Chapter XIII: Preface: To the Seventh Edition (12)

That the ancients did not look upon the sin against the HOLY GHOST, in the several kinds of it here mentioned, as absolutely irremissible, or incapable of pardon, appears from hence, that they did not shut the door of repentance against such offenders, but invited them to repent, and prayed for their conversion, and restored them to communion, upon their confession, and evidences of a true repentance. Wherever they speak of it as unpardonable both in this world and the next, they always suppose the sinner to die in obduracy, and in resistance to all the gracious motions and operations of the HOLY SPIRIT. Whence it must be concluded, that they did not think the sin against the HOLY GHOST, whatever it was, in its own nature unpardonable, but only that it becomes so through final impenitence. Thus the author of the book, “Of True and False Repentance,” under the name of St. Austin, says, they only sin against the HOLY GHOST, who continue impenitent to their death. And Bacchiarius, an African writer about the time of St. Austin, says this sin consists in such a despair of GOD’S mercy, as makes men give over all hopes of recovering that state, from which they are fallen.—_Synes._ Ep. 58. _Bingham_, ibid. § 3. _Cypr._ Ep. 10. _Hilar. in Mat._ Can. 12, p. 164. _Athan. in illud, Quicunque dixerit verbum, &c._, p. 975. _Ambros. Comment. in Luc._ lib. vii. c. 12. _Epiphan. Hæres._ lxxiv. _Aug. Quæst. in Vet. et Nov. Test._ 102. _Bingham_, ibid. _Aug. de vera et falsa Pœnit._ cap. iv. _Bacchiar. Epist. de recipiend. lapsis._

St. Austin speaks often of this crime, and places it in a continued resistance of the motions and graces of the Holy Spirit, and persisting in impenitency to our death. “Impenitency is the blasphemy, which has neither remission in this world, nor in the world to come; but of this no one can judge so long as a man continues in this life. A man is a Pagan to-day; but how knowest thou but he may become a Christian to-morrow? To-day he is an unbelieving Jew; to-morrow he may believe in Christ. To-day he is an heretic; to-morrow he may embrace the Catholic truth.” Out of this notion of St. Austin, the schoolmen, according to their usual chymistry, have extracted five several species of blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST; viz. despair, presumption, final impenitency, obstinacy in sin, and opposition to the known truth.

If we consider the Scripture account of this sin, nothing can be plainer than that it is to be understood of the Pharisees imputing the miracles, wrought by the power of the HOLY GHOST, to the power of the devil. Our LORD had just healed one possessed of a devil, upon which the Pharisees gave this malicious turn to the miracle; “This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.” (Matt. xii. 24.) This led our SAVIOUR to discourse of the sin of blasphemy, and to tell his disciples; “Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the sin against the HOLY GHOST shall not be forgiven unto men,” (Ver. 31.) The Pharisees therefore were the persons charged with this sin, and the sin itself consisted in ascribing what was done by the finger of GOD to the agency of the devil. And the reason why our LORD pronounced it unpardonable is plain, because the Jews, by withstanding the evidence of miracles, resisted the strongest means of their conviction. From all which it will follow, that no person now can be guilty of the sin against the HOLY GHOST, in the sense in which our SAVIOUR originally intended it; though there may be sins which bear a very near resemblance to it.—_August., Serm._ xi. _de Verbis Domini. Brouqhton._

BLOOD. From the earliest times the clergy have been forbidden to sit in judgment on capital offences, or in cases of blood; a rule still maintained among us; for the bishops, who, as peers of parliament, are a component part of the highest court of judicature in the kingdom, always retire when such cases are before the House.

BODY. The Church is called a body. (Rom. xii. 5; 1 Cor. x. 17; xii. 13; Eph. iv. 4; Col. iii. 15.) Like every other body, society, or corporation, it has a prescribed form of admission, baptism; a constant badge of membership, the eucharist; peculiar duties, repentance, faith, obedience; peculiar privileges, forgiveness of sins, present grace, and future glory; regularly constituted officers, bishops, priests, and deacons. The Church is the body, of which CHRIST is the Head.

BOHEMIAN BRETHREN. A sect which sprung up in Bohemia in the year 1467. In 1503 they were accused by the Roman Catholics to King Ladislaus II., who published an edict against them, forbidding them to hold any meetings, either privately or publicly. When Luther declared himself against the Church of Rome, the Bohemian Brethren endeavoured to join his party. At first, that reformer showed a great aversion to them; but the Bohemians sending their deputies to him in 1535, with a full account of their doctrines, he acknowledged that they were a society of Christians whose doctrine came near to the purity of the gospel. This sect published another confession of faith in 1535, in which they renounced anabaptism, which they at first professed; upon this an union was concluded with the Lutherans, and afterwards with the Zuinglians, whose opinions from thenceforth they continued to follow.

BOUNTY, QUEEN ANNE’S. (See _Annates_.)

