WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
THE CHURCH, THE PLACE OF WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . 11
SYMBOLISM OF THE CHURCH BUILDING . . . . . . . . . 17
ARRANGEMENT AND FURNITURE OF THE CHURCH . . . . . 37
SYMBOLIC ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . 51
HOW TO USE THE PRAYER-BOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
DEVOUT CUSTOMS AND USAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . 119
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
{7}
_The Beauty of Holiness_
_Worship_
The worship of Almighty God is one of the characteristic acts of
humanity. The brute looks up to heaven, but man alone looks up with
thought of God and to adore. "The entire creation grew together to
reflect and repeat the glory of God, and yet the echo of God slumbered
in the hollow bowels of the dumb earth until there was one who could
wake up the shout by a living voice. Man is the first among the
creatures to deliver back from the rolling world this conscious and
delicious response, the recognition of the Father who begat him. He,
and he alone, is nature's priest, her spokesman, her mediator."
{8}
The idea of worship, in which the crown and glory of manhood thus has
expression, "includes all those acts which make up the devotional duty
of the soul to Almighty God." Our private and family devotions are
acts of worship. They enter into its obligation, are comprehended by
it, but do not fill it out. They are not sufficient alone. The due
acknowledgment before others of our belief in and reverence for God,
the blessings which attend only upon the use of united praise and
prayer and of Sacraments, the honor of God, the rendering of "thanks
for the great benefits that we have received at His hands," the setting
forth of "His most worthy praise,"--all demand the public act of
worship.
The obligation and privilege of such worship cannot be too greatly
exalted. It is not a matter of inclination merely; it is an imperative
duty, the discharge of which may not be regulated by considerations of
convenience, or indolence, or pleasure. To neglect it, is to dishonor
God, to withhold what is His due. It is also to dishonor ourselves, to
violate our own noblest instincts. No other act of which we as men are
capable is so dignified or so worthy of ourselves. Not to worship is
to debase ourselves.
This duty and privilege of worship the church and the Prayer-Book help
us to perform. Just as {9} other buildings about us--homes, stores,
factories, schools, libraries--stand for and represent certain
interests and departments of our lives, so the church as a building
makes its claim and reminds us that there must also be room--a large
place and sacred--in our lives for worship, and supplies the hallowed
means and helpful associations for its right discharge. And what the
church supplies the means of doing fittingly, the Prayer-Book directs.
It comes with the reminder that while Sunday brings the great
opportunity of worship, the obligation is not a thing of one day only,
but of every day, and that our public worship should be "daily," if
possible. It enables every one who comes into the church to be a
worshiper. It gives to each one his part. It makes no distinctions.
High and low, rich and poor, have equal share in the service. It
teaches to worship reverently, and in spirit and in truth. "Everything
in the Prayer-Book is solemn, humble, reverential, as it respects man,
and ennobling and glorifying as it respects God." And this is meet and
right. For, as has been truly said, "Worship is the concentration and
consecration of whatever is noble in the world. It is the dedication
to the Most High of all that is best in what the eye can see, the ear
hear, the voice sing, the hand execute, {10} and the mind conceive. It
is the sanctification of color, sound, and skill, of intellect,
imagination, and emotion. It is devotion--devotion of what is
excellent in man, devotion of what symbolizes the loveliness of nature.
Therefore it is that worship calls for art; therefore, too, it is that
art so often finds its noblest use in worship. Worship and art
together take the beauty of the world and offer it up as a tribute at
the feet of God."
{11}
_The Church, the Place of Worship_
It would seem that at first Christians worshiped in any place which
they could use with safety. "But soon the Lord revealed Himself to the
world as the King of it, until in a few generations the earth was
covered with His shrines, and mines and forests and human skill offered
to Him their best gifts." "The custom of setting apart places and
houses as holy and dedicated to God's worship was ever a part of the
faith of God's people." Thus it was said to Israel in the wilderness,
"Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." Of the
building of the Temple Solomon says, "Behold, I purpose to build a
house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my
father, saying, Thy son, {12} whom I will set upon thy throne in thy
room, he shall build a house unto My name." Our Lord confirms this
practice as one of sound and true religion. He called the Temple "My
Father's house," and by cleansing it of buyers and sellers showed that
it was to be used for no other purpose than the worship of God.
Christians from the earliest days have had consecrated places which
were held in reverence as distinct from the home. And so the
Prayer-Book says, "Devout and holy men, as well under the Law as under
the Gospel, moved either by the express command of God, or by the
secret inspiration of the blessed Spirit, and acting agreeably to their
own reason and sense of the natural decency of things, have erected
houses for the public worship of God, and separated them from all
unhallowed, worldly, and common uses, in order to fill men's minds with
greater reverence for His glorious Majesty, and affect their hearts
with more devotion and humility in His service; which pious works have
been approved of and graciously accepted by our heavenly Father."
