sin into two classes: _mortal_ sin, that sin which is in its nature
gross, and is committed knowingly, wilfully, deliberately; and
_venial sin_, sins of ignorance, and negligence, and the like. We
also make a distinction between sins of greater or less enormity;
we admit that there is a difference of degree, but the Romanists
make a difference in their nature and kind, a distinction we cannot
admit. According to the Romans, no amount of venial sins would
ever make a mortal sin. We consider every sin to be in its nature
mortal or deadly, and deserving of God's wrath and condemnation
(James ii. 10, 11), and only hope to be saved through the
intercession of our "Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins."
(4.) _Sin against the Holy Ghost_. (See Article xvi.) What is the
nature of this terrible sin which "shall not be forgiven, neither
in this world nor in the world to come?" (Matt. xii. 31, 32.)
The Church clearly teaches in Article xvi. that wilful sin after
baptism is not, as some have taught, _the_ unforgivable sin, but
it seems rather to be "obstinate, resolute, and wilful impenitence,
after all the means of grace and with all the strivings of the
Spirit, under the Christian dispensation as distinguished from
the Jewish, and amid all the blessings and privileges of the Church
of Christ." (Harold Browne on the Thirty-nine Articles.) This, in
effect, is the teaching of St. Augustine, that the sin against the
Holy Ghost is a final and obdurate continuance in wickedness,
despite the calls of God to repentance, joined with a desperation
of the mercy of God. In Matt. xii. 31, 32, it would seem that the
unpardonable sin was committed by those who ascribed our Lord's
miracles to the power of Beelzebub.
SOCIETIES, CHURCH. It will be possible to mention a few only of
the _chief_ societies, &c., connected with the Church, in a work
like the present. They will be described under the headings (1)
Charitable, (2) Educational, (3) Missionary, (4) Building, (5)
General.
1. _Charitable_. Each diocese has charities of its own in addition
to those which are not of limited area,--
_The Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy_. Founded 1655. Registrar,
W. P. Bowman, Esq. Office, 2, Bloomsbury Place, London. Objects,
assistance to necessitous clergymen, their widows and maiden
daughters; education of children of poor clergymen, and the starting
of them in life.
_The Friend of the Clergy Corporation_, 1849. Secretary, Rev. H.
Jona, 4, St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square, London. Objects much
the same as above.
_The Poor Clergy Relief Corporation_, 1856. Secretary, Dr. Robert
Turtle Pigott, 36, Southampton Street, Strand. Objects, immediate
relief, both in money and clothing, to poor clergymen, their widows
and orphans, in sickness and other temporary distress.
_The Cholmondeley Charities_. Treasurer, John Hanby, Esq., 1, Middle
Scotland Yard, Whitehall, S.W. Class I., Augmentation of certain
stipends. Class II., Much the same as above Societies. Class III.,
Exhibitions to sons of clergymen to the Universities. Class IV.,
Allowance for starting the children of clergymen in life.
2. _Educational Societies_. Each diocese has societies of its own
in addition to the following:--
_Church of England Sunday School Institute_. Founded 1843. Sec., J.
Palmer, Esq., Serjeant's Inn, Fleet Street, E.C. Objects, to provide
educational appliances (Books, Lessons, &c.) both for teachers and
scholars, and to assist teachers in the work of teaching by means
of lectures, &c.
_Incorporated National Society_. Secretary, Rev. J. Duncan, National
Society Office, Sanctuary, Westminster. Object, to help forward the
education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church
by making grants to Church Schools and the like, and by training
teachers.
_Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge_ (see Part V. of this
article).
3. _Missionary Societies_, (_a_) Home, (_b_) Foreign.
(_a_) _The Missions to Seamen Society_. Office, 11, Buckingham
Street, Strand, W.C. Object, to make provision for the spiritual
needs of British Merchant Sailors when afloat.
_The Navvy Mission Society_. Office, Palace Chambers, Bridge Street,
Westminster, S.W. Object, to promote the spiritual welfare of
navvies working on railways, docks, &c.
_Church Pastoral Aid Society_, 1836. Office, Falcon Court, 32, Fleet
Street, London, E.C. Object, to give grants to "Evangelical"
Clergyman towards the incomes of additional curates and lay helpers
in populous parishes. The Committee interferes in the appointments.