BOWING AT THE NAME OF JESUS. (See _East_.) It is enjoined by the eighteenth canon of the Constitutions of the Church of England, that “When in time of Divine service the LORD JESUS shall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it hath been accustomed; testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures, their inward humility, Christian resolution, and due acknowledgment that the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the true eternal SON of GOD, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of GOD to mankind, for this life and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprised.” We do not bow when our LORD is spoken of as CHRIST; for when we speak of him as the CHRIST, we speak of his office, the anointed, the prophet, priest, and king of our race, which implies his Divine nature. But JESUS is the name of his humanity, the name he was known by as man; whenever, therefore, we pronounce that name, we bow, to signify that he who for our sakes became man, is also GOD.

With reference to turning to the east when we say the Creed, and bowing at the name of JESUS, Dr. Bisse remarks: As to the first, it was the custom of the ancient Church to turn to the altar or east, not only at the confessions of faith, but in all the public prayers. And therefore Epiphanius, speaking of the madness of the impostor Elxæus, counts this as one instance of it among other things, that he forbade praying towards the east. (Lib. i. Hæres. 18.) Now this is the most honourable place in the house of GOD, and is therefore separated from the lower and inferior parts of the Church, answering to the Holy of Holies in the Jewish tabernacle, which was severed by a veil from the sanctuary; and the holy table or altar in the one answers to the mercy-seat in the other. As then the Jews worshipped, “lifting up their hands towards the mercy-seat,” (Psal. xxviii. 2,) and even the cherubim were formed with their faces looking towards it, (Exod. xxv. 19,) so the primitive Christians did in their worship look towards the altar, of which the mercy-seat was a type. And therefore the altar was usually called “the tabernacle of GOD’S glory,” his “chair of state,” “the throne of GOD,” “the type of heaven,” “heaven itself:” for these reasons did they always in praying look towards it. But in rehearsing our Creeds this custom is still more proper and significant, for we are appointed to perform it “standing;” by this posture declaring our resolution to stand by, or defend, that faith, which we have professed: so that all these times we resemble, not so much an assembly, as an army: as then in every well-marshalled army all look and move one way, so should we always do in a regular assembly; but especially at the confessions of faith all “CHRIST’S faithful soldiers” should show, by this uniformity of gesture, that they hold the unity of faith.

The other usage, of bowing at the name of JESUS, seems founded on that Scripture, where it is declared, that “GOD hath given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of GOD the FATHER,” (Isa. xlv. 23; Phil. ii. 9,) &c. Now though the rubric be silent herein, yet the canon of our Church thus enjoins. Now if such reverence be due to that great and ever-blessed name, when it is mentioned in the lesson or sermon, how much more in the Creeds, when we mention it with our own lips, making confession of our faith in it, adding the very reason given in the canon, that we believe in him as “the only SON,” or “only-begotten SON of GOD,” the SAVIOUR of the world; and when too we do this “standing,” which is the proper posture for doing reverence!—_Dr. Bisse._

BOWING TO THE ALTAR. A reverent custom still practised at Windsor chapel, in college chapels and cathedrals, of which the synod of 1640 said, “We heartily commend it to all good and well-affected people, that they be ready to tender to the LORD their reverence and obeisance, both at their coming in and going out of church, according to the most ancient custom of the primitive Church in the purest times.” “In the practice or omission of this rite, we desire that the rule of charity prescribed by the apostle may be observed, which is, that they which use this rite despise not those who use it not, and they who use it not, condemn not them who use it.”

BOYLE’S LECTURE. A lecture founded under the will of the Hon. Robert Boyle, in 1691, which consists of a course of eight sermons, to prove the truth of Christianity against infidels, and to answer new difficulties, &c., without entering into controversies existing among Christians.

BRANDENBURG, CONFESSION OF. A formulary, or confession of faith, drawn up in the city of Brandenburg by order of the elector, with a view to reconcile the tenets of Luther with those of Calvin, and to put an end to the disputes occasioned by the Confession of Augsburgh.

BRASSES. Monumental slabs of brass, much used in the middle ages, with effigies carved in outline upon them. An historical and descriptive account of brasses used as sepulchral memorials would occupy too much space for this work. Perhaps as much of the history as we shall be expected to give is included in the following paragraph from the “Manual of Monumental Brasses,” (Oxford, 1848,) to which we may refer for a full discussion on this subject.

“The earliest brass of which we have any record was that of Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208, thus mentioned by Leland, “He lyith afore the highe altare of S. Paule’s chirch in Bedeford, with this epitaphie graven in bras, and set on a flat marble stone:—

De Bello Campo jacet hic sub marmore Simon
Fundator de Neweham.”

Several others of the thirteenth century, now lost, are enumerated by Gough.”

At the present time, the earliest brass known is that of Sir John d’Abernon, 1277; one other of the same century still remains at Trumpington. From this period their numbers gradually increased until about the middle of the sixteenth century, when they became less common. The latest observed example is at St. Mary Cray, Kent, 1776. It is remarkable that the earliest brasses are quite equal, in beauty of form and execution, to any of a later date. From the early part of the fifteenth century a gradual decline of the art is visible, and towards the end of the sixteenth century it became utterly degenerate.

