PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. (continued 29)

In a more extended sense of the word, we mean by oblations whatever religious Christians offer to God and the Church, whether in lands or goods. It is probable that the example of St. Paul might incite the primitive Christians to offer these gifts to the Church; for he appointed every one of the Corinthians and Galatians to yield something to God for the saints every Lord’s day: but this being thought too often, therefore Tertullian tells us it was afterwards done every month, and then ad libitum: but it was always the custom for communicants to offer something at receiving the sacrament, as well for holy uses, as for relief of the poor, which custom is, or ought to be, observed at this day.

In the first ages of the Church, those deposita pietatis, which are mentioned by Tertullian, were all voluntary oblations, and they were received in lieu of tithes; for the Christians at that time lived chiefly in cities, and gave out of their common stock, both to maintain the Church, and those who served at the altar.

But when their numbers increased, and they were spread abroad in the countries, then a more fixed maintenance was necessary for the clergy; but still oblations 541were made by the people, which, if in the mother Church, then the bishop had half, and the other was divided amongst the clergy; but if offered in a parish church, then the bishop had a third part, and no more.

These oblations, which at first were voluntary, became afterwards, by a continual payment, due by custom.

It is true there are canons which require every one who approaches the altar to make some oblation to it, as a thing convenient to be done.

And it is probable that, in obedience to the canons, it became customary for every man who made a will before the Reformation, to devise something to the high altar of the church where he lived, and something likewise to the mother church or cathedral; and those who were to be buried in the church usually gave something towards its reparations.

But at the great festivals all people were obliged to offer something, not only as convenient, but as a duty; but the proportion was left to the discretion of the giver; and we think, with great reason, for the bounty of the Christians in those ages was so great, that men would build churches on their own lands, on purpose that they might have an equal share of those oblations with the clergy.

And this might be the occasion that the emperors Constantine and Valentinian made laws to prohibit such excessive gifts, which in those days were kept in store-houses built for that very purpose.

But in succeeding ages there was little occasion for such laws, for the zeal of the people was so considerably abated, that, instead of those repositories, the clergy had little chests to contain those gifts, till at last they dwindled into so small a portion, that now, as a quaint writer observes, they can scarce be felt in the parson’s pocket.

We have the authority of Bishop Patrick to show that, in the prayer after the Offertory, the elements are specially intended by the word oblations. “We humbly beseech God,” he says, “to accept not only our alms, but also our oblations. These are things distinct; and the former, alms, signifying that which was given for the relief of the poor, the latter, oblations, can signify nothing else but (according to the style of the ancient Church) the bread and wine presented unto God.”—Christian Sacrifice, p. 77. But it is no less unquestionable, (adds a note in Stephens’s edition of the Common Prayer Book, vol. i. p. 1175,) that this term was also employed to signify money, intended for the maintenance of the clergy, for the service of God, for merciful works of the more spiritual kind, and that it sometimes even denotes the alms for relief of temporal necessities; and numerous authorities exist to prove that, ecclesiastically speaking, “oblations” were not to be confined to the sacred elements exclusively: although oblations are expressly distinguished from alms.

The ecclesiastical meanings of the word oblation may be illustrated from the coronation service of Queen Victoria. Her “first oblation” was a pall or altar cloth of gold, and an ingot of gold: the next a sword: and afterwards at the Offertory were two “oblations;” the first being bread and wine for the communion, which were “by the archbishop received from the queen, (who was kneeling,) and reverently placed upon the altar, and decently covered with a fine linen cloth:” with a prayer, “Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, these thy gifts, and sanctify them unto their holy use,” &c. “Then the queen, kneeling as before, makes her second oblation, a purse of gold;” and then follows a prayer to God “to receive these oblations.”

OCTAVE. The octave is the eighth day after any principal festival of the Church. In ancient times it was customary to observe these days with much devotion, including the whole period also from the festival to the octave. It was thought that the subject and occasion of these high festivals called for their being lengthened out in this manner; and the period of eight days was chosen because the Jews celebrated their greater feasts, some for seven days, and the feast of Tabernacles for eight days. Such Jewish institutions being only types and shadows, the Christians thought it fit not to have their commemorations of shorter duration.

In our Prayer Book we retain the observance of the octaves of Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Whitsunday, by using, for seven days after each of these festivals, an appropriate “Preface,” in the Communion Service, if that sacrament is administered on any of these days. The preface for Whitsunday is, however, only to be used for six days after, because the seventh (or octave of Whitsunday) would be Trinity Sunday, which has a preface of its own.

The first two days of the octaves of Easter and Whitsunday have special services, and in some cathedrals are observed with nearly the same solemnity as the festival itself. It appears by the Pietas Londinensis, published in 1714, that in the church of St. Dunstan in the West, the 542holy communion was administered on every day during the octaves of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide.—Jebb.

OFFERING DAYS. “The four general offering days,” Bishop Cosin says, “in the Church of England enjoined by convocation in 1536, [ought to be 1537,] were Christmas Day, St. John Baptist’s Day, St. Michael’s Day, [Easter Day.] Which order is in some places still observed, and the king and queen in their chapel royal, or wherever they be at church on those days, never omit it, but arise from their seat and go in solemn manner to present their offering upon their knees at God’s altar. And then is read by the priest or bishop attending, the sentence here prescribed, 1 Cor. ix.”—Jebb.

OFFERTORY. So called, because it is that part of the Communion Service in which the offerings are made. The custom of making oblations at the communion is certainly apostolical, as appears from 1 Cor. xvi. 2: “On the first day of the week let every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him.” Which custom continued down to the following ages, as appears from different passages in Justin Martyr, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, and other ancient writers. Out of those offerings, which were not always in money, but in bread, wine, corn, &c., were taken as much bread and wine as served for the celebration of the communion at the time; but if any persons were under public infamy, by reason of any ill actions by them committed, their offerings were not to be received. These offerings in the primitive times were so considerable, that they were divided into four portions; one for the relief of the poor; the second the bishop retained for his maintenance; the third was for the maintenance of the church and its ornaments; and the fourth for the clergy. The office of the Offertory was used in Walafrid Strabo’s time, who lived in the middle of the ninth century; and it was so long before his time, that he could not tell to whom to ascribe its original.—Dr. Nicholls.

Formerly, Mr. Palmer observes, this anthem was probably sung in choirs. The sentences at the Offertory are set to varied melodies, in Marbeck’s book, according to the licence given in King Edward VI.’s First Book, either to sing or say them. This licence is withdrawn by the rubric as it now stands, so altered in King Edward’s Second Book, since the saying of the sentences by the priest is expressly enjoined. Of the old custom a vestige is preserved in the ceremony of the installation of Knights of the Garter, and formerly was at coronations.

OFFICIAL. The official is the person to whom cognisance of causes is committed by such as have an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The official of an archdeacon stands in like relation to him as the chancellor does to the bishop.

OGEE. (Ogive, French.) An inflected curve; a curve formed of two segments of a circle, one struck from one side, and the other from the other side of the same right line. This curve occurs chiefly in mouldings, and is principally characteristic of the Decorated style; but it occurs in other styles also, and has several variations according to its place and date. The word is used in French as a generic term for pointed architecture.

OPHITÆ (from ὄφις, a serpent); also called Serpentinians. A ridiculous sort of heretics, who had for their leader a man called Euphrates. They entertained almost the same fantastic opinions that were holden by the other Egyptian Gnostics concerning the æons, the eternal matter, the creation of the world in opposition to the will of God, the rulers of the seven planets that presided over this world, the tyranny of Demiurge, and also concerning Christ united to the man Jesus, in order to destroy the empire of this usurper. But besides these, they maintained the following particular tenet (whence they received the name of Ophites): “That the Serpent by which our first parents were deceived, was either Christ himself, or Sophia, [Wisdom,] concealed under the form of that animal;” and in consequence of this opinion they are said to have nourished a certain number of serpents, which they looked upon as sacred, and to which they offered a sort of worship, a subordinate kind of divine honours. There is some curious information about the Ophitæ in the lately discovered work of Hippolytus.

OPTION. An archbishop had the choice or option of any one dignity or benefice in the gift of every bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, which he may confer on his chaplain, or whom else he pleases. This was styled his option. The privilege has been relinquished by English archbishops since 1845, in consequence of a construction put on some words in the cathedral act (3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, sect. 42). “That it shall not be lawful for any spiritual person to sell or assign any patronage or presentation belonging to him by virtue of any dignity or spiritual office held by him.”

Bishop Sherlock, on his appointment to 543the see of London in 1749, had a dispute with Archbishop Herring as to the right of option. A compromise took place: but the bishop printed a pamphlet on the subject in 1755. It never was published, and but 50 copies were printed.—Heylin’s Life of Bishop Sherlock, prefixed to his Works, vol. i. lx.

