PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. (continued 18)

As sacrificing is now impracticable to the modern Jews, in regard that their temple is destroyed, they sacrifice a cock on this occasion, instead of the legal victims, in the manner following. The men take each of them a cock in their hands, and the women a hen. Then the master of the family walks into the middle of the room, and repeating several verses out of the Psalms, dashes the cock thrice on the head, pronouncing these words; “Let this cock pass as an exchange for me; let him stand in my place; let him be an expiation for me; let death befall this cock, but life and happiness belong to me, and all the people of Israel. Amen.” This prayer is thrice repeated by the master of the family; for himself, his children, and the strangers of his family. Then they proceed to kill the cock, and throw his entrails upon the top of the house, that the crows may come and carry them away, together with the sins of the family, into the wilderness: this is done by way of resemblance with the scape goat.

It is of this fast we are to understand that passage of the Acts, where St. Luke says, that St. Paul comforted those who were with him in the ship, “when sailing was become dangerous, because the fast was already past.” (Acts xxvii. 9.) For tempests are very frequent in the month of September, in which this solemnity falls, and this was much about the time that St. Paul took his voyage to Rome.

EXTRAVAGANTS. (See Decretals.) A name given to those decretal epistles of the popes after the Clementines. The first Extravagants are those of John XXIII., successor to Clement V.; they were so named because, at first, they were not digested, nor ranged with the other papal constitutions, but seemed to be, as it were, detached from the canon law; and they retained the same name when they were afterwards inserted into the body of the canon law. The collection of decretals, in 1483, were called the Common Extravagants, notwithstanding they were likewise embodied with the rest of the canon law.

EXTREME UNCTION. Of extreme unction the Romish Council of Trent asserts, “The holy unction of the sick was instituted by our Lord Christ, as truly and properly a sacrament of the New Testament, as is implied, indeed, in St. Mark; but commended and declared to the faithful by James, the apostle and brother of the Lord. “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him.”” From which words, as the Church hath 330learned from apostolic tradition handed down, she teaches the matter, form, proper minister, and effect of this wholesome sacrament; for the Church has understood that the matter is oil blessed by the bishop, for unction most aptly represents the grace of the Holy Spirit wherewith the soul of the sick man is invisibly anointed: then that the form consists of these words, “By this anointing,” &c.

The following are the canons upon the subject passed by that council.

Canon I. If any shall say, that extreme unction is not truly or properly a sacrament instituted by our Lord Christ, and declared by the blessed apostle James; but only a rite received from the Fathers, or a human invention; let him be accursed.

Canon II. If any shall say, that the holy anointing of the sick does not confer grace, nor remit sins, nor relieve the sick, but that it has ceased, as if it were formerly only the grace of healing; let him be accursed.

Canon III. If any shall say, that the rite and usage of extreme unction, which, the holy Roman Church observes, is contrary to the sentence of the blessed apostle James, and, therefore, should be changed, and may be despised by Christians without sin; let him be accursed.

Canon IV. If any shall say, that the presbyters of the Church, whom St. James directs to be called for the anointing of the sick, are not priests ordained by the bishops, but elders in age, in any community; and that, therefore, the priest is not the only proper minister of extreme unction; let him be accursed.

Here the institution of extreme unction by our Lord is implied by Mark vi. 13, where it is said of the apostles, that “they anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” But, by-and-by, (session 22, ch. 1,) we are told that the Christian priesthood was not instituted until our Lord’s last supper. Either, then, extreme unction is no sacrament, or they who are no priests can administer a sacrament; for the apostles were not priests, according to the Church of Rome, at the time spoken of by St. Mark. But, further, a sacrament is a visible form of invisible grace; but the passage in St. Mark speaks only of healing the body; and, therefore, Cajetan, as cited by Catharinus, rejects this text as inapplicable to this sacrament; and Suarez (in part iii. disp. 39, sect. 1, n. 5) says, that “when the apostles are said to anoint the sick and heal them, (Mark vi. 13,) this was not said in reference to the sacrament of unction, because their cures had not of themselves an immediate respect to the soul.” Nor will this pretended sacrament derive more assistance from the passage in St. James, in which they say that the institution by our Lord is proclaimed and declared by that apostle, at least if Cardinal Cajetan is any authority, who is thus cited by Catharinus in his Annotationes, Paris, 1535, p. 191, de Sacramento Unctionis Extremæ. “Sed et quod scribit B. Jacobus, ‘Infirmatur quis in vobis?’ &c., pariter negat reverendissimus ad hoc sacramentum pertinere, ita scribens, nec ex verbis, nec ex effectu, verba hæc loquuntur de sacramentali unctione extremæ unctionis, sed magis de unctione quam instituit Dominus Jesus exercendum in ægrotis. Textus enim non dicit, Infirmatur quis ad mortem? sed absolutè, Infirmatur quis?” &c. But that this rite, which they now call a sacrament, was originally applied chiefly to the healing of the body, is manifest from the prayers which accompanied it. “Cura quæsumus, Redemptor noster, gratia Spiritüs Sancti languores istius infirmi,” and so the directions, “in loco ubi plus dolor imminet, amplius perungatur.” Let the patient have most oil applied in the part where the pain is greatest.—Sacr. Gregor. by Menard, Paris, 1542, p. 252. From all which we come to the conclusion, that the allegations of the Council of Trent on this matter must be pronounced “not proven.” Which, if it were a mere opinion, would be of no great consequence. But when their assertion is supported by anathema, and every communicant in their Church bound to believe it as necessary to salvation, it serves to show the cruelty of this Roman mother both to her own children, and to them whom she reckons strangers. It is in vain that the Roman writers attempt to strengthen their cause by appeals to the Greek mysteries. The Greek mysteries and the Latin sacraments are not synonymous. And as concerns this of unction, which (as its epithet “extreme,” which the Romans have added, implies) is designed for persons in articulo mortis, or in exitu vitæ, as we have it in the third chapter, this derives as little countenance from the Greek Church as it does from St. James. For, in the Greek Church, the service of anointing is used to persons in any illness; and is used by them solely for recovery from sickness, as the following prayer at the application of the oil clearly shows. “O holy Father, the physician of our souls and bodies, who didst send thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to 331heal all diseases, and to deliver us from death, heal this thy servant M. from the bodily infirmity under which he now labours, and raise him up by the grace of Christ.”—Perceval, Roman Schism. King’s Greek Church.

Now that this miraculous gift (of healing all manner of diseases) is ceased, there is no reason why the mere ceremony of anointing with oil should continue; which yet is still used in the Church of Rome, and made a sacrament; though it signify nothing; for they do not pretend to heal men by it, nay, they pretend the contrary, because they never use it but in extremity, and where they look upon the person as past recovery; and if they do not think so, they would not use it.—Abp. Tillotson.

EZEKIEL, THE PROPHECY OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. Ezekiel was the son of Buzi, of the house of Aaron. He was carried captive to Babylon with Jechoniah. He began to prophesy in the fifth year of this captivity, which is the æra by which he reckons in all his prophecies. He continued to prophesy during twenty years. He was contemporary with Jeremiah, who prophesied at the same time in Judea. He foretold many events, particularly the destruction of the temple; the fatal catastrophe of those who revolted from Babylon to Egypt; and, at last, the happy return of the Jews into their own land. He distinctly predicts the plagues which were to fall upon the enemies of the Jews, as the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. He foretells the coming of the Messiah, and the flourishing state of his kingdom.—Du Pin, Canon of Scripture, b. i. c. iii. § 20.

The greatest part of this prophecy is easy, plain, and intelligible, referring chiefly to the manners and corruption of that degenerate age. Of all the prophets, Ezekiel abounds the most in enigmatical visions. His style (in the opinion of St. Jerome) is neither eloquent nor mean, but between both. He abounds in fine sentences, rich comparisons, and shows a great deal of learning in profane matters. The beginning and end of this book (by reason of the abstruse mysteries contained in them) were forbidden to be read by the Jews, before thirty years of age.

Ezekiel was called to be a prophet by being carried in a vision to Jerusalem, and there shown all the several sorts of idolatry, which were practised by the Jews in that place. This makes the subject of the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of his prophecies. At the same time God promised to those of the captivity, who kept themselves from these abominations, that he would be their protector, and restore them to the land of Israel. This is his theme in the 15th and following chapters. The 26th, 27th, and 28th chapters contain the threatenings of God’s judgments against Tyre, for insulting on the calamitous estate of Judah and Jerusalem. To these we may add his prophecy concerning the captivity of Zedekiah, contained in the 12th chapter; and that against Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, in the 33rd. These are the principal prophecies of this book.—Prideaux, Connect. p. i. b. i.

It is said, that Ezekiel was put to death by the prince of his people, because he exhorted him to leave idolatry. It is pretended likewise, that his body was deposited in the same cave wherein Shem and Arphaxad were laid, on the bank of the Euphrates. His tomb, they say, is still to be seen: the Jews keep a lamp always burning in it, and boast, that they have there the prophet’s book, written with his own hand, which they read every year upon the great day of Expiation.