It seems needless to add, that the interest of brasses is derived, in a great degree, from the light which they throw on mediæval costume, and the habits of our ancestors. The destruction of brasses at the Reformation was great; at the Rebellion still greater. The mention of this spoliation by Drake, the historian of York, is worth volumes of mere particulars. “Let no man hereafter say, ‘_Exegi monumentum ære perennius_;’ for now an _æris sacra fames_ has robbed us of most of the ancient monumental inscriptions that were in the church. At the Reformation this hairbrained zeal began to show itself against painted glass, stone statues, and grave-stones, many of which were defaced and utterly destroyed, along with other more valuable monuments of the church, till Queen Elizabeth put a stop to these most scandalous doings by an express act of parliament. In our late civil wars, and during the usurpation, our zealots began again these depredations on grave-stones, and stripped and pillaged to the minutest piece of metal. I know it is urged that their hatred to Popery was so great, that they could not endure to see an “_orate pro animâ_,” or even a cross, over a monument without defacing it; but it is plain that it was more the poor lucre of the brass, than zeal, which tempted these miscreants to this act, for there was no gravestone which had an inscription cut on itself that was defaced by anything but age throughout this whole church.”

BRAWLING. The act of quarrelling, and, in its more limited and technical sense, the act of quarrelling within consecrated precincts. If any person shall, by words only, quarrel, chide, or brawl in any church or churchyard, it shall be lawful unto the ordinary of the place, where the same offence shall be done, and proved by two lawful witnesses, to suspend every person so offending; if he be a layman, from the entrance of the church; and if he be a clerk, from the ministration of his office, for so long time as the said ordinary shall think meet according to the fault. (5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 4, s. 1.)

BREVIARY. A daily office or book of Divine service in the Romish Church. So called from being a compilation in an abbreviated form, convenient for use, of the various books anciently used in the service, as antiphoners, psalters, &c. After the prayers of the liturgy, or missal, those held in the greatest veneration by Roman Catholics are the prayers contained in the church office, or canonical hours. This office is a form of prayer and instruction combined, consisting of psalms, lessons, hymns, prayers, anthems, versicles, &c., combined in an established order, separated into different hours of the day. It is divided into seven, or rather eight parts; and, like the English liturgy, it has a reference to the mystery or festival celebrated. The festival, and therefore the office, begins with _vespers_, i. e. with the evening prayer, about six o’clock, or sunset. This office is called, on the eves of Sundays and holidays, the first Vespers. Next follows _compline_, to beg GOD’S protection during sleep. At midnight come the three _nocturns_, as they are called, or _matins_, the longest part of the office. _Lauds_, or matin lauds, or the morning praises of GOD, are appointed for the cock-crowing, or before the break of day. At six o’clock, or sunrise, _prime_ shall be recited; and _tierce_, _sext_, and _none_, every third hour afterwards. (See _Canonical Hours_.) These canonical hours of prayer are still regularly observed by many religious orders, but less regularly by the secular clergy, even in the choir. When the office is recited in private, though the observance of regular hours may be commendable, it is thought sufficient if the whole be gone through any time in the twenty-four hours. The church office, exclusive of the mass and occasional services, is contained in what is called the breviary. In consequence of a decree of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V. ordered a number of learned and able men to compile the breviary; and by his bull, _Quod a nobis_, July, 1566, sanctioned it, and commanded the use thereof to the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church all over the world. Clement VIII., in 1602, finding that the breviary of Pius V. had been altered and depraved, restored it to its pristine state; and ordered, under pain of excommunication, that all future editions should strictly follow that which he then printed at the Vatican. Lastly, Urban VIII., in 1631, had the language of the whole work, and the metres of the hymns, revised. The value which the Church of Rome sets upon the breviary, may be known from the strictness with which she demands the perusal of it. Whoever enjoys any ecclesiastical revenue; all persons of both sexes, who have professed in any of the regular orders; all subdeacons, deacons, and priests, are bound to repeat, either in public or in private, the whole service of the day, out of the breviary. The omission of any one of the eight portions of which that service consists is declared to be a mortal sin, i. e. a sin that, unrepented, would be sufficient to exclude from salvation. The person guilty of such an omission loses all legal right to whatever portion of his clerical emoluments is due for the day or days wherein he neglected that duty, and cannot be absolved till he has given the forfeited sums to the poor. Such are the sanctions and penalties by which the reading of the breviary is enforced. The scrupulous exactness with which this duty is performed by all who have not secretly cast off their spiritual allegiance is quite surprising. The office of the Roman Catholic Church was originally so contrived, as to divide the psalter between the seven days of the week. Portions of the old Scriptures were also read alternately, with extracts from the legends of the saints, and the works of the fathers. But as the calendar became crowded with saints, whose festivals take precedence of the regular church service, little room is left for anything but a few psalms, which are constantly repeated, a very small part of the Old Testament, and mere fragments of the Gospels and Epistles.