OPUS OPERATUM. An expression frequently occurring in discussions respecting the efficacy of the sacraments, &c., importing a necessary spiritual effect flowing from the outward administration, (from the thing done,) irrespective of the moral qualities of the recipient. This doctrine is alleged as one of the corruptions of the Church of Rome, and, if carried out, would obviously equalize, in a great measure, the benefits received by the worthy and the unworthy who approach the altar, and would justify the administration of baptism to the heathen, &c., not only on consent, but by the application of physical force.

In a certain sense it is unquestionably true, that all the appointed means of grace have an effect ex opere operato, inasmuch as the act itself, though inefficacious in its own nature, is an institution of God, and consecrated by him as an instrument not to be made void at the caprice of man. Thus, the preaching of the gospel is inevitably a savour of life or of death. The administration of baptism is invariably an admission into the Church. But that the use of an appointed ordinance goes beyond this, and results in all cases in a moral effect on the individual, and in the insuring of higher portions of Divine grace ex necessitate, is contrary to the views of the Church, the doctrine of Scripture, and the preservation of man’s free agency.

ORARIUM. (See Stole.)

ORATORIO. In Church music, a musical drama, of which the subject is always sacred, and intended to be performed in a church. The origin of this kind of spiritual and musical drama, which has now run into great excesses, is found in the plan of Filippo Neri, in the early part of the sixteenth century, to arrest the attention of those to whom he preached, by procuring the execution of pieces of sacred music of more than common interest before and after his sermon. This custom, which commenced in the congregation of the Oratory, (whence the name Oratorio,) was imitated by all the societies of the same foundation, and soon became so popular, that the best masters, both in composition and in execution, were found to take a part in it. The performance in the time of Filippo Neri himself was scarcely more than a cantata, but it soon after assumed a more perfectly dramatic form, being distributed between several persons, and accompanied with action and scenic representation, so as to present much of the character of a musical mystery. (See Moralities.) In this way many sacred subjects were performed, such as Job and his friends, the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son.

Oratorio derived its name from the Oratorio, or chapel in the church of St. Girolamo della Carita at Rome, where Filippo Neri’s confraternity assembles. (See Priests of the Oratory.)

In England, oratorios have been much used in our cathedrals. Among the most celebrated oratorios are the Messiah of Handel, and the Creation of Haydn.

ORATORY. A name given by Christians to certain places of religious worship.

In ecclesiastical antiquity, the term houses of prayer, or oratories, is frequently given to churches in general, of which there are innumerable instances in ancient Christian writers. But in some canons the name oratory seems confined to private chapels, or places of worship set up for the convenience of private families, yet still depending on the parochial churches, and differing from them in this, that they were only places of prayer, but not for celebrating the communion; or, if that were at any time allowed to private families, yet, at least, upon great and solemn festivals, they were to resort for communion to the parish churches.—Broughton.

ORATORY, PRIESTS OF THE. There are two congregations of monks, one in Italy, the other in France, which are called by this name.

The priests of the oratory in Italy had for their founder, Philip de Neri, a native of Florence, who, in the year 1548, founded at Rome the Confraternity of the Holy Trinity. This society originally consisted of but fifteen poor persons, who assembled in the church of St. Saviour in campo, every first Sunday in the month, to practise the exercises of piety prescribed by the holy founder. The pope gave leave to assemble in the church of St. Girolamo dell Carita, from the Oratorio or chapel in which church they derived their name. Afterwards, their number increasing, by the addition to the society of several persons of distinction, Neri proceeded to establish an hospital for the reception of poor pilgrims, who, coming to Rome to visit the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, were obliged, for want of a lodging, to lie in the streets, and at the doors of the 544churches. For this charitable purpose, Pope Paul IV. gave to the society the parochial church of St. Benedict, close by which church was built an hospital so large, that, in the Jubilee year, 1600, it received 44,500 men, and 25,500 women, who came in pilgrimage to Rome.

Philip Neri, besides this charitable foundation for pilgrims, held spiritual conferences at Rome, in a large chamber accommodated in the form of an oratory: in which he was assisted by the famous Baronius, author of the “Ecclesiastical Annals.” Here were delivered lectures of religion and morality, and the auditors were instructed in ecclesiastical history. The assembly always ended with prayers, and hymns to the glory of God; after which, the founder, and his companions, visited the churches and hospitals, and took care of the sick. And now it was that this religious society began to be called Priests of the Oratory.

In 1574, the Florentines at Rome, with the permission of Pope Gregory XIII., built a very spacious oratory, in which Neri continued his religious assemblies. The pope likewise gave him the parochial church of Vallicella, and, the same year, approved the constitutions he had drawn up for the government of his congregation, of which St. Philip himself was the first general.

This new institute soon made a great progress, and divers other establishments were made on the same model; particularly at Naples, Milan, Fermo, and Palermo. The founder having resigned the office of general, he was succeeded therein by Baronius, who was afterwards promoted to the dignity of a cardinal. Neri died the 25th of May, 1595, and was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. After his death, this congregation made a further progress in Italy, and has produced several cardinals and eminent writers, as Baronius, Oderic Rainaldi, and others.

The priests of the Oratory in France were established upon the model of those in Italy, and owe their rise to Cardinal Berulle, a native of Champagne; who resolved upon this foundation, in order to revive the splendour of the ecclesiastical state, which was greatly sunk through the miseries of the civil wars, the increase of heresies, and a general corruption of manners. To this end he assembled a community of ecclesiastics, in 1611, in the suburb of St. James, where is at present the famous monastery of Val-de-Grace. They obtained the king’s letters patent for their establishment; and, in 1613, Pope Paul V. approved this congregation under the title of the Oratory of Jesus.

This congregation consisted of two sorts of persons; the one, as it were, incorporated, the other only associates. The former governed the houses of this institute; the latter were only employed in forming themselves to the life and manners of ecclesiastics. And this was the true spirit of this congregation, in which they taught neither human learning, nor theology, but only the virtues of the ecclesiastical life.

After the death of Cardinal Berulle, which happened the 2nd of October, 1629, the priests of the Oratory made a great progress in France and other countries. This order had eleven houses in the Low Countries, one at Liege, two in the county of Avignon, and one in Savoy, besides fifty-eight in France. The first house, which was, as it were, the mother of all the rest, was that of the street St. Honoré, at Paris, where the general resided. The priests of this congregation were not, properly speaking, monks, being obliged to no vows, and their institute being purely ecclesiastical or sacerdotal.—Broughton. The Oratorians have lately appeared in England.

ORDEAL. An appeal to the judgment of Almighty God, in criminal cases, when the innocence or guilt of the accused rested on insufficient evidence.

Among the Saxons and Normans, if any person was charged with theft, adultery, murder, treason, perjury, &c., in these cases, if the person neither pleaded guilty, nor could be convicted by legal evidence, it was either in the prosecutor’s or judge’s power to put him upon the ordeal; and provided he passed through this test unhurt, he was discharged; otherwise he was put into the hands of justice, to be punished as the law directed, in case he had been cast by the ordinary forms of prosecution. For we are to observe, that this trial by ordeal was not designed for the punishment of those in whose cases the ordinary forms had miscarried; the intention of it was rather to clear the truth, where it could not be otherwise discovered, and make way for the execution of the law.

There are several sorts of this inquiry; the trial was sometimes made by cold, and sometimes by scalding, water; sometimes by ploughshares, or bars of iron, heated burning hot; sometimes the accused purged their innocence by receiving the sacrament; and sometimes by eating a piece of barley bread called the corsned.

545In the trial by cold water, the persons suspected were thrown naked into a pond, or river: if they sank they were acquitted, but if they floated upon the river without any swimming postures it was taken for an evidence of guilt.

When scalding water was the test, they were to plunge their arm in a tub, or kettle, to the elbow; if this was done without any signs of pain, or marks of scalding, the person was discharged; but if there was the least complaint under the operation, or any scar or impression to be seen, it was taken for proof against him. Slaves, peasants, and people of mean condition, were put upon this water ordeal.

Persons of figure and quality were generally tried by the burning iron. This ordeal had different circumstances in proportion to the crimes objected. If the person was only impeached for a single crime, the iron was to weigh but one pound: but if he was prosecuted upon several articles, the weight of the iron was to increase proportionably; and here the person impeached was either to hold a burning ball of iron in his hand, and move with it to a certain distance, or else to walk barefoot upon heated ploughshares, placed about a yard from each other. If after this trial his hands and feet were untouched, and he discovered no signs of feeling any pain, he was discharged by the court; but if the matter fell out otherwise, he was remitted to the punishment of the law.

Before the person accused was brought to the ordeal, he was obliged to swear his innocence, and sometimes receive the holy eucharist.

The Christians of this age had a strong reliance upon this way of trial, not in the least doubting but that God would suspend the force of nature, and clear the truth by a supernatural interposition. If we may believe the records of those times, we shall find that innocent persons were frequently rescued, in a surprising manner, perhaps by some skilful management on the part of the authorities aware of the fact.