The Jewish Sanhedrim, we are told, once took it under their consideration, whether they should not suppress the prophecy of Ezekiel, on account of the obscurity of some parts of it; but that Rabbi Chananias prevented this design, by offering to remove all the difficulties. His proposal, they say, was accepted, and a present was made him of three hundred tun of oil for the use of his lamp, while he was employed in this undertaking. We may easily discover, that this is a mere fable and an hyperbole of the Talmudists.

EZRA. One of the canonical books of Scripture is called the Book of Ezra.

The book of Ezra was written in the latter end of the author’s life, and comprehends the transactions of about eighty, or, as some say, a hundred years. It includes the history of the Jews from the time of Cyrus’s edict for their return, to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus. In this book are recorded the number of those Jews who returned from the captivity, Cyrus’s proclamation for the rebuilding of the temple, the laying of the foundations thereof, &c. Part of this book was written in the Chaldee language, namely, from the eighth verse of the fourth chapter to the twenty-seventh verse of the seventh chapter; all the rest was written in Hebrew.

FACULTY COURT belongs to the archbishop of Canterbury, and his officer 332is called the Master of the Faculties. His power is to grant dispensation to marry, to eat flesh on days prohibited, to hold two or more benefices ordinarily incompatible, and such like.

FAITH. (See Grace, Justification.) “We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.”—Article XI.

Faith, in its generic sense, either means the holding rightly the creeds of the Catholic Church, or means that very Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. Thus, when the priest is directed, in the office for the Baptism of those of Riper Years, to inquire into the faith of the candidate, he asks his assent to one of the creeds; and, in the office for the Visitation of the Sick, he is required to use the same test, and this of course agrees with St. Paul’s statement: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

It should be noted, that we are justified by faith, not because of faith; for there is no more “merit” in our faith, than in our works. Faith therefore is not the cause, but the condition, of our justification, which is solely to be attributed to the bounty of God, and the merits of Christ.—Archdeacon Welchman.

I am sensible, says Dr. Waterland, that some very eminent men have expressed a dislike of the phrase, of the instrumentality of faith; and have also justly rejected the thing, according to the false notion which some had conceived of it. It cannot, with any tolerable sense or propriety, be looked upon as an instrument of conveyance in the hand of the efficient or principal cause; but it may justly and properly be looked upon as the instrument of reception in the hand of the recipient. It is not the mean by which the grace is wrought, effected, or conferred; but it may be, and is, the mean by which it is accepted or received: or, to express it a little differently, it is not the instrument of justification in the active sense of the word, but it is in the passive sense of it. It cannot be for nothing that St. Paul so often and so emphatically speaks of man’s being justified by faith, or through faith in Christ’s blood; and that he particularly notes it of Abraham, that he believed, and that his faith was counted to him for justification; when he might as easily have said, had he so meant, that man is justified by faith and works, or that Abraham, to whom the gospel was preached, was justified by gospel faith and obedience. Besides, it is certain, and is on all hands allowed, that, though St. Paul did not directly and expressly oppose faith to evangelical works, yet he comprehended the works of the moral law under those works which he excluded from the office of justifying, in his sense of justifying, in those passages; and further, he used such arguments as appear to extend to all kinds of works: for Abraham’s works were really evangelical works, and yet they were excluded. Add to this, that if justification could come even by evangelical works, without taking in faith in the meritorious sufferings and satisfaction of a mediator, then might we have “whereof to glory,” as needing no pardon; and then might it be justly said, that “Christ died in vain.” I must further own, that it is of great weight with me, that so early and so considerable a writer as Clemens of Rome, an apostolical man, should so interpret the doctrine of justifying faith, so as to oppose it plainly even to evangelical works, however exalted. It runs thus: “They (the ancient patriarchs) were all, therefore, greatly glorified and magnified; not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they themselves wrought, but through his good pleasure. And we also, being called through his good pleasure in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, neither by our own wisdom, or knowledge, or piety, or the works which we have done in holiness of heart, but by that faith by which Almighty God justified all from the beginning.” Here it is observable, that the word faith does not stand for the whole system of Christianity, or for Christian belief at large, but for some particular self-denying principle by which good men, even under the patriarchal and legal dispensations, laid hold on the mercy and promises of God, referring all, not to themselves or their own deservings, but to Divine goodness, in and through a mediator. It is true, Clemens elsewhere, and St. Paul almost everywhere, insists upon true holiness of heart, and obedience of life, as indispensable conditions of salvation or justification; and of that one would think there could be no question among men of any judgment or probity: but the question about conditions is very distinct from the other question about instruments; and, therefore, both parts may be true, viz. that faith and obedience 333are equally conditions, and equally indispensable where opportunities permit; and yet faith over and above is emphatically the instrument both of receiving and holding justification, or a title to salvation.

To explain this matter more distinctly, let it be remembered, that God may be considered (as I before noted) either as a party contracting with man, on very gracious terms, or as a judge to pronounce judgment upon him.

Man’s first coming into covenant (supposing him adult) is by assenting to it, and accepting of it, to have and to hold it on such kind of tenure as God proposes: that is to say, upon a self-denying tenure, considering himself as a guilty man, standing in need of pardon, and of borrowed merits, and at length resting upon mercy. So here the previous question is, whether a person shall consent to hold a privilege upon this submissive kind of tenure or not? Such assent or consent, if he comes into it, is the very thing which St. Paul and St. Clemens call faith; and this previous and general question is the question which both of them determine against any proud claimants who would hold by a more self-admiring tenure.

Or, if we next consider God as sitting in judgment, and man before the tribunal, going to plead his cause; here the question is, What kind of plea shall a man resolve to trust his salvation upon? Shall he stand upon his innocence, and rest upon strict law; or shall he plead guilty, and rest in an act of grace? If he chooses the former, he is proud, and sure to be cast; if he chooses the latter, he is safe so far, in throwing himself upon an act of grace. Now this question also, which St. Paul has decided, is previous to the question, what conditions even the act of grace itself finally insists upon? A question which St. James in particular, and the general tenor of the whole Scripture, has abundantly satisfied; and which could never have been made a question by any considerate or impartial Christian. What I am at present concerned with is to observe, that faith is emphatically the instrument by which an adult accepts the covenant of grace, consenting to hold by that kind of tenure, to be justified in that way, and to rest in that kind of plea, putting his salvation on that only issue. It appears to be a just observation which Dr. Whitby makes, (Pref. to the Epist. to Galat. p. 300,) that Abraham had faith (Heb. xi. 8) before what was said of his justification in Gen. xv. 6, and afterwards more abundantly, when he offered up his son Isaac; but yet neither of those instances was pitched upon by the apostle as fit for his purpose, because in both, obedience was joined with faith: whereas, here was a pure act of faith, without works, and of this act of faith it is said, “it was imputed to him for righteousness.” The sum is, none of our works are good enough to stand by themselves before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Christ only is pure enough for it at first hand, and they that are Christ’s at second hand, in and through him. Now, because it is by faith that we thus interpose, as it were, Christ between God and us, in order to gain acceptance by him; therefore faith is emphatically the instrument whereby we receive the grant of justification. Obedience is equally a condition or qualification, but not an instrument, not being that act of the mind whereby we look up to God and Christ, and whereby we embrace the promises.—Waterland on Justification.

There is not any one word which hath more significations than this hath in the word of God, especially in the New Testament. It sometimes signifies the acknowledgment of the true God, in opposition to heathenism; sometimes the Christian religion, in opposition to Judaism; sometimes the believing the power of Christ to heal diseases; sometimes the believing that he is the promised Messias; sometimes fidelity or faithfulness; sometimes a resolution of conscience concerning the lawfulness of anything: sometimes a reliance, affiance, or dependence on Christ either for temporal or spiritual matters; sometimes believing the truth of all Divine relations; sometimes obedience to God’s commands in the evangelical, not legal sense; sometimes the doctrine of the gospel, in opposition to the law of Moses; sometimes it is an aggregate of all other graces; sometimes the condition of the second covenant in opposition to the first: and other senses of it also there are, distinguishable by the contexture, and the matter treated of where the word is used.—Hammond, Practical Catechism.

FAITH, IMPLICIT. (See Implicit Faith.)

FAITHFUL. This was the favourite and universal name uniformly used in the primitive Church, to denote those who had been instructed in the Christian religion, and received by baptism into the communion of the Church. The apostolical Epistles are all addressed to “faithful men,” that is, to those who formed the visible Church in their respective localities; those 334who had made profession of the faith of Christ in holy baptism.

FALD STOOL. A small desk, at which the Litany is enjoined to be sung or said. It is generally placed, in those churches in which it is used, in the middle of the choir, sometimes near the steps of the altar. This word is probably derived from the barbarous Latin, falda, a place shut up, a fold. (See Litany.)

FALDISTORY. The episcopal seat, or throne, within the chancel; but more particularly, the bishop’s chair, near the altar, mentioned in the Ordination Service, in which he sits, while addressing the candidates for orders, &c.