_Additional Curates' Society_, 1837. Office, 7, Whitehall, London,
S.W. Object, to assist in the payment of additional Curates,
irrespective of party views. This Society does not interfere in
the appointments, but very properly leaves them to the Bishop and
the Incumbent.
(_b_) _Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts_.
Incorporated 1701. 19, Delahay Street, Westminster, S.W. Object,
the spiritual care of our Colonists and the evangelizing of the
heathen in British Dominions abroad on thorough Church of England
principles.
_Church Missionary Society_, 1799. Salisbury Square, London, E.C.
Object, the preaching of the Gospel of Christ among the heathen, in
strict accordance with the doctrines and discipline of the Church
of England.
_Colonial Bishoprics Fund_, 19, Delahay Street, Westminster, S.W.
Object, to help endow Colonial Sees.
There is also a Mission to the Jews, 16, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
London.
4. _Building Societies_. There are many Diocesan, as well as General
Church Building Societies.
_Queen Anne's Bounty_. (See _Bounty, Queen Anne's_.) Dean's Yard,
Westminster, S.W. Object, the building of Parsonage Houses, &c.
_Incorporated Church Building Society_. 7, Whitehall, London.
Object, the Enlargement, Building and Repairing of Churches and
Chapels in England and Wales.
5. _General Societies_. These all have local branches.
_Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge_. Address, The Secretaries,
S.P.C.K., Northumberland Avenue, London, W.C. Objects, to provide
good and cheap Bibles and Prayer Books in various languages; to
circulate general literature of a high character in thorough keeping
with the principles of the Church of England, and suitable to all
classes; to help forward Church Education, Home Mission Work, The
Building of Churches and Chapels abroad, and the Training of a
Native Ministry abroad.
_The Religious Tract Society_, 6, Paternoster Row, London. Object,
the production and circulation of religious books, treatises, tracts
and pure literature, in various languages, throughout the British
Dominions, and in Foreign Countries, of a Protestant and Evangelical
description.
_The British and Foreign Bible Society_, 146, Queen Victoria St.,
London, E.C. Object, the circulation of the Holy Scriptures in
various languages without note or comment, both at home and abroad.
_Church Penitentiary Association_, 14, York Buildings, Adelphi,
London. Object, the establishment and maintenance of Penitentiaries
and Houses of Refuge throughout the country for the lessening of
vice, and furthering efforts for the recovery of the fallen.
_Church of England Temperance Society_. Object, the Promotion of the
Habits of Temperance; the Reformation of the Intemperate; and the
removal of the Causes which lead to Intemperance.
_The Church Defence Association_. St. Stephen's Palace Chambers, 9,
Bridge Street, Westminster. Object, to resist all attempts to
destroy or weaken the union between Church and State, or to injure
the temporal interests of the Church.
_English Church Union_, 35, Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.
Object, to unite Clergy and Laity in loyal Defence of the Doctrine
and Discipline of the Church of England and the Rights and Liberties
of her faithful children.
_The Church Association_, 14, Buckingham Street, Strand. Object, to
uphold the doctrines of the Evangelical Party in the Church of
England. This Society is notorious as the prosecutor of Mr.
Mackonochie and other clergy of the same school. The Free and
Open Church Association, 33, Southampton Street, Strand. Objects,
(1) The throwing open of our Churches for the free and equal use
of all classes; (2) The adoption of the Weekly Offertory instead
of Pew Rents; (3) The opening of Churches throughout the day for
private prayer.
_Tithe Redemption Trust_. (See _Tithes_.)
SOCINIANISM. The doctrine of Faustus Socinus, an Italian, born
1539. He taught that the eternal Father was the one only God, and
that Jesus was God no otherwise than by His superiority over all
creatures. That Jesus Christ was not a mediator between God and man,
but only a pattern to men. That the punishment of Hell will last
only for a time, after which both body and soul will be destroyed.
That it is not lawful for princes to make war. Many of the Anabaptists
are Socinian in doctrine. (See _Unitarianism_.)
SON OF GOD, _see_ Trinity, the Holy.
SPIKE. The high pyramidical capping or roof of a tower. This is
sometimes confounded with the word _Steeple_, which latter really
means the tower, with all its appendages.
SPONSORS. In the administration of Baptism, Sponsors have from time
immemorial held an important place. They are called _Sponsors_,
because they _respond_ or answer for the baptized. They are also
called _Sureties_, in virtue of the _security_ given by them to the
Church, that the baptized shall be "virtuously brought up to lead
a Godly and a Christian life." They are also called _Godparents_
because of the spiritual affinity created in Baptism when they
undertake a responsibility almost _parental_ in the future training
of the baptized. In the Church of Rome Godparents may not intermarry.