It is an ancient custom to dedicate churches to the glory of God and in
honor of some special saint. This custom probably arose from the fact
that in early days churches were commonly built over the {13} graves of
martyrs, or in the place of their martyrdom, and hence were called by
their names. Sometimes the church is named from some fact in the
sacred history of our redemption, as the Incarnation, the Annunciation,
the Nativity, the Epiphany, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the
Resurrection, the Ascension. Or it may take its name from the Holy
Trinity, or from some title of our Lord or of the Holy Ghost. Or it
may be named for one or all of the holy angels. It must be felt to be
a decided advantage to have the place of the worship of God designated
by a dignified name, and one non-secular and religious in its
associations.
The word "church," by which we designate the place of divine worship,
being derived from the Greek _kuriakón_, the Lord's house, embodies the
idea of its sacred character.
A canon, or law, of the Church forbids consecration so long as a debt
remains on the building. It may, however, before consecration be used
for worship.
As consecrated and set apart for the holy offices of religion, the
church is the proper place for the ministration of the Sacraments, and,
preferably, for marriages and burials. The Church's rule in reference
to Holy Baptism is that even children shall {14} not be baptized at
home "without great cause and necessity." This rule is laid down
because the decency and solemnity suited to so great a Sacrament can be
had better in the church, set apart and arranged for the purpose, than
in any private house, and in order that by the public ministration
others may be instructed by the service.
Of the Solemnization of Matrimony the Church says, "The persons to be
married shall come into the body of the church, or shall be ready in
some proper house, with their friends and neighbors." That the church
is named first as the proper place shows that it is to be preferred for
a marriage. It can be solemnized there in a more seemly and dignified
way than elsewhere, and those coming to plight their vows may be more
deeply impressed with the solemnity and importance of the step.
In the Office for the Burial of the Dead the church only (or the
churchyard) is named as the place. The Church evidently has no thought
of any other place as appropriate for the burial of her children. It
is the spiritual home of all the baptized. Christian consolations are
preëminently there imparted. These considerations, in addition to
those of reverence and convenience, mark this as the proper place for
the Burial Office.
{15}
The consecrated character of the church should have distinct
recognition in use and conduct. The building has been thereby
"separated from all unhallowed, worldly, and common uses." It is wrong
to use it for purposes of amusement or business. It has been given to
God. It has been consecrated for religious purposes. It is sacrilege
to treat it as a common thing.
It should be recognized also in personal conduct. A prayer should
always be said on entering. The manner should be reverent and quiet.
All light and useless talk should be restrained.
It should be recognized in conduct in reference to others. As "God's
house," all of His children have a rightful place there. This right
should be recognized by courtesy to others, especially to strangers and
to people in humble station.
Wherever possible, the church should be open every day and all day for
private prayer and meditation. Many must of necessity live in crowded
dwellings, or in circumstances in which quiet and privacy are hard to
obtain. But to all, whatever their circumstances, the open church
offers opportunities not afforded at home. Sacred associations and
objects greatly aid thought and devotion; and in the quiet church,
where there is so much to {16} remind of God and sacred things, and so
little of the world and of sin, we can think and pray better than
elsewhere. It has been found a very helpful thing in the Christian
life to form the habit of stopping in the church, whenever in its
neighborhood, for a few moments of prayer, and to use it also as a
place of refuge in time of trial and temptation.
{17}
_Symbolism of the Church Building_
"As soon as the early Christians were at liberty to build churches
according to their own mind, they took pains to make them significant
of their religion. Probably at first the Christians took for the
purposes of their worship such buildings as they could get, adapting
them to their uses as best they might. But when they grew strong
enough and independent enough to build as the heart and imagination
dictated, then they showed themselves careful to make their houses of
God in shape and dimension suggestive of what they believed." These
old builders were Churchmen, and made their Churchmanship and their
belief felt in their work. A deep and true symbolism was carried out
in the plan and construction of their {18} churches. Thus Christian
churches at an early day came to be built in the form of a cross. This
was not only the most ornamental form of structure; it was much more:
it made the very fabric of the church the symbol of our faith in Christ
crucified. Some chancels of old churches were even built with a slight
deflection from the line of direction of the nave, thus representing
the inclination of our Saviour's head upon the Cross. It made also the
gathering together of each congregation of His Church--which is His
mystical Body--the symbol of that body itself: that part in the nave
representing His body, that in the transepts His outstretched arms,
that in the choir His head. And so, also, "the united prayers and
praises of the congregation make, as it were, in their very sound the
sign of the Cross."
This plan of constructive symbolism affects not only the fabric of the
church as a whole, but each separate part of the church has its
religious character and meaning.
Let us linger for a moment on the outside. The spire points upward and
teaches its lesson of aspiration. "Lift up your hearts," it seems to
say, and holds up the Cross as that by which alone we are to be
"exalted unto everlasting life." Whenever we {19} lift up our eyes to
it, it ought to repeat for us that lesson--rebuke downward thoughts and
desires, and point up to spiritual and heavenly things.
