Chapter LXXIX: Section 17: , provides that neither this act, nor any clause, article, or (5)

At these archdiaconal visitations the churchwardens are to make presentments; and though their duty in that particular has become in practice, to a great extent, obsolete, yet it may be well to state the law of the Church upon the subject. The following canons relate to these presentments.

Canon 113. “Because it often cometh to pass, that churchwardens, sidemen, questmen, and such other persons of the laity as are to take care for the suppressing of sin and wickedness, as much as in them lieth, by admonition, reprehension, and denunciation to their ordinaries, do forbear to discharge their duties therein, either through fear of their superiors, or through negligence, more than were fit, the licentiousness of these times considered, we do ordain, that hereafter every parson and vicar, or in the lawful absence of any parson and vicar, then their curates and substitutes, may join in every presentment with the said churchwardens, sidemen, and the rest above mentioned, at the times of visitation, if they the said churchwardens and the rest will present such enormities as are apparent in the parish; or if they will not, then every such parson and vicar, or, in their absence as aforesaid, their curates, may themselves present to their ordinaries at such times, and when else they think it meet, all such crimes as they have in charge or otherwise, as by them (being the persons that should have the chief care for the suppressing of sin and impiety in their parishes) shall be thought to require due reformation. Provided always, that if any man confess his secret and hidden sins to the minister, for the unburdening of his conscience, and to receive spiritual consolation and ease of mind from him, we do not any way bind the said minister by this our constitution, but do straitly charge and admonish him, that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any crime or offence so committed to his trust and secrecy, (except they be such crimes as by the laws of this realm his own life may be called in question for concealing the same,) under pain of irregularity.”

Canon 116. “It shall be lawful for any godly-disposed person, or for any ecclesiastical judge, upon knowledge or notice given unto him or them, of any enormous crime within his jurisdiction, to move the minister, churchwardens, or sidemen, as they tender the glory of GOD and reformation of sin, to present the same, if they shall find sufficient cause to induce them thereunto, that it may be in due time punished and reformed.”

Canon 119. “For the avoiding of such inconveniences as heretofore have happened, by the hasty making of bills and presentments upon the days of visitation and synods, it is ordered, that always, hereafter, every chancellor, archdeacon, commissary, and every other person having ecclesiastical jurisdiction, at the ordinary time when the churchwardens are sworn, and the archbishop and bishops, when he or they do summon their visitation, shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the churchwardens, questmen, and sidemen of every parish, or to some of them, such books of articles as they or any of them shall require (for the year following) the said churchwardens, questmen, and sidemen to ground their presentments upon, at such times as they are to exhibit them. In which book shall be contained the form of the oath which must be taken immediately before every such presentment; to the intent that, having beforehand time sufficient, not only to peruse and consider what their said oath shall be, but the articles also whereupon they are to ground their presentments, they may frame them at home both advisedly and truly, to the discharge of their own consciences, (after they are sworn,) as becometh honest and godly men.”

Canon 115. “Whereas, for the reformation of criminous persons and disorders in every parish, the churchwardens, questmen, sidemen, and other such church officers are sworn, and the minister charged, to present as well the crimes and disorders committed by the said criminous persons, as also the common fame which is spread abroad of them, whereby they are often maligned, and sometimes troubled, by the said delinquents or their friends; we do admonish and exhort all judges, both ecclesiastical and temporal, as they regard and reverence the fearful judgment-seat of the highest Judge, that they admit not in any of their courts any complaint, plea, suit or suits, against any such churchwardens, questmen, sidemen, or other church officers, for making any such presentments, nor against any minister for any presentments that he shall make: all the said presentments tending to the restraint of shameless impiety, and considering that the rules both of charity and government do presume that they did nothing therein of malice, but for the discharge of their consciences.”

Canon 116. “No churchwardens, questmen, or sidemen of any parish shall be enforced to exhibit their presentments to any having ecclesiastical jurisdiction above once in every year where it hath been no oftener used, nor above twice in every diocese whatsoever, except it be at the bishop’s visitation: provided always, that, as good occasion shall require, it shall be lawful for every minister, churchwardens, and sidemen, to present offenders as oft as they shall think meet: and for these voluntary presentments no fee shall be taken.”

Canon 117. “No churchwardens, questmen, or sidemen, shall be called or cited, but only at the said time or times before limited, to appear before any ecclesiastical judge whatsoever, for refusing at other times to present any faults committed in their parishes, and punishable by ecclesiastical laws. Neither shall they or any of them, after their presentments exhibited at any of those times, be any further troubled for the same, except upon manifest and evident proof it may appear that they did then willingly and wittingly omit to present some such public crime or crimes as they knew to be committed, or could not be ignorant that there was then a public fame of them, or unless there be very just cause to call them for the explanation of their former presentments: in which case of wilful omission, their ordinaries shall proceed against them in such sort as in causes of wilful perjury in a court ecclesiastical it is already by law provided.”