FALL OF MAN. (See Original Sin.) The loss of those perfections and that happiness which his Maker bestowed on man at his creation, for the transgression of a positive command, given for the trial of his obedience. This doctrine may be stated in the language of our ninth Article:—“Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk,) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone (the Latin is quam longissime i. e. as far as possible) from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greek φρόημα σάρχος, which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the apostle doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin.”

FAMILIARS OF THE INQUISITION. (See Inquisition.) In order to support the cruel proceedings of the Inquisition in Spain, great privileges were bestowed upon such of the nobility as were willing to degrade themselves so far as to become familiars of the holy office. The king himself assumed the title, and was protector of the order.

The business of these familiars was to assist in the apprehending of such persons as were accused, and to carry them to prison; upon which occasion the unhappy person was surrounded by such a number of these officious gentlemen, that, though he was neither fettered nor bound, there was no possibility of escaping out of their hands. As a reward of this base employment, the familiars were allowed to commit the most enormous actions, to debauch, assassinate, and kill with impunity. If they happened to be prosecuted for any crime, the Inquisition took upon itself the prosecution, and immediately the familiar entered himself as their prisoner; after which he was at liberty to go where he pleased, and act in all things as if he were free.

A gentleman, a familiar of the holy office at Corduba, having killed a person, the inquisitors were so strongly solicited against him, that they could not help condemning him pursuant to the laws. But the rest of the gentleman familiars getting a horse ready for him, and a sum of money, let him privately out of prison. Another, being put in prison for having disputed on free-will and grace, (for which any other person would have been punished with the utmost severity,) was only admonished not to argue any more upon religion, and presently set at liberty.—Broughton.

FANATICISM. When men add to enthusiasm and zeal for the cause which they believe to be the cause of truth, a hatred of those who are opposed to them, whether in politics or religion, they fall into fanaticism, and thus violating the law of Christian charity, are guilty of a great sin.

FARSE. An addition, used before the Reformation, in the vernacular tongue, to the Epistle in Latin, anciently used in some churches, forming an explication or paraphrase of the Latin text, verse by verse, for the benefit of the people. The subdeacon first repeated each verse of the epistle or lectio in Latin, and two choristers sang the farse or explanation. The following is an example from the Epistle with a farse for new-year’s day. “Good people, for whose salvation God deigned to clothe himself in flesh, and humbly live in a cradle, who has the whole world in his hands, render him sweet thanks, who in his life worked such wonders, and for our redemption humbled himself even to death.”—Lectio Epistolæ, &c. Then follows the lesson from the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus, and then the farse proceeds. “St. Paul sent this ditty,” &c.—See Burney’s History of Music, ii. 256.

FASTING. (See Abstinence and Fasts.) Abstinence from food.

By the regulations of the Church, fasting, though not defined as to its degree, is inculcated at seasons of peculiar penitence and humiliation, as a valuable auxiliary to 335the cultivation of habits of devotion and self-denial. Respecting its usefulness, there does not appear to have been much diversity of opinion until late years. Fasting was customary in the Church of God long before the introduction of Christianity, as may be seen in the Old Testament Scriptures. That it was sanctioned by our Saviour and his apostles, is equally plain. And that it was intended to continue in the future Church can scarcely be questioned; for Christ gave his disciples particular instructions respecting it, and in reprobating the abuses of it among the Pharisees, never objects to its legitimate use. He even declares, that after his ascension his disciples should fast: “The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.” (Luke v. 35.) Accordingly, in the Acts of the Apostles occur several notices of fastings connected with religious devotions. St. Paul evidently practised it with some degree of frequency. (2 Cor. xi. 27.) He also recognises the custom, as known in the Corinthian Church, and makes some observations implying its continuance. From the days of the apostles to the present time, fasting has been regarded under various modifications as a valuable auxiliary to penitence. In former times, Christians were exceedingly strict in abstaining from every kind of food for nearly the whole of the appointed fast days, receiving only at stated times what was actually necessary for the support of life. At the season of Lent, much time was spent in mortification and open confession of sin, accompanied by those outward acts which tend to the control of the body and its appetites; a species of godly discipline still associated with the services of that solemn period of the ecclesiastical year.

In the practice of fasting, the intelligent Christian will not rest in the outward act, but regard it only as a means to a good end. All must acknowledge that this restraint, even upon the innocent appetites of the body, is eminently beneficial in assisting the operations of the mind. It brings the animal part of our nature into greater subservience to the spiritual. It tends to prevent that heaviness and indolence of the faculties, as well as that perturbation of the passions, which often proceed from indulgence and repletion of the body. It is thus highly useful in promoting that calmness of mind and clearness of thought, which are so very favourable to meditation and devotion. The great end of the observance is to “afflict the soul,” and to increase a genuine contrition of heart, and godly sorrow for sin. This being understood, abstinence will be approved of God, and made conducive to a growth in spiritual life.

The distinction between the Protestant and the Romish view of fasting is this, that the Roman regards the use of fasting as a means of grace; the Protestant, only as a useful exercise. It is not a means of grace, for it is nowhere ordained as such in the Scriptures of the New Testament; but it is a useful preparation for the means of grace, and as such the Scriptures have assumed that it will be resorted to by Christians.

FASTS. Those days which are appointed by the Church as seasons of abstinence and peculiar sorrow for sin. These are the forty days of Lent, including Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; the Ember days, the three Rogation days, and all the Fridays in the year, (except Christmas Day,) and the eves or vigils of certain festivals.

By Canon 72. “No minister shall, without the licence and direction of the bishop under hand and seal, appoint or keep any solemn fasts, either publicly, or in any private houses, other than such as by law are, or by public authority shall be, appointed, nor shall be wittingly present at any of them; under pain of suspension for the first fault, of excommunication for the second, and of deposition from the ministry for the third.”

By the rubric, the table of Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence to be observed in the Year, is as followeth, (which, although not in words, yet in substance, is the same with what is above expressed in the aforesaid statute,) viz. “The evens or vigils before the Nativity of our Lord, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, St. Matthias, St. John Baptist, St. Peter, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon and St. Jude, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, All Saints. And if any of these feasts fall upon a Monday, then the vigil or fast day shall be kept upon the Saturday, and not upon the Sunday, next before it.” (See Fasting.)

That fasting or abstinence from our usual sustenance is a proper means to express sorrow and grief, and a fit method to dispose our minds towards the consideration of anything that is serious, nature seems to suggest; and therefore all nations, from ancient times, have used fasting as a part of repentance, and as a means to avert the anger of God. This is plain in the 336case of the Ninevites, (Jonah iii. 5,) whose notion of fasting, to appease the wrath of God, seems to have been common to them with the rest of mankind. In the Old Testament, besides the examples of private fasting by David, (Ps. lxix. 10,) and Daniel, (Dan. ix. 3,) and others, we have instances of public fasts observed by the whole nation of the Jews at once upon solemn occasions. (See Lev. xxiii. 26, &c.; 2 Chron. xx. 3; Ezra viii. 21; Jer. xxxvi. 9; Zech. viii. 19; Joel i. 14.) It is true indeed, in the New Testament, we find no positive precept, that expressly requires and commands us to fast; but our Saviour mentions fasting with almsgiving and prayer, which are unquestionable duties (Matt. vi. 1–18); and the directions he gave concerning the performance of it sufficiently suppose its necessity. And he himself was pleased, before he entered upon his ministry, to give us an extraordinary example in his own person, by fasting forty days and forty nights. (Matt. iv. 2.) He excused, indeed, his disciples from fasting, so long as he, “the bridegroom, was with them;” because that being a time of joy and gladness, it would be an improper season for tokens of sorrow; but then he intimates at the same time, that though it was not fit for them then, it would yet be their duty hereafter: for “the days,” says he, “will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall fast.” (Matt. ix. 15.) And accordingly we find, that, after his ascension, the duty of fasting was not only recommended, (1 Cor. vii. 5,) but practised by the apostles, as any one may see by the texts of Scripture here referred to. (Acts xiii. 2, and xiv. 23; 1 Cor. ix. 27; 2 Cor. vi. 5, and xi. 27.) After the apostles, we find the primitive Christians very constant and regular in the observation of both their annual and weekly fasts. Their weekly fasts were kept on Wednesdays and Fridays, because on the one our Lord was betrayed, on the other crucified. The chief of their annual fasts was that of Lent, which they observed by way of preparation for their feast of Easter.

In the Church of Rome, fasting and abstinence admit of a distinction, and different days are appointed for each of them. But I do not find that the Church of England makes any difference between them. It is true, in the title of the table of Vigils, &c. she mentions “fasts and days of abstinence” separately; but when she comes to enumerate the particulars, she calls them all “days of fasting or abstinence,” without distinguishing the one from the other. The times she sets apart are such as she finds to have been observed by the earliest ages of the Church.—Wheatly.

