Chapter 8

KNEELING. The practice of kneeling in confession, in prayer, and in adoration, is of great antiquity. David says, "Let us worship and bow down, let us _kneel_ before the Lord our Maker," Psalm cxv. 6. See also Ps. cxxxii. 7; 1 Kings viii. 54; Ezra ix. 5-15; Dan. vi. 10; Acts vii. 60; Acts ix. 40; Acts xx. 36, xxi. 5. Our blessed Lord Himself "_kneeled down_" when He prayed, Luke xxii. 14. How the example of David and Solomon, Ezra and Daniel, St. Stephen, St. Peter and St. Paul, nay, of our Saviour Himself, condemns the lolling, irreverent posture assumed by too many Christians of the present day in the public worship of the Lord of Hosts!

KYRIE ELEISON. Two Greek words, meaning "Lord, have mercy." The responses to the Commandments are so called.

LAITY, LAYMAN. A baptized member of the Church, not being an ecclesiastic. The term "layman" denotes a positive rank, not the mere lack of rank.

LAMBETH DEGREES. The Archbishop of Canterbury has the power of conferring degrees in any of the faculties of the University to which he himself belongs. These degrees are called _Lambeth Degrees_. The Archbishop exercised this power as Legate of the Pope, retaining it (like the power of granting special marriage licences) under the Tudor legislation.

LAPSE. When a patron neglects to present a clergyman to a benefice within his gift, within six months after its vacancy, the benefice _lapses_ to the Bishop; if he does not collate within six months, it _lapses_ to the Archbishop: and if he does not collate within six months, it lapses to the Crown.

LATTER-DAY SAINTS, _see_ Mormonists.

LAY BAPTISM. Baptism administered by laymen. Although not _authorized_ in our Prayer Book, such baptisms have always been held valid by the Church of England. It is better that children should receive lay baptism than not be baptized at all.

LAYING ON OF HANDS, _see_ Ordination. This ceremony has always been esteemed an essential part of ordination, and rests on undoubted Scriptural authority. It is also the form, in the Anglican Church, by which the Bishop conveys the grace of Confirmation.

LECTURN, or LECTERN. The desk from which the Lessons are read. The form frequently adopted is that of the eagle, doubtless with some reference to the eagle, the symbol of St. John. The eagle lectern in Peterborough Cathedral was given in 1471.

LENT. The name is probably derived from the old English _Lencten_, "Spring," from its always being observed at the Spring-tide of the year. The forty days fast before Easter are so called. In primitive times the duration of the fast appears to have been forty hours. The present custom of reckoning forty days, exclusive of the Sundays, prevails from the 7th century.

LESSONS. The portions of Holy Scripture read in Morning and Evening Prayer. The calendar of lessons now in use was authorized on Jan. 1st, 1873. The lessons were then made generally shorter, by the selection of parts of chapters containing one complete subject and no more. A choice of lessons was given in many cases, that the same portions of Scripture might not be read twice on the same day in churches with three Sunday services. By the present arrangement the main substance of the whole of the Old Testament is now read through once every year; and the New Testament twice, except the book of Revelation, which, with a few omissions, is read once in the year.

LETTERS OF ORDERS. A certificate given by the Bishop to every one whom he ordains, whether Priest or Deacon. Churchwardens have the power to require the exhibition of the Letters of Orders of any minister assisting in the church of which they are guardians.

LITANY. In the 4th century this name began specially to be applied to a Form of Supplication, used in times of need, which was sung in procession, with hymns and frequent responses, and with collects at the various halting places. The old Litanies bore a general resemblance to ours. In 1544 Cranmer, by desire of the king, drew up the first English Litany, which was compiled principally from ancient sources. The Litany at first was a separate service. In 1662 it was ordered to be sung after Morning Prayer. The Act of Uniformity of the present reign, 1872, allows it to be used in the Morning or Evening, or as a separate service. It was ordered for Wednesdays and Fridays only in 1549; Sundays were added in 1552.

LITERATE. This term, applied to a Clergyman, means one who has not taken a degree, and is not a member of a Theological College.

LITURGY. From a Greek word, meaning a public act or duty; it is now popularly used of the entire Book of Common Prayer, although formerly it was applied only to the Service for administering the Holy Eucharist.

