The Church Handy Dictionary Part 9

EPIPHANY. A Greek word, meaning "manifestation." The term applied to that festival of the Church observed on Jan. 6th, in commemoration of our Lord's _manifestation_ to the Wise Men from the East, the representatives of the Gentile world.

EPISCOPACY. The term applied to the Apostolical form of government, which consisted in the appointment of a Bishop as an _Overseer_ (for that is the meaning of the Greek word) of a particular Church.

(See _Orders_.)

EPISTLE. The name given to the _Letters_ of the Apostles, which the Church has admitted as forming part of the Canon of the New Testament (see _Bible_). St. Paul wrote fourteen, if we allow the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by him. St. James wrote one, which, like others addressed to no particular Church, is called a _general_ Epistle. St. Peter wrote two Epistles; St. John, three; and St. Jude, one. Those portions of Scripture read in the Communion Service, and called Epistles, have been used, with few alterations, for 1200 years by the Church of England.

EPISTOLER. The 24th Canon directs that "In all cathedral and collegiate churches the Holy Communion shall be administered, . . .

the princ.i.p.al minister using a decent cope, and being a.s.sisted with the gospeller and epistoler." So, in the advertis.e.m.e.nts published in the seventh year of Elizabeth, we read, "The princ.i.p.al minister shall use a cope with gospeller and epistoler agreeably."

ERASTIANISM. The heresy of Erastus, a German, born 1524. His main principle was that the source of all pastoral authority is the civil magistrate, who, whether Christian or not, possesses an inherent right to nominate and commission teachers of religion, and is under no necessity of admitting the least difference between priests and laymen.

ESCHATOLOGY. A term applied to doctrines relative to the state after death.

ESTABLISHMENT and ENDOWMENT. These two terms are constantly linked together in the publications of the Liberation Society, and by other enemies of the Church of England, as though they formed one and the same thing. In truth, they are wholly distinct, and are descriptive of two quite different features of the Church of England.

It is _Established_, and it is also _Endowed_. It is called the former because it is established in this country by the Law of the land, and professes the acknowledged religion of the State. If the Church were disestablished to-morrow she would still continue to be the true Church of G.o.d in this country, because her origin, doctrine, and const.i.tution are Apostolic. Besides being called a "State Church," the Church of England has also been called a "State _paid_ Church." It is well to remember that the Parochial Clergy, and all others except Army and Navy Chaplains and the like, do not receive one farthing from the State. The property, or _Endowment_, of the Church was the voluntary gift of private individuals in all ages, who, out of regard to the spiritual interests of those who lived upon their estates, built churches, and endowed them for the maintenance of religious worship. The State has no right to alienate any portion whatever of that property from the purpose for which it was given. (See _Church of England_ and _Endowment_.)

EUCHARIST. A term applied to the Holy Communion (which see), derived from the Greek, and meaning, "a giving of thanks." It is used in the Latin version of our Articles.

EVANGELICALS, _see_ Church Parties.

EVANGELISTS. Properly, preachers of the "Evangel," or Gospel, of Christ; Eph. iv. 11. The term now is limited to the four writers of the Gospel.

EVES, or VIGILS. The nights or evenings before certain Holy Days of the Church. A list of days which have vigils may be found in the beginning of the Prayer Book, in the table of the Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence, to be observed in the year. (See _Vigil_.)

EVEN-SONG. Evening Prayer. The word occurs in the table of Proper Lessons at the commencement of the Prayer Book. (See _Morning Prayer_.)

EVOLUTION. A name given to the theory of the origin of animal life, set forth by certain scientists. Thus they tell us that the account given us in Genesis of the Creation is certainly wrong. That man was not created as man, but that he has grown to be what he is through a series of stages. According to Professor Haeckel, the pedigree of man is as follows:--1. _Monera_--formless little lumps of mucus matter supposed to be originated by spontaneous generation.

2. _Amoebae_--a little piece of protoplasm enclosing a kernel.

3. _Synamoebae_--a collection of Amoebae. 4. _Planaeada_. 5.

_Gastraeada_, or primaeval "stomach animals." 6. _Turbellaria_, or worms of a very simple kind. 7. _Scolecida_, worms of a higher cla.s.s. 8. _Himatega_, or worms of a higher cla.s.s still. 9. _Acrania_, or skull-less animals. 10. _Monorrhina_, or animals with one nostril.

11. _Selachii_, or primaeval fish. 12. _Dipneusta_, or mud-fish.

13. _Sozobranchia_, or gilled amphibians. 14. _Sozura_, or tailed amphibians. 15. _Protamnia_. 16. _Primary Mammals_. 17. _Pouched animals_. 18. _Prosimiae_, or semi-apes. 19. _Tailed Apes_. 20.

_Man-like Apes_. 21. _Ape-like Men_. 22. _Men_.

This may be all true, and yet Genesis need not be false. Genesis begins with man as man, and not with man as a Monera--supposing he ever was such. But when scientists speak of the principle of life as being the outcome of an act of spontaneous generation without any external creative power, then we must disagree with them. The principle of life is hidden with G.o.d alone, and must come from G.o.d.

Nor does it in any way affect our belief in Almighty G.o.d, whether He was pleased to create man from the first in "His own image," or whether He was pleased to make him first pa.s.s through the preliminary stages Professor Haeckel enumerates!

EXCOMMUNICATION. An ecclesiastical censure, whereby the person against whom it is p.r.o.nounced is for the time cast out of the communion of the church. The first rubric in the Office for the Burial of the Dead prohibits the use of the Service for any that die excommunicate.

EXHORTATION. The name given to the various addresses in the Liturgy.

