The Church Handy Dictionary Part 18

_The Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy_. Founded 1655. Registrar, W. P. Bowman, Esq. Office, 2, Bloomsbury Place, London. Objects, a.s.sistance 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. Cla.s.s I., Augmentation of certain stipends. Cla.s.s II., Much the same as above Societies. Cla.s.s III., Exhibitions to sons of clergymen to the Universities. Cla.s.s 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 Inst.i.tute_. 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 a.s.sist 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 a.s.sist 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 Inc.u.mbent.

(_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 cla.s.ses; 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 a.s.sociation_, 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 a.s.sociation_. 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 a.s.sociation_, 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 a.s.sociation, 33, Southampton Street, Strand. Objects, (1) The throwing open of our Churches for the free and equal use of all cla.s.ses; (2) The adoption of the Weekly Offertory instead of Pew Rents; (3) The opening of Churches throughout the day for private prayer.

_t.i.the Redemption Trust_. (See _t.i.thes_.)

SOCINIANISM. The doctrine of Faustus Socinus, an Italian, born 1539. He taught that the eternal Father was the one only G.o.d, and that Jesus was G.o.d no otherwise than by His superiority over all creatures. That Jesus Christ was not a mediator between G.o.d and man, but only a pattern to men. That the punishment of h.e.l.l 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 G.o.d, _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 G.o.dly and a Christian life." They are also called _G.o.dparents_ 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 G.o.dparents 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 G.o.dfathers and one G.o.dmother; and for every female, one G.o.dfather and two G.o.dmothers." (Rubric.) And Canon 29, "No person shall be urged to be present, nor be admitted to answer as G.o.dfather for his own child; nor any G.o.dfather or G.o.dmother 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 G.o.dfather or G.o.dmother 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 a.s.sistant 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 G.o.d." (Acts 1,3.) The phrase "kingdom of G.o.d" 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 G.o.d.