{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26136/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26136","id":"gutenberg_26136","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26136","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian art and symbolism","Church decoration and ornament","Church vestments","Public worship"],"text":"E-text prepared by Al Haines\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 26136-h.htm or 26136-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/1/1/26136/26136-h/26136-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/1/1/26136/26136-h.zip)\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n      Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in\n      curly braces, e.g. {99}.  They have been located where page\n      breaks occurred in the original book.  For its Index, a page\n      number has been placed only at the start of that section.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH\n\nAnd the Beauty of Holiness\n\nby\n\nJ. A. REGESTER, S.T.D.\n\nRector of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N. Y.\n\n\n  \"Oh, may I dwell in His Temple blest,\n    As long as my life may be,\n  And the beauty fair of the Lord of Hosts,\n    In the home of His glory see!\"\n            BISHOP COXE, _Christian Ballads_\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nJames Pott & Company\n285 Fourth Avenue\n1898\n\nCopyright, 1898, by\nJames Pott & Co.\n\nFirst Edition.  Printed, January, 1898.\nSecond Edition, Revised.  Printed, May, 1898.\n\n\n\n\nPreface\n\nThe material in this manual is, so far as known, accessible only in a\nnumber of books.  Obligation to those from which it has been gathered\nhas not been expressed by references, which must have marked nearly\nevery page, but, instead, a list has been appended which may be\nconsulted if it is desired to verify statements or to study more fully\nany subject presented.\n\nThe object in view has not been to discuss the propriety, or\nlawfulness, or obligation of any matter referred to, but simply to give\ninformation.\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n                                                    PAGE\n\n  WORSHIP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7\n  THE CHURCH, THE PLACE OF WORSHIP . . . . . . . . .  11\n  SYMBOLISM OF THE CHURCH BUILDING . . . . . . . . .  17\n  ARRANGEMENT AND FURNITURE OF THE CHURCH  . . . . .  37\n  SYMBOLIC ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . .  51\n  HOW TO USE THE PRAYER-BOOK . . . . . . . . . . . .  92\n  DEVOUT CUSTOMS AND USAGES  . . . . . . . . . . . . 103\n  LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE  . . . . . . . . . . . 119\n  INDEX  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121\n\n\n\n\n{7}\n\n_The Beauty of Holiness_\n\n\n_Worship_\n\nThe worship of Almighty God is one of the characteristic acts of\nhumanity.  The brute looks up to heaven, but man alone looks up with\nthought of God and to adore.  \"The entire creation grew together to\nreflect and repeat the glory of God, and yet the echo of God slumbered\nin the hollow bowels of the dumb earth until there was one who could\nwake up the shout by a living voice.  Man is the first among the\ncreatures to deliver back from the rolling world this conscious and\ndelicious response, the recognition of the Father who begat him.  He,\nand he alone, is nature's priest, her spokesman, her mediator.\"\n\n{8}\n\nThe idea of worship, in which the crown and glory of manhood thus has\nexpression, \"includes all those acts which make up the devotional duty\nof the soul to Almighty God.\"  Our private and family devotions are\nacts of worship.  They enter into its obligation, are comprehended by\nit, but do not fill it out.  They are not sufficient alone.  The due\nacknowledgment before others of our belief in and reverence for God,\nthe blessings which attend only upon the use of united praise and\nprayer and of Sacraments, the honor of God, the rendering of \"thanks\nfor the great benefits that we have received at His hands,\" the setting\nforth of \"His most worthy praise,\"--all demand the public act of\nworship.\n\nThe obligation and privilege of such worship cannot be too greatly\nexalted.  It is not a matter of inclination merely; it is an imperative\nduty, the discharge of which may not be regulated by considerations of\nconvenience, or indolence, or pleasure.  To neglect it, is to dishonor\nGod, to withhold what is His due.  It is also to dishonor ourselves, to\nviolate our own noblest instincts.  No other act of which we as men are\ncapable is so dignified or so worthy of ourselves.  Not to worship is\nto debase ourselves.\n\nThis duty and privilege of worship the church and the Prayer-Book help\nus to perform.  Just as {9} other buildings about us--homes, stores,\nfactories, schools, libraries--stand for and represent certain\ninterests and departments of our lives, so the church as a building\nmakes its claim and reminds us that there must also be room--a large\nplace and sacred--in our lives for worship, and supplies the hallowed\nmeans and helpful associations for its right discharge.  And what the\nchurch supplies the means of doing fittingly, the Prayer-Book directs.\nIt comes with the reminder that while Sunday brings the great\nopportunity of worship, the obligation is not a thing of one day only,\nbut of every day, and that our public worship should be \"daily,\" if\npossible.  It enables every one who comes into the church to be a\nworshiper.  It gives to each one his part.  It makes no distinctions.\nHigh and low, rich and poor, have equal share in the service.  It\nteaches to worship reverently, and in spirit and in truth.  \"Everything\nin the Prayer-Book is solemn, humble, reverential, as it respects man,\nand ennobling and glorifying as it respects God.\"  And this is meet and\nright.  For, as has been truly said, \"Worship is the concentration and\nconsecration of whatever is noble in the world.  It is the dedication\nto the Most High of all that is best in what the eye can see, the ear\nhear, the voice sing, the hand execute, {10} and the mind conceive.  It\nis the sanctification of color, sound, and skill, of intellect,\nimagination, and emotion.  It is devotion--devotion of what is\nexcellent in man, devotion of what symbolizes the loveliness of nature.\nTherefore it is that worship calls for art; therefore, too, it is that\nart so often finds its noblest use in worship.  Worship and art\ntogether take the beauty of the world and offer it up as a tribute at\nthe feet of God.\"\n\n\n\n\n{11}\n\n_The Church, the Place of Worship_\n\nIt would seem that at first Christians worshiped in any place which\nthey could use with safety.  \"But soon the Lord revealed Himself to the\nworld as the King of it, until in a few generations the earth was\ncovered with His shrines, and mines and forests and human skill offered\nto Him their best gifts.\"  \"The custom of setting apart places and\nhouses as holy and dedicated to God's worship was ever a part of the\nfaith of God's people.\"  Thus it was said to Israel in the wilderness,\n\"Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.\"  Of the\nbuilding of the Temple Solomon says, \"Behold, I purpose to build a\nhouse unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my\nfather, saying, Thy son, {12} whom I will set upon thy throne in thy\nroom, he shall build a house unto My name.\"  Our Lord confirms this\npractice as one of sound and true religion.  He called the Temple \"My\nFather's house,\" and by cleansing it of buyers and sellers showed that\nit was to be used for no other purpose than the worship of God.\nChristians from the earliest days have had consecrated places which\nwere held in reverence as distinct from the home.  And so the\nPrayer-Book says, \"Devout and holy men, as well under the Law as under\nthe Gospel, moved either by the express command of God, or by the\nsecret inspiration of the blessed Spirit, and acting agreeably to their\nown reason and sense of the natural decency of things, have erected\nhouses for the public worship of God, and separated them from all\nunhallowed, worldly, and common uses, in order to fill men's minds with\ngreater reverence for His glorious Majesty, and affect their hearts\nwith more devotion and humility in His service; which pious works have\nbeen approved of and graciously accepted by our heavenly Father.\"\n\nIt is an ancient custom to dedicate churches to the glory of God and in\nhonor of some special saint.  This custom probably arose from the fact\nthat in early days churches were commonly built over the {13} graves of\nmartyrs, or in the place of their martyrdom, and hence were called by\ntheir names.  Sometimes the church is named from some fact in the\nsacred history of our redemption, as the Incarnation, the Annunciation,\nthe Nativity, the Epiphany, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the\nResurrection, the Ascension.  Or it may take its name from the Holy\nTrinity, or from some title of our Lord or of the Holy Ghost.  Or it\nmay be named for one or all of the holy angels.  It must be felt to be\na decided advantage to have the place of the worship of God designated\nby a dignified name, and one non-secular and religious in its\nassociations.\n\nThe word \"church,\" by which we designate the place of divine worship,\nbeing derived from the Greek _kuriakon_, the Lord's house, embodies the\nidea of its sacred character.\n\nA canon, or law, of the Church forbids consecration so long as a debt\nremains on the building.  It may, however, before consecration be used\nfor worship.\n\nAs consecrated and set apart for the holy offices of religion, the\nchurch is the proper place for the ministration of the Sacraments, and,\npreferably, for marriages and burials.  The Church's rule in reference\nto Holy Baptism is that even children shall {14} not be baptized at\nhome \"without great cause and necessity.\"  This rule is laid down\nbecause the decency and solemnity suited to so great a Sacrament can be\nhad better in the church, set apart and arranged for the purpose, than\nin any private house, and in order that by the public ministration\nothers may be instructed by the service.\n\nOf the Solemnization of Matrimony the Church says, \"The persons to be\nmarried shall come into the body of the church, or shall be ready in\nsome proper house, with their friends and neighbors.\"  That the church\nis named first as the proper place shows that it is to be preferred for\na marriage.  It can be solemnized there in a more seemly and dignified\nway than elsewhere, and those coming to plight their vows may be more\ndeeply impressed with the solemnity and importance of the step.\n\nIn the Office for the Burial of the Dead the church only (or the\nchurchyard) is named as the place.  The Church evidently has no thought\nof any other place as appropriate for the burial of her children.  It\nis the spiritual home of all the baptized.  Christian consolations are\npreeminently there imparted.  These considerations, in addition to\nthose of reverence and convenience, mark this as the proper place for\nthe Burial Office.\n\n{15}\n\nThe consecrated character of the church should have distinct\nrecognition in use and conduct.  The building has been thereby\n\"separated from all unhallowed, worldly, and common uses.\"  It is wrong\nto use it for purposes of amusement or business.  It has been given to\nGod.  It has been consecrated for religious purposes.  It is sacrilege\nto treat it as a common thing.\n\nIt should be recognized also in personal conduct.  A prayer should\nalways be said on entering.  The manner should be reverent and quiet.\nAll light and useless talk should be restrained.\n\nIt should be recognized in conduct in reference to others.  As \"God's\nhouse,\" all of His children have a rightful place there.  This right\nshould be recognized by courtesy to others, especially to strangers and\nto people in humble station.\n\nWherever possible, the church should be open every day and all day for\nprivate prayer and meditation.  Many must of necessity live in crowded\ndwellings, or in circumstances in which quiet and privacy are hard to\nobtain.  But to all, whatever their circumstances, the open church\noffers opportunities not afforded at home.  Sacred associations and\nobjects greatly aid thought and devotion; and in the quiet church,\nwhere there is so much to {16} remind of God and sacred things, and so\nlittle of the world and of sin, we can think and pray better than\nelsewhere.  It has been found a very helpful thing in the Christian\nlife to form the habit of stopping in the church, whenever in its\nneighborhood, for a few moments of prayer, and to use it also as a\nplace of refuge in time of trial and temptation.\n\n\n\n\n{17}\n\n_Symbolism of the Church Building_\n\n\"As soon as the early Christians were at liberty to build churches\naccording to their own mind, they took pains to make them significant\nof their religion.  Probably at first the Christians took for the\npurposes of their worship such buildings as they could get, adapting\nthem to their uses as best they might.  But when they grew strong\nenough and independent enough to build as the heart and imagination\ndictated, then they showed themselves careful to make their houses of\nGod in shape and dimension suggestive of what they believed.\"  These\nold builders were Churchmen, and made their Churchmanship and their\nbelief felt in their work.  A deep and true symbolism was carried out\nin the plan and construction of their {18} churches.  Thus Christian\nchurches at an early day came to be built in the form of a cross.  This\nwas not only the most ornamental form of structure; it was much more:\nit made the very fabric of the church the symbol of our faith in Christ\ncrucified.  Some chancels of old churches were even built with a slight\ndeflection from the line of direction of the nave, thus representing\nthe inclination of our Saviour's head upon the Cross.  It made also the\ngathering together of each congregation of His Church--which is His\nmystical Body--the symbol of that body itself: that part in the nave\nrepresenting His body, that in the transepts His outstretched arms,\nthat in the choir His head.  And so, also, \"the united prayers and\npraises of the congregation make, as it were, in their very sound the\nsign of the Cross.\"\n\nThis plan of constructive symbolism affects not only the fabric of the\nchurch as a whole, but each separate part of the church has its\nreligious character and meaning.\n\nLet us linger for a moment on the outside.  The spire points upward and\nteaches its lesson of aspiration.  \"Lift up your hearts,\" it seems to\nsay, and holds up the Cross as that by which alone we are to be\n\"exalted unto everlasting life.\"  Whenever we {19} lift up our eyes to\nit, it ought to repeat for us that lesson--rebuke downward thoughts and\ndesires, and point up to spiritual and heavenly things.\n\nIn the tower are the bells, and what the spire with its uplifted Cross\nsays to us in silent eloquence these say in sound and music.\n\nThe office of the bell in calling to prayer and holy worship was\nregarded in olden time with much reverence.  The use of bells for the\npurpose of gathering people together in large numbers appears to be of\nChristian origin.  \"Large bells hung in a tower seem to have been\nunknown before A.D. 500.  They were first made in Campania in Italy,\nwhence the Italian name _campana_, a bell, and _campanile_, a\nbell-tower.  Bells were anciently supposed to have considerable powers,\nespecially against evil spirits.  Their use for religious purposes\nprobably originated this belief.  The hand-bells of the British\napostles, St. Patrick, St. Columba, St. David, etc., are said to have\nbeen long preserved, if not existing even now.  They are four-sided\nbronze bells, sometimes of several plates fused into one.  St. Patrick\nis said by an old legend to have dispersed a host of demons, who were\ntoo bold to be scared by the mere ringing of the bell, by flinging it\ninto the midst of them.\n\n\"Bells in the middle ages were sometimes {20} dedicated to saints.\nThey were christened with all the usual ceremonies and with much pomp;\nsponsors were provided, the bell was sprinkled at the font, anointed\nwith oil, and robed in a chrisom.  Superstitious as these customs would\nseem now, there is something fine in the simple faith which thus, in\nthose more poetic days, consecrated to God's service the voices which\nshould proclaim Him far and wide over the land.\"  In simpler form, the\ncustom is still frequently observed of setting apart by solemn prayer\nand benediction the bells which are to call men to prayer or to ring\nout the praises of God.\n\nChurch bells are frequently marked by appropriate inscriptions.  The\nfollowing, for instance, was very common in the middle ages, all these\npowers being attributed to bells:\n\n  \"Funera plango, Fulgura trango, Sabbata pango,\n  Excito lentos, Dissipo ventos, Paco cruentos.\"\n\n  \"I mourn the dead, I break the lightning, I announce the Sabbath,\n  I excite the slothful, I disperse the winds, I appease the cruel.\"\n\n\nAs instances of modern inscriptions we have the following: \"Bethlehem,\nCalvary, Bethany.\"  \"We welcome the infant to the Font.  We invite the\n{21} youth to Confirmation.  We invoke the faithful to the Holy\nCommunion.