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latter kind of (profane) comparison is carried to a still greater extent, for the deaconesses are declared to resemble the HOLY SPIRIT, inasmuch as they are not able to do anything without the deacons. Presbyters are said to represent the Apostles; and the rank of Christian teachers is declared to be higher than that of magistrates and princes. We find here, also, a complete liturgy or form of worship for Christian churches; containing not only a description of ecclesiastical ceremonies, but the prayers to be used at their celebra

tion.

This general description of the contents of the books of Constitutions is alone enough to prove that they are no productions of the apostolic age. Mention also occurs of several subordinate ecclesiastical officers, such as readers and exorcists, who were not introduced into the Church until the third century. And there are manifest contradictions between several parts of the work. The general style in which the Constitutions are written is such as had become prevalent during the third century. It is useless to inquire who was the real author of this work; but the date, and probable design, of the forgery are of more importance, and may be more easily ascertained. Epiphanius, towards the end of the fourth century; appears to be the first author who speaks of these books under their present title, Apostolical Constitutions. But he refers to the work only as one containing much edifying matter, without including it among the writings of the Apostles; and indeed he expressly says that many persons had doubted of its genuineness. One passage, however, to which Epiphanius refers, speaks a language, the reverse of what we find in the corresponding passage of the work now extant; so that it appears probable that the Apostolical Constitutions, which that author used, have been corrupted and interpolated since his time. On the whole, it appears probable, from internal evidence, that the Apostolical Constitutions were compiled during the reigns of the heathen emperors, towards the end of the third century, or at the beginning of the fourth; and that the compilation was the work of some one writer (probably a bishop) of the Eastern Church. The advancement of episcopal dignity and power appears to have been the chief design of the forgery.

If we regard the Constitutions as a production of the third century (containing remnants of earlier compositions), the

work possesses a certain kind of value. It contributes to give us an insight into the state of the Christian faith, the condition of the clergy and inferior ecclesiastical officers, the worship and discipline of the Church, and other particulars, at the period to which the composition is referred. The growth of episcopal power and influence, and the derivation of the episcopal authority from the Apostles, is here clearly shown. Many of the regulations prescribed, and many of the moral and religious remarks, are good and edifying; and the prayers especially, breathe for the most part, a spirit of simple and primitive Christianity. But the work is by no means free from traces of superstition; and it is occasionally disfigured by mystical interpretations and applications of holy Scripture, and by needless refinements in matters of ceremony. We find several allusions to the events of apostolical times; but occurrences related exclusively in such a work, are altogether devoid of credibility, especially as they are connected with the design of the compiler to pass off his book as a work of the Apostles.

The Canons relate chiefly to various particulars of ecclesiastical polity and Christian worship; the regulations which they contain being, for the most part, sanctioned with the threatening of deposition and excommunication against offenders. The first allusion to this work by name, is found in the acts of the council which assembled at Constantinople in the year 394, under the presidency of Nestorius, bishop of that see. But there are expressions in earlier councils, and writers of the same century, which appear to refer to the canons, although not named, In the beginning of the sixth century, fifty of these canons were translated from the Greek into Latin by the Roman abbot, Dionysius the Younger; and, about the same time, thirty-five others were appended to them in a collection made by John, patriarch of Constantinople. Since that time, the whole number have been regarded as genuine in the East; while only the first fifty have been treated with equal respect in the West. It appears highly probable, that the original collection was made about the middle of the third century, or somewhat later, in one of the Asiatic churches. The author may have had the same design as that which appears to have influenced the compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions. The eighty-fifth canon speaks of the constitutions as sacred books; and

APOSTOLICAL FATHERS.

from a comparison of the two books, it is plain that they are either the production of one and the same writer, or that, at least, the two authors were contemporary, and had a good understanding with each other. The rules and regulations contained in the canons are such as were gradually introduced and established during the second and third centuries. In the canon or list of sacred books of the New Testament, given in this work, the Revelation of St. John is omitted; but the two Epistles of St. Clement and Apostolical Constitutions are inserted.-Augusti.

APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. An appellation usually given to the writers of the first century, who employed their pens in the cause of Christianity. Of these writers, Cotelerius, and after him Le Clerc, have published a collection in two volumes, accompanied both with their own annotations, and the remarks of other learned men. See also the genuine epistles of the apostolic fathers by Archbishop Wake, and a translation of them in one volume 8vo. by the Rev. Temple Chevallier, B. D., formerly Hulsean lecturer in the University of Cambridge. The names of the apostolical fathers are Clement, bishop of Rome, Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and Hermas. To these Barnabas the apostle is usually added. The epistles and other writings of these eminent men are still extant. A more admirable appendix to the pure word of GOD, and a more trustworthy comment on the principles taught by inspired men, cannot be conceived. As eye-witnesses of the order and discipline of the Church, while all was fresh and new from the hands of the Apostles, their testimony forms the very summit of uninspired authority. None could better know these things than those who lived and wrote at the very time. None deserve a greater reverence than they who proclaimed the gospel, while the echo of inspired tongues yet lingered in the ears of the people.

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. (See Succession.) The line in which the ministry of the Church is handed on from age to age: the corporate lineage of the Christian clergy, just as in the Jewish Church there was a family lineage. The Church of England maintains the apostolical succession in the preface to her ordination service. Those are said to be in apostolical succession who have been sent to labor in the LORD's vineyard, by bishops who were consecrated by those who, in

their turn, were consecrated by others, and these by others, until the derived authority is traced to the Apostles, and through them to the great head of the Church. The apostolical succession of the ministry is essential to the right administration of the holy sacraments. The clergy of the Church of England can trace their connexion with the Apostles by links not one of which is wanting from the times of St. Paul and St Peter to our own.-See Appendix to Rose's Commission and consequent Duties of the Clergy; Perceval's Doctrine of the Apostolical Succession, 2d edition; Sinclair (Rev. John) on the Episcopal Succession; and Courayer's Defence of the English Ordinations.

APOSTOLICI, or APOTACTICI. Heretics in Christianity who sprung from the Encratites and Cathari, and took these names because they pretended to be the only followers of the Apostles, and because they made a profession of never marrying, and renounced riches. Epiphanius observes, that these vagabonds, who ap peared about the year 260, for the most part made use of the apocryphal Acts of St. Andrew and St. Thomas. There was another sect of this name, about the twelfth century, who were against marriage, and never went without lewd women: they also despised infant baptism, would not allow of purgatory, invocation of saints and prayers for the dead, and called themselves the true body of the Church, condemning all use of flesh with the Manichæans.-Bingham, Antiq. Chr. Ch. APOTACTITÆ, 'APOTACTICI. (See Apostolici.)

or

APPARITOR. Apparitors (so called from the principal branch of their office, which consists in summoning persons to appear) are officers appointed to execute the orders and decrees of the ecclesiastical courts. The proper business and employment of an apparitor is to attend in court, to receive such commands as the judge shall please to issue forth; to convene and cite the defendants into court; to admonish or cite the parties to produce witnesses, and the like.

APPEAL. The provocation of a cause from an inferior to a superior judge. (1 Kings, xviii. Acts, xxv.) Appeals are divided into judicial and extrajudicial. Judicial appeals are those made from the actual sentence of the court of judicature. In this case the force of such sentence is suspended until the cause is determined by the superior judge. Extrajudicial ap

peals are those made from extrajudicial acts, by which a person either is or is likely to be, wronged. He therefore resorts to the legal protection of a superior judge. By the civil law, appeals ought to be made gradatim; but by the canon law, as it existed before the Reformation, they might be made omisso medio, and immediately to the pope; who, was reputed to be the ordinary judge of all Christians in all causes, having a concurrent power with all ordinaries. Appeals to the pope were first sent from England to Rome in the reign of King Stephen, by the pope's legate, Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (A. D. 1135-1154.) Prior to that period, the pope was not permitted to enjoy any appellate jurisdiction in England. William the Conqueror refused to do him homage. Anglo-Saxon dooms do not so much as mention the pope's name; and the laws of Edward the Confessor assert the royal supremacy in the following words:"Rex autem, qui vicarius summi regis est, ad hoc constitutus est, ut regnum et populum domini, et super omnia sanctam ecclesiam, regat et defendat ab injuriosis; maleficos autem, destruat et evellat." The Penitential of Archbishop Theodore (A. D. 668-690) contains no mention of appeals to Rome; and in the reign of Henry II., at the Council of Clarendon (A. D. 1164), it was enacted, "De appellationibus si emerserint ab archidiacono debebit procedi ad episcopum, ab episcopo ad archiepiscopum, et si archiepiscopus defuerit in justitia exhibenda, ad dominum regem perveniendum est postremo, ut præcepto ipsius in curia archiepiscopi controversia terminetur; ita quod non debeat ultra procedi absque assensu domini regis." Notwithstanding this law, and the statutes made against "provisors" in the reigns of Edward I., Edward III., Richard II., and Henry V. appeals used to be forwarded to Rome until the reign of Henry VIII., when, by the statutes of the 24 Henry VIII. c. 12, and the 25 Henry VIII. c. 19, all appeals to the pope from England were legally abolished. By these statutes, appeals were to be finally determined by the High Court of Delegates; to be appointed by the king in chancery under the great seal. This jurisdiction was, in 1832, by 2 & 3 William IV. c. 92., transferred from the High Court of Delegates to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; whose "report or recommendation," when sanctioned by the crown, is a final judgment.

APPROPRIATION.

The crown, however, used to have the power to grant a commission of review after the decision of an appeal by the High Court of Delegates. (26 Henry VIII. c. 1, 1 Eliz. c. 1, Goodman's case in Dyer's Reports. This prerogative Queen Mary exercised by granting a review after a review in Goodman's case, regarding the deanery of Wells. (See Lord Campbell's judgment in the Court of Queen's Bench in Gorham v. the Bishop of Exeter.) It is a remarkable fact that, although the statutes for restraint of appeals had been repealed, on Queen Mary's accession no appeal in Goodman's case was permitted to proceed out of England to the pope.

The commissions of review were not granted by Queen Mary under the authority of Protestant enactments, but by virtue of the common law, regarding the regalities of the crown of England. It does not appear that by the 2 and 3 William IV. c. 92, 3 & 4 William IV. c. 41, 7 & 8 Vict.) the prerogative is interfered with; and that the crown is compelled to adopt the "report of recommendation" of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council: on the contrary her Majesty is quite free to sanction or reject such report, which only becomes valid as a decision on the royal assent being given.

APPELLANT. Generally, one who appeals from the decision of an inferior court to a superior. Particularly those among the French clergy were called appellants who appealed from the bull Unigenitus, issued by Pope Clement in 1713, either to the pope better informed, or to a general council. This is one of the many instances in which the boasted unity of the Roman obedience has been signally broken; the whole body of the French clergy, and the several monasteries, being divided into appellants and non-appellants.

APPROPRIATION is the annexing of a benefice to the use of a spiritual corporation. This was frequently done_in England after the Norman Conquest. The secular clergy were then Saxons or Englishmen; and most of the nobility, bishops, and abbots being Normans, they had no kind of regard to the secular clergy, but reduced them as low as they could to enrich their monasteries; and this was the reason of so many appropriations. But some persons are of opinion that it is a question undecided, whether princes or popes first made appropriations: though the oldest of which we have any account were made by princes; as, for instance,

APSE.

by the Saxon kings, to the abbey of Crowland; by William the Conqueror, to Battle abbey; and by Henry I., to the Church of Salisbury. It is true the popes, who were always jealous of their usurped supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, did in their decretals assume this power to themselves, and granted privileges to several religious orders, to take appropriations from laymen: but in the same grant they were usually required to be answerable to the bishop in spiritualibus, and to the abbot or prior in temporalibus, which was the common form of appropriations till the latter end of the reign of Henry II. For at first those grants were not in proprios usus, for they were always obliged to present a clerk to the bishop upon the avoidance of a benefice, who, upon his institution, became their vicar, and for that reason an appropriation and a rectory were then inconsistent. But because the formation of an appropriation was a thing merely spiritual, the patron usually petitioned the bishop to appropriate the church; but the king was first to give license to the monks that, quantum in nobis est, the bishop might do it. The king being supreme ordinary, might of his own authority make an appropriation without the consent of the bishop, though this was seldom done. Appropriations at first were made only to spiritual persons, such as were qualified to perform divine service; then by degrees they were extended to spiritual corporations, as deans and chapters; and lastly to prioresses upon the pretence that they had to support hospitality; and lest preaching should by this means be neglected, an invention was found out to supply that defect by a vicar, as aforesaid; and it was left to the bishop to be a moderator between the monks and the vicar, for his maintenance out of the appropriated tithes; for the bishop could compel the monastery to which the church was appropriated to set out a convenient portion of tithes, and such as he should approve, for the maintenance of the vicar, before he confirmed the appropriation.

APSE. A semicircular or polygonal termination of the choir, or other portion of a church.

Large Saxon churches, as we collect from history, generally had an eastern apse at least, and often several others. In Norman churches of large size, the apse was very frequent, and it was repeated in several parts of the church. Norwich and

Peterborough cathedrals convey a good impression of the general character of Norman churches in this respect. Traces of the apse are found also at Winchester, Rochester, Ely, Lincoln, Ripon, Gloucester, and Worcester cathedrals, besides St. Alban's, Tewkesbury, and other conventual churches. In small churches, as Steetley, Derbyshire, and Birkin, Yorkshire, the eastern apse alone is found, nor is this at all a universal feature. With the Norman style the apse was almost wholly discontinued, though an early English apse occurs at Tidmarsh, Berkshire, and a decorated apse at Little Maplestead; the latter is, however, altogether an exceptional case. There seems to have been some tendency to reproduce the apse in the fifteenth century, as at Trinity Church, Coventry, and Henry VII.'s chapel, Westminster; but the later examples entirely miss the breadth and grandeur of the Norman apse. Yet the later styles might have had one great advantage in the treatment of this feature in their flying buttresses spanning the outer aisle of the apse, which is often so striking a feature in foreign churches, and to which the perpendicular clerestory to the Norman apse of Norwich makes some approach. For the ritual place of the apse see Cathedral.

AQUARII. A sect of heretics who consecrated their pretended eucharist with water only, instead of wine, or wine mingled with water. This they did under the delusion that it was universally unlawful to drink wine; although as St. Chrysostom says, our blessed LORD, instituted the holy eucharist in wine, and himself drank wine at his communion table, and after his resurrection, as if by anticipation to condemn this pernicious heresy. It is lamentable to see so bold an impiety revived in the present day, when certain men, under the cloak of temperance, pretend a eucharist without wine, or any fermented liquor. These heretics are not to be confounded with those against whom St. Cyprian discourses at large in his letter to Cæcilian, who from fear of being dis covered, from the smell of wine, by the heathen in times of persecution, omitted the wine in the eucharist cup. It was indeed very wrong and unworthy of the Christian name, but far less culpable than the pretence of a temperance above that of CHRIST and the Church, in the Aquarii. -Epiph. Hæres. xlvi.; August. de Hares. c. 46; Theodoret, de Fab. Hæret. lib. i. cap.

28

ARABICS.

ARCHDEACON.

ARABICS, or ARABIANS. Heretics who appeared in Arabia in the third century. According to Eusebius and St. Augustine, they taught that the soul died, and was corrupted with the body, and that they were to be raised together at the last day.

ARCANI DISCIPLINA. The name given to a part of the discipline of the early Church in withdrawing from public view the sacraments and higher mysteries of our religion: a practice founded on a reverence for the sacred mysteries themselves, and to prevent their being exposed to the ridicule of the heathen. Irenæus, Tertullian, and Clemens are the first who mention any such custom in the Church. And the Disciplina Arcani gradually fell into disuse after the time of Constantine, when Christianity had nothing to fear from its enemies.-Bingham. Augusti.

ARCHBISHOP. An archbishop is the chief of the clergy in a whole province; and has the inspection of the bishops of that province, as well as of the inferior clergy, and may deprive them on notorious causes. The archbishop, has also his own diocese, wherein he exercises episcopal jurisdiction, as in his province he exercises archiepiscopal. As archbishop, he upon the receipt of a king's writ, calls the bishops and clergy within his province, to meet in convocation. To him all appeals are made from inferior jurisdictions within his province; and as an appeal lies from the bishop in person, so it also lies from the consistory courts of his diocese to his archiepiscopal court. During the vacancy of any see in his province he is guardian of the spiritualities thereof, as the king is of the temporalities; and, during such vacancy, all episcopal rights belong to him.

Some learned men are of opinion, that an archbishop is a dignity as ancient as the Apostles' time, for there were primi episcopi then, though the name of archbishop was not known until some ages afterwards; and that the Apostle himself gave the first model of this government in the Church, by vesting Titus with a superintendency over all Crete. Certain it is that there were persons soon after that time, who, under the name of metropolitans, exercised the same spiritual and ecclesiastical functions as an archbishop; as for instance the Bishop of Carthage,

provincial councils, and had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the bishops of Africa; and the bishops of Rome, who had the like primacy in Italy. Moreover, the apostolical canons, which were the rule of the Greek Church in the third century, mention a chief bishop in every province, and most of them about the eighth century assumed the title of archbishops; some of which were so in a more eminent degree, viz. those of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, which were the four principal cities of the empire, and to these the archbishop of Jerusalem was added, because that was the capital city of the Holy Land, and these five were called patriarchs.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is styled primate of all England and metropolitan, and the Archbishop of York primate of England. They have the title of grace, and most reverend father in God by Divine Providence. There are two provinces or archbishoprics in England, Canterbury and York. The Archbishop of Canterbury has the precedency of all the other clergy; next to him the Archbishop of York. Each archbishop has, within his province, bishops of several dioceses. The Archbishop of Canterbury has under him, within his province, Rochester, London, Winchester, Norwich, Lincoln, Ely, Chichester, Salisbury, Exeter, Bath and Wells, Worcester Lichfield, Hereford, Landaff, St. David's, Bangor, and St. Asaph; and four founded by king Henry VIII., erected out of the ruins of dissolved monasteries, viz, Gloucester and Bristol, now united into one, Peterborough and Oxford. The Archbishop of York has under him six, viz. the bishop of Chester, erected by Henry VIII., and annexed by him to the archbishopric of York, the bishops of Durham, Carlisle, Ripon, and Manchester, and the Isle of Man, annexed to the province of York by king Henry VIII. The dioceses of Ripon and Manchester have been formed in the province of York within the last few years, by act of parliament.

ARCHDEACON.

In the Church of England and most European churches, each diocese is divided into archdeaconries and parishes. Over the diocese the bishop presides; over the archdeaconry one of the clergy is appointed by the bishop to preside, who must be a priest, and he is called an archdeacon: over the parish, the rector or vicar presides. An archdeacon was so called anciently, from being the