FATHERS, THE. A term of honour applied generally to all the ancient Christian writers, whose works were in good repute in the Church, and who were not separated from its communion or from its faith. St. Bernard, who flourished in the twelfth century, is reputed to be the last of the Fathers. The Christian theologians after his time, adopted a new style of treating religious matters, and were called scholastics. Those writers who conversed with the apostles are generally called apostolical Fathers, as Ignatius, &c.

Of the authority of the Fathers, the Rev. Geo. Stanley Faber very justly observes: “Among unread or half-read persons of our present somewhat confident age, it is not an uncommon saying, that THEY disregard the early Fathers; and that THEY will abide by nothing but the Scriptures alone. If by a disregard of the early Fathers, they mean that they allow them not individually that personal authority which the Romanists claim for them, they certainly will not have me for their opponent. And accordingly I have shown, that in the interpretation of the Scripture terms, Election and Predestination, I regard the insulated individual authority of St. Augustine just as little as I regard the insulated individual authority of Calvin.

“But if by a disregard of the early Fathers, they mean that they regard them not as evidence of the FACT of what doctrines were or were not received by the primitive Church, and from her were or were not delivered to posterity, they might just as rationally talk of the surpassing wisdom of extinguishing the light of history, by way of more effectually improving and increasing our knowledge of past events; for, in truth, under the aspect in which they are specially important to us, the early Fathers are neither more nor less than so many historical witnesses.

“And if, by an abiding solely by the decision of Scripture, they mean that, utterly disregarding the recorded doctrinal system of that primitive Church which conversed with, and was taught by, the apostles, they will abide by nothing save their own crude and arbitrary private expositions of Scripture; we certainly may well admire their intrepidity, whatever we may think of their modesty; for in truth, by such a plan, while they call upon us to despise the sentiments of Christian antiquity, so far as we can learn them, upon distinct historical testimony, they expect 337us to receive, without hesitation, and as undoubted verities, their own more modern upstart speculations upon the sense of God’s holy word; that is to say, the evidence of the early Fathers, and the hermeneutic decisions of the primitive Church, we may laudably and profitably contemn, but themselves we must receive (for they themselves are content to receive themselves) as well nigh certain and infallible expositors of Scripture.”

The Apostolic Fathers are those writers of the apostolic age, whose names are given to certain treatises still extant; though some of them are spurious. These were Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp.

FEASTS, FESTIVALS, or HOLY-DAYS. Among the earliest means adopted by the holy Church for the purpose of impressing on the minds of her children the mysterious facts of the gospel history, was the appointment of a train of anniversaries and holy-days, with appropriate services commemorative of all the prominent transactions of the Redeemer’s life and death, and of the labours and virtues of the blessed apostles and evangelists. These institutions, so replete with hallowed associations, have descended to our own day; and the observance of them is commended by the assent of every discerning and unprejudiced mind, and is sustained by the very constitution of our nature, which loves to preserve the annual memory of important events, and is in the highest degree reasonable, delightful, profitable, and devout.

There is something truly admirable in the order and succession of these holy-days. The Church begins her ecclesiastical year with the Sundays in Advent, to remind us of the coming of Christ in the flesh. After these, we are brought to contemplate the mystery of the incarnation; and so, step by step, we follow the Church through all the events of our Saviour’s pilgrimage, to his ascension into heaven. In all this the grand object is to keep Christ perpetually before us, to make him and his doctrine the chief object in all our varied services. Every Sunday has its peculiar character, and has reference to some act or scene in the life of our Lord, or the redemption achieved by him, or the mystery of mercy carried on by the blessed Trinity. Thus every year brings the whole gospel history to view; and it will be found as a general rule, that the appointed portions of Scripture, in each day’s service, are mutually illustrative; the New Testament casting light on the Old, prophecy being admirably brought in contact with its accomplishment, so that no plan could be devised for a more profitable course of Scripture reading than that presented by the Church on her holy-days.

The objections against the keeping of holy-days are such as these. St. Paul says, “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.” This occurs in the Epistle to the Galatians. Again, in the Epistle to the Colossians, “Let no man judge you in respect of a holy-day,” &c. From these it is argued, that as we are brought into the liberty of the gospel, we are no longer bound to the observance of holy-days, which are but “beggarly elements.” Respecting the first, it is surprising that no one has “conscientiously” drawn from it an inference for the neglect of the civil division of time; and in relation to both, it requires only an attentive reading of the Epistles from which they are taken, to see that they have no more connexion with the holy-days of the Church than with episcopacy. The apostle is warning the Gentile Christians to beware of the attempts of Judaizing teachers to subvert their faith. It was the aim of these to bring the converts under the obligations of the Jewish ritual, and some progress appears to have been made in their attempts. St. Paul, therefore, reminds them that these were but the shadow of good things to come, while Christ was the Body. The passages therefore have no relevancy to the question; or if they have, they show that while Christians abandoned the Jewish festivals, they were to observe their own. If they were to forsake the shadow, they were to cleave to the substance. It should moreover be remembered, that they apply to the Lord’s day no less than other holy-days appointed by the Church. To observe “Sabbaths,” is as much forbidden as aught else. And it is but one of the many inconsistencies of the Genevan doctrine with Scripture, that it enjoins a judaical observance of Sunday, and contemns a Christian observance of days hallowed in the Church’s history, and by gratitude to the glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs, and the illustrious line of confessors and saints, who have been baptized in tears and blood for Jesu’s sake.

Again; if we keep holy-days, we are said to favour Romanism. But these days were hallowed long before corruption was known in the Roman Church. And waiving this, let it be remembered, that we are accustomed to judge of things by their intrinsic 338worth, and the main point to be determined is, whether they are right or wrong. If they are right, we receive them; and if they are not right, we reject them, whether they are received by the Church of Rome or not.

Rubric before the Common Prayer. “A Table of all the Feasts that are to be observed in the Church of England throughout the Year: All Sundays in the year, the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Conversion of St. Paul, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, St. Matthias the Apostle, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, St. Mark the Evangelist, St. Philip and St. James the Apostles, the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, St. Barnabas, the Nativity of St. John Baptist, St. Peter the Apostle, St. James the Apostle, St. Bartholomew the Apostle, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Michael and all Angels, St. Luke the Evangelist, St. Simon and St. Jude the Apostles, All Saints, St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Thomas the Apostle, the Nativity of our Lord, St. Stephen the Martyr, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, Monday and Tuesday in Easter week, Monday and Tuesday in Whitsun week.”

Rubric after the Nicene Creed. “The curate shall then declare to the people what holy-days or fasting days are in the week following to be observed.”

Canon 64. “Every parson, vicar, or curate shall, in his several charge, declare to the people every Sunday, at the time appointed in the communion book, whether there be any holy-days or fasting days the week following. And if any do hereafter wittingly offend herein, and being once admonished thereof by his ordinary, shall again omit that duty, let him be censured according to law, until he submit himself to the due performance of it.”

Canon 13. “All manner of persons within the Church of England shall from henceforth celebrate and keep the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday, and other holy-days, according to God’s will and pleasure, and the orders of the Church of England prescribed on that behalf; that is, in hearing the word of God read and taught, in private and public prayers, in acknowledging their offences to God and amendment of the same, in reconciling themselves charitably to their neighbours where displeasure hath been, in oftentimes receiving the communion of the body and blood of Christ, in visiting of the poor and sick, using all godly and sober conversation.”

Canon 14. “The Common Prayer shall be said or sung, distinctly and reverently, upon such days as are appointed to be kept holy by the Book of Common Prayer, and their eves.”

Time is a circumstance no less inseparable from religious actions and place; for man, consisting of a soul and body, cannot always be actually engaged in the service of God: that’s the privilege of angels, and souls freed from the fetters of mortality. So long as we are here, we must worship God with respect to our present state, and consequently of necessity have some definite and particular time to do it in. Now, that man might not be left to a floating uncertainty, in a matter of so great importance, in all ages and nations, men have been guided by the very dictates of nature, to pitch upon some certain seasons, wherein to assemble, and meet together, to perform the public offices of religion.—Cave’s Prim. Christianity; and see this same sentiment, and the subject excellently treated, in Nelson’s Festivals and Fasts,—the Preliminary Instructions concerning Festivals.

This sanctification, or setting apart, of festival days, is a token of that thankfulness, and a part of that public honour, which we owe to God, for his admirable benefits; and these days or feasts set apart are of excellent use, being, as learned Hooker observes, the 1. Splendour and outward dignity of our religion; 2. Forcible witnesses of ancient truth; 3. Provocations to the exercise of all piety; 4. Shadows of our endless felicity in heaven; 5. On earth, everlasting records, teaching by the eye in a manner whatsoever we believe.

And concerning particulars: as, that the Jews had the sabbath, which did continually bring to mind the former world finished by creation; so the Christian Church hath her Lord’s days, or Sundays, to keep us in perpetual remembrance of a far better world, begun by him who came to restore all things, to make heaven and earth new. The rest of the holy festivals which we celebrate, have relation all to one head, Christ. We begin therefore our ecclesiastical year (as to some accounts, though not as to the order of our services) with the glorious annunciation of his birth by angelical message. Hereunto are added his blessed nativity itself, the mystery of his legal circumcision, the testification of his true incarnation by the purification of his blessed mother the Virgin Mary; his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven; the admirable sending down of his Spirit upon his chosen.

