Of the nine rubrics at the close of the service, the second, third, and fourth are directed against the practice obtaining in the Roman Catholic Church of solitary masses. The fifth is stated by Archbishop Parker and Bishop Cosin not to forbid the use of wafer-bread, but merely to legalize the use of ordinary bread. The rubric in the Scottish Liturgy expresses this more clearly,—"Though it be lawful to have wafer-bread, it shall suffice that the bread be such as is usual." The sixth rubric exhibits the Church's careful and reverent treatment of the remains of the consecrated elements; but its main office was to forbid the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament for the use of invalids and others. This was allowed in the primitive Church, and is now by the Scottish Episcopal Church; but the superstitions which grew up around the custom seemed to make the present rule necessary. The next rubric has been required since offerings in kind were discontinued.

In the next rubric the Lateran Council (1215) enjoined one communion yearly, at Easter-tide only; but the present rule is more in accordance with the custom of the ancient Church, and encourages lay communions.

The last rubric only provides for the distribution of alms when there is an offertory, i.e. the reading of the offertory sentences. Other collections are in the hands of the incumbent only. The Ordinary is the Bishop.

The "declaration" is a protest against certain low and gross notions of a carnal presence, as taught in the Roman Church. The "kneeling" here, and the "meekly kneeling" in the rubric after the Consecration Prayer, exclude prostration, which is not kneeling.

(3) The Service. As was said in the paragraph on the History of the Communion Service, it is chiefly taken from the "Sarum Use." When there is no celebration, the Service concludes with a Collect and the Benediction, said immediately after the Prayer for the Church Militant; and this is called the Ante-Communion Office. The Lord's Prayer is said by the Priest alone, notwithstanding the general rubric to the contrary; that, and the Collect following, being taken from an Office which was repeated by the Priest alone, in preparation for Mass. The Decalogue was inserted in 1552 (see Commandments.) In the Collects following, the Mediaeval Offices coupled the Pope, King, and Bishop of Diocese together.

It is an ancient custom to sit during the reading of the Epistle, and to stand during the reading of the Gospel, out of reverence for the repetition of the words or acts of Christ. The Doxology "Glory be to Thee, O Lord" has, from a very early period, followed the announcement of the Gospel; but the "Thanks be to Thee, O Lord," afterwards, is a comparatively late custom. For the Nicene Creed, see Creed. In the Prayer Book of 1662, the Banns of Marriage were ordered to be published after the Nicene Creed. For the Sermon see article Sermon. The sentences following are called the "Offertory Sentences;" formerly a verse was sung before the oblation of the elements. The next prayer, called the Prayer for the Church Militant, has, in some form or other, formed part of every known Liturgy. It is divided into three main parts—(1) The Oblation; (2) Commemoration of the living; (3) Commemoration of the faithful departed. The oblation is twofold, firstly of the alms which have been collected, and, secondly, of the elements, the bread and wine for Holy Communion. The Exhortations, here and elsewhere in the Prayer Book, are sixteenth century compositions. The first is from Hermann's "Consultation" (which see); the close of this exhortation is important as shewing that in certain cases the Reformers allowed auricular confession. The parts of this Service following the Exhortations are respectively called the Invitation, Confession, Absolution, and the "Comfortable Words," and are very characteristic of the Anglican Liturgy. After the "Comfortable Words" begins the most solemn part of the Office, anciently called the Canon. The versicles, called, after the Latin for the first, the "Sarsum Corda," are found in all Liturgies; and the "Holy, Holy, Holy,"—the Ter-sanctus,—is probably from Apostolic times. The "Proper Prefaces" are five out of the ten found in English and Roman Missals; the first is an old form, re-modelled in 1549; the second remains as it was in 494; the third dates from 590; the fourth seems to be a new composition in 1549; the fifth, like the second, dates from 494. Next follows a very beautiful prayer, called the "Prayer of Humble Access," which is peculiar to the Anglican Liturgy. After this comes the "Prayer of Consecration." The recital of the words and actions used by our blessed Lord at the Institution of this Holy Feast has always formed an essential feature in every Liturgy. The form of words to be used at the Reception has varied. Originally, the words used were, "The Body of Christ," "The Blood of Christ." Of the form in use now, the first clause only was ordered in 1549, the second only in 1552, and both were combined in 1559. The Lord's Prayer, following, formerly was part of the Consecration Prayer; and the next prayer, called the "Oblation," was the conclusion of the Consecration Prayer in 1549. After the alternate prayer, composed in 1549, comes the ancient hymn known as the "Gloria in Excelsis," or "Angelic Hymn," or the "Great Doxology." It is of Eastern origin, and in the time of Athanasius was said, together with certain Psalms, at dawn. The "Benediction" is a Scriptural composition of the Reformed Church, the latter part being from Hermann's Consultation. Of the collects concluding the service, the first, second, and fourth are from ancient Offices, the others being composed in 1549.

(4) Views, or Doctrine. In nothing does the belief of men so differ as in this matter of Holy Communion. There may be said to be three views existing among members of the Church of England relative to that which all allow to be the greatest ordinance of religion. This difference of belief in this matter is the real foundation of party spirit in the Church.

(a) The Symbolic: viz., that consecration simply implies a setting apart for a holy use of certain elements by a Minister authorised to do so; that the Bread and Wine thus set apart are symbols of Christ's Body, which was broken, and of His blood, which was shed; and that the participation of them is, on the one hand, a sign of the fellowship of love binding all true hearts together; and, on the other, a sign of the nourishment and growth of the soul, as fed by Christ Himself. This is the doctrine of Zuinglius, the Swiss Reformer. It is adverse to the doctrine of the whole primitive Church, which, says Bishop H. Browne, "unquestionably believed in a presence of Christ in the Eucharist." (Art. xxviii. Sec. I.)

(b) The Receptionist; viz., that after consecration the elements become in such a sense changed that they become the channels through which the Body and Blood of Christ are subsequently conveyed to those who receive them with certain dispositions of mind. The Presence of Christ in the elements is potential, not actual; that is, the elements have the power of conveying the Presence of Christ to only a properly qualified receiver.

(c) The Objective; viz., that after the consecration the elements receive not potentially, but actually, the Present Body and Blood of Christ, and that therefore, the Presence does not depend, as in the view above, upon faithful participation, but upon the act of consecration.

More briefly, the Holy Communion is considered as (1) a memorial feast of love; (2) the actual Presence of Christ in the heart of the faithful recipient; this might also be called the Subjective view of the Real Presence; and (3) the Real Presence of Christ in the consecrated elements themselves, or the Objective view.

There is also the Sacrificial view of the Eucharist, which is held, in a greater or less degree, by all schools of thought. Sadler, in "Church Doctrine,—Bible Truth," thus states what he believes to be the Church of England view—"The Eucharist is the solemn ecclesiastical memorial of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ. It is the Saviour's own ordained means of showing forth before God, men, and angels. His love in His Death. Just as the Old Law sacrifices were anticipatory showings forth of the One Atoning Death which was to be, so this Communion is a memorial, or commemorative showing forth, of the One Atoning Death which has been."

COMMUNION OF THE SICK. This Office differs from the ordinary Communion Service in its introduction, a special Collect, Epistle, and Gospel being appointed. After this is concluded, the Priest continues with the ordinary Office, beginning "Ye that do truly," &c. Up to 1552 it was allowed to carry the consecrated elements from the church to the sick person; and even later than this we find the rubric allowing of reservation inserted at large in Queen Elizabeth's Latin Prayer Book. This Prayer Book was drawn up for the use of the Universities and the Colleges of Winchester and Eton. The third rubric in the Service is for the prevention of infection. The direction in the fourth rubric with regard to what is called "Spiritual Communion" is from the ancient Office of Extreme Unction. The last rubric does not allow mere infection to be a sufficient excuse for a clergyman's not giving Holy Communion.

COMMUNION OF SAINTS. An article of our Faith. The faithful have (1) an external fellowship, or communion, in the Word and Sacraments; (2) an intimate union as the living members of Christ. Nor is this communion, or fellowship, broken by the death of any, for in Christ all are knit together in one uninterrupted bond.

COMTISM, or POSITIVISM. A philosophy taught by one Auguste Comte, a Frenchman, who was born in 1798, and died 1857. He denied the Deity, and introduced the worship of Humanity. In his religion, which must not be confounded with his philosophy, there are many festivals, a calendar of saints, nine sacraments, and a caricature of the Holy Trinity. His philosophical system is based on altruism, a word meaning much the same as the Biblical command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This philosophy has many adherents.

CONCEPTION, THE IMMACULATE, OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. A doctrine of the Roman Church, invented about the middle of the ninth century. It teaches that the Blessed Virgin herself was conceived and born without sin. Although this dates from so far back, yet it was not imposed by the Church of Rome upon her members as a definite article of faith until the year A.D. 1854.

CONFESSION. The verbal admission of sin. The Prayer Book provides three forms of public confession—one in Morning Prayer, one in the Communion Service, and one in the Commination Service. Besides this the Church of England allows private confession to a priest in exceptional cases, as in the latter part of the first exhortation in the Communion Service, and in the rubric immediately preceding the Absolution in the Office for the Visitation of the Sick. Private, or Auricular, Confession forms a prominent feature in the Church of Rome, and it is that which gives to the Roman Priest his great authority over his flock. The practice is, to some extent, founded upon S. James v. 16, which, however, is not necessarily to be understood as speaking of confession to a priest.

CONFIRMATION, RITE OF. The practice of confirming those who have been baptized is spoken of in Acts viii.12-17; xix.4-6. In the early Church it was administered by Bishops alone, and followed as immediately as possible after Baptism. Such is the custom of the Greek Church at the present day, but there the Office is not restricted to Bishops, as in the Western Church, confirmation being administered with chrism, an unguent consecrated by a Bishop. In the Western Church the Rite became gradually dissociated from Baptism, although it has never lost its primary signification as a confirming, or strengthening, by the Holy Ghost of those who have been baptized. It is now administered, as the rubric directs, to those who have arrived at "years of discretion," that is to say, to those who are old enough to understand the leading doctrines of the Christian Faith. The age at which Bishops of the Anglican Church will confirm children varies a little in the different dioceses, but 13 or 14 is the general age. The Rite of Confirmation forms one of the seven Sacraments of the Churches of Greece and Rome.