In the tower are the bells, and what the spire with its uplifted Cross
says to us in silent eloquence these say in sound and music.
The office of the bell in calling to prayer and holy worship was
regarded in olden time with much reverence. The use of bells for the
purpose of gathering people together in large numbers appears to be of
Christian origin. "Large bells hung in a tower seem to have been
unknown before A.D. 500. They were first made in Campania in Italy,
whence the Italian name _campana_, a bell, and _campanile_, a
bell-tower. Bells were anciently supposed to have considerable powers,
especially against evil spirits. Their use for religious purposes
probably originated this belief. The hand-bells of the British
apostles, St. Patrick, St. Columba, St. David, etc., are said to have
been long preserved, if not existing even now. They are four-sided
bronze bells, sometimes of several plates fused into one. St. Patrick
is said by an old legend to have dispersed a host of demons, who were
too bold to be scared by the mere ringing of the bell, by flinging it
into the midst of them.
"Bells in the middle ages were sometimes {20} dedicated to saints.
They were christened with all the usual ceremonies and with much pomp;
sponsors were provided, the bell was sprinkled at the font, anointed
with oil, and robed in a chrisom. Superstitious as these customs would
seem now, there is something fine in the simple faith which thus, in
those more poetic days, consecrated to God's service the voices which
should proclaim Him far and wide over the land." In simpler form, the
custom is still frequently observed of setting apart by solemn prayer
and benediction the bells which are to call men to prayer or to ring
out the praises of God.
Church bells are frequently marked by appropriate inscriptions. The
following, for instance, was very common in the middle ages, all these
powers being attributed to bells:
"Funera plango, Fulgura trango, Sabbata pango,
Excito lentos, Dissipo ventos, Paco cruentos."
"I mourn the dead, I break the lightning, I announce the Sabbath,
I excite the slothful, I disperse the winds, I appease the cruel."
As instances of modern inscriptions we have the following: "Bethlehem,
Calvary, Bethany." "We welcome the infant to the Font. We invite the
{21} youth to Confirmation. We invoke the faithful to the Holy
Communion." "Joyful our peal for the bridal; mournful our plaint for
the dead."
Let us turn now to the inside of the church and inquire as to the
spiritual significance which has become associated with its several
parts.
The church is divided into two main portions--the body of the church
and the chancel. This represents the whole Catholic Church, divided
into those on earth and those who have passed into Paradise. The body
of the church, representing those on earth, is divided again into two
parts--the nave and transepts. And these have each their special
religious associations and suggestiveness.
_The Nave._--The nave is that part which extends from the door to the
choir. It is the place where the congregation is gathered, in the
fellowship of Christ's religion, for the purpose of worship. It is
most probably called the nave from the Latin _navis_, signifying a
ship, the same word from which we get our English "navy" and "naval."
The ship was the favorite symbol of the Church in primitive times. We
have the idea preserved for us in the first prayer in the Offices for
Holy Baptism: "Received into the ark of Christ's Church ... may so pass
the waves of this troublesome world" as {22} finally to "come to the
land of everlasting life." The thought was so much in mind that some
old churches were built with the timbers of the roof modeled like the
ribs of a ship, and in some cases the walls were made irregular to
represent the sides of the ship beaten and pressed upon by the waves.
The nave, then, as representing the Church into which God in His love
gathers us together in order to bring us in safety through the storms
of life to the "land of everlasting life," stands for the idea of
_fellowship_ in Christ.
We may come to that same idea in connection with the main body of the
church in other ways. Notice how it is made up of several parts,
divided, in many churches, by pillars and arches. There is the central
part, what is called, strictly speaking, the nave, and the two side
parts, called the aisles. Now this threefold division of the main body
of the church into nave and aisles may speak to us of the same
thing--fellowship. These divisions do not make up three separate
churches, but unite in the one church.
So, again, the idea of fellowship may come to us in another way. The
special service of the nave is the Litany. This solemn service has
been said from very early times from the Litany-desk, placed {23} at
the head of the nave, before the entrance to the chancel. "Its
position there refers to a Litany, and a place for it to be said, of
God's own appointing. 'Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,
weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy
people, O Lord.' Our Litany, retaining the same words of supplication,
is said, in allusion to this, in the midst of the church," the priest
taking his place with the people, and, in fellowship of sinfulness and
need, leading their supplications.
This truth of fellowship in Christ which the nave suggests, we confess
our belief in when we say, "I believe in the holy Catholic Church; The
Communion of Saints." The pictures of the saints of the Old and the
New Testament, of the angels who worship Christ our Saviour, and of the
men blessed by Him when on earth, which shine for us in the windows,
may help to give it reality in our thought. The four main walls of the
church, which are supposed to represent the four Evangelists, and the
pillars, "which, as the chief supports of the fabric, are said to
represent the Apostles, prophets, and martyrs," may remind us also of
the holy and glorious fellowship into which we have been brought.