Again, forasmuch as we know that Christ hath not only been manifested 339great in himself, but great in other, his saints also; the days of whose departure out of this world are to the Church of Christ as the birth and coronation days of kings or emperors; therefore, special choice being made of the very flower of all occasions in this kind, there are annual selected times to meditate of Christ glorified in them, which had the honour to suffer for his sake, before they had age and ability to know him, namely, the blessed Innocents;—glorified in them which, knowing him, as St. Stephen, had the sight of that before death, whereinto such acceptable death doth lead;—glorified in those sages of the East, that came from far to adore him, and were conducted by strange light;—glorified in the second Elias of the world, sent before him to prepare his way;—glorified in every of those apostles, whom it pleased him to use as founders of his kingdom here;—glorified in the angels, as in St. Michael;—glorified in all those happy souls already possessed of bliss.—Sparrow’s Rationale.

In the injunctions of King Henry VIII., and the convocation of the clergy, A. D. 1536, it was ordered, that all the people might freely go to their work upon all holidays usually before kept, which fell either in the time of harvest, (counted from the 1st day of July to the 29th of September,) or in any time of the four terms, when the king’s judges sat at Westminster. But these holidays (in our book mentioned) are specially excepted, and commanded to be kept holy by every man.—Cosin’s Notes.

By statute 5 & 6 Edward VI. ch. 3, it was provided, that it should be “lawful for every husbandman, labourer, fisherman, and every other person of what estate, degree, or condition they be, upon the holidays aforesaid, in harvest, or at any other time in the year when necessity shall require, to labour, ride, fish, or work any kind of work, at their free wills and pleasure.” This was repealed by Queen Mary, but revived by James I. Queen Elizabeth, in the mean while, however, declared in her “injunctions,” that the people might “with a safe and quiet conscience, after their common prayer,” (which was then at an early hour,) “in the time of harvest, labour upon the holy and festival days, and save that thing which God hath sent.”

The moveable feasts are those which depend upon Easter, and consequently do not occur on the same day every year. There are, besides Easter, the Sundays after the Epiphany, Septuagesima Sunday, the first day of Lent, Rogation Sunday, (i. e. the Sunday before the Ascension,) Ascension Day, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday, the Sundays after Trinity, and Advent Sunday.

FELLOWSHIP. An establishment in one of the colleges of an university, or in one of the few colleges not belonging to universities, with a share of its revenues.

FEUILLANS. A congregation of monks, settled towards the end of the 15th century, by John de la Barriere; he was a Cistercian, and the plan of his new congregation was a kind of a reformation of that order. His method of refining upon the old constitution was approved of by Pope Sixtus V.; the Feuillantines are nuns, who followed the same reformation.

FIFTH MONARCHY MEN were a set of enthusiasts in the time of Cromwell, who expected the sudden appearance of Christ to establish on earth a new monarchy or kingdom.

FILIATION OF THE SON OF GOD. (See Generation, Eternal.)

FINIAL, (in church architecture,) more anciently Crop. The termination of a pinnacle, spire, pediment, or ogeed hood-mould. Originally the term was applied to the whole pinnacle.

FIRST FRUITS were an act of simony, invented by the pope, who, during the period of his usurpation over our Church, bestowed benefices of the Church of England upon foreigners, upon condition that the first year’s produce was given to him, for the regaining of the Holy Land, or for some similar pretence: next, he prevailed on spiritual patrons to oblige their clergy to pay them; and at last he claimed and extorted them from those who were presented by the king or his temporal subjects. The first Protestant king, Henry VIII., took the first fruits from the pope, but instead of restoring them to the Church, vested them in the Crown. Queen Anne restored them to the Church, not by remitting them entirely, but by applying these superfluities of the larger benefices to make up the deficiencies of the smaller. To this end she granted her royal charter, whereby all the revenue of first fruits and tenths is vested in trustees for ever, to form a perpetual fund for the augmentation of small livings. This is usually called Queen Anne’s Bounty. (See Annates.)

FIVE POINTS (see Arminians and Calvinism) are the five doctrines controverted between the Arminians and Calvinists; relating to, 1. Particular Election; 2. Particular Redemption; 3. Moral Inability 340in a Fallen State; 4. Irresistible Grace; and 5. Final Perseverance of the Saints.

FLAGELLANTS. A name given, in the 13th century, to a sect of people among the Christians, who made a profession of disciplining themselves: it was begun in 1260, at Perugia, by Rainerus, a hermit, who exhorted people to do penance for their sins, and had a great number of followers. In 1349, they spread themselves over all Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and England, carrying a cross in their hands, a cowl upon their heads, and going naked to the waist; they lashed themselves twice a day, and once in the night, with knotted cords stuck with points of pins, and then lay grovelling upon the ground, crying out mercy: from this extravagance they fell into a gross heresy, affirming that their blood united in such a manner with Christ’s that it had the same virtue; that after thirty days’ whipping they were acquitted from the guilt and punishment of sin, so that they cared not for the sacraments. They persuaded the common people that the gospel had ceased, and allowed all sorts of perjuries. The frenzy lasted a long time, notwithstanding the censures of the Church, and the edicts of princes, for their suppression.

FLAGON. A vessel used to contain the wine, before and at the consecration, in the holy eucharist. In the marginal rubric in the prayer of consecration, the priest is ordered “to lay his hand upon every vessel (be it chalice or flagon) in which there is any wine to be consecrated,” but in the same prayer he is told to take the cup only in his hand; and the rubric before the form of administering the cup stands thus, “the minister that delivereth the cup.” The distinction then between the flagon and the cup or chalice will be, that the latter is the vessel in which the consecrated wine is administered; the flagon, that in which some of the wine is placed for consecration, if there be more than one vessel used.

FLORID STYLE OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. The later division of the Perpendicular style, which prevailed chiefly during the Tudor era, and is often called the Tudor style.

FLOWERS. Strewing with flowers is a very simple and most innocent method of ornamenting the Christian altar, which is enjoined indeed by no law, but which is sanctioned by the custom of some churches in this kingdom, in which also the Protestant churches in Germany agree. This way of bringing in the very smallest of God’s works to praise him is extremely ancient, and is several times alluded to by the Fathers; especially by St. Jerome, who does not think it unworthy a place in the panegyric of his friend Nepotian, that his pious care for the Divine worship was such that he made flowers of many kinds, and the leaves of trees, and the branches of the vine, contribute to the beauty and ornament of the church. These things, says St. Jerome, were, indeed, but trifling in themselves; but a pious mind, devoted to Christ, is intent upon small things as well as great, and neglects nothing that pertains even to the meanest office of the Church. This custom has been immemorially observed in some English churches. It has also been the custom in some places, on Easter morning to adorn with flowers the graves of those at least who died within the year.

FONT. (Fons, a fountain.) The vase or basin at which persons seeking regeneration are baptized. The rites of baptism in the first times were performed in fountains and rivers, both because their converts were many, and because those ages were unprovided with other baptisteries. We have no other remainder of this rite but the name: for hence it is that we call our baptisteries “Fonts,” which, when religion found peace, were built and consecrated for the more reverence and respect of the sacrament. These were placed at first at some distance from the church; (see Baptistery;) afterwards in the church porch, and that significantly, because baptism is the entrance into the Church mystical, as the porch of the temple. At last they were introduced into the church itself, being placed at the west end, near the south entrance. They were not admitted in the first instance into every church, but into the cathedral of the diocese, thence called “the mother church,” because it gave spiritual birth by baptism. Afterwards they were introduced into rural churches. Wheresoever they stood, they were always held in high estimation by true Christians. A font preserved in the royal jewel-house, and formerly used for the baptism of the infants of the royal family, was of silver. In England, the fonts are generally placed near the west door, or south-western porch.

Edm. “There shall be a font of stone or other competent material in every church, which shall be decently covered and kept, and not converted to other uses. And the water wherein the child shall be baptized shall not be kept above seven days in the font.”

By Canon 81. “According to a former 341constitution, too much neglected in many places, there shall be a font of stone in every church and chapel where baptism is to be ministered, the same to be set in the ancient usual places; in which only font the minister shall baptize publicly.”

“When there are children to be baptized, the parents shall give knowledge thereof over-night, or in the morning before the beginning of morning prayer, to the curate. And then the godfathers and godmothers, and the people with the children, must be ready at the font, either immediately after the last lesson at morning prayer, or else immediately after the last lesson at evening prayer, as the curate by his discretion shall appoint. And the priest coming to the font, (which is then to be filled with pure water,) and standing there, shall say.”—Rubric to the Ministration of Public Baptism of Infants, to be used in Church.

In which rubric it may be observed, that there is no note of a pewter, crockery, wedgewood, or other such like basin within the font, to hold the water, which the carelessness or irreverence of some has permitted of late; but that the font is to be filled with pure water: and also that it is then to be filled, and not just at the convenience of the clerk at any time previous; the like reverence being shown herein as in the parallel order about the elements in the other holy sacrament, “The priest shall then place upon the table,” &c.