Anciently only one Sponsor was required. Their action at the font
may be likened to that of those who brought the man sick of the
palsy to our Lord. (Mark ii.)
Although it is not necessary to have Sponsors for the validity of
Baptism, still the rule of the Church of England requires that
"There shall be for every male child to be baptized two Godfathers
and one Godmother; and for every female, one Godfather and two
Godmothers." (Rubric.) And Canon 29, "No person shall be urged to
be present, nor be admitted to answer as Godfather for his own
child; nor any Godfather or Godmother shall be suffered to make
any other answer or speech, than by the Book of Common Prayer is
prescribed in that behalf. Neither shall any person be admitted
Godfather or Godmother to any child at Christening or Confirmation,
before the said person so undertaking hath received the Holy
Communion." Parents are now allowed to act as sponsors for their
children.
STALLS. Seats in the choir, or chancel.
STEEPLE, _see_ Spire.
STEPHEN'S (St.) DAY. Dec. 26th. A festival in honour of the
proto- (first) martyr, St. Stephen. He was one of the seven
deacons, and all we know of him is told us in Acts vii. and viii.
STOLE, _see_ Vestments.
SUCCENTOR. The precentor's deputy in Cathedral Churches. At York
he is a dignitary, and is called _Succentor Canonicorum_ to
distinguish him from the other subchanter, who is a vicar-choral.
SUCCESSION, APOSTOLICAL. _see_ Apostolical Succession and Orders,
Holy.
SUFFRAGANS. Properly all provincial Bishops who are under a Primate
or Metropolitan; but the word now is applied especially to assistant
Bishops, such as the Bishop of Bedford, the Bishop of Nottingham, &c.
SUNDAY. The first day of the week, so called by the Saxons, because
it was dedicated to the worship of the Sun.
Among Christians it is kept "holy" instead of the Jewish Sabbath,
because on that day our Lord rose from the dead, and for that reason
it is called by St. John "the Lord's Day." (Rev. i. 10.) _When_ the
Sunday began to be kept instead of the Sabbath we are not quite
sure, but we find that the Apostles kept the first day of the week
as a festival. Our Lord Himself sanctioned it by His repeated
appearance among His disciples on that day. The Holy Spirit, too,
poured down His miraculous gifts on that day. The early Christians
observed the Sunday.
By many it is believed that it is one of the things in which our
Lord instructed His Apostles before His Ascension, while "speaking
of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." (Acts 1,3.) The phrase
"kingdom of God" is always used of the Church. In keeping the Sunday
"holy," Christians comply with the _spirit_ of the fourth Commandment,
which orders a seventh part of our time to be consecrated to God.
SUPER-ALTAR, or RE-TABLE. A shelf or step behind the altar, on which
the vases, candlesticks, and cross are placed. Properly the
_Super-Altar_ is a small portable slab of stone which is placed on
wooden altars.
SUPEREROGATION. The 14th Article gives the teaching of the Church
of England. Romanists teach that there are certain good deeds which
have been performed by saints over and above those necessary for
their own salvation. From this fund of good works, technically known
as the _Treasury of Merits_, the Pope claims to have the power to
draw and apply the good deeds of others to the benefit of those who
are deficient in them themselves.
SUPREMACY. The Church of England regards the Sovereign as being over
all persons, and all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil,
supreme in this realm. (See Article xxxvii.) This does not teach
in any way that the Clergy derive their authority and mission from
the State, as some misunderstand. (See _Apostolical Succession_.)
SURPLICE, _see_ Vestments.
SURROGATE. One appointed in place of another. Thus to avoid the
necessity of journeying to the Bishop, he grants to other clergymen
living in the principal towns, the power of giving licenses for
marriage instead of publishing banns, of granting probates of wills,
&c. These clergymen acting in place of the Bishop are called
_Surrogates_.
SWEDENBORGIANS. The followers of Emanuel, Baron Swedenborg, who was
born in Stockholm in 1688, and died in London, 1772. He believed
himself to be the subject of inspiration, and taught that the
Scriptures have two senses, natural and spiritual. The natural
sense is that held by the Christian Church, but the spiritual is
that which is concealed within the natural sense of the same
words. He taught that the second advent had been realized in
the establishment of his New Church, the "New Jerusalem" of the
Apocalypse.