This fellowship in Christ is one of the means which God's love uses for
helping and saving men. {24} We are helped by it. We must by it help
others. Let us build, it, then, into the daily life, as it is built
into the very stones of the church.
_The Transepts._--The transepts are the part of the church which gives
to the building the cruciform shape. Crossing the nave before the
entrance to the chancel, running the one to the north, the other to the
south, they complete the outline of the cross. Upon the arms of such a
cross our Saviour hung as He died for us.
The transepts may bring us, then, as we remember this, the thought of
_sacrifice_, that our lives to be truly Christian must have the spirit
of the Cross worked into them. It was by offering Himself in sacrifice
that Christ redeemed us, and it is by offering ourselves to Him in
sacrifice, by self-denial for His cause, and by doing good (at some
cost to ourselves) to others for His sake, that we make the response He
asks to His love. That offering of ourselves must be made not only by
our lips in the act of worship, but also by our lives, in deeds.
So, also, the spirit of Christ is the spirit of service, through love,
in behalf of others--the spirit of true fellowship. Now we cannot
realize that spirit without sacrifice of selfish inclination and
desire. We saw that the main body of the church {25} represents that
portion of Christ's Church which is on earth, and that the nave
suggests the idea of fellowship as the very spirit and law of the
Christian life. Now the transepts, making the cross, tell us that
fellowship expresses itself truly, that is, after Christ's example,
through sacrifice. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." The
true Christian life of loving fellowship, after the example of our
Saviour who died upon the Cross for us, must get somehow, in
self-denial for Christ and self-forgetful work for others, the sign of
the Cross worked into it.
_The Chancel._--The body of the church, as we have seen, is regarded as
representing the "Church militant," that part of the Church which is
here on earth and still in conflict. The chancel represents that part
of the Church which is made up of those who have passed through death
to the state beyond.
The word "chancel" is derived from the Latin word for the lattice-work
which formerly parted this portion of the church from the nave. It is
the same word from which we get our word "to cancel," that is, to
destroy a writing by crossing it out with the pen, which makes
something like the figure of a lattice. The lattice was part of the
screen {26} (sometimes called the "rood-screen," from the rood or
crucifix upon it) which in some churches stood in the arch and divided
the chancel from the nave. The screen signified death. Men passed
through it from the nave into the chancel, as they must pass through
death from the part of the Church which is on earth to the part which
is in the world of spirits.
In the chancel itself we have two parts--the choir and the sanctuary.
_The Choir._--As its name denotes, the choir is that part appropriated
to those who lead the worship. It is cut off by the screen, or chancel
arch, from the nave, and is elevated above it by several steps. In the
symbolism of the church building it represents that part of the holy
Catholic Church which is known as the "Church expectant"--those who
have passed through death into the rest and waiting of Paradise.
Let us see what the Prayer-Book says of those who are in Paradise. In
the Burial Office we have this prayer: "Almighty God, with whom do live
the spirits of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the
souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the
flesh, are in joy and felicity; We give Thee hearty thanks for {27} the
good examples of all those Thy servants, who, having finished their
course in faith, do now rest from their labors. And we beseech Thee,
that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of Thy holy
Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and
soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen."
Note how the closing portion reminds us that while the departed "do now
rest from their labors," they have not yet received their "perfect
consummation and bliss"; that they wait for this till the coming of our
Lord and the Resurrection, when it shall be "both in body and soul,"
"in eternal and everlasting glory." We speak of them, therefore, as
composing the "Church expectant."
Now observe what the same prayer tells us of their state while thus
resting and waiting in expectation of their perfect consummation and
bliss. It says, "The souls of the faithful, after they are delivered
from the burden of the flesh, _are in joy and felicity_."
This same symbolic meaning for this part of the chancel may come to us
in another way, that is, from the services which are conducted from it,
Morning and Evening Prayer, which are commonly {28} known, therefore,
as the "Choir Offices." These look beyond the choir, which represents
the "Church expectant" in Paradise, to the sanctuary, with its Altar,
which represents, as we shall see, heaven and the "Church triumphant."
The central point of the Church's worship is the great sacrificial act
of the oblation of the Holy Eucharist. Upon this the other services of
Morning Prayer and the Litany, which precede, and of Evening Prayer,
which follows, depend for their significance; the first as preparation
for it, and the second as an act of thanksgiving and praise; just as
the "felicity" of those in Paradise is a felicity not perfect in
itself, but one of anticipation of, and preparation and thankfulness
for, the "perfect consummation and bliss" which await them.
And the dominant note of these services is keyed to that same idea. It
is a note of "joy." There are indeed strongly marked features of
penitence and need. We come before God in our worship as those who are
sinful and needy. We ever make approach through the sacrifice of the
Cross. But we come also as those who have confidence in divine love
and mercy. So praise, joyous praise, predominates. The _Te Deum_, the
_Benedicite_, the _Benedictus_, the _Jubilate_, all ring out this note
and give {29} joyousness to the service, while _Magnificat_ and _Nunc
Dimittis_ tell of rejoicing and hope in what Christ has brought us by
His Incarnation.