Canon 118. “The office of all churchwardens and sidemen shall be reputed to continue until the new churchwardens that shall succeed them be sworn, which shall be the first week after Easter, or some week following, according to the direction of the ordinary; which time so appointed shall always be one of the two times in every year when the minister, and churchwardens, and sidemen of every parish shall exhibit to their several ordinaries the presentments of such enormities as have happened in their parishes since their last presentments. And this duty they shall perform before the newly chosen churchwardens and sidemen be sworn, and shall not be suffered to pass over the said presentments to those that are newly come into that office, and are by intendment ignorant of such crimes, under pain of those censures which are appointed for the reformation of such dalliers and dispensers with their own consciences and oaths.”

Canon 116. “For the presentments of every parish church or chapel, the registrar of any court where they are to be exhibited shall not receive in one year above 4_d._, under pain, for every offence therein, of suspension from the execution of his office for the space of a month, _toties quoties_.”

Canon 26. “No minister shall in any wise admit to the receiving of the holy communion any churchwardens or sidemen, who, having taken their oaths to present to their ordinaries all such public offences as they are particularly charged to inquire of in their several parishes, shall (notwithstanding the said oaths, and that their faithful discharge of them is the chief means whereby public sins and offences may be reformed and punished) wittingly and willingly, desperately and irreligiously, incur the horrible crime of perjury, either in neglecting or in refusing to present such of the said enormities and public offences as they know themselves to be committed in their said parishes, or are notoriously offensive to the congregation there, although they be urged by some of their neighbours, or by their minister, or by the ordinary himself, to discharge their consciences by presenting of them, and not to incur so desperately the said horrible sin of perjury.”

Canon 121. “In places where the bishop and archdeacon do, by prescription or composition, visit at several times in one and the same year, lest for one and the self-same fault any of his Majesty’s subjects should be challenged and molested in divers ecclesiastical courts, we do order and appoint, that every archdeacon or his official, within one month after the visitation ended that year and the presentments received, shall certify under his hand and seal, to the bishop or his chancellor, the names and crimes of all such as are detected and presented in his said visitation, to the end the chancellor shall henceforth forbear to convent any person for any crime or cause so detected or presented to the archdeacon. And the chancellor, within the like time after the bishop’s visitation ended and presentments received, shall, under his hand and seal, signify to the archdeacon or his official the names and crimes of all such persons, which shall be detected or presented unto him in that visitation, to the same intent as aforesaid. And if these officers shall not certify each other as is here prescribed, or after such certificate shall intermeddle with the crimes or persons detected and presented in each other’s visitation, then every of them so offending shall be suspended from all exercise of his jurisdiction by the bishop of the diocese until he shall repay the costs and expenses which the parties grieved have been at by that vexation.”

As to legal proof: in case the party presented denies the fact to be true, the making good the truth of the presentment, that is, the furnishing the court with all proper evidences of it, undoubtedly rests upon the person presenting. And as the spiritual court in such case is entitled by law to call upon churchwardens to support their presentments, so are churchwardens obliged, not only by law, (Dr. Gibson says,) but also in conscience, to see the presentment effectually supported; because, to deny the court those evidences which induced them to present upon oath, is to desert their presentment, and is little better, in point of conscience, than not to present at all, inasmuch as, through their default, the presentment is rendered ineffectual as to all purposes of removing the scandal, or reforming the offender. And from hence he takes occasion to wish that the parishioners would think themselves bound (as on many accounts they certainly are bound) to support their churchwardens in seeing that their presentments are rendered effectual. In any point which concerns the repairs or ornaments of churches, or the providing conveniences of any kind for the service of GOD, when such defects as these are presented, the spiritual judge immediately, and of course, enjoins the churchwarden presenting to see the defect made good, and supports him in repaying himself by a legal and reasonable rate upon the parish. But what he intends is, the supporting the churchwardens in the prosecution of such immoral and unchristian livers as they find themselves obliged by their oath to present, as fornicators, adulterers, common swearers, drunkards, and such like, whose example is of pernicious consequence, and likely to bring many evils upon the parish.

It is customary for the archdeacon at his visitation, to call upon one of his clergy to preach what is called a visitation sermon; and although it appears that formerly it was the duty of the visitor himself to preach this sermon, it seems to be doubtful whether the clergyman so called upon by the archdeacon may refuse.