The Preface to the Service, inserted in 1661, is, in substance, the rubric of 1549. The Vow, at all times implied, was not explicitly inserted until 1661. The Versicles and Prayer are from ancient Offices. The form of words accompanying the Imposition of Hands dates from 1552. The Lord's Prayer was inserted in 1661, and the Collect following was composed in 1549. The second Collect is from the Communion Office. The concluding rubric, although making it a point of Church order that people should be confirmed before coming to Holy Communion, allows that in certain cases the privilege conferred by the Rite may be anticipated.

CONFIRMATION of a BISHOP. When a Bishop dies, or is translated, the sovereign grants a license, called a conge d'elire, to the Dean and Chapter of the vacant see to elect the person, whom by his letters missive he has appointed. The Dean and Chapter, having made their election, certify it to the sovereign, and to the Archbishop of the province, and to the Bishop elected; then the sovereign gives his royal assent under the great seal, directed to the Archbishop, commanding him to confirm and consecrate the Bishop thus elected. The Archbishop subscribes this "fiat confirmatio." After this, a long and formal process is gone through, and at length the Bishop elect takes the oaths of office, and the election is ratified and decreed to be good. The matter is in no way of a spiritual nature.

CONGREGATION. In an ordinary sense, an assemblage of people for public worship. In the Bible our translators consider Congregation and Church convertible terms. Psalm xxii.22; Heb. ii.12.

CONGREGATIONALISTS. The newer name of the Independents. (which see.)

CONGRUITY. A term used in the 13th Art. The "School authors" mentioned are the theologians of the middle ages as compared with the "Fathers" of the early times. Bishop Harold Browne says, "The school-authors thought that some degree of goodness was attributable to unassisted efforts on the part of man towards the attainment of holiness: and, though they did not hold, that such efforts did, of their own merit, deserve grace, yet they taught that in some degree they were such as to call down the grace of God upon them, it being not indeed obligatory on the justice of God to reward such efforts by giving His grace, but it being agreeable to His nature and goodness to bestow grace on those who make such efforts." (Art. X.)

These endeavours on the part of man to attain to godliness were by the schoolmen said to deserve grace de congnio, of congruity.

CONSANGUINITY, see Kindred.

CONSECRATION of BISHOPS, see Ordinal.

CONSECRATION of CHURCHES, CHURCH YARDS, and CEMETERIES. A Christian custom dating, at latest, from the 4th century. Nor does the law of England recognise any place as a church until it has been consecrated by a Bishop. Nothing more, however, is implied, than that the building or place consecrated is set apart for holy uses.

CONSECRATION of ELEMENTS, see Communion, Holy.

CONSUBSTANTIATION. A doctrine of the Lutheran Church with regard to the Real Presence in Holy Communion. "It differs from Transubstantiation, in that it does not imply a change in the substance of the elements. Those who hold this doctrine, teach that the bread remains bread, and the wine remains wine; but that with, and by means of the consecrated elements, the true, natural Body and Blood of Christ are communicated to the recipients." (Bp. Harold Browne.)

CONSULTATION, HERMANN'S. A book frequently referred to in the articles on the different parts of the Prayer Book. Hermann was Archbishop of Cologne at the time of the Reformation, and adopted Protestantism. He employed Melanchthon and Bucer, two celebrated Reformers, to draw up a book of formularies, doctrine, and the like, which was called the Consultation. Much of our Prayer Book is derived from it.

CONTRITION, see Repentance.

CONVERSION. Literally, turning round. By this is generally meant a sudden and sensible action of the Blessed Spirit upon a newly-awakened sinner. A certain party in the Church, and nearly all dissenting bodies, declare the absolute necessity of conversion before a person can be saved. This view is based upon a mistaken interpretation of our Lord's intercourse with Nicodemus, S. John iii., and confuses conversion with regeneration (which see). To the heathen, and infidel, conversion—a change of heart and life—is absolutely and always necessary to salvation; but the baptized Christian may, by God's grace, so continue in that state of salvation (see Church Catechism) in which he was placed in baptism, that conversion, in the above sense, is not necessary to him; but inasmuch as all fall into sin day by day, he will need renewal, or renovation—the quiet and continuous work of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. There is not a single reference to sudden conversion in any of the formularies of the Church of England.

CONVOCATION. An assembly of Bishops and Clergy to consult on matters ecclesiastical. Each Province (Canterbury and York) has its own convocation, consisting of two Houses—an Upper, in which the Bishops of the Province sit, and a Lower, in which the Deans, Archdeacons, and chosen members of the clergy sit. These chosen clergy are called proctors, and are elected by the votes of the beneficed clergy. It was, and is, the custom of convocation to sit at the same time as parliament; but in the sixteenth century a great deal of the power and authority of convocation was lost, and it became no longer able to legislate for the Church without the consent of parliament.

COPE, see Vestment.

CORONATION. The solemn religious rite by which a sovereign prince is consecrated to his high office. The Coronation Service is substantially the same as that used in the times of the Heptarchy, and is very valuable as recording certain high religious and political principles prevailing in those early times, and still to be cherished.

CORPORAL, see Altar Linen.

COUNCILS. GENERAL or OECUMENICAL COUNCILS, or SYNODS. Assemblies of Bishops from all parts of the world, to determine some weighty matter of faith or discipline. Of such Councils there have been six received by the whole Catholic Church, but the Roman Church acknowledges several others. Of these six Councils the first four are the most important:—(1) Council of Nice, A.D. 325, summoned by the Emperor Constantine, against the Arian heresy. (2) Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381, summoned by the Emperor Theodosius, against the heresy of Macedonius. (3) Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, summoned by the Emperor Theodosius the younger, against the Nestorian heresy. (4) Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, summoned by the Emperor Marcianus, against the heresy of the Eutychians. The other two generally received Councils are the Second and Third Councils of Constantinople. (See OEcumenical.)

Besides these General Councils, there are National, Provincial, and Diocesan Councils,

COVENANT. A mutual agreement between two or more parties. In the Bible, God is spoken of as entering into covenant with man, as in Gen. xv.8-18; xxviii.20-22; and elsewhere. In an historical sense it denotes a contract or convention agreed to by the Scots in 1630 for maintaining the Presbyterian religion free from innovation. This was called the National Covenant. The "Solemn League and Covenant," a modification of the above, guaranteed the preservation of the Scottish Reformed Church, and was adopted by Parliament in 1643.

CREDENCE TABLE. A table or shelf near the altar, on which the bread and wine to be used in Holy Communion are placed previously to consecration. The word seems to be derived from the Italian credenzare, a buffet, or sideboard, at which meats were tasted in early times before being presented to the guests, as a precaution against poison. It is used for the more convenient observance of the rubric following the offertory sentences, "And when there is a Communion, the priest shall then place upon the Table so much bread and wine as he shall think sufficient."

CREED. There are three Creeds recognised in the Catholic Church—the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. The name Creed is derived from the Latin Credo, "I believe."

The Apostles' Creed, rehearsed in the Morning and Evening Service of our Church, is the most ancient of all creeds, and can be traced back, with few variations, almost to Apostolic times; some indeed allege that it, in its earliest form, is referred to in Rom. vi.17, and 2 Tim. i.13. It is in no way controversial, but is a simple and plain statement of the fundamental truths of Christianity, and being such, a profession of faith in it is demanded of all candidates for Baptism.

The Nicene Creed, which has a place in the Communion Service, is so called from its being drawn up at the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325). A more distinct enunciation of belief was made necessary by the growth of the Arian and other heresies which denied the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ. The latter portion, from "I believe in the Holy Ghost," was added later, viz., at the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381. Other heresies led to the introduction of the "filioque clause"—"Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son"—at a still later date. This is one cause of the great schism between the Eastern and Western Churches.

The Athanasian Creed, recited on certain Festivals instead of the Apostles' Creed, is not so ancient as the other two, nor does it rest on the same authority. It is not known for certain by whom it was composed, but at any rate it was not by Athanasius. It has been regularly used in the Western Church since the year 800, and is regarded as a most valuable exposition of Scriptural Truth. So much objection is taken to the "damnatory clauses," as they are called, that it may be well to quote the declaration of the Convocation of Canterbury (1879):—"For the removal of doubts, and to prevent disquietude in the use of the Creed, commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius, it is hereby solemnly declared—

"(I.) That the Confession of our Christian Faith, commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius, doth not make any addition to the faith as contained in Holy Scripture, but warneth against errors, which from time to time have arisen in the Church of Christ.

"(II.) That as Holy Scripture in divers places doth promise life to them that believe, and declares the condemnation of them that believe not, so doth the Church in this Confession declare the necessity for all who would be in a state of Salvation, of holding fast the Catholic Faith, and the great peril of rejecting the same. Wherefore the warnings in this Confession of Faith are not to be understood otherwise than like warnings of Holy Scripture; for we must receive God's threatenings, even as His promises, in such wise as they are generally set forth in Holy Writ. Moreover, the Church doth not herein pronounce judgment on any particular person or persons, God alone being the Judge of all."

CROSIER. In Skeat's Etymological Dictionary Crosier is derived from Crook; thus a pastoral staff terminating in a crook. The use of a pastoral staff is ordered in the Prayer Book of the second year of Edward VI. The pastoral staff of an Archbishop is distinguished from the pastoral staff of a Bishop by terminating in a cross instead of in a crook.

CROSS. The instrument of death to our Blessed Lord, and as such it has been considered in all ages by the Church as the most appropriate emblem, or symbol, of our Christian profession. The sign of the cross was formerly used in nearly every part of the Church Service, but owing to the superstitious use of it by Roman Catholics it is retained in our Church in the baptismal office only.

CRUCIFIX. A cross upon which is a representation of our Lord's body. It is used by the Romanists, and the Lutheran Protestants, as an aid to devotion. In the Church of England we sometimes find it in reredoses and stained glass.

CRYPT. The subterranean vault under any portion of a Church. Possibly used as an additional place of worship; and, also, sometimes of burial, and of concealment.

CUP, see Altar Vessels.

CURATE. Properly the person who has the cure, or care, of souls in a parish. In this way the word, is used in the Prayer Book. But the word, in common parlance, is used to denote the assistant clergyman in a parish. He is licensed by the Bishop of the diocese, and can be removed only by consent of the Bishop after six months' notice. He can, however, resign, after giving the Incumbent three months' notice. For particulars with regard to ordination see Orders.