“And if they shall be found fit, then the godfathers and godmothers (the people being assembled upon the Sunday or holy-day appointed) shall be ready to present them at the font, immediately after the second lesson, either at morning or evening prayer, as the curate in his discretion shall think fit.”

“Then shall the priest take each person to be baptized by the right hand, and placing him conveniently by the font, according to his discretion, shall ask the godfathers and godmothers the name? and then shall dip him in the water, or pour water upon him, saying.”—Rubrics in the Ministration of Baptism to such as are of Riper Years.

FORMATÆ. (See Literæ Formatæ.)

FORMS OF PRAYER, for Special Occasions. Besides the great festivals and fasts of the Church universal, there will be, in each Church, continually recurring occasions of thanksgiving or humiliation, and some events of importance, which ought to be thus celebrated, and for which forms of prayer will be accordingly appointed by competent authority. The days thus set apart in the Church of England for the celebration of great events in our history are four: the 5th of November, the 30th of January, the 29th of May, and the 20th of June, the reasons for which are thus set forth in the several titles to the services enjoined on those days:—

“A Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving, to be used yearly upon the 5th day of November, for the happy deliverance of King James I., and the three estates of England, from the most traitorous and bloody-intended massacre by gunpowder. And also for the happy arrival of his Majesty King William on this day, for the deliverance of our Church and nation.”

“A Form of Prayer with Fasting, to be used yearly on the 30th of January, being the day of the martyrdom of the blessed King Charles the First; to implore the mercy of God, that neither the guilt of that sacred and innocent blood, nor those other sins, by which God was provoked to deliver up both us and our king into the hands of cruel and unreasonable men, may at any time hereafter be visited upon us or our posterity.”

“A Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for having put an end to the great Rebellion, by the restitution of the king and royal family, and the restoration of the government, after many years’ interruption; which unspeakable mercies were wonderfully completed upon the 29th of May, in the year 1660. And in memory thereof that day in every year is by act of parliament appointed to be for ever kept holy.”

“A Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving to Almighty God, to be used in all churches and chapels within this realm, every year, upon the 20th day of June, being the day on which her Majesty began her happy reign.”

When passing events, such as a pestilence, or its removal, call for humiliation or thanksgiving, it is usual for the Crown to require the archbishop of Canterbury to prepare a form of prayer for the occasion, which is then sent through the several suffragan bishops to the clergy in their respective dioceses, with the command of the archbishop and bishop that it shall be used on certain fixed days, so long as the occasion shall demand.

This charge would fall on each separate 342bishop, were the Church of England separated from the State, and not distributed into provinces.

FORMULARY. (See Common Prayer, Liturgy.) 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.

This may be a convenient place to treat of forms of prayer generally.

To the illustrious divines who conducted the reformation of our Church, in the reigns of Henry, Edward, and Elizabeth, any abstract objections to a prescribed form of prayer seem never to have occurred, for these were all the inventions of a later period. Ridiculous it would be, if we were going to address a human sovereign, to permit one of our number to utter in the royal presence any unpremeditated words, which might chance at the time to come into his head; and not less ridiculous,—if it be allowable to use such an expression under such circumstances,—would they have thought it to permit the priest to offer at the footstool of the King of kings, a petition in the name of the Church, of which the Church had no previous cognizance; to require the people to say “Amen” to prayers they had never considered, or to offer as joint prayers what they had never agreed to offer.

But, as has been observed, it was not upon the abstract question that they were called to decide. In their Church, the Church of England, when they were appointed to preside over it, they found prescribed forms of prayer in use. They were not rash innovators, who thought that whatever is must be wrong; but, on the contrary, they regarded the fact that a thing was already established as an argument a priori in its favour; and therefore they would only have inquired, whether prescribed forms of prayer were contrary to Scripture, if such an inquiry had been necessary. We say, if such an inquiry had been necessary, because the slightest acquaintance with Scripture must at once have convinced them that contrary to Scripture could not be that practice, for which we can plead the precedent of Moses and Miriam, and the daughters of Israel, of Aaron and his sons when they blessed the people, of Deborah and Barak; when the practice was even more directly sanctioned by the Holy Ghost at the time he inspired David and the psalmists; for what are the psalms but an inspired form of prayer for the use of the Church under the gospel, as well as under the law? The services of the synagogue, too, it is well known, were conducted according to a prescript form. To those services our blessed Lord did himself conform: and severely as he reproved the Jews for their departure, in various particulars, from the principles of their fathers, against their practice in this particular never did he utter one word of censure; nay, he confirmed the practice, when he himself gave to his disciples a form of prayer, and framed that prayer too on the model, and in some degree in the very words, of prayers then in use. Our Lord, moreover, when giving his directions to the rulers of his Church, at the same time that he conferred on them authority to bind and to loose, directed them to agree touching what they should ask for, which seems almost to convey an injunction to the rulers of every particular Church to provide their people with a form of prayer.

The fact that we find this injunction in Scripture, renders probable the universal tradition of the universal Church, which traces to the apostles, or apostolic men, the four great liturgies, (which have, in all parts of the Church, afforded the model according to which all others have been framed,) and which affirms that the apostles instituted a form of worship wherever they established a Church. It would be easy, if the occasion required it, to show, from a variety of passages in holy writ, that while much can be adduced in corroboration of this tradition, nothing but conjecture can be cited against it. With respect to those passages which, referring prayer to the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the soul of man, are sometimes brought forward as militating against the adoption of a form, they cannot have fallen under the notice of our reformers, since the application of them to this purpose was never dreamt of till about 200 years ago, when men, having determined in their wilfulness to reject the liturgy, searched for every possible authority which might, by constructions the most forced, support their determination; and the new interpretation they thus put upon Scripture, may be considered as rather the plea of their wishes than the verdict of their conviction. The adduction, indeed, of such passages for such a purpose is a gratuitous assumption of the question in dispute, and will not for a moment hold weight in the balance of the sanctuary. According to the interpretation of those ancients, whose judgment is the more valuable because (living before any controversy was raised on the subject) they were little likely to be warped, 343or their opinions determined, by the prejudices of sect, or the subtleties of system, what these passages of Scripture mean is this, and simply this: that the Holy Ghost, who is the author and giver of every good and perfect gift, must stir up in our hearts that spirit of devotion and holiness of temper, without which the service we render is but the service of the lips, and is useless, if not profane.

It is, then, to the mind with which we pray, not to the words which we adopt, that those passages of Scripture refer, in which we are exhorted to pray in the Spirit. But admitting, for the sake of argument, that where we are told that the Spirit will teach us to pray, the promise is applicable to the very expressions, even this cannot be produced as an argument against a form of prayer. For, whatever may be a man’s imaginary gift of prayer, this is quite certain, that his thoughts must precede his tongue; that before he speaks he must think. And not less clear is it, that after he has conceived a thought, he may, for a moment, restrain his tongue, and set down that thought upon paper. To suppose that the intervention of the materials for committing his thoughts to writing must, of necessity, drive away the Holy Spirit, would not only in itself be absurd, but it would be tantamount to a denial of the inspiration of the written Scriptures. If the first conceptions were of God and God’s Spirit, then, of course, they are so still, even after they have been written;—the mere writing of them, the mere committing of them to paper, can have nothing whatever to do with the question of inspiration, either one way or the other. If a man, therefore, asserts that his extemporary prayers are to be attributed to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we can at once reply that our prayers, in our Prayer Book, are, on his own principles, quite as much so, with this further advantage, that they have been carefully compared with Scripture, and tested thereby. No Scriptural Christian, no one not mad with folly, will contend that, on that account, they are less spiritual; though, on the other hand, we may fairly doubt whether an extemporiser is not acting in direct opposition to Scripture, for Scripture says, (Eccles. v. 2,) “Be not rash with thy mouth to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth:” and who in the world is hasty to utter anything before God, if it be not the man who prays to him extemporally?