They do not receive the usual doctrine of the Trinity, and reject
the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They administer the
Sacraments. They still profess to believe themselves visited by
super-natural beings, by the Apostles and other saints. It is not
generally known that the heaven of the Swedenborgian bears a close
resemblance to the Mahometan's idea of heaven,--a place of sensual
delights; and one of their books which is as hard to obtain as the
others are easy, named "Conjugal Love," is not particularly moral
in its teaching!
The _Swedenborgians_ number 64 Societies, with 4,987 registered
members.
SYNOD. A meeting duly summoned and constituted of ecclesiastical
persons for the discussion of religious matters. Synods are of
less authority than general or OEcumenical Councils.
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS. A canticle of Morning Prayer, which has been sung
for 1,500 years throughout the Western Church. Its origin is not
known. The tradition which ascribes it to St. Ambrose, or to St.
Ambrose and St. Augustine, conjointly, rests on very slight
foundation. An able article in the _Church Quarterly Review_
(April, 1884), comes to the conclusion that the Te Deum very
probably originated from the monastery of St. Honoratus, at Lerins,
about the middle of the 5th century. It is the great triumphant
hymn of praise of the Western Church as the Gloria in Excelsis is
of the Eastern. Verses 1 to 13, are _praise_; vv. 14-19 are a
_Creed_ in our Lord Jesus Christ; vv. 20-29 are _prayer_ to our
Lord broken by another burst of praise. There is a musical setting
of the _Te Deum_, called the Ambrosian, dating from the 5th century.
TESTAMENT, OLD AND NEW, _see_ Bible.
TESTIMONIAL LETTERS, _see_ Orders, Qualifications for,
THANKSGIVING, THE GENERAL. Composed by Bishop Reynolds, and inserted
in 1662. The custom obtaining in some churches of the congregation
repeating this Thanksgiving after the minister, was certainly not
originally intended, and perhaps has been based on a mistaken
idea of the meaning of the word "general," as applied to this
Thanksgiving: we understand it to mean that the _terms_ and
_subjects_ of the prayer are _general_.
THEISM. The recognition of a principle apart from nature,
independent of nature, yet moulding, regulating, and sustaining
nature. The idea of _Personality_ is essential to Theism.
_A-theism_, literally, is the denial of _Theism_.
THEOLOGY. The science which treats of the Deity. It is too often
forgotten that theology is a science as much as medicine or
mathematics, or we should not find the laity so confident of
their knowledge, and so ready to give the law on questions of
systematic Divinity.
THEOLOGICAL COLLEGES. Colleges specially established for the
training of candidates for Holy Orders, in theology. They seem
to answer to the assemblies of "sons of the prophets," spoken of
in 2 Kings ii. 3, 5, 7, &c. These colleges have not the power of
conferring degrees.
THOMAS'S (St.) DAY. Dec. 21st. The name Thomas (Hebrew), and
Didymus (Greek), means a "twin brother." Some think St. Matthew
to have been his brother. The only incidents of his life with
which we are acquainted, are told us by St. John, (xi. 16; xiv. 5;
xx. 28.) Tradition says that he laboured in Persia, and finally
suffered martyrdom in India.
THRONE. The Bishop's seat in his Cathedral. Anciently it stood
behind the altar in churches which terminated in an apse.
TIPPET, _see_ Hood.
TITHES. A certain portion, or allotment, for the maintenance of
the priesthood, being the tenth part of the produce of land, cattle,
or other branches of wealth. It is an income, or revenue, common
both to the Jewish and Christian priesthood. (Gen. xiv. 20; Lev.
xxvii. 30-33; &c.) The origin of _tithes_, in the Christian Church,
was something of this kind: When a benefactor was not able or not
willing to part with an estate out and out, he settled on the Church
which he was endowing a certain portion of the income arising out
of the estate. The ratio which this portion bore to the whole amount
varied enormously, and so one man gave a tithe of corn only, another
a tithe of wood, another a tithe of meadow land, another a tithe
of stock, another tithes of all these together. There is a very
common mistake made that tithes are a kind of tax, levied on the
whole country by Act of Parliament. They are nothing of the kind,
being simply a certain portion of the income arising out of lands
settled by the former owners of those lands for the maintenance of
the parson of the parish. They date back to the 4th century.
