Chapter XX: Preface: To the Seventh Edition (19)

The national Church of the kingdom of Greece has lately been reconstructed similarly to that of Russia, by the establishment of a synod.—See _King’s Rites of the Greek Church_, and _Cowel’s Account of the Greek Church_, 1722.

CHURCH, ARCHITECTURE OF. There seems to be an absurdity in the modern practice of building churches for the ritual of the nineteenth century, on the model of churches designed for the ritual of the fourteenth century. And for a service such as ours, nothing more is required than a nave and a chancel; the only divisions which we find in the primitive Eastern churches. But as we have inherited churches which were erected during the middle ages, it is rather important that we should understand their designed arrangement. We find in such churches a _nave_ (_navis_) with its _aisles_ (_alæ_); a _chancel_; a _tower_, generally at the west end; and a _porch_, generally to the second bay of the south aisle. The uses of the nave and chancel are obvious; the aisles were added in almost all cases perhaps, prospectively at least in all, that they might serve for places for the erection of chantry altars, and for the same end served the transepts and chancel aisles, or side chapels, to the chancels, sometimes found even in small churches. To the chancel, generally at the north, a _vestry_ was often attached; and this was sometimes enlarged into a habitation for the officiating priest, by the addition of an upper chamber, with fire-place and other conveniences. But the more frequent place for this _domus inclusa_ was over the porch, when it is commonly called _parvise_; and sometimes the tower has evidently been made habitable, though, in this case, it may be rather suspected that means of defence have been contemplated. In the _domus inclusa_, in the vestry, and in the parvise, was often an altar, which not unfrequently remains. (See _Altar_.)

The chancel was separated from the nave by a screen, _cancelli_, from which the word chancel is derived, and over the screen a loft was extended, bearing the _rood_—a figure of our blessed LORD on the cross, and, on either side, figures of the Blessed Virgin and of St. John. But few _rood lofts_ remain, but the _screen_ is of frequent occurrence, especially in the northern and eastern counties. The loft was generally gained by a newel stair running up the angle between the chancel and the nave, but sometimes apparently by moveable steps. The side chapels were generally parted off from the adjoining parts of the church by screens, called _parcloses_. The chancel, if any conventual body was attached to the church, was furnished with stalls, which were set against the north and south walls, and returned against the rood screen, looking east. Connected with the altar, and sometimes, also, with some of the chantry altars, were _sedilia_, in the south wall of the chancel, varying in number from one to five, for the officiating clergy; and, eastward of these, the _piscina_; also an _aumbrie_, or locker, in the north chancel wall. The altar and these accessories were generally raised at least one step above the level of the rest of the chancel floor, and the chancel itself the like height from the nave. The _font_ stood against the first pillar to the left hand, entering at the south porch; it was often raised on steps, and furnished with an elaborate cover. (See _Baptistery_.) The _pulpit_ always stood in the nave, generally against a north pillar in _cathedrals_; but in other churches, generally against a south pillar, towards the east. The seats for the congregation were placed in a double series along the nave, with an alley between, and looking east. There are a few instances of seats with doors, but none of high pews till the time of the Puritans.

The doors to the church were almost always opposite to one another in the second bay of the aisles: besides these, there was often a west door, and this is generally supposed to denote some connexion with a monastic body, and was, perhaps, especially used on occasions of greater pomp, processions, and the like. What is usually called _the priest’s door_, at the south side of the chancel, opens always from within, and was, therefore, _not_ (as is usually supposed) _for the priest to enter by_: in which case, moreover, it would rather have been to the north, where the glebe house usually stands. Was it for the _exit_ of those who had assisted at mass? A little _bell-cot_ is often seen over the nave and altar, or on some other part of the church, called the _service-bell-cot_; for the bell rung at certain solemn parts of the service of the mass; as at the words “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus DEUS Sabaoth,” and at the elevation of the Host. If, as is supposed, those who were not in the church were accustomed to kneel at this time, there is an obvious reason for the external position of this bell.

CHURCHING OF WOMEN. The birth of man is so truly wonderful, that it seems to be designed as a standing demonstration of the omnipotence of GOD. And therefore that the frequency of it may not diminish our admiration, the Church orders a public and solemn acknowledgment to be made on every such occasion by the woman on whom the miracle is wrought; who still feels the bruise of our first parents’ fall, and labours under the curse which Eve then entailed upon her whole sex.

As to the original of this custom, it is not to be doubted but that, as many other Christian usages received their rise from other parts of the Jewish economy, so did this from the rite of purification, which is enjoined so particularly in the twelfth chapter of Leviticus. Not that we observe it by virtue of that precept, which we grant to have been ceremonial, and so not now of any force; but because we apprehend some moral duty to have been implied in it by way of analogy, which must be obligatory upon all, even when the ceremony is ceased. The uncleanness of the woman, the set number of days she is to abstain from the tabernacle, and the sacrifices she was to offer when she first came abroad, are rites wholly abolished, and what we no ways regard; but then the open and solemn acknowledgment of GOD’S goodness in delivering the mother, and increasing the number of mankind, is a duty that will oblige to the end of the world. And therefore, though the mother be now no longer obliged to offer the material sacrifices of the law, yet she is nevertheless bound to offer the evangelical sacrifice of praise. She is still publicly to acknowledge the blessing vouchsafed her, and to profess her sense of the fresh obligation it lays her under to obedience. Nor indeed may the Church be so reasonably supposed to have taken up this rite from the practice of the Jews, as she may be, that she began it in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, who, though she was rather sanctified than defiled by the birth of our LORD, and so had no need of purification from any uncleanness, whether legal or moral; yet wisely and humbly submitted to this rite, and offered her praise, together with her blessed Son, in the temple. And that from hence this usage was derived among Christians seems probable, not only from its being so universal and ancient, that the beginning of it can hardly anywhere be found; but also from the practice of the Eastern Church, where the mother still brings the child along with her, and presents it to GOD on her churching-day. The priest indeed is there said to “purify” them: and in our first Common Prayer, this office with us was entitled “the Order of the Purification of Women.” But that neither of these terms implied, that the woman had contracted any uncleanness in her state of child-bearing, may not only be inferred from the silence of the offices both in the Greek Church and ours, in relation to any uncleanness; but is also further evident from the ancient laws relating to this practice, which by no means ground it upon any impurity from which the woman stands in need to be purged. And therefore, when our own liturgy came to be reviewed, to prevent all misconstructions that might be put upon the word, the title was altered, and the office named, (as it is still in our present Common Prayer Book,) “The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth, commonly called, The Churching of Women.”—_Dean Comber, Wheatly._

When Holy Scripture describes excessive sorrow in the most expressive manner, it likens it to that of a woman in travail. And if this sorrow be so excessive, how great must the joy be to be delivered from that sorrow! commensurate certainly, and of adequate proportion: and no less must be the debt of thankfulness to the benefactor, the donor of that recovery; whence a necessity of “thanksgiving of women after child-birth.” If it be asked, why the Church hath appointed a particular form for this deliverance, and not for deliverance from other cases of equal danger? the answer is, the Church did not so much take measure of the peril, as accommodate herself to that mark of separation which GOD himself hath put between this and other maladies. “To conceive and bring forth in sorrow” was signally inflicted upon Eve; and, in her, upon all mothers, as a penalty for her first disobedience (Gen. iii. 16); so that the sorrows of child-birth have, by GOD’S express determination, a more direct and peculiar reference to Eve’s disobedience than any other disease whatsoever; and, though all maladies are the product of the first sin, yet is the malediction specifically fixed and applied to this alone. Now, when that which was ordained primarily as a curse for the first sin, is converted to so great a blessing, GOD is certainly in that case more to be praised in a set and solemn office.—_L’ Estrange._

In the Greek Church the time for performing this office is limited to be on the fortieth day; but, in the West, the time was never strictly determined. And so our present rubric does not pretend to limit the day when the woman shall be churched, but only supposes that she will come “at the usual time after her delivery.” The “usual time” is now about a month, for the woman’s weakness will seldom permit her coming sooner. And if she be not able to come so soon, she is allowed to stay a longer time, the Church not expecting her to return her thanks for a blessing before it is received.—_Wheatly._

It is required, that whenever a woman is churched, she “shall come into the church.” And this is enjoined, first, for the honour of GOD, whose marvellous works in the formation of the child, and the preservation of the woman, ought publicly to be owned, that so others may learn to put their trust in him. Secondly, that the whole congregation may have a fit opportunity for praising GOD for the too much forgotten mercy of their birth. And, thirdly, that the woman may, in the proper place, own the mercy now vouchsafed her, of being restored to the happy privilege of worshipping GOD in the congregation of his saints.

How great, therefore, is the absurdity which some would introduce, of stifling their acknowledgments in private houses, and of giving thanks for their recovery and enlargement in no other place than that of their confinement and restraint; a practice which is inconsistent with the very name of this office, which is called “the _churching_ of women,” and which consequently implies a ridiculous solecism, of being _churched at home_. Nor is it anything more consistent with the end and devotions prescribed by this office, than it is with the name of it. For with what decency or propriety can the woman pretend to “pay her vows in the presence of all GOD’S people, in the courts of the LORD’S house,” when she is only assuming state in a bedchamber or parlour, and perhaps only accompanied with her midwife or nurse? To give thanks, therefore, at home (for by no means call it “churching”) is not only an act of disobedience to the Church, but a high affront to Almighty GOD; whose mercy they scorn to acknowledge in a church, and think it honour enough done him, if he is summoned by his priest to wait on them at their house, and to take what thanks they will vouchsafe him there. But methinks a minister, who has any regard for his character, and considers the honour of the LORD he serves, should disdain such a servile compliance and submission, and abhor the betraying of his Master’s dignity. Here can be no pretence of danger in the case, should the woman prove obstinate, upon the priest’s refusal (which ministers are apt to urge for their excuse, when they are prevailed upon to give public baptism in private); nor is the decision of a council wanting to instruct him, (if he has any doubts upon account of the woman’s ill health,) that he is not to perform this office at home, though she be really so weak as not to be able to come to church.—_Conc._ 3, _Mediol._ cap. 5. For if she be not able to come to church, let her stay till she is; GOD does not require any thanks for a mercy, before he has vouchsafed it: but if she comes as soon as her strength permits, she discharges her obligations both to him and the Church.—_Wheatly._

The rubric, at the end of the service, directs the woman that cometh to give her thanks, to offer the accustomed offerings. By “the accustomed offerings” is to be understood some offering to the minister who performs the office, not under the notion of a fee or reward, but of something set apart as a tribute or acknowledgment due to GOD, who is pleased to declare himself honoured or robbed according as such offerings are paid or withheld. We see under the law, that every woman, who came to be purified after child-bearing, was required to bring something that put her to an expense; even the poorest among them was not wholly excused, but obliged to do something, though it were but small. And though neither the kind nor the value of the expense be now prescribed, yet sure the expense itself should not covetously be saved: a woman that comes with any thankfulness or gratitude should scorn to offer what David disdained, namely, “of that which costs nothing.” And indeed with what sincerity or truth can she say, as she is directed to do in one of the Psalms, “I will pay my vows now in the presence of all his people,” if at the same time she designs no voluntary offering, which vows were always understood to imply?

But, besides the accustomed offering to the minister, the woman is to make a yet much better and greater offering, namely, an offering of herself, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice to GOD. For the rubric declares, that “if there be a communion, it is convenient that she receive the holy communion;” that being the most solemn way of praising GOD for him by whom she received both the present and all other GOD’S mercies towards her; and a means also to bind herself more strictly to spend those days in his service, which, by this late deliverance, he hath added to her life.—_Wheatly._

In the Greek and Ethiopic Churches women upon these occasions always did receive the holy sacrament; and it seems in this very Church above a thousand years ago; and still we carry them up to the altar to remind them of their duty. And doubtless the omission of it occasions the too soon forgetting of this mercy, and the sudden falling off from piety, which we see in too many. Here they may praise GOD for our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and for this late temporal mercy also: here they may quicken their graces, seal their vows and promises of obedience, offer their charity, and begin that pious life to which they are so many ways obliged. To receive the sacrament, while the sense of GOD’S goodness and her own engagements is so fresh upon her, is the likeliest means to make her remember this blessing long, apply it right, and effectually to profit by it. Wherefore let it not be omitted on this occasion.—_Dean Comber._

The woman is directed to kneel down in “some convenient place, as hath been accustomed.” No general rule is either prescribed or observed as to time or place, and therefore these are matters which fall within the office of the ordinary to determine. Many read the office just before the General Thanksgiving: others, though not so usually, at some part of the Communion Service; some at the altar, others at the desk: the woman in some churches occupies a seat specially set apart for this office; in others she kneels at the altar table, and there makes her offering. And in others a custom prevails (which does not seem worthy of imitation) of performing this service at some time distinct from the office of Common Prayer.

CHURCH RATE. (See _Rate_.)

CHURCHWARDENS. These are very ancient officers, and by the common law are a lay corporation, to take care of the goods of the church, and may sue and be sued as the representatives of the parish. Churches are to be repaired by the churchwardens, at the charge of all the inhabitants, or such as occupy houses or lands within the parish.

In the ancient episcopal synods, the bishops were wont to summon divers creditable persons out of every parish, to give information of, and to attest the disorders of clergy and people. They were called _testes synodales_; and were, in after times, a kind of empanelled jury, consisting of two, three, or more persons in every parish, who were, upon oath, to present all heretics and other irregular persons. And these, in process of time, became standing officers in several places, especially in great cities, and from hence were called synods-men, and by corruption sidesmen: they are also sometimes called questmen, from the nature of their office, in making inquiry concerning offences. And these sidesmen or questmen, by Canon 90, are to be chosen yearly in Easter week, by the minister and parishioners, (if they can agree,) otherwise to be appointed by the ordinary of the diocese. But for the most part this whole office is now devolved upon the churchwardens, together with that other office which their name more properly imports, of taking care of the church and the goods thereof, which has long been their function.

By Canon 118. The churchwardens and sidesmen shall be chosen the first week after Easter, or some week following, according to the direction of the ordinary.

And by Canon 89. All churchwardens or questmen in every parish shall be chosen by the joint consent of the minister and the parishioners, if it may be; but if they cannot agree upon such a choice, then the minister shall choose one, and the parishioners another; and without such a joint or several choice, none shall take upon them to be churchwardens. But if the parish is entitled by custom to choose both churchwardens, then the parson is restrained of his right under this canon. For further information on this subject the reader is referred to Dean Prideaux’s “Practical Guide to the Duties of Churchwardens in the execution of their Office,” a new edition of which has recently appeared, edited by C. G. Prideaux, barrister-at-law. (See _Sidesmen_ and _Visitation_.)

CHURCHYARD. The ground adjoining to the church, in which the dead are buried. As to the original of burial-places, many writers have observed, that, at the first erection of churches, no part of the adjacent ground was allotted for the interment of the dead; but some place for this purpose was appointed at a further distance. This practice continued until the time of Gregory the Great, when the monks and priests procured leave, for their greater ease and profit, that a liberty of sepulture might be in churches or places adjoining to them. But, by the ninth canon, entitled _De non sepeliendo in ecclesiis_, this custom of sepulture in churches was restrained, and no such liberty allowed for the future, unless the person was a priest or some holy man, who, by the merits of his past life, might deserve such peculiar favour.

By Canon 85. The churchwardens or questmen shall take care that the churchyards be well and sufficiently repaired, fenced, and maintained with walls, rails, or pales, as have been in each place accustomed, at their charges unto whom by law the same appertains.

The churchyard is the freehold of the parson: but it is the common burial-place of the dead, and for that reason it is to be fenced at the charge of the parishioners, unless there is a custom to the contrary, or for a particular person to do it, in respect of his lands adjoining to the churchyard; and that must be tried at common law. But though the freehold is in the parson, he cannot cut down trees growing there, except for the necessary repairs of the chancel; because they are planted and grow there for the ornament and shelter of the church. (See _Burial_ and _Cemetery_.)

CIBORIUM. A small temple or tabernacle placed upon the altar of Roman Catholic churches, and containing the consecrated wafer.

CIRCUMCELLIONS. A sect of the Donatist Christians in Africa, in the fourth century, being so called, because they rambled from one town to another, and pretended to public reformation and redressing of grievances; they manumitted slaves without their master’s leave, forgave debts which were none of their own, and committed a great many other insolencies: they were headed by Maxides and Faser. At the beginning of their disorders they marched only with staves, which they called the staves of Israel, in allusion to the custom of the Israelites eating the paschal lamb with staves in their hands, but afterwards they made use of all sorts of arms against the Catholics. Donatus called them the saints’ chiefs, and revenged himself by their means upon the Catholics. A mistaken zeal for martyrdom made these people destroy themselves; some of them threw themselves down precipices, others leaped into the fire, and some cut their own throats: so that their bishops, not being able to prevent such horrible and unnatural violences, were obliged to apply themselves to the magistracy to put an end to their phrensy.—_August. Hæres_, 69; _Optatus_, lib. iii.; _Theod. Hist. Eccles._ lib. iv. c. 6.

CIRCUMCISION of JESUS CHRIST. This feast is celebrated by the Church, to commemorate the active obedience of our LORD in fulfilling all righteousness, which is one branch of the meritorious cause of our redemption; and by that means abrogating the severe injunctions of the Mosaical establishment, and putting us under the grace of the gospel. The institution of this feast is of very considerable antiquity. In the sixth century a special and appropriate service for it was in use. It sometimes took the name of the “Octave of Christmas,” or the eighth day from that festival, being observed on January 1st. (See _Octave_.) It is one of the scarlet days at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.

CISTERCIANS. Towards the conclusion of the 11th century, Robert, abbot of Molême, in Burgundy, having employed, in vain, his most zealous efforts to revive the decaying piety and discipline of his convent, and to oblige his monks to observe more exactly the rule of St. Benedict, retired with about twenty monks to a place called Citeaux, in the diocese of Chalons. In this retreat Robert founded the famous order of the Cistercians, which made a most rapid and astonishing progress, spread through the greatest part of Europe in the following century, was enriched with the most liberal and splendid donations, acquired the form and privileges of a spiritual republic, and exercised a sort of dominion over all the monastic orders. The great and fundamental law of this new fraternity was the rule of St. Benedict, which was to be rigorously observed. (See _Benedictines_.) To this were added several other injunctions intended to maintain the authority of the rule. The first Cistercian monastery in England was that of Waverley, in Surrey, 1129. In the reign of Edward I. there were sixty-one Cistercian monasteries.—_Monast. Angl.; Hist. des Ord. Relig._ tom. v. c. 33.

CITATION. This is a precept under the seal of the ecclesiastical judge, commanding the person against whom the complaint is made to appear before him, on a certain day, and at a certain place therein mentioned, to answer the complaint in such a cause, &c.

CLAIRE, ST. A religious order of women in the Romish Church, the second that St. Francis instituted. This order was founded in 1213, and was confirmed by Innocent III., and after him by Honorius III., in 1223. It took its name from its first abbess and nun, Clara of Assisi, and was afterwards divided into Damianists and Urbanists; the first follow the ancient discipline in all its rigour, but the other the rule with Urban IV.’s allowance.—_Hist. des Ord. Relig._ t. vii. c. 25.

CLARENDON, CONSTITUTIONS OF. Certain constitutions made in the reign of Henry II., A. D. 1164, in a parliament or council held at Clarendon, a village three miles distant from Salisbury. These are as follows:—

I. When any difference relating to the right of patronage arises between the laity, or between the laity and clergy, the controversy is to be tried and ended in the king’s courts.

II. Those churches which are fees of the Crown cannot be granted away in perpetuity without the king’s consent.

III. When the clergy are charged with any misdemeanour, and summoned by the justiciary, they shall be obliged to make their appearance in his court, and plead to such parts of the indictments as shall be put to them. And likewise to answer such articles in the ecclesiastical court as they shall be prosecuted for by that jurisdiction; always provided that the king’s justiciary shall send an officer to inspect the proceedings of the court Christian. And in case any clerk is convicted or pleads guilty, he is to forfeit the privilege of his character, and be protected by the Church no longer.

IV. No archbishops, bishops, or parsons are allowed to depart the kingdom without a licence from the Crown; and, provided they have leave to travel, they shall give security not to act or solicit anything during their passage, stay, or return, to the prejudice of the king or kingdom.

V. When any of the laity are prosecuted in the ecclesiastical courts, the charge ought to be proved before the bishop by legal and reputable witnesses: and the course of the process is to be so managed, that the archdeacon may not lose any part of his right, or the profits accruing to his office: and if any offenders appear screened from prosecution upon the score either of favour or quality, the sheriff, at the bishop’s instance, shall order twelve sufficient men of the vicinage to make oath before the bishop, that they will discover the truth according to the best of their knowledge.

VI. Excommunicated persons shall not be obliged to make oath, or give security to continue upon the place where they live, but only to abide by the judgment of the Church, in order to their absolution.

VII. No person that holds in chief of the king, or any of his barons, shall be excommunicated, or any of their estates put under an interdict, before application made to the king, provided he is in the kingdom: and in case his Highness is out of England, then the justiciary must be acquainted with the dispute, in order to make satisfaction: and thus that which belongs to the cognizance of the king’s court must be tried there, and that which belongs to the courts Christian must be remitted to that jurisdiction.

VIII. In case of appeals in ecclesiastical causes, the first step is to be made from the archdeacon to the bishop, and from the bishop to the archbishop; and if the archbishop fails to do him justice, a further recourse may be had to the king; by whose order the controversy is to be finally decided in the archbishop’s court. Neither shall it be lawful for either of the parties to move for any further remedy without leave from the Crown.

IX. If a difference happen to arise between any clergyman and layman concerning any tenement; and that the clerk pretends it held by frank-almoine, and the layman pleads it a lay-fee, in this case the tenure shall be tried by the inquiry and verdict of twelve sufficient men of the neighbourhood, summoned according to the custom of the realm; and if the tenement, or thing in controversy, shall be found frank-almoine, the dispute concerning it shall be tried in the ecclesiastical court; but if it is brought in a lay-fee, the suit shall be followed in the king’s courts, unless both the plaintiff and defendant hold the tenement in question of the same bishop; in which case the cause shall be tried in the court of such bishop or baron, with this further proviso, that he who is seized of the thing in controversy shall not be disseized pending the suit, upon the score of the verdict above-mentioned.

X. He who holds of the king in any city, castle, or borough, or resides upon any of the demesne lands of the Crown, in case he is cited by the archdeacon or bishop to answer to any misbehaviour belonging to their cognizance; if he refuses to obey their summons, and stand to the sentence of the court, it shall be lawful for the ordinary to put him under an interdict, but not to excommunicate him till the king’s principal officer of the town shall be pre-acquainted with the case, in order to enjoin him to make satisfaction to the Church. And if such officer or magistrate shall fail in his duty, he shall be fined by the king’s judges. And then the bishop may exert his discipline on the refractory person as he thinks fit.

XI. All archbishops, bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons, who hold of the king in chief, and the tenure of a barony, are, for that reason, obliged to appear before the king’s justices and ministers, to answer the duties of their tenure, and to observe all the usages and customs of the realm; and, like other barons, are bound to be present at trials in the king’s court, till sentence is to be pronounced for the losing of life or limbs.

XII. When any archbishopric, bishopric, abbey, or priory of royal foundation, becomes vacant, the king is to make seizure; from which time all the profits and issues are to be paid into the exchequer, as if they were the demesne lands of the Crown. And when it is determined the vacancy shall be filled up, the king is to summon the most considerable persons of the chapter to the court, and the election is to be made in the chapel royal, with the consent of our sovereign lord the king, and by the advice of such persons of the government as his Highness shall think fit to make use of. At which time the person elected, before his consecration, shall be obliged to do homage and fealty to the king, as his liege lord; which homage shall be performed in the usual form, with a clause for the saving the privilege of his order.

XIII. If any of the temporal barons, or great men, shall encroach upon the rights of property of any archbishop, bishop, or archdeacon, and refuse to make satisfaction for the wrong done by themselves or their tenants, the king shall do justice to the party aggrieved. And if any person shall disseise the king of any part of his lands, or trespass upon his prerogative, the archbishops, bishops, and archdeacons shall call him to an account, and oblige him to make the Crown restitution.

XIV. The goods and chattels of those who lie under forfeitures of felony or treason, are not to be detained in any church or churchyard, to secure them against seizure and justice; because such goods are the king’s property, whether they are lodged within the precincts of a church, or without it.

XV. All actions and pleas of debt, though never so solemn in the circumstances of the contract, shall be tried in the king’s court.

XVI. The sons of copyholders are not to be ordained without the consent of the lord of the manor where they were born.

CLERESTORY. That part of a church with aisles which rises on the nave arches over the aisle roofs. Constructively, the clerestory is often to be referred to the roof. The original roof of small, and sometimes even of large, churches usually covered nave and aisles at one span. When the original roof needed repair, the old timbers were made available by cutting off the ends which had suffered most. But this process rendered them unfit for a compass roof of high pitch. An addition, therefore, was made to the walls of the nave, by which the roof might rise as high as before in the centre, though of lower pitch.

CLERGY. (See _Bishop_, _Presbyter_, _Priest_, _Deacon_, _Apostolical Succession_, _Orders_.) The general name given to the body of ecclesiastics of the Christian Church, in contradistinction to the laity. It is derived from κλῆρος, a lot or portion.

The distinction of Christians into clergy and laity was derived from the Jewish Church, and adopted into the Christian by the apostles themselves. Wherever any number of converts was made, as soon as they were capable of being formed into a congregation or church, a bishop or presbyter, with a deacon, were ordained to minister to them, as Epiphanius relates from the ancient histories of the Church. The author of the Comment on St. Paul’s Epistles, under the name of St. Ambrose, says, indeed, that at first all CHRIST’S disciples were clergy, and had all a general commission to preach the gospel and baptize: but this was in order to convert the world, and before any multitude of people were gathered, or churches founded, wherein to make a distinction. But, as soon as the Church began to spread itself over the world, and sufficient numbers were converted to form themselves into a regular society, then rulers, and other ecclesiastical officers, were appointed among them, and a distinction made that each might not interfere with the other.

The clergy, originally, consisted only of bishops, priests, and deacons; but, in the third century, many inferior orders were appointed, as subservient to the office of deacon, such as subdeacons, acolyths, readers, &c.

There is another name for the clergy, very commonly to be met with in the ancient councils, which is that of _canonici_: a name derived from the Greek word κάνων, which signifies, among other things, the roll or catalogue of every church, in which the names of the ecclesiastics, belonging to each church, were written.

The privileges and immunities which the clergy of the primitive Christian Church enjoyed, deserve our notice. In the first place, whenever they travelled upon necessary occasions, they were to be entertained by their brethren of the clergy, in all places, out of the public revenues of the Church. When any bishop or presbyter came to a foreign Church, they were to be complimented with the honorary privilege of performing divine offices, and consecrating the eucharist in the church. If any controversies happened among the clergy, they freely consented to have them determined by their bishops and councils, without having recourse to the secular magistrate for justice. The great care the clergy had of the characters and reputations of those of their order appears from hence, that, in all accusations, especially against bishops, they required the testimony of two or three witnesses, according to the apostle’s rule; they likewise examined the character of the witnesses, before their testimony was admitted; nor would they suffer a heretic to give evidence against a clergyman. These instances relate to the respect which the clergy mutually paid to each other.

With regard to the respect paid to the clergy by the civil government, it consisted chiefly in exempting them from some kind of obligations, to which others were liable, and in granting them certain privileges and immunities which others did not enjoy. Thus, by a law of Justinian, no secular judge could compel a bishop to appear in a public court, to give his testimony, but was to send one of his officers to take it from his mouth in private; nor was a bishop obliged to give his testimony upon oath, but only upon his bare word. Presbyters, we find, were privileged from being questioned by torture, as other witnesses were. But a still more extensive privilege was, the exemption of the clergy from the ordinary cognizance of the secular courts in all causes purely ecclesiastical; such being reserved for the hearing of the bishops and councils, not only by the canons of the Church, but by the laws of the state also; as appears from several rescripts of the emperors Constantius, Valentinian, Gratian, Theodosius the Great, Arcadius and Honorius, Valentinian II., and Justinian.

Another privilege, which the clergy enjoyed by the favour of Christian princes, was, that, in certain cases, they were exempt from some of the taxes laid upon the rest of the Roman empire. In the first place, they were exempt from the _census capitum_, or _personal tribute_, but not from the _census agrorum_, or tribute arising from men’s lands and possessions. In the next place they were not obliged to pay the _aurum tironicum_, soldiers’ money, nor the _equorum canonicorum adæratio_, horse money; which were taxes laid on some provinces, for furnishing the emperor with new levies, and fresh horses, for the wars. A third tax from which the clergy was exempt was the χρυσάργυροι, the silver and gold tax, which was laid upon trade and commerce; and the fourth, the _metatum_, so called from the word _metatores_, which signifies the emperor’s forerunners or harbingers; being a duty incumbent on the subjects of the empire to give entertainment to the emperor’s court and retinue, when they travelled. The clergy were also exempt from contributing to the reparation of highways and bridges, and from the duties called _angariæ_ and _parangariæ_, &c., by which the subjects were obliged to furnish horses and carriages for the conveying of corn for the use of the army.

Another sort of immunity which the clergy enjoyed, was their exemption from civil offices in the Roman empire. But this privilege was confined to such of the clergy as had no estates, but what belonged to the Church by the laws of Constantine. For the Christian princes always made a wide difference between the public patrimony of the Church, and the private estates of such of the clergy as had lands of a civil or secular tenure. For the one, the clergy were obliged to no duty or burden of civil offices; but for the other, they were, and could not be excused from them otherwise than by providing proper substitutes to officiate for them.

After this account of the privileges of the ancient Christian clergy, it may not be improper to take some notice of the principal laws made for the regulation of their lives and conversations.

And, first, we may observe what sort of crimes were thought worthy of degradation. It was not every slight failing or infirmity, for which a clergyman was degraded, but only crimes of a deeper dye, such as theft, murder, fraud, perjury, sacrilege, and adultery: to which may be added, drinking and gaming, those two great consumers of time, and enemies to all noble undertakings and generous services; as, also, the taking of money upon usury, which is condemned by many of the ancient canons as a species of covetousness and cruelty. And therefore, instead of lending upon usury, the clergy were obliged to be exemplary for the contrary virtues, hospitality and charity to the poor, frugality, and a contempt of the world. And, to guard against defamation and scandal, it was enacted by the canons of several councils, that no bishops, presbyters, or deacons should visit widows and virgins alone, but in the company and presence of some other of the clergy, or some grave Christians.

With regard to the laws, more particularly relating to the exercise of the duties and offices of their function, the clergy were, in the first place, obliged to lead studious lives. But it was not all sorts of studies that were equally recommended to them: the principal was the study of the Holy Scriptures, as being the fountains of that learning, which was most proper for their calling. Next to the Scriptures, they were to study the canons of the Church, and the best ecclesiastical authors. In after ages, in the time of Charles the Great, we find some laws obliging the clergy to read, together with the canons, Gregory’s book “De Cura Pastorali.” As to other books, they were more cautious and sparing in the study and use of them. Some canons forbad a bishop to read heathen authors; nor was he allowed to read heretical books, except when there was occasion to confute them, or to caution others against the poison of them. But the prohibition of heathen learning was to be understood with a little qualification. It was only forbidden so far as it tended to the neglect of Scripture and more useful studies. We pass over the obligations incumbent on them to attend the daily service of the Church, to be pious and devout in their public addresses to God, to be zealous in defending the truth, and maintaining the unity of the Church, &c.

By the ecclesiastical laws, no clergyman was allowed to relinquish or desert his station without just grounds and leave: yet, in some cases, resignation was allowed of,—such as old age, sickness, or other infirmity. No clergyman was to remove from one diocese to another, without the consent, and letters dimissory, of his own bishop. The laws were no less severe against all _wandering_ clergymen, or such as, having deserted their own church, would fix in no other, but went roving from place to place: these some of the ancients called βακαντιβοι or _Vacantivi_. By the laws of the Church, the bishops were not to permit such to officiate in their dioceses, nor indeed so much as to communicate in their churches. Other laws there were, which obliged the clergy to residence, or a constant attendance upon their duty. The Council of Sardica has several canons relating to this matter. Others inhibited pluralities, or the officiating in two parochial churches. In pursuance of the same design, of keeping the clergy strict and constant to their duty, laws were also made to prohibit them following any secular employment, which might divert them too much from their proper business and calling. In some times and places, the laws of the Church were so strict about this matter, that they would not suffer a bishop, or presbyter, to be left trustee to any man’s will. By other laws they were prohibited from taking upon them the office of pleading at the bar in any civil contest.

Another sort of laws respected the outward behaviour of the clergy. Such were the laws against corresponding and conversing too freely with Jews, and Gentile philosophers; and the canons which restrained them from eating and drinking in a tavern, or being present at the public theatres. To this sort of laws we may reduce the ancient rules which concern the garb and habit of the clergy; which were to be such as might express the gravity of their minds, without any affectation, or superstitious singularity. As to the kind or fashion of their apparel, it does not appear, for several ages, that there was any other distinction observed therein between them and the laity, than the modesty and gravity of their garb, without being tied to any certain habit, or form of dress.

These were the principal laws and regulations by which the clergy of the primitive Christian Church were governed; and it is remarkable, that the apostate emperor Julian was so convinced of their excellency, that he had a design of reforming the heathen priesthood upon the model of the Christian clergy.

The clergy of the _Church of Rome_ are distinguished into _regular_ and _secular_. The regular clergy consist of those monks, or religious, who have taken upon them holy orders, and perform the offices of the priesthood in their respective monasteries. The secular clergy are those who are not of any religious order, and have the care and direction of parishes. The canons of such cathedrals as were not monastic foundations were so called; i.e. secular canons. In the Saxon times these might be married. The _Protestant_ clergy are all seculars.

The Romish Church forbids the clergy of her communion to _marry_, and pretends that a vow of perpetual celibacy, or abstinence from conjugal society, was required of the clergy, as a condition of their ordination, even from the apostolical ages. But the contrary is evident from innumerable examples of bishops and presbyters, who lived, in those early ages, in a state of matrimony.—_Bingham._ (See _Celibacy_.)

CLERK. This word is in fact only an abbreviation of the word _clericus_, or clergyman. It is still used, in a few instances, to designate clergymen: as clerk of the king’s closet, clerks in orders in certain parish churches. In foreign churches, it is usually applied to the ministers in minor orders. But it is now used to designate certain laymen, who are appointed to conduct or lead the responses of the congregation, and otherwise to assist in the services of the church. In most cathedrals and collegiate churches, and in some colleges, there are several of these lay clerks (see _Vicar Choral_, _Secondary_, and _Stipendiary_); in parish churches, generally, there is but one, who is styled the _parish clerk_. These were, originally, real _clerks_, i. e. clergymen, generally in minor orders, who assisted the officiating priest. But the minor orders have long ceased to be conferred, except as symbolical steps towards the higher grades of the ministry; so that in countries of the Romish communion, as well as among ourselves, the office which used to be performed by one or more clergymen has devolved upon laymen. There can be little doubt that, in parishes where there are more than one clergyman resident, the duties of the parish clerk should be performed by them, especially in leading the responses, singing, giving notices, &c.; but long custom has so familiarized us to the services of a lay-clerk, that we permit him, as of right, to do even in the presence of the clergy what, strictly speaking, belongs to the clerical office. It is a great fault in a congregation when they permit the lay-clerk to do more than _lead them_ in the responses or their singing. The eighteenth canon directs all persons, man, woman, and child, to say in their due places, audibly with the minister, the Confession, the LORD’S Prayer, and the Creed, and make such other answers to the public prayer as are appointed in the Book of Common Prayer; and the laity forfeit a high privilege when they leave their share of the service to the lay-clerk alone.

_Clerks_ are mentioned in the Prayer Book in the Rubric before the second occurrence of the LORD’S Prayer, in Morning and Evening Prayer: “The minister, clerks, and people shall say the Lord’s Prayer with a loud voice:” in the Marriage Service, “The minister and clerks, going to the Lord’s table, shall say or sing this Psalm following:” in the Burial Service, “The priest and clerks meeting the corpse at the entrance of the churchyard, &c., shall say or sing:” and when they are come to the grave, “The priest shall say, or the priest and clerks shall sing:” and in the Commination Service, “The priest and clerks, kneeling, (in the place where they are accustomed to say the Litany,) shall say this Psalm, _Miserere mei, Deus_.” The _clerk_ in the singular number is mentioned but once only, which is in the Marriage Service; where the man is directed to lay the ring on the book “with the accustomed duty to the priest and _clerk_.”—_Jebb._

Canon 91. _Parish clerks to be chosen by the minister._—No parish clerk upon any vacation shall be chosen, within the city of London, or elsewhere within the province of Canterbury, but by the parson or vicar: or, where there is no parson or vicar, by the minister of that place for the time being; which choice shall be signified by the said minister, vicar, or parson, to the parishioners the next Sunday following, in the time of Divine service. And the said clerk shall be of twenty years of age at the least, and known to the said parson, vicar, or minister, to be of honest conversation, and sufficient for his reading, writing, and also for his competent skill in singing, if it may be. And the said clerks so chosen shall have and receive their ancient wages without fraud or diminution, either at the hands of the churchwarden, at such times as hath been accustomed, or by their own collection, according to the most ancient custom of every parish.

Since the making of this canon, the right of putting in the parish clerk has often been contested between incumbents and parishioners, and prohibitions prayed, and always obtained, to the spiritual court, for maintaining the authority of the canon in favour of the incumbent, against the plea of custom in behalf of the parishioners.

All incumbents once had the right of nomination of the parish clerks, by the common law and custom of the realm.

Parish clerks, after having been duly chosen and appointed, are usually licensed by the ordinary. And when they are licensed, they are sworn to obey the minister.

By a recent regulation, (7 & 8 Vict. c. 59,) persons in holy orders may be appointed to the office of parish clerk, which is to be held under the same tenure as that of a stipendiary curacy. Lay-clerks may also be dismissed by the minister, without the intervention of a _mandamus_ from the Queen’s Bench.

By 7 & 8 Wm. III. c. 35, a parish clerk, for assisting at a marriage, without banns or licence, shall forfeit five pounds for every such offence.

CLINIC BAPTISM. Baptism on a sick bed (κλινη) was so called in the primitive Church. In the earlier ages of Christianity certain solemn days were set apart for the administration of holy baptism, and only on extraordinary occasions were converts baptized, except on one or other of those days; but if one already a candidate for baptism fell sick, and if his life was endangered, he was allowed to receive clinic baptism. There was, however, a kind of clinics to whom great suspicion attached; some persons who were converts to the doctrines of Christianity would not be baptized while in health and vigour, because of the greater holiness of life to which they would account themselves pledged, and because they thought that baptism administered on their death-bed would wash away the sins of their life. Such persons, though they recovered after their baptism, were held to be under several disabilities, and especially they were not admitted as candidates for holy orders.

CLOISTER. (See _Monastery_.) A covered walk, not unusually occupying the four sides of a quadrangle, which is almost an invariable appendage to a monastic or ancient collegiate residence. The most beautiful cloister remaining in England is at Gloucester cathedral. Several of the cathedrals which were not monastic have or had cloisters; as York, old St. Paul’s, Chichester, Exeter, Hereford, Lincoln, Salisbury, Wells; formerly St. Patrick’s in Dublin; and some colleges, as New College, Magdalen, and Corpus at Oxford; Winchester College. A cloister was projected for King’s College by the founder, but never executed. St. George’s Chapel at Windsor has also a cloister.

CLUNIAC MONKS. Religious of the order of Clugni. It is the first branch of the order of St. Benedict.

St. Bernon, abbot of Gigniac, of the family of the earls of Burgundy, was the founder of this order. In the year 910, he built a monastery for the reception of Benedictine monks, in the town of Clugni, situated in the Maconnois, a little province of France, on the river Saone. The noble abbey of Clugni was destroyed in 1789.

The monks of Clugni (or Cluni) were remarkable for their sanctity. They every day sang two solemn masses. They so strictly observed silence, that they would rather have died than break it before the hour of prime. When they were at work, they recited psalms. They fed eighteen poor persons every day, and were so profuse of their charity in Lent, that one year, at the beginning of Lent, they distributed salt meat, and other alms, among 7000 poor.