Again, the bishops and divines, by whom our Church was reformed, recognised it as the duty of the Church to excite emotions of solemnity rather than of enthusiasm, when she leads her children to the footstool of that throne which, if a throne of grace, is also a throne of glory. And, therefore, when discarding those ceremonies which, not of primitive usage, had been abused, and might be abused again, to the purposes of superstition, they still made ample provision that the services of the sanctuary should be conducted with decent ceremony, and orderly form, and impressive solemnity, and in our cathedrals and the royal chapels with magnificence and grandeur. They sought not to annihilate; they received with the profoundest respect those ancient ceremonials and forms of prayer which had been used in their Church from the first planting of Christianity in this island. These ancient forms, however, had been used in many respects, though gradually corrupted. In every age, men had made the attempt to render them more and more conformable to the spirit of the age, and (in ages of darkness) superstitions in practice, and novelties, and therefore errors, in doctrine, had crept in. Our wise-hearted reformers, intent, not on pleasing the people, nor regaining popularity, nor on consulting the spirit of the age, but simply and solely on ascertaining and maintaining the truth as it is in Jesus, having obtained a commission from the Crown, first of all compared the existing forms of worship with the inspired word of God, being determined at once to reject what was plainly and palpably at variance therewith. For example, the prayers before the Reformation had been offered in the Latin language, a language no longer intelligible to the mass of the people; but to pray in a tongue not understood by the people, is plainly and palpably at variance with Scripture; and, consequently, the first thing they did was to have the liturgy translated into English. Having taken care that nothing should remain in the forms of worship contrary to Scripture, they proceeded (by comparing them with the most ancient rituals) to renounce all usages not clearly primitive; and, diligently consulting the works of the Fathers, they embodied the doctrines universally received by the early Church in that book which was the result and glory of their labours, the Book of Common Prayer. The work of these commissioned divines was submitted to the convocation of the other bishops and clergy, and being approved by them, and authorized by the Crown, was laid before the two 344houses of parliament, and was accepted by the laity, who respectfully thanked the bishops for their labour. And thus it is seen, that the English Prayer Book was not composed in a few years, or by a few men; it has descended to us from the first ages of Christianity. It has been shown by Palmer, that there is scarcely a portion of our Prayer Book which cannot, in some way, be traced to ancient offices. And this it is important to note; first, because it shows that as the Papist in England is not justified in calling his the old Church, since ours is the old Church reformed, his a sect, in this country, comparatively new; so neither may he produce his in opposition to ours as the old liturgy. All that is really ancient we retained, when the bishops and divines who reformed our old Church corrected, from Scripture and antiquity, our old liturgy. What they rejected, and the Papists adhered to, were innovations and novelties introduced during the middle ages. And it is important to observe this, in the next place, since it is this fact which constitutes the value of the Prayer Book, regarded, as we do regard it, not only as a manual of devotion, but also as an interpreter of Scripture. It embodies the doctrines and observances which the early Christians (having received them from the apostles themselves) preserved with reverential care, and handed down as a sacred deposit to their posterity.

FRANCISCANS, or MINORITES. (Fratres Minores, as they were called by their founder.) An order of friars in the Romish Church, and so denominated from him they call St. Francis, their first founder in 1206, who prescribed the following rules to them: That the rule and life of the brother minors (for so he would have those of his order called) was to observe the gospel under obedience, possessing nothing as their own, and live in charity; then he showed how they should receive novices after a year’s noviciate, after which it was not allowed them to leave the order; he would have his friars make use of the Roman breviary, and the converts or lay-brethren to write every day, for their office, seventy-six Paternosters; besides Lent, he ordered them to fast from All-saints to Christmas, and to begin Lent on twelfthtide; he forbade them to ride on horseback, without some urgent necessity; and would have them in their journeys to eat of whatsoever was laid before them: they were to receive no money, neither directly nor indirectly; that they ought to get their livelihood by the labour of their hands, receiving for it anything but money; that they ought to possess nothing of their own, and when their labour was not sufficient to maintain them, they ought to go a begging, and, with the alms so collected, to help one another; that they ought to confess to their provincial ministers those sins, the absolution of which was reserved to them, that they might receive from them charitable corrections; that the election of their general ministers, superiors, &c. ought to be in a general assembly; that they ought not to preach without leave of the ordinaries of each diocese, and of their superiors. Then he prescribed the manner of admonition and correction; how that they ought not to enter into any nunnery, to be godfathers to any child, nor to undertake to go into any foreign countries to convert infidels, without leave of their provincial ministers; and then he bids them ask of the pope a cardinal for governor, protector, and corrector of the whole order.

Francis, their founder, was born in 1182, at Assisi, in the province of Umbria, in Italy, of noble parentage, but much more renowned for his holy life. His baptismal name was John, but he assumed that of Francis, from having learned the French language. He renounced a considerable estate, with all the pleasures of the world, to embrace a voluntary poverty, and live in the practice of the greatest austerities. Going barefoot, and embracing an apostolical life, he performed the office of preacher on Sundays and other festivals, in the parish churches. In the year 1206, or 1209, designing to establish a religious order, he presented to Pope Innocent III. a copy of the rules he had conceived, praying that his institute might be confirmed by the holy see. The pope, considering his despicable appearance, and the extreme rigour of his rules, bid him go find out swine, and deliver them the rule he had composed, as being fitter for such animals than for men. Francis, being withdrawn, went and rolled himself in the mire with some swine, and, in that filthy condition, again presented himself before the pope, beseeching him to grant his request. The pope, moved hereby, granted his petition, and confirmed his order.

From this time Francis became famous throughout all Italy, and many persons of birth, following his example, forsook the world, and put themselves under his direction. Thus this order of friars, called Minors, spread all over Europe; who, living in cities and towns, by tens and sevens, preached in the villages and parish churches, and instructed the rude country people. Some of them likewise went 345among the Saracens, and into Pagan countries, many of whom obtained the crown of martyrdom. Francis died at Assisi in 1226. He never received higher orders than the diaconate.

It is pretended that, a little before the death of St. Francis, there appeared wounds in his hands and feet, like those of our Saviour, continually bleeding, of which, after his death, there appeared not the least token. He was buried in his own oratory at Rome, and his name was inserted in the catalogue of saints.

The first monastery of this order was at Assisi, in Italy, where the Benedictines of that place gave St. Francis the church of St. Mary, called Portiuncula. Soon after, convents were erected in other places; and afterwards St. Francis founded others in Spain and Portugal. In the year 1215, this order was approved in the general Lateran council. Then St. Francis, returning to Assisi, held a general chapter, and sent missions into France, Germany, England, and other parts. This order made so great a progress in a short time, that, at the general chapter held at Assisi, in 1219, there met 5000 friars, who were only deputies from a much greater number. There were in the middle of the last century above 7000 houses of this order, and in them above 115,000 monks: there are also above 900 monasteries of Franciscan nuns. This order has produced four popes, forty-five cardinals, and an infinite number of patriarchs, archbishops, and two electors of the empire; besides a great number of learned men and missionaries.

The Franciscans came into England during the life of their founder, in the reign of King Henry III. Their first establishment was at Canterbury. They zealously opposed King Henry VIII., in the affair of his divorce; for which reason, at the suppression of the monasteries, they were expelled before all others, and above 200 of them thrown into gaols; thirty-two of them coupled in chains like dogs, and sent to distant prisons; others banished, and others condemned to death. Whilst this order flourished in England, this province was divided into seven parts or districts, called custodies, because each of them was governed by a provincial, or superior, called the custos, or guardian of the district. The seven custodies were, that of London, consisting of nine monasteries; that of York, consisting of seven monasteries; that of Cambridge, containing nine monasteries; that of Bristol, containing nine monasteries; that of Oxford, in which were eight monasteries; that of Newcastle, in which were nine monasteries; and that of Worcester, in which were nine monasteries; in all, sixty monasteries.

The first establishment of Franciscans in London was begun by four friars, who hired for themselves a certain house in Cornhill, of John Travers, then sheriff of London, and made it into little cells; where they lived till the summer following, when they were removed, by John Iwyn, citizen and mercer of London, to the parish of St. Nicholas in the shambles. There he assigned them land for the building of a monastery, and entered himself into the order.

FRATERNITIES, in Roman Catholic countries, are societies for the, so-called, improvement of devotion. They are of several sorts and several denominations. Some take their name from certain famous instruments of piety. The more remarkable are,

1. The fraternity of the Rosary. This society owes its rise to Dominic, the founder of the Rosary. He appointed it, they say, by order of the Blessed Virgin, at the time when he was labouring on the conversion of the Albigenses. After the saint’s death, the devotion of the Rosary became neglected, but was revived by Alanus de Rupe, about the year 1460. This fraternity is divided into two branches, that of the Common Rosary, and that of the Perpetual Rosary. The former is obliged, every week, to say the fifteen divisions of ten beads each, and to confess, and communicate, every first Sunday in the month. The brethren of it are likewise obliged to appear at all processions of the fraternity. The latter are under very strong engagements, the principal of which is, to repeat the rosary perpetually; i. e. there is always some one of them, who is actually saluting the Blessed Virgin in the name of the whole fraternity. 2. The fraternity of the Scapulary, whom it is pretended, according to the Sabbatine bull of Pope John XXII., the Blessed Virgin has promised to deliver out of hell the first Sunday after their death. 3. The fraternity of St. Francis’s girdle are clothed with a sack of a grey colour, which they tie with a cord; and in processions walk barefooted, carrying in their hands a wooden cross. 4. That of St. Austin’s leathern girdle comprehends a great many devotees. Italy, Spain, and Portugal are the countries where are seen the greatest number of these fraternities, some of which assume the name of arch-fraternity. Pope Clement VII. instituted the arch-fraternity of charity, which distributes 346bread every Sunday among the poor, and gives portions to forty poor girls on the feast of St. Jerome, their patron. The fraternity of death buries such dead as are abandoned by their relations, and causes masses to be celebrated for them.—Broughton.