It is all a worship of preparation and joy. The choir may remind us,
then, by its suggestiveness as related to the other parts of the
church, and by the dominant note of joy which rings through its
services, how the faithful departed go at death into the "joy and
felicity" of Paradise, there to wait, as the "Church expectant," for
the Resurrection and their "perfect consummation and bliss", that the
"Church expectant" and the "Church militant" are not two Churches, but
the one Church of Christ in two places and in two states, on earth and
in Paradise, fighting and waiting; that they have still "mystic sweet
communion" in praise and worship and prayer--the Church in Paradise
leading our worship as the choir leads the worship of the congregation.
So, again, the choir may impress upon our minds how joy has place in
the Christian life: that Christianity is not a religion of gloom, but
of joy; that if Christ says, "Come, take up the cross, and follow Me,"
He says also, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light," because the
way of the Cross is the way into true joy.
{30}
So we pass through the transepts, which speak to us of self-sacrifice,
into the choir, which speaks to us of joy. So long as self is first,
the best and truest joy is shut out of our lives; but when self has
been crucified, and love is first,--love that delights to serve, and
that believes still in the absolute and perfect goodness of God even
when the cross is laid upon its shoulders,--then joy comes in, the joy
which is a foretaste of that which those in Paradise know, even as that
is a foretaste of the perfect joy of heaven.
_The Sanctuary._--The chancel, as we have seen, represents in the
symbolism of God's house that part of the life of His Church which is
reached through death. The choir tells us of the worship and the "joy
and felicity" of the "Church expectant." The sanctuary tells us of
that for which the Church in Paradise is waiting in expectation. It
represents heaven, into whose blessedness the Church shall enter as the
"Church triumphant" at the second coming of our Lord.
When we enter a church, the part which is the center of attention is
always the sanctuary--the place of the Altar. To this the other parts
all lead up. It is the most elevated part, and here the dignity and
beauty of the decorations center, just as {31} all our life in the
fellowship of Christ's Church here on earth, our cross-bearing, and the
worship by which we are prepared and trained on earth and in Paradise,
all lead us heavenward.
The sanctuary is made the place of the greatest dignity and beauty, and
is most richly decorated, because it is the place of the Altar; and it
is through thoughts which come to us from the solemn service of the
Holy Eucharist, which is celebrated at the Altar, that this part of the
chancel is made the symbol of heaven.
Let us see from Holy Scripture what it is that our Lord, who in His
love did so much for us on earth, is still doing for us in heaven. "We
have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, ... called of God a high priest after the order of
Melchisedec.... Because He continueth ever, He hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession
for them." This is finely presented in one of our Eucharistic hymns:
"O Thou, before the world began
Ordained a sacrifice for man,
And by the eternal Spirit made
An offering in the sinner's stead;
{32}
Our everlasting Priest art Thou,
Pleading Thy death for sinners now.
"Thy offering still continues new
Before the righteous Father's view;
Thyself the Lamb forever slain,
Thy priesthood doth unchanged remain;
Thy years, O God, can never fail,
Nor Thy blest work within the veil."
Now if we turn to the Office for the Holy Communion, we shall see how
the oblation in the Holy Eucharist is linked in with this present work
of our "great High Priest" in heaven.
In the Prayer of Consecration we say: "All glory be to Thee, Almighty
God, our heavenly Father, for that Thou, of Thy tender mercy, didst
give Thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our
redemption; who made there (by His one oblation of Himself once
offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and
satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and
in His holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that
His precious death and sacrifice, until His coming again....
Wherefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the institution of
Thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we, Thy humble
servants, do celebrate {33} and make here before Thy Divine Majesty,
with these Thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto Thee, the memorial
Thy Son hath commanded us to make." What is done as we thus "celebrate
and make before the Divine Majesty," in the commemorative sacrifice of
the Holy Eucharist, the "memorial" ("in remembrance of Me") of Christ's
"precious death and sacrifice," is beautifully and strongly expressed
in another of our Eucharistic hymns:
"And now, O Father, mindful of the love
That bought us, once for all, on Calvary's tree,
And having with us Him that pleads above,
We here present, we here spread forth to Thee,
That only offering perfect in Thine eyes,
The one true, pure, immortal sacrifice.
"Look, Father, look on His anointed face,
And only look on us as found in Him;
Look not on our misusings of Thy grace,
Our prayer so languid, and our faith so dim,
For lo! between our sins and their reward,
We set the Passion of Thy Son our Lord."
This is one way in which the sanctuary of the church reminds us of
heaven--by reminding us of what is done in the heavenly "holy place,"
and also there.