VISITATION OF THE SICK. In so uncertain a world, where sickness sometimes interrupts the very joys of marriage, it is no wonder that the sad office should be placed next to matrimony; for all people in all conditions, of all ages and sexes, are subject to diseases continually; so that when any person falls sick, those that are in health must “remember them, as being themselves also in the body,” (Heb. xiii. 3, ) and liable to the same calamities; and all Christians are commanded to visit their neighbours in this estate, and are promised they shall be rewarded by GOD for so doing. (Ps. xli. 1, 2; Matt. xxv. 34, 36; James i. 27; Eccles. vii. 35.) And in the primitive times they were famous for this piece of charity. But it is especially the duty of the clergy to visit the sick, a duty instituted and enjoined by GOD himself: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the LORD; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James v. 14, 15.) In which words (being the original and foundation of this office) we may note, first, that the duty is enjoined by Divine authority, and therefore it is not barely a point of civility, but an act of religion, and a necessary duty which GOD requires from us. Secondly, the time to perform it is, “when any are sick among us;” for then the parties have most need of comfort, advice, and prayers to support them and procure help for them, as also to prepare them for their last and great account; and then these religious exercises will do us most good, because sickness embitters the world and endears heaven to us, making us pray devoutly, and hearken willingly to holy advice; so that this happy opportunity must not be lost; nor may it be deferred till the sick persons be very weak and nigh to death, for then they are incapable either to join in the office, or to receive the main benefits thereof; and the word in St. James is, “if any be infirm” (ver. 14); to note, this should be done in the beginning of sickness, and not put off till the physicians give men over. Thirdly, as to the manner of performing this duty; the sick man (or his friends) must “send for” the priest, who else may either not know of his sickness, or when it may be seasonable to visit; and if he come unsent for, it is more than he is obliged to do; but yet it is an act of great charity, because GOD requires the elders of the Church shall do this duty. The sick man must pray for himself (ver. 13); and his neighbours may pray with him and for him (ver. 16); but neither of these sufficeth; he must send for the minister besides, who, now the Church is settled, lives not far from him, and he is most able to give counsel, and most likely to prevail, because GOD requires him to perform this office, which is described in St. James. 1. By “praying over him,” that is, beside him, in the house where he lies sick. And since GOD enjoins prayer shall be made, and doth not prescribe the form; as all other Churches have made proper forms, so hath ours also composed this, which is the most full and useful office on this occasion extant in the world. 2. In St. James’s time, and as long as the miraculous gift of healing continued, they “anointed the sick with oil also in the name of JESUS,” not to convey any grace to the soul, (as the Papists now pretend to do by their extreme unction, lately made a sacrament,) but to work a miraculous cure, which was the usual effect in those ages. But the power and gift being now ceased, the reformed Churches left off the oil, which was the sign, because the thing signified was now taken away. But yet we retain all the substantial parts of this office. 3. Here are by St. James set down “the benefits” which may be obtained by it, which are annexed to the “prayer of faith,” the part which was not ceremonial, and which continues still as the benefits also shall do, namely, this shall be a means “to save the sick;” and more particularly, 1. “The LORD shall raise him up,” that is, if GOD see that health be good for him, the devout performing of this office shall contribute to his recovery; or, 2. However, (because men are mortal and must die at some time,) it shall be a means to procure “forgiveness” of the sins he “hath committed;” not the priest only will absolve him upon his penitent confession, but GOD will seal his pardon, and then, whether life or death follow, the man shall be happy. Wherefore, as we love our friends, or our own souls, all care must be taken that this necessary and profitable office be not neglected. The method of performing which in this Church may be thus described: The usual office contains, 1. Supplications to avert evil, in the salutation and short litany. 2. Prayers to procure good things, in the LORD’S Prayer and the two collects. 3. Exhortations prescribed in the large form of exhortation; and directions in the rubric, to advise the sick man to forgive freely, to give liberally, to do justice in settling his estate, and to confess his sins humbly and ingenuously unto GOD’S minister now with him. 4. Consolations, in the absolution, the prayer to GOD to confirm it; in the 71st Psalm, and the concluding benedictions.

Secondly, there are added, 1. Extraordinary prayers for a sick child, for one past recovery, for a dying person, and for one troubled in conscience. 2. The manner of administering the communion to the sick.—_Dean Comber._

As to the form of prayer to be used on this occasion, it is left to the prudence of the Church; since GOD hath only in general ordered prayers to be made, but not prescribed any particular words, therefore several Churches have made and used several forms proper for the occasion. The Greek Church hath a very large office in their Euchologion; which seems to have been much corrupted by the superstitious additions of later ages, though some of the ancient prayers may yet be discerned there. The most ancient of the Western Church are those which bear the names of St. Ambrose and St. Gregory; and that which Cardinal Bona cites with this title, “Pro infirmis,” written about 900 (1040) years ago, and supposed to be part of the old Gallican service. And upon the Reformation, the several Protestant Churches had their several forms, which are in use amongst them at this day. But this office of the Church of England may be thought to excel all that are now extant in the world; and it exactly agrees with the method of the primitive visitation of the sick in St. Chrysostom’s time.—_Dean Comber._

VISITATORIAL POWER. Every corporation, whether lay or ecclesiastical, is visitable by some superior; and every spiritual person being a corporation sole, is visitable by the ordinary. There is, however, in our ecclesiastical polity, an exception to this rule; for, by composition, the archbishop of Canterbury never visits the bishop of London. During a visitation, all inferior jurisdictions are inhibited from exercising jurisdiction: but this right, from the inconvenience attending the exercise of it, is usually conceded; so that the exercise of jurisdiction in the inferior court is continued notwithstanding.

VOLUNTARY. A piece of music played on the organ, usually after the Psalms, sometimes after the second lesson. This was formerly more usual than now; and was practised in many cathedrals, where it is now laid aside, as at St. Paul’s, and Christ Church in Dublin. In the latter place it is transferred to another interval of the service. The name is derived from its performance not being obligatory, but optional with those who are in authority. Pieces of music played at other intervals of the service are properly called symphonies. Lord Bacon approves of voluntaries as affording time for meditation.