The lessons are taken partly out of the Old and New Testaments, and partly out of the Acts of the Saints, and writings of the holy fathers. The LORD’S Prayer, the Hail Mary, or Angelical Salutation, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Confiteor, are frequently said. This last is a prayer, by which they who use it acknowledge themselves sinners, beg pardon of GOD, and the intercession on their behalf of the angels, of the saints, and of their brethren upon earth. No prayers are more frequently in the mouths of Roman Catholics than these four; to which we may add the doxology, repeated during the psalmody in every office, but though not uniformly at the end of every psalm, and in other places. In every canonical hour a hymn is also said, often composed by Prudentius, or some other ancient father. The Roman breviary contains also a small office, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and likewise what is called the office of the dead. We there find, also, the penitential and the gradual psalms, as they are called, together with the litanies of the saints, and of the Virgin Mary of Loretto, which are the only two that have the sanction of the Church. The breviary is generally printed in four volumes, one for each season of the year.

BRIEFS (see _Bulls_) are pontifical letters issued from the court of Rome, sealed in red wax, with the seal of the fisherman’s ring: they are written in Roman characters, and subscribed by the secretary of briefs, who is a secretary of state, (usually either a bishop or a cardinal,) required to be well versed in the legal style of papal documents, and in the sacred canons. The word _Brief_, in our Prayer Book, signifies the sovereign letters patent, authorizing a collection for a charitable purpose; as they are now styled, Queen’s letters. These are directed to be read among the notices after the Nicene Creed.

BROACH. In strictness any spire, but generally used to signify a spire, the junction of which with the tower is not marked by a parapet. Lancet and Geometrical spires are generally thus treated; Decorated, frequently; Perpendicular, rarely.

BULL _in Cœna Domini_. This is the name given to a bull in the Church of Rome, which is publicly read on the day of the LORD’S supper, viz. Holy Thursday, by a cardinal deacon in the pope’s presence, accompanied with the other cardinals and the bishops. The same contains an excommunication of all that are called, by that apostate Church, heretics, stubborn and disobedient to the holy see. And after the reading of this bull, the pope throws a burning torch into the public place, to denote the thunder of this anathema. It is declared expressly, in the beginning of the bull of Pope Paul III., of the year 1536, that it is the ancient custom of the sovereign pontiffs to publish this excommunication on Holy Thursday, to preserve the purity of the Christian religion, and to keep the union of the faithful; but the original of this ceremony is not inserted in it. The principal heads of this bull concern heretics and their upholders, pirates, imposers of new customs, those who falsify the bulls and other apostolic letters; those who abuse the prelates of the Church; those that trouble or would restrain ecclesiastical jurisdiction, even under pretence of preventing some violence, though they might be counsellors or advocates, generals to secular princes, whether emperors, kings, or dukes; those who usurp the goods of the Church, &c. All these cases are reserved to the pope, and no priest can give absolution in such a case, if it be not at the point of death. The Council of Tours, in 1510, declared the bull in _Cœna Domini_ void in respect of France, which has often protested against it, in what relates to the king’s prerogative, and the liberties of the Gallican Church; and there are now but few other Popish princes or states that have much regard to it. So much has the authority of the papal chair declined since the Reformation, even over those who still remain in the communion of what they call the Roman Catholic Church.

BULLS (see _Briefs_) are pontifical letters, in the Romish Church, written in old Gothic characters upon stout and coarse skins, and issued from the apostolic chancery, under a seal (_bulla_) of lead; which seal gives validity to the document, and is attached, if it be a “_Bull of Grace_,” by a cord of silk; and if it be a “_Bull of Justice_,” by a cord of hemp.

The seal of the fisherman’s ring corresponds, in some degree, with the privy seal; and the _bulla_, or seal of lead, with the great seal of England.

The _bulla_ is, properly, a seal of empire. The imperial _bulla_ is of gold; and it was under a seal of this description that King John resigned the crown of England to the Pope.

BRIEFS and BULLS differ from each other.

1. BRIEFS are issued from the Roman court by the apostolic secretary, sealed with red wax by the fisherman’s ring. BULLS are issued by the apostolic chancellor, under a seal of lead, having on one side impressed the likeness of St. Peter and St. Paul; and, on the other, the name of the reigning pope.

2. BRIEFS are written upon fine and white skins. BULLS, upon those which are thick, coarse, and rude.

3. BRIEFS are written in Roman characters, in a legible, fair, and elegant manner. BULLS, though in Latin, are written in old Gothic characters, without line or stop, or that regard to spelling which is observed in briefs.

4. Briefs are dated “a die nativitatis;” BULLS dated “a die incarnationis.”

5. BRIEFS have the date abbreviated; BULLS have it given in length.

6. BRIEFS begin in a different form, with the name of the pope: thus “Clem. Papa XII. &c.” BULLS begin with the words “[Clemens] Episcopus servus servorum Dei;” by way of distinct heading.

7. BRIEFS are issued before the pope’s coronation, but BULLS are not issued till afterwards. (See on this subject, _Corrad. in Praxi Dispens._ lib. ii. c. 7, n. 29; _Rosam de Executione Liter. Apostol._ c. 2, n. 67; _Cardinal de Luca. in relat. Romanæ Curiæ_, discurs, 7, and other canonists.)