To proceed to some of the preliminaries of the ordeal. After the charge was legally brought in, the person impeached was to spend three days in fasting and prayer. At the day of the trial, which was made in the church, the priest, appearing in the habit of his function, took up the iron which lay before the altar, and, repeating the hymn of the Three Children, put it into the fire. This being done, he proceeded to some forms of benediction over the fire and iron; after which, he sprinkled the iron with holy water, and made the sign of the cross in the name of the Blessed Trinity: upon which the person accused passed through the test.

The ceremony of the scalding water ordeal was much the same. But when the trial was to be made by cold water, the three days’ fast and the other religious circumstances being premised, the person suspected drank a draught of holy water, to which the priest added an imprecation in case he was guilty: then the water, into which the presumed criminal was to be thrown, had a sort of exorcising form of prayer said over it; by which the element was, as it were, conjured, by the most solemn expressions, to detect the guilty and discover the truth.

The bread called the corsned was another way of trial. The person prosecuted took an ounce of it fasting, or sometimes the same quantity in cheese, and sometimes the holy eucharist. Immediately before this was done, the priest read the Litany proper to the occasion, and proceeded to another prayer, in which he desired that God would please to bring the truth of the matter in question to light, and that the evil spirits might have no power to perplex the inquiry, and prevent the discovery; that if the person was guilty, the morsel might stick in his throat and find no passage; that his face might turn pale, his limbs be convulsed, and an horrible alteration appear in his whole body; but if innocent, he desired that which the party received might make its way easily into his stomach, and turn to health and nourishment.

Notwithstanding the commonness of this custom in England, and other parts of Christendom, it began to be disliked at last, and fell several times under the censure of the Church and State: thus Louis, and Lotharius his successor, emperors of Germany, positively forbade the ordeal by cold water. The trial likewise by scalding water, and burning iron, was condemned by Pope Stephen V. It is probable they might think it a rash way of proceeding, and a tempting of God; and that it was unreasonable to put innocence upon supernatural proof, and pronounce a man guilty, unless he had a miracle to acquit him. The first public discountenance of it from the State which we meet with in England, was in the third year of King Henry III. Most of the judges in their circuits received an order from the king and council not to put any person upon the trial ordeal, in regard it was prohibited by the court of Rome. 546This order of the king and council, Sir Edward Coke, as Sir Henry Spelman observes, mistakes for an act of parliament. It is true, as that learned antiquary goes on to say, at that time of day, a public regulation, passed in council, and sealed with the king’s seal, had the force of a law. It must, however, be said, this prohibition does not run to the judges of all the circuits; but, it may be, the rest of the justices might receive the same instructions another way. And though we meet with no express law afterwards to this purpose, yet this method of trial, standing condemned by the canons, languished by degrees, and at last grew quite out of practice.

ORDER. The rules or laws of a monastic institution; and afterwards, in a secondary sense, the several monastics living under the same rule or order. Thus the Order of Clugni signifies literally the new rule of discipline prescribed by Odo to the Benedictines already assembled in the monastery of Clugni; but secondarily, and in the more popular sense, the great body of monastic institutions, wherever established, which voluntarily subjected themselves to the same rule.

ORDERS, HOLY. (See Bishop, Clergy, Deacon, Ordinal, Ordination, Presbyter, Priest.) “It is evident unto all men diligently reading the Holy Scriptures and ancient authors, that from the apostles’ time there have been these orders of ministers in Christ’s Church; bishops, priests, and deacons. Which offices were evermore had in such reverent estimation, that no man might presume to execute any of them except he were first called, tried, examined, and known to have such qualities as are requisite for the same; and also by public prayer, with imposition of hands, were approved and admitted thereunto by lawful authority. And therefore, to the intent that these orders might be continued and reverently used and esteemed, in the united Church of England and Ireland, no man shall be accounted or taken to be a bishop, priest, or deacon in the united Church of England or Ireland, or suffered to execute any of the said functions, except he be called, tried, examined, and admitted thereunto, according to the form hereafter following, or hath had formerly episcopal consecration or ordination.”—Preface to the English Ordinal.

As it is here said, in the ancient Church these three orders of ministry, as established by Christ and his apostles, universally prevailed. But, besides the bishops, priests, and deacons, there were, in most of the Churches, other ecclesiastical persons of inferior rank, who were allowed to take part in the ministrations of religion. These constituted what are called the inferior orders, and in some of the ancient canons they have the name of “clergy.”

There is this great difference between the three holy orders and the others, that the former are everywhere mentioned as those degrees of men whose ministrations were known and distinguished, and without which no Church was looked upon as complete; but to show that the inferior orders were never thought to be necessary in the same degree, let it be considered, that different Churches, or the same Church in different ages, had more or fewer of the inferior orders. In some were only readers; in others, subdeacons, exorcists, and acolyths. The Apostolic Canons mention only subdeacons, readers, and singers. The Laodicean enumerate these, and also exorcists and ostiaries. But while there was no standing rule respecting these merely ecclesiastical orders, the three essential grades of the ministry were found in all parts of the Church.

In the Church of England, the following are the regulations respecting admission to Holy Orders observed in the various dioceses, as given in Hodgson’s “Instructions.”

Persons desirous of being admitted as candidates for deacon’s orders, are recommended to make a written application to the bishop,^[10] six months before the time of ordination, stating their age, college, academical degree, and the usual place of their residence; together with the names of any persons of respectability to whom they are best known, and to whom the bishop may apply, if he thinks fit, for further information concerning them.

The following six papers are to be sent by a candidate for deacon’s orders, to the bishop in whose diocese the curacy which is to serve as a title is situate, three weeks before the day of ordination, or at such other time as the bishop shall appoint; and in due time he will be informed by the bishop’s secretary when and where to attend for examination.

1. Letters testimonial from his college; and in case the candidate shall have quitted college, he must also present letters testimonial for the period elapsed since he quitted college, in the following form, signed by three beneficed clergymen, and countersigned by the bishop of the diocese in which their benefices are respectively 547situate, if they are not beneficed in the diocese of the bishop to whom the candidate applies for ordination.

2. Form of letters testimonial for orders.

“To the ^[11]Right Reverend ——, by Divine permission Lord Bishop of —— [the bishop in whose diocese the curacy conferring the title is situate].

Whereas our beloved in Christ, A. B., bachelor of arts, (or other degree,) of —— college, in the university of ——, hath declared to us his intention of offering himself as a candidate for the sacred office of a deacon, and for that end hath requested of us letters testimonial of his good life and conversation; we therefore, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do testify that the said A. B. hath been personally known to us for the space of^[12]—— last past; that we have had opportunities of observing his conduct; that during the whole of that time we verily believe that he lived piously, soberly, and honestly; nor have we at any time heard anything to the contrary thereof; nor hath he at any time, as far as we know or believe, held, written, or taught anything contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the united Church of England and Ireland; and, moreover, we believe him, in our consciences, to be, as to his moral conduct, a person worthy to be admitted to the sacred order of deacons.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, this —— day of ——, in the year of our Lord 18—.

^[13]C. D. rector of ——.

E. F. vicar of ——.

G. H. rector of ——.”

[Countersignature.]

3. Form of notice or “Si quis,” and of the certificate of the same having been published in the church of the parish where the candidate usually resides, to be presented by the candidate if he shall have quitted college.

“Notice is hereby given, that A. B., bachelor of arts, (or other degree,) of —— college, Oxford, [or Cambridge,] and now resident in this parish, intends to offer himself a candidate for the holy office of a deacon, at the ensuing ordination of the Lord Bishop of ——;^[14] and if any person knows any just cause or impediment for which he ought not to be admitted into holy orders, he is now to declare the same, or to signify the same forthwith to the Lord Bishop of ——.

We do hereby certify, that the above notice was publicly read by the undersigned C. D., in the parish church of ——, in the county of ——, during the time of Divine service on Sunday the —— day of last [or instant], and no impediment was alleged.

Witness our hands this —— day of ——, in the year of our Lord 18—.

C. D. officiating minister.

E. F. churchwarden.”

4. Certificate from the divinity professor in the university, that the candidate has duly attended his lectures. Also a certificate from any other professor whose lectures the candidate may have been directed by the bishop to attend.

5. Certificate of the candidate’s baptism, from the register book of the parish where he was baptized, duly signed, by the officiating minister, to show that he has completed his age of twenty-three years; and in case he shall have attained that age, but cannot produce a certificate of his baptism, then his father or mother, or other competent person, must make a declaration, before a justice of the peace, of the actual time of his birth: and here it may be necessary to remark, that by an act of the 44 Geo. III. c. 43, intituled “An Act to enforce the due observance of the canons and rubric respecting the ages of persons to be admitted into the sacred order of deacon and priest,” it is enacted, that thenceforth no person shall be admitted a deacon before he shall have attained the age of three and twenty years complete; and that no person shall be admitted a priest before he shall have attained the age of four and twenty years complete: and that if a person shall be admitted a deacon before he shall have attained the age of twenty-three years complete, or a priest before he shall have attained the age of twenty-four years complete, such admission shall be void in law; and the person so admitted shall be incapable of holding any ecclesiastical preferment.