VULGAR TONGUE. This expression in the baptismal office stood formerly “in the English tongue.” The alteration was made in compliance, as it should seem, with a suggestion of Bishop Cosin, that “suppose, as it often falls out, that children of strangers, which never intend to stay in England, be brought there to be baptized,” it would be exceptionable that “they also should be exhorted and enjoined to learn those principles of religion in the English tongue.”

VULGATE. The name given to what is called the vulgar Latin translation of the Bible. It was a name anciently applied to any popular edition; and the Septuagint, as Dr. Hody remarks, was sometimes so called by St. Jerome. This is the most ancient version of the whole Scriptures into Latin now extant, and the only one which the Church of Rome acknowledges to be authentic.

The Vulgate of the Old Testament was translated, almost word for word, from the Greek of the Septuagint; the author of it is not known, or so much as guessed at. It was a long time known by the name of the Italic version, as being of very great antiquity in the Latin Church. (See _Italic Version_.) It was commonly in use, before St. Jerome made a new one from the Hebrew. St. Austin preferred this Vulgate before all the other Latin versions, as rendering the words and sense of the sacred text more closely and justly than any of the rest. It was since corrected from the emendations of St. Jerome; and it is the mixture of the ancient Italic version with the corrections of St. Jerome, that is now called the Vulgate, and which the Council of Trent has declared to be authentic. The version of St. Jerome, however, forms the main part of the Vulgate, with the exception of some of the apocryphal books, and the Psalter. The translation of the latter from the Hebrew was not adopted publicly by the Western Church, though still to be found in his works. The Psalter was twice corrected by him from the old Italic version; the first recension was for a long time used in the Roman Church, the latter was first adopted by the Churches of Gaul and Britain, and was finally adopted by the Western Church by an ordinance of Pius V. The old Roman Psalter being still, however, used at the Vatican, at St. Mark’s, Venice, and in part of the diocese of Britain.

A revision of the Vulgate was made by order of Sixtus V., and published at Rome in 1590. But this, though pronounced by papal authority to be authentic, became such an object of ridicule among the learned from its gross inaccuracies, that his successor, Gregory XIV., caused it to be suppressed, and another _authentic_ Vulgate was published in 1592, by Clement VIII.—_Walton’s Prolegomena. Hodius de Bibl. text. orig. Horne’s Introd._

The Vulgate of the New Testament is, by the Romanists, generally preferred to the common Greek text. The priests read no other at the altar; the preachers quote no other in the pulpit, nor the divines in the schools. (See _Bible_.)

WAFERS. The bread which is used in the eucharist by the Romanists, and by Lutheran Protestants in the LORD’S supper, is so designated. In the ancient Church, so long as the people continued to make oblations of bread and wine, the elements for the use of the eucharist were usually taken out of them; and, consequently, so long, the bread was that common leavened bread, which they used upon other occasions; and the use of wafers, and unleavened bread, was not known in the Church till the eleventh or twelfth centuries. This is now acknowledged by the most learned writers of the Romish communion. The school divines, who maintain that the primitive Church always consecrated in unleavened bread, argue that we must suppose they followed the example of our SAVIOUR, who celebrated his last supper with unleavened bread. But ecclesiastical history, and the writings of the ancient Fathers, unanimously testify the contrary; and it is noted by Epiphanius, as a peculiar rite of the Ebionite heretics, that they celebrated the eucharist with unleavened bread and water only.

How the change in this matter was made, and the exact time when, is not easily determined. Cardinal Bona’s conjecture seems probable enough; that it crept in upon the people’s leaving off to make their oblations in common bread; which occasioned the clergy to provide it themselves, and they, under pretence of decency and respect, brought it from leaven to unleaven, and from a loaf of common bread, that might be broken, to a nice and delicate wafer, formed in the figure of a _Denarius_, or penny, to represent the pence, for which our SAVIOUR was betrayed; and then also the people, instead of offering a loaf of bread, as formerly, were ordered to offer a penny, which was either to be given to the poor, or to be expended upon something pertaining to the sacrifice of the altar.

This alteration in the eucharistical bread occasioned great disputes between the Eastern and Western Churches, which divided about it; for the Western Church ran so far into an extreme, as almost to lose the nature of the sacramental element, by introducing a thing that could hardly be called bread, instead of that common staff of life, which our LORD had appointed to be the representative of his body in the eucharist. But there wanted not some discerning and judicious men, who complained of this abuse, as soon as it began to be introduced.

The first Common Prayer Book of King Edward VI. enjoins unleavened bread to be used throughout the whole kingdom, for the celebration of the eucharist. It was ordered to be _round_, in imitation of the wafers, used by the Greek and Roman Churches; but it was to be _without all manner of print_, the wafers usually having the impression either of a crucifix or the holy lamb; and _something more large and thicker_ than the wafers, which were of the size of a penny. This rubric, affording matter for scruple, was set aside at the review of the liturgy in the fifth of King Edward; and another inserted in its room, by which it was declared sufficient, that _the bread be such as is usually eaten at the table with other meats_. By the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, wafer bread seems to have been again enjoined, for among other orders this was one, “For the more reverence to be given to these holy mysteries—the sacramental bread, &c., made and formed plain without any figure thereupon, of the same fineness and fashion round, though somewhat bigger in compass and thickness, as the usual bread and wafers, heretofore called singing cakes, which served for the use of private mass.”