\"  \"Joyful our peal for the bridal; mournful our plaint for\nthe dead.\"\n\nLet us turn now to the inside of the church and inquire as to the\nspiritual significance which has become associated with its several\nparts.\n\nThe church is divided into two main portions--the body of the church\nand the chancel.  This represents the whole Catholic Church, divided\ninto those on earth and those who have passed into Paradise.  The body\nof the church, representing those on earth, is divided again into two\nparts--the nave and transepts.  And these have each their special\nreligious associations and suggestiveness.\n\n_The Nave._--The nave is that part which extends from the door to the\nchoir.  It is the place where the congregation is gathered, in the\nfellowship of Christ's religion, for the purpose of worship.  It is\nmost probably called the nave from the Latin _navis_, signifying a\nship, the same word from which we get our English \"navy\" and \"naval.\"\nThe ship was the favorite symbol of the Church in primitive times.  We\nhave the idea preserved for us in the first prayer in the Offices for\nHoly Baptism: \"Received into the ark of Christ's Church ... may so pass\nthe waves of this troublesome world\" as {22} finally to \"come to the\nland of everlasting life.\"  The thought was so much in mind that some\nold churches were built with the timbers of the roof modeled like the\nribs of a ship, and in some cases the walls were made irregular to\nrepresent the sides of the ship beaten and pressed upon by the waves.\nThe nave, then, as representing the Church into which God in His love\ngathers us together in order to bring us in safety through the storms\nof life to the \"land of everlasting life,\" stands for the idea of\n_fellowship_ in Christ.\n\nWe may come to that same idea in connection with the main body of the\nchurch in other ways.  Notice how it is made up of several parts,\ndivided, in many churches, by pillars and arches.  There is the central\npart, what is called, strictly speaking, the nave, and the two side\nparts, called the aisles.  Now this threefold division of the main body\nof the church into nave and aisles may speak to us of the same\nthing--fellowship.  These divisions do not make up three separate\nchurches, but unite in the one church.\n\nSo, again, the idea of fellowship may come to us in another way.  The\nspecial service of the nave is the Litany.  This solemn service has\nbeen said from very early times from the Litany-desk, placed {23} at\nthe head of the nave, before the entrance to the chancel.  \"Its\nposition there refers to a Litany, and a place for it to be said, of\nGod's own appointing.  'Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,\nweep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy\npeople, O Lord.'  Our Litany, retaining the same words of supplication,\nis said, in allusion to this, in the midst of the church,\" the priest\ntaking his place with the people, and, in fellowship of sinfulness and\nneed, leading their supplications.\n\nThis truth of fellowship in Christ which the nave suggests, we confess\nour belief in when we say, \"I believe in the holy Catholic Church; The\nCommunion of Saints.\"  The pictures of the saints of the Old and the\nNew Testament, of the angels who worship Christ our Saviour, and of the\nmen blessed by Him when on earth, which shine for us in the windows,\nmay help to give it reality in our thought.  The four main walls of the\nchurch, which are supposed to represent the four Evangelists, and the\npillars, \"which, as the chief supports of the fabric, are said to\nrepresent the Apostles, prophets, and martyrs,\" may remind us also of\nthe holy and glorious fellowship into which we have been brought.\n\nThis fellowship in Christ is one of the means which God's love uses for\nhelping and saving men.  {24} We are helped by it.  We must by it help\nothers.  Let us build, it, then, into the daily life, as it is built\ninto the very stones of the church.\n\n_The Transepts._--The transepts are the part of the church which gives\nto the building the cruciform shape.  Crossing the nave before the\nentrance to the chancel, running the one to the north, the other to the\nsouth, they complete the outline of the cross.  Upon the arms of such a\ncross our Saviour hung as He died for us.\n\nThe transepts may bring us, then, as we remember this, the thought of\n_sacrifice_, that our lives to be truly Christian must have the spirit\nof the Cross worked into them.  It was by offering Himself in sacrifice\nthat Christ redeemed us, and it is by offering ourselves to Him in\nsacrifice, by self-denial for His cause, and by doing good (at some\ncost to ourselves) to others for His sake, that we make the response He\nasks to His love.  That offering of ourselves must be made not only by\nour lips in the act of worship, but also by our lives, in deeds.\n\nSo, also, the spirit of Christ is the spirit of service, through love,\nin behalf of others--the spirit of true fellowship.  Now we cannot\nrealize that spirit without sacrifice of selfish inclination and\ndesire.  We saw that the main body of the church {25} represents that\nportion of Christ's Church which is on earth, and that the nave\nsuggests the idea of fellowship as the very spirit and law of the\nChristian life.  Now the transepts, making the cross, tell us that\nfellowship expresses itself truly, that is, after Christ's example,\nthrough sacrifice.  \"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love\none another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.\"  The\ntrue Christian life of loving fellowship, after the example of our\nSaviour who died upon the Cross for us, must get somehow, in\nself-denial for Christ and self-forgetful work for others, the sign of\nthe Cross worked into it.\n\n_The Chancel._--The body of the church, as we have seen, is regarded as\nrepresenting the \"Church militant,\" that part of the Church which is\nhere on earth and still in conflict.  The chancel represents that part\nof the Church which is made up of those who have passed through death\nto the state beyond.\n\nThe word \"chancel\" is derived from the Latin word for the lattice-work\nwhich formerly parted this portion of the church from the nave.  It is\nthe same word from which we get our word \"to cancel,\" that is, to\ndestroy a writing by crossing it out with the pen, which makes\nsomething like the figure of a lattice.  The lattice was part of the\nscreen {26} (sometimes called the \"rood-screen,\" from the rood or\ncrucifix upon it) which in some churches stood in the arch and divided\nthe chancel from the nave.  The screen signified death.  Men passed\nthrough it from the nave into the chancel, as they must pass through\ndeath from the part of the Church which is on earth to the part which\nis in the world of spirits.\n\nIn the chancel itself we have two parts--the choir and the sanctuary.\n\n_The Choir._--As its name denotes, the choir is that part appropriated\nto those who lead the worship.  It is cut off by the screen, or chancel\narch, from the nave, and is elevated above it by several steps.  In the\nsymbolism of the church building it represents that part of the holy\nCatholic Church which is known as the \"Church expectant\"--those who\nhave passed through death into the rest and waiting of Paradise.\n\nLet us see what the Prayer-Book says of those who are in Paradise.  In\nthe Burial Office we have this prayer: \"Almighty God, with whom do live\nthe spirits of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the\nsouls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the\nflesh, are in joy and felicity; We give Thee hearty thanks for {27} the\ngood examples of all those Thy servants, who, having finished their\ncourse in faith, do now rest from their labors.  And we beseech Thee,\nthat we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of Thy holy\nName, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and\nsoul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our\nLord.  Amen.\"\n\nNote how the closing portion reminds us that while the departed \"do now\nrest from their labors,\" they have not yet received their \"perfect\nconsummation and bliss\"; that they wait for this till the coming of our\nLord and the Resurrection, when it shall be \"both in body and soul,\"\n\"in eternal and everlasting glory.\"  We speak of them, therefore, as\ncomposing the \"Church expectant.\"\n\nNow observe what the same prayer tells us of their state while thus\nresting and waiting in expectation of their perfect consummation and\nbliss.  It says, \"The souls of the faithful, after they are delivered\nfrom the burden of the flesh, _are in joy and felicity_.\"\n\nThis same symbolic meaning for this part of the chancel may come to us\nin another way, that is, from the services which are conducted from it,\nMorning and Evening Prayer, which are commonly {28} known, therefore,\nas the \"Choir Offices.\"  These look beyond the choir, which represents\nthe \"Church expectant\" in Paradise, to the sanctuary, with its Altar,\nwhich represents, as we shall see, heaven and the \"Church triumphant.\"\nThe central point of the Church's worship is the great sacrificial act\nof the oblation of the Holy Eucharist.  Upon this the other services of\nMorning Prayer and the Litany, which precede, and of Evening Prayer,\nwhich follows, depend for their significance; the first as preparation\nfor it, and the second as an act of thanksgiving and praise; just as\nthe \"felicity\" of those in Paradise is a felicity not perfect in\nitself, but one of anticipation of, and preparation and thankfulness\nfor, the \"perfect consummation and bliss\" which await them.\n\nAnd the dominant note of these services is keyed to that same idea.  It\nis a note of \"joy.\"  There are indeed strongly marked features of\npenitence and need.  We come before God in our worship as those who are\nsinful and needy.  We ever make approach through the sacrifice of the\nCross.  But we come also as those who have confidence in divine love\nand mercy.  So praise, joyous praise, predominates.  The _Te Deum_, the\n_Benedicite_, the _Benedictus_, the _Jubilate_, all ring out this note\nand give {29} joyousness to the service, while _Magnificat_ and _Nunc\nDimittis_ tell of rejoicing and hope in what Christ has brought us by\nHis Incarnation.\n\nIt is all a worship of preparation and joy.  The choir may remind us,\nthen, by its suggestiveness as related to the other parts of the\nchurch, and by the dominant note of joy which rings through its\nservices, how the faithful departed go at death into the \"joy and\nfelicity\" of Paradise, there to wait, as the \"Church expectant,\" for\nthe Resurrection and their \"perfect consummation and bliss\", that the\n\"Church expectant\" and the \"Church militant\" are not two Churches, but\nthe one Church of Christ in two places and in two states, on earth and\nin Paradise, fighting and waiting; that they have still \"mystic sweet\ncommunion\" in praise and worship and prayer--the Church in Paradise\nleading our worship as the choir leads the worship of the congregation.\n\nSo, again, the choir may impress upon our minds how joy has place in\nthe Christian life: that Christianity is not a religion of gloom, but\nof joy; that if Christ says, \"Come, take up the cross, and follow Me,\"\nHe says also, \"My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,\" because the\nway of the Cross is the way into true joy.\n\n{30}\n\nSo we pass through the transepts, which speak to us of self-sacrifice,\ninto the choir, which speaks to us of joy.  So long as self is first,\nthe best and truest joy is shut out of our lives; but when self has\nbeen crucified, and love is first,--love that delights to serve, and\nthat believes still in the absolute and perfect goodness of God even\nwhen the cross is laid upon its shoulders,--then joy comes in, the joy\nwhich is a foretaste of that which those in Paradise know, even as that\nis a foretaste of the perfect joy of heaven.\n\n_The Sanctuary._--The chancel, as we have seen, represents in the\nsymbolism of God's house that part of the life of His Church which is\nreached through death.  The choir tells us of the worship and the \"joy\nand felicity\" of the \"Church expectant.\"  The sanctuary tells us of\nthat for which the Church in Paradise is waiting in expectation.  It\nrepresents heaven, into whose blessedness the Church shall enter as the\n\"Church triumphant\" at the second coming of our Lord.\n\nWhen we enter a church, the part which is the center of attention is\nalways the sanctuary--the place of the Altar.  To this the other parts\nall lead up.  It is the most elevated part, and here the dignity and\nbeauty of the decorations center, just as {31} all our life in the\nfellowship of Christ's Church here on earth, our cross-bearing, and the\nworship by which we are prepared and trained on earth and in Paradise,\nall lead us heavenward.\n\nThe sanctuary is made the place of the greatest dignity and beauty, and\nis most richly decorated, because it is the place of the Altar; and it\nis through thoughts which come to us from the solemn service of the\nHoly Eucharist, which is celebrated at the Altar, that this part of the\nchancel is made the symbol of heaven.\n\nLet us see from Holy Scripture what it is that our Lord, who in His\nlove did so much for us on earth, is still doing for us in heaven.  \"We\nhave a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the\nSon of God, ... called of God a high priest after the order of\nMelchisedec....  Because He continueth ever, He hath an unchangeable\npriesthood.  Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost\nthat come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession\nfor them.\"  This is finely presented in one of our Eucharistic hymns:\n\n  \"O Thou, before the world began\n  Ordained a sacrifice for man,\n  And by the eternal Spirit made\n  An offering in the sinner's stead;\n\n{32}\n\n  Our everlasting Priest art Thou,\n  Pleading Thy death for sinners now.\n\n  \"Thy offering still continues new\n  Before the righteous Father's view;\n  Thyself the Lamb forever slain,\n  Thy priesthood doth unchanged remain;\n  Thy years, O God, can never fail,\n  Nor Thy blest work within the veil.\"\n\n\nNow if we turn to the Office for the Holy Communion, we shall see how\nthe oblation in the Holy Eucharist is linked in with this present work\nof our \"great High Priest\" in heaven.\n\nIn the Prayer of Consecration we say: \"All glory be to Thee, Almighty\nGod, our heavenly Father, for that Thou, of Thy tender mercy, didst\ngive Thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our\nredemption; who made there (by His one oblation of Himself once\noffered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and\nsatisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and\nin His holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that\nHis precious death and sacrifice, until His coming again....\nWherefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the institution of\nThy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we, Thy humble\nservants, do celebrate {33} and make here before Thy Divine Majesty,\nwith these Thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto Thee, the memorial\nThy Son hath commanded us to make.\"  What is done as we thus \"celebrate\nand make before the Divine Majesty,\" in the commemorative sacrifice of\nthe Holy Eucharist, the \"memorial\" (\"in remembrance of Me\") of Christ's\n\"precious death and sacrifice,\" is beautifully and strongly expressed\nin another of our Eucharistic hymns:\n\n  \"And now, O Father, mindful of the love\n    That bought us, once for all, on Calvary's tree,\n  And having with us Him that pleads above,\n    We here present, we here spread forth to Thee,\n  That only offering perfect in Thine eyes,\n  The one true, pure, immortal sacrifice.\n\n  \"Look, Father, look on His anointed face,\n    And only look on us as found in Him;\n  Look not on our misusings of Thy grace,\n    Our prayer so languid, and our faith so dim,\n  For lo! between our sins and their reward,\n  We set the Passion of Thy Son our Lord.\"\n\n\nThis is one way in which the sanctuary of the church reminds us of\nheaven--by reminding us of what is done in the heavenly \"holy place,\"\nand also there.\n\nThen, again, the sanctuary has the same {34} suggestiveness as the\nplace of Communion.  To have the communion of the presence and life of\nGod, through Christ, this is the very center of the blessedness of\nheaven.  What it is that we have here on earth in the \"Holy Communion\nof the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ\" we will let our Lord\nHimself tell us.  \"In the night in which He was betrayed, He took\nBread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His\ndisciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body, which is given for you;\nDo this in remembrance of Me.  Likewise, after supper, He took the Cup;\nand when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all\nof this; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for\nyou, and for many, for the remission of sins; Do this, as oft as ye\nshall drink it, in remembrance of Me.\"\n\nSo before He had said, anticipating this Sacrament of Communion which\nHe thus ordained: \"I am the living bread which came down from heaven:\nif any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that\nI will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the\nworld....  Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal\nlife; and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is meat\nindeed, and My blood is drink {35} indeed.  He that eateth My flesh,\nand drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.  As the living\nFather hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me,\neven he shall live by Me.\"\n\nAnd so we pray in the Holy Eucharist: \"Grant us, ... gracious Lord, so\nto eat the flesh, of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink His blood,\nthat our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls\nwashed through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell\nin Him, and He in us.\"\n\nIt all speaks of a foretaste here, in a Sacrament, of what heaven shall\ngive in its fullness.\n\nThe sanctuary tells us of heaven in another way.\n\nWhat the soul that gains its blessedness shall find in it we may put\ninto one small but very sweet word--\"peace.\"\n\nNow the Altar in the sanctuary of the church, with its \"perpetual\nmemory\" of Christ's \"precious death and sacrifice,\" stands for peace\nbetween God and us.  The aim and purpose of that sacrifice was to bring\nabout atonement, that is, at-one-ment, the setting at one, at peace.\nChrist \"loved us, and gave Himself for us,\" and by this sacrifice\nbrought reconciliation between us and God, \"having made peace through\nthe blood of His cross.\"\n\n{36}\n\nAnd so at the close of the Holy Eucharist celebrated in the sanctuary,\nafter the \"memorial\" has been made before God which His Son \"hath\ncommanded us to make,\" and we have been \"partakers of His most blessed\nBody and Blood,\" this is the Blessing with which the Church lets us\ndepart--a blessing which carries the thought up to what, in its\nfullness, waits for us in heaven: \"The Peace of God, which passeth all\nunderstanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of\nGod, and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.\"\n\nThe oblation, the communion, the peace, of the sanctuary, these all\ntell us thus of heaven and the \"Church triumphant.\"\n\nOf Christ's \"mystical body,\" with its fellowship and cross-bearing on\nearth, its passage through death to the joy of Paradise, and, waiting\nbeyond, heaven, with its communion and peace through the Cross--it is\nof this that the church as a building may speak to devout hearts.\n\n\n\n\n{37}\n\n_Arrangement and Furniture of the Church_\n\nA person coming into one of our churches would recognize at once a\ndifference between its interior arrangement and that of many other\nplaces of worship.  If he thought out the purpose of this arrangement,\nits adaptation to various forms of divine service and religious uses,\nhe would feel that \"here is a place where people are taught to worship\nthe Lord in holy rites, and where forms and spaces and objects are\nthemselves teachers of holy truths.\"\n\nFrom the door a broad alley (commonly but improperly called an aisle),\nrunning lengthwise of the building, leads to the chancel.  It suggests\nthat the approach of the people, for the blessings and {38}\nconsolations which are dispensed there, is made convenient and is\ninvited.\n\nThe place of prominence in the furnishing of the church is given to the\n_Altar_--a table of stone or wood on which the sacrament of the Holy\nEucharist is celebrated.  It is raised several steps above the level of\nthe choir and is railed in.  Covering the Altar is an _Altar-cloth_,\nembroidered, and varying in color with the seasons of the Christian\nYear.  The portion covering the front of the Altar is called the\n_frontal_; that covering the top of the Altar and simply a few inches\nof the front is called the _super-frontal_.\n\nBack of the Altar, and raised above it, is a narrow shelf, called the\n_retable_, upon which the several ornaments of the Altar are placed.\nIn the center is the _Altar-cross_, that this holy symbol of our Faith\nmay be constantly before the eyes of all who worship.  The _vases_ to\nhold the flowers with which the Altar is beautified on festal occasions\nstand at either side of the Cross.  The _candlesticks_, in churches\nwhere lights at the Holy Communion are used, stand at the ends of the\nretable.\n\nBehind the Altar, in many churches, is the _reredos_--a carved or\nsculptured screen of wood or stone, frequently extending the whole\nwidth of the {39} sanctuary.  Sometimes a painting takes its place, or\na _dossal_--a decorated curtain of as rich material as circumstances\nwill allow.\n\nOn the south side of the Altar is a small table or shelf, called the\n_credence_, on which are placed the elements of bread and wine until\nsuch time in the service as they are offered for consecration on the\nAltar.  Here also the _alms-basin_ is placed before the Offertory, and\nthe _cruets_ containing the wine and the water for the ablutions at the\nclose of the service.  When the communicants are not too many, a part\nof the wine from the cruet is poured into the chalice at the proper\ntime; but if a large number are to communicate, the _flagon_, a large\nvessel of silver, is used to hold the wine and is placed on the\ncredence.\n\nNothing should be placed on the Altar itself but the _Altar-desk_, for\nholding the book of the Altar-service, and the Altar-vessels.  These\nare usually the _paten_, or plate for holding the bread at the\nCelebration, and the _chalice_, the cup for the wine.  There is\nsometimes a spoon with a perforated bowl to use in case any foreign\nsubstance is found in the chalice.  If possible these vessels should be\nof precious metal.  They are sometimes adorned with jewels.\n\n{40}\n\nA rubric directs that at the time of the Communion the Altar shall be\ncovered with a \"fair white linen cloth\" (\"fair,\" that is, not only\nclean, but beautiful).  Another \"fair linen cloth,\" commonly called the\n\"linen chalice veil,\" is also directed to be used for covering the\nconsecrated elements after the communion of the people.  To these\ncustom has added other convenient and seemly appointments of linen and\nsilk.\n\nThe \"chalice veil\" is a square of silk, embroidered and often fringed,\nused to cover the vessels before the consecration.\n\nThe \"pall\" is a square of cardboard covered with linen, used to cover\nthe chalice during the Celebration.\n\nThe \"corporal\" is a square of linen spread upon the Altar at the\nCelebration, upon which the vessels are placed.\n\nThe \"purificators\" are small napkins of linen for cleansing the vessels\nafter the service.\n\nThe \"burse\" is a square, stiff pocket of silk over cardboard, in which\nthe Altar-linen is carried to and from the Altar.\n\nThe color of the chalice veil and the burse follows that of the season.\nThe linen pieces are always white.  They are supposed to represent the\ncloths {41} which were wound around our Lord's sacred body and wrapped\nabout His head at His burial.\n\nYou will see the reason for thus making the Altar a place of dignity\nand beauty, and for these various provisions for reverence in the\nsacred rite celebrated there, if you will recall what we have already\nseen of its meaning.  We show honor to and reverence the Altar and its\nworship as the place and the performance of the highest act of divine\nworship, in which, by the ministry of His Church and according to His\nown appointment, \"a continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death\nof Christ\" is \"celebrated and made before the Divine Majesty,\" and as\nthe place where God \"vouchsafes to feed us with the spiritual food of\nthe most precious Body and Blood of His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.\"\nAll is done for His honor.\n\n  \"'Tis for Thee we bid the frontal\n    Its embroidered wealth unfold;\n  'Tis for Thee we deck the reredos\n    With the colors and the gold;\n  Thine the floral glow and fragrance,\n    Thine the vesture's fair array,\n  Thine the starry lights that glitter\n    Where Thou dost Thy light display.\"\n\n\n_The font._--The reverent administration of Holy Baptism, the other of\nthe two great Sacraments {42} ordained by Christ as generally necessary\nto salvation, is provided for by the presence of the Font.  As its name\nindicates (from the Latin word for a fountain or spring), this is the\nrepository for the pure water which in this holy Sacrament is\n\"sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin.\"  It is generally of\nfine stone and often richly carved.  Sometimes a separate room is\nmarked off from the rest of the church for it and called a\n_baptistery_.  There should always be, for proper protection, a cover\nfor the Font.  A _ewer_ for the water to be used, and a _baptismal\nshell_ with which to dip from the Font the water poured upon the head\nof the person baptized, are frequently provided as seemly appointments.\n\nThe Font is often, following ancient custom, octagonal in form.  The\nsymbolism of this form is this,--that \"as the whole creation was\ncompleted in seven periods of time, the number next following, eight,\nmay well be significative of the new creation,\" and, again, that the\noctave, as a repetition of the first, is a symbol of Christ's\nresurrection, and therefore of the \"death unto sin and new birth unto\nrighteousness\" in Holy Baptism.\n\nThe Font is usually placed near a door of the church.  Its position\nthus symbolizes the truth that Baptism is the outward form of admission\ninto the {43} Christian Church.  It expresses what the child is taught\nin the Church Catechism to say of Holy Baptism: \"wherein I was made a\nmember of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of\nheaven.\"\n\nAlways in sight, the Font is a constant invitation by its very\npresence, and shows that the Church is always ready to receive, and\ndesires to receive, new members \"into the congregation of Christ's\nflock.\"\n\nIt should always remind those who have been baptized of the grace of\ntheir second birth, when they were made \"members of Christ,\" and of\ntheir duty, \"being made the children of God, to walk answerably to\ntheir Christian calling.\"\n\nIt should call to remembrance that \"baptism doth represent unto us our\nprofession; which is, to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and\nto be made like unto Him; that as He died, and rose again for us, so\nshould we, who are baptized, die from sin, and rise again unto\nrighteousness.\"  That is the main profession or business of a Christian\nman, and the Font, where Baptism constantly represents our Lord's death\nand rising again for us, should ever remind us of it and call us afresh\nto \"mortify all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceed in\nall virtue and godliness of living.\"\n\n{44}\n\n_The Lectern._--The lectern, supporting the large Bible from which the\nLessons are read, bears witness to the esteem in which our Church holds\nthe Sacred Scriptures.  It is worthy of note that our Church makes\nlarger provision for the people \"to hear God's most holy Word\" than any\nother religious body in the world.  Almost the whole Bible--some parts\nof it several times--is read publicly every year.  Lessons from the Old\nTestament were read in the service of the synagogue.  Our Lord's\nexample shows how properly we follow this ancient custom of reading\nScripture lessons in public worship: \"As His custom was, He went into\nthe synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.  And there\nwas delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias.\"\n\nThe selection of suitable Lessons for each day is a matter of careful\narrangement on the part of the Church.  There will be found in the\nfront of the Prayer-Book \"The Order how the Psalter is Appointed to be\nRead,\" and also \"The Order how the Best of the Holy Scripture is\nAppointed to be Read.\"  Four \"Tables of Lessons\" are given--for\nSundays, for Holy-Days, for the forty days of Lent and the Rogation and\nEmber-Days, and for all the days of the year not otherwise provided for.\n\n{45}\n\nOf the two Lessons appointed, one is from the Old, the other from the\nNew Testament.  Both are \"God's most holy Word,\" and taking the Lessons\nfrom both enables us to see the unity of thought and purpose in the\ntwo, and how the promises and predictions of the Old Testament are\nfulfilled in the New.\n\nThe most common and, perhaps, the most appropriate lectern is that made\nin the form of an eagle, standing often upon a globe, bearing the Bible\nupon its outspread wings.  The eagle, because of its lofty heavenward\nflight, is the symbol of inspiration, and its position upon the globe\nand its outspread wings remind us how the Word of God is to be carried\ninto all the world.\n\nThere are, then, certain thoughts which the lectern should bring us:\nthe reverent honor which \"God's most holy Word\" should ever receive\nfrom us; the privilege of its use as \"a lantern unto my feet and a\nlight unto my paths\"; our missionary obligations and privileges--to\nmake the outspread wings of the eagle a reality and not merely a symbol.\n\n_The Pulpit._--The pulpit suggests the thought of the sacred and\nimportant work of the Christian Ministry as preachers of the Word of\nGod.\n\n{46}\n\nIt is a common thing to hear persons say that they care little for the\nsermon and speak lightly of preaching.  They forget that the preacher\nis one \"sent,\" that our Lord Himself made preaching one of the great\nmeans for the spread of the Gospel and for the salvation of men.  And\nas such persons do not reflect, in this disparagement of preaching, the\nmind of our Lord, so neither do they represent the estimate of the\nChurch.  The Church takes care to provide for it, and that, too, in\nconnection with her most solemn act of worship, the celebration of the\nHoly Communion.  Among the rubrics following the Creed in the Communion\nOffice is this: \"Then shall follow the Sermon.\"  So, also, the Church,\nthrough the Bishop, demands of the man who comes to be ordained, \"Are\nyou determined, out of the Scriptures, to instruct the people committed\nto your charge?\"  And when he is ordered a Priest, this is a part of\nthe authority given to him: \"Take thou authority to preach the Word of\nGod.\"\n\nThe discharge of this work, to do which the Minister is placed under\nvow, and for which he is given authority, is one of his most solemn\nobligations.  The pulpit should, then, ever remind us of the loving\ncare on the part of Christ and His Church for {47} our soul's health\nand our growth in grace, which is thus expressed.\n\nBut it should remind us of something else, also,--of a duty on our part.\n\nIn \"The Form and Manner of Ordering Priests\" there is a prayer just\nbefore the Benediction, of which this is a part: \"Grant that we may\nhave grace to hear and receive what they shall deliver out of Thy most\nholy Word, or agreeable to the same, as the means of our salvation.\"\nAnd so, again, we pray in the Litany, \"That it may please Thee to give\nto all Thy people increase of grace to hear meekly Thy Word, and to\nreceive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the\nSpirit.\"  This is the way the Church teaches us to think and to pray\nconcerning our duty and privilege in reference to the instruction and\nexhortation which divine love sends to us from the pulpit.\n\nThe pulpit stands, then, for something God's love does for us: \"Preach\nthe gospel.\"  It stands also for something God's love demands from us:\n\"Take heed how ye hear.\"\n\n_The Choir- and Clergy-Stalls._--It will be observed that the stalls\nfor the clergy and choristers are generally placed on the two sides of\nthe choir and face each other.  The south side is called the {48}\n\"decani side\" and the north the \"cantoris side,\" as being, in\ncathedrals, the respective sides of the dean and the cantor (or\nprecentor).\n\nBy this arrangement proper provision is made for the clergy as leaders\nof the worship of the congregation and for the choir as leaders of its\npraise in song.  The singing in our churches is intended to be \"common\npraise,\" and this arrangement of the choristers marks their office as\nsimply to lead it.  They do not sing _to_ the congregation; they sing\n_with_ or _for_ them _to_ Almighty God.  The people should sing with\nthem, and not listen merely, as if attending a concert.  Even when, as\nin a _Te Deum_ or anthem, the music is too difficult for the\ncongregation to join in it, the singers are still rendering to God the\npraises of all present, and all should take part in it in thought and\nin heart.\n\nBecause of this ministry as leaders of praise the choir are vested.\nTheir vestments are the cassock and the cotta--a modification of the\nsurplice worn by the clergy.\n\nOf the _Litany-desk_ we have already learned in the section in\nreference to the nave.\n\n_The Bishop's Chair._--In many churches there is found a \"Bishop's\nChair.\"  It has been felt as proper, in view of the dignity of the\noffice of the {49} Bishop, to provide a special seat for him, and to\nhave it occupied by no one else.  In parish churches it is placed\nwithin the sanctuary at the north or \"gospel\" side of the Altar, facing\nthe people.  In cathedrals it is called a \"Throne,\" and its place is\njust without the rail on the decani side of the choir, facing like the\nchoir-stalls.\n\nWherever placed, it is a reminder of the highest order in the Christian\nMinistry, and of the doctrine of Holy Orders our Church holds and acts\nupon.  