CURE. The spiritual charge of a parish, or, in another sense, the parish itself.

DAILY PRAYERS. Every Priest and Deacon is bound to say publicly in Church, if a congregation of two or three can be obtained; or privately, unless hindered by some good cause, the Office for Morning and Evening Prayer. This is directed in the preface of the Book of Common Prayer.

DALMATIC, see Vestments.

DAMNATORY CLAUSES, see Creed.

DEACON, see Orders.

DEAD, see Burial Service.

DEADLY SIN, see Sin.

DEAN. An ecclesiastic next in degree to a Bishop. He is the head of a corporate body called a Chapter, attached to a Cathedral, and has the direction of the Cathedral services. Deans of Peculiars have no Chapters. The Dean of a College at Oxford or Cambridge is the officer appointed to maintain discipline.*

The Dean of Faculty presides over meetings of the particular faculty of which he is Dean. It is an office in most ancient, and some modern universities.

* The Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, is the Head both of the Cathedral, and the College.

DEAN, RURAL, see Rural Dean.

DEAN AND CHAPTER. The governing body of a Cathedral.

DECALOGUE, see Commandments.

DECORATION of CHURCHES. It is right and fitting that churches should be made as beautiful as possible for the worship of Almighty God, for so God Himself directed the Tabernacle to be made. The custom of especially decorating them with evergreens, flowers, &c., at the chief festivals of the Church is a very ancient one.

DEGREES. A rank or grade conferred by a university on her members. After three years' residence at Oxford or Cambridge, and after the passing of certain examinations, a degree is conferred on the student in accordance with the subjects in which he has passed. If, as is the general rule, he has studied and passed in Arts,—Classics, Mathematics, and the like—the student is made a B.A., or Bachelor in Arts, and in about three years—not necessarily of residence—he is able to proceed to the higher degree of M. A., or Master in Arts, without further examination. Other degrees are in the faculties of Divinity, Laws, Medicine, and Music; for the last it is not necessary to reside. The highest degree conferred by a university in any faculty is that of Doctor. A Bachelor of Oxford wears a small black hood trimmed with white fur; a Bachelor of Cambridge has a larger hood lined with white fur. An Oxford Master wears a hood of black silk lined with red silk, but the Cambridge Master's hood is of black silk lined with white silk. The difference in shape can easily be seen by comparison. A Dublin Master's hood is lined with blue silk. Other universities have other colours; and many theological colleges, which have no power to confer degrees, have arrogated to themselves hoods with various linings, which bear a close resemblance to some of the hoods worn by graduates.

DEISTS. A Deist acknowledges the existence of a God, but denies the existence and necessity of any revelation.

DENOMINATIONS. There appear to be about 180 Denominations having Places of Meeting for Religious Worship in England and Wales. Among these there are—

8 "Armies," besides the Salvation Army. 9 Baptist Sects. 20 Methodist Sects.

DESK. The name usually given to the "reading-pew," mentioned in the rubric before the Commination Service, where morning and evening prayers are said or sung. In 1549 it was directed that the Service should be said "in the Quire" and "with a loud voice." This was done by the Priest near to, and facing, the Altar. In 1552 the Service was directed to be said from such a place as the people could best hear. This direction caused a great commotion, one party retaining their old position in the Chancel, the other performing all services in the body of the Church. In 1559 the rubric before the Order for Morning Prayer was brought into its present shape, and the "accustomed Place" would undoubtedly be the Chancel, but still the discretion left with the "Ordinary" sanctioned the use of the unsightly "reading-pew" or desk, which is occasionally found outside the Chancel and in the body of the Church.

DEUS MISEREATUR. Psalm lxvii., inserted in the Evening Service for occasional use instead of the Nunc Dimittis in 1552.

DIGNITARY. One who holds cathedral or other preferment to which jurisdiction is annexed. "One who holds an ecclesiastical rank above a priest or canon." (Chambers' Etymological Dictionary.)

DIMISSORY LETTERS. When a Candidate for Holy Orders is ordained by some Bishop other than the one in whose diocese he is going to work, it is because the ordaining Bishop has received leave, or Letters Dimissory, from the candidate's rightful Diocesan.

DIOCESE. The extent of a Bishop's rule. England at present is divided into 32 dioceses; 23 being in the Province of Canterbury, and 9 in the Province of York. It is to be very earnestly wished that these dioceses may be sub-divided, and the number of Bishops increased, that the Church may be more able to cope with the enormously increased population.

DISSENTERS. A civil, not a religious term, and denotes those who have diverged from the civilly established religion of a country. Episcopalians are Dissenters in Scotland, Christians are Dissenters in Turkey. In England all are Dissenters who do not belong to the Church of England, whether they are Protestants or Papists. For further particulars see under their various names.

DONATIVE. A form of conferring an ecclesiastical benefice on any clerk, by which he is exempt from presentation, induction, or institution; the patron acting virtually as a Bishop. This is said to be the usual manner in which benefices were anciently conferred.

DOXOLOGY. An ascription of praise to God. The most familiar doxologies in use in our Church are the "Gloria Patri," the "Gloria in Excelsis," and the well-known verse, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," &c. Many of our prayers, especially those of thanksgiving, conclude with a doxology.

EAST, TURNING TO THE. This is now generally done at the Creeds. It is a survival of a general custom of worship towards the East—as the region of light, symbolical of the rising of the "Sun of Righteousness"—which is at least as old as the time of Tertullian, who lived in the second century.

EASTWARD POSITION. A term descriptive of the position used by a Priest who adopts the custom of celebrating Holy Communion facing the East, with his back to the people. There is a very great difficulty in ascertaining what the rubrics with relation to the Priest's position really mean, because the Altar itself occupied various positions at the time the rules were framed.

(1.) Position of Altar. "The Table. . . .shall stand in the Body of the Church, or in the Chancel," is the rubric of 1552. "The Holy Table shall be set in the place where the Altar stood. . . .saving when the Communion of the Sacrament is to be distributed, at which time the same shall be so placed in good sort (conveniently) within the Chancel," is the direction in the Injunctions of 1559.

By degrees, however, the custom of moving the Holy Table at the time of Communion, and placing it length-ways in the Church ceased, and it was allowed to remain at all times placed "Altar-wise" at the East End of the Church.

(2.) Position of the Priest. In the rubric of 1549 the direction was for him "to stand humbly afore the midst of the Altar," of course with his back to the people. In 1552 the present rubric, directing the "North-side," was introduced, but owing to the Altar's standing East and West then, the position of the Priest remained virtually the same as before. But when, through Laud's influence, the Holy Table was removed back to its original position, the question was whether the Priest was still to obey the letter of the rubric and stand at the "North-side," or rather what was now the "North end," or whether he too was to retain his old relative and original position. The matter has been further complicated by the insertion of the rubric before the Consecration Prayer in 1662, which seems to favour the Eastward position in directing the Priest to "stand before the Table," while, on the other hand, that very position renders it difficult to "break the Bread before the people," unless, as some maintain, the "before" does not mean "in the sight of," but "in front of."

EASTER. The great festival of the Church's Year, and kept in commemoration of our Saviour's glorious Resurrection. It has always been observed by the Church, but in early ages there were bitter disputes as to the season when it was to be kept. Some wished it to be observed on the actual anniversary, whether the day happened to be a Sunday or not. The matter was settled at the Council of Nice, when it was decided that Easter should be kept on the first Sunday following the full moon which falls on, or next after, March 21st.

The word Easter is probably derived from the name of a Saxon goddess, whose festival was kept in the Spring of the year. The other name, Paschal, applied to this festival, is a Hebrew word meaning "passage," and is applied to the Jewish feast of the Passover, to which the Christian festival of Easter corresponds.

Easter used to be the great day for Baptism, for the restoring of Penitents, and, in the early ages, even for the freeing of prisoners. Every confirmed member of the Church of England is expected to Communicate on Easter Day, in accordance with the direction at the end of the Communion Service.

EASTER ANTHEMS. Certain passages, chosen from 1 Cor. v., Rom. vi., 1 Cor. xv., directed to be sung instead of the Venite on Easter Day.

ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS. "In the year 1837 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were embodied. They are not, as many suppose, the dispensers of State funds to the Church. They are a corporation for the purpose of holding as trustees a large amount of Church revenues. The sources from which the income in their hands arises are certain annual payments from several bishoprics, emoluments of suspended canonries, the property of suspended deaneries and sinecure rectories, capitular estates, and other Ecclesiastical sources." (Webb's "England's Inheritance in her Church.")

"The Ecclesiastical Commission does with the lands of Bishops and Chapters what these could never do for themselves. It can afford to wait for the falling in of leases, whereas those old corporations were obliged to renew them, that they might live on the money paid for renewals; and when it has got the lands it lets them for their full value. By this means it is able to pay the old corporations out of half their lands as much as they used to get from the whole under their own system, and the other moiety is taken out of the hands of laymen (regard being had to equity) and devoted to other beneficial purposes for the Church. In this way the surplus revenues of capitular estates have been applied to the benefit of an immense number of parishes which had claims upon them." (Dixon's "Peek Essay.")

ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. The following are the principal: the Consistory Courts of the Bishops; the Arches Court of Canterbury; and the Supreme Court of Appeal, composed of members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Under the Public Worship Act the Dean of the Arches Court has been made Official Principal of both Provinces. A Royal Commission has recently issued a Report upon the Ecclesiastical Courts, and the question of their constitution generally is under consideration.

ELECTION. A choosing, hence the "chosen people" of God. There are three views taken of election,—the Calvinistic, the Arminian, and the Catholic. The Calvinistic view is that certain persons are from all eternity chosen or elected by God to salvation, the rest of mankind being condemned to eternal death (See Predestination, Calvinism, Antinomianism.)

The Arminian view is that God, knowing what the life of every man born into the world shall be, and foreseeing that some "will refuse the evil and choose the good," hath elected them to eternal life. (See Arminianism.)

The Catholic view is that God of his mercy elects certain of His creatures for a place in the visible Church, and thus causes them to be placed in "a state of salvation," of which, however, they may fall short by their own perverseness.

The Church of England, as a branch of the great Church Catholic, is believed to teach this latter view, as will be seen by a study of her Liturgy.