As each different part of the Prayer Book is discussed under its own heading, this article will be confined to (_a_) why a formulary is used; (_b_) the history of our own.

(_a_) Forms of Prayer were used in the Jewish Church. Moses and Miriam used a prescribed form as a thanksgiving for the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus xv God appointed a form of prayer, Deut. xxi. 7, 8; also a benediction, Num. vi. 22, 26. Moses used a form of prayer, Num. x. 35, 36. Josephus and Philo tell us that the worship both in the Temple and in the Synagogues consisted of a settled form of prayer; this our Lord sanctioned by His frequent presence. He Himself gave us a form of prayer--the Lord's Prayer. He promises a special blessing on congregational worship. Matt, xviii. 19; the "agreement" must pre-suppose a settled form. Traces of forms of prayer some think are found in the New Testament.

The voice of history is unanimous on this point, nearly all the Fathers testifying to the use of formularies.

Common sense reasons are plentiful, as, for instance, that in Eccles. v. 2. A formulary makes the congregation independent of the minister's mood, or ability, or piety, or orthodoxy.

(_b_) History. Before the time of Augustine (597) the English Church had its own National Use, largely derived from the East, through the Galilean Church. It is certain that the entire Roman Ritual was never used, although attempts were made to force it upon the Anglo-Saxon Church. There was a considerable variety in the manner of performing Divine Service in the different Dioceses, each having its own particular "Use." (See _Sarum, Use of_.)

The earliest Liturgy in general use in England was the book of Offices, "secundum usum Sarum," hence called the "Sarum Use," compiled by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1078. This book contained much that had been in use from very early times. At the Reformation it became necessary to remove the Roman corruptions which had accumulated in the various Office books, the "Breviaries," the "Missals," the "Manuals," &c. One objection common to them all was that they were in Latin.

The object of the Reformers was to retain as much of the old as was free from error. The first English Prayer Book was the _King's Primer_, published 1545; and a Communion Service was put forth in 1548. The _First Prayer Book of Edward VI_., 1549, was drawn up by a Commission of Bishops and Divines under Cranmer and Ridley; an _Ordinal_ was added in 1550.

The _Second Prayer Book of Edward VI_., 1552, was a revised form of the older book. Cranmer, Peter Martyr, and Bucer assisted in the revision, and much was added from Hermann's Consultation (which see). This Prayer Book was almost identical with the one in use now. Abolished during the reign of Mary, it was restored by Queen Elizabeth, 1559, with a few alterations. In 1604 a Conference was held at Hampton Court under James I., between Church and Puritan Divines, when some further alterations were made in deference to Puritan objections. The last revision was made in 1661, at the Savoy Conference, under Charles II., between Bishops and Presbyterian Divines. The Prayer Book then took the form which we have now, save that in 1859 the services for use on Nov. 5th, May 29th, and Jan. 30th (Charles the Martyr) were removed. In 1873 a revised Table of Lessons was put forth. In 1872 permission was given to use the Shortened Service, to separate the services, and to use hymns.

For further particulars the reader is referred to the articles on the various different services of the Church.

LIVING, _see_ Benefice.

LOGOS. Greek, a _word_. Christ is called "The Word" because in Him God is revealed to man. (John i.) The Jews sometimes spoke of the Messiah as the "Word of God."

LORD, OUR, _see_ Trinity, The Holy.

LORD'S DAY. The first day of the week, so called by St. John, Rev. i. 10. Sunday has ever been kept as the weekly festival in commemoration of our Lord's resurrection on that day. In the fourth Commandment, and elsewhere, we receive stringent directions to keep the _seventh_ day--that is to say, the Sabbath, or Saturday--holy. It will be well to see on what authority Christians have hallowed the _first_, instead of the _last_, day of the week. We find from writers who were contemporary with the Apostles, or who immediately succeeded them, that Christians were always accustomed to meet on the first day of the week for the performance of their religious exercises. We find them asserting that this festival was instituted by the Apostles, who acted under the immediate direction and influence of the Holy Ghost. From the constant practice of the Apostles in keeping this day holy, it is believed by many that they must have had especial directions to that effect from their risen Lord, who, we know, gave them instructions relating to "the kingdom of God."--His Church,--during the forty days He was with them. And more, it was often while they were gathered together, celebrating the festival of the _Lord's Day_, that the Lord Himself appeared among them.

LORD'S PRAYER. The prayer taught us by our blessed Lord as the model of all our devotions. (Matt. vi. 9.) But it is not only a model of prayer, but an express form to accompany all our worship. (Luke xi. 2.) Thus we find it frequently in our Prayer Book, no Service being without it. The often repetition of it, however, in our Sunday Service is caused by the fact of three separate Services being used as one whole.

LORD'S SUPPER, _see_ Communion, Holy.

LORD'S TABLE, _see_ Altar.

LOW CHURCH, _see_ Church Parties.

LOW SUNDAY. The Sunday after Easter is called _Low Sunday_, because, although it partakes in some sort of the festal nature of Easter, it being the Octave, yet it is a festival of a much lower degree than Easter itself.

LUKE'S (St.) DAY. October 18. Kept in commemoration of St. Luke, the companion of St. Paul, the author of the third Gospel, and also probably of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. He is believed to have been a physician, and his writings prove that he was a man of education. According to St. Augustine, his symbol is the ox, the Sacrificial Victim.

LUTHERANS. The followers of Martin Luther, an Augustine monk, a German, born 1483. He was the great Reformer of the Continent. They retain the use of the Altar, some of the ancient vestments, lighted tapers, incense, crucifix, confession, &c. At the time of the Reformation, the Lutherans, meeting with nothing but opposition from the Bishops, were constrained to act without them, and consequently they are in much the same position as the Scottish Presbyterian body, though not from the same cause. The Lutherans earnestly protested, that they much wished to retain episcopacy, but that the Bishops forced them to reject sound doctrine, and therefore they were unable to preserve their allegiance to them. The ritual and liturgies differ in the various Lutheran countries, but in fundamental articles they all agree.

LYCH GATE. A covered gate of the churchyard where the body (_Leich_, a corpse) rests on its way to burial.

MAGNIFICAT. The song of the Blessed Virgin, Luke i. It is the first canticle of Evening Prayer, and has been sung in the Church from very early times.

MANIPLE, or MANUPLE, _see_ Vestment.

MARIOLATRY. The worship, or cultus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the principal errors of the Church of Rome, and on the increase.

MARK'S (St.) DAY. April 25th. St. Mark was a companion of St. Peter, and is thought to have written his Gospel under St. Peter's directions. This evangelist is symbolized by the _Man_.

MARRIAGE, _see_ Matrimony, Holy.

MARTINMAS. November 11th. A festival formerly kept in honour of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, in France, in 374.

MARTYR. One who lays down his life for his religion. The word means a "witness." St. Stephen was the first, or proto-martyr.

MARY, The BLESSED VIRGIN. We admit to her the title of "Mother of God," but protest against her being worshipped. No instance of Divine honour being _paid_ her is earlier than the fifth century. Two festivals only in the Church of England are kept in her honour, viz., the Purification, and the Annunciation.

MASS. In Latin, _Missa_, with which word congregations were accustomed to be dismissed. Then it was used for the congregation itself, and finally became applied only to the Communion Service.

MATERIALISM. One of the philosophies of the day which looks upon everything as the out-come of mere physical energy; denies the soul, and every spiritual force; and regards matter as eternal.

MATINS, _see_ Morning Prayer.

MATRIMONY, HOLY. With regard to the Marriage Laws, the Church and the State are not agreed. The former maintains Holy Matrimony to be a religious ceremony, while the State recognises the legality of mere civil contracts, and allows people to enter into the nuptial state by a civil ceremony. We find the early Fathers distinctly stating that marriage is of a sacred nature. Paley, in his Moral Philosophy, says, "Whether it hath grown out of some tradition of the Divine appointment of marriage in the persons of our first parents, or merely from a design to impress the obligation of the marriage-contract with a solemnity suited to its importance, the marriage-rite, in almost all countries of the world, has been made a religious ceremony; although marriage, in its own nature, and abstracted from the rules and declarations which the Jewish and Christian Scriptures deliver concerning it, be properly a civil contract, and nothing more." It was forbidden in the 4th century during Lent, and so custom and propriety forbid it now during the same season. In the Manual marriages were prohibited in the following seasons:--(_a_) Advent to the octave of Epiphany, (_b_) Septuagesima to the octave of Easter inclusive, (_c_) Rogation Sunday to Trinity Sunday.

The Roman Church has exalted Holy Matrimony into a Sacrament.

The State so far recognises the position of the Church with regard to Holy Matrimony that no clergyman can be forced to marry a divorced person, though he may be obliged to lend his church to any other who will perform the ceremony.

MATRIMONY, THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF. Of all our services this preserves most of the older Office in the Sarum Manual. Some of the hortatory portions come as usual from Hermann's Consultation. There has been no change since 1549, except the omission of the ceremony of giving gold and silver to the bride as "tokens of spousage."

The Service is divided into two parts (_a_) the Marriage Service proper, performed in the body of the Church; (_b_) the succeeding service at the Holy Table, evidently intended as an introduction to the Holy Communion which should follow.

_The Banns_. From a barbarous Latin word meaning an edict or proclamation. In 1661 the rubric directed them to be published immediately before the offertory sentences. The marriage Acts of the Georges are supposed to set aside this rubric, and to order them to be published after the Second Lesson. It is doubtful whether this does not apply to the Evening Service only, in places where there is no Morning Service.

The _Licence_ of the Bishop makes the publication of Banns unnecessary. Without a Special Licence, Marriage can be solemnized only between the hours of 8 and 12 in the forenoon.

(_a_) _The Marriage Service_ proper should be performed in "the body of the church" (see rubric, 1661) the place selected being generally the Chancel steps.

The _Exhortation_, 1549, from the "Consultation" chiefly; it rests on the following passages of Holy Scripture:--Gen. ii. 24; Matt. xix. 5; Eph. v. 22-33; John ii. 1-11; Heb. xiii. 4. No impediment being alleged, the _Espousal_ or _Betrothal_ follows. The joining of hands is from time immemorial the pledge of covenant, and is here an essential part of the Marriage Ceremony. The words of the betrothal are agreeable to the following passages: 1 Cor. xi. 1-12; Eph. v. 22-33; Col. iii. 18, 19; 1 Tim. ii. 10-14; 1 Peter iii. 1-7.

The _Marriage Rite_ itself. The use of the ring is probably of pre-Christian antiquity. The old Service directed it to be worn on the fourth finger because "there is a vein leading direct to the heart."

Gold and Silver was also given the bride in 1549, but omitted in 1552. The word "worship" means "honour," as in Wycliffe's Testament, Matt. xix. 19, "_Worship_ thy father and thy mother."

(b) _The Post-Matrimonial Service_. The rubric directs only the "minister or clerks" to go to the Lord's Table, but the practice is to carry out the older rubric, 1549, "Then shall they"--the whole marriage party--"go into the Quire." A second Psalm is added for use in cases when the language of the first would be unsuitable. The following rubric is almost unique, in directing the Priest to turn his face to the people. The _Versicles_ are substantially the same as those used at the Visitation of the Sick and in the Churching of Women. The concluding rubric dates from 1661; the rubric in 1549 definitely ordered the reception of Holy Communion.

MATTHEW'S (St.) DAY. Sept. 21st. This Apostle and Evangelist, before his call to the apostleship, was known as Levi, the publican, or tax-gatherer. He may possibly have been the brother of St. James the Less, and of St. Thomas also. He was the first to write a Gospel, which he addressed to the Jews, his aim being to show that Jesus was the Messiah. It is probable that he alone, of all the New Testament writers, wrote in Hebrew. His symbol is the Lion, according to St. Augustine.

MATTHIAS'S (St.) DAY. Feb. 24th. Of St. Matthias we know simply nothing, except that he was elected to the vacant place in the Apostolic College, caused by the desertion and death of the traitor Judas; Acts i. 15 to end.

MAUNDY THURSDAY. The Thursday before Easter, being the day on which our Lord instituted the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. The name is a corruption of the Latin word _mandatum_, meaning a command, in allusion to the "New Commandment" of mutual love.

MESSIAH, _see_ Trinity, The Holy.

METHODISTS. The original Methodists are the Wesleyans, but already this sect has split up into numerous sections, or "Churches," as they call themselves. The leading sub-divisions will each have a separate notice. The leading idea of Methodism is a revival of religion by a free appeal to the feelings, and the method adopted is an elaborate system of "societies," and preaching the doctrine of "sensible conversion."

The "people called Methodists," or Wesleyans, are the followers of John Wesley, who was born in 1703. He took his degree at Oxford, and was ordained in 1725. He held a Fellowship at Lincoln College until his marriage in 1752. While at Oxford, he, with his brother Charles, of Christ Church, and his friend Whitefield, of Pembroke, and some twelve others, determined to live under a common rule of strict and serious behaviour; to receive frequently the Holy Communion; and to adopt a methodical and conscientious improvement of their time. After ordination, these two brothers, John and Charles, set to work to revive a spirit of religion in the Church of England, of which they were priests, and were aided by the good-will and sound paternal advice of some of the Bishops.

In 1735 John Wesley went out as a missionary to Georgia, in America, but the settlers rejected his services, and his mission to the Indians was a failure. On his voyage out, he unfortunately came under the influence of some Moravians; and on returning to England, after a three years' absence, he became a regular member of the Moravian Society in London. It was here he learnt the two peculiar doctrines of subsequent Wesleyanism, viz.: (1) instantaneous and sensible conversion, (2) the doctrine of perfection, _i_._e_., of a Christian Maturity, on attaining which, he that is (in the Wesleyan sense) "born again," "born of God," sinneth not. If, however, we take into view Wesley's own persistent affirmation in later times, "I have uniformly gone on for fifty years, never varying from the doctrine of the Church at all;" and many other such passages, we cannot escape the inevitable conclusion that the very doctrine on which his modern followers have built their separation from the Church, is nothing else than a transient and _foreign_ element in their great founder's teaching.

In 1744 Wesley called around him his most trusted friends,--six clergymen of the Church of England and four lay preachers, and held what we should now call a _Retreat_; this meeting, however, is regarded by the Wesleyans as the first regular "Conference" of the Methodist Societies. It was in 1784 that Wesley drew up a "Deed of Declaration," which was formally enrolled in Chancery, establishing Methodism in the eye of the Law. This was an _unintentional_ step on the part of Wesley towards an ultimate separation from the Church. Now it was too that he made his second great mistake of consecrating an English Clergyman as bishop, and two laymen as presbyters of the American Societies. This was the origin of the Episcopal Methodists of America. John Wesley died in 1791, almost his last printed utterance being, "I declare that I live and die a member of the Church of England; and none who regard my opinion or advice will ever separate from it." (_John Wesley_, _Arminian Magazine_, _April_, 1790.)

Four years after his death, in 1795, the separation took place, and the Conference allowed the preachers to administer the Lord's Supper. No sooner was the severance complete than the punishment followed. In 1795 the _Methodist New Connexion_ split away from them, under a man named Kilham. In 1810 the _Primitive Methodists_ caused another schism. In 1815 the _Bible Christians_ seceded, and so on. What would John Wesley have thought of all this? Only nine months before his death, he had solemnly charged his preachers: "In God's name, stop there! Be Church of England men still!" (Wesley, Sermons, iii. 268). And his dying breath was spent in a prayer for the Church!

The Minutes of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference for the year 1883-4 give the following statistics:--

Members. 1. In Great Britain 407,085 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 24,384 3. In Foreign Missions 70,747 4. South African Conference 20,739 5. French Conference 1,856 Total 524,811

On Trial. 1. In Great Britain 34,399 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 668 3. In Foreign Missions 5,299 4. South African Conference 9,093 5. French Conference 168 Total 49,627

Ministers. 1. In Great Britain 1,545 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 181 3. In Foreign Missions 285 4. South African Conference 93 5. French Conference 28 Total 2,137

On probation. 1. In Great Britain 91 2. In Ireland & Irish Missions 16 3. In Foreign Missions 98 4. South African Conference 74 5. French Conference -- Total 279