In the Preface to the Ordinal the Church makes this declaration:\n\"It is evident unto all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture and\nancient Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these\nOrders of Ministers in Christ's Church,--Bishops, Priests, and\nDeacons....  No man shall be accounted or taken to be a lawful Bishop,\nPriest, or Deacon, in this Church, or suffered to execute any of the\nsaid Functions, except he be called, tried, examined, and admitted\nthereunto, according to the Form hereafter following, or hath had\nEpiscopal Consecration or Ordination.\"  What the Church here insists\nupon is what is commonly called the \"Apostolic Succession.\"  This rule\nshe rigorously applies.  No minister of any of the denominations, no\nmatter how learned and pious he may be, can {50} serve at her Altars\nuntil he has been ordained by a Bishop and is therefore commissioned by\nthat Episcopal or Apostolic authority upon which the Church has always\ninsisted.\n\nThe Bishop's Chair may remind us, then, of the Bishop's office and\nauthority to ordain and to govern, of its essential importance in the\nlife of the Church, and of how our Church's lineage and the authority\nof her Ministry are traced, through the succession of Bishops, directly\nback to the Apostles, and through them to Christ Himself, \"the Bishop\nand Shepherd of our souls.\"\n\n\n\n\n{51}\n\nSymbolic Ornaments of the Church\n\nThe use of symbols for conveying and enforcing truth goes back to\nearliest ages.  God said to Noah, \"I do set My bow in the cloud, and it\nshall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.\"\n\nThe ritual and appointments of the Tabernacle and its worship were an\nelaborate system of symbolism.\n\nSo, also, we find the use of symbolism in Christianity.  The need of\nappealing to the eye as well as to the ear, by visible signs for sacred\ntruths, led the early Christians to employ a number of such symbols as\nan effective means of imparting instruction.  But their use was not\nwholly a matter of choice.  Anxious to seek and to support one another\n{52} under persecution, they were compelled to find some common signs\nof recognition which might be known only to themselves, and under which\ntheir new Faith might be safely concealed.\n\n_The Cross._--The Cross comes first in order.  It is the especial\nemblem of Christianity.  \"It glitters on the crown of the monarch.  It\nforms the ensign of nations.  It crowns alike the loftiest spires of\nChristendom and the lowliest parish churches.  It marks the\nresting-place of the departed who have died with faith in its efficacy,\nas it was the sign in Baptism of their admission to the kingdom of the\nCrucified.\"  It is the symbol of Christ's atonement and of the\nsalvation of men, and represents the Christian Faith, its demands and\nits triumphs.  As might be expected, many fantastic stories were woven\nabout this symbol in the middle ages.  Yet back of their extravagance\nwas often a true feeling.  We see this even in the absurd legend of the\ntree from which our Saviour's cross was made.\n\nThis legend was as follows: \"for four hundred and thirty-two years\nafter his expulsion from Paradise, Adam had tilled the ground in the\nvalley of Hebron, when he felt his end approaching, and determined to\nsend his son Seth to the gates of Paradise to demand from their keeper,\n'the angel called {53} Cherubim,' the oil of mercy which had been\npromised to Adam when he was driven from the garden.  Seth accordingly\nset forth, finding his way by the footprints of Adam and Eve, upon\nwhich no grass had grown since they passed from Paradise to Hebron.\n\n\"The angel, after hearing the message, ordered Seth to look beyond the\ngate into the garden and to tell him what he saw.  He beheld a place of\ninexpressible delight and beauty, with the four great rivers proceeding\nfrom a fountain in the center; and, rising from the edge of the\nfountain, an enormous tree, with wide-spreading branches, but without\neither bark or leaves.  He was ordered to look a second time, when he\nsaw a serpent twisted round the tree; and a third time, when the tree\nhad raised itself to heaven, and bore on its summit a Child wrapped in\nglittering vestments.\n\n\"It was this Child, said the angel, who would give to Adam the oil of\nmercy when the due time should come.  Meanwhile the angel gave Seth\nthree seeds from the fruit of the tree of which Adam had eaten.  These\nwere to be placed in the mouth of Adam before his burial, and three\ntrees would spring from them--a cedar, a cypress, and a pine.  The\ntrees were symbolical of the Holy Trinity.\"\n\n{54}\n\n\"It happened as the angel foretold.  The trees were hardly a foot above\nthe ground in the days of Abraham.  Moses, to whom their true nature\nwas revealed, took them up carefully, carried them with him during the\nyears of wandering in the desert, and then replanted them in a\nmysterious valley named Comprafort (Comfort?).  From Comprafort David\nwas directed to bring them to Jerusalem.  He planted them close to a\nfountain, and within thirty years they had grown together so as to form\na single tree of wonderful beauty, under the shade of which David\ncomposed his psalms and wept for his sins.  In spite of its beauty,\nSolomon cut it down in order to complete his temple, for which a single\nbeam was wanted, of a size such as no other tree could furnish.  But in\nfitting the beam to its place, it was found, after repeated trials,\neither too long or too short, and this was accepted as a sign that it\nwas not to be so employed.\"\n\nIt was then, says one version of the story, reverently preserved in the\ntemple.  According to another version, when it was found too short or\ntoo long \"it was flung aside into a certain marsh, where it served as a\nbridge.  But when the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to hear the\nwisdom of Solomon, and was about to cross the marsh, she {55} saw in a\nvision how the Saviour of the world was to be suspended on that tree,\nand so would not walk over it.  It was buried in the earth on the spot\nwhere the Pool of Bethesda was afterward made, so that it was not only\nthe descent of the angel, but the virtues of the buried wood, which\ngave to the water its healing qualities.  At the time of the passion\nthe wood rose and floated on the surface.  The Jews took it to make the\ncross of our Lord.\"\n\nMore attractive is the legend of how the cross was found, deeply buried\nin the ground at Jerusalem, by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine,\nthe first Christian emperor.  All three crosses were found, according\nto the story, and that of our Lord was recognized by certain miracles\nwhich it wrought on those who touched it.\n\nIn representations of the cross we trace two principal forms, the Latin\nand the Greek cross, from which a great variety, with various\nsignifications, have been produced.\n\n[Illustration: Latin cross]\n\nThe _Latin_ or _Passion Cross_ has the lower limb considerably longer\nthan the other three.  \"It is doubtless most nearly the shape of the\nvery instrument on which Christ suffered, {56} and is therefore most\nsuitable to symbolize the Atonement and to express suffering.\"  When it\nis placed on steps it is called a \"Calvary cross.\"  The steps are\ngenerally three in number, and are said to typify faith, hope, and\ncharity, the great Christian virtues.\n\n[Illustration: Calvary cross]\n\nWhen all four arms are of equal length it is a _Greek Cross_, the cross\nin most frequent use among Eastern Christians.  \"The Latin cross\nsuggests the actual form, while the Greek cross is idealized, the\nGreeks being essentially an artistic and poetic race.\"  \"The Greek\ncross is a symbol of the spread of the Gospel and of its triumphs in\nthe four quarters of the world.  It is the usual form wherever it is\nintended to express victory or is used as an ornament.\"\n\n[Illustration: Greek cross]\n\nAnother interesting form of the cross is the _Tau-cross_, so called\nbecause shaped like the Greek letter tau (T).  The figure found in the\ntau-cross was the symbol of eternal life with the ancient Egyptians.\nThe early Christians of Egypt adopted it and at first used it instead\nof other forms of the cross.  It is yet seen in the early Christian\nsepulchers of that country.  \"It has been urged, with {57} at least\ngreat probability, that this symbol of life was the form made by the\nchildren of Israel in blood upon their door-posts when the angel of\ndeath passed through the land of Egypt to smite the first-born, and it\nwas perhaps the form of the cross on which the brazen serpent in the\nwilderness was lifted up.\"\n\n[Illustration: Tau-cross]\n\nIt is known, from these associations, as the cross of the Old Testament\nand as the \"anticipatory cross\"; also as the \"cross of St. Anthony,\"\nthe great hermit of Egypt and the father of monasticism.\n\nIt is sometimes called the \"cross potent\" from its shape, \"potent\"\nbeing an old English word for a crutch.  It is then said to signify the\nCross as the sure support of all who trust in it.\n\nFour tau-crosses joined foot to foot form a \"Jerusalem cross.\"  Such a\ncross was part of the armorial bearing of the first Christian king of\nJerusalem.  The four conjoined tau-crosses, forming a Greek cross, are\nsaid to be symbolical of the displacement of the Old Testament by the\nNew, the Law by the Gospel.\n\n[Illustration: Jerusalem cross]\n\n{58}\n\nMany forms of the cross originated in the wars of the Cross, the\ncrusaders in their eastward wanderings engrafting many variations upon\nthe original Greek cross.  Many of these heraldic crosses tell some\nstory of religious feeling.  In their varied and fanciful forms the\nsimple faith and holy purpose out of which they sprang may yet be\ntraced.\n\nThe \"cross moline\" is so named from resemblance to the moline, or\ncrossed iron, in the center of the upper millstone.  Its ends are\ndivided and curved backward.  As they are turned in all directions,\nthey are said to express the universal diffusion of the blessings of\nthe Cross; or, as they decline both to the right and the left, they\nexpress willingness to do exact justice and give to all their due.\n\n[Illustration: Cross Moline.  Cross Recercele.]\n\nThe \"cross recercele\" resembles the cross moline, but with its\nfloriations more expanded.\n\n{59}\n\nThe \"cross bottone\" (budded) or \"trefle\" (like trefoil), the \"cross\npatonce\" (like the paw of the ounce, or panther), and the \"cross flory\"\n(like the fleur-de-lis), all with limbs ending in threefold figures,\nhave evident reference to the Holy Trinity.\n\n[Illustration: Cross Bottone, or trefle.  Cross Patonce.  Cross flory.]\n\nThe \"cross pommee\" has ends terminating in circles suggestive of\napples, as the name shows.  It is said to express the fruitful reward\nof devotion to the Cross.\n\n[Illustration: Cross pommee.  Cross crosslet.  Cross fitche.]\n\n{60}\n\nThe \"cross crosslet\" is formed of four Latin or Passion crosses placed\nfoot to foot.\n\nIt is said that the \"cross fitche\" (sharpened and so fixable in the\nground) was carried in pilgrimages so that it might be readily set up\nwhile performing devotions.\n\nThe \"cross patte\" (broad-footed) is much like the \"Maltese cross,\" the\ncross of Knights Templars and Hospitalers, which differs from it simply\nin having its extremities indented or notched.  The eight points thus\nformed are said to symbolize the eight Beatitudes of our Lord.\n\n[Illustration: Cross patte]\n\nThe \"floriated cross,\" which is developed in many ornamental forms, as\nthe cross bursting into bloom or adorned with garlands, alludes to the\ntriumph of Christ and to our future triumph and glory through Him.  It\nsymbolizes also our holy religion growing with perpetual vitality.\n\n[Illustration: Maltese cross]\n\nOne of the most singular, as well as most ancient, of the many forms\nand modifications of the cross is the \"fylfot.\"  It is found, probably\nas a disguised form of the cross, on the tombs in the catacombs.  {61}\nIts use illustrates the adoption by the early Christians, as in the\ncase of the tau-cross, of prechristian symbols.  By its employment they\nsimply \"diverted to their own purpose a symbol centuries older than the\nChristian era, a symbol of early Aryan origin, found in Indian and\nChinese art, and spreading westward, long before the dawn of\nChristianity, to Greece and Asia.  It was on the terra-cotta objects\ndug up by Dr. Schliemann at Troy, and conjectured to date from 1000 to\n1500 B.C.\"  It is thought to represent in heathen use a revolving\nwheel, the symbol of the great sun-god, or to stand for the lightning\nwielded by the omnipotent deity, Manu, Thor, or Zeus.  The Christians\nsaw in it a cross concealed from the eyes of their heathen enemies.\nThe fylfot is frequently found in the Greek Church on the vestments of\nthe clergy.  The Greek fret or key pattern, with which all are\nfamiliar, is a decorative development of the fylfot.\n\n[Illustration: Fylfot]\n\nAnother interesting form of the cross is that known as the \"cross of\nIona\" or \"Irish cross.\"  It is said to be the earliest form known in\n{62} Great Britain and Ireland.  The antique wayside crosses are of\nthis shape.  \"Because this style of cross partakes more of Greek\ncharacter than of Latin, it has been contended that it argues an\nEastern rather than Western origin for the introduction of Christianity\ninto Great Britain.\"  The circle is the emblem of eternity, as having\nneither beginning nor end, and when combined with the cross, as in this\nform, it speaks of the perpetuity of the Christian faith and the\neternity of its hope.\n\n[Illustration: Irish cross]\n\nThe \"St. Andrew's cross,\" in form like the letter X, conveys the idea\nof humility as well as that of suffering.  When St. Andrew was\ncondemned to be crucified, he begged that his cross might be unlike\nthat on which his Lord had died, not deeming himself worthy to die on a\ncross of the same form as that on which He had suffered.\n\n[Illustration: St. Andrew's cross]\n\nThere is a cross peculiar in form, and known as the \"Canterbury cross.\"\nIt is in the shape of the letter Y, and is usually seen only upon the\nvestments of the clergy.  The ornamentation of the chasuble is commonly\nof this form.  It is embroidered on the chasuble of St. Thomas of\nCanterbury, which is still preserved in the Cathedral {63} of Sens, in\nFrance.  Its shape brings to mind the inclination of our Saviour's\narms--the lifting up of His hands--as He offered Himself in sacrifice\non Calvary.\n\n_Symbols of the Holy Trinity._--The equilateral _Triangle_ is perhaps\nthe most familiar emblem of the Holy Trinity.  The equality of the\nthree divine Persons in the Godhead is represented by the equal sides\nor the equal angles of the triangle.\n\n[Illustration: Triangle]\n\nThe _Trefoil_ is also an emblem of the Trinity.  It is a representation\nof the common clover, or shamrock, as the Irish call it.  The legend of\nthe conversion of Ireland says that St. Patrick was preaching on the\nhillside, and wishing to illustrate from nature the sublime doctrine of\nthe Trinity to his pagan hearers, he bent down and plucked a piece of\nshamrock at his feet, and held it up to show how what was three, in one\nsense, might be one in another.\n\n[Illustration: Trefoil]\n\nThe unity of the Persons in the one Godhead is sometimes represented by\nintersected triangles, or by the trefoil placed under a triangle.\n\nThe truth of the Trinity is also suggested by any {64} threefold\narrangement in the various forms of the ornamentation.\n\nThe figure known as the _triquetra_, made by the interlacing of three\nportions of circles, is also symbolical of the Holy Trinity.  This is a\nvery ancient emblem, and is found with frequency upon the stone crosses\nerected in the early days of Christianity in Great Britain.  It is\nsometimes used in ornamentation of the dress of our Lord or of the\nEvangelists.\n\n[Illustration: Intersected triangles.  Trefoil placed under a triangle.\nTrequetra.]\n\nFrom the thirteenth century we have the symbol of the equal and\ninterlacing _Circles_.  \"The three equal circles symbolize the equality\nof the three Persons in the Trinity, the binding together in one figure\nthe essential unity, while the circular form signifies a\nnever-beginning, never-ending eternity.\"  The word _trinitas_, used in\nthis symbol, may itself {65} be divided into three syllables.  One of\nthese syllables is placed in each circle; but they have no perfect\nmeaning, and will not form any word, unless united.  In the space left\nvacant by the intersection of the circles the word _unitas_ is placed.\n\n[Illustration: Interlacing circles]\n\nFrom the sixteenth century we have another device setting forth the\ndoctrine of the Trinity.  This is a triangle terminating at the corners\nin three circles, and in the center another circle with lines\nconnecting it with the circles at the corners.  A legend is combined\nwith the figure, which serves to explain it.  The English equivalent of\nthe Latin words is as follows: _Deus_, God; _Pater_, the Father; {66}\n_Filius_, the Son; _Sanctus Spiritus_, the Holy Ghost; _est_, is; _non\nest_, is not.\n\n[Illustration: Triangle and circles]\n\n_Symbols of the father Almighty._--For the first four centuries the\nonly symbol employed to represent God the Father Almighty was a _hand_\nissuing from clouds, or reaching down in benediction from heaven.