense the word is used in the Prayer Book, “all bishops and curates,” as the word is still employed in France, Spain, &c.

The word is, in common parlance, used to denote the minister, whether presbyter or deacon, who is employed under the spiritual rector or vicar, as assistant to him in the same church, or else in a chapel of ease within the same parish, belonging to the mother church. Where there is in a parish neither spiritual rector nor vicar, but a clerk employed to officiate there by the impropriator, this is called a _perpetual curacy_, and the priest thus employed the _perpetual curate_. The impropriator, by the terms of his sacrilegious gift, is bound to “_maintain_” the priest: how far this is complied with by those lay impropriators who allow the same stipend now that was given 200 or 300 years ago, we need not wait to inquire. The appointment of a curate to officiate under an incumbent, in his own church, must be by such incumbent’s nomination of him to the bishop. To every one of these several kinds of curates, the ordinary’s licence is necessary before he shall be admitted to officiate.

For by Canon 41, “No curate or minister shall be permitted to serve in any place without examination and admission of the bishop of the diocese, or ordinary of the place having episcopal jurisdiction, under his hand and seal, having respect to the greatness of the cure, and meetness of the party.”

And by the same canon, “If the curates remove from one diocese to another, they shall not be by any means admitted to serve without testimony in writing of the bishop of the diocese, or ordinary of the place having episcopal jurisdiction, from whence they came, of their honesty, ability, and conformity to the ecclesiastical laws of the Church of England.”

By Canon 36, “No person shall be suffered to preach, to catechize, or to be a lecturer, in any parish church, chapel, or other place, except he be licensed either by the archbishop or by the bishop of the diocese, and except he shall first subscribe to the three articles specified in the said canon, concerning the king’s supremacy, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-nine Articles of religion.”

And by Canon 37, “None who hath been licensed to preach, read, lecture, or catechize, and shall afterwards come to reside in another diocese, shall be permitted there to preach, read, lecture, catechize, or administer the sacraments, or to execute any other ecclesiastical function, by what authority soever he be thereunto admitted, unless he first consent and subscribe to the three articles before mentioned, in the presence of the bishop of the diocese wherein he is to preach, read, lecture, catechize, or administer the sacraments as aforesaid.”

He must also, within two months, or at the time when he reads the morning and evening prayers as aforesaid, (on the like pain of deprivation _ipso facto_,) read and assent to the Thirty-nine Articles, if it be a place with cure. (13 Eliz. c. 12. 23 Geo. II. c. 28.)

A curate not licensed may be removed at pleasure; but, if licensed, he can be removed only by the consent of the bishop, or where the rector or vicar does the duty himself.

By the 76th section of 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, it is enacted as follows: “And be it enacted, that in every case where a curate is appointed to serve in any benefice upon which the incumbent either does not reside, or has not satisfied the bishop of his full purpose to reside during four months of the year, such curate shall be required by the bishop to reside within the parish or place in which such benefice is situate, or if no convenient residence can be procured within such parish or place, then within three statute miles of the church or chapel of the benefice in which he shall be licensed to serve, except in cases of necessity, to be approved of by the bishop, and specified in the licence, and such place of residence shall also be specified in the licence.”

By the 81st section of the same act it is enacted as follows: “And be it enacted, that every bishop to whom any application shall be made for any licence for a curate to serve for any person not duly residing upon his benefice, shall, before he shall grant such licence, require a statement of all the particulars by this act required to be stated by any person applying for a licence for non-residence; and in every case in which application shall be made to any bishop for a licence for any stipendiary curate to serve in any benefice, whether the incumbent be resident or non-resident, such bishop shall also require a declaration in writing, to be made and subscribed by the incumbent and the curate, to the purport and effect that the one _bonâ fide_ intends to pay, and the other _bonâ fide_ intends to receive, the whole actual stipend mentioned in such statement, without any abatement in respect of rent or consideration for the use of the glebe house, and without any other deduction or reservation whatever.”

By the 83rd section of the same act it is enacted as follows: “And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese, and he is hereby required, subject to the several provisions and restrictions in this act contained, to appoint to every curate of a non-resident incumbent such stipend as is specified in this act; and every licence to be granted to a stipendiary curate, whether the incumbent of the benefice be resident or non-resident thereon, shall specify the amount of the stipend to be paid to the curate; and in case any difference shall arise between the incumbent of any benefice and his curate touching such stipend, or the payment thereof, or of the arrears thereof, the bishop, on complaint to him made, may and shall summarily hear and determine the same, without appeal; and in case of wilful neglect or refusal to pay such stipend, or the arrears thereof, he is hereby empowered to enforce payment of such stipend, or the arrears thereof, by monition, and by sequestration of the profits of such benefice.”

The following papers are to be sent to the bishop by a curate applying to be licensed:—

1. A nomination by the incumbent.

The following form of nomination is intended to serve where the incumbent is non-resident.

“To the Right Reverend —— Lord Bishop of ——.

“I, G. H. of ——, in the county of ——, and your lordship’s diocese of ——, do hereby nominate E. F., bachelor of arts, (_or other degree_,) to perform the office of a curate in my church of —— aforesaid; and do promise to allow him the yearly stipend of ——, to be paid by equal quarterly payments, [_as to amount of stipend, see_ 1 & 2 Vic. c. 106, and the latter part of this article,] with the surplice fees, amounting to —— pounds per annum, (_if they are intended to be allowed_,) and the use of the glebe house, garden, and offices which he is to occupy (_if that be the fact; if not, state the reason, and name where and at what distance from the church the curate purposes to reside_): and I do hereby state to your lordship, that the said E. F. does not serve any other parish, as incumbent or curate; and that he has not any cathedral preferment or benefice, and does not officiate in any other church or chapel (_if however, the curate does serve another church as incumbent, or as curate, or has any cathedral preferment, or a benefice, or officiates in any other church or chapel, the same respectively must be correctly and particularly stated_): that the net annual value of my said benefice, estimated according to the act 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, ss. 8 & 10, is ——, and the population thereof, according to the latest returns of population made under the authority of parliament is ——; that there is only one church belonging to my said benefice (_if there be another church or chapel, state the fact_); and that I was admitted to the said benefice on the —— day of ——, 18—.

“Witness my hand this —— day of ——, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ——

[_Signature and address of_] G. H.”

_Declaration to be written at the foot of the Nomination._

“We the before-named G. H. and E. F. do declare to the said Lord Bishop of ——, as follows: namely, I the said G. H. do declare, that I _bonâ fide_ intend to pay, and I the said E. F. do declare that I _bonâ fide_ intend to receive, the whole actual stipend mentioned in the foregoing nomination and statement, without any abatement in respect of rent, or consideration for the use of the glebe house, garden, and offices, thereby agreed to be assigned, and without any other deduction or reservation whatsoever.