WAGER. (See _Battle_ and _Ordeal_.)

WAKE. (See _Dedication_.)

WALDENSES. (See _Albigenses_.) Some difficulty exists as to the origin and history of the sect to which this name has been attached. According to Mosheim, the sect originated with Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, about the year 1160. They flourished chiefly in the _valleys_ of Piedmont; and hence, rather than from Peter Waldo or Valdo, it is supposed by some that they acquired the name of _Valdenses_ or _Vaudois_. From the perusal of the Scriptures and other writings, and from comparing the doctrines of Scripture with the superstitions and practices of the age in which he lived, Waldo perceived the corruption of the existing mediæval Church, and, in advance of his age, became a reformer. He shared the fate of those who are so circumstanced. He had many followers, and exposed both himself and them to suspicion and persecution. It is probable that, in attacking error, the Waldenses themselves sometimes became erroneous. They are accused of having maintained the unlawfulness of oaths and of infant baptism, and of being seditious. These charges were easily made, but writers of celebrity have undertaken to confute them. The marvel is, that, when every attempt was made to blacken their character, the success of their accusers was not greater than it has proved to be. It is certain that they were austere, if not morose, in their practice; that they prohibited wars and law suits, penal punishments, and all attempts to acquire wealth.

Those of them who dwelt in the valleys of Piedmont in the seventeenth century, were subjected by the Church of Rome to the most barbarous and inhuman persecutions, especially in the years 1655, 1656, and 1696. The most horrible scenes of violence and bloodshed were exhibited in this theatre of papal tyranny, and the Waldenses at last owed their existence and support to the interference of the English and Dutch governments.

WARBURTONIAN LECTURE. A lecture founded by Bishop Warburton, to prove the truth of revealed religion in general, and the Christian in particular, from the completion of the prophecies in the Old and New Testament which relate to the Christian Church, especially to the apostasy of papal Rome. To this foundation we owe the admirable discourses of Hurd, Halifax, Bagot, Davison, and many others.

WARDEN. The head of some colleges, and the superior of some conventual churches, in which the chapter remains, is called a warden. The head of the collegiate church of Galway is called warden: as was the case at Manchester, till the erection of the collegiate church there into a cathedral.

WEDNESDAY. This day has been marked in many cases by the Church with an especial religion. Thus it was often added to Friday as a weekly fast, and in our own Church it is numbered among the rogation and ember days; besides which, throughout the year the Litany is appointed to be sung or said on Wednesday, as well as on Sunday and Friday after Morning Prayer.

WESLEYANS. (See _Methodists_.)

WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. (See _Assembly of Divines_.)

WESTMINSTER CONFESSION. (See _Confessions of Faith_.)

WHITSUNDAY. One of the great festivals of the Church, held in commemoration of the descent of the HOLY GHOST on the day of Pentecost. It occurs ten days after Holy Thursday, or Ascension Day. The reason of this day being called Whitsunday, or more properly Whitesunday, is, because on this day, being a remarkable time for baptism, the catechumens, who were then baptized, as well as those who had been baptized before at Easter, appeared in the ancient Church in white garments. It has also been thought that the name was symbolical of those vast diffusions of light and knowledge which were then shed upon the apostles, in order to the enlightening of a world then in the darkness of superstition and idolatry.

This day the HOLY GHOST came down from heaven upon his Church, as the Epistle tells, according to the promise of the Gospel; in honour of whom and of his gifts we keep this holy day.—_Bp. Sparrow._

As to the name, the most received opinion is, that the word is at length “Whitesunday;” so called from the white garments worn by the persons baptized in the ancient Church. For the administering of which sacrament, Easter, and this, and the Sundays between, were the most solemn seasons. Particularly on this day, the last of those Sundays, (when that solemnity determined, and the preparation for it had been extended to the utmost length,) as well on that account, as for the deserved veneration due to so great a festival, vast numbers offered themselves to be received to baptism. And, in token of their being cleansed from all past sins, as well as for an emblem of that innocence and purity, to which they then obliged themselves, they were clad in white; and from the multitude of such vestments then put on, are supposed to have given occasion for this LORD’S day being distinguished by that name.—_Dean Stanhope._

The reason why this time was of old appointed for solemn baptism, was, 1. Because this day the apostles were baptized with the HOLY GHOST and fire (Acts ii. 3). 2. Because this day 3000 were baptized by the apostles (Acts ii. 41). In memory of which, the Church ever after held a solemn custom of baptizing at this feast.—_Bp. Sparrow._

Some conclude from St. Paul’s earnest desire of being at Jerusalem at this time, that the observation of it as a Christian festival is as old as the apostles; but, whatever St. Paul’s design was, we are assured that it hath been universally observed from the very first ages of Christianity.—_Wheatly._