\n\nA symbol of much later origin is a triangle with the word \"Jehovah,\" in\nHebrew letters, inscribed within it and placed in the center of a\nradiating circle, or halo, symbolic of eternity.\n\n_Symbols of our Lord._--While the cross was in {67} constant use by the\nearly Christians, no effort was made at direct representation of our\nSaviour's sufferings.  The crucifix was not introduced until five\ncenturies had passed.  Resort was had instead to the use of symbols.\n\n[Illustration: The hand of God]\n\n[Illustration: The name and the triangle]\n\n{68}\n\nSeveral of these were derived from Holy Scripture.  The most common was\nthe figure of the _Good Shepherd_, a picture drawn from our Lord's own\ndescription of His loving care and self-sacrifice.  Another was derived\nfrom the words of St. John the Baptist, \"Behold, the Lamb of God!\"  By\nthis symbol, known as the _Agnus Dei_, our Lord is represented by the\nfigure of a lamb--often with a nimbus, or glory, about the\nhead--bearing a cross, the symbol of His sacrifice, or a banner, the\nsign of His triumph.\n\n[Illustration: Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God]\n\n{69}\n\nThe _Alpha and Omega_, the first and last letters of the Greek\nalphabet, are used as the emblem of the eternity of our Lord: \"I am\nAlpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.\"\n\n[Illustration: Alpha and Omega]\n\nThe _Star_ is a symbol of Christ.  It owes its origin to His own words,\n\"I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning\nstar.\"  It was by the leading of a star that God manifested His only\nbegotten Son to the Gentiles.  The five-pointed star commonly\nrepresents the star of Bethlehem.  It is a Christmas and Epiphany\nemblem.\n\n[Illustration: Star of Bethlehem]\n\nThis star is sometimes called the \"pentalpha,\" as the crossing of its\nlines suggests five A's.  It was used in ancient times as a magic\ntalisman against the powers of witchcraft.  The Greek Christians at one\ntime placed it, instead of the cross, at the beginning of inscriptions.\n\nThe six-pointed star is said to symbolize the Creator, as, according to\nthe old alchemists, the double triangle of which it is composed\nrepresents the elements of fire and water.\n\n{70}\n\nThe seven-pointed star has reference, it is said, to St. John's words\nin the Revelation: \"I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and\nof the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it\nhad been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven\nSpirits of God sent forth into all the earth.\"\n\nA star of nine points has allusion to St. Paul's enumeration of the\nfruits of the Holy Spirit: \"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,\npeace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,\ntemperance.\"\n\nAn interesting symbol of our Saviour is that of the _Pelican_, which,\nthe old naturalists said, was accustomed to tear open its breast in\norder to feed its young with its own blood.  So the blood shed on\nCalvary gives life to the Church.\n\n[Illustration: The pelican]\n\nThe _fish_ was also a very early symbol of our Lord.  It was observed\nthat the five letters of the Greek word for a fish were, taken\nseparately, the initials in Greek of the words \"Jesus Christ, Son of\nGod, Saviour.\"  In this way the fish became a symbol of our Saviour.\n\nThe pointed oval, or vesica, is the conventionalized form of the fish.\nEcclesiastical seals are commonly made in this form.  It represents\n{71} in rude outline a fish before the fins and tail are added.\n\n[Illustration: Vesica]\n\nIt is thought by some that the Gothic or pointed arch is derived from\nthis symbol, being simply the upper half of a vesica.\n\nOther symbols of our Lord are formed from monograms of the sacred name,\nJesus, and of His official title, Christ.  These are used separately\nand also together.  The earliest form of monogram of the sacred name,\nthat often found on tombs of early Christians, is the symbol which is\nsaid to have appeared in a vision to the Emperor Constantine.\n\nThe story is related by Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea, who asserts\nthat it was communicated to him by Constantine himself, who confirmed\nit with an oath.  The story is this: Constantine, whose mind was\nwavering between Christianity and paganism, was on the eve of a great\nbattle.  Knowing that Maxentius, his enemy, was seeking the aid of\nmagic and supernatural rites, and remembering also that his father, who\nhad been well disposed to the Christians, had always prospered, while\ntheir persecutors failed, he determined to pray to Christ.  While\nengaged with such thoughts he saw at mid-day a luminous figure in the\nheavens, with the words, \"By this conquer.\"  Both he and the whole army\nwere struck with awe at the sight.  At night {72} Christ appeared to\nhim in a dream, holding in His hand the same symbol, which He\nadmonished him to place upon his standard, and assuring him of victory.\nThis symbol Constantine substituted the next day for the old Roman\neagle upon the standards and shields of his legions.\n\nWhat the emperor saw, or fancied he saw, for it cannot be doubted that\nConstantine believed what he stated, was a symbol already in use among\nthe Christians, and whose meaning he doubtless already knew.  It is\nformed of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ,\n_CHRISTOS_ (_Christos_); the X (Chi) being equivalent to our Ch, and\nthe P (Rho) the same as our R.\n\n[Illustration: Christos monogram]\n\nSometimes the monogram is contracted and its lines economized, the X\nbecoming a true cross, and its vertical shaft--the curved part of the\nletter being added--becoming P.\n\n[Illustration: Contracted Christos monogram]\n\nThis monogram, with the Latin N, standing for the word _noster_ (our),\nadded to it, means _Christos noster_ (our Christ).\n\n[Illustration: Christos noster monogram]\n\nAnother monogram for our Lord's title, Christ, is composed of the first\ntwo and the last capital {73} letters of the Greek word _CHRISTOS_.\nThe horizontal mark over the top is the sign that some letters have\nbeen omitted.\n\n[Illustration: Lord's title monogram]\n\nThe more familiar monogram IHS (_IHS_) is the abbreviated form of the\nGreek word for our Saviour's human name, Jesus, _IESOUS_.  The first\ntwo and the last letters are those used.  Sometimes this is written\n\"IHC.\"  The two forms are synonymous, the C being simply another form\nof the Greek S.  Sometimes the letters are intertwined, the I being\nlengthened and formed into a cross by a bar at the top.\n\n[Illustration: IHS monogram]\n\nThese three letters are often read as signifying the Latin words,\n_Jesus hominum Salvator_, that is, \"Jesus the Saviour of men\"; but\nappropriate and beautiful as this reading is, it is not the original\nmeaning, but an afterthought, and is said to have been first suggested\nabout the year 1380.\n\nAnother monogram contains the initial letters, IX, of our Lord's full\nname, Jesus Christ, in Greek.  The X (Chi) is combined with the I\n(Iota).  Sometimes a horizontal bar is placed through the middle {74}\nof the figure, thus giving the initials of our Lord's full name, united\nwith the cross.\n\n[Illustration: Full name monograms]\n\nAnother form of monogram for our Lord's full name, Jesus Christ, is\nmade by taking the first and the last letters of each of the Greek\nwords.  The lines above are the signs of contraction.\n\n[Illustration: Contracted monogram]\n\n_I. N. R. I._  These letters stand for the Latin form of the title\nplaced on our Saviour's cross, _Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum_, JESUS\nOF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.\n\n_Symbols of the Holy Ghost._--The seven-branched _Candlestick_ of the\ntabernacle, and the _Seven Burning Lamps_ which St. John saw before\n{75} the throne of God, and which he declares to be the seven Spirits\nof God, that is, the Holy Spirit in His sevenfold manifestations of\ngrace, are often used as symbols of the Holy Spirit, the source of all\ntrue illumination for men.\n\n[Illustration: Seven-branched candlestick]\n\nThe most familiar emblem, however, is the _Dove_, which from the early\ncenturies to the present day has constantly symbolized the third Person\nof the Holy Trinity.  Its warrant and justification are based on the\naccount in the Gospel of our Lord's baptism and the descent upon Him of\nthe Spirit \"in bodily shape like a dove.\"\n\n[Illustration: Dove]\n\nThe picture of the holy dove in the decorations of the church tells of\nthe coming of the same Spirit as the fruit of the intercession of our\nascended Lord and according to His most true promise, \"I will pray the\nFather, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may {76} abide\nwith you forever; even the Spirit of truth.\"  It reminds of that\nabiding presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church, making it the\n\"habitation of God through the Spirit,\" and giving living power to its\nsacraments as channels of saving and sanctifying grace.\n\nOther symbols in frequent use are the following:\n\nThe _Crown of Thorns_ and the _Nails_ of crucifixion are symbols of our\nSaviour's passion.\n\n[Illustration: Crown of thorns and nails]\n\nThe three _Interlaced fishes_ and the _Escallop Shell_, the badge of a\npilgrim, are both emblems of Holy Baptism: the one, as Baptism is in\nthe Name {77} of the Holy Trinity; the other, as we therein confess\nthat we are pilgrims and strangers on earth, who seek \"a better\ncountry, that is, an heavenly.\"\n\n[Illustration: Interlaced fishes.  Escallop.]\n\nThe phoenix is the symbol of immortality and the resurrection.  The\nphoenix was a fabulous bird of the ancients.  It was believed that,\n\"after living a thousand years or so, it committed itself to the flames\nthat burst, at the fanning of its wings, from the funeral pyre of\ncostly spices which it had itself constructed, and that from its ashes\na new phoenix arose to life.\"\n\n[Illustration: Phoenix]\n\nThe _Anchor_ is the symbol of steadfastness and hope.  \"A strong\nconsolation,... which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure\nand steadfast.\"\n\n[Illustration: Anchor]\n\nThe _Crown_ is the symbol of victory and sovereignty.\n\nThe _Wreath_, commonly of laurel, is another symbol of victory.  As an\nexpression of triumph won, it is one of the commonest of symbols in the\ncatacombs--the underground and secret burying-places of the early\nChristians in times of persecution.\n\n{78}\n\nIn this connection we may note the symbolism attached to certain plants\nand flowers.  In the ornamentation of God's house we reproduce, as far\nas the art of man can, the forms and colors with which the love of God\nhas arrayed the earth with so much beauty.  We also use the natural\nplant and flower to beautify the church on the great Christian days of\ngladness and rejoicing.  They mark such days as festival days.  In a\nspecial way they tell at Easter, by their fresh, pure life out of the\ndeath of winter, the story of the resurrection.\n\n[Illustration: Crown]\n\nBut, besides this, an emblematic meaning is also attached to particular\nflowers and plants.  The use by the early Christians of plants and\nflowers in an emblematic way was simply a matter of reverent memory and\nthe carrying over of past associations.  Their remembrance of the words\nof the Lord Jesus would make the _Vine_, His own similitude of Himself\nin relation to them,--\"I am the vine, ye are the branches,\"--a symbol\nof frequent use to represent the Saviour.\n\nThe _Wheat_ and the _Grapes_ would not only be {79} the emblems of\nabundance and rejoicing, but would be enriched with suggestions of the\nHoly Eucharist.\n\nThe _Olive-branch_, borne by the dove, recalling the story of the\nflood, would stand for the thought of security and peace.\n\n[Illustration: Olive-branch]\n\nThe _Almond_, with name derived from a word meaning haste, in allusion\nto its hasty growth and early maturity, was the symbol of hopefulness\neven in the days of Jeremiah.  \"The word of the Lord came unto me,\nsaying, Jeremiah, what seest thou?  And I said, I see a rod of an\nalmond-tree.  Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I\nwill hasten My word to perform it.\"\n\nThe _Palm_ is the emblem of victory.  This symbolism attached to it not\nonly from the familiar associations of its pagan use as such, but from\na very early period, as seen on ancient mosaics, a reference to the\npalm was recognized in St. John's description of the Tree of Life,\n\"which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every\nmonth.\"  \"Thus the palm-branch of Christian martyrs was not only the\nemblem of victory adopted from the well-known heathen use of it, but\ntypified still more {80} strikingly their connection with the tree of\ndivine life, 'whose leaves were for the healing of the nations.'\"\n\nThe palm, however, was not the only instance of such adoption into\nChristian symbolism from pagan use.  The influence of Christianity was\nfelt in many like cases.  Trees and plants held sacred to heathen gods\nbecame associated with holier names and ideas.\n\nThus the _Laurel_, \"the meed of mighty conquerors and poets sage,\"\nbecame for the humble Christian who had \"fought a good fight, and\nfinished his course,\" the emblem of triumph and glory.\n\nThe _Pomegranate_, with mystic association from remote antiquity with\nthe idea of life, became the symbol of a hopeful future, the emblem of\nimmortality.\n\nThe _Oak_ is the representative of supernatural strength and power.  In\npagan antiquity it was especially dedicated in the West to Thor, the\nthunder-god.  The familiar story of St. Boniface, the apostle of\nGermany, relates how he found in the country of the Hessians an\nenormous tree, called the Oak of Thor, greatly revered by the people\nand held inviolably sacred.  St. Boniface cut it down in token of the\ntriumph of Christ.  When it fell with a mighty crash, and Thor gave no\nsign, the {81} heathen folk, who stood about in awe, accepted the token\nand were converted.  The stroke of St. Boniface's ax overthrew Thor,\nbut could not altogether destroy the associations of the ancient\nbelief.  The reverence for the oak long survived; and the veneration\nfor it, Christianized in meaning, led to its reproduction, with\nsymbolic reference to the power of the God of gods, in many beautiful\nforms of leaf and spray and clustered acorn, in church decoration.\n\nIn like manner, we find flowers held sacred to heathen goddesses lifted\nout of that association and invested with higher and purer emblematic\nmeaning.\n\nThe _Lily_, the flower of Juno, became the flower of the holy Virgin,\nand its snowy whiteness the symbol of Christian purity.  It is often\nseen in the conventional form of the fleur-de-lis.\n\nThe _Rose_ before the coming of Christianity was a mystic flower among\nNorthern races.  Among the Greeks and Romans it was the flower of Venus\nand the symbol of earthly love.  Its symbolism felt also the redeeming\ntouch of Christian sentiment.  The love of which it is the emblem\nbecame not an earthly, but a heavenly love.  As the lily tells of her\npurity, so the rose tells of the love that was in the heart of the\nBlessed Virgin.  But this was but the reflection {82} of a higher and a\ndivine love, of which the rose was also the symbol.\n\nHow that thought of the love of heaven coming down to earth was\nexpressed emblematically by the rose, we may see in the story of its\norigin which the Christian fancy of the middle ages invented.  It was\nsaid that a holy maiden of Bethlehem, \"blamed with wrong and slandered,\nwas doomed to the death; and as the fire began to burn about her she\nmade her prayers to our Lord that, as she was not guilty of that sin,\nHe would help her and make it to be known to all men, of His merciful\ngrace.  And when she had thus said, anon was the fire quenched and out,\nand the brands that were burning became red roseries, and the brands\nthat were not kindled became white roseries, full of roses.  And these\nwere the first roseries and roses, both white and red, that ever any\nman saw.\"\n\nSo the rose became the flower of martyrs, the presage of the beauty and\njoy of Paradise.  With the same thought, the early Christians decorated\nwith roses the graves of martyrs and confessors on the anniversary of\ntheir death.  It has been conjectured that it is from this connection\nof the rose with Paradise, and with the thought of the love which\naccomplished our salvation, that the rite of {83} the \"golden rose\" has\nbeen derived--the rite in which the Pope, on the Fourth Sunday in Lent,\nblesses a golden rose adorned with jewels, which he afterward bestows\nupon some person he desires especially to honor.  In the prayers which\nare used in this rite, our Lord is alluded to as the \"eternal Rose that\nhas gladdened the heart of the world.\"\n\nThe interesting plant known as the _Passion-flower_, although of\ncomparatively modern origin, is now freely used to symbolize the\npassion of our Lord.  The ten faithful apostles,--omitting St. Peter\nwho denied and Judas who betrayed our Lord,--the hammer and the nails,\nthe cross, the five sacred wounds, the crown of thorns, the cords which\nbound Him, are all, by an exaggerated symbolism and straining after\nanalogy, supposed to be represented by its various parts.  