ELEMENTS. The Bread and Wine used in Holy Communion (See Communion, Holy). In Holy Baptism, Water, wherein the person is baptized, is the Element.

ELEVATION. In Articles xxv. and xxviii. reference is made to a ceremony of the Church of Rome, called the Elevation of the Host, which consists in the consecrated wafer being held up, or elevated, for the adoration of the people. Bp. Harold Browne says, "Elevating the Host resulted from a belief in transubstantiation. . . .There is evidently no Scriptural Authority for the Elevation of the Host, the command being, 'Take, eat.' The Roman ritualists themselves admit that there is no trace of its existence before the 11th or 12th centuries." (See Note on Art. xxviii.)

EMBER DAYS. In early times special fasts were appointed at the four seasons of the year, and of later years they have been made to have a special reference to the ordination of clergy which immediately follows them. The derivation of the name is uncertain. The days thus set apart, and now used for supplicating God's blessing on those about to be ordained, are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the 1st Sunday in Lent, after Whit Sunday, after the 14th of September, and after the 13th of December. Special Collects are appointed for use on these days.

EMMANUEL, or IMMANUEL. A Hebrew word, used as a name of our Lord, and meaning, "God with us," Isaiah vii.14; Matt. i.23.

ENDOWMENT. The permanent provision for the support of the ministry. The annual sum derived from the endowments of the Established Church amounts to rather more than four millions sterling. Of this sum—Tithes and Rents voluntarily given to the Church of England by charitable persons before the Reformation bring in about L1,950,000; Tithes, Rents, and Interest on Money voluntarily given to the Church of England since the Reformation bring in about L2,250,000. Thus the total of the yearly value of endowments is about L4,200,000. Of this the State receives as taxes about L200,000, which leaves a net yearly value of endowments of about; L3,500,000, which is paid to the clergy, of whom there are about 20,000. It is thus divided: 2 Archbishops, 28 Bishops, 73 Archdeacons, receive about L173,000; 30 Deans, 132 Canons, 128 Minor Canons, 600 Singers, Lay Officers and Servants, receive about L203,000; 19,600 other Clergy, Rectors, Vicars, and Curates receive about L3,124,000. The average, therefore, is just L3, 10s. a week for each clergyman.

To supplement its endowments, which were voluntarily given by private persons, the Church receives, by free gifts from her own members, about five millions and a half sterling every year. This money is all spent on Schools, Church Institutions, Charities, Relief of the Poor, Foreign Missions, Expenses attendant upon the regular performance of Divine Worship, and Building and Restoring Churches (See Establishment.)

EPIPHANY. A Greek word, meaning "manifestation." The term applied to that festival of the Church observed on Jan. 6th, in commemoration of our Lord's manifestation to the Wise Men from the East, the representatives of the Gentile world.

EPISCOPACY. The term applied to the Apostolical form of government, which consisted in the appointment of a Bishop as an Overseer (for that is the meaning of the Greek word) of a particular Church. (See Orders.)

EPISTLE. The name given to the Letters of the Apostles, which the Church has admitted as forming part of the Canon of the New Testament (see Bible). St. Paul wrote fourteen, if we allow the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by him. St. James wrote one, which, like others addressed to no particular Church, is called a general Epistle. St. Peter wrote two Epistles; St. John, three; and St. Jude, one. Those portions of Scripture read in the Communion Service, and called Epistles, have been used, with few alterations, for 1200 years by the Church of England.

EPISTOLER. The 24th Canon directs that "In all cathedral and collegiate churches the Holy Communion shall be administered, . . . the principal minister using a decent cope, and being assisted with the gospeller and epistoler." So, in the advertisements published in the seventh year of Elizabeth, we read, "The principal minister shall use a cope with gospeller and epistoler agreeably."

ERASTIANISM. The heresy of Erastus, a German, born 1524. His main principle was that the source of all pastoral authority is the civil magistrate, who, whether Christian or not, possesses an inherent right to nominate and commission teachers of religion, and is under no necessity of admitting the least difference between priests and laymen.

ESCHATOLOGY. A term applied to doctrines relative to the state after death.

ESTABLISHMENT and ENDOWMENT. These two terms are constantly linked together in the publications of the Liberation Society, and by other enemies of the Church of England, as though they formed one and the same thing. In truth, they are wholly distinct, and are descriptive of two quite different features of the Church of England. It is Established, and it is also Endowed. It is called the former because it is established in this country by the Law of the land, and professes the acknowledged religion of the State. If the Church were disestablished to-morrow she would still continue to be the true Church of God in this country, because her origin, doctrine, and constitution are Apostolic. Besides being called a "State Church," the Church of England has also been called a "State paid Church." It is well to remember that the Parochial Clergy, and all others except Army and Navy Chaplains and the like, do not receive one farthing from the State. The property, or Endowment, of the Church was the voluntary gift of private individuals in all ages, who, out of regard to the spiritual interests of those who lived upon their estates, built churches, and endowed them for the maintenance of religious worship. The State has no right to alienate any portion whatever of that property from the purpose for which it was given. (See Church of England and Endowment.)

EUCHARIST. A term applied to the Holy Communion (which see), derived from the Greek, and meaning, "a giving of thanks." It is used in the Latin version of our Articles.

EVANGELICALS, see Church Parties.

EVANGELISTS. Properly, preachers of the "Evangel," or Gospel, of Christ; Eph. iv. 11. The term now is limited to the four writers of the Gospel.

EVES, or VIGILS. The nights or evenings before certain Holy Days of the Church. A list of days which have vigils may be found in the beginning of the Prayer Book, in the table of the Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence, to be observed in the year. (See Vigil.)

EVEN-SONG. Evening Prayer. The word occurs in the table of Proper Lessons at the commencement of the Prayer Book. (See Morning Prayer.)

EVOLUTION. A name given to the theory of the origin of animal life, set forth by certain scientists. Thus they tell us that the account given us in Genesis of the Creation is certainly wrong. That man was not created as man, but that he has grown to be what he is through a series of stages. According to Professor Haeckel, the pedigree of man is as follows:—1. Monera—formless little lumps of mucus matter supposed to be originated by spontaneous generation. 2. Amoebae—a little piece of protoplasm enclosing a kernel. 3. Synamoebae—a collection of Amoebae. 4. Planaeada. 5. Gastraeada, or primaeval "stomach animals." 6. Turbellaria, or worms of a very simple kind. 7. Scolecida, worms of a higher class. 8. Himatega, or worms of a higher class still. 9. Acrania, or skull-less animals. 10. Monorrhina, or animals with one nostril. 11. Selachii, or primaeval fish. 12. Dipneusta, or mud-fish. 13. Sozobranchia, or gilled amphibians. 14. Sozura, or tailed amphibians. 15. Protamnia. 16. Primary Mammals. 17. Pouched animals. 18. Prosimiae, or semi-apes. 19. Tailed Apes. 20. Man-like Apes. 21. Ape-like Men. 22. Men.

This may be all true, and yet Genesis need not be false. Genesis begins with man as man, and not with man as a Monera—supposing he ever was such. But when scientists speak of the principle of life as being the outcome of an act of spontaneous generation without any external creative power, then we must disagree with them. The principle of life is hidden with God alone, and must come from God. Nor does it in any way affect our belief in Almighty God, whether He was pleased to create man from the first in "His own image," or whether He was pleased to make him first pass through the preliminary stages Professor Haeckel enumerates!

EXCOMMUNICATION. An ecclesiastical censure, whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is for the time cast out of the communion of the church. The first rubric in the Office for the Burial of the Dead prohibits the use of the Service for any that die excommunicate.

EXHORTATION. The name given to the various addresses in the Liturgy. They are nearly all the production of the Reformers. The Burial Office is the only Service of the Prayer Book which has not one or more of these exhortations.

EXTREME UNCTION. One of the seven so-called Sacraments of the Church of Rome. It consists in the application of consecrated olive oil, by a priest, to the five organs of sense of a dying person. It is considered as conveying God's pardon and support in the last hour. It is administered when all hope of recovery is gone, and generally no food is permitted to be taken after it. This custom is founded on Mark vi. 13, and James v. 14, 15, but in both these places it is evident that the anointing should be for the recovery of the sick. When miraculous powers ceased in the Church, it was reasonable that the unction should cease also.

FACULTY. An order by the Bishop of a diocese to award some privilege not permitted by common law. A faculty is necessary in order to effect any important alterations in a church, such as the erection of a gallery or an organ. Without a faculty a person is not entitled to erect a monument within the walls of a church.

FAITH. Man is justified by God in respect of, and by means of, Faith in Christ. It is not the principal cause for our Justification, that being God's mercy; it is not the meritorious cause of our Justification, for that is Christ's death; audit is not the efficient cause of our Justification, for that is the operation of the Holy Spirit; but it is the instrument on our side, by which we rely on God's word, and appeal to Him for mercy, and receive a grant of pardon, and a title to the evangelical promises of God.

FALD STOOL. The desk at which the Litany is usually said. In the rubric before the penitential psalm in the Commination Service a special place is mentioned for the saying of the Litany, and this we know from the Injunctions of 1549 was to be "in the midst of the Church," thus marking the congregational character of the service.

FALL OF MAN, see Sin, Original.

FASTING. The Romanist regards the use of fasting, or abstinence, as a means of grace; the Protestant regards it only as a useful exercise, recommended in Scripture, for the subduing of the flesh to the Spirit.

FASTS. Days appointed by the Church for the particular discipline of the flesh, and for a peculiar sorrow for sin. A list of these days is given at the commencement of the Prayer Book.

FATHER, GOD THE, see Trinity, The Holy.

FATHERS, THE. A term applied generally to all the ancient orthodox Christian writers. St. Bernard, who flourished in the twelfth century, is reputed to be the last of the Fathers. The Schoolmen (which see) succeeded the Fathers. Those writers who knew the Apostles personally are called Apostolical Fathers; such were Hermas, Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Polycarp. Other Fathers of the early Church were Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. In the third century we have Origen and Cyprian, and succeeding them Eusebius, Athanasius, Ambrose, Basil, Jerome or Hieronymus, John Chrysostom, and Augustine.

The writings of the Fathers are most valuable to us as showing us what were the doctrines and ceremonies of the first Christians. The Tractarian movement was of great service in calling attention to the well-nigh forgotten mine of theological wealth stored up in these writers. Pusey has published a library of the works of the Fathers in English.

FEASTS, or FESTIVALS. These are days of rejoicing in the Church, in commemoration of some great truth of Christianity, or of some great example of Holy Life. The commencement of the Prayer Book furnishes us with a list of these Holy Days. The rubric, after the Nicene Creed, directs that "The Curate shall then declare to the people what holy days, or fasting days are in the week following to be observed."

FELLOWSHIP. A settled income bestowed by a college on a student as a reward for distinguished scholarship. Various conditions are associated with these prizes in the different colleges.

FERIA. A day which is neither a feast nor a fast.

FLAGON, see Altar Vessels.

FONT. From a Latin word, meaning a fountain. The vessel holding the water for Baptism. The 81st Canon says it is to be made of stone. By ancient custom it is usually placed at the West end of the Church, near the door, as signifying that Holy Baptism is the entrance into Christ's Mystical Body, the Church.

FORMULARY, see Liturgy. A formulary is a book containing the rites, ceremonies, and prescribed forms of the Church. The formulary of the Church of England is the Book of Common Prayer.

FREE WILL. see Article x. The doctrine of our Church is that although man has a perfectly free will to choose good or evil, yet we prefer the animal life to the spiritual life, and, through the badness of our perverse will, shall continue to prefer it until prevented by the grace of God.

FUNERAL SERVICE, see Burial of the Dead.

GHOST, THE HOLY, see Trinity, The Holy.

GLEBE. Land belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice, and which forms part of its endowment, the freehold being vested in the Incumbent.

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. "Glory be (to God) on high." A hymn in the Communion Office, sometimes called the Angelic Hymn, because the first part was sung by angels at Bethlehem. It has been used by the Church for more than 1,500 years, and, in substance, was sung by Polycarp at his martyrdom.

GLORIA PATRI. "Glory be to the Father." This is one of the oldest doxologies of the Church; in substance, at least, it is as old as the 4th century. It is directed to be said at the end of every Psalm, thus turning Jewish praises into Christian hymns.

GNOSTICS. Early heretics who boasted of their superior knowledge, for that is the meaning of the word, just as agnostic means without knowledge. This heresy dates back to Apostolic days, Simon Magus being considered its founder.

They mixed up the Christian faith with systems based on Platonism, Oriental Philosophy, or corrupt Judaism. St. John is believed to have written against the gnostics in certain parts of his Gospel.

GOD, see Trinity, The Holy. The word God can be traced back no further as yet than the Gothic Gutha, but no one knows its root.

GOD-FATHER, see Sponsors.

GOD-MOTHER, see Sponsors.

GOLDEN NUMBER. A term used in the elaborate tables placed at the beginning of the Prayer Book for the finding of Easter. The Golden Number of a year marks its place in a cycle, called the Metonic Cycle (from Meton, an Athenian astronomer B.C. 432), of nineteen years. The year A.D. 1 was fixed as the second year of such a cycle. Hence the rule given to find the Golden Number, viz., "Add one to the year of our Lord, and then divide by 19; the remainder, if any, is the Golden Number; but if there be no remainder, then 19 is the Golden Number."

GOOD FRIDAY. The day regarded as the anniversary of our Saviour's death. It has been observed from the first age of the Church as a day of peculiar solemnity, to be spent in fasting and humiliation.

GOSPEL, see Bible.

GOSPELLER. The priest or deacon who, in the Communion Service, reads the Gospel, standing at the north side of the Altar. (See Epistoler.)

GRACE. Favour. A word used with various meanings in Holy Scripture. The influence of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of man.

GRADUATE, see Degree. One who has passed through the curriculum of a University, and has had a degree conferred on him.

GREEK CHURCH, see Church, The Catholic.

GREGORIAN MUSIC, see Church Music.

GUILD. In the Church, a Society formed for a certain purpose, and governed by certain rules; to promote personal piety; or active usefulness.

HADES. Unfortunately two distinct words in the original of the New Testament have both been translated Hell. Hades is one of these words; Gehenna is the other. The latter is applied only to the place of the damned, Hades is the abode of departed spirits, good and bad, waiting for the final Judgment. When, in the Creed, we say of our Lord that He "descended into Hell," it should be "into Hades," showing that alive and dead He was perfect man.

It is generally believed that a foretaste of final joy or woe is experienced in Hades by the spirits waiting for their doom.

HEAVEN. The final abode of the blessed.

HELL. The final abode of the damned. (See Hades.)

HERESY. From a Greek word meaning "a choice," and thus an adoption and obstinate holding of a doctrine not taught by the Catholic Church. Heresies began very early in the Church, even in Apostolic times. (See Gnostic.) The heresies of the present day are for the most part revivals of the heresies of the first six centuries.

HERETIC. One who holds doctrines opposed to those of the Catholic Church. (See above.)

HETERODOX. Contrary to the faith of the true Church.

HIERARCHY. Properly, rule in sacred matters. The apostolic order of ministry.

HIGH CHURCH, see Church Parties.

HOLY DAY. A festival of the Church. (See Feast.)

HOLY GHOST. see Trinity, The Holy.

HOLY THURSDAY. see Ascension Day.

HOLY WEEK. Some consider the terms Holy Week and Passion Week equally to apply to the week preceding Easter—the last week in Lent. This is Dr. Hook's opinion. Others restrict the term Holy Week to the week commencing with Palm-Sunday, and call the week preceding that Passion Week. Undoubtedly the fifth Sunday in Lent was commonly called in old times Passion Sunday, because of the anticipation of the Passion in the Epistle.

HOMILIES. The Homilies of the Church of England are two books of discourses, composed at the time of the Reformation, and appointed to be read in churches, on "any Sunday or Holy Day, when there is no sermon." Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer are thought to have composed the first volume; the second is supposed to be by Bishop Jewel, 1563.

HOODS. The ornamental fold which hangs down the back of a graduate to mark his degree. (See Degree.) The 58th Canon provides that "every minister saying the public prayers, or ministering the Sacraments, or other rites of the Church, if they are graduates, shall wear upon their surplice, at such times, such hoods as by the orders of the Universities are agreeable to their degrees." The same Canon goes on to say "It shall be lawful for such ministers as are not graduates to wear upon their surplices, instead of hoods, some decent tippet of black, so it be not silk."

HYMN, see Church Music.

IDOLATRY. The worship of any person or thing but the one true God, whether it be in the form of an image or not.

IMMERSION, see Baptism, Infant.

IMPOSITION, or LAYING ON OF HANDS, see Ordinal.

IMPROPRIATION. Ecclesiastical property, the profits of which are in the hands of a layman. Impropriations have arisen from the confiscation of monasteries in the time of Henry VIII., when, instead of restoring the tithes to Church purposes, they were given to Court favourites.

INCARNATION. The act whereby Christ, the "Word, was made flesh." The "taking of the Manhood into God."

INCUMBENT. A person in possession of a benefice. (See Benefice.)

INDEPENDENTS. The first body of Dissenters which actually broke away from the Church of England was that of the Independents, or—as they are nowadays perhaps more intelligibly called—the Congregationalists. An Independent sect seems to have existed about the year 1568, the whole question in dispute between them and the Church being then, as it is still, essentially one of "discipline," or Church Polity. They made each congregation a body corporate, governed exclusively by itself, and disclaim, more or less, every form of union between churches. In doctrine they are strictly Calvinistic, and, reviving the ancient heresy of Donatus, they profess to receive only accredited or really serious Christians into their fellowship, and to exclude any who may prove themselves unworthy members.

The Independents are sometimes called Brownists, from Robert Brown, a clergyman of the Church of England, who was the first to secede from her ranks, and who, retreating to Holland, set up a separatist communion.

There are 76 County and other Associations at home and in the Colonies, with 3,895 meetinghouses, and 1,039 preaching stations, 300 being foreign mission stations; of ministers and missionaries they have about 3,500. They reckon to have about 360,000 members in the British dominions.

INDUCTION. The ceremony whereby a minister is put in actual possession of the living to which he has been presented.

INFALLIBILITY. The claim set up by the Church of Rome, either for the Pope, or the Church, or for the Pope and the Church consenting together; of absolute freedom from error in deciding questions of faith and doctrine. Roman divines are not agreed among themselves as to precisely where the infallibility of their Church is found. Certain it is that Councils and Popes have contradicted and anathematized each other.

INNOCENTS' DAY, THE HOLY. This festival has been observed ever since the 3rd century, in memory of the slaughtered children of Bethlehem (Matt. ii. 16.) Its old English name is Childermas, and it is kept on December 28th; the attendants on the nativity being St. Stephen, a martyr in will and deed, December 26th; St. John the Divine, a martyr in will though not in deed, December 27th; and The Holy Innocents, martyrs in deed but not in will, December 28th.

INSPIRATION. The extraordinary and supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit on the human mind, by which the sacred writers were qualified to set forth the things of God. In this sense the word occurs in 2 Tim. iii. 16. (See Bible.)

The word is also used of the ordinary influence of the Holy Spirit on the heart of man, as "Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit."

INSTITUTION. The legal act by which the Bishop commits to a clergyman the cure of a church.

INSTITUTIONS, CHURCH, see Societies.

INTROIT, see Church Music

IRVINGITES. The followers of Edward Irving, a minister of the Scottish establishment, who was born in 1792, and died in 1834. He was deposed from the Presbyterian ministry for teaching that our Lord's nature was peccable, or capable of sin. He gathered a congregation round him in London, and now has many followers both in Scotland and England, and also in Germany. His followers entertain peculiar notions about the millennium, and they claim to exercise the power of prophecy, to have the miraculous gift of tongues, and to be able to raise the dead.

The Irvingites call themselves "The Catholic and Apostolic Church," and among their ministers number apostles, prophets, angels, evangelists, &c. They use as much as possible the liturgies of the Church in their worship, and observe a very ornate ritual. In their principal places of worship the Holy Communion is administered daily, and throughout the day many other Services are held.

They recognise the three Creeds of the Catholic Church as their rule of faith.

They have 19 places for public worship, besides many preaching stations, in England; the principal erection is in Gordon Square, London, and is a large building of considerable architectural pretensions.

JAMES'S (St.) DAY. July 25th. The day on which the Church celebrates the memory of the Apostle St. James the Great, or the Elder. He was one of the sons of Zebedee, and a brother of St. John the Divine. He was the first of the Apostles to suffer martyrdom. (Acts xii. 2.)

JESUITS, or SOCIETY OF JESUS. A Roman Catholic Society founded by Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, born in 1491. Members of the Order bind themselves to yield the most blind, implicit, and unlimited obedience to the General of the Order. Before the conclusion of the 16th century the Jesuits had obtained the chief direction of the youthful mind in every Roman Catholic country in Europe. They had become the confessors of almost all its monarchs, and the spiritual guides of nearly every person distinguished for rank or influence. At different periods they obtained the direction of the most considerable courts, and took part in every intrigue and revolution. Their great principle of action is not so much the advance of Christianity, as the extension of the Papal power; and in effecting this, their great maxim is "the end will justify the means." The Society is still flourishing, and has a power which is probably as little imagined as it is unknown to all but themselves.

JESUS, see Trinity, The Holy.

JOHN (St.) BAPTIST'S DAY. June 24th. This feast commemorates, not the martyrdom, but the miraculous birth of St. John Baptist. It is the only nativity, besides that of our Lord, that is kept by the Church; although September 8th is marked in our Calendar for the commemoration of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The festival has been observed since the 4th or 5th century.

JOHN (St.) THE EVANGELIST'S DAY. December 27th. This festival, with those of St. Stephen and the Holy Innocents, immediately follows on Christmas Day. "Martyrdom, love, and innocence are first to be magnified, as wherein Christ is most honoured." The eagle is supposed to be emblematic of St. John the Evangelist.

JUBILATE DEO. Psalm c, appointed to be sung in the Morning Service instead of the Benedictus, when the latter happens to be read in the Gospel for St. John Baptist, or the lesson for the day.

JUSTIFICATION. This term signifies our being accounted just or righteous in the sight of God, not for any merit in ourselves, but solely for the sake of Christ, and by our faith in Him. The 11th Article of the Church of England treats of this. All believers are justified by Christ, but that does not necessarily imply that they are sanctified; the one is a work wrought exterior to ourselves, the other is the work of the Holy Spirit in the individual heart of man.

KEYS, POWER OF THE. The authority existing in the Christian Priesthood of administering the discipline of the Church, and communicating or withholding its privileges. It is so called from our Lord's words to St. Peter in Matt. xvi. 19.

KINDRED, TABLE OF. The Table of Kindred and Affinity found at the end of our Prayer Book was drawn up by Archbishop Parker, in 1563. It rests on an Act of Henry VIII., and is designed to be an authoritative interpretation of it. The whole is based on Lev. xviii. 6-18. The principles on which it is drawn up are the following:—

(a) It places both sexes on the same footing, forbidding to the man whatever is forbidden to the woman.

(b) It forbids marriage to a man on the grounds of near kindred or consanguinity; omitting, however, prohibition of marriage between cousins as not being forbidden in the Levitical Law, nor definitely by the Canon Law.

(c) Acting on the important principle sanctioned by our Lord Himself, that "man and wife are one flesh," it puts affinity, or connection by marriage, on exactly the same footing as kindred, or connection by blood, affirming that a man's wife's connections are to be held strictly as his own. It is for this reason,—a reason distinctly based upon Holy Scripture,—that the marriage with a "deceased wife's sister" is forbidden.

KNEELING. The practice of kneeling in confession, in prayer, and in adoration, is of great antiquity. David says, "Let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker," Psalm cxv. 6. See also Ps. cxxxii. 7; 1 Kings viii. 54; Ezra ix. 5-15; Dan. vi. 10; Acts vii. 60; Acts ix. 40; Acts xx. 36, xxi. 5. Our blessed Lord Himself "kneeled down" when He prayed, Luke xxii. 14. How the example of David and Solomon, Ezra and Daniel, St. Stephen, St. Peter and St. Paul, nay, of our Saviour Himself, condemns the lolling, irreverent posture assumed by too many Christians of the present day in the public worship of the Lord of Hosts!

KYRIE ELEISON. Two Greek words, meaning "Lord, have mercy." The responses to the Commandments are so called.

LAITY, LAYMAN. A baptized member of the Church, not being an ecclesiastic. The term "layman" denotes a positive rank, not the mere lack of rank.

LAMBETH DEGREES. The Archbishop of Canterbury has the power of conferring degrees in any of the faculties of the University to which he himself belongs. These degrees are called Lambeth Degrees. The Archbishop exercised this power as Legate of the Pope, retaining it (like the power of granting special marriage licences) under the Tudor legislation.

LAPSE. When a patron neglects to present a clergyman to a benefice within his gift, within six months after its vacancy, the benefice lapses to the Bishop; if he does not collate within six months, it lapses to the Archbishop: and if he does not collate within six months, it lapses to the Crown.

LATTER-DAY SAINTS, see Mormonists.

LAY BAPTISM. Baptism administered by laymen. Although not authorized in our Prayer Book, such baptisms have always been held valid by the Church of England. It is better that children should receive lay baptism than not be baptized at all.

LAYING ON OF HANDS, see Ordination. This ceremony has always been esteemed an essential part of ordination, and rests on undoubted Scriptural authority. It is also the form, in the Anglican Church, by which the Bishop conveys the grace of Confirmation.

LECTURN, or LECTERN. The desk from which the Lessons are read. The form frequently adopted is that of the eagle, doubtless with some reference to the eagle, the symbol of St. John. The eagle lectern in Peterborough Cathedral was given in 1471.

LENT. The name is probably derived from the old English Lencten, "Spring," from its always being observed at the Spring-tide of the year. The forty days fast before Easter are so called. In primitive times the duration of the fast appears to have been forty hours. The present custom of reckoning forty days, exclusive of the Sundays, prevails from the 7th century.

LESSONS. The portions of Holy Scripture read in Morning and Evening Prayer. The calendar of lessons now in use was authorized on Jan. 1st, 1873. The lessons were then made generally shorter, by the selection of parts of chapters containing one complete subject and no more. A choice of lessons was given in many cases, that the same portions of Scripture might not be read twice on the same day in churches with three Sunday services. By the present arrangement the main substance of the whole of the Old Testament is now read through once every year; and the New Testament twice, except the book of Revelation, which, with a few omissions, is read once in the year.

LETTERS OF ORDERS. A certificate given by the Bishop to every one whom he ordains, whether Priest or Deacon. Churchwardens have the power to require the exhibition of the Letters of Orders of any minister assisting in the church of which they are guardians.

LITANY. In the 4th century this name began specially to be applied to a Form of Supplication, used in times of need, which was sung in procession, with hymns and frequent responses, and with collects at the various halting places. The old Litanies bore a general resemblance to ours. In 1544 Cranmer, by desire of the king, drew up the first English Litany, which was compiled principally from ancient sources. The Litany at first was a separate service. In 1662 it was ordered to be sung after Morning Prayer. The Act of Uniformity of the present reign, 1872, allows it to be used in the Morning or Evening, or as a separate service. It was ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays only in 1549; Sundays were added in 1552.

LITERATE. This term, applied to a Clergyman, means one who has not taken a degree, and is not a member of a Theological College.

LITURGY. From a Greek word, meaning a public act or duty; it is now popularly used of the entire Book of Common Prayer, although formerly it was applied only to the Service for administering the Holy Eucharist.

As each different part of the Prayer Book is discussed under its own heading, this article will be confined to (a) why a formulary is used; (b) the history of our own.

(a) Forms of Prayer were used in the Jewish Church. Moses and Miriam used a prescribed form as a thanksgiving for the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus xv God appointed a form of prayer, Deut. xxi. 7, 8; also a benediction, Num. vi. 22, 26. Moses used a form of prayer, Num. x. 35, 36. Josephus and Philo tell us that the worship both in the Temple and in the Synagogues consisted of a settled form of prayer; this our Lord sanctioned by His frequent presence. He Himself gave us a form of prayer—the Lord's Prayer. He promises a special blessing on congregational worship. Matt, xviii. 19; the "agreement" must pre-suppose a settled form. Traces of forms of prayer some think are found in the New Testament.

The voice of history is unanimous on this point, nearly all the Fathers testifying to the use of formularies.

Common sense reasons are plentiful, as, for instance, that in Eccles. v. 2. A formulary makes the congregation independent of the minister's mood, or ability, or piety, or orthodoxy.

(b) History. Before the time of Augustine (597) the English Church had its own National Use, largely derived from the East, through the Galilean Church. It is certain that the entire Roman Ritual was never used, although attempts were made to force it upon the Anglo-Saxon Church. There was a considerable variety in the manner of performing Divine Service in the different Dioceses, each having its own particular "Use." (See Sarum, Use of.)

The earliest Liturgy in general use in England was the book of Offices, "secundum usum Sarum," hence called the "Sarum Use," compiled by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1078. This book contained much that had been in use from very early times. At the Reformation it became necessary to remove the Roman corruptions which had accumulated in the various Office books, the "Breviaries," the "Missals," the "Manuals," &c. One objection common to them all was that they were in Latin.

The object of the Reformers was to retain as much of the old as was free from error. The first English Prayer Book was the King's Primer, published 1545; and a Communion Service was put forth in 1548. The First Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1549, was drawn up by a Commission of Bishops and Divines under Cranmer and Ridley; an Ordinal was added in 1550.

The Second Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1552, was a revised form of the older book. Cranmer, Peter Martyr, and Bucer assisted in the revision, and much was added from Hermann's Consultation (which see). This Prayer Book was almost identical with the one in use now. Abolished during the reign of Mary, it was restored by Queen Elizabeth, 1559, with a few alterations. In 1604 a Conference was held at Hampton Court under James I., between Church and Puritan Divines, when some further alterations were made in deference to Puritan objections. The last revision was made in 1661, at the Savoy Conference, under Charles II., between Bishops and Presbyterian Divines. The Prayer Book then took the form which we have now, save that in 1859 the services for use on Nov. 5th, May 29th, and Jan. 30th (Charles the Martyr) were removed. In 1873 a revised Table of Lessons was put forth. In 1872 permission was given to use the Shortened Service, to separate the services, and to use hymns.

For further particulars the reader is referred to the articles on the various different services of the Church.

LIVING, see Benefice.

LOGOS. Greek, a word. Christ is called "The Word" because in Him God is revealed to man. (John i.) The Jews sometimes spoke of the Messiah as the "Word of God."

LORD, OUR, see Trinity, The Holy.

LORD'S DAY. The first day of the week, so called by St. John, Rev. i. 10. Sunday has ever been kept as the weekly festival in commemoration of our Lord's resurrection on that day. In the fourth Commandment, and elsewhere, we receive stringent directions to keep the seventh day—that is to say, the Sabbath, or Saturday—holy. It will be well to see on what authority Christians have hallowed the first, instead of the last, day of the week. We find from writers who were contemporary with the Apostles, or who immediately succeeded them, that Christians were always accustomed to meet on the first day of the week for the performance of their religious exercises. We find them asserting that this festival was instituted by the Apostles, who acted under the immediate direction and influence of the Holy Ghost. From the constant practice of the Apostles in keeping this day holy, it is believed by many that they must have had especial directions to that effect from their risen Lord, who, we know, gave them instructions relating to "the kingdom of God."—His Church,—during the forty days He was with them. And more, it was often while they were gathered together, celebrating the festival of the Lord's Day, that the Lord Himself appeared among them.

LORD'S PRAYER. The prayer taught us by our blessed Lord as the model of all our devotions. (Matt. vi. 9.) But it is not only a model of prayer, but an express form to accompany all our worship. (Luke xi. 2.) Thus we find it frequently in our Prayer Book, no Service being without it. The often repetition of it, however, in our Sunday Service is caused by the fact of three separate Services being used as one whole.

LORD'S SUPPER, see Communion, Holy.

LORD'S TABLE, see Altar.

LOW CHURCH, see Church Parties.

LOW SUNDAY. The Sunday after Easter is called Low Sunday, because, although it partakes in some sort of the festal nature of Easter, it being the Octave, yet it is a festival of a much lower degree than Easter itself.

LUKE'S (St.) DAY. October 18. Kept in commemoration of St. Luke, the companion of St. Paul, the author of the third Gospel, and also probably of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. He is believed to have been a physician, and his writings prove that he was a man of education. According to St. Augustine, his symbol is the ox, the Sacrificial Victim.

LUTHERANS. The followers of Martin Luther, an Augustine monk, a German, born 1483. He was the great Reformer of the Continent. They retain the use of the Altar, some of the ancient vestments, lighted tapers, incense, crucifix, confession, &c. At the time of the Reformation, the Lutherans, meeting with nothing but opposition from the Bishops, were constrained to act without them, and consequently they are in much the same position as the Scottish Presbyterian body, though not from the same cause. The Lutherans earnestly protested, that they much wished to retain episcopacy, but that the Bishops forced them to reject sound doctrine, and therefore they were unable to preserve their allegiance to them. The ritual and liturgies differ in the various Lutheran countries, but in fundamental articles they all agree.

LYCH GATE. A covered gate of the churchyard where the body (Leich, a corpse) rests on its way to burial.

MAGNIFICAT. The song of the Blessed Virgin, Luke i. It is the first canticle of Evening Prayer, and has been sung in the Church from very early times.

MANIPLE, or MANUPLE, see Vestment.

MARIOLATRY. The worship, or cultus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the principal errors of the Church of Rome, and on the increase.

MARK'S (St.) DAY. April 25th. St. Mark was a companion of St. Peter, and is thought to have written his Gospel under St. Peter's directions. This evangelist is symbolized by the Man.

MARRIAGE, see Matrimony, Holy.

MARTINMAS. November 11th. A festival formerly kept in honour of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, in France, in 374.

MARTYR. One who lays down his life for his religion. The word means a "witness." St. Stephen was the first, or proto-martyr.

MARY, The BLESSED VIRGIN. We admit to her the title of "Mother of God," but protest against her being worshipped. No instance of Divine honour being paid her is earlier than the fifth century. Two festivals only in the Church of England are kept in her honour, viz., the Purification, and the Annunciation.

MASS. In Latin, Missa, with which word congregations were accustomed to be dismissed. Then it was used for the congregation itself, and finally became applied only to the Communion Service.

MATERIALISM. One of the philosophies of the day which looks upon everything as the out-come of mere physical energy; denies the soul, and every spiritual force; and regards matter as eternal.

MATINS, see Morning Prayer.

MATRIMONY, HOLY. With regard to the Marriage Laws, the Church and the State are not agreed. The former maintains Holy Matrimony to be a religious ceremony, while the State recognises the legality of mere civil contracts, and allows people to enter into the nuptial state by a civil ceremony. We find the early Fathers distinctly stating that marriage is of a sacred nature. Paley, in his Moral Philosophy, says, "Whether it hath grown out of some tradition of the Divine appointment of marriage in the persons of our first parents, or merely from a design to impress the obligation of the marriage-contract with a solemnity suited to its importance, the marriage-rite, in almost all countries of the world, has been made a religious ceremony; although marriage, in its own nature, and abstracted from the rules and declarations which the Jewish and Christian Scriptures deliver concerning it, be properly a civil contract, and nothing more." It was forbidden in the 4th century during Lent, and so custom and propriety forbid it now during the same season. In the Manual marriages were prohibited in the following seasons:—(a) Advent to the octave of Epiphany, (b) Septuagesima to the octave of Easter inclusive, (c) Rogation Sunday to Trinity Sunday.

The Roman Church has exalted Holy Matrimony into a Sacrament.

The State so far recognises the position of the Church with regard to Holy Matrimony that no clergyman can be forced to marry a divorced person, though he may be obliged to lend his church to any other who will perform the ceremony.

MATRIMONY, THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF. Of all our services this preserves most of the older Office in the Sarum Manual. Some of the hortatory portions come as usual from Hermann's Consultation. There has been no change since 1549, except the omission of the ceremony of giving gold and silver to the bride as "tokens of spousage."

The Service is divided into two parts (a) the Marriage Service proper, performed in the body of the Church; (b) the succeeding service at the Holy Table, evidently intended as an introduction to the Holy Communion which should follow.

The Banns. From a barbarous Latin word meaning an edict or proclamation. In 1661 the rubric directed them to be published immediately before the offertory sentences. The marriage Acts of the Georges are supposed to set aside this rubric, and to order them to be published after the Second Lesson. It is doubtful whether this does not apply to the Evening Service only, in places where there is no Morning Service.

The Licence of the Bishop makes the publication of Banns unnecessary. Without a Special Licence, Marriage can be solemnized only between the hours of 8 and 12 in the forenoon.

(a) The Marriage Service proper should be performed in "the body of the church" (see rubric, 1661) the place selected being generally the Chancel steps.

The Exhortation, 1549, from the "Consultation" chiefly; it rests on the following passages of Holy Scripture:—Gen. ii. 24; Matt. xix. 5; Eph. v. 22-33; John ii. 1-11; Heb. xiii. 4. No impediment being alleged, the Espousal or Betrothal follows. The joining of hands is from time immemorial the pledge of covenant, and is here an essential part of the Marriage Ceremony. The words of the betrothal are agreeable to the following passages: 1 Cor. xi. 1-12; Eph. v. 22-33; Col. iii. 18, 19; 1 Tim. ii. 10-14; 1 Peter iii. 1-7.

The Marriage Rite itself. The use of the ring is probably of pre-Christian antiquity. The old Service directed it to be worn on the fourth finger because "there is a vein leading direct to the heart."

Gold and Silver was also given the bride in 1549, but omitted in 1552. The word "worship" means "honour," as in Wycliffe's Testament, Matt. xix. 19, "Worship thy father and thy mother."

(b) The Post-Matrimonial Service. The rubric directs only the "minister or clerks" to go to the Lord's Table, but the practice is to carry out the older rubric, 1549, "Then shall they"—the whole marriage party—"go into the Quire." A second Psalm is added for use in cases when the language of the first would be unsuitable. The following rubric is almost unique, in directing the Priest to turn his face to the people. The Versicles are substantially the same as those used at the Visitation of the Sick and in the Churching of Women. The concluding rubric dates from 1661; the rubric in 1549 definitely ordered the reception of Holy Communion.

MATTHEW'S (St.) DAY. Sept. 21st. This Apostle and Evangelist, before his call to the apostleship, was known as Levi, the publican, or tax-gatherer. He may possibly have been the brother of St. James the Less, and of St. Thomas also. He was the first to write a Gospel, which he addressed to the Jews, his aim being to show that Jesus was the Messiah. It is probable that he alone, of all the New Testament writers, wrote in Hebrew. His symbol is the Lion, according to St. Augustine.

MATTHIAS'S (St.) DAY. Feb. 24th. Of St. Matthias we know simply nothing, except that he was elected to the vacant place in the Apostolic College, caused by the desertion and death of the traitor Judas; Acts i. 15 to end.

MAUNDY THURSDAY. The Thursday before Easter, being the day on which our Lord instituted the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. The name is a corruption of the Latin word mandatum, meaning a command, in allusion to the "New Commandment" of mutual love.

MESSIAH, see Trinity, The Holy.

METHODISTS. The original Methodists are the Wesleyans, but already this sect has split up into numerous sections, or "Churches," as they call themselves. The leading sub-divisions will each have a separate notice. The leading idea of Methodism is a revival of religion by a free appeal to the feelings, and the method adopted is an elaborate system of "societies," and preaching the doctrine of "sensible conversion."

The "people called Methodists," or Wesleyans, are the followers of John Wesley, who was born in 1703. He took his degree at Oxford, and was ordained in 1725. He held a Fellowship at Lincoln College until his marriage in 1752. While at Oxford, he, with his brother Charles, of Christ Church, and his friend Whitefield, of Pembroke, and some twelve others, determined to live under a common rule of strict and serious behaviour; to receive frequently the Holy Communion; and to adopt a methodical and conscientious improvement of their time. After ordination, these two brothers, John and Charles, set to work to revive a spirit of religion in the Church of England, of which they were priests, and were aided by the good-will and sound paternal advice of some of the Bishops.