They are nearly all the production of the Reformers. The Burial Office is the only Service of the Prayer Book which has not one or more of these exhortations.

EXTREME UNCTION. One of the seven so-called Sacraments of the Church of Rome. It consists in the application of consecrated olive oil, by a priest, to the five organs of sense of a dying person. It is considered as conveying G.o.d's pardon and support in the last hour.

It is administered when all hope of recovery is gone, and generally no food is permitted to be taken after it. This custom is founded on Mark vi. 13, and James v. 14, 15, but in both these places it is evident that the anointing should be for the _recovery_ of the sick.

When miraculous powers ceased in the Church, it was reasonable that the unction should cease also.

FACULTY. An order by the Bishop of a diocese to award some privilege not permitted by common law. A faculty is necessary in order to effect any important alterations in a church, such as the erection of a gallery or an organ. Without a faculty a person is not ent.i.tled to erect a monument within the walls of a church.

FAITH. Man is justified by G.o.d in respect of, and by means of, Faith in Christ. It is not the princ.i.p.al cause for our Justification, that being G.o.d's mercy; it is not the meritorious cause of our Justification, for that is Christ's death; audit is not the efficient cause of our Justification, for that is the operation of the Holy Spirit; but it is the _instrument_ on our _side_, by which we rely on G.o.d's word, and appeal to Him for mercy, and receive a grant of pardon, and a t.i.tle to the evangelical promises of G.o.d.

FALD STOOL. The desk at which the Litany is usually said. In the rubric before the penitential psalm in the Commination Service a special place is mentioned for the saying of the Litany, and this we know from the Injunctions of 1549 was to be "in the midst of the Church," thus marking the congregational character of the service.

FALL OF MAN, _see_ Sin, Original.

FASTING. The Romanist regards the use of fasting, or abstinence, as a means of grace; the Protestant regards it only as a useful exercise, recommended in Scripture, for the subduing of the flesh to the Spirit.

FASTS. Days appointed by the Church for the particular discipline of the flesh, and for a peculiar sorrow for sin. A list of these days is given at the commencement of the Prayer Book.

FATHER, G.o.d THE, _see_ Trinity, The Holy.

FATHERS, THE. A term applied generally to all the ancient orthodox Christian writers. St. Bernard, who flourished in the twelfth century, is reputed to be the last of the Fathers. The _Schoolmen_ (which see) succeeded the Fathers. Those writers who knew the Apostles personally are called _Apostolical_ Fathers; such were Hermas, Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Polycarp. Other Fathers of the early Church were Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. In the third century we have Origen and Cyprian, and succeeding them Eusebius, Athanasius, Ambrose, Basil, Jerome or Hieronymus, John Chrysostom, and Augustine.

The writings of the Fathers are most valuable to us as showing us what were the doctrines and ceremonies of the first Christians.

The Tractarian movement was of great service in calling attention to the well-nigh forgotten mine of theological wealth stored up in these writers. Pusey has published a library of the works of the Fathers in English.

FEASTS, or FESTIVALS. These are days of rejoicing in the Church, in commemoration of some great truth of Christianity, or of some great example of Holy Life. The commencement of the Prayer Book furnishes us with a list of these Holy Days. The rubric, after the Nicene Creed, directs that "The Curate shall then declare to the people what holy days, or fasting days are in the week following to be observed."

FELLOWSHIP. A settled income bestowed by a college on a student as a reward for distinguished scholarship. Various conditions are a.s.sociated with these prizes in the different colleges.

FERIA. A day which is neither a feast nor a fast.

FLAGON, _see_ Altar Vessels.

FONT. From a Latin word, meaning a _fountain_. The vessel holding the water for Baptism. The 81st Canon says it is to be made of stone. By ancient custom it is usually placed at the West end of the Church, near the door, as signifying that Holy Baptism is the entrance into Christ's Mystical Body, the Church.

FORMULARY, see _Liturgy_. A formulary is a book containing the rites, ceremonies, and prescribed forms of the Church. The formulary of the Church of England is the Book of Common Prayer.

FREE WILL. see Article x. The doctrine of our Church is that although man has a perfectly free will to choose good or evil, yet we prefer the animal life to the spiritual life, and, through the badness of our perverse will, shall continue to prefer it until prevented by the grace of G.o.d.

FUNERAL SERVICE, _see_ Burial of the Dead.

GHOST, THE HOLY, _see_ Trinity, The Holy.

GLEBE. Land belonging to an ecclesiastical benefice, and which forms part of its endowment, the freehold being vested in the Inc.u.mbent.

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS. "Glory be (to G.o.d) on high." A hymn in the Communion Office, sometimes called the Angelic Hymn, because the first part was sung by angels at Bethlehem. It has been used by the Church for more than 1,500 years, and, in substance, was sung by Polycarp at his martyrdom.

GLORIA PATRI. "Glory be to the Father." This is one of the oldest doxologies of the Church; in substance, at least, it is as old as the 4th century. It is directed to be said at the end of every Psalm, thus turning Jewish praises into Christian hymns.

GNOSTICS. Early heretics who boasted of their superior _knowledge_, for that is the meaning of the word, just as _agnostic_ means _without knowledge_. This heresy dates back to Apostolic days, Simon Magus being considered its founder.

They mixed up the Christian faith with systems based on Platonism, Oriental Philosophy, or corrupt Judaism. St. John is believed to have written against the gnostics in certain parts of his Gospel.

G.o.d, _see_ Trinity, The Holy. The word _G.o.d_ can be traced back no further as yet than the Gothic _Gutha_, but no one knows its root.

G.o.d-FATHER, _see_ Sponsors.

G.o.d-MOTHER, _see_ Sponsors.