5486. The form of a nomination to serve as a title for orders, if the incumbent is non-resident.

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

These are to certify your lordship, that I, C. D., rector [or vicar, &c.] of ——, in the county of ——, and your lordship’s diocese of ——, do hereby nominate A. B., bachelor of arts, (or other degree,) of —— college in the university of ——, to perform the office of curate in my church of —— aforesaid; and do promise to allow him the yearly stipend of —— pounds, to be paid by equal quarterly payments, [as to amount of stipend, see title “Stipends payable to Curates,”] with the surplice fees, amounting on an average to —— pounds per annum, (if they are intended to be allowed,) and the use of the glebe-house, garden, and offices, which he is to occupy (if that be the fact; if not, state the reason, and name where and what distance^[15] from the church the curate purposes to reside): and I do hereby state to your lordship, that the said A. B. does not intend to serve, as curate, in any other parish, nor to officiate in any other church or chapel (if such be the fact, otherwise state the real fact); that the net annual value of my said benefice, estimated according to the act of parliament 1 & 2 Victoria, c. 106, sects. 8 and 10, is —— pounds, and the population thereof, according to the latest returns of population made under the authority of parliament, is ——. That there is only one church belonging to my said benefice (if there be another church or chapel, state the fact); and that I was admitted to the said benefice on the —— day of —— 18—.^[16] “And I do hereby promise and engage with your lordship and the said A. B., that I will continue to employ the said A. B., in the office of curate in my said church, until he shall be otherwise provided of some ecclesiastical preferment, unless, for any fault by him committed, he shall be lawfully removed from the same; and I hereby solemnly declare that I do not fraudulently give this certificate, to entitle the said A. B. to receive holy orders, but with a real intention to employ him in my said church, according to what is before expressed.”

Witness my hand this —— day of ——, in the year of our Lord 18—.

[Signature and address of] C. D.

Declaration [to be written at the foot of the Nomination].

“We the before-named C. D. and A. B. do declare to the said Lord Bishop of ——, as follows; namely, I the said C. D. do declare that I bonâ fide intend to pay, and I the said A. B. do declare that I bonâ fide intend to receive, the whole actual stipend mentioned in the foregoing nomination and statement, without any abatement in respect of rent or consideration for the use of the glebe-house, garden, and offices thereby agreed to be assigned, and without any other deduction or reservation whatsoever.

Witness our hands this —— day of ——, 18—.

[Signatures of] C. D.

A. B.”

6. (a) The form of nomination to serve as a title for orders, if the incumbent is resident.

The same form as No. 6, so far as “quarterly payments;” then proceed as follows:—And I do hereby state to your lordship, that the said A. B. intends to reside in the said parish, in a house [describe its situation, so as clearly to identify it], distant from my church —— mile [if A. B. does not intend to reside in the parish, then state at what place he intends to reside, and its distance from the said church]; that the said A. B. does not intend to serve, as curate, any other parish, nor to officiate in any other church or chapel (if such be the fact, otherwise state the real fact); and I do hereby promise and engage with your lordship, and so on [in the same form as No. 6, to the end].

Witness my hand this —— day of ——, 18—.

[Signature and address of] C. D.

The declaration to be written at the foot of the nomination is to be in the same form as No. 6, so far as the word “statement,” after which proceed as follows:—“Without any deduction or reservation whatsoever.

Witness our hands this —— day of ——, 18—.

[Signatures of] C. D.

A. B.”

It is proper to observe, that the following declaration is to be subscribed previous to ordination, in the bishop’s presence, by all persons who are to be ordained:—

“I, A. B., do willingly, and from my heart, subscribe to the thirty-nine articles 549of religion of the united Church of England and Ireland, and to the three articles in the thirty-sixth canon; and to all things therein contained.”

N. B.—The following are the three articles referred to:

“1. That the Queen’s majesty, under God, is the only supreme governor of this realm, and of all other her highness’s dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal; and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within her majesty’s said realms, dominions, and countries.

“2. That the Book of Common Prayer, and of ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God, and that it may lawfully so be used; and that he himself will use the form in the said book prescribed, in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, and none other.

“3. That he alloweth the book of articles of religion, agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces and the whole clergy, in the convocation holden at London, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred sixty and two; and that he acknowledgeth all and every the articles therein contained, being in number nine and thirty, besides the ratification, to be agreeable to the word of God.”

Oaths to be taken by those who are to be ordained, at the time of Ordination.

THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.

“I, A. B., do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to her Majesty Queen Victoria. So help me God.”

THE OATH OF SUPREMACY.

“I, A. B., do swear, that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God.”

The act of parliament 59 Geo. III. c. 60, contains directions for the use and guidance of candidates for orders who are to officiate as clergymen in the colonies, or for her Majesty’s foreign possessions.

Instructions as to Priest’s orders.^[17]

The following papers are to be sent by a candidate for priest’s orders to the bishop, three weeks before the day of ordination, or at such other time as the bishop shall appoint, and in due time he will be informed by the bishop’s secretary when and where to attend for examination.

Where a candidate applies for priest’s orders to the same bishop who ordained him deacon, the papers 1 and 2 only are required.

1. Letters testimonial of his sound doctrine, good life, and behaviour, for the time elapsed since he was ordained deacon, signed by three beneficed clergymen, and countersigned by the bishop of the diocese in which their benefices are respectively situate, if not beneficed in the diocese of the bishop to whom the candidate applies for ordination. (See Form of Testimonial, in Instructions as to Deacon’s Orders, No. 2.)

2. Notice, or “Si quis,” and certificate of the publication thereof. (See Form thereof, in the Instructions as to Deacon’s Orders, No. 3.)

In case the candidate was ordained deacon by the bishop of another diocese, he must produce not only the papers, Nos. 1 and 2, but also the following papers, Nos. 3, 4, and 5.

As it is not common for a deacon to be ordained priest by any other than the bishop who admitted him to deacon’s orders, a candidate applying to the bishop of another diocese must, in the first instance, state to him the particular circumstances which occasion the application, the curacy which he served, and for what period.

3. Letters of deacon’s orders.

4. A certificate of baptism.

5. Nomination, if not already licensed.

The same subscriptions and oaths are made and taken by candidates for priest’s orders, as by candidates for deacon’s orders.

With respect to foreign Protestants, Palmer observes: “We are not bound to condemn Presbyterian orders in every case: for instance, the appointment of ministers by the Protestants in Germany during the Reformation, was most probably invalid; and yet, considering their difficulties, the fact of their appeal to a general council, their expectation of reunion with the Church, and therefore the impossibility of 550establishing a rival hierarchy, I think we are not bound to condemn their appointments of ministers, as many learned and orthodox writers have done; who, however, seem not to have observed the peculiarities of their position, and to have supposed that they were at once definitively separated from the Roman churches. Certain differences of opinion, then, in reference to the question of Presbyterian ordinations, may exist without any material inconvenience.

“That ordinations by mere presbyters are, (however excusable under circumstances of great difficulty,) in fact, unauthorized and invalid, is the more usual sentiment of theologians, and is most accordant with Scripture, and with the practice of the Catholic Church in general, and of our Churches in particular, which do not recognise any such ordinations.”

ORDERS OF MONKS. The several orders of monks are distinguished in this manner by their habits. The White Friars are canons regular of the order of St. Augustine. Grey Friars are Cistercian monks, who changed their black habit into a grey one. The Black Friars are Benedictines.

ORDINAL. The Ordinal is that book which contains the forms observed in the Church for making, ordaining, and consecrating, bishops, priests, and deacons. In the liturgy established in the second year of King Edward VI., there was also a form of consecrating and ordaining of bishops, priests, and deacons, not much differing from the present form. Afterwards, by the 3 & 4 Edward VI. c. 10, it was enacted that all books heretofore used for the service of the Church, other than such as shall be set forth by the king’s majesty, shall be clearly abolished (s. 1). And by the 5 & 6 Edward VI. c. 1, it is thus enacted: The king, with the assent of the lords and commons in parliament, has annexed the Book of Common Prayer to this present statute, adding also a form and manner of making and consecrating of archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, to be of like force and authority as the Book of Common Prayer. And, by Art. 36: “The book of consecration of archbishops and bishops, and ordering of priests and deacons, lately set forth in the time of Edward VI., and confirmed at the same time by authority of parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such consecration and ordering; neither hath it anything that of itself is superstitious and ungodly. And therefore whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the rites of that book, since the second year of the forenamed King Edward unto this time, or hereafter shall be consecrated or ordered according to the same rites, we declare all such to be rightly ordered, and lawfully consecrated and ordered.” And by Canon 8: “Whosoever shall affirm or teach, that the form and manner of making and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth anything that is repugnant to the word of God; or that they who are made bishops, priests, and deacons, in that form, are not lawfully made, nor ought to be accounted either by themselves or others to be truly either bishops, priests, or deacons, until they have some other calling to those Divine offices, let him be excommunicated, ipso facto, not to be restored until he repent and publicly revoke such his wicked errors.”