It was\ndiscovered by early Spanish settlers in America, and was welcomed by\nthem as useful in teaching Christianity to the Indians.  It is the one\ncontribution of the new continent to the ecclesiastical symbolism of\nflowers.\n\n_Symbols of the Evangelists and Apostles._--The Evangelists are often\nrepresented by four scrolls, four open books, or four streams of water\nissuing from Christ the Rock; but most commonly the Evangelistic\nsymbols are the _Man_, the _Lion_, the {84} _Ox_, and the _Eagle_.\nThese figures refer to the mysterious creatures described by the\nprophet Ezekiel, and afterward by St. John, as adoring ceaselessly\nbefore the throne of God.  \"They rest not day and night, saying, Holy,\nholy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.\"  The\nman is assigned to St. Matthew and his Gospel, because of the manner in\nwhich the manhood of our Lord is set forth, the lion to St. Mark,\nbecause he shows {85} His royal dignity and power; the ox to St. Luke,\nbecause his is the sacrificial Gospel and dwells on the Atonement; and\nthe eagle to St. John, because his Gospel rises to the contemplation of\nthe sublimest mysteries of the Christian faith.\n\n[Illustration: Man, Lion, Ox, Eagle symbols]\n\nAll these symbols are winged, as showing that the message of the\nGospels is to go to all the earth as the concern of all men everywhere.\n\nAll four symbols are sometimes combined into one, called a Tetramorph.\n\nEach Apostle has also his own appropriate symbol.\n\nSt. James the Greater has the escallop shell and staff of the pilgrim.\nHis shrine in Spain was one of the great centers to which pilgrims came\nfrom all lands.\n\n[Illustration: Apostle symbols--S. Peter, S. Andrew, S. James ye more,\nS. Johan, S. Thomas, S. James ye less.]\n\nSt. John, as an Apostle, has a cup with a winged serpent rising from\nit, in reference to the tradition {86} that St. John once drank with\nimpunity from a poisoned chalice after having made the sign of the\nCross over it.\n\nSt. Thomas bears the spear with which he was slain, or the carpenter's\nrule, from a legend that he was sent to the king of the Indies to build\nhim a palace.  St. Thomas gave to the poor the money intrusted to him\nby the king.  He was cast into prison, but the king had a vision of a\nmarvelous palace in Paradise built for him by the money given in\ncharity.  St. Thomas was released, and the king became a Christian.\n\nSt. Peter has the keys, in reference to our Lord's words to him, and to\nhis opening of the door of the Church to Jews and to Gentiles.\n\nSt. Matthew, as an Apostle, has sometimes a purse, in allusion to his\nhaving been a publican, or tax-gatherer, and sometimes the hatchet with\nwhich he was killed.\n\nThe other Apostles have, for symbols, the traditional instruments of\ntheir martyrdom: St. Andrew bears the cross peculiar to him; St.\nBartholomew the knife with which he was flayed alive; St. James the\nLess has the fuller's club with which he was beaten to death; St.\nPhilip has the cross on which he was crucified, St. Matthias bears a\nbattle-ax: {87} St. Jade a halberd, or a knotted club, sometimes\nfashioned like a cross, with which he was slain; St. Simon the saw with\nwhich he was cut asunder.\n\n[Illustration: Apostle symbols--S. Phylyppa, S. Barthylimew, S.\nMatthew, S. Jude, S. Symon, S. Mathyas.]\n\nThe symbol of St. Paul is the sword with which he was beheaded, and a\nclosed book, in reference to his Epistles.  St. Stephen, the first\nmartyr, bears the stones with which he was killed while he prayed for\nthose who hurled them.\n\n_Of Angelic figures._--It is not surprising, in view of the references\nof Holy Scripture, that representations of angels should have place in\nthe decoration of Christian churches.  \"The religion of heaven is\nChristianity.\"  \"I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round\nabout the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of\nthem was ten thousand times ten thousand, and {88} thousands of\nthousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain\nto receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and\nglory, and blessing.\"\n\nAngels are included in the Communion of Saints.  \"Ye are come ... unto\nthe city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an\ninnumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of\nthe first-born, which are written in heaven.\"\n\nIt is the constant tradition of the Church that the holy angels attend\nat Christian worship.  It is one of the highest privileges of that\nworship that we have such communion with them as to be able to say,\n\"Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of\nheaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name; evermore praising Thee,\nand saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are\nfull of Thy glory: Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High.  Amen.\"\n\n_The Symbolism of Colors._--In the ornamentation of vestments and of\nthe hangings of the Altar, as also in the general decoration of\nchurches, all colors are employed as good taste may dictate.  They are\nthus properly used \"for the glory of God, who created the many hues of\nnature and gave to man the power of deriving pleasure from them.\" {89}\nCertain colors, however, are known as \"liturgical\" or \"ecclesiastical\"\ncolors, and are, in accordance with ancient practice, employed for\nsymbolical purposes about the Altar and chancel of our churches, or the\ndress of Ministers, during the different seasons of the Church Year.\nThey serve to impress upon our minds, through the outward senses,\ncertain great truths of the Gospel, and give honor and dignity to the\ncelebration of its sacred mysteries.\n\nThe colors most commonly used are white, red, violet, black, and green.\n\nWhite, signifying purity and joy, is used on the Feasts of the great\nmysteries of our Faith and at all seasons relating to our Lord, on days\nrelating to the Blessed Virgin and to those saints who were not also\nmartyrs, and on festival occasions, such as Confirmations, Ordinations,\nDedications, Weddings, etc.\n\nRed, the emblem of blood and fire, is used on the Feasts of martyrs,\ntypifying the blood which was shed for Christ, and at Whitsuntide, when\nit tells of the tongues of fire which came upon the Apostles.\n\nViolet, the emblem of penitence, is used in Advent, in the season from\nSeptuagesima to Lent, in Lent, and also on Ember and Rogation days.\n\n{90}\n\nBlack signifies mourning, and is used on Good Friday and at Burials.\n\nGreen, the ordinary color of nature, is used on all days which are not\nFeasts or Fasts and when no special truth or doctrine is to be\nemphasized.\n\n_The Symbolism of Lights._--The symbolic use of lights in divine\nworship seems to have been handed on from the Jewish Temple to the\nChristian Church.  The candles upon the Altar, as in use in many\nchurches, whether the two Eucharistic lights or the vesper lights, not\nonly give beauty and festival character to the service, but are an\nexpressive sign of spiritual gladness and joy, and a symbol, suggested\nby His own words, of Christ as the true \"light of the world.\"  They\nremind us of the gladness and spiritual illumination which the Gospel\nbrings.\n\n_The Symbolism of Incense._--Where incense is employed as an adjunct of\nworship, its symbolism is the same as that which it had in the worship\nof the Temple.  It is the symbol of prayer, of the intercession of our\ngreat High Priest, and of the prayers of the saints.  So the Psalmist\nprays, \"Let my prayer be set forth in Thy sight as the incense\"; and so\nagain, St. John, describing the ceremonial of the worship of heaven as\nseen in his vision, says, {91} \"Another angel came and stood at the\naltar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much\nincense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon\nthe golden altar which was before the throne.  And the smoke of the\nincense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before\nGod out of the angel's hand.\"\n\n\n\n\n{92}\n\n_How to Use the Prayer-Book_[1]\n\n_Before the Service._--If possible be in your place a few moments\nbefore the appointed hour, that you may collect your thoughts and\nprepare for the service.  On entering, go at once quietly to your seat,\nkneel down, and say a short prayer for yourself and your\nfellow-worshipers.  The Collect for the Nineteenth or the Twenty-third\nSunday after Trinity, or the Collect, \"Almighty God, unto whom all\nhearts are open,\" at the beginning of the Communion Office, you may\nfind appropriate.  When you have said your prayer, find the places for\nthe service for the day, and after this occupy the {93} time till the\nservice begins with reading some portion from the Prayer-Book.\n\n_At Morning Prayer._--The following points should have attention:\n\n(1) The several ways in which, after the opening Sentence, the Minister\nmay proceed with the service.  See the rubrics at the beginning of\nMORNING PRAYER.\n\n(2) In the LORD'S PRAYER (as is also the case with other prayers\nprinted in like manner) the capital letters beginning the several short\nclauses are intended to indicate the portions into which the prayer is\nto be broken for common recitation.  There should be a slight pause\nafter each clause, that all may join in saying the prayer.\n\n(3) On the nineteenth day of the month the _Venite_ is not used before\nthe PSALTER, as it occurs in the portion for that day.  It is omitted\non Easter Day and Thanksgiving Day, as other anthems are appointed for\nthese days (pages 6, 125, 319).\n\n(4) After the _Venite_ follows (page 6) the PSALTER (page 329) for the\nday of the month, or one of the SELECTIONS, or the PROPER PSALMS for\nthe day.  See HOW THE PSALTER IS APPOINTED TO BE READ (page vii).  Note\nwhat is to be done, in using the PSALTER, when a month has thirty-one\ndays.  {94} Observe also the tables of SELECTIONS and PROPER PSALMS\n(pages vii, viii, 328).\n\n(5) Study the use of the COLLECT FOR THE DAY--where found (pages\n52-188, 188-220), how used: \"Except when the Communion Service is read\"\n(page 13).  \"The Collect shall serve all the Week after, where not\notherwise ordered.\"  \"The Collect for any Sunday or other Feast may be\nused at the Evening Service of the day before\" (page 52).  Note the use\nthroughout the season of the COLLECT FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT.\nThroughout Lent is used, in like manner, the COLLECT FOR ASH-WEDNESDAY\n(page 86).  Observe the use of the COLLECT FOR CHRISTMAS DAY (page 62),\nand that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for St. Stephen's Day, St.\nJohn the Evangelist's Day, the Innocents' Day, and for the\nCircumcision, are not among those for the Saints'-days, but placed in\nconnection with those for Christmas Day and the Sunday after.  Note\nrubrics (pages 66, 69, 71, 87, 141).\n\n(6) When two Feasts or Holy-days fall upon the same day, the usual\ncustom is to make a \"commemoration\" of the day omitted by using the\nCOLLECT of that day immediately after the COLLECT of the Feast or\nHoly-day that is observed.\n\n\"If there be more than twenty-five Sundays after {95} Trinity, the\nservice of some of those Sundays that were omitted after the Epiphany\nshall be taken in to supply so many as are wanting.  And if there be\nfewer than twenty-five Sundays, the overplus shall be omitted\" (page\n188).\n\n(7) Observe the use of the OCCASIONAL PRAYERS, and the place in the\nservice where they are to be said, if used.  Note that some must be\nused at specified times (page 37).\n\n(8) Observe the use of the THANKSGIVINGS--where to be said in the\nservice, if used (page 44).\n\n(9) There are several ways in which the Minister may end the MORNING\nPRAYER: \"On any day not a Sunday, he may end the MORNING PRAYER with\nthe COLLECT FOR GRACE and 2 COR. XIII. 14.\"  The prayers following that\n\"for the President of the United States\" \"shall be omitted when the\nLITANY is said, and may be omitted when the HOLY COMMUNION is\nimmediately to follow\" (pages 1, 14).\n\n_At Morning Prayer on Certain Days._--(1) For Ash-Wednesday a\nPENITENTIAL OFFICE is provided (page 48), and must be read immediately\nafter the prayer, \"We humbly beseech Thee, O Father,\" in the LITANY.\n\n(2) For Thanksgiving Day a special FORM OF {96} PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING\nTO ALMIGHTY GOD is appointed (page 319).\n\n_After the Service._--When the service is ended, after the procession\nhas gone out, kneel down and say a prayer.  Do not omit this if for any\ncause you are obliged to leave before the conclusion of the service.\nYou will find many of the Collects--such as that for the First Sunday\nafter Epiphany, or the Second Sunday after Easter, or the Thirteenth\nSunday after Trinity, or those at the end of the Communion Office--in\nevery way appropriate.\n\n_At evening Prayer._--(1) Note the several ways in which the Minister\nmay proceed after the opening Sentence.  On Sundays, he may say, \"Let\nus humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God,\" and pass to the GENERAL\nCONFESSION.  Or else he may say, \"Dearly beloved brethren, the\nScripture,\" etc.  \"On days other than the Lord's Day, he may, at his\ndiscretion, pass at once to the LORD'S PRAYER\" (pages 16, 19).\n\n(2) Note that the COLLECT FOR THE DAY _must_ be said (page 27).\n\n(3) EVENING PRAYER is said in full or may be ended after the COLLECT\nFOR AID (page 27).\n\n(4) What has been said of the use of the OCCASIONAL PRAYERS and of the\nTHANKSGIVINGS in {97} MORNING PRAYER is equally applicable to EVENING\nPRAYER.\n\n_At the Litany._--(1) The LITANY is said ordinarily after MORNING\nPRAYER on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (page 30).  A part may be\nomitted (page 33).\n\n(2) It may also be said after the COLLECT FOR AID in EVENING PRAYER, or\nit may be used separately.  See first and second paragraphs in\nCONCERNING THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH (page vii).\n\n_At the Holy Communion._--(1) The Communion Office follows immediately\nafter the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels (page 221).\n\nIt is the common custom that the LORD'S PRAYER at the beginning of the\nservice is said by the Priest alone, and not, as in other services, by\nall the people with him.  This is due to the fact that this prayer and\nthe following COLLECT FOR PURITY anciently formed part of the office\nfor the Priest's private preparation before entering the sanctuary.\nThe LORD'S PRAYER may be omitted if MORNING PRAYER has been said\nimmediately before (page 221).\n\n(2) Observe that the DECALOGUE may be omitted if said once on each\nSunday, and what is to be done in that case (pages 222, 224).\n\n(3) The COLLECT OF THE DAY, while used in other {98} Services, belongs\nproperly to the Communion Office.  It must be said.  It is called in\nthe Communion Service the Collect \"of\" the Day, elsewhere the Collect\n\"for\" the Day.  The EPISTLE and the GOSPEL for the day are found in the\nsame place as the COLLECT OF THE DAY (page 52).\n\n(4) Observe that preference is given to the NICENE CREED, and that it\nmust be said at certain times, on Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension\nDay, Whitsunday, and Trinity Sunday (page 224).\n\n(5) When the Minister gives notice of the Holy Communion the\nEXHORTATION read, in whole or part, is that beginning, \"Dearly beloved,\non ---- day next I purpose,\" or that beginning, \"Dearly beloved\nbrethren, on ---- I intend, by God's grace\" (pages 240, 242).\n\n(6) Note that the EXHORTATION, \"Dearly beloved in the Lord,\" may be\nomitted, provided it is said once, on a Sunday, in that same month\n(page 229).\n\n(7) Note the use of the PROPER PREFACES which emphasize the special\nteaching of the great festivals (page 233).\n\n(8) Note the direction (page 237) that in the administration to the\ncommunicants the Sacrament is to be delivered \"into their hands.\"  That\ncan be best done, with reverence and care, if, when the Bread is {99}\ndelivered, the person receiving will place the open right hand upon the\nleft, the palm being slightly hollowed to receive the consecrated\nBread, and, when the Cup is delivered, will take firm hold of the\nchalice with both hands--of the bowl, or stem immediately under it,\nwith the right hand, and of the pedestal with the left.  Of course\ngloves should be removed.\n\n(9) Observe what is done when a second CONSECRATION is necessary (page\n237).\n\n(10) Note that a hymn may be substituted for the _Gloria in excelsis_.\nThis is commonly done in penitential seasons (page 238).\n\n(11) Direction is given (page 240) that the consecrated Bread and Wine\nremaining after the Communion shall be reverently consumed.  Small\ncrumbs which cannot be taken otherwise are poured into the chalice, and\nthe chalice rinsed two or three times with a little wine and water, the\nPriest drinking the same.  This is called \"The ablutions.\"\n\n_At the Baptism of Infants._--(1) Note that the general congregation\nand the company at the Font are all to stand until the LORD'S PRAYER.\n\n(2) Note the permission given to shorten the service.  The Minister\nshall say, \"Hear the words of the Gospel,\" etc., or else pass\nimmediately to the {100} questions addressed to the sponsors, provided\nthat \"in every church the intermediate parts of the Service shall be\nused, once at least in every month, (if there be a baptism,) for the\nbetter instructing of the People in the grounds of Infant Baptism.