Witness our hands this —— day of ——, one thousand eight hundred and ——.

[_Signatures of_] G. H. and E. F.”

The following form of nomination is proposed where the incumbent is resident.

The same form as the preceding, so far as “quarterly payments;” then proceed as follows: “And I do hereby state to your lordship, that the said E. F. intends to reside in the said parish, in a house (_describe its situation so as clearly to identify it_) distant from my church —— mile (_if E. F. does not intend to reside in the parish, then state at what place he intends to reside, and its distance from the said church_); and that the said E. F. does not serve any other parish as incumbent or curate; and that he has not any cathedral preferment or benefice, and does not officiate in any other church or chapel (_if, however, the curate does serve another parish, as incumbent or as curate, or has any cathedral preferment or a benefice, or officiates in any other church or chapel, the same respectively must be correctly and particularly stated_).

Witness my hand this —— day of ——, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ——.

[_Signature and address of_] G. H.”

_Declaration to be written at the foot of the Nomination._

The declaration to be signed by the incumbent and curate is to be in the same form as that given above, so far as the word “statement;” after which, proceed as follows: “Without any deduction or reservation whatsoever.

Witness our hands this —— day of ——, one thousand eight hundred and ——.

[_Signatures of_] G. H. and E. F.”

2. Letters of orders, deacon and priest.

3. Letters testimonial to be signed by three beneficed clergymen, in the following form:

“To the Rt. Rev. ——, Lord Bishop of ——.

“We, whose names are here under written, testify and make known that A. B., clerk, bachelor of arts, (_or other degree_,) of —— college, in the university of ——, nominated to serve the cure of ——, in the county of ——, hath been personally known to us for the space of[A] three years last past; that we have had opportunities of observing his conduct; that during the whole of that time we verily believe that he lived piously, soberly, and honestly, nor have we at any time heard anything to the contrary thereof; nor hath he at any time, as far as we know or believe, held, written, or taught anything contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland; and, moreover, we believe him in our consciences to be, as to his moral conduct, a person worthy to be licensed to the said curacy.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this —— day of ——, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ——.

[4]C. D. rector of ——. E. F. vicar of ——. G. H. rector of ——.”

To be countersigned, if all or either of the subscribers to the testimonial are not beneficed in the diocese of the bishop to whom it is addressed, by the bishop of the diocese wherein their benefices are respectively situate.

On receipt of these papers, the bishop, if he be satisfied with them, will either appoint the clergyman nominated to attend him, to be licensed, or issue a commission to some neighbouring incumbent.

Before the licence is granted, the curate is to subscribe the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the three articles in the 36th canon; to declare his conformity to the liturgy of the United Church of England and Ireland, and to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and of canonical obedience:—

“I, E. F., do swear that I will pay true and canonical obedience to the Lord Bishop of —— in all things lawful and honest. So help me God.”

The licence will be sent by the bishop to the registry-office, and from thence it will be forwarded to the churchwardens.

Within three months after he is licensed, the curate is to read in the church the declaration appointed by the Act of Uniformity, and also the certificate of his having subscribed it before the bishop.

By the 106th section of the Residence Act, (1 & 2 Vict. c. 106,) it is enacted that no spiritual person shall serve more than two benefices in one day, unless in case of unforeseen and pressing emergency, in which case he shall forthwith report the circumstance to the bishop.

The directions as to notices to be given for the curate to give up the cure, are contained in the 95th section of the said act, and for his quitting the house of residence in the 96th section; and as to notice of the curate’s intention to relinquish the cure, in the 97th section; and power is given to the bishop, by the 98th section, to revoke any licence to a curate, (after having given him sufficient opportunity to show reason to the contrary,) subject to an appeal to the archbishop of the province within one month after service of revocation.

(1.) FORM of notice by a _new incumbent_ to a curate to quit curacy, or to give up possession of house of residence.

“I, A. B., clerk, having been duly admitted to the rectory of ——, in the county of ——, and diocese of ——, do hereby, in pursuance of the power and authority for this purpose vested in me by virtue of the act of parliament passed in the first and second years of her present Majesty’s reign, intituled ‘An Act to abridge the holding of benefices in plurality, and to make better provision for the residence of the clergy,’ give notice to and require you, C. D., clerk, to quit and give up the curacy of —— aforesaid [_the following to be added where applicable_, and to deliver up possession of the rectory house of —— aforesaid, and the offices, stables, gardens, and appurtenances thereto belonging, and (if any) such part of the glebe land as has been assigned to you] at the expiration of six weeks from the giving of this notice to you.

Witness my hand this —— day of ——, one thousand eight hundred and ——.”

(2.) FORM of notice by an incumbent, with consent of the bishop, to a curate to quit curacy, or to give up house of residence.

“I, A. B., clerk, rector of ——, in the county of ——, and diocese of ——, in pursuance of the power and authority for this purpose vested in me by virtue of the act of parliament passed in the first and second years of her present Majesty’s reign, intituled ‘An Act to abridge the holding of benefices in plurality, and to make better provision for the residence of the clergy,’ do hereby, with the permission of the Right Reverend —— Lord Bishop of the diocese of —— aforesaid, signified by writing under his lordship’s hand, give notice to, and require you, C. D., clerk, my licensed curate of —— aforesaid, to quit and give up the said curacy of —— [_the following to be added where applicable_, and the rectory house of —— aforesaid, and the offices, stables, gardens, and appurtenances thereto belonging, and (if any) such part of the glebe land as has been assigned to you] at the expiration of six calendar months from the giving of this notice to you.[5]

Witness my hand this —— day of ——, one thousand eight hundred and ——.”

FORM of bishop’s permission to an incumbent to give his curate notice to quit curacy, or give up possession of house of residence.

(_Applicable to notice No. 2. only._)

“I, ——, Lord Bishop of ——, do hereby, on the application of A. B., clerk, rector of ——, in the county of ——, and my diocese of ——, signify my permission for him to require and direct C. D., clerk, his licensed curate at —— aforesaid, to quit and give up the said curacy [_the following to be added where applicable_, and to deliver up possession of the rectory house of —— aforesaid, and the offices, outhouses, gardens, and appurtenances thereto belonging, and (if any) such part of the glebe land as has been assigned to the said C. D., as such curate] upon six calendar months’ notice thereof being given to such curate.

Given under my hand this —— day of ——, one thousand eight hundred and ——.”