The form in which orders are conferred in our Church is this: “The bishop, with the priests present, shall lay their hands severally upon the head of every one that receiveth the order of priesthood; the receivers humbly kneeling, and the bishop saying, ‘Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest, in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful dispenser of the word of God, and of his holy sacraments: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’” In the office for the ordering of deacons, the bishop lays on his hands, but does not use the words, “Receive the Holy Ghost,” &c., or grant authority to forgive or retain sins. In the office for the consecration of bishops, the form is thus: “Then the archbishop and bishops present shall lay their hands upon the head of the elected bishop, kneeling before them on his knees, the archbishop saying, ‘Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a bishop in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the laying on of our hands, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And remember that thou stir up the grace of God which is given thee BY the imposition of our hands, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and soberness.’”

Several Protestant dissenting communities have taken it upon themselves to lay on hands when a person is elected to the dissenting ministry; but none, that we are aware of, have ever assumed the solemn office of thus conferring the grace of God by the imposition of human hands, which 551would clearly be blasphemous, except there existed a commission from God to do so, which commission, without the apostolical succession, cannot be proved, unless by miracle. This form has given great offence to many conscientious ultra-Protestants. Attempts are sometimes made to explain the words away; but such explanations have been seldom found satisfactory, except to those whose interest it is to be satisfied. It is evident that they are to be understood simply, clearly, unequivocally, to express that the grace of God is given by the imposition of the bishop’s hands; and that if we speak of this as superstitious or ungodly, we are, as may be seen from the 36th Article and the 8th Canon, under the anathema of our Church. On the other hand, the comfort is indescribably great to those who believe that grace ministerial is thus conveyed in attending the ministry of the Church; the efficacy of the ministrations of whose ministers depends not on the merit or talent of the individual, but on the grace of God, of which he is the authorized, though unworthy, dispenser.

ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH. Rites ordained by God to be means of grace, such as, 1. Baptism (Matt. xxviii. 19); 2. The Lord’s supper (Matt. xxvi. 26; 1 Cor. xi. 24, &c.); 3. Preaching and reading the word (Mark xvi. 15; Rom. x. 15); 4. Hearing the gospel (Mark iv. 24; Rom. x. 17); 5. Public and private prayer (1 Cor. xiv. 15, 19; Matt. vi. 6; Ps. v. 1, 7); 6. Singing of psalms (Col. iii. 16; Eph. v. 19); 7. Fasting (Matt. ix. 15; Joel ii. 12); 8. Solemn thanksgiving (Ps. ix. 14; 1 Thess. v. 18). See Rites.

ORDINARY. The person who has ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as of course and of common right, in opposition to persons who are extraordinarily appointed. In some acts of parliament we find the bishop called ordinary, and so he is taken at the common law, as having ordinary jurisdiction in causes ecclesiastical; albeit, in a more general acceptation, the word Ordinary signifies any judge authorized to take cognizance of causes in his own proper right, as he is a magistrate, and not by way of deputation or delegation.

ORDINATION. (See Orders.) The apostles appointed bishops, priests, and deacons, to be the standing guides and governors of the Church; and because there should be a succession of them continued in all ages, for the peace and preservation of those churches which they had planted, therefore it is necessary that there should be a power lodged somewhere, to set apart some distinct orders of men to those public offices, and this is called ordination. Many dissenting sects hold it necessary that there should be such a power, but they dispute where it is. Some affirm that a man ought not to take upon him the ministry without a lawful call, which is very true. They likewise agree that ordination ought to be continued, and they define it to be a solemn setting apart of some person to a church office; but they say it is only to be done by preaching presbyters, and that those who are not set apart themselves for the work of the ministry, have no power to join in setting apart others for that purpose; and this form of ordination was proposed to the parliament, in the year 1643, by an assembly of those persons, in order to be ratified. There is another sort of people who hold that where there are no such preaching presbyters, in such case, other persons, sufficiently qualified and approved for their gifts and graces by other ministers, being chosen by the people, and set apart for the ministry, by prayer and fasting in the congregation, may exercise that office, so that some place the power of ordination in simple presbyters, and others in the people. There are others who maintain that ordination is not to be justified by Scripture, and that the word itself signifies a lifting up of hands, and is used in Scripture for giving a vote, which in all popular assemblies is customary even at this day: from whence they infer that the Christian churches were at first democratical, that is, the whole congregation chose their pastor; and that by virtue of such choice he did not pretend to any peculiar jurisdiction distinct from others, but he was only approved by the congregation for his parts, and appointed to instruct the people, to visit the sick, and to perform all other offices of a minister, and at other times he followed his trade; and that the Christians in those days had no notion how a pastor could pretend to any succession to qualify him for the ministry, for that the pretence of dispensing divine things by a mere human constitution was such an absurdity that it could not be reconciled to reason.

This and many more such calumnies were cast on ordination, and the bishops themselves were called ordination-mongers; but it was by those who alleged that the purity of the Christian religion, and the good and orderly government of the world, had been much better provided for without any clergy. But we will show from Scripture, from antiquity, and from the 552concurrent testimony of the Fathers, that bishops had, and ought to have, the power of ordination.

When our Saviour established the Christian Church, he made his apostles governors thereof, and vested them with a power to ordain others to the ministry; and, accordingly, they ordained the seven deacons, and consecrated St. James bishop of Jerusalem, and he ordained presbyters of that church. That Timothy, as soon as he was made bishop of Ephesus by the great apostle of the Gentiles, but not before, had this power of ordination, is allowed by St. Chrysostom himself, who magnified the power of presbyters more than any of the Fathers; and he proves it thus, viz. because St. Paul gave Timothy a caution, not to admit any one rashly to an ecclesiastical office. It is true he likewise bid him not to despise the gift which was given to him by prophecy, with laying on of the hands of the company of elders; but he could not mean by those words an assembly of ordinary presbyters, for as such they could not have conferred any extraordinary commission, especially upon Timothy, because he was, at that very time, a bishop, and ordained by St. Paul himself. He had a jurisdiction over all the presbyters of Asia; for he had power given him by that apostle to inquire into their conversation and abilities, and then to admit them into that holy office, if he found them qualified, and not otherwise. Titus had the same power throughout that populous island of Crete; and these things are so plain, that they must deny the authority of the Scriptures, who deny the power of ordination to be originally in bishops: and therefore they have invented a senseless objection, viz. that though Timothy and Titus were superior to presbyters, yet their power was but temporary; for they were chosen by the apostles at that time, upon a particular occasion, to preside in the assemblies of presbyters, to moderate the affairs of those churches, which power was to determine at the expiration of their commission. But this cannot be proved by history, or any records. It is a mere invention, contrived to make a party between those two distinct orders of men; and it can have no foundation in Scripture, from the promiscuous use of the words bishop and presbyter: for though it is true that the last is used to show the humility of a bishop, yet it is as true that the word apostle is likewise used to show his superiority. So that, in the primitive times, bishops ordained as bishops, and not as presbyters; for in those days, as it has been already observed, bishops and presbyters were accounted distinct in order, whatever has of late years been advanced to the contrary. Therefore, the objection that a bishop and presbyter were neither distinct in order or office; that though the apostles, and those who immediately succeeded them, exercised a large jurisdiction, yet it was granted to them by our Saviour as they were apostles, and did in no wise concern their successors, to whom he gave no such authority, nor any manner of superiority over their fellow presbyters,—these, and such like, are doctrines which neither agree with the Scripture, nor with the Fathers; they are contrary to the plain and constant usage in the Church for 1600 years, during all which time all Christian churches were governed by bishops.

By the 31st canon of the Church of England it is ordained: “Forasmuch as the ancient Fathers of the Church, led by the example of the apostles, appointed prayers and fasts to be used at the solemn ordaining of ministers, and to that purpose allotted certain times, in which only sacred orders might be given and conferred, we, following their holy and religious example, do constitute and decree, that no deacons or ministers be made or ordained, but only on Sundays immediately following jejunia quatuor temporum, commonly called Ember Weeks, appointed in ancient time for prayer and fasting, (purposely for this cause at the first institution,) and so continued at this day in the Church of England.” (See Ember Days.)