\"\n\n(3) Observe that the THANKSGIVING following the EXHORTATION upon the\nwords of the GOSPEL is to be said by all, the people joining with the\nMinister.\n\n_At Private Baptism of Children._--(1) Observe what the service is.\nSee the third rubric at the beginning of the Office, and what follows\n(page 251).\n\n(2) Note what is directed, after the FORM OF BAPTISM, as to the public\nreception of the child privately baptized (page 252).\n\n(3) Note the conditional FORM provided for use in cases of doubt (page\n256).\n\n(4) Observe that the MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM and the receiving into the\nChurch may be combined (page 257).\n\n_At the Baptism of Adults._--(1) What has been pointed out, in\nconnection with the BAPTISM OF INFANTS, in reference to the people\nstanding until the LORD'S PRAYER, the saying of the THANKSGIVING after\nthe EXHORTATION, and the use of a conditional FORM (page 265) in cases\nof reasonable doubt, applies also to the BAPTISM OF ADULTS.\n\n{101}\n\n(2) Observe what may be done when necessity may require the baptizing\nof adults in private houses.  See the second rubric at the end of the\nOffice (page 265).\n\n(3) Observe that the Office of Infant Baptism and that of Adults may be\nconjoined.  The service, however, involves so much difficulty and\nrepetition that it is not often used.  Third rubric (page 265).\n\n_At Confirmation._--Observe that the congregation are to stand until\nthe LORD'S PRAYER.\n\n_At Marriages._--(1) Note that the Prayer-Book calls the service the\n\"Solemnization\" of Matrimony.  The company present are there as\nwitnesses and to ask God's blessing upon the marriage.  While,\ntherefore, they may bring into the church gladsome hearts on such an\noccasion, they should guard against levity.  They should behave with\nreverence, attend to the service, say the Amens to the prayers, and\nconduct themselves with the same regard for the place, and for the\nsacredness of the act, as they would at any other service.\n\n(2) The congregation should stand throughout the service, the bride and\nbridegroom only kneeling for the prayers and the BLESSING.\n\n_At the Communion of the Sick._--(1) Note the order of the service.\nSee the latter part of the {102} rubric at the beginning of the\nservice, and the first and third rubrics following the GOSPEL (page\n293).\n\n(2) Note permission given in the last rubric following the GOSPEL.\n\n_At Burials._--(1) Note that one or both of the SELECTIONS OF PSALMS\nmay be used (page 294).\n\n(2) Note the permission given for additions to the service (page 298).\n\n(3) Observe that the response, \"Christ, have mercy upon us,\" is to be\nsaid by the people in the _Kyrie_ preceding the LORD'S PRAYER (page\n300).\n\n(4) Note the permission given in the rubric following the ADDITIONAL\nPRAYERS at the close of the Office.\n\n\n\n[1] The page references are to the Prayer-Book, to editions larger than\nthe small duodecimo; which larger editions are all paged alike.\n\n\n\n\n{103}\n\n_Devout Customs and Usages_\n\nSome of the customs here referred to are matters of rubrical direction\nin the Prayer-Book; others stand merely upon the ground of usage and\nthe devout practice of the Church from ancient times.  The object here\nin view is not to discuss their obligation, but simply to tell what\nthey are and why they are observed, whether that observance is in\nobedience to an express direction of the Church or is a voluntary act\nof reverence.  Since, as a matter of fact, such customs are used by\nsome Churchmen, every well-instructed person should know their meaning\nand the reason for their use.  His personal observance of them, where\nthey have been left by the Church as voluntary acts, must depend upon\nhis own feeling and their {104} helpfulness or otherwise to his own\nworship and right living.\n\n_Kneeling._--The changes of posture in the course of a service have\nvalue in relieving weariness and in sustaining attention, but their\nchief significance is, of course, in the expression of different states\nof devotion.  Thus kneeling is the fit posture in prayer for humble\npenitents--the only state in which we may presume to come before God.\nIt is a mark of reverence, and testifies outwardly of our inward\nhumility; and \"a devout manner helps to create devout feelings.\"\n\n_Standing._--To show readiness to engage in worship and to receive\ninstruction, the people stand when addressed at the opening of Morning\nand Evening Prayer, or at the Exhortations in the Communion Office.  As\nexpressive of earnestness and determination to defend the Faith, they\nstand for the recitation of the Creeds.  They stand at the reading of\nthe Gospel in the Communion Service to \"show reverent regard for the\nSon of God above all other messengers, although speaking as from God\nalso.\"  They rise at the presentation of the alms and oblations,\nbecause the offering is their gift to God and to show their\nparticipation in the act.  They stand as the clergy enter or leave\n{105} the church in token of respect for their sacred office.\n\n_Bowing._--The head is bowed at the name of Jesus in the Creeds to\n\"testify by this outward ceremony and gesture a due acknowledgment that\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, the true and eternal Son of God, is the only\nSaviour of the world.\"  This act of reverence is not restricted to the\nCreeds, but the same honor is shown to the Holy Name at its mention\nalso in the _Gloria in excelsis_, and in hymns, in lessons, and in\nsermons.\n\nAt the words, \"And was incarnate,\" in the Nicene Creed, the head and\nbody are inclined (or the knee is bent) \"to show humble and grateful\nrecognition of the stupendous mystery of the Incarnation,\" and at the\nwords \"Worshiped and glorified,\" to signify belief in the divinity of\nthe Holy Ghost.  The head is bowed also at the name of the Blessed\nTrinity.  This sign of reverence and honor is made at the _Gloria\nPatri_, at \"Holy, Holy, Holy\" in the _Sanctus_ of the Communion Office,\nat the same words in the _Te Deum_, and at the various forms of the\ndoxology, thus \"recognizing the divine glory of each of the three\nPersons, and in imitation of the angels, who veil their faces with\ntheir wings when singing the glory of the Holy Trinity.\"  Bowing {106}\nat the _Gloria_ came into use about the year 325, as a protest against\nthe heresy which denied the divinity of our Lord.\n\nThe head is reverently bowed toward the Altar on coming in and going\nout of the church or chancel, in accordance with what one of the canons\nof the English Church says was \"the most ancient custom of the\nprimitive Church in the purest times.\"  It is an act of honor and\nreverence for the house of God, and for the Altar as the place of such\nholy associations as attach to it from the celebration there of the\nHoly Eucharist.\n\n_Turning to the East._--The practice of turning to the east, or to the\nAltar, at the Creed and at every _Gloria_ (as a brief form of Creed)\n\"probably originated in an old custom at Baptism.  The catechumen\nturned his face toward the west in renouncing the devil and all his\nworks, and to the east in making profession of his Faith.  The early\nChristians were accustomed to turn to the east in their devotions, just\nas the Jews turned their faces toward Jerusalem when they prayed.\"\nMany churches, whenever it is possible, are built for this reason \"east\nand west,\" as was the ancient custom.  When not so placed, the chancel\nis considered to be constructively, if not in fact, \"the east,\" and the\nclergy and choir {107} turn toward the Altar.  It is an act expressive\nof faith in Christ \"as the light of the world,\" \"the Sun of\nrighteousness,\" and recalls how ancient tradition, following a seeming\nintimation of Holy Scripture, says that our Lord will come from the\neast at His second advent: \"As the lightning cometh out of the east,\nand shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of\nman be.\"\n\n_Vestments._--Much may be said for the use of a distinctive dress in\nthe holy offices of the Church.  It is in accordance with ancient\nusage; it marks the action of the Minister as not personal, but\nofficial; it secures dignity and uniformity, and it is also, like the\ndress of the priests in the old Jewish Church, \"for glory and for\nbeauty.\"\n\nThe American Church has no law upon the subject of vestments.  Their\nuse is simply a matter of traditional custom.  Those here described\nhave come down to us from our mother Church of England.  Not all here\nmentioned are in use in all places, nor need it be assumed that all are\nequally desirable.\n\n\"The _Cassock_ is a long coat, close-fitting, reaching to the feet, and\nbuttoned down the front.  It is generally of black, except in cathedral\nchurches and for Bishops and cathedral dignitaries, when the {108}\nepiscopal purple may appropriately be used.  A cincture, or broad sash,\nsometimes confines the cassock at the waist.\n\n\"The _Surplice_ is of linen, generally with no opening in front, but\nwith sufficient aperture in the neck to allow it to be easily passed\nover the head.  It should fall somewhat below the knees.  The sleeves\nare flowing and of considerable width at the wrist.\"\n\n[Illustration: The surplice]\n\n\"The _Stole_ is a strip of silk about three inches wide and eight and a\nhalf feet long, with ends ornamented by embroidery and fringed.  The\nPriest wears it around his neck, the ends hanging down over the front\nof the surplice.  Deacons wear the stole suspended over the left\nshoulder, except at the Holy Communion, when it may be brought across\nthe back and breast and be fastened at the right side.\"\n\nThe vestments for the celebrant at the Holy Communion are as follows:\n\nThe _Alb_, which may be described as a long linen garment somewhat like\na surplice, with close-fitting sleeves, reaching nearly to the ground.\nIt is frequently embroidered at the foot before and behind {109} and at\nthe end of the sleeves.  These pieces of embroidery are called\n\"apparels.\"  The alb is confined at the waist by a white cord called\nthe girdle.\n\n[Illustration: The Alb]\n\nAround the neck is worn the _Amice_--an oblong piece of linen, a part\nof which is folded over and forms a large collar.  This is often\nembroidered.\n\nThe _Chasuble_, sometimes called \"the vestment\" by way of distinction,\nis worn only at the celebration of the Holy Communion.  It is oval in\nshape, without sleeves, with an opening in the middle through which the\nhead may be passed.  In front and behind it extends nearly to the\nground, and on the sides to the hands.  It is usually ornamented with a\nY-shaped cross, which is often embroidered.  The chasuble is sometimes\nornamented with very rich needlework.  The stole is worn under the\nchasuble, crossed on the breast, and passed under the girdle.\n\n[Illustration: The Chasuble]\n\nSometimes the _Maniple_ is also worn.  It is shaped like a stole, but\nsmaller, and is fastened with a loop over the left arm near the wrist.\n\nThis dress, with local differences, is worn in all {110} the ancient\nChurches of Christendom.  It has come down to us with the Church\nitself.  It is, in fact, simply the dignified dress of primitive days,\nenriched and ornamented.  Times and customs have changed, but the dress\nof the Priest, made sacred by association with his holy work, has\nremained unaltered.\n\nIn churches where the Holy Eucharist is celebrated with very full\nceremonial, the two clergy-men who assist the celebrant, called the\n\"deacon\" and \"subdeacon,\" sometimes on festival occasions wear\nrespectively a _Dalmatic_ and a _Tunicle_.  These garments are very\nsimilar, being a kind of loose coat or frock reaching below the knees,\nopen partially at the lower part of the sides, and having full, though\nnot large, sleeves.  The dalmatic is usually somewhat more ornamented.\nThese are festival garments.  On other occasions the girded alb and the\namice are often worn by the deacon and subdeacon.\n\n[Illustration: Dalmatic]\n\nThe chasuble, and also the dalmatic and tunicle, are often of silk, of\nthe color of the season; but the custom of wearing only white linen\nvestments prevails in many churches.\n\n{111}\n\n\"The following somewhat fanciful meanings, among various others, have\nbeen applied to the vestments: the alb is said to signify the white\nrobe which Herod placed upon our Saviour; the amice, the cloth with\nwhich He was blindfolded by the Jews; the stole, maniple, and girdle,\nthe cords which bound Him, and the chasuble, the purple robe of scorn.\n\n\"They are also said to represent certain Christian graces.  The amice,\npassed over the head, signifies hope, the helmet of salvation; the alb,\npurity; the maniple, patience in the bonds of suffering; the stole,\nsubmission to the yoke of Christ, the chasuble, charity.\"\n\n\"The _Cope_ is a large semicircular cloak of silk or other stuff,\nfastened in front by a clasp called a 'morse.'  It is generally richly\nembroidered.  The length extends in the back to the feet, but it is\nopen in front, leaving the arms free.  The cope is worn by priests in\nsolemn processions.  It is not a Eucharistic vestment and does not\ndisplace the chasuble at Celebrations.  It is a symbol of rule, and is\nappropriate to Bishops and others in authority.  It is worn over the\nalb or surplice.\"\n\nThe _Episcopal habit_ generally worn seems to have come into use in the\ntime of Queen Elizabeth.  {112} Its use rests only upon custom.  It\nconsists of \"Rochet\" and \"Chimere.\"  The rochet resembles an alb, but\nis shorter and without sleeves.  It is of lawn or fine linen.  The\nchimere is a dress of black satin, with white lawn sleeves.\n\nThe _Bishop's Staff_ is in shape like a shepherd's crook.  It is often\nhighly ornamented, and may be adorned on the crook or top with jewels.\n\nThe _Mitre_ is a head-covering generally worn by Bishops with the cope.\n\nThe _Biretta_ is a square cap of black silk, or other stuff, worn by\nthe clergy in out-of-door functions.\n\n_Hoods_ are symbols of university degrees attained by the wearer.  They\nare not strictly ecclesiastical.  Each college or university has its\nown hood for each degree conferred.\n\n_The Sign of the Cross._--At the Ministration of Baptism the Church\ndirects that the sign of the Cross shall be made upon the forehead of\nthe baptized person, and declares that it knows \"no worthy cause of\nscruple concerning the same.\"  In this it follows the mind of the\nprimitive Church, in which there was, \"even in apostolic times, a\nreverend estimation of the sign of the Cross, which the Christians\nshortly after used in all their actions,\" as a sign that \"they were not\nashamed to acknowledge {113} Him for their Lord and Saviour who died\nfor them upon the Cross.\"  With the same \"reverend estimation,\" \"in\ntoken that they are not ashamed to confess the faith of Christ\ncrucified,\" and in remembrance that all blessings have been purchased\nby the \"death of the Cross,\" it is also used by many persons at various\nparts of the public service, as, for instance, at the beginning and\nclose of the service, at the end of the Creed, at a Blessing, or at an\nAbsolution.\n\n_Sponsors in Baptism._--The Church requires that \"there shall be for\nevery Male-child to be baptized, when they can be had, two Godfathers\nand one Godmother; and for every Female, one Godfather and two\nGodmothers.\"  The origin of this office is obscure.  It may have been\nadopted from a Jewish custom connected with the admission of heathen\nchildren, or it may have arisen spontaneously out of the social\nconditions of the Church.\n\nThe object in view is \"to insure the subsequent education and training\nin Christian truth and duty which is necessary to the full benefit of\nthe grace conferred in this holy Sacrament.\"\n\nSponsors are so called \"because they respond or answer for the child to\nbe baptized.  They are {114} called 'sureties' because they give\nsecurity to the Church that the child shall be virtuously brought up;\n'godfathers,' and 'godmothers,' because of the spiritual relationship\ninto which they are brought with one another, with the parents, and\nwith the child.\"\n\n\"Formerly parents were not admitted as sponsors, since they are\nsponsors in fact and by nature, and therefore no vow can increase their\nobligation of duty toward the child.  But while the Church prefers that\nthere should be three sponsors for every child, in addition to the\nparents, in order to insure by a fivefold promise the future\nguardianship of the infant soul, she yet permits parents to stand as\nsponsors in order to accommodate every variety of circumstance and\nneed, and to save the office of sponsor from ever being merely a formal\nor perfunctory thing.\"\n\n_The Ring in Marriage._--\"The use of the wedding-ring was probably\nadopted by the early Church from the marriage customs which were\nfamiliar to Christians in their previous life as Jews or heathen.\"  A\nring, or something equivalent, seems to have been given at marriage by\nthe man to the woman from patriarchal days.  The ancient custom of the\nChurch was for the bridegroom to place the {115} ring upon the thumb of\nthe bride, saying, \"In the Name of the Father\"; then upon the second\nfinger, saying, \"and of the Son\"; then upon the third finger, saying,\n\"and of the Holy Ghost\"; and then upon the fourth finger, saying,\n\"Amen.