Then, again, the sanctuary has the same {34} suggestiveness as the
place of Communion. To have the communion of the presence and life of
God, through Christ, this is the very center of the blessedness of
heaven. What it is that we have here on earth in the "Holy Communion
of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ" we will let our Lord
Himself tell us. "In the night in which He was betrayed, He took
Bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His
disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body, which is given for you;
Do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise, after supper, He took the Cup;
and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all
of this; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for
you, and for many, for the remission of sins; Do this, as oft as ye
shall drink it, in remembrance of Me."
So before He had said, anticipating this Sacrament of Communion which
He thus ordained: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that
I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.... Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat
indeed, and My blood is drink {35} indeed. He that eateth My flesh,
and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me,
even he shall live by Me."
And so we pray in the Holy Eucharist: "Grant us, ... gracious Lord, so
to eat the flesh, of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink His blood,
that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls
washed through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell
in Him, and He in us."
It all speaks of a foretaste here, in a Sacrament, of what heaven shall
give in its fullness.
The sanctuary tells us of heaven in another way.
What the soul that gains its blessedness shall find in it we may put
into one small but very sweet word--"peace."
Now the Altar in the sanctuary of the church, with its "perpetual
memory" of Christ's "precious death and sacrifice," stands for peace
between God and us. The aim and purpose of that sacrifice was to bring
about atonement, that is, at-one-ment, the setting at one, at peace.
Christ "loved us, and gave Himself for us," and by this sacrifice
brought reconciliation between us and God, "having made peace through
the blood of His cross."
{36}
And so at the close of the Holy Eucharist celebrated in the sanctuary,
after the "memorial" has been made before God which His Son "hath
commanded us to make," and we have been "partakers of His most blessed
Body and Blood," this is the Blessing with which the Church lets us
depart--a blessing which carries the thought up to what, in its
fullness, waits for us in heaven: "The Peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of
God, and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
The oblation, the communion, the peace, of the sanctuary, these all
tell us thus of heaven and the "Church triumphant."
Of Christ's "mystical body," with its fellowship and cross-bearing on
earth, its passage through death to the joy of Paradise, and, waiting
beyond, heaven, with its communion and peace through the Cross--it is
of this that the church as a building may speak to devout hearts.
{37}
_Arrangement and Furniture of the Church_
A person coming into one of our churches would recognize at once a
difference between its interior arrangement and that of many other
places of worship. If he thought out the purpose of this arrangement,
its adaptation to various forms of divine service and religious uses,
he would feel that "here is a place where people are taught to worship
the Lord in holy rites, and where forms and spaces and objects are
themselves teachers of holy truths."
From the door a broad alley (commonly but improperly called an aisle),
running lengthwise of the building, leads to the chancel. It suggests
that the approach of the people, for the blessings and {38}
consolations which are dispensed there, is made convenient and is
invited.
The place of prominence in the furnishing of the church is given to the
_Altar_--a table of stone or wood on which the sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist is celebrated. It is raised several steps above the level of
the choir and is railed in. Covering the Altar is an _Altar-cloth_,
embroidered, and varying in color with the seasons of the Christian
Year. The portion covering the front of the Altar is called the
_frontal_; that covering the top of the Altar and simply a few inches
of the front is called the _super-frontal_.
Back of the Altar, and raised above it, is a narrow shelf, called the
_retable_, upon which the several ornaments of the Altar are placed.
In the center is the _Altar-cross_, that this holy symbol of our Faith
may be constantly before the eyes of all who worship. The _vases_ to
hold the flowers with which the Altar is beautified on festal occasions
stand at either side of the Cross. The _candlesticks_, in churches
where lights at the Holy Communion are used, stand at the ends of the
retable.
Behind the Altar, in many churches, is the _reredos_--a carved or
sculptured screen of wood or stone, frequently extending the whole
width of the {39} sanctuary. Sometimes a painting takes its place, or
a _dossal_--a decorated curtain of as rich material as circumstances
will allow.
On the south side of the Altar is a small table or shelf, called the
_credence_, on which are placed the elements of bread and wine until
such time in the service as they are offered for consecration on the
Altar. Here also the _alms-basin_ is placed before the Offertory, and
the _cruets_ containing the wine and the water for the ablutions at the
close of the service. When the communicants are not too many, a part
of the wine from the cruet is poured into the chalice at the proper
time; but if a large number are to communicate, the _flagon_, a large
vessel of silver, is used to hold the wine and is placed on the
credence.
Nothing should be placed on the Altar itself but the _Altar-desk_, for
holding the book of the Altar-service, and the Altar-vessels. These
are usually the _paten_, or plate for holding the bread at the
Celebration, and the _chalice_, the cup for the wine. There is
sometimes a spoon with a perforated bowl to use in case any foreign
substance is found in the chalice. If possible these vessels should be
of precious metal. They are sometimes adorned with jewels.
{40}
A rubric directs that at the time of the Communion the Altar shall be
covered with a "fair white linen cloth" ("fair," that is, not only
clean, but beautiful). Another "fair linen cloth," commonly called the
"linen chalice veil," is also directed to be used for covering the
consecrated elements after the communion of the people. To these
custom has added other convenient and seemly appointments of linen and
silk.