Notwithstanding the above-mentioned differences between BRIEFS and BULLS, and that greater weight is usually attached to a bull than to a brief, on account of its more formal character, still BRIEFS have the same authority as BULLS on all the matters to which they relate; _both_ being equally acts of the pope, though issued from different departments of his Holiness’s government.

BURIAL. (See _Cemetery_, _Dead_.) Christians in the first centuries used to bury their dead in the places used also by the heathen, in caves or vaults by the wayside, or in fields out of their cities. The heathen used to burn the bodies of the dead, and collect the ashes in urns, but Christians thought it to be a barbarity and insult to destroy a body appointed to a glorious resurrection. They therefore restored the older and better practice of laying the remains decently in the earth. Their persecutors, knowing their feelings on this subject, often endeavoured to prevent them from burying their dead, by burning the bodies of their martyrs, as they did that of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna; or by throwing their ashes into rivers, as they did those of the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne in France, A. D. 177. And although the heathen seemed to think it unlucky and of evil omen to perform their funerals by day, carrying out their dead after night-fall, and by torch-light; the Christians used to follow their deceased friends to the grave, in the light of the sun, with a large attendance of people walking in procession, sometimes carrying candles in token of joy and thanksgiving, and chanting psalms. It was also the custom, before they went to the grave, to assemble in the church, where the body was laid, and a funeral sermon was sometimes preached. The holy communion was administered on these occasions to the friends of the deceased, for which a service, with an appropriate Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, was set forth in our own Church in the First Book of King Edward VI., and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1560. The office for the Burial of the Dead used by the English Church corresponds in all respects with the offices of the primitive Church, particularly as regards the psalms, the anthem, “Man that is born of a woman,” &c., and the portions of Scripture appointed to be read.

No person can be buried in the church, or in any part of it, without the consent of the incumbent, to whom alone the common law has given this privilege, because the soil and freehold of the church is in the parson only. But upon the like ground of freehold, the common law has one exception to the necessity of the leave of the parson, namely, where a burying-place within the church is prescribed for as belonging to a manor house. By the common law of England, any person may be buried in the churchyard of the parish where he dies, without paying anything for breaking the soil, unless a fee is payable by prescription, or immemorial usage. But ordinarily a person may not be buried in the churchyard of another parish than that wherein he died, at least without the consent of the parishioners or churchwardens, whose parochial right of burial is invaded thereby, and perhaps also of the incumbent whose soil is broken; but where a person dies on his journey or otherwise, out of the parish, or where there is a family vault or burial-place in the church, or chancel, or aisle of such other parish, it may be otherwise. Burial cannot be legally refused to dead bodies on account of debt, even although the debtor was confined in prison at the time of his death.

By canon 68. “No minister shall refuse or delay to bury any corpse that is brought to the church or churchyard, (convenient warning being given him thereof before,) in such manner and form as is prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. And if he shall refuse so to do, except the party deceased were denounced excommunicated _majori excommunicatione_, for some grievous and notorious crime, (and no man able to testify of his repentance,) he shall be suspended by the bishop of the diocese from his ministry by the space of three months.” But by the rubric before the office for Burial of the Dead, the said office likewise shall not be used for any that die unbaptized, or that have laid violent hands upon themselves. The proper judges, whether persons who died by their own hands were out of their senses, are doubtless the coroner’s jury. The minister of the parish has no authority to be present at viewing the body, or to summon or examine witnesses. And therefore he is neither entitled nor able to judge in the affair; but may well acquiesce in the public determination, without making any private inquiry. Indeed, were he to make one, the opinion which he might form from thence could usually be grounded only on common discourse and bare assertion. It cannot be justifiable to act upon these in contradiction to the decision of a jury after hearing witnesses upon oath. Even though there may be reason to suppose that the coroner’s jury are frequently too favourable in their judgment, in consideration of the circumstances of the family of the deceased with respect to the forfeiture, and their verdict is in its own nature traversable, yet the burial may not be delayed until that matter upon trial shall finally be determined. On acquittal of the crime of self-murder by the coroner’s jury, the body in that case not being demanded by the law, it seems that the clergyman may and ought to admit that body to Christian burial.

The rubric directs that the priests and clerks meeting the corpse at the entrance of the churchyard, and going before it either into the church or towards the grave, shall say or sing as is there appointed. By which it seems to be discretionary in the minister, whether the corpse shall be carried into the church or not. And there may be good reason for not bringing it into the church, especially in cases of infection.

Canon 67. After the party’s death there shall be rung no more than one short peal, and one before the burial, and one other after the burial.