_Note._—The notice No. 1. applies only to an incumbent newly admitted to a benefice, and must be given within six months after such admission.

The notice No. 2. applies to every other case of an incumbent requiring his curate to quit the curacy. The consent of the bishop is required only in the latter case.

The 112th section of the act referred to in the notices contains directions as to the mode in which the notice is to be served; and it directs that “it shall be served personally upon the spiritual person therein named, or to whom it shall be directed, by showing the original to him and leaving with him a true copy thereof, or, in case such spiritual person cannot be found, by leaving a true copy thereof at his usual or last known place of residence, and by affixing another copy thereof upon the church door of the parish in which such place of residence shall be situate.” The notice must, immediately after the service thereof, be returned into the Consistorial Court, (or the Court of Peculiars, in the case of an archbishop’s or bishop’s peculiar; see sect. 108,) and be there filed, together with an affidavit of the time and manner in which the same shall have been served.

The stipends to be paid to curates by non-resident incumbents must be in strict conformity with the directions of the act of parliament 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106. Clergymen who were incumbents of benefices before July 20th, 1813, cannot be compelled (see sect. 84) to pay more than £75 per annum as a stipend to the curates of such benefices, but the bishop may add to that sum £15 in lieu of a house.

Non-resident incumbents admitted to benefices after the above date, are to allow stipends according to the following scale, prescribed by the 85th section:

The lowest stipend is £ 80 If the population amount to 300, the stipend is to be 100 If the population amount to 500, the stipend is to be 120 If the population amount to 750, the stipend is to be 135 If the population amount to 1000, the stipend is to be 150

or the whole value of the benefice, if it does not exceed these sums respectively. Where the net yearly income of a benefice exceeds £400, the bishop may (by sect. 86) assign a stipend of £100, notwithstanding the population may not amount to 300; and if with that income the population amounts to 500, he may add any sum not exceeding £50 to any of the stipends payable by the last-mentioned incumbent, where the curate resides within the benefice, and serves no other cure. Where the population exceeds 2000, the bishop may require the incumbent to nominate two curates, with stipends not exceeding together the highest rate of stipend allowed to one curate.

Incumbents who have become incapable of performing their duties from age, sickness, or other unavoidable cause, (and to whom, from these or from any other special and peculiar circumstances, great hardship would arise if they were required to pay the full stipend,) may (by sect. 87) be relieved by the bishop, with the consent of the archbishop of the province.

The bishop may (by sect. 89) direct that the stipend to a curate licensed to serve two parishes or places shall be less for each by a sum not exceeding £30 per annum than the full stipend.

All agreements for payment of a less stipend than that assigned by the licence are (by sect. 90) declared to be void; and if less be paid, the remainder may be afterwards recovered by the curate or his representatives. When a stipend, equal to the whole value of a benefice, is assigned to the curate, he is (by sect. 91) to be liable to all charges and outgoings legally affecting the benefice; and (by sect. 94) when such a stipend as last mentioned is assigned, and the curate is directed to reside in the glebe house, he is to be liable to the taxes, parochial rates, and assessments of the glebe house and premises; but in every other case in which the curate shall so reside by such direction, the bishop may, if he shall think fit, order that the incumbent shall pay the curate all or any part of such sums as he may have been required to pay, and shall have paid, within one year, ending at Michaelmas day next preceding the date of such order for any such taxes, parochial rates, or assessments, as should become due at any time after the passing of the act.

For other particulars as to curates’ stipends and allowances, &c., see the act 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, from sect. 75 to 102, both inclusive.

CURE. The spiritual charge of a parish, or, in a larger sense, the parish itself. When Christianity was first planted in this nation, the bishops were constantly resident at their cathedrals, and had several clergymen attending them at that place, whom they sent to preach and convert the people, where there was the greatest probability of success; and the persons thus sent either returned or continued in those places, as occasion required, having no fixed cures or titles to particular places; for being all entered in the bishop’s registry, (as the usual course then was,) they could not be discharged without his consent. Afterwards, when Christianity prevailed, and many churches were built, the cure of souls was limited both as to places and persons. The places are those which we now call parishes, the extent whereof is certainly known, and the boundaries are now fixed by long usage and custom. The parsons are the ministers, who, by presentation, institution, and induction, are entitled to the tithes and other ecclesiastical profits arising within that parish, and have the cure of souls of those who live and reside there: and this the canonists call a cure _In foro interiori tantum_; and they distinguish it from a cure of souls, _In foro exterior_i, such as archdeacons have, to suspend, excommunicate, and absolve, and which is _Sine pastorali cura_: and from another cure, which they say is _In utroque simul_, that is, both _In exteriori et interiori foro_: and such the bishop has, who has a superintendent care over the whole diocese, intermixed with jurisdiction.

[Illustration: [Cusps]]

CUSPS. (In church architecture.) The projecting points from the foliation of arches or tracery. Cusping first appeared in the Geometric period, and was continued so long as Gothic architecture was employed. Besides the more obvious differences arising from the number of cusps, which, however, it is needless to particularize, there is one very great peculiarity of the earlier cusping which ought to be clearly understood. Let the tracery bar consist of three planes, _a_ the wall, _b_ the chamfer, and _c_ soffit plane (the latter of course not being visible in the two larger diagrams, which, being elevations, show no line at right angles to the wall). In the more common cusping, the cusp is formed by carrying out the whole of the soffit and part of the chamfer plane, and leaving an unpierced hollow, or _eye_, in the tracery bar, as at A A, _fig. I_; A A in the section answering to A A in the elevation, and E E to E E. In the Earlier or Geometrical cusping, the tracery bar is completed all round, and the cusp carries with it no part either of the soffit or of the chamfer, but is let into the soffit, always in appearance, sometimes in fact, as a separate piece of stone, as at B D, _fig._ II. Here, too, the cusp leaves a free space between itself and the tracery bar, as at B B B in elevation, and section II. D D D, representing the place of departure of the cusp from the tracery bar. This is generally called _soffit_ cusping, from its springing exclusively from the soffit plane.

DAILY PRAYERS. “All priests and deacons are to say daily the morning and evening prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness or some other urgent cause. And the curate that ministereth in every parish church or chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same in the parish church or chapel where he ministereth, and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear GOD’S word, and pray with him.”—_Preface to the Book of Common Prayer._ As this is not only a direction of the Church, but also part of an act of parliament, any parishioners desirous of attending daily prayers might compel the clergyman to officiate, by bringing an action against him, as well as by complaining to the bishop. For this, of course, there can seldom be any necessity, as most of the clergy would be too happy to officiate, if they could secure the attendance of two or three of their parishioners. By the general practice of the clergy it seems to be decided, that they are to say the morning and evening prayer in private, if they cannot obtain a congregation; though, even under those circumstances, the letter of the rubric seems to direct them to say the offices at church, if possible. It is a cheering sign of the times, that the number of instances in which the daily prayers are duly said in church is rapidly on the increase.