The "chalice veil" is a square of silk, embroidered and often fringed,
used to cover the vessels before the consecration.
The "pall" is a square of cardboard covered with linen, used to cover
the chalice during the Celebration.
The "corporal" is a square of linen spread upon the Altar at the
Celebration, upon which the vessels are placed.
The "purificators" are small napkins of linen for cleansing the vessels
after the service.
The "burse" is a square, stiff pocket of silk over cardboard, in which
the Altar-linen is carried to and from the Altar.
The color of the chalice veil and the burse follows that of the season.
The linen pieces are always white. They are supposed to represent the
cloths {41} which were wound around our Lord's sacred body and wrapped
about His head at His burial.
You will see the reason for thus making the Altar a place of dignity
and beauty, and for these various provisions for reverence in the
sacred rite celebrated there, if you will recall what we have already
seen of its meaning. We show honor to and reverence the Altar and its
worship as the place and the performance of the highest act of divine
worship, in which, by the ministry of His Church and according to His
own appointment, "a continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death
of Christ" is "celebrated and made before the Divine Majesty," and as
the place where God "vouchsafes to feed us with the spiritual food of
the most precious Body and Blood of His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ."
All is done for His honor.
"'Tis for Thee we bid the frontal
Its embroidered wealth unfold;
'Tis for Thee we deck the reredos
With the colors and the gold;
Thine the floral glow and fragrance,
Thine the vesture's fair array,
Thine the starry lights that glitter
Where Thou dost Thy light display."
_The font._--The reverent administration of Holy Baptism, the other of
the two great Sacraments {42} ordained by Christ as generally necessary
to salvation, is provided for by the presence of the Font. As its name
indicates (from the Latin word for a fountain or spring), this is the
repository for the pure water which in this holy Sacrament is
"sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin." It is generally of
fine stone and often richly carved. Sometimes a separate room is
marked off from the rest of the church for it and called a
_baptistery_. There should always be, for proper protection, a cover
for the Font. A _ewer_ for the water to be used, and a _baptismal
shell_ with which to dip from the Font the water poured upon the head
of the person baptized, are frequently provided as seemly appointments.
The Font is often, following ancient custom, octagonal in form. The
symbolism of this form is this,--that "as the whole creation was
completed in seven periods of time, the number next following, eight,
may well be significative of the new creation," and, again, that the
octave, as a repetition of the first, is a symbol of Christ's
resurrection, and therefore of the "death unto sin and new birth unto
righteousness" in Holy Baptism.
The Font is usually placed near a door of the church. Its position
thus symbolizes the truth that Baptism is the outward form of admission
into the {43} Christian Church. It expresses what the child is taught
in the Church Catechism to say of Holy Baptism: "wherein I was made a
member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of
heaven."
Always in sight, the Font is a constant invitation by its very
presence, and shows that the Church is always ready to receive, and
desires to receive, new members "into the congregation of Christ's
flock."
It should always remind those who have been baptized of the grace of
their second birth, when they were made "members of Christ," and of
their duty, "being made the children of God, to walk answerably to
their Christian calling."
It should call to remembrance that "baptism doth represent unto us our
profession; which is, to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and
to be made like unto Him; that as He died, and rose again for us, so
should we, who are baptized, die from sin, and rise again unto
righteousness." That is the main profession or business of a Christian
man, and the Font, where Baptism constantly represents our Lord's death
and rising again for us, should ever remind us of it and call us afresh
to "mortify all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceed in
all virtue and godliness of living."
{44}
_The Lectern._--The lectern, supporting the large Bible from which the
Lessons are read, bears witness to the esteem in which our Church holds
the Sacred Scriptures. It is worthy of note that our Church makes
larger provision for the people "to hear God's most holy Word" than any
other religious body in the world. Almost the whole Bible--some parts
of it several times--is read publicly every year. Lessons from the Old
Testament were read in the service of the synagogue. Our Lord's
example shows how properly we follow this ancient custom of reading
Scripture lessons in public worship: "As His custom was, He went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there
was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias."
The selection of suitable Lessons for each day is a matter of careful
arrangement on the part of the Church. There will be found in the
front of the Prayer-Book "The Order how the Psalter is Appointed to be
Read," and also "The Order how the Best of the Holy Scripture is
Appointed to be Read." Four "Tables of Lessons" are given--for
Sundays, for Holy-Days, for the forty days of Lent and the Rogation and
Ember-Days, and for all the days of the year not otherwise provided for.
{45}
Of the two Lessons appointed, one is from the Old, the other from the
New Testament. Both are "God's most holy Word," and taking the Lessons
from both enables us to see the unity of thought and purpose in the
two, and how the promises and predictions of the Old Testament are
fulfilled in the New.
The most common and, perhaps, the most appropriate lectern is that made
in the form of an eagle, standing often upon a globe, bearing the Bible
upon its outspread wings. The eagle, because of its lofty heavenward
flight, is the symbol of inspiration, and its position upon the globe
and its outspread wings remind us how the Word of God is to be carried
into all the world.