Although the Church is disestablished in Ireland, tithes are still
paid, not to the clergy, but to the Government. Disestablishment,
therefore, is small gain to the farmer.
_Tithe Redemption Trust_. In the year 1846 a very excellent Society
was formed, called "The Tithe Redemption Trust," the object of
which is the very opposite of that at which the Liberation Society
aims. It has been quietly at work for some years, endeavouring, with
some success, to get back, either by redemption or by voluntary
donation, the tithes which have been alienated by appropriation or
impropriation. What portion of Church property has been long enjoyed
by private families, or by Corporations, has, of course, become
inalienable; but it would be a reasonable and a righteous thing
(and all the more blessed for being voluntary) that every person
who receives tithes, or possesses glebe land in a parish, for which
no spiritual service is rendered, should give in some way or other
to the Church a very liberal percentage of what was never meant to
be raised for the purpose of private emolument, but for the fitting
discharge of ecclesiastical duties. (Webb's "England's Inheritance
in her Church.")
TITLE, _see_ Orders, Qualifications for.
TRACTARIANISM. The Anglican movement which began with the publication
of the celebrated "_Tracts for the Times_" in 1833. The principal
results of this movement are (1) the complete reintegration of the
original theory of the Church of England; of that "ancient religion
which, in 1830, had well-nigh faded out of the land;" (2) the
improvement which has taken place in the lives of the clergy, in
the performance of the Services, and in the condition of our
churches; and the marked revival in the Corporate life of the Church
herself.
The great names of this movement are Pusey, Newman, Marriott,
Oakley, Manning, Robert Wilberforce, Keble, and Palmer. For some
few the movement led to disastrous issues; and they fell at last
into Roman errors, and joined that erring Church.
TRANSUBSTANTIATION. The name given to the philosophical theory
whereby the Church of Rome has endeavoured to explain and define
the doctrine of the Real Presence. In it they allege that the bread
and wine in the Eucharist is miraculously converted or changed into
the very body and blood of our Lord, by the consecration of the
priest. This false doctrine is condemned in Article xxviii.
TRENT, COUNCIL OF. An important Council of the Roman Church which
met in 1545, and was dissolved in 1563. The city of Trent is in
the Tyrol. It was at this Council that the Creed of the Roman
Church was last defined, and all who differed from it were
anathematised. Neither the Greek Church nor the English Church
was represented there, so it has no claim to the title of
oecumenical, or general, as asserted by Romanists.
TRINITY, THE HOLY. The Athanasian Creed and Article i. give the
teaching of our Church on the Holy Trinity. There we learn that
in the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons; that is, though
there be but one living and true God, yet there be three Persons,
who are that one living and true God. Though the true God be but
one in substance, yet He is three in subsistence, so as still to
be but one substance. And these three Persons, every one of which
is God, and yet all three but one God, are really related to one
another; as they are termed in Scripture, one is the Father, the
other the Son, the other the Holy Ghost.
The Father is the first Person in the Deity; not begotten, nor
proceeding, but begetting; the Son, the second, not begetting nor
proceeding, but begotten; the Holy Ghost, the third, not begotten,
nor begetting, but proceeding. The first is called the Father,
because He begot the second; the second is called the Son, because
He is begotten of the Father; the third is called the Holy Ghost,
because breathed both from the Father and the Son.
This is a great mystery to us, which, however, we are not called
upon to _understand_, but only to _believe_ on the plain statement
of Scripture.
The Father is God, John vi, 27; Gal. i. 1; 1 Thess. i. 1, &c.
The Son is God, John i. 1; xx. 28; Rom. ix. 5, &c.
The Holy Ghost is God. This, however, has to be proved by
implication and analogy, as with Luke i. 35 compare Matt. i. 18;
Acts v. 3, 4, with John iii. 6 compare 1 John v. 4; with 1 Cor.
iii. 16 compare vi. 19, &c.
The unity of the Godhead is declared in many such passages as
Deut. vi. 4; Gal. iii. 20; John x. 30, &c.
The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, "took man's nature in the
womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance; so that the two whole
and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and Manhood, were
joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one
Christ very God and very Man." (Art. ii. and Luke i.)
TRINITY SUNDAY. This is a festival of Western origin, and of
comparatively recent date; the earliest formal notice of the
festival is in England, under Becket, in 1162; though the collect
dates from the 5th century.