This day is called Pentecost, because there are fifty days betwixt the true passover and Whitsunday. As there were fifty days from the Jews’ passover to the giving of the law to Moses in Mount Sinai, which law was written with the finger of GOD (for from the fourteenth day of the first month, the day of the passover, to the third day of the third month, the day of the law’s giving, Exod. xix. 1, 16, are fifty days); so from the true passover, which was celebrated when CHRIST was offered up for us, are fifty days to this time, when the HOLY GHOST came down upon the Church, to write the new law of charity in their hearts. Upon this meditation, St. Augustine breaks out thus: “Who would not prefer the joy and pleasure of these mysteries, before all the empires of the world? Do you not see, that as the two seraphim cry one to another, Holy, holy, holy,” (Isa. vi. 3,) “so the two Testaments, Old and New, faithfully agreeing, evince the sacred truth of GOD?” It should be noted, that we must not count the fifty days from the very day of the passover, but from the Sunday following; and so GOD directed the Jews, (Lev. xxiii. 15,) speaking of their Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, “and ye shall count from the morrow after the sabbath; from that day seven weeks shall be complete.”—_Bp. Sparrow._

The first lesson for the morning contains the law of the Jewish Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks, which was a type of ours; for as the law was at this time given to the Jews from Mount Sinai, so also the Christians upon this day received the new evangelical law from heaven, by the administration of the HOLY GHOST. The first lesson for the evening is a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles to the kingdom of CHRIST, through the inspiration of the apostles by the Spirit of GOD; the completion of which prophecy is recorded in both the second lessons, but especially in the portion of Scripture for the Epistle, which contains a particular description of the first wonderful descent of the HOLY GHOST upon the apostles, who were “assembled together in one place,” in expectation of that blessed Spirit, according to the promise of our SAVIOUR mentioned in the Gospel.—_Wheatly._

The same harmony of Epistle, Gospel, and collect, and lessons, and Psalms, that has been observed upon Christmas, and Easter, and Ascension, may with pleasure be mentioned upon this day.—_Bp. Sparrow._ It is observed as a Scarlet day at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and at several cathedrals on this day, as on the two following, the service is performed in a more solemn manner than usual, as at Christmas and Easter.

WICLIFITES. The followers of John Wickliff. He was of Merton college in Oxford, where he took his doctor’s degree with great reputation. He was once sent ambassador by Edward III. to the pope. He preached against the real presence, pilgrimages, purgatory, &c., so strenuously at Oxford, that the monks prevailed with Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, to silence him. He was rector of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, much favoured by the great men in his time, and is justly reckoned the first reformer. The fame of him reached to Rome, and occasioned Pope Gregory XI. to write to Richard II. to assist the bishops in suppressing Wickliff and his followers. In Henry IV.’s time, his books were condemned at Oxford; and at last, when the Council of Constance met, about 1428, they condemned him, with this sentence: “That John Wickliff, being a notorious heretic, and obstinate, and dying in his heresy, his body and bones, if they may be discerned from the bodies of other faithful people, should be taken up out of the ground, and thrown away far from the burial of the Church.” The bishop of Lincoln executed this sentence, and forty-one years after his burial he burnt the remains, (which was more than the sentence commanded,) and cast them into a neighbouring brook called the Swift. The followers of Wickliff were called Lollards. Wickliff’s notions were: “The Scriptures ought to be in the vulgar tongue, contain all things necessary to salvation, may be understood by every well-disposed man: he declared against traditions, the pope’s authority, their power over the temporalities of kings, and pronounced the pope to be the chiefest antichrist. He taught that the Church of Rome may err; he rejected merit of works, transubstantiation, and owned but two sacraments; he was against images, auricular confession, pardons, indulgences, and monastic vows; he approved the marriage of priests.”

WILL, FREE. (See _Free Will_.)

WISDOM, THE BOOK OF. An apocryphal book of Scripture; so called, on account of the wise maxims and useful instructions contained therein.

The Book of Wisdom is commonly ascribed to King Solomon, either because the author imitated that king’s manner of writing, or because he sometimes speaks in his name. It is certain Solomon was not the author of it; for it was not written in Hebrew, nor was it inserted in the Jewish canon, nor is the style like Solomon’s: and therefore St. Jerome observes justly, that it smells strongly of the Grecian eloquence; that it is composed with art and method, after the manner of the Greek philosophers, very different from that noble simplicity, so full of life and energy, to be found in the Hebrew books. It has been attributed by many of the ancients to Philo, a Jew, but more ancient than he whose works are now extant. But it is commonly ascribed to an Hellenistical Jew, who lived since Ezra, and about the time of the Maccabees.

It may properly be divided into two parts: the first is a description and encomium of wisdom; the second, beginning at the tenth chapter, is a long discourse in the form of prayers, wherein the author admires and extols the wisdom of GOD, and of those who honour him; and discovers the folly of the wicked, who have been the professed enemies of the good and virtuous in all ages of the world.

WORD, THE. (See _Jesus_.) The only-begotten SON of the FATHER, the uncreated WISDOM, the second person of the most HOLY TRINITY, equal and consubstantial with the FATHER. St. John the Evangelist, more expressly than any other, has opened to us the mystery of the Word of GOD, when he tells us, “In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with GOD, and the WORD was GOD. The same was in the beginning with GOD. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” The Chaldee paraphrasts, the most ancient Jewish writers extant, generally use the name MEMRA, or WORD, where Moses puts the name JEHOVAH. In effect, according to them, it was MEMRA who created the world; who appeared to Abraham in the plain of Mamre; and to Jacob at Bethel. It was MEMRA to whom Jacob appealed to witness the covenant between him and Laban. The same WORD appeared to Moses at Sinai; gave the law to the Israelites; spoke face to face with that lawgiver; marched at the head of that people; enabled them to conquer nations, and was a consuming fire to all who violated the law of the LORD. All these characters, where the paraphrast uses the word MEMRA, clearly denote Almighty GOD. This WORD therefore was GOD, and the Hebrews were of this opinion at the time that the Targum was composed.