There are, then, certain thoughts which the lectern should bring us:
the reverent honor which "God's most holy Word" should ever receive
from us; the privilege of its use as "a lantern unto my feet and a
light unto my paths"; our missionary obligations and privileges--to
make the outspread wings of the eagle a reality and not merely a symbol.
_The Pulpit._--The pulpit suggests the thought of the sacred and
important work of the Christian Ministry as preachers of the Word of
God.
{46}
It is a common thing to hear persons say that they care little for the
sermon and speak lightly of preaching. They forget that the preacher
is one "sent," that our Lord Himself made preaching one of the great
means for the spread of the Gospel and for the salvation of men. And
as such persons do not reflect, in this disparagement of preaching, the
mind of our Lord, so neither do they represent the estimate of the
Church. The Church takes care to provide for it, and that, too, in
connection with her most solemn act of worship, the celebration of the
Holy Communion. Among the rubrics following the Creed in the Communion
Office is this: "Then shall follow the Sermon." So, also, the Church,
through the Bishop, demands of the man who comes to be ordained, "Are
you determined, out of the Scriptures, to instruct the people committed
to your charge?" And when he is ordered a Priest, this is a part of
the authority given to him: "Take thou authority to preach the Word of
God."
The discharge of this work, to do which the Minister is placed under
vow, and for which he is given authority, is one of his most solemn
obligations. The pulpit should, then, ever remind us of the loving
care on the part of Christ and His Church for {47} our soul's health
and our growth in grace, which is thus expressed.
But it should remind us of something else, also,--of a duty on our part.
In "The Form and Manner of Ordering Priests" there is a prayer just
before the Benediction, of which this is a part: "Grant that we may
have grace to hear and receive what they shall deliver out of Thy most
holy Word, or agreeable to the same, as the means of our salvation."
And so, again, we pray in the Litany, "That it may please Thee to give
to all Thy people increase of grace to hear meekly Thy Word, and to
receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the
Spirit." This is the way the Church teaches us to think and to pray
concerning our duty and privilege in reference to the instruction and
exhortation which divine love sends to us from the pulpit.
The pulpit stands, then, for something God's love does for us: "Preach
the gospel." It stands also for something God's love demands from us:
"Take heed how ye hear."
_The Choir- and Clergy-Stalls._--It will be observed that the stalls
for the clergy and choristers are generally placed on the two sides of
the choir and face each other. The south side is called the {48}
"decani side" and the north the "cantoris side," as being, in
cathedrals, the respective sides of the dean and the cantor (or
precentor).
By this arrangement proper provision is made for the clergy as leaders
of the worship of the congregation and for the choir as leaders of its
praise in song. The singing in our churches is intended to be "common
praise," and this arrangement of the choristers marks their office as
simply to lead it. They do not sing _to_ the congregation; they sing
_with_ or _for_ them _to_ Almighty God. The people should sing with
them, and not listen merely, as if attending a concert. Even when, as
in a _Te Deum_ or anthem, the music is too difficult for the
congregation to join in it, the singers are still rendering to God the
praises of all present, and all should take part in it in thought and
in heart.
Because of this ministry as leaders of praise the choir are vested.
Their vestments are the cassock and the cotta--a modification of the
surplice worn by the clergy.
Of the _Litany-desk_ we have already learned in the section in
reference to the nave.
_The Bishop's Chair._--In many churches there is found a "Bishop's
Chair." It has been felt as proper, in view of the dignity of the
office of the {49} Bishop, to provide a special seat for him, and to
have it occupied by no one else. In parish churches it is placed
within the sanctuary at the north or "gospel" side of the Altar, facing
the people. In cathedrals it is called a "Throne," and its place is
just without the rail on the decani side of the choir, facing like the
choir-stalls.
Wherever placed, it is a reminder of the highest order in the Christian
Ministry, and of the doctrine of Holy Orders our Church holds and acts
upon. In the Preface to the Ordinal the Church makes this declaration:
"It is evident unto all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture and
ancient Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these
Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church,--Bishops, Priests, and
Deacons.... No man shall be accounted or taken to be a lawful Bishop,
Priest, or Deacon, in this Church, 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
Episcopal Consecration or Ordination." What the Church here insists
upon is what is commonly called the "Apostolic Succession." This rule
she rigorously applies. No minister of any of the denominations, no
matter how learned and pious he may be, can {50} serve at her Altars
until he has been ordained by a Bishop and is therefore commissioned by
that Episcopal or Apostolic authority upon which the Church has always
insisted.
The Bishop's Chair may remind us, then, of the Bishop's office and
authority to ordain and to govern, of its essential importance in the
life of the Church, and of how our Church's lineage and the authority
of her Ministry are traced, through the succession of Bishops, directly
back to the Apostles, and through them to Christ Himself, "the Bishop
and Shepherd of our souls."
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