ORGAN. The greatest of all instruments of music, consisting of pipes, or flutes, made vocal by wind, which is supplied by bellows, and acted on by keys touched by the hands and feet. The Latin word organum, means an instrument in general; (just as we now employ the word organ;) but in the course of time it was more specially applied, in a more limited sense, to instruments of music, and specially to that great vehicle of sound, which is in part a combination of many instruments, and is an orchestra in itself. The first organ was made by Ctesibius of Alexandria, about 200 years B. C., (as appears from Athenæus, iv. 75,) with pipes of bronze and lead, with keys, levers, and slides: the wind from a bellows, in which the pressure of water supplied the place of the weight now placed on the bellows. This sort of organ was called hydraulic; and continued in use so late as the ninth century. An epigram of Julian the Apostate, in the middle of the fourth century, 553describes it as played with the fingers, not with the fists, and as having copper pipes. (Brunck, Analecta ii. 403.) St. Augustine describes it as “grande, et inflata follibus.” It is also spoken of by Ammianus Marcellinus; and exactly described by Claudian, in the fourth century; and Cassiodorus (in the fifth century) defines it as a tower, made with various pipes, inflated by bellows, and played on by the fingers, and as having great sweetness and power. It was never used in the Greek Church. Its first ecclesiastical use in the West is a matter of obscurity. Bellarmine states, though on doubtful authority, that, in 660, Pope Vitalian introduced it into the church service at Rome. D. Rimbault, in his very interesting notes to Roger North’s Memoirs of Music, (p. 48,) says, that it was introduced into the English service by Theodore and Adrian, emissaries of Vitalian; and from a passage in the writings of Adhelm, bishop of Sherborne, who died in 709, it appears that the external case was gilt, (“auratis capsis,”) and that the pipes were numerous: “maxima millenis organa flabris.” All ecclesiastical historians relate, that in 757 the Eastern emperor Constantine Copronymus sent an organ to Pepin, which was placed, as affirmed by M. Hamel, (Manuel des Facteurs des Orgues,) in a church at Compiegne. In 811, ambassadors from Constantinople brought two organs to Charlemagne. However, it is supposed that its use did not become generally known in France till 826, when a Venetian priest introduced what is supposed to be an hydraulic organ. In the same century, Walafred Strabo says, Louis le Debonnaire gave an organ to Aix la Chapelle. In 994, according to Petronius, there were organs at Erfurt and Magdeburg. In 951, Wulstan relates that Elphege, bishop of Winchester, gave an organ to Winchester with 400 pipes, 40 keys, and (if his meaning is clear) 26 pairs of bellows, played by two organists. (See Turner’s Anglo-Saxons, book ix. c. 9.) In the tenth century, Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, gave an organ to Malmesbury, described by William of Malmesbury as having copper pipes. At the same time an organ was given to Ramsey church, with copper pipes, “emitting a sweet melody and far-resounding peal,” played on feast days. (See Turner, as before.) In the twelfth century, an organ is mentioned in the abbey of Fécamp. And Gervas the monk, describing Canterbury cathedral as he knew it before the fire in 1172, says, that it had arches to carry organs.

The above notices suffice to show the error of Bingham’s statement, that organs were not used in churches till after Thomas Aquinas’ time in 1250. Aquinas merely specifies harps and psalteries, as not used, “which our Church does not assume, lest she should seem to judaize.” The south of France, as also the south of Italy, long retained Oriental customs in their churches; thus at Lyons organs were for a long time unemployed. Cardinal Caietan says, the organ was not used in the primitive Church, and gives this as a reason why it is not used in the pope’s chapel. A tenacious respect for antiquity seems to be the only reason which forbids its use in the Greek churches: since, in some branches of that communion, as in Russia, vocal harmony in the sacred offices is carried to great perfection. Hospinian, an ultra-Protestant writer, contends against the use of it, on the authority of St. Paul.

So strongly prejudiced were other writers of the ultra-Protestant school against organs that Newte, in his preface to Dodwell on Music, after mentioning the report of Balæus, that organs were introduced in the year 660, adds, “or rather that it may not want the mark of the beast of the Revelation, as the Magdeburg continuators say, 666.” It is difficult to understand the principle of the objection. The ordering of the instrumental as well as oral music in the temple was a matter, be it remembered, of Divine institution: thus in 2 Chron. xxix. 25. “And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets.” To be consistent, all oral song, nay, the words of the sacred songs themselves, ought to be silenced also.

At the time of the Reformation, organs were considered as among the vilest remnants of Popery, by all the more enthusiastic partisans of Protestantism. And by those who carried out the principles of ultra-Protestantism to their legitimate extent at the great Rebellion, organs were so generally demolished, that scarcely an instrument could be found in England at the Restoration; and foreigners were brought over to play on some of those which were then erected. It is satisfactory to see such prejudices wearing away. We now find those whose horror at fasting, or at self-denials, or at turning to the east in prayer, or at preaching in a surplice, as the Prayer Book directs, or implies, or at bowing to the altar, or at preferring prayer 554to preaching, &c., is unfeigned, and who see in these observances nothing but Popery, nevertheless expending large sums of money to erect organs, which are now heard to sound in their very meeting-houses. We believe the Kirk of Scotland is alone consistent in this respect, and true to the principles of their ultra-Protestant forefathers; the members of that Establishment do not even yet tolerate what at the Reformation was called “a squeaking abomination.”

The organ in the Anglican Church had been the regular accompaniment of the choral service for some hundred years before the Reformation. It is still used in cathedrals, collegiate and royal churches and chapels, more frequently than abroad; where it is more employed for symphonies than for an accompaniment, and that in general only on Sundays, holy-days, and eves; whereas in regular English choirs it is used at least twice daily, accompanying the psalms, canticles, and anthems, and those parts of the service which are allowed by the rubric to be sung, including the responses and litanies on more solemn occasions. In ancient times (till the great Rebellion) organs were more common in the college chapels at the universities than now. The general introduction of organs into London parish churches, however, did not take place till after the Restoration. Their use appears never to have been very general, even in cathedrals, in Ireland; and in Scotland it is supposed that they were not introduced till the 15th century.

The phrase pair of organs occurs in many old books. It had its origin probably in the two stops which were common in the smaller mediæval organs: possibly, however, to the two organs, which in the middle ages, as now, entered into the construction of the larger instruments. These large organs consist in reality of three or four instruments, each having its separate sound-board and set of keys; viz. 1. The great organ, for choruses and louder passages: 2. The choir organ, softer than the former, used for the verse passages, &c., and the alternate chant of the psalms; generally placed in front of the great organ; not called from chair, as some suppose, (as being placed behind the organist’s chair,) but from the choir: as appears from Dugd. Mon. ed. 1830, ii. 103, “when in the 15th century the abbot of Croyland gave two organs to his church; the greater one being placed in the nave, the lesser in the choir.” 3. The swell, an English invention, formerly the third manual, played what was called the echo; which is still occasionally found abroad. 4. The pedal organ, or that which is played by the feet. Foreign organs have frequently four rows of manuals, and two of pedals.

It appears from Mr. Hamel’s work, already mentioned, that the organ of the middle ages was by no means so small as is commonly imagined by those who have been misled by ancient monuments and drawings. In the 16th century began the construction of those enormous machines, for which Germany is so renowned: and in consequence it became customary in the north of Europe to transfer the organ from one side of the choir to the chancel screen, (the worst position possible,) or the west end. The improvement of the organ has been progressively advancing ever since.

It may be considered consistent with the object of a Church Dictionary to conclude this long article with some observation on an objection often made to the employment in sacred music of what are wrongly called the imitative stops of the organ. In reality very few of its stops are imitative. The organ is properly a collection of several instruments, which a most complicated machinery enables the organist to play at the same time. The trumpet, the bassoon, and hautboy stops, for example, are each a set of real instruments of these names, differing from those usually so called, only in being inflated by a bellows, not by the mouth, and each giving but one note, and played on by keys. Thus when the psalmist calls on us to praise him with the sound of the trumpet, it is a literal response to his summons to accompany the voice with the stop of that name.

See Hamel, Manuel des Facteurs des Orgues, (comprehending Bedos’ great work;) and Roger North’s Memoirs of Music, edited by Rimbault, already referred to; Burney and Hawkins’s Histories of Music; and Burney’s Musical Tour.

The Organ mentioned in Scripture as the invention of Jubal, (Gen. iv. 21,) and in Job xxi. 12, and Ps. cl. 4, is in the Hebrew Huggab, meaning, as Parkhurst supposes, a fastening or joining together. It is supposed by Calmet (see Music) to have been like the ancient Pandean pipes, a set of unequal flutes played by the mouth. As used in Gen. iv. it seems to indicate wind instruments generally; but its form and capacity is altogether unknown.

ORGANIST. An ecclesiastical officer, whose business it is to play upon the organ in churches. In ancient times there was no stated organist, the vicars choral being responsible for this duty in turn. 555In cathedrals and choral foundations, he is, or ought to be, an essential member of the collegiate body. The duty of English cathedral organists is responsible, arduous, and of a sacred character. They are bound to attend twice every day; and in order to be efficient, ought to be skilful musicians, profound harmonists, versed in the knowledge of both instrumental and vocal harmony, and endued with religious feeling. No pains ought to be spared by the governing members of collegiate bodies to render the office not only respectable and efficient, but religious also.