In 1735 John Wesley went out as a missionary to Georgia, in America, but the settlers rejected his services, and his mission to the Indians was a failure. On his voyage out, he unfortunately came under the influence of some Moravians; and on returning to England, after a three years' absence, he became a regular member of the Moravian Society in London. It was here he learnt the two peculiar doctrines of subsequent Wesleyanism, viz.: (1) instantaneous and sensible conversion, (2) the doctrine of perfection, i.e., of a Christian Maturity, on attaining which, he that is (in the Wesleyan sense) "born again," "born of God," sinneth not. If, however, we take into view Wesley's own persistent affirmation in later times, "I have uniformly gone on for fifty years, never varying from the doctrine of the Church at all;" and many other such passages, we cannot escape the inevitable conclusion that the very doctrine on which his modern followers have built their separation from the Church, is nothing else than a transient and foreign element in their great founder's teaching.

In 1744 Wesley called around him his most trusted friends,—six clergymen of the Church of England and four lay preachers, and held what we should now call a Retreat; this meeting, however, is regarded by the Wesleyans as the first regular "Conference" of the Methodist Societies. It was in 1784 that Wesley drew up a "Deed of Declaration," which was formally enrolled in Chancery, establishing Methodism in the eye of the Law. This was an unintentional step on the part of Wesley towards an ultimate separation from the Church. Now it was too that he made his second great mistake of consecrating an English Clergyman as bishop, and two laymen as presbyters of the American Societies. This was the origin of the Episcopal Methodists of America. John Wesley died in 1791, almost his last printed utterance being, "I declare that I live and die a member of the Church of England; and none who regard my opinion or advice will ever separate from it." (John Wesley, Arminian Magazine, April, 1790.)

Four years after his death, in 1795, the separation took place, and the Conference allowed the preachers to administer the Lord's Supper. No sooner was the severance complete than the punishment followed. In 1795 the Methodist New Connexion split away from them, under a man named Kilham. In 1810 the Primitive Methodists caused another schism. In 1815 the Bible Christians seceded, and so on. What would John Wesley have thought of all this? Only nine months before his death, he had solemnly charged his preachers: "In God's name, stop there! Be Church of England men still!" (Wesley, Sermons, iii. 268). And his dying breath was spent in a prayer for the Church!

The Minutes of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference for the year 1883-4 give the following statistics:—

Members. 1. In Great Britain 407,085 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 24,384 3. In Foreign Missions 70,747 4. South African Conference 20,739 5. French Conference 1,856 Total 524,811

On Trial. 1. In Great Britain 34,399 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 668 3. In Foreign Missions 5,299 4. South African Conference 9,093 5. French Conference 168 Total 49,627

Ministers. 1. In Great Britain 1,545 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 181 3. In Foreign Missions 285 4. South African Conference 93 5. French Conference 28 Total 2,137

On probation. 1. In Great Britain 91 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 16 3. In Foreign Missions 98 4. South African Conference 74 5. French Conference — Total 279

Supernumeries. 1. In Great Britain 284 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 42 3. In Foreign Missions 9 4. South African Conference 10 5. French Conference 3 Total 348

Ministers and full members in the Australian Wesleyan Methodist "Church," and in the Methodist "Church" of Canada are under their respective Conferences, and consequently are not enumerated above.

Whitaker's Almanack for 1883 gives the following statistics for Wesleyan Methodism in Great Britain. It will be seen that its figures are slightly larger than those given above.

Ministers. 2,170 Lay Preachers. 15,450 Members. 418,229 On Probation. 40,653 Chapels. 6,978 Sunday Scholars. 829,666

The finance of Wesleyan Methodism for 1880 was nearly as follows:—

Missionary Fund L138,346 Home Mission Income 34,210 Education of Minister's Children 22,036 Chapel Building 292,599 Training Candidates for Ministry 12,130 Total L499,321

During the past four years the Wesleyan Methodists have raised a "Thanksgiving Fund" amounting to L303,600.

METHODIST ASSOCIATION. In 1834 a controversy arose among the Methodists as to the propriety of establishing a Wesleyan Theological Institution; and a minister who disapproved of such a measure, and prepared and published some remarks against it, was expelled from the Connexion. Sympathizers with him were in like manner expelled. Hence the formation of the Methodist Association, which differs from the parent Society in a few particulars of Church government. This Society is now joined with the Wesleyan Reform Association, and with the Protestant Methodists, the union being effected in 1857. The amalgamation is known by the name of "The United Methodist Free Churches." They number—

Ministers. 377 Lay Preachers. 3,134 Members. 66,297 Sunday Scholars 8,599 On Probation. 1,233 Chapels. 186,254

METHODISTS, CALVINISTIC. Up to 1751, John Wesley and George Whitefield had worked in harmony, but then arose a difference of opinion between them on the doctrine of election, which resulted in their separation. Whitefield held the Calvinistic view, Wesley the Arminian.

After Whitefield's death, in 1769, his followers gradually settled into two separate religious bodies, one being the Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, or, as it is sometimes called, the English Calvinistic Methodists, and the other the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.

Whitefield was chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, and it was by his advice she became the patroness of his followers, and founded a college for the education of Calvinistic preachers. The doctrines of this connexion are almost identical with those of the Church of England, interpreted, of course, in a Calvinistic sense, and her liturgy is generally employed. They have no general ecclesiastical government, and have become virtually Congregational Societies.

The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists owe their origin in a great degree to a Mr. Harris, who did for Wales much what Wesley and Whitefield did for England. He instituted "Private Societies" in 1736, but it was not till 1811 that the connexion separated from the Church. Their Church government differs slightly from Wesleyanism, and their doctrines are said to be in accordance with the 39 Articles, interpreted in a Calvinistic sense.

Chapels 1,343 Ministers and Preachers 981 Deacons 4,317 Members 5,029 On probation 177,383 Sunday Scholars 119,358

During the year 1881-82, L163,875 was collected for various religious purposes.

METHODIST, NEW CONNEXION. This party, under a Mr. Kilham, split off from the Wesleyans in 1795, four years after the Wesleyans had left the Church of England. In doctrines, and in all essential and distinctive features, it remains the same as its parent society. The grand distinction rests upon the different degrees of power allowed in each communion to the laity, the Methodist New Connexion allowing them to participate in Church government, whereas the Wesleyans leave Church government in the hands of the ministers.

Ministers 179 Lay Preachers 1,225 Members 418,229 On probation 442 Chapels 79,697 Sunday Scholars 4,277

METHODISTS, PRIMITIVE. The "Primitives," or "Ranters," as they are sometimes called, represent more truly the original genius of Wesleyan Methodism than any other of the various bodies into which the original secession from the Church of England has split up. Some still kept to camp-meetings and the like, after the original connexion had given them up. This practice was condemned by the Conference of 1807, and the consequence was the birth of the Primitive Methodist Connexion in 1810. Messrs. Hugh Bourne and William Clowes may be looked upon as the fathers of this body. Their doctrines are precisely the same as those of the original connexion.

Ministers 1,152 Lay Preachers 15,728 Members 191,329 Chapels 4,397 Sunday Scholars 394,238

METHODIST REFORMERS. In 1849 certain points in Methodist procedure were attacked in anonymous pamphlets called "Fly Sheets," which resulted in the expulsion of many ministers from the original Society. They, with those sympathising with them, have set up a distinct machinery of methodism, although still regarding themselves as Wesleyan Methodists, illegally expelled.

METROPOLITAN. A Bishop who presides over a province is called a Metropolitan.

MICHAEL (St.) & ALL ANGELS. A festival observed on the 29th of September. St. Michael is described in the Old Testament as the guardian angel of the Jewish people; and in the New Testament he is the great archangel fighting for God and His Church against the devil. (See Angel.)

MILITANT, THE CHURCH. The name given to the Church on earth in the Prayer following the Offertory. Militant means fighting, and is used of the Church on earth in contra-distinction to the Church Triumphant, the Church above.

MILLENNIUM. Latin, a thousand years. Certain people look for a return of Christ to the earth before the end of the world, and hold that there will be a first or particular resurrection limited to the good, and a reign of Christ with all the saints upon the earth for a thousand years, or millennium. This doctrine is chiefly based upon a most literal interpretation of part of the book of Revelation (chap, xx.), which is confessedly the most figurative and mystical book in the Bible.

MINOR CANONS. Priests in Collegiate Churches next in rank to the Canons and Prebendaries, but not of the Chapter. They are responsible for the performance of daily service, and should be well skilled in Church music.

MINISTER. One who serves. A term applied generally to the clergy about the time of the Great Rebellion. It is equivalent to the Greek word rendered Deacon. An effort was unsuccessfully made in 1689 to substitute minister for priest throughout the Prayer Book wherever the latter word occurred.

MIRACLE. Latin, A Wonder. The general notion of miracles, viz., that they are necessary proofs or credentials of our Saviour's commission from God, can scarcely be maintained on Scriptural grounds. (Matt. vii. 28.) A better definition of miracles is given by Archbishop Thomson: "The miracles of the Gospel are works done by Christ in the course of His divine mission of mercy, which could not have proceeded from ordinary causes then in operation, and therefore proved the presence of a superhuman power, and which, by their nature and drift, showed that this power was being exerted in the direction of love and compassion for the salvation of mankind."

If the miraculous works of Christ were disproved and done away with, two miracles would still remain which are unassailable, viz., the character of Christ, and the message of Christ. Therefore the question is not whether miracles by themselves are probable, but whether the Lord from heaven, who lived on this earth—for none could have invented the story of His life; who left a message on earth—for none could have invented that message; added to his utterances certain marvels of love and compassion to draw men's eyes towards Him for their good. This may be called the historic consideration of miracles; the scientific is briefly as follows:—We are told that the phenomena of nature are so many links in a chain of causes and effects, and to suppose that God breaks through this chain, is to make God contradict Himself. To this it may be answered that apart from any question of miracles, there are already flaws in this chain of causation, or rather, powers from without that can shake it, as, for instance, the outbreak of a war rendering a country, which should have been fertile, barren and wasted. Holy Scripture is not responsible for the phrase, "suspension of the laws of nature." Theologians do not dogmatise about the nature of miracles, and it would be well if science were less zealous for the inviolability of laws, the outside limits of which she cannot now ascertain. Miracles are but a part of the Gospel, and we judge them by the setting in which they are placed. Those who received them at first were not made Christians by them. (Mark ix. 23, 24.) To us they are not even the beginning of faith, for Christ was our Teacher and Friend before our infant minds could conceive what miracles meant. He, the sinless Lord, is our first miracle; His teaching is our second miracle; and a third may be added, viz., the transforming power of the Gospel in human hearts.