\"  \"It was an old belief that a particular vein proceeded from\nthe fourth finger to the heart.\"  The ring, being of gold, and having\nneither beginning nor end, is not only a \"token and pledge\" of the vow\nand covenant made in marriage, but is also a symbol of the purity and\nunbroken constancy with which they should be \"surely performed and\nkept.\"\n\n_Observance of the Church Year._--The Church Year was a very natural\ndevelopment for the early Christians, familiar with the great annual\nfestivals of the ancient Jewish Church.  By a series of anniversaries\nand holy-days, with suitable services, the different seasons of the\nyear were in like manner made to serve a Christian purpose.  Time as it\npasses thus becomes a perpetual memorial of the events of our Saviour's\nlife, and of the work and virtue of the Apostles and other saints.\n\nThe year is divided into eight great seasons: Advent, Christmas-tide,\nEpiphany-tide, Lent, Easter-tide, Ascension-tide, Whitsuntide, and the\nTrinity season.  Of these Whitsuntide is the shortest, {116} lasting\nbut one week.  The Trinity season, including from twenty-three to\ntwenty-eight weeks, is the longest.  The four greater Festivals are\nChristmas, Easter, Ascension, and Whitsunday.  The penitential seasons\nare Advent, preceding Christmas, and Lent, preceding Easter.  The two\ngreat Fasts are Ash-Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent, and Good\nFriday, the day of our Lord's crucifixion.  Other days of fasting and\nabstinence are the forty days of Lent, all the Fridays in the year, the\nEmber-days (the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday before the four stated\nTimes of Ordination to the holy ministry), and the Rogation-days (the\nMonday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day).\n\nFrom Advent, with which the Church Year begins, to Trinity, our Lord is\nset before us in His life and His work.  \"We live over again, year by\nyear, the time of the Incarnation from Bethlehem to Bethany.\"  The\ndesign is to \"bring out, and to bring home to the minds and hearts of\nall who shall reverently use these holy festivals and fasts, the great\nrepresentative facts of Christ's life--to exhibit and to glorify Him.\nAnd that not in a vague, mystic, or one-sided way, but by setting Him\nbefore us in all the majesty and beauty and completeness of His\ncharacter, from the manger to the Cross, and from {117} the Cross up to\nthe mediatorial throne.  Thus a complete Christ, if one may so speak,\nis set before us.  All the great facts of His life are marshaled into\nline and proportion; every feature and lineament of His character is\nrevealed and illuminated; every office He sustained in the work of\nredemption is affirmed and emphasized.\"\n\nIn the long season from Trinity to Advent we are taught to use\npractically the Faith in which we have thus been instructed, and \"to\nfollow the blessed steps of His most holy life.\"\n\nIn conjunction with this teaching there is also the thankful\ncommemoration of \"the wonderful grace and virtue declared in the saints\nwho have been the choice vessels of God's grace and the lights of the\nworld in their several generations.\"  By a series of Saints'-days\ndistributed throughout the year, and falling one or two in each month,\nwe are kept in mind of how we are \"knit together\" with the blessed\nsaints \"in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Christ\nour Lord,\" and are called to follow \"the example of their steadfastness\nin the faith and obedience to God's holy commandments.\"  There are days\ndedicated to the memory of the Blessed Virgin; the Apostles; the\nBaptist as the precursor, and St. Stephen as the {118} protomartyr; to\nSt. Mark and St. Luke as Evangelists; to St. Paul and St. Barnabas on\naccount of their extraordinary call; to the Holy Innocents as the\nearliest who suffered for Christ's sake; to St. Michael and All Angels,\nto remind us of the benefits received by the ministry of angels; and to\nAll Saints, as the memorial of all those who have died in the faith.\n\nThe advantages of thus making days and seasons the ever-recurring\nmemorials of our Saviour, and of the virtue and example of the saints,\nare evident.  Each year brings to mind the facts of our Lord's life and\nthe great doctrines which He taught.  Not a single essential truth of\nthe Gospel is allowed to fall into practical neglect or to drift into\nforgetfulness.  We are reminded to continue steadfast in this Faith and\nto live by it, and are instructed and encouraged in so doing by the\nexample of the saints whose rest is won.\n\n  \"And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,\n  Steals on the ear the distant triumph-song,\n  And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.\n            Alleluia.\"\n\n\n\n\n{119}\n\n_List of Books for Reference_\n\n\n\"Stones of the Temple.\"  Field.\n\n\"Our Parish Church.\"  Baring-Gould.\n\n\"The Spiritual House.\"  Huntington.\n\n\"Manual of Information.\"  Shinn.\n\n\"Hints on Church Furnishing,\" etc.  \"The Living Church Quarterly,\" 1892.\n\n\"Symbolism in Christian Art.\"  Hulme.\n\n\"Christian Iconography.\"  Didron.\n\n\"History of Christian Art.\"  Lindsay.\n\n\"Art Teaching of the Primitive Church.\"  Tyrwhit.\n\n\"Christian Art and Symbolism.\"  Tyrwhit.\n\n\"History of Medieval Art.\"  Reber.\n\n\"Signs and Symbols.\"  \"The Churchman,\" 1895.\n\n\"Our Mother Church.\"  Mercier.\n\n\"Calendar of the Prayer-Book.\"  Parker & Co., London.\n\n{120}\n\n\"Red-Letter Saints.\"  S. P. C. K.\n\n\"Sacred and Legendary Art.\"  Jameson.\n\n\"Dictionary of Art.\"  Adelene.\n\n\"Pagan and Christian Rome.\"  Lanciani.\n\n\"History of the Church Catholic.\"  Hore.\n\n\"Handbook of Christian Symbols.\"  Clement.\n\n\"Dictionary of Heraldry.\"  Coats.\n\n\"English Heraldry.\"  Boutell.\n\n\"Handbook of Heraldry.\"  Cussan.\n\n\"Church Decoration.\"  French.\n\n\"Church Decoration.\"  Frederick Warne & Co., London.\n\n\"Folk-Lore of Plants.\"  Dyer.\n\n\"Sacred Trees and Flowers.\"  \"London Quarterly Review,\" 1863, vol. cxiv.\n\n\"Annotated Book of Common Prayer.\"  Blunt.\n\n\"The Prayer-Book.\"  Daniel.\n\n\"Parish Lectures on the Prayer-Book.\"  Snively.\n\n\"Notes on the Use of the Prayer-Book.\"  Hall.\n\n\"The Congregation in Church.\"  Mowbray & Co., London.\n\n\"Church Needlework.\"  Lambert.\n\n\"Embroidery for Church Guilds.\"  Woodward.\n\n\"Church Vestments.\"  Dolby.\n\n\"Vestiarum Christianum.\"  Harriott.\n\n\"Ecclesiastical Vestments.\"  Macalister.\n\n\n\n\n{121}\n\nIndex\n\n                                     PAGE\n\n  Agnus Dei  . . . . . . . . . . . .   68\n  Alb  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  108\n  Almond . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   79\n  Alms-basin . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Alpha and Omega  . . . . . . . . .   69\n  Altar  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Altar-cloth  . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Altar-cross  . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Altar-desk . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Altar-vessels  . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Amice  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  109\n  Anchor . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   77\n  Angelic figures  . . . . . . . . .   87\n  Apostles, symbols of . . . . . . .   85\n\n  Baptism  . . . . . . .  13, 76, 99, 100\n  Baptismal shell  . . . . . . . . .   42\n  Baptistery . . . . . . . . . . . .   42\n  Bells  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   19\n  Biretta  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  112\n  Bishop's Chair . . . . . . . . . .   48\n     \"     Throne  . . . . . . . . .   49\n  Bowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  105\n  Burial of the Dead . . . . . .  14, 102\n  Burse  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   40\n\n  Candlestick, seven-branched  . . .   74\n  Candlesticks . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Cassock  . . . . . .   . . . . . .  107\n  Chair, Bishop's  . . . . . . . . .   48\n  Chalice  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n     \"    veil . . . . . . . . . . .   40\n  Chancel  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   25\n  Chasuble . . . . . . . . . . .  62, 109\n  Chi Rho  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   72\n  Chi Rho and N  . . . . . . . . . .   72\n  Chi Rho Sigma  . . . . . . .   . .   73\n  Choir  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   26\n  Church, the building . . . . . . .   11\n    \"     dedication of  . . . . . .   12\n    \"     consecrated  . . . . 11, 13, 15\n    \"     open . . . . . . . . . . .   15\n  Church Year  . . . . . . . . . . .  115\n  Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   62\n  Circles, interlacing . . . . . . .   65\n  Circles and triangle . . . . . . .   66\n  Colors, symbolism and use  . . . .   88\n  Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . .  101\n  Constantine  . . . . . . . . . . .   71\n  Cope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  111\n  Corporal . . . . . . . . . . . . .   40\n  Credence . . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Cross, the . . . . . . . . . . . .   52\n    \"    legend of tree of . . . . .   52\n    \"    legend of finding . . . . .   55\n    \"    Latin . . . . . . . . . . .   55\n    \"    Calvary . . . . . . . . . .   56\n    \"    Greek . . . . . . . . . . .   56\n    \"    tau . . . . . . . . . . . .   56\n    \"    St. Anthony's . . . . . . .   57\n    \"    potent  . . . . . . . . . .   57\n    \"    Jerusalem . . . . . . . . .   57\n    \"    heraldic  . . . . . . . . .   58\n    \"    moline  . . . . . . . . . .   58\n    \"    recercele . . . . . . . . .   58\n    \"    bottone . . . . . . . . . .   59\n    \"    trefle  . . . . . . . . . .   59\n    \"    patonce . . . . . . . . . .   59\n    \"    flory . . . . . . . . . . .   59\n    \"    pommee  . . . . . . . . . .   59\n    \"    crosslet  . . . . . . . . 59, 60\n    \"    fitche  . . . . . . . . . 59, 60\n    \"    patte . . . . . . . . . . .   60\n    \"    Maltese . . . . . . . . . .   60\n    \"    floriated . . . . . . . . .   60\n    \"    Irish . . . . . . . . . . .   61\n    \"    St. Andrew's  . . . . . . .   62\n    \"    Canterbury  . . . . . .  62, 109\n    \"    the Altar . . . . . . . . .   38\n    \"    the sign of the . . . . . .  112\n  Crown  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   77\n    \"   of thorns  . . . . . . . . .   76\n  Cruciform shape  . . . . . . . . .   18\n  Cruets . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Customs, devout  . . . . . . . . .  103\n\n  Dalmatic . . . . . . . . . . . . .  110\n  Dossal . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Dove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   75\n\n  Eagle  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84, 85\n    \"   lectern  . . . . . . . . . .   45\n  Episcopal habit  . . . . . . . . .  111\n  Evangelists, symbols of  . . . . .   83\n  Evening Prayer, the  . . . . . . 27, 96\n  Ewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   42\n\n  Fair linen . . . . . . . . . . . .   40\n  Father Almighty, symbols of  . . .   66\n  Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   70\n  Fishes, interlaced . . . . . . . .   76\n  Flagon . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Floriated cross  . . . . . . . . .   60\n  Flowers, symbolism of  . . . . . .   78\n  Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   41\n  Frontal  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Fylfot . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   60\n\n  Good Shepherd  . . . . . . . . . .   68\n  Grapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   78\n  Greek cross  . . . . . . . . . . .   56\n\n  Hand, of God . . . . . . . . . . 66, 67\n  Heraldic crosses . . . . . . . . .   58\n  Holy Communion, the  .  28, 32, 97, 101\n  Holy Ghost, symbols of . . . . . .   74\n  Hoods  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  112\n  How to use Prayer-Book . . . . . .   92\n\n  IHS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   73\n  Incense  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   90\n  I. N. R. I.  . . . . . . . . . . .   74\n  Iota Chi . . . . . . . . . . . . 73, 74\n  Iota Eta Sigma . . . . . . . . . .   73\n  Iota Sigma Chi Sigma . . . . . . .   74\n  Irish cross  . . . . . . . . . . .   61\n\n  Jerusalem cross  . . . . . . . . .   57\n\n  Kneeling . . . . . . . . . . . . .  104\n\n  Lamb of God  . . . . . . . . . . .   68\n  Lamps, seven burning . . . . . . .   74\n  Latin cross  . . . . . . . . . . .   55\n  Laurel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   80\n  Lectern  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   44\n  Lessons  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   44\n  Lights, symbolism of . . . . . . .   90\n  Lily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   81\n  Lion, winged . . . . . . . . 83, 84, 85\n  Litany . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 96\n  Litany-desk  . . . . . . . . . . 22, 48\n\n  Maltese cross  . . . . . . . . . .   60\n  Man, winged  . . . . . . . . 83, 84, 85\n  Maniple  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  109\n  Matrimony  . . . . . . . . 14, 101, 114\n  Mitre  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  112\n  Monogram of \"Christ\" . . . . 71, 72, 73\n  Monogram of \"our Christ\" . . . . .   72\n  Monogram of \"Jesus\"  . . . . . . 71, 73\n  Monogram of \"Jesus Christ\" . . . 73, 74\n  Morning Prayer, the  . . . . 27, 93, 95\n\n  Nails of crucifixion . . . . . . .   76\n  Name and triangle  . . . . . . . 66, 67\n  Nave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   21\n\n  Oak  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   80\n  Olive  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   79\n  Ox, winged . . . . . . . . . . . 84, 85\n\n  Pall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   40\n  Palm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   79\n  Passion-flower . . . . . . . . . .   83\n  Paten  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   39\n  Pelican  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   70\n  Pentalpha  . . . . . . . . . . . .   69\n  Phoenix  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   77\n  Plants, symbolism of . . . . . . .   78\n  Pomegranate  . . . . . . . . . . .   80\n  Pulpit . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   45\n  Purificator  . . . . . . . . . . .   40\n\n  Reredos  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Retable  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Ring in marriage . . . . . . . . .  114\n  Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   81\n\n  St. Anthony  . . . . . . . . . . .   57\n  St. Boniface . . . . . . . . . . .   80\n  St. Stephen  . . . . . . . . . . .   87\n  Sanctuary  . . . . . . . . . . . .   30\n  Shell, baptismal . . . . . . . . .   42\n    \"    escallop  . . . . . . . . 76, 85\n  Sign of Cross  . . . . . . . . . .  112\n  Spire  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   18\n  Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . .  113\n  Staff, Bishop's  . . . . . . . . .  112\n  Stalls, choir and clergy . . . . .   47\n  Standing . . . . . . . . . . . . .  104\n  Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   69\n  Stole  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  108\n  Superfrontal . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Surplice . . . . . . . . . . . . .  108\n  Symbols of Apostles  . . . . . . .   85\n  Symbols of Evangelists . . . . . .   83\n  Symbols of the Father Almighty . .   66\n  Symbols of the Holy Ghost  . . . .   74\n  Symbols of the Holy Trinity  . . .   63\n  Symbols of our Lord  . . . . . . .   66\n  Symbols, use of  . . . . . . . . .   51\n\n  Tau-cross  . . . . . . . . . . . .   56\n  Tetramorph . . . . . . . . . . . .   85\n  Threefold arrangement  . . . . . .   63\n  Throne . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   49\n  Transepts  . . . . . . . . . . . .   24\n  Trefoil  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   63\n     \"    under triangle . . . . . 63, 64\n  Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . .   63\n     \"     and circles . . . . . . 65, 66\n  Triangles, intersected . . . . . 63, 64\n  Trinity, symbols of  . . . . . . .   63\n  Triquetra  . . . . . . . . . . . .   64\n  Tunicle  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  110\n  Turning to east  . . . . . . . . .  106\n\n  Usages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  103\n\n  Vases  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   38\n  Vesica . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   70\n  Vestments  . . . . . . . . . . . .  107\n      \"     meaning of . . . . . . .  111\n  Vine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   78\n\n  Wheat  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   78\n  Worship  . . . . . . . . . . . . .    7\n  Wreath . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   77","title":"The worship of the Church, and the beauty of holiness","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":24635}