The corpse that is buried belongs to no one, but is subject to ecclesiastical cognizance, if abused or removed; and a corpse, once buried, cannot be taken up or removed without licence from the ordinary, if it is to be buried in another place, or the like; but in the case of a violent death the coroner may take up the body for his inspection, if it is interred before he comes to view it.—_Dr. Burn._

With reference to the Order for the Burial of the Dead in the Book of Common Prayer, we must note that the ignorance and corruption of the latter centuries had not vitiated any of the sacred administrations more than this of burial; on which the fancies of purgatory and prayers for the dead had so great an influence, that most of the forms now extant consist of little else but impertinent and useless petitions for the dead. Our Protestant reformers therefore, remembering St. Augustine’s rule, that all this office is designed rather for the comfort of the living, than the benefit of the dead, have justly rejected these superstitions; and contrived this present form wholly for the instruction, admonition, and comfort of the attendants on this solemnity, and therein have reduced this matter to its prime intention and use. It is not easy to tell exactly what the primitive form of burial was; but the psalms were a principal part of it, as all the fathers testify. They are now also a chief part of this office, and the rest is generally taken out of Holy Scripture, being such places as are most proper to the occasion, so as to form altogether a most pious and practical office.—_Dean Comber._

Although all persons are for decency to be put under ground, yet that some are not capable of Christian burial appears not only from the canons of the ancient Church, but also from the following rubric prefixed to our office at the last review: “Here it is to be noted, that the office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves.”

The persons capable of Christian burial are only those within the pale of the Church, for the rubric excludes all others from this privilege; which is agreeable to the sense of all nations, who have generally thought fit to punish some kinds of malefactors with the want of these rites after their death, as well to afflict the criminal, while he lives, with apprehensions of the disgrace to be done to his body, which is naturally dear to all men; as to perpetuate the odium of the crime, while the corpse is exposed to public scorn after the offender hath parted with his life. Thus murderers were punished among the Romans: and among the Greeks, robbers of temples and sacrilegious persons, as also those that betrayed their country, with divers other notorious transgressors. But none have been so justly and so universally deprived of that natural right, which all men seem to have in a grave, as those who break that great law of nature, the law of self-preservation, by laying violent hands upon themselves. Among the Jews, these were forbidden to be buried, and among the ancient Romans also. And when many of the Milesian virgins made themselves away, the rest were restrained from so vile a crime by a decree, that whosoever so died, she should not be buried, but her naked body should be exposed to the common view. And, to confirm the equity of these customs, we find the Christian councils, as well abroad as at home, have forbidden the clergy to bury those that killed themselves; as doth also our present rubric in imitation of those ancient constitutions. And for very great reason, namely, to terrify all from committing so detestable and desperate a sin, as is the wilful destroying of GOD’S image, the casting away of their own souls, as well as their opportunities of repentance: the Church hereby declaring, that she hath little hopes of their salvation, who die in an act of the greatest wickedness, which they can never repent of after it be committed.

To these are to be added all that die under the sentence of excommunication, who in the primitive times were denied Christian burial also, with the intent of bringing the excommunicated to seek their absolution and the Church’s peace for their soul’s health, ere they leave this world; and, if not, of declaring them cut off from the body of CHRIST, and by this mark of infamy distinguishing them from obedient and regular Christians.

This office is also denied to infants not yet admitted into the Church by baptism; not so much to punish the infants, who have done no crime, as the parents, by whose neglect this too often happens. And perhaps this external and sensible kind of punishment may move them to be more careful to accomplish the office in due time, than higher and more spiritual considerations will do.

Not that the Church determines anything concerning the future state of those that depart before they are admitted to baptism; but since they have not been received within the pale of the Church, we cannot properly use an office at their funeral, which all along supposes the person that is buried to have died in her communion.

Whether this office is to be used over such as have been baptized by the dissenters or sectaries, who have no regular commission for the administering of the sacraments, has been a subject of dispute; people generally determining on one side, or the other, according to their different sentiments of the validity or invalidity of such disputed baptisms.—_Wheatly._

All other persons that die in the communion of the visible Church are capable of these rites of Christian burial, according to the rules and practice both of the primitive and the present ages.—_Dean Comber._

Though this rubric was not drawn up till 1661, and none of the regulations which it enjoins, excepting only what relates to persons excommunicate, was before that time specified in any of our articles, or ecclesiastical constitutions, yet it must not be considered as a new law, but merely as explanatory of the ancient canon law, and of the previous usage in England.—_Shepherd._

The Order for the Burial of the Dead is much modified from the service in the First Book of King Edward VI. The psalms were the 116th, 139th, and 146th: the prayers were in many respects different; and there are certain passages omitted in the Second Book. The psalms in the First Book were omitted in the subsequent revisals, and the lesson was recited after the anthem, “I heard a voice from heaven:” and the present psalms were not inserted till the last Review.

At solemn funerals it has not been unusual to combine the Burial Service with the office of Evening Prayer, substituting the psalms and lessons for those of the day; but the regularity of this usage is questionable.—_Jebb._

BUTTRESS. An external support to a wall, so arranged as to counteract the lateral thrust of roofs and vaulting.

The buttress is not used in Classic architecture, where the thrust is always vertical; and in Romanesque it is hardly developed. It is, in fact, a correlative of the pointed arch, especially when used in vaulting, and so first attains considerable depth in the Lancet period. In the Tudor period, when it had to support fan vaulting of vast expanse and weight, its depth or projection was proportionably increased.

