IN WATCHINGS OFTEN: Addresses to Nurses and Others. With a Preface by the Right Rev. EDWARD KING, D.D., late Bishop of Lincoln. With a Frontispiece (the Crucifixion, by PERUGINO). Crown 8vo, paper boards, 2s. 6d.; cloth, 3s. 6d. PRAYER AND ACTION; or, The Three Notable Duties (Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving). With an Introduction by the Bishop of London. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net. IMMORTALITY. Crown 8vo, 4s. net. ( Oxford Library of Practical Theology .) PARADISE: A Course of Addresses on the Stat

Christus Dilexit Ecclesiam : "Christ loved the Church"[ 1 ]—and if we love what Christ loved, we do well. But three questions meet us:— (1) What is this Church which Christ loved? (2) When and where was it established? (3) What was it established for? First: What is the Church? The Church is a visible Society under a visible Head, in Heaven, in Paradise, and on Earth. Who is this visible Head? Jesus Christ—visible to the greatest number of its members (i.e. in Heaven and in Paradise), and vicari

For the purpose of these lectures, we will select two:— (1) The Bible , the possession of the whole Church. (2) The Prayer Book , the possession of the Church of England. And notice: first, the Church; then, the Bible —first the Society, then its Publications; first the Writers; then the Writings; first the Messenger, then the Message; first the Agent, then the Agencies. This is the Divine Order. Preaching, not writing, was the Apostolic method. Oral teaching preceded the written word. Then, lat

We now come to the second of the Church's books selected for discussion—the Prayer Book. The English Prayer Book is the local presentment of the Church's Liturgies for the English people. Each part of the Church has its own Liturgy, differing in detail, language, form; but all teaching the same faith, all based upon the same rule laid down by Gregory for Augustine's guidance.[ 1 ] Thus, there is the Liturgy of St. James, the Liturgy of St. John,[ 2 ] the Liturgy of St. Mark, and others. A Nation

We have seen that a National Church is the means whereby the Catholic Church reaches the nation; that her function is (1) to teach, and (2) to feed the nation; that she teaches through her books, and feeds through her Sacraments. We now come to the second of these two functions—the spiritual feeding of the nation. This she does through the Sacraments—a word which comes from the Latin sacrare (from sacer ), sacred.[ 1 ] The Sacraments are the sacred media through which the soul of man is fed with

Consider, What it is; What it does; How it does it. The Sacrament of Baptism is the supernatural conjunction of matter and spirit—of water and the Holy Ghost. Water must be there, and spirit must be there. It is by the conjunction of the two that the Baptized is "born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost". So the Prayer Book teaches. At the reception of a privately baptized child into the Church, it is laid down that "matter" and "words" are the two essentials for a valid Baptism.[ 1 ] "Because s

The Blessed Sacrament!—or, as the Prayer Book calls it, "The Holy Sacrament". This title seems to sum up all the other titles by which the chief service in the Church is known. These are many. For instance:— The Liturgy , from the Greek Leitourgia ,[ 1 ] a public service. The Mass , from the Latin Missa , dismissal—the word used in the Latin Liturgy when the people are dismissed,[ 2 ] and afterwards applied to the service itself from which they are dismissed. The Eucharist , from the Greek Eucha

These are "those five" which the Article says are "commonly called Sacraments":[ 1 ] Confirmation, Matrimony, Orders, Penance, Unction. They are called "Lesser" Sacraments to distinguish them from the two pre-eminent or "Greater Sacraments," Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.[ 2 ] These, though they have not all a "like nature" with the Greater Sacraments, are selected by the Church as meeting the main needs of her children between Baptism and Burial. They may, for our purpose, be classified in

(I) What it is not. (II) What it is. (III) Whom it is for. (IV) What is essential. Confirmation is not the renewal of vows. The renewal of vows is the final part of the preparation for Confirmation. It is that part of the preparation which takes place in public, as the previous preparation has taken place in private. Before Confirmation, the Baptismal vows are renewed "openly before the Church". Their renewal is the last word of preparation. The Bishop, or Chief Shepherd, assures himself by ques

We have called Holy Matrimony the " Sacrament of Perpetuation ," for it is the ordained way in which the human race is to be perpetuated. Matrimony is the legal union between two persons,—a union which is created by mutual consent: Holy Matrimony is that union sanctioned and sanctified by the Church. There are three familiar names given to this union: Matrimony, Marriage, Wedlock. Matrimony, derived from mater , a mother, tells of the woman's (i.e. wife-man's) "joy that a man is born into the wo

The Second Sacrament of Perpetuation is Holy Order. As the Sacrament of Marriage perpetuates the human race, so the Sacrament of Order perpetuates the Priesthood. Holy Order, indeed, perpetuates the Sacraments themselves. It is the ordained channel through which the Sacramental life of the Church is continued. Holy Order, then, was instituted for the perpetuation of those Sacraments which depend upon Apostolic Succession. It makes it possible for the Christian laity to be Confirmed, Communicated

We deal now with the two last Sacraments under consideration—Penance and Unction. Both are Sacraments of healing. Penance is for the healing of the soul, and indirectly of the body: Unction is for the healing of the body, and indirectly of the soul. "Every Sacrament," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "has been instituted to produce one special effect, although it may produce, as consequences, other effects besides." It is so with these two Sacraments. Body and Soul are so involved, that what directly af

The second Sacrament of Recovery is Unction , or, in more familiar language, "the Anointing of the Sick". It is called by Origen "the complement of Penance". The meaning of the Sacrament is found in St. James v. 14-17. "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."