God and Man. O astonishing coiulescen-
sion of the SoK of G'oD ! () wonderful ad-
vancement of the Blessed Virgin ! and
therefore we daily sing in our Te Deum,
'Thou art the King of Glory, O Cniiisi;
Thou art the everlasting Son of the
Father. When thou tookest unon thcc
to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the
Virgin's womb.' Upon which account,
the fathers of the third CJeneral Council at
]*'phesus, convened against Nestorius, aj>-
proved the title of Oforocof. ' the Mother
of God,' given to the Blessed Virgin."
A little afterwards he says. " I will men-
tion some few instances of cxlra\npnnt
honour which the Papists give, but which
we of the Church of I'.nglnnd utterly rcfu-ne
to yield to the Blessed \irgin,oul of a true
zeal to the honour of GoD.
" We will not give her lavish and exces-
sive attril)Utes, beyond what the Holy
Scriptures allow her, and the holy men of
794
VIRGIN MARY
the priiiiitive Church afforded her. AVe
will call her ' blessed,' as the mother of
our Lord in the sense above explained.
But we dare not call her ' queen of heaven,'
' queen of angels, patriarchs, prophets, and
apostles,' ' source of the fountain of grace,'
' refuge of sinners,' ' comfort of the afflict-
ed,' ' advocate of all Christians,' as she is
called in that Litany of our Lady, still
used in their devotions. For we have no
instance of such attributes given to the
Blessed Virgin in the Holy Scriptures, and
they are too big for any mere creature.
" "We will not ascribe those excellencies
to her that she never had nor could have ;
as a fulness of habitual grace, more grace
than all the angels and archangels of GoD
put together ever had ; that she was born
without original sin, and never committed
any the least actual sin, and consequently,
never needed a saviour. These are wild
things, which very many of the Papists,
di'unk with superstition, say of her.
" We will not give her the honour of in-
vocation, or praying to her, as all the
Papists do, for the unanswerable reasons
above mentioned. Indeed, as long as that
one text of Scripture remains in our
Bibles, which we read, (1 Tim. ii. 5,)
'There is one God, and one Mediator
between God and men, the ^Man Christ
Jesus,' we shall never be persuaded,
by any sophistry or subtle distinctions of
our adversaries, to betake ourselves to the
mediation of the Blessed Virgin, much
less of any other saint. Much more do
we abhor the impiety of those among the
Papists, who have held it disputable,
whether the milk of the Blessed Virgin,
or the blood of her Son, be to be pre-
ferred; and at last could pitch upon no
better resolution than this, that the milk
and blood should be mixed together, and
both compound a medicine for their souls.
" We abhor to divide the Divine king-
dom and empire, giving one-half, the
better half, the kingdom of mercy, to the
Blessed Virgin, and leaving only the king-
dom of justice to her Son. This is down-
right treason against the only universal
King and Monarch of the world,
" AVe are astonished at the doxology
which some great and learned men of the
Church of Rome have not been ashamed
to close their printed books with, 'Laics
1 )E0 Deiparcsque Virgini : ' ' Praise be to
Cod, and the Virgin-mother.'
" We should tremble every joint of us,
to offer any such recommendation as this
to the Virgin Mary. Hear, if you can
without horror, a prayer of theirs to her.
It is this : ' O my Lady, holy Mary, I re-
commend myself into thy blessed trust and
singular custody, and into the bosom of
thy mercy, this night and evermore, and in
the hour of my death, as also my soul and
my body ; and I yield unto thee all my
hope and consolation, all my distress and
misery, my life and the end thereof, that by
thy most holy intercession, and by thy
merits, all my works may be directed and
disposed, according to thine and thy Son's
will. Amen.' What fuller expressions
can we use to declare our absolute affi-
ance, trust, and dependence on the eternal
Son of God himself, than they here use in
this recommendation to the Virgin ? Yea,
who observes not, that the will of the
Blessed Virgin is expressly joined with
the Mill of her Son, as the rule of our
actions, and that so as that her will is
set in the first place. A plain smatch
of their old blasphemous impiety, in ad-
vancing the ]Mother above the Son, and
giving her a commanding power over him.
Can they have the face to say, that all this
is no more than desiring the Blessed Virgin
to pray for them, as we desire the prayers
of one another on earth ? And yet this
recommendation is to be seen in a Manual
of Prayers and Litanies, printed at Antwerp
no longer ago than 1671, and t\i?ii j^cnnissu
snper'iorum, in the Evening Prayers for
Friday. A book it is, to my knowledge,
commonly to be found in the hands of our
English Papists ; for I had it from a near
relation of mine, (who had been perverted
by the emissaries of Rome, but is since
returned again to the communion of the
Church of England,) who assured me that
she used it herself, by the direction of her
confessor, in her private devotions."
No instance of Divine honour paid to
IMary (remarks Coleman from Augusti)
is recorded of an earlier date than the fifth
century. Cyril of Alexandi'ia, and Proklus
of Constantinople, were the first to pay
these honours to her. Festivals to her
memory began to be held about the year
431, but were not generally observed
until the sixth century. From this time
until the sixteenth century, they were ge-
neral in all