The _flying buttress_, _arch-buttress_, or _cross-springer_, is an arch delivering the weight to be supported at a distance, as of a spire at the angle of the tower, of a clerestory at the aisle buttress, or of the chapter-house roof at Lincoln, to the heavy masses of masonry prepared at a distance to receive it.

The pinnacles which frequently terminate buttresses are intended to add to the weight of the supporting mass. (See _Bay_.)

CABBALA. (_Hebrew._) _Tradition._ Among the Jews, it principally means the mystical interpretations of their Scriptures, handed down by tradition. The manner in which Maimonides explains the Cabbala, or Traditions of the Jews, is as follows: “God not only delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sina, but the explanation of it likewise. When Moses came down from the mount, and entered into his tent, Aaron went to visit him, and Moses acquainted Aaron with the laws he had received from GOD, together with the explanation of them. After this, Aaron placed himself at the right hand of Moses, and Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, were admitted; to whom Moses repeated what he had just before told to Aaron. These being seated, the one on the right, the other on the left hand of Moses, the seventy elders of Israel, who composed the Sanhedrim, came in. Moses again declared the same laws to them, with the interpretations of them, as he had done before to Aaron and his sons. Lastly, all who pleased of the common people were invited to enter, and Moses instructed them likewise in the same manner as the rest. So that Aaron heard four times what Moses had been taught by GOD upon Mount Sina; Eleazar and Ithamar three times; the seventy elders twice; and the people once. Moses afterwards reduced the laws, which he had received, into writing, but not the explanations of them; these he thought it sufficient to trust to the memories of the above-mentioned persons, who, being perfectly instructed in them, delivered them to their children, and these again to theirs, from age to age.”

The Cabbala, therefore, is properly the _Oral Law_ of the Jews, delivered down, by word of mouth, from father to son; and it is to these interpretations of the _written law_ our _Saviour’s_ censure is to be applied, when he reproves the Jews for “making the commands of GOD of none effect through their traditions.”

Some of the Rabbins pretend that the origin of the Cabbala is to be referred to the angels; that the angel Raziel instructed Adam in it; the angel Japhiel, Shem; the angel Zedekiel, Abraham, &c. But the truth is, these explications of the Law are only the several interpretations and decisions of the Rabbins on the Law of Moses; in the framing of which they studied principally the combinations of particular words, letters, and numbers, and by that means pretended to discover clearly the true sense of the difficult passages of Scripture.

This is properly called the _Artificial Cabbala_, to distinguish it from _simple tradition_: and it is of three sorts. The first, called _Gematria_, consists in taking _letters_ as _figures_, and explaining words by the arithmetical value of the letters of which they are composed. For instance, the Hebrew letters of _Jabo-Schiloh_ (Shiloh shall come) make up the same arithmetical number as _Messiach (the Messiah)_: from whence they conclude that _Shiloh_ signifies the _Messiah_.

The second kind of _Artificial Cabbala_, which is called _Notaricon_, consists in taking each particular letter of a word for an entire diction. For example, of _Rereschith_, which is the first word of Genesis, composed of the letters B. R. A. S. C. H. J. T., they make _Bura-Rakia-Arex-Schamaim-Jain-Tehomoth_, i. e. he created the firmament, the earth, the heavens, the sea, and the deep. Or in forming one entire diction out of the initial letters of many: thus, in _Atah-Gibbor-Leholam-Adonai_, (Thou art strong for ever, O LORD,) they put the initial letters of this sentence together, and form the word _Agla_, which signifies either, I will reveal, or, a drop of dew, and is the Cabbalistic name of GOD.

The third kind, called _Themura_, consists in changing and transposing the letters of a word: thus of the word _Bereschith_ (the first of the book of Genesis) they make _A-betisri_, the first of the month _Tisri_, and infer from thence that the world was created on the first day of the month Tisri, which answers very nearly to our September.

The Cabbala, according to the Jews, is a noble and sublime science, conducting men by an easy method to the profoundest truths. Without it, the Holy Scriptures could not be distinguished from profane books, wherein we find some miraculous events, and as pure morality as that of the law, if we did not penetrate into the truths locked up under the external cover of the literal sense. As men were grossly deceived, when, dwelling upon the sensible object, they mistook angels for men; so also they fall into error or ignorance when they insist upon the surface of letters or words, which change with custom, and ascend not up to the ideas of GOD himself, which are infinitely more noble and spiritual.