ORIGINAL SIN. “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 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 the Greek phronema sarkos, 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,” [renatis, i. e. born again, is the word used in the Latin copy,] “yet the apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin.”—Article ix. This article was intended to oppose the notion of the School divines, who maintained that the infection of our nature is not a mental, but a mere corporeal taint; that the body alone receives and transmits the contagion, while the soul proceeds, in all cases, immaculate from the hands of the Creator. Original sin they directly opposed to original righteousness, and this they considered, not as something connatural with man, but as a superinduced habit, or adventitious ornament, the removal of which could not prove detrimental to the native powers of the mind. Thus the School divines maintained, in opposition to our Articles, that the lapse of Adam conveys to us solely imputed guilt, the corporeal infection which they admitted, not being sin itself, but the subject matter; not peccatum, but fomes peccati. The Lutherans taught that original sin is a corruption of our nature in a general sense, the depravation of the mental faculties and the corporeal appetites. The Calvinists maintain that lust and concupiscence are truly and properly sin.

The Scriptures teach us that the sin of Adam not only made him liable to death, but that it also changed the upright nature in which he was originally formed, into one that was prone to wickedness; and that this liability to death, and propensity to sin, were entailed from him upon the whole race of mankind: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. v. 12.) “As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (ver. 18.) “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” (ver. 19.) “Through the offence of one, many be dead.” (ver. 15.) “By one man’s offence death reigned by one.” (ver. 17.) “By man came death.” (1 Cor. xv. 21.) “In Adam all die.” (ver. 22.) “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (Gen. viii. 21.) “There is no man that sinneth not.” (1 Kings viii. 46.) “God made man upright, but they found out many inventions.” (Ecc. vii. 29.) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John i. 8.) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jer. xvii. 9.) “The flesh is weak.” (Matt. xxvi. 41.) “The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Gal. v. 17.) “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.” (Rom. vii. 23.) The general corruption of human nature, in consequence of Adam’s disobedience, was acknowledged by the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church. The term Original Sin was first used by Augustine, and before his time it was called the old guilt—the ancient wound—the common curse—the old sin, &c.—Tomline.

In Scripture this is called “the sin that dwelleth in us” (Rom. vii. 17); “the body of sin” (vi. 6); “the law of sin and death” (viii. 2); “lust” (vii. 7); “the sin which so easily besets us” (Heb. xii. 1); “the flesh” (Gal. v. 16); “the old man” (Eph. iv. 22); “the likeness of Adam” (Gen. v. 3).

The corruption of nature called “original 556sin” is derived by continual descent from father to son; wherewith all the powers of the soul and body are infected, and that in all men equally. And then, actual sin arising from hence, the understanding is blinded with ignorance and infidelity. The memory is prone to forget the good things which the understanding hath conceived. The will is disobedient to the will of God, understood and remembered by us, (the freedom of holiness, which it had at the first, being now lost,) and is wholly bent to sin. The affections are ready to overrule the will, and are subject to all disorder. And the conscience itself is distempered and polluted.—Usher.

Let us look into the world, let us look into ourselves, and we shall see sufficient proofs of this original corruption; even in our infancy it shows itself in many instances of obstinacy and perverseness; and as we grow up it increases with our years; and unless timely checked by our utmost care and diligence, (through the assistance of Divine grace,) produces habits of all manner of iniquity. Let the proud deist boast of the dignity of his nature, the sufficiency of his reason, and the excellency of his moral attainments; but let us Christians not be ashamed to own our own misery and our guilt; that our understandings are darkened, our wills corrupted, and our whole nature depraved: then may we apply to the Physician of our souls for the succours of his grace, which alone can help and relieve us.—Waldo.

ORIGENISTS. Heretics, in the fourth century, so called, because they pretended to draw their opinions from the writings of the famous Origen, a priest of Alexandria.

The Origenists made their first appearance in Italy in 397. Rufinus of Aquileia, a priest of Alexandria, had studied the works of Origen with so much application, that he adopted that writer’s Platonic notions for Catholic truths. Full of these ideas, he went to Jerusalem, where Origen had a great many partisans. There he made his court to Melania, a Roman lady, who had embraced Origen’s opinions. Afterwards he came to Rome with this lady, who was greatly esteemed in that city. Here he set out with an outward show of simplicity, and pretended, after the example of Origen, an universal contempt of all worldly things. This made him looked upon as one who lived up to the highest Christian perfection. Rufinus took advantage of this prejudice in his favour to propagate his opinions, in which the credit of Melania was of great use to him. And now he began to have a great number of followers, and to form a considerable sect. But another Roman lady, named Marcella, having acquainted Pope Anastasius, that Rufinus and Melania were spreading very dangerous opinions in Rome, under the veil of piety, the holy father examined into the fact, and forbade them to teach any more. Rufinus and Melania submitted to the prohibition; Melania returned to Jerusalem, and Rufinus to Aquileia. However, the opinions they had broached continued to be maintained and defended by many learned men, who were therefore distinguished by the name of Origenists.

The errors ascribed to the Origenists are in number nine, and are as follows:—

1. The souls of men were holy intelligences, who enjoyed the presence of God; but being tired with the Divine contemplation, they degenerated; and as their first fervour was greatly abated, the Greeks therefore called the soul νους, from the word νοσεω, which signifies to slacken or grow cold.

2. Our Saviour’s soul was united to the Word, before his conception, and before he was born of the Holy Virgin.

3. The body of our Saviour Jesus Christ was first formed entire in the Virgin’s womb; and afterwards his soul, which long before had been united to the Word, came and was joined to it.

4. The Word of God has been successively united with all the angelical natures; insomuch that it has been a cherub, seraph, and all the celestial virtues, one after another.

5. After the resurrection, the bodies of men will be of a spherical figure, and not of their present erect stature.

6. The heavens, sun, moon, and stars, are animated bodies, and have an intelligent soul.

7. In future ages, our Saviour Jesus Christ will be crucified for the salvation of the devils, as he has already been for that of men.

8. The power of God is not infinite, and was so exhausted in the creation of things, that he has no more left.

9. The punishment of the devils, and of the damned, will continue only for a certain limited time.

These nine errors are distinctly recited by the second Council of Constantinople, at the end of a letter of the emperor Justinian against Origen. The recital of them is immediately followed by an anathema against Origen, and all who maintained 557his opinions: in which it is remarkable, that the council excommunicated Origen near three hundred years after his death.

The heresy of the Origenists spread widely in Egypt, and especially among the monks. Several eminent bishops opposed them, particularly Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, who, in the year 399, assembled a council in that city, in which the monks inhabiting the mountain of Nitria were condemned as Origenists.

Avitus, a Spanish priest, revived the errors of the Origenists in Spain, about the year 415; and probably it was against the followers of this Avitus, that the Council of Toledo was held in 633.

ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH. The common feelings of our nature would suggest the decent adornment of the house of our God: “Shall we,” in the words of our homily, “be so mindful of our common base houses, deputed to so low occupying, and be forgetful toward that house of God wherein be administered the words of our eternal salvation; wherein are entreated the sacraments and mysteries of our redemption; the fountain of the regeneration is there presented unto us; the partaking of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ is there offered unto us; and shall we not esteem the place where so heavenly things are handled?”

The following are the chief enactments of the Church and the State, with reference to the ornaments of the church. By the rubric before the Common Prayer, as also by the 1st of Elizabeth, c. 2, “Such ornaments of the church, and of the ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, shall be retained and be in use as were in this Church of England, by authority of parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth.”

Reynolds. “The archdeacons shall take care that the clothes of the altar be decent and in good order; that the church have fit books both for singing and reading; and at least two sacerdotal vestments.”

By the statute of Circumspecte agatis, 13 Edward I. st. iv. “The king to his judges sendeth greeting:—Use yourselves circumspectly in all matters concerning the prelates, where they do punish for that the church is not conveniently decked: in which case the spiritual judge shall have power to take knowledge, notwithstanding the king’s prohibition.”

“Not conveniently decked.” For the law allows the ecclesiastical court to have cognizance in this case, of providing decent ornaments for the celebration of Divine service.

Canon 85. “The churchwardens or questmen shall take care that all things in the church be kept in such an orderly and decent sort, without dust, or anything that may be either noisome or unseemly, as best becometh the house of God, and is prescribed in a homily to that effect.”

Canon 82. “Whereas we have no doubt but that in all churches within the realm of England, convenient and decent tables are provided and placed for the celebration of the holy communion; we appoint that the same tables shall from time to time be kept and repaired in sufficient and seemly manner, and covered in time of Divine service with a carpet of silk or other decent stuff, thought meet by the ordinary of the place, (if any question be made of it,) and with a fair linen cloth at the time of the ministration, as becometh that table, and so stand, saving when the said holy communion is to be administered.”

In ancient times, the bishops preached standing upon the steps of the altar. Afterwards it was found more convenient to have pulpits erected for that purpose.

And by Canon 83. “The churchwardens or questmen, at the common charge of the parishioners, in every church, shall provide a comely and decent pulpit, to be set in a convenient place within the same, by the discretion of the ordinary of the place (if any question do arise); and to be there seemly kept for the preaching of God’s word.”