FRATRICELLI. Certain heretics of Italy, who had their rise in the marquisate of Ancona, about 1294. They were most of them apostate monks, under a superior, called Pongiloup. They drew women after them on pretence of devotion, and were accused of uncleanness with them in their nocturnal meetings. They were charged with maintaining a community of wives and goods, and denying magistracy. Abundance of libertines flocked after them, because they countenanced their licentious way of living.

FREEMASONS. An ancient guild of architects, to whom church architecture owes much, and to whom is to be attributed a great part of the beauty and uniformity of the ecclesiastical edifices of the several well-marked architectural æras of the middle ages.

The Freemasons at present arrogate to themselves a monstrous antiquity; it is certain, however, that they were in existence early in the tenth century, and that before the close of that century they had been formally incorporated by the pope, with many exclusive privileges, answering to those which are now involved in a patent. The society consisted of persons of all nations and of every rank; and being strictly an ecclesiastical society, the tone of the architecture to which they gave their study became distinctively theological and significant. The principal ecclesiastics of the day were ranked among its members, and probably many of its clerical brethren were actually and actively engaged in its practical operations. In the present day, if the clergy would pay a little more attention to ecclesiastical architecture, we might perhaps rather emulate than regret the higher character of the sacred edifices of the middle ages.

FREE WILL. Since the introduction of Calvinism many persons have been led into perplexity on this subject, by not sufficiently distinguishing between the free will of spontaneous mental preference, and the good will of freely preferring virtue to vice.

By the ancients, on the contrary, who were frequently called upon to oppose the mischievous impiety of fatalism, while yet they stood pledged to maintain the vital doctrine of Divine grace, this distinction was well known and carefully observed.

The Manicheans so denied free will, as to hold a fatal necessity of sinning, whether the choice of the individual did or did not go along with the action.

The Pelagians so held free will, as to deny the need of Divine grace to make that free will a good will.

By the Catholics, each of these systems was alike rejected. They held, that man possesses free will; for, otherwise, he could not be an accountable subject of God’s moral government. But they also held, that, in consequence of the fall, his free will was a bad will: whence, with a perfect conscious freedom of choice or preference, and without any violence put upon his inclination, he, perpetually, though quite spontaneously, prefers unholiness to holiness; and thus requires the aid of Divine grace to make his bad will a good will.

The reader may see this point established by quotations from the Fathers in Faber’s work on “Election,” from which this article is taken. He shows also that the doctrine taught by Augustine and the ancients, is precisely that which is maintained by the reformers of our Anglican Church.

Those venerable and well-informed moderns resolve not our evil actions into the compulsory fatal necessity of Manicheism, on the one hand; nor, on the other hand, according to the presumptuous scheme of Pelagianism, do they claim for us a spontaneous choice or preference of good independently of the Divine assistance.

The simple freedom of man’s will, so that, whatever he chooses, he chooses not against his inclination, but through a direct and conscious internal preference of the thing chosen to the thing rejected: this simple freedom of man’s will they deny not.

But, while they acknowledge the simple freedom of man’s will, they assert the quality of its choice or preference to be so perverted by the fall, and to be so distorted by the influence of original sin, that, in order to his choosing the good and rejecting the evil, the grace of God, by Christ, must both make his bad will a good will, and must also still continue to co-operate with him even when that goodness of the will shall have been happily obtained.

In the tenth Article of the English Church, it is often not sufficiently observed, that our minutely accurate reformers do not say, that the grace of God, in the work of conversion, gives us free will, as if we were previously subject to a fatal necessity; but only that the grace of God, by Christ, prevents us that we may 347have a good will, and co-operates with us when we have that good will.

The doctrine, in short, of the English Church, when she declares that fallen man cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God, is not that we really prefer the spiritual life to the animal life, and are at the same time by a fatal necessity prevented from embracing it; but it is that we prefer the animal life to the spiritual life, and through the badness of our perverse will, shall continue to prefer it, until (as the Article speaks) the grace of God shall prevent us that we may have a good will, or until (as Holy Scripture speaks) the people of the Lord shall be willing in the day of his power.

FRIAR. (From frater, brother.) A term common to monks of all orders: founded on this, that there is a kind of brotherhood presumed between the religious persons of the same monastery. It is however commonly confined to monks of the mendicant orders. Friars are generally distinguished into these four principal branches,—1. Franciscans, Minors, or Grey Friars; 2. Augustines; 3. Dominicans, or Black Friars; 4. Carmelites, or White Friars. From these four the rest of the orders in the Roman Church descend. In a more particular sense the term Friar is applied to such monks as are not priests: for those in orders are usually dignified with the appellation of Father.

FRIDAY. Friday was, both in the Greek Church and Latin, a Litany or humiliation day, in memory of Christ crucified: and so is kept in ours. It is our weekly fast for our share in the death of Christ, and its gloom is only dispersed if Christmas day happens to fall thereon.

FUNERAL SERVICES. (See Burial of the Dead and Dead.) The office which the English Church appoints to be used at the burial of the dead is, like all her other offices, of most ancient date, having been used by the Church in the East and the West from the remotest antiquity, and having been only translated into English by the bishops and divines who reformed our Church. But against this office, as against others, cavils have been raised. The expression chiefly cavilled at in this service is that with which we commit our brother’s “body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now here it will be observed, that no certainty is expressed that the individual interred will rise to the resurrection of glory. The certainty is,—that there will be a resurrection to eternal life,—while a hope is first implied, and afterwards expressed, that in this resurrection the individual buried will have a part. And who are they who will chide the Church for hoping thus,—even though it be sometimes a hope against hope? The Church refuses to perform the funeral service over persons not baptized, or who have been excommunicated, because she only performs her good offices for those who are within her communion. More than this cannot be expected of any society. But the only class of persons who may have died within her communion, over whom she refuses to perform the burial service, is that of those who have died guilty of self-murder. It is so very evident that such persons died in impenitence and mortal sin, (unless they were insane when they did the act,) that she is therefore obliged to exclude them. With respect to all others, she remembers our Lord’s injunction—Judge not. He does not say, judge not harshly—he says, judge not—judge not at all. The province of judging belongs to God, and to God only. The Church leaves it to that supreme and irresponsible jurisdiction to make the necessary particular distinctions in the individual application of the doctrine she teaches generally. Surely those very persons who now cavil at the Church for her charity in this respect, would be the first to cast the stone at her, if, when they brought the body of a dead brother to the church, our clergy should have to say, “We will not express a hope in this case, because it does not admit of a hope;” as they must do if they were to take upon themselves the authority to judge in each particular case. No. Throughout the Burial Service we look to the bright side of the question, we remember that there is a resurrection to life, and we hope that to that resurrection each brother we inter will be admitted. And is the Church wrong? Then let the caviller stay away. If he chooses to judge of his departed relative, and to consign him without hope to the grave, let him bury him with the burial of an ass. We do not compel him to attend the services of the Church,—let him, then, stay away; if he comes, however, to the church, the Church will express her hope:

Better in silence hide their dead and go,

Than sing a hopeless dirge, or coldly chide

The faith that owns relief from earthly woe.

The last line of this quotation suggests another point to which attention must be directed, viz. the fact of our returning 348thanks to Almighty God for having “delivered our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world.” How, it is asked, can this be done with sincerity, at the very time when the tears and moans of weeping friends seem to belie the assertion? And we answer, it is because the Church assumes that those who attend her services are under the influence of Christian faith; and of Christian faith a most important part consists in the belief of God’s especial providence. Except by God’s permission, the true Christian believes that not a sparrow can fall to the ground, not a hair on our head can perish; and the true Christian also believeth that God doth not willingly afflict the children of men, but that when he chasteneth, he doth it even as a father chasteneth his child, for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Suppose that a parent be taken in the vigour of his strength, from a loving wife and helpless little ones,—and this is, perhaps, the severest dispensation we can conceive:—that the desolate and the destitute should grieve is natural. And are they to be blamed for this? No; for at the grave of Lazarus our blessed Lord groaned in his spirit and wept. Why, indeed, is affliction sent? Is it not sent for this very purpose—to make us grieve? And while affliction is impending, we may pray that it may be averted. Did not the Lord Jesus do the same? Thrice, in his agony, he prayed that the cup of sorrow might be removed from him; thereby affording us an example, that we may pray for the turning away of a calamity,—though at the same time affording us an example to say, when the prayer has not been granted, “Father, not my will, but thine be done.” And if the petition, the petition for the life of a parent or a friend, has not been granted, why has it been unheeded by the Father of mercies? The faith of the true Christian answers, even because God foresaw that it would be more conducive to the everlasting welfare of the lost one, the everlasting welfare of his desolate wife, to the everlasting welfare of his destitute children, that he should be taken at the very time he was. This, says the heart of faith, is mysterious in our eyes, but it is the Lord’s doing; it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. It is thus that, in the midst of sighs and groans, the Christian spirit can give God thanks while nature weeps, grace consoles, and faith assures us that what has been done is right.