Certain visionaries among the Jews believe that our blessed LORD wrought his miracles by virtue of the mysteries of the Cabbala. Some learned men are of opinion, that Pythagoras and Plato learned the Cabbalistic art of the Jews in Egypt; others, on the contrary, say the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato furnished the Jews with the Cabbala. Most of the heretics, in the primitive Christian Church, fell into the vain conceits of the Cabbala; particularly the Gnostics, Valentinians, and Basilidians.—_Broughton._

CABBALISTS. Those Jewish doctors who profess the study of the _Cabbala_. In the opinion of these men, there is not a word, letter, or accent in the law, without some mystery in it. The first Cabbalistical author that we know of is Simon, the son of Joachai, who is said to have lived a little before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. His book, entitled Zohar, is extant; but it is agreed that many additions have been made to it. The first part of this work is entitled _Zeniutha_, or _Mystery_; the second _Idra Rabba_, or the _Great Synod_; the third, _Idra Latta_, or the _Little Synod_, which is the author’s last adieu to his disciples.—_Broughton._

CAINITES, or CANIANS. Christian heretics, a sect of the Gnostics of the second century: they were called according to Cain’s name, who, they say, was formed by a celestial and almighty power, and that Abel was made by a weak one: they held that the way to be saved was to make trial of all manner of things, and to satisfy their lusts with all wicked actions: they fancied a great number of angels, to which they gave barbarous names, attributing to each of them a particular sin; so that when they were about any wicked action, they invoked the angel whom they fancied to preside over it. They composed a book called St. Paul’s Ascension to Heaven, which they filled with blasphemies and execrable impieties, as if they were the secret words which that apostle heard in his ecstasy: they had a particular veneration for Cain, Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, the Sodomites, and especially for Judas, on whose Gospel they relied, because his treachery occasioned the death of CHRIST; and they made use of a Gospel that bore that false disciple’s name.

CALENDAR. The word calendar is derived from _calendæ_, the first day of the Roman month. Our calendar in the Prayer Book consists of several columns. The first shows the days of the month in their numerical order; the second contains the letters of the alphabet affixed to the days of the week; the third, as printed in the larger Common Prayer Books, (and as it ought to be in all,) has the calends, nones, and ides, which was the method of computation used by the old Romans and primitive Christians, and is still useful to those who read ecclesiastical history.

The last four columns contain the course of lessons for morning and evening prayer for ordinary days throughout the year. The intermediate column, namely, the fourth, contains, together with the holy days observed by the Church of England, such Popish holy days as it was thought best to retain. The reasons why the names of these saints’ days and holy days were resumed into the calendar are various. Some of them being retained upon account of our courts of justice, which usually made their returns on these days, or else upon the days before or after them, which were called in the writs, _Vigil._, _Fest._, or _Crast._, as in _Vigil. Martin_, _Fest. Martin_, _Crast. Martin_, and the like. Others are probably kept in the calendar for the sake of such tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and others, as are wont to celebrate the memory of their tutelar saints: as the “Welshmen do of St. David, the shoemakers of St. Crispin, &c. And again, churches being in several places dedicated to some or other of these saints, it has been the usual custom in such places to have wakes or fairs kept upon those days; so that the people would probably be displeased, if, either in this, or the former case, their favourite saint’s name should be left out of the calendar. Besides, the histories which were writ before the Reformation do frequently speak of transactions happening upon such a holy day, or about such a time, without mentioning the month, relating one thing to be done at Lammas-tide, and another about Martinmas, &c.; so that were these names quite left out of the calendar, we might be at a loss to know when several of these transactions happened. For this and the foregoing reasons our second reformers under Queen Elizabeth (though all those days had been omitted in both books of King Edward VI., excepting St. George’s day, Lammas day, St. Laurence, and St. Clement, which two last were in his Second Book) thought convenient to restore the names of them to the calendar, though not with any regard of being kept holy by the Church. For this they thought prudent to forbid, as well upon the account of the great inconveniency brought into the Church in the times of Popery, by the observation of such a number of holy days, to the great prejudice of labouring and trading men, as by reason that many of those saints they then commemorated were oftentimes men of none of the best characters. Besides, the history of these saints, and the accounts they gave of the other holy days, were frequently found to be feigned and fabulous. An effort to reform the calendar was made in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but was never carried into effect. By the acts 24 Geo. ii. c. 23, and 25 Geo. ii. c. 30, the calendar was reformed, and the new style introduced: in consequence of which the calendar (only so far as its astronomical errors were concerned) has attained to that form in which it is now prefixed to the Prayer Book. See _Stephens’s Book of Common Prayer, with notes_, where both the ancient and modern calendar are given at length.—_Wheatly._

CALL TO THE MINISTRY. There are two sorts of motions or calls to the ministry. First, the outward; whereby those who have a right of recommending a person to the execution of any ecclesiastical office, do fix upon him as one in their judgment qualified for it; and the bishop, approving their judgment, does admit him into such office in due manner, as the laws of GOD and the rites of the Church do require. But the inward call is something preceding this, and is required by our Church as a qualification for the latter. Now it has been some matter of doubt what is meant here by being “inwardly moved by the HOLY GHOST.” But I think no one can judge, that the compilers of this office did ever entertain such enthusiastical notions, as to imagine that no persons were to be admitted into any degree of the ecclesiastical orders, without having a special revelation from the HOLY SPIRIT, that GOD had particularly commissioned them to take upon them that office, as St. Paul says of himself, that he was “an apostle called of GOD.” (Rom. i. 1; 1 Cor. i. 1.) For such calls as these were miraculous and extraordinary, and remained not much longer than the apostolical times. It remains, therefore, that this motion or call must be something in a more ordinary and common way.