WORKS. (See _Good Works_, _Justification_, and _Sanctification_.) The doctrine of our Church on the subject of works is contained in the following articles:

“XI. _Of the Justification of Man._

“We are accounted righteous before GOD only for the merit of our _Lord Jesus Christ_, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings; wherefore, that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

“XII. _Of Good Works._

“Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of GOD’S judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to GOD in CHRIST, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

“XIII. _Of Works before Justification._

“Works done before the grace of CHRIST, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to GOD, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in JESUS CHRIST; neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school authors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea rather, for that they are not done as GOD hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.”

WORSHIP. Besides the usual application of this term to the supreme homage and devotion due only to the DIVINE BEING, it is occasionally used in the Bible and Prayer Book, to denote honour, respect, and reverence given to men. Thus, in the 84th Psalm, it is said that “the Lord will give grace and _worship_ (favour and dignity) to them that live a godly life.” In Luke xiv. 10, we read that the humble guest “shall have _worship_ in the presence of those who sit at meat with him.” And in 1 Chron. xxix. 20, it is said, that all the congregation “bowed down their heads, and _worshipped_ the LORD and the king.” In the Order of Matrimony in the English Prayer Book, the husband promises to _worship_ his wife, that is, to render to her all that respect and honour to which she is entitled by the command of GOD, and the station she holds.

For the better understanding of this phrase we must know, that anciently there were two sorts of wives, one whereof was called the primary or lawful wife, the other was called the half-wife, or concubine. The difference betwixt these two was only in the differing purpose of the man, betaking himself to the one or the other: if his purpose was only fellowship, there grew to the woman by this means no worship at all, but rather the contrary. In professing that his intent was to add by his person honour and worship unto hers, he took her plainly and clearly to be his wife, not his concubine. This it is, which the civil law doth mean, when it makes a wife differ from a concubine in dignity. The worship that grew unto her, being taken with declaration of this intent, was, that her children became by this means free and legitimate heirs to their father, (Gen xxv. 5, 6,) and herself was made a mother over his family. Lastly, she received such advancement of state, as things annexed to his person might augment her with: yea, a right of participation was thereby given her, both in him, and even in all things which were his; and therefore he says not only, “with my body I thee worship,” but also, “with all my worldly goods I thee endow.” The former branch having granted the principal, the latter granteth that which is annexed thereto.—_Hooker._

The Jews anciently used the same phrase: “Be unto me a wife, and I, according to the word of GOD, will _worship_, honour, and maintain thee, according to the manner of husbands among the Jews, who _worship_, honour, and maintain their wives.” And that no man quarrel at this harmless phrase, let him take notice, that to _worship_ here signifies, _to make worshipful or honorable_, as you may see, 1 Sam. ii. 30. For where our last translation reads it, “him that honours me, I will honour;” in the old translation, which our Common Prayer Book uses, it is, “him that _worships_ me, I will _worship_,” that is, I will make worshipful; for that way only can GOD be said to worship man.—_Bp. Sparrow._

These words are objected to by our adversaries, as a great crime in our Church, for obliging the bridegroom to make an idol of his bride, and to declare, in the most extravagant strain of all compliments, that he worships her. But this imputation is owing to the want of a just consideration of the purport of the old English word “worship,” which signifies an honourable regard, as is yet to be seen in our usual expressions still retained in common discourse, as Your Worship, Worshipful &c. And so King James, in the conference at Hampton Court, told Dr. Reynolds, who made this objection. For our Church is not only content that the wife should be endowed with a share of the husband’s goods, but that the husband should oblige himself to promote his spouse to the dignity of the uxorial honour, for she would not have the men joined to concubines by this religious solemnity; and, therefore, she ties the man to make profession, that he is willing to have the person he marries not only to be a partner in his bed, but that she should have all the dignity of a wife allowed her. And that is the meaning of these words, “with my body I thee worship:” I not only give thee a right in my body, but that in the honourable and worshipful way of a wife. For, by the old Roman law, this was the difference between a wife and a concubine: that the husband before marriage promised that he designed to promote the woman he was married to, to the honour of _materfamilias_, or mistress of the family.—_Dr. Nicholls._

The first right accruing to the wife by marriage, is honour; and, therefore, the man says, “with my body I thee worship;” that is, “with my body I thee honour:” for so the word signifies in this place; and so Mr. Selden, and before him Martin Bucer, who lived at the time when our liturgy was compiled, have translated it. The design of it is to express that the woman, by virtue of this marriage, has a share in all the titles and honours which are due, or belong to, the person of her husband. It is true the modern sense of the word is somewhat different: for which reason, I find, that at the review of our liturgy, after the restoration of King Charles II., “worship” was promised to be changed for “honour.” How the alteration came to be omitted I cannot discover; but so long as the old word is explained in the sense that I have given of it, one would think no objection could be urged against using it.—_Wheatly._