Canon 82. “And likewise a convenient seat shall be made at the charge of the parish, for the minister to read service in.”

Canon 58. “Every minister saying the public prayers, or ministering the sacraments or other rites of the Church, shall wear a decent and comely surplice with sleeves, to be provided at the charge of the parish. And if any question arise touching the matter, decency, or comeliness thereof, the same shall be decided by the discretion of the ordinary.”

Canon 81. “According to a former constitution, (viz. among the constitutions of 1570,) too much neglected in many places, we appoint, that 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.”

In an act in the 27 Henry VIII. it was enacted, that money collected for the poor should be kept in the common coffer 558or box standing in the church of every parish.

And by Canon 84. “The churchwardens shall provide and have, within three months after the publishing of these constitutions, a strong chest, with a hole in the upper part thereof, to be provided at the charge of the parish, (if there be none such already provided,) having three keys; of which one shall remain in the custody of the parson, vicar, or curate, and the other two in the custody of the churchwardens for the time being; which chest they shall set and fasten in the most convenient place, to the intent the parishioners may put into it their alms for their poor neighbours. And the parson, vicar, or curate shall diligently, from time to time, and especially when men make their testaments, call upon, exhort, and move their neighbours, to confer and give as they may well spare to the said chest: declaring unto them, that whereas heretofore they have been diligent to bestow much substance otherwise than God commanded, upon superstitious uses, now they ought at this time to be much more ready to help the poor and needy, knowing that to relieve the poor is a sacrifice which pleaseth God: and that also, whatsoever is given for their comfort, is given to Christ himself, and is so accepted of Him, that He will mercifully reward the same. The which alms and devotion of the people, the keepers of the keys shall yearly, quarterly, or oftener, (as need requireth,) take out of the chest, and distribute the same in the presence of most of the parish, or of six of the chief of them, to be truly and faithfully delivered to their most poor and needy neighbours.”

Rubric. “Whilst the sentences of the offertory are reading, the deacons, churchwardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose, shall receive the alms for the poor, and other devotions of the people, in a decent basin, to be provided by the parish for that purpose.”

This offertory was anciently an oblation for the use of the priest; but at the Reformation it was changed into alms for the poor.

Canon 20. “The churchwardens against the time of every communion shall, at the charge of the parish, with the advice and direction of the minister, provide a sufficient quantity of fine white bread, and of good and wholesome wine: which wine we require to be brought to the communion table in a clean and sweet standing pot, or stoop of pewter, if not of purer metal.”

Winchelsea. “The parishioners shall find at their own charge, the chalice, or cup, for the wine.”

Which, says Lyndwood, “although expressed in the singular number, yet is not intended to exclude more than one, where more are necessary.”

Winchelsea. The parishioners, at their own charge, shall find bells with ropes.

Winchelsea. The parishioners shall find, at their own charge, a bier for the dead.

“If any parishes be yet unfurnished of the Bible of the largest volume, the churchwardens shall, within convenient time, provide the same at the charge of the parish.”

By Canon 80. “The churchwardens or questmen of every church and chapel shall, at the charge of the parish, provide the Book of Common Prayer, lately explained in some few points, by his Majesty’s authority according to the laws and his Highness’s prerogative in that behalf; and that, with all convenient speed, but, at the furthest, within two months after the publishing of these our constitutions.”

By the 1 Eliz. c. 2. The Book of Common Prayer shall be provided at the charge of the parishioners of every parish and cathedral church. (s. 19.)

By the 13 & 14 Charles II. c. 4. “A true printed copy of the (present) Book of Common Prayer shall, at the costs and charges of the parishioners of every parish church and chapelry, cathedral, church, college, and hall, be provided before the feast of St. Bartholomew, 1662, on pain of £3 a month for so long time as they shall be unprovided thereof.” (s. 2.)

Canon 80. “If any parishes be yet unfurnished of the Book of Homilies allowed by authority, the churchwardens shall, within convenient time, provide the same at the charge of the parish.”

By Canon 17. “In every parish church and chapel shall be provided one parchment book at the charge of the parish, wherein shall be written the day and year of every christening, wedding, and burial within the parish; and for the safe keeping thereof, the churchwardens, at the charge of the parish, shall provide one sure coffer, with three locks and keys, whereof one to remain with the minister, and the other two with the churchwardens severally.”

Canon 99. “The table of degrees of marriages prohibited shall be, in every church, publicly set up at the charge of the parish.”

Canon 82. “The Ten Commandments shall be set, at the charge of the parish, upon the east end of every church and 559chapel, where the people may best see and read the same.”

Canon 82. “And other chosen sentences shall, at the like charge, be written upon the walls of the said churches and chapels in places convenient.”

Lord Coke says, “Concerning the building or erecting of tombs, sepulchres, or monuments for the deceased in church, chancel, common chapel, or churchyard, in convenient manner, it is lawful; for it is the last work of charity that can be done for the deceased; who, whilst he lived, was a living temple of the Holy Ghost, with a reverent regard and Christian hope of a joyful resurrection. And the defacing of them is punishable by the common law, and those who build or erect the same shall have the action during their lives, and, after their decease, the heir of the deceased shall have the action. But the building or erecting the sepulchre, tomb, or other monument, ought not to be to the hinderance of the celebration of Divine service.”

Of grave-stones, (he says,) winding-sheets, coats of arms, penons, or other ensigns of honour, hung up, laid, or placed in memory of the dead, the property remains in the executors; and they may have actions against such as break, deface, or carry them away, or an appeal of felony.

But Sir Simon Degge says, he conceives that this must be intended, by licence of the bishop, or consent of the parson and churchwardens.

Dr. Watson says, this is to be understood of such monuments only as are set up in the aisles belonging to particular persons; or if they be set up in any other part of the church, he supposes it is to be understood that they were placed there with the incumbent’s consent.

And Dr. Gibson observing thereupon says thus:—“Monuments, coat armour, and other ensigns of honour, set up in memory of the deceased, may not be removed at the pleasure of the ordinary or incumbent. On the contrary, if either they or any other person shall take away or deface them, the person who set them up shall have an action against them during his life, and after his death the heir of the deceased shall have the same, who (as they say) is inheritable to arms, and the like, as to heir-looms: and it avails not that they are annexed to the freehold, though that is in the parson. But this, as he conceives, is to be understood with one limitation; if they were set up with consent of the ordinary; for though (as my Lord Coke says) tombs, sepulchres, or monuments may be erected for the deceased, in church or chancel, in convenient manner, the ordinary must be allowed the proper judge of that conveniency; inasmuch as such erecting, he adds, ought not to be to the hinderance of the celebration of Divine service. And if they are erected without consent, and upon inquiry and inspection be found to the hinderance of Divine service, he thinks it will not be denied that in such case the ordinary has sufficient authority to decree a removal, without any danger of an action at law.”

If any superstitious pictures are in a window of a church or aisle, it is not lawful for any to break them without licence of the ordinary: and in Pricket’s case, Wray, chief justice, bound the offender to good behaviour.

Besides what has been observed in particular, there are many other articles for which no provision is made by any special law, and therefore must be referred to the general power of the churchwardens, with the consent of the major part of the parishioners as aforesaid, and under the direction of the ordinary; such as the erecting galleries, adding new bells, (and of consequence, as it seems, salaries for the ringers,) organs, clock, chimes, king’s arms, pulpit cloths, hearse cloth, rushes or mats, vestry furniture, and such like. The soil and freehold of the church and churchyard is in the parson; but the fee simple of the glebe is in abeyance. And if the walls, windows, or doors of the church be broken by any person, or the trees in the churchyard be cut down, or grass there be eaten up by a stranger; the incumbent of the rectory (or his tenant, if they be let) may have his actions for the damages. But the goods of the church do not belong to the incumbent, but to the parishioners; and if they be taken away or broken, the churchwardens shall have their action of trespass at the common law.

The magnificence of the first Jewish temple was acceptable to God; and the too sparing contributions of the people towards the second, was severely reproved; and therefore no one can justly complain, that the ornaments now made use of in our churches are too many, or expensive. Far from us be all ornaments unbecoming the worship of a spirit, or the gravity of a church; but it has an ill aspect when men think that well enough in God’s house, which they would not endure in the meanest offices of their own. It is not enough barely to devote churches to the public services of religion, unless they are set 560apart with the solemn rites of a formal dedication. By these solemnities the founders were accustomed to surrender all the right they had in them, and make God himself the sole owner. And whoever gave any lands or endowments to the service of God, gave it in a formal writing, sealed and witnessed, (as is now usual in common transactions,) the tender of the gift being made upon the altar, by the donor on his knees. At the consecration of both the tabernacle and the temple of the Jews, it pleased the Almighty to give a manifest sign that he then took possession of them. (Ex. xl. 34; 1 Kings viii. 10, 11.)—Wheatly.