DALMATIC, was formerly the characteristic dress of the deacon in the administration of the holy eucharist. It was also worn by the bishop at stated times; and in the Latin Church still forms part of the episcopal dress, under the chasuble. It is a robe reaching below the knees, and open at each side for a distance varying at different periods. It is not marked at the back with a cross like the chasuble, but in the Latin Church with two narrow stripes, the remains of the _angusti clavi_ worn on the old Roman dress. In the Greek Church it is called _colobion_, is covered with a multitude of small crosses, and has no sleeves. The dalmatic is seen on the effigies of bishops on monuments, and in some old brasses, over the alb and the stole, the fringed extremities of which reach just below it. It has received its name from being the regal vest of Dalmatia. It is the same as the tunicle, which is directed to be worn according to the rubrics of King Edward VI.’s First Prayer Book, by the priests and deacons who may assist the priest at the holy communion. Like all the other ecclesiastical vestures, it was curtailed by the corrupt practice of later ages in the West, so as not to reach further than the knees.—_Jebb._

DAMNATORY CLAUSES. (See _Athanasian Creed_.)

DANIEL (THE BOOK OF). A canonical book of the Old Testament. Daniel descended from the royal house of the kings of Judah, and was contemporary with Ezekiel. (An. 606, before Christ.) He was of the children of the captivity, being carried to Babylon when he was about eighteen years of age. His name is not prefixed to his book; yet the many passages in which he speaks in the first person, are a sufficient proof that he was the author of it. The style of Daniel is not so lofty and figurative as that of the other prophets: it is clear and concise, and his narrations and descriptions simple and natural; in short, he writes more like an historian than a prophet.

He was a very extraordinary person, and was favoured of God, and honoured of men, beyond any that had lived in his time. His prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, and the other great events of after-times, are so clear and explicit, that Porphyry objected to them, that they must have been written after the facts were done.—_Prideaux, Connect._ P. I. b. iii. Ann. 534. _Hieron. in Proœm. ad Com. in Dan._

The Jews do not reckon Daniel among the prophets; and the reason they assign is, because he rather lived the life of a courtier, in the palace of the king of Babylon, than that of a prophet. They add, that, though he had Divine revelations given to him, yet it was not in the prophetic way, but by dreams and visions of the night, which they look upon as the most imperfect way of revelation, and below the prophetic. But Josephus, one of the ancientest writers of that nation, reckons him among the greatest of the prophets, and says further of him, that he conversed familiarly with God, and not only foretold future events, as other prophets did, but determined likewise the time when they should come to pass. But our Saviour, by acknowledging Daniel as a prophet, puts his prophetic character out of all dispute.—_Maimonid, in More Nevochim_, p. 2, ch. 45. _Huet. Demonstr. Evangel._ Prop. 4, ch. 14. _Joseph. Antiq._ lib. x. ch. 12. Matt. xxiv. 15.

Part of the book of Daniel was originally written in the Chaldee language; that is, from the fourth verse of the second chapter to the end of the seventh chapter; and the reason was, because, in that part, he treats of the Chaldean or Babylonish affairs. All the rest of the book is in Hebrew.—_Hieron. in Præf. ad Dan._ The Greek translation, used by the Greek Churches throughout the East, was that of Theodotion. In the Vulgar Latin Bible, there is added, in the third chapter, after the twenty-fourth verse, the Song of the Three Children, and, at the end of the book, the History of Susanna, and of Bel and the Dragon: the former is made the thirteenth, and the latter the fourteenth chapter of the book, in that edition. But these additions were never received into the canon by the Jews; neither are they extant in the Hebrew or the Chaldee language, nor is there any proof that they ever were so.

The first six chapters of the book of Daniel are a history of the kings of Babylon, and what befell the captive Jews under their government. In the last six, he is altogether prophetical, foretelling, not only what should happen to his own Church and nation, but events in which foreign princes and kingdoms were concerned; particularly the rise and downfal of the four secular monarchies of the world, and the establishment of the fifth, or spiritual kingdom of the Messiah.

It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldea, and that he did not take advantage of the permission granted by Cyrus to the Jews of returning to their own country. St. Epiphanius says he died at Babylon, and herein he is followed by the generality of historians.

“Amongst the old prophets,” says the great Sir Isaac Newton, “Daniel is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood; and therefore, in those things which relate to the last times, he must be made the key to the rest. His prophecies are all of them related to one another, as if they were but several parts of one general prophecy. The first is the easiest to be understood, and every following prophecy adds something new to the former.”—_Observations on Daniel_, pp. 15, 24.

DATARY. An officer in the pope’s court. He is always a prelate, and sometimes a cardinal, deputed by his Holiness to receive such petitions as are presented to him, touching the provision of benefices. By his post, the datary is empowered to grant, without acquainting the pope therewith, all benefices that do not produce upwards of twenty-four ducats annually; but for such as amount to more, he is obliged to get the provisions signed by the pope, who admits him to audience every day. If there be several candidates for the same benefice, he has the liberty of bestowing it on which of them he thinks proper, provided he has the requisite qualifications. The datary has a yearly salary of two thousand crowns, exclusive of the perquisites, which he receives from those who apply to him for any benefice. This office has a substitute, named the _sub-datary_, who is likewise a prelate, and has a yearly pension of a thousand crowns: but he is not allowed to confer any benefice, without acquainting the datary therewith. When a person has obtained the pope’s consent for a benefice, the datary subscribes his petition with an _annuit sanctissimus_, i. e. _the most holy father consents to it_. The pope’s consent is subscribed in these words, _Fiat ut petitur_, i. e. _Be it according to the petition_. After the petition has passed the proper offices, and is registered, it is carried to the _datary_, who _dates_ it, and writes these words—_Datum Romæ apud, &c.: Given at Rome in the pontifical palace, &c._ Afterwards the pope’s bull, granting the benefice, is despatched by the datary, and passes through the hands of more than a thousand persons, belonging to fifteen different offices, who have all their stated fees. The reader may from hence judge how expensive it is to procure the pope’s bull for a benefice, and what large sums go into the office of the datary, especially when the provisions, issued from thence, are for bishoprics, and other rich benefices.—_Broughton._

DEACON. (See _Bishop_, _Presbyter_, _Priest_, _Orders_, _Clergy_.) The name Διάκονοι, which is the original word for deacons, is sometimes used in the New Testament for any one that ministers in the service of GOD: in which large sense we sometimes find bishops and presbyters styled deacons, not only in the New Testament, but in ecclesiastical writers also. But here we take it for the name of the third order of the clergy in the Church. Deacons are styled by Ignatius, “ministers of the mysteries of Christ,” adding that they are “not ministers of meats and drinks, but of the Church of GOD.” In another place he speaks of them as “ministers of JESUS CHRIST,” and gives them a sort of presidency over the people, together with the bishops and presbyters. Cyprian speaks of them in the same style, calling them “ministers of episcopacy and the Church,” and referring their origin to the Acts of the Apostles; and he asserts that they were called _ad altaris ministerium_, to the ministry and service of the altar. Optatus had such an opinion of them as to reckon their office a lower degree of the priesthood. At the same time it is to be observed, that in this he was singular. By those who regarded them as a sacred order, they were generally distinguished from priests by the name of _ministers_ and _Levites_. The ordination of a deacon differed in the primitive Church from that of a presbyter, both in the form and manner of it, and also in the gifts and powers that were conferred by the ordinance. In the ordination of a presbyter, the presbyters who were present were required to join in imposition of hands with the bishop. But the ordination of a deacon might be performed by the bishop alone, because, as the [fourth] Council of Carthage words it, he was ordained not to the priesthood, but to the inferior services of the Church: “quia non ad sacerdotium sed ad ministerium consecratur.” It belonged to the deacons to take care of the holy table and all the ornaments and utensils appertaining thereto; to receive the oblations of the people, and present them to the priest; in some churches, to read the Gospel both in the communion service and before it also; to minister the consecrated bread and wine to the people in the eucharist; in some churches, to baptize; to act as directors to the people in public worship, for which purpose they were wont to use certain known forms of words, to give notice when each part of the service began, and to excite people to join attentively therein; to preach, with the bishop’s licence; in extreme cases to reconcile the excommunicated to the Church; to attend upon the bishop, and sometimes to represent him in general councils. Deacons seem also to have discharged most of the offices which now devolve upon churchwardens.—_Bingham._

The Church of England enjoins that “none shall be admitted a deacon except he be twenty-three years of age, unless he have a faculty;” and she describes the duties of a deacon in her office as follows: “It appertaineth to the office of a deacon, in the church where he shall be appointed to serve, to assist the priest in Divine service, and specially when he ministereth the holy communion, and to help him in the distribution thereof, and to read Holy Scripture and homilies in the church; and to instruct the youth in the catechism; in the absence of the priest to baptize infants, and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the bishop. And, furthermore, it is his office, where provision is so made, to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell, unto the curate, that by his exhortation they may be relieved with the alms of the parishioners, or others.”

In the rubric after the sentences of the Offertory, it is ordered, that “while these sentences are in reading, the deacons, churchwardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose, shall receive the alms for the poor,” &c.

The deacon cannot pronounce the absolution, or minister at the holy communion, except as an assistant. And if the rubrics be strictly construed according to the letter, neither can he read the versicles before the Psalms, or after the LORD’S Prayer, (at its second occurrence,) nor the latter part of the Litany, beginning at the LORD’S Prayer; nor any part of the Communion Service, except the Gospel, (not according to the rubric, however, but in virtue of the licence in the Ordination Service,) the Creed, and the confession. He is permitted to baptize _only in the absence of the priest_; and perhaps the same remark may apply to the other occasional offices.

DEACONESS. A woman who served the Church in those offices in which the deacons could not with propriety exercise themselves. This order was also appointed in the apostolic age. They were generally widows who had been only once married, though this employment was sometimes exercised by virgins. Their office consisted in assisting at the baptism of women, in previously catechizing and instructing them, in visiting sick persons of their own sex, and in performing all those inferior offices towards the female part of the congregation, which the deacons were designed to execute for the men. St. Paul (Rom. xvi.) speaks of Phœbe as _servant_, or _deaconess_, of the church at Cenchrea, which was a haven of Corinth. Deaconesses appear to be the same persons as those whom Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan, styles “_ancillæ quæ ministræ dicebantur_;” that is, “female attendants, called assistants, ministers, or servants.” It appears, then, that these were customary officers throughout the churches; and when the fury of persecution fell on Christians, these were among the first to suffer. They underwent the most cruel tortures, and even extreme old age was not spared. It is probable that they were blessed by the laying on of hands, but it is certain they were not permitted to execute any part of the sacerdotal office. This order continued in the Greek Church longer than in the Latin. It was generally disused in the Western Church in the fifth century, but continued in the Eastern Church until the twelfth. The deacon’s wife appears sometimes to have been called a deaconess, as the presbyter’s wife was styled _presbytera_, and the bishop’s wife _episcopa_.

DEAD. (See _Burial of the Dead_.) If all our prayers and endeavours for our friend prove unavailable for the continuance of his life, we must with patience submit to the will of GOD, “to whom the issues of life and death belong:” and therefore, after recommending his soul to GOD, which immediately upon its dissolution returns to Him, it is fit we should decently dispose of his body, which is left to our management and care. Not that the dead are anything the better for the honours which we perform to their corpses (for we know that several of the ancient philosophers cared not whether they were buried or not; and the ancient martyrs of the Christian Church despised their persecutors for threatening them with the want of a grave). But those who survive could never endure that the shame of nature should lie exposed, nor see the bodies of those they loved become a prey to birds and beasts. For these reasons, the very heathens called it a Divine institution, and a law of the immortal gods. And the Romans especially had a peculiar deity to preside over this affair. The Athenians were so strict, that they would not admit any to be magistrates, who had not taken care of their parents’ sepulture, and beheaded one of their generals after he had gotten a victory, for throwing the dead bodies of the slain, in a tempest, into the sea. And Plutarch relates, that, before they engaged with the Persians, they took a solemn oath, that, if they were conquerors, they would bury their foes; this being a privilege which even an enemy hath a right to, as being a debt which is owing to humanity.

2. It is true, indeed, the manner of funerals has varied according to the different customs of several countries; but all civilized nations have ever agreed in performing some funeral rites or other. The most ancient manner was by “burying them in the earth;” which is, indeed, so natural, that some brutes have been observed, by mere instinct, to bury their dead with wonderful care. The body, we know, was formed of the dust at first, and therefore it is fit it should “return to the earth as it was” (Gen. iii. 19; Eccles. xii. 7); insomuch that some heathens have, by the light of reason, called burying in the earth the being “hid in our mother’s lap,” and the being “covered with her skirt.” And that “interment,” or enclosing the dead body in the grave, was used anciently by the Egyptians and other nations of the East, is plain from the account we have of the embalming, and from their mummies, which are frequently found to this day whole and entire, though some of them have lain above three thousand years in their graves. That the same practice of burying was used by the patriarchs, and their successors the Jews, we have abundant testimony from the most ancient records in the world, the books of Moses; by which we find, that their funerals were performed, and their sepulchres provided with an officious piety (Gen. xxiii. 4; xxv. 9; xxxv. 29; xlix. 31); and that it was usual for parents to take an oath of their children, (which they religiously performed,) that they should bury them with their fathers, and carry their bones with them, whenever they quitted their land where they were. (Gen. xlvii. 29–31; xlix. 29–33; l. 25, 26; Exod. xiii. 19. See also Josh. xxiv. 32; Acts vii. 16; Heb. xi. 22.) In succeeding ages, indeed, it became a custom in some places to burn the bodies of the dead; which was owing partly to a fear that some injury might be offered them if they were only buried, by digging their corpses again out of their graves; and partly to a conceit, that the souls of those that were burnt were carried up by the flames to heaven.

3. But though other nations sometimes used interment and sometimes burning, yet the Jews confined themselves to the former alone. There is a place or two indeed in our translation of the Old Testament, (1 Sam. xxxi. 12; Amos vi. 10,) which might lead us to imagine that the rite of burning was also used by them sometimes. But upon consulting the original texts, and the customs of the Jews, it does not appear that the burnings there mentioned were anything more than the burning of odours and spices about their bodies, which was an honour they usually performed to their kings. (2 Chron. xvi. 14; xxi. 19; Jer. xxxiv. 5.) So that, notwithstanding these texts, we may safely enough conclude, that interment, or burying, was the only rite with them; as it was also in after-times with the Christian Church. For wherever Paganism was extirpated, the custom of burning was disused; and the first natural way of laying up the bodies of the deceased entire in the grave obtained in the room of it.

4. And this has always been done with such solemnity, as is proper to the occasion. Sometimes, indeed, it has been attended with an expensive pomp, that is unseemly and extravagant. But this is no reason why we should not give all the expressions of a decent respect to the memory of those whom GOD takes from us. The description of the persons who interred our SAVIOUR, the enumeration of their virtues, and the everlasting commendation of her who spent three hundred pennyworth of spikenard to anoint his body to the burial, have always been thought sufficient grounds and encouragements for the careful and decent sepulture of Christians. And, indeed, if the regard due to a human soul, rendered some respect to the dead a principle that manifested itself to the common sense of heathens, shall we think that less care is due to the bodies of Christians, who once entertained a more glorious inhabitant, and were living temples of the HOLY GHOST? (1 Cor. vi. 19;) to bodies which were consecrated to the service of GOD; which bore their part in the duties of religion; fought the good fight of faith and patience, self-denial and mortification; and underwent the fatigue of many hardships and afflictions for the sake of piety and virtue;—to bodies which, we believe, shall one day be awakened again from their sleep of death; have all their scattered particles of dust summoned together into their due order, and be “fashioned like to the glorious body of CHRIST” (Phil. iii. 21; see also 1 Cor. xv. 42–44); as being made partakers of the same glory with their immortal souls, as once they were of the same sufferings and good works. Surely bodies so honoured here, and to be so glorified hereafter, and which too we own, even in the state of death, to be under the care of a Divine providence and protection, are not to be exposed and despised by us as unworthy of our regard. Moved by these considerations, the primitive Christians, though they made no use of ointments whilst they lived, yet they did not think the most precious too costly to be used about the dead. And yet this was so far from being reproached with superstition, that it is ever reported as a laudable custom, and such as had something in it so engaging, so agreeable to the notions of civilized nature, as to have a very considerable influence upon the heathens, who observed and admired it; it becoming instrumental in disposing them to a favourable opinion at first, and afterwards to the embracing of the Christian religion, where these decencies and tender regards to deceased friends and good people, were so constantly, so carefully, and so religiously practised.—_Dean Comber._ _Wheatly._

CHRIST’S Church, that is, the whole number of the faithful, is usually divided into two parts; namely, the Church militant, and the Church triumphant. By the Church _militant_, or in a state of warfare, we mean those Christians who are at present alive, and perpetually harassed with the temptations and assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and whose life is consequently a continual warfare under the banner of our blessed SAVIOUR. By the Church _triumphant_, we mean those Christians who have departed this life in GOD’S true faith and fear; and who now enjoy in some measure, and after the day of judgment shall be fully possessed of, that glory and triumph, which is the fruit of their labours, and the reward of those victories which they obtained over their spiritual adversaries, during the time of their trial and combat here upon earth.—_Dr. Bennet._

After the Offertory in the eucharist is said, and the oblations of bread and wine, with the alms for the poor, are placed upon the table, the minister addresses this exhortation to the people: “Let us pray for the whole state of CHRIST’S Church militant here in earth.” The latter part of this sentence is wanting in Edward’s First Book. The words “militant here in earth,” which were designed expressly to exclude prayer for the dead, were inserted in the Second Book, in which that part of this prayer, which contained intercession for the dead, was expunged. It was the intention of the divines who made this alteration, to denote that prayers are not to be offered up for the dead, whose spiritual warfare is already accomplished; but for those only who are yet “fighting the good fight of faith,” and are consequently in a capacity of needing our prayers.—_Shepherd._

Although the doctrine of purgatory be a comparatively modern doctrine, yet prayers for the _justified_ dead, for the increase of their happiness, and for our reunion with them, were introduced early into the Church. But it can be proved:

First. That, the prayers of the primitive Church _for_ the dead, being especially for those who were accounted saints _par excellence_, and including even the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Apostles, prayer _to_ the departed saints, whoever they may be, as it is practised by the churches under the Roman obedience, must be contrary in theory, as it is in fact, to the primitive practice; since it were impossible to pray _to_ and _for_ the same persons.

Secondly. That it was not for the release of the spirit of the departed from purgatory that the Church supplicated Almighty GOD. For this also were incompatible with prayer for the Blessed Virgin, and other eminent saints, of which there was never any doubt but that they were already in Abraham’s bosom, or even, as in the case of martyrs, in heaven itself.

Thirdly. That works of supererogation formed no part of the system of primitive theology; since all were prayed for as requiring the mercy of GOD, though it was not declared to what particular end.

Fourthly. That the use of hired masses for the dead, who may have been persons of exceeding criminality, and have died in mortal sin, is utterly at variance with the practice of the Church of old.—See _Archbishop Usher_ and _Bingham_.

DEADLY SIN. We pray in the Litany to be delivered from “all deadly sin.” In the strict sense of the word every sin is deadly, and would cause eternal death if it were not for the intervention of our blessed SAVIOUR. Even what are called infirmities and frailties, are in this sense deadly. But persons under grace have for these offences “an Advocate with the FATHER, JESUS CHRIST the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John ii. 2.) Their infirmities and frailties, therefore, if they are trying to overcome them, are not deadly to persons under grace, or baptized persons justified by faith, although, if persevered in, and uncorrected, they may terminate in deadly sin; and they consequently require continual repentance, lest they should grow into such a fearful burden. But even to persons under grace we learn, from 1 John v. 16, 17, that there are “sins unto death,”—which must mean sins that put us out of a state of grace, and this is done by any wilful sin persevered in. By deadly sin in a _Christian_ is meant wilful sin, persevered in, which deprives us of all Christian privileges. (See _Sin_.)

DEAN. Of deans there are two sorts; 1st, the _dean of a cathedral_, who is an ecclesiastical magistrate, next in degree to the bishop. He is chief of the chapter, and it is supposed is called a dean, (_Decanus_,) from a similar title in ancient monasteries, of an officer who presided over ten monks.

The dean represents the _Archpresbyter_, or _Protopapas_, who all the world over, from the most ancient times, was found under one denomination or another in the principal church of the diocese, to which a body of clergy was uniformly attached. Notre Dame at Paris had a dean as early as 991 at least. There was a dean of Bangor in 603; of Llandaff in 612; at Canterbury from 825 to 1080, then the name of Prior was substituted. Salisbury had its dean in 1072; Lincoln, 1092. In conventual cathedrals, the head was generally prior, the bishop being virtually abbot. The dean was the first dignitary of the cathedral; the head of the corporation; and, in subordination to the bishop, has, according to the statutes of more ancient cathedrals, the _cure of souls_ over the members of the cathedral, and the administration of the corrective discipline of the Church. He has also duties in the choir and the chapter in common with all the chapter. He is by our law a sole corporation, that is, he represents a whole succession, and is capable of taking an estate as dean, and conveying it to his successors. 2nd, _Rural deans_, whose office is of ancient date in the Church of England, long prior to the Reformation, as it has been throughout Europe, and which many of the bishops are now reviving. Their chief duty is to visit a certain number of parishes, and to report their condition to the bishop. (See _Rural Dean_.) The dean was not always head of the chapter abroad; the provost being sometimes the superior. But he had always the administration of the discipline in _spirituals_, [_curam animarum_, as it is expressly called in statutes both of home and foreign Churches,] the provosts often concerning themselves merely in temporals, and he had the superintendence of the choir, or cathedral body. (See _Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, Lyons_, 1787, voce _Doyen_.) They were, in fact, very much like the deans in our colleges, though more strictly limited _ad sacra_. The Dean of Faculty, in most ancient and some modern universities, presided over the meetings of their respective faculties, and maintained the academical discipline.

DEAN AND CHAPTER. This is the style and title of the governing body of a cathedral. A chapter consists of the dean, with a certain number of canons, or prebendaries, heads of the church—_capita ecclesiæ_. The origin of this institution is to be traced to a remote antiquity. A missionary bishop, when converting our ancestors, would take his position in some central town, with his attendant priests: these, as opportunity offered, would go to the neighbouring villages to preach the gospel, and administer the other offices of the Church. But they resided with the bishop, and were supported out of his revenues. By degrees parochial settlements were made; but still the bishop required the attendance of certain of the clergy at his cathedral, to be his council; (for the bishops never thought of acting without consulting their clergy;) and also to officiate in his principal church or cathedral. These persons, to qualify themselves for their office, gave themselves up to study, and to the maintenance and decoration of their sanctuary; the services of which were to be a model to all the lesser churches of the diocese. Forming, in the course of time, a corporation, they obtained property, and ceased to be dependent upon the bishop for a maintenance. And being considered the representatives of the clergy, upon them devolved the government of the diocese when vacant; and they obtained the privilege, doubtless on the same principle, of choosing the bishop, which originally belonged to the whole clergy of the diocese, in conjunction with the bishops of the province. In this privilege they were supported by the kings of the country, who perceived that they were more likely to intimidate a chapter into the election of the royal nominee, than the whole of the clergy of a diocese. But still the deans and chapters sometimes acting independently, an act was passed under Henry VIII., by which a dean and chapter refusing to elect the king’s nominee to the bishopric become individually outlawed, lose all their property, and are to be imprisoned during pleasure. Since that time these corporations have always succumbed to the royal will and pleasure. The great object of the institution, it will be perceived, is, 1st, To provide the bishop with a council; 2nd, To make provision for a learned body of divines, who, disengaged from parochial cares, may benefit the cause of religion by their writings; 3rd, To make provision, also, that in the cathedral church of each diocese the services shall be performed with rubrical strictness, and with all the solemnity and grandeur of which our services are capable.

It is not to be denied, that, during the last century, this institution was greatly abused. Patrons made use of it to enrich their own families or political partisans; and the cathedral clergy, instead of giving themselves up to learned labours, dwelt chiefly on their livings, coming merely for a short time to their cathedrals: as their estates advanced in value, they expended the income on themselves, instead of increasing the cathedral libraries, and rendering the choirs more efficient, by raising the salaries of the choristers, and doubling or trebling their number: finally, being forgetful of the command of the Church, that, “in cathedral and collegiate churches and colleges, where there are many priests and deacons, they shall all receive the communion with the priest, _every Sunday at the least_,” many deans and chapters have, most unjustifiably, discontinued the weekly communion. Whether individual members of chapters consider these observances superstitious or not, it is on these conditions they enjoy their property; and if they cannot conscientiously keep the conditions, they ought conscientiously to resign their places. These things required reform; and forecasting men, seeing no symptoms of improvement, expected that the arm of the LORD would be made bare for vengeance; and the LORD made use of the secular government of England as his instrument of chastisement. The British legislature, acting on the precedent of Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII., has seized a large portion of the property belonging to the deans and chapters, and has reduced the number of canons. May this be a warning to the deans and chapters as they now exist! May patrons make the cathedral close the abode of men of learning, and may the members of chapters sacrifice even their private property to render their cathedral choirs what they ought to be! May they have strength of mind to sacrifice all they have in the world, rather than elect as a bishop an unworthy nominee of the Crown, if, peradventure, the Crown nominate a Sabellian, or an Arian, or a Socinian heretic. (See _Chapters_, _Canons_, and _Prebendaries_.)

DECALOGUE. The _ten_ precepts, or _commandments_, delivered by GOD to Moses, and by him written on two tables of stone, and delivered to the Hebrews, as the basis and foundation of their religion. The history of this great event, together with the ten commandments themselves, are recited at large in the 19th and 20th chapters of the book of Exodus.

The Jews called these commandments, by way of excellence, the _ten words_, from whence they had afterwards the name of Decalogue. But it is to be observed, that they joined the first and second into one, and divided the last into two. They understand that against stealing to relate to the stealing of men, or kidnapping, alleging, that the stealing of another’s goods or property is forbidden in the last commandment.—_De Legib. Hebr._ lib. i. c. 2.

“Most divines,” says the learned Spencer, “seem to have been of opinion, that GOD gave the Decalogue, to be a general rule of life and manners, and as it were a summary, to which all other precepts, either of the law or the gospel, may be reduced. Hence they rack their brains, to fix so large and extensive a meaning on all these commands, that all duties, respecting GOD or our neighbour, may be understood to be contained in them. But no one, who duly considers the matter, can think it probable, that the Decalogue was therefore given, that it might be a kind of compendium of all the other laws of the Pentateuch; since those eminent precepts of the law, ‘Thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart,’ and ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,’ cannot be found in the Decalogue, without affixing a meaning to some commands quite foreign to the natural sense of the words, and subjecting them to an arbitrary interpretation. To give my opinion in a few words; the chief scope and intent of the Decalogue was to root out idolatry and its more immediate effects, and to add force and authority to the other laws contained in the Pentateuch. For who can persuade himself, that _God_ would have collected together, into the one little system of the Decalogue, those ten precepts, which have scarce any connexion with each other, had they not all naturally tended to destroy idolatry and its primary effects?” The author then proceeds to confirm the truth of this assertion by a distinct consideration of each precept of the two tables.

It has been a question, and even matter of admiration, why _God_, in delivering laws to the Hebrews, kept precisely to the number ten. This question is answered by the above-cited author, (Id. ib. § 2,) who assigns the following reasons for this proceeding. “First, the number ten exceeds all others in perfection and capacity: for in it are comprehended all the diversities of numbers and their analogies, and all the geometrical figures which have any relation to numbers. Secondly, A _Decad_ seems to have been in most esteem and use, among all nations, from the earliest times. Thirdly, As the number ten comprehends in it all others, so the Decalogue was to be a kind of representative of all the other laws of Moses, which were too numerous to be distinctly and separately rehearsed from Mount Sinai. Lastly, The number ten was a sacred number, and most frequently applied to the things mentioned in the Law: as will be evident to those, who carefully read over the institutes of Moses.”

The Samaritans, to raise and maintain the credit of their temple on Mount Gerizim, forged an _eleventh_ command or precept, which in their Pentateuch they added at the end of the Decalogue, both in Exodus and Deuteronomy. It was this: “When the LORD thy GOD shall have brought thee into the land of Canaan, whither thou goest to possess it, thou shalt erect to thyself large stones, and shalt write on them all the words of this Law. And, after thou shalt have passed over Jordan, thou shalt place those stones, which I command thee this day, on Mount Gerizim, and shalt build there an altar to the _Lord_ thy GOD, an altar of stone,” &c.

DECLARATION. (See _Conformity_.)

DECORATED. The style of architecture which succeeded the Geometrical about 1315, and gave place to the Perpendicular about 1360.

The most obvious characteristic of this style is the window tracery (see _Tracery_); but all the parts and details have also their appropriate features. The doorway is no longer divided by a central shaft. The windows are larger than in the former style, and their mullions have in general fewer subordinations of mouldings. The corner buttresses are usually set diagonally instead of in pairs, and the buttresses generally are of considerable projection, and much enriched with pediments and niches. The piers consist generally of four shafts with intervening hollows, set lozengewise; and the detached shaft is wholly discontinued. The triforium, which had begun to lose its relative importance in the Geometrical, is in this style generally treated as a mere course of panelling at the base of the clerestory windows, which are proportionally enlarged. Arcading begins to be superseded by panelling. Foliage, and other carving, is treated with less force and nature than in the preceding style; and heraldry begins to appear. The vaulting (see _Vaulting_) is more intricate. One or two mouldings and decorations are almost peculiar to this style, especially the ogee in all its forms and in every position. The ball-flower and the scroll moulding, it has in common with the Geometrical, but far more frequently. (See _Moulding_.) The broach spire is still used, but begins to give way to the parapet and spire.

DECRETALS. The name given to the letters of popes, being in answer to questions proposed to them by some bishop or ecclesiastical judge, or even particular person, in which they determined business, as they thought fit. In the ninth century there appeared a collection of decretal letters ascribed to more than thirty popes, succeeding each other in the first three centuries. The author is unknown, but they are generally ascribed to a certain Isidore Mercator, and pass usually under his name. Their uniform tendency is to exalt papal power, and exactly on those points for which no sanction can be alleged from Scripture, or from the early periods of any genuine Church history; such as supreme authority over bishops, the receiving appeals from all parts of the world, and the reservation of causes for the hearing of the Roman see. In the words of Fleury, “They inflicted an irreparable wound on the discipline of the Church, by the new maxims which they introduced in regard to the judgment of bishops and the authority of the pope.” Dr. Barrow mentions them among the chief causes by which the power of the bishop of Rome has been advanced: “The forgery of the decretal epistles (wherein the ancient popes are made expressly to speak and act according to some of his highest pretences, devised long after their times, and which they never thought of, good men) did hugely conduce to his purpose; authorizing his encroachments by the suffrage of ancient doctrine and practice.” “Upon these spurious decretals,” (writes the historian of the middle ages,) “was built the great fabric of papal supremacy over the different national Churches: a fabric which has stood after its foundation crumbled beneath it; for no one has pretended to deny, during the last two centuries, that the imposture is too palpable for any but the most ignorant ages to credit.” Their effect was, to diminish the authority of metropolitans and provincial synods, by allowing to an accused bishop, not only the right of appeal, but the power also of removing any process into the supreme court at Rome. And on this account it has been supposed that the decrees were forged by some bishop who desired to reduce the power of his immediate superior. But whoever may have been the author, and whatever the origin, there is no doubt that the popes became, from the first, their most strenuous defenders.

The best account of these forgeries is to be found in the posthumous work of Van Espen, Commentarius in Jus Novum Canonicum,