XEROPHAGIA. (Ξηροφαγία, from ξηρός, _dry_, φάγω, _to eat_.) Fast days in the first ages of the Christian Church, on which they ate nothing but bread and salt, the word signifying so much as to eat dry things; afterwards there were pulse, herbs, and fruits added. This great fast was kept the six days of the holy week for devotion, and not by obligation; so that the Church condemned the Montanists, who of their own private authority, would not only oblige all people to observe the Xerophagia of the holy week, but also other fasts that they had established, as well as several Lents. The Essenes, whether they were Jews or the first Christians of the Church of Alexandria, observed Xerophagia on certain days; for Philo says, they put nothing to their bread and water but salt and hyssop.

YEAR, ECCLESIASTICAL. (See _Advent_, _Calendar_, and _Feasts_.)

YULE. An old word signifying festival, and still in use to designate the festival of Christmas. The _yule_ of _August_ anciently signified Lammas. See Johnson _in voc_.

ZEALOTS. An ancient sect of the Jews, so called from their pretended great zeal for GOD’S laws, and the honour of religion. They were a branch of the Pharisees, though some account them a distinct sect. (See _Pharisees_.)

The Zealots were a most outrageous and ungovernable people, and, on pretence of asserting the honour of GOD’S laws, and the strictness and purity of religion, assumed a liberty of questioning notorious offenders, without staying for the ordinary formalities of law: nay, when they thought fit, they executed capital punishments upon them with their own hands. Thus, when a blasphemer cursed GOD by the name of any idol, the Zealots, who next met him, immediately killed him, without ever bringing him before the Sanhedrim. They looked upon themselves as the true successors of Phinehas, who, out of a great zeal for the honour of GOD, did immediate execution upon Zimri and Cozbi; which action was so pleasing to GOD, that he made with him, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. In imitation of Phinehas, these men took upon them to execute judgment in extraordinary cases; and not only by the connivance, but with the permission both of the rulers and the people; till, in after-times, under this pretence, their zeal degenerated into all manner of licentiousness and extravagance. And they not only became the pests of the commonwealth at home, but opened the door for the Romans to break in upon the Jews, to their final and irrecoverable ruin; for they were continually encouraging the people to throw off the Roman yoke, and assert their native liberty.

They made no scruple of robbing, plundering, and killing the principal of the nobility, under pretence of holding correspondence with the Romans, and betraying the liberty of their country; and, upon the merit of this, they assumed to themselves the titles of benefactors and saviours of the people. They abrogated the succession of ancient families, thrusting ignoble and obscure persons into the office of the high priesthood, that by this means they might draw over the most infamous villains to their party. And, not contented to affront men, they injured the majesty of heaven, and proclaimed defiance to the Divinity itself, by breaking into and profaning the most holy place.

Many attempts were made, especially by Annas the high priest, to reduce them to order; but neither force of arms, nor fair and gentle methods, could prevail upon them. They persisted in these violent proceedings, and, joining with the Idumeans, committed all manner of outrage, and slew many of the high priests themselves; and even when Jerusalem was besieged by the Roman army, they never left off to promote tumults and distractions, till their intestine quarrels ended, at last, in the sacking of the city.

ZUINGLIANS. The disciples of Zuinglius, whose opinion was that Luther’s scheme of Reformation fell very short of the extent to which it ought to have been carried. Under this impression, and with a view, as he termed it, of restoring the Church to its original purity, Zuingle sought to abolish many doctrines and rites of the Roman Catholic Church, which Luther had retained. In some points of doctrine he also differed from Luther, and his opinion on the real presence made a complete separation between them. Luther held that, together with the bread and wine, the body and blood of CHRIST were really present in the eucharist. Zuingle held, that the bread and wine were only _signs_ and _symbols_ of the _absent_ body and blood of CHRIST; so that the eucharistic rite was merely a pious and solemn ceremony, to bring it to the remembrance of the faithful. The opinions of Zuingle were adopted in Switzerland, and several neighbouring nations. They gave rise to the most violent animosities between their favourers and the disciples of Luther. Frequent advances to peace were made by the Zuinglians; Luther uniformly rejected them with sternness. He declared an union to be impossible; he called them “ministers of Satan.” When they entreated him to consider them as brothers, “What fraternity,” he exclaimed, “do you ask with me, if you persist in your belief?” On one occasion, the ingenuity of Bucer enabled him to frame a creed, which each party, constructing the words in his own sense, might sign. This effected a temporary truce; but the division soon broke out with fresh animosity. “Happy,” exclaimed Luther, “is the man who has not been of the Council of the Sacramentarians; who has not walked in the ways of the Zuinglians.”

THE END.

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY.

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Footnote 1:

“An Ecclesiastical Biography, containing the Lives of Ancient Fathers
and Modern Divines. By Walter Farquhar Hook, D. D., Vicar of Leeds.”

Footnote 2:

Author of “The History of the Christian Church, to the Pontificate of
Gregory the Great: for general readers as well as for Students in
Theology.” 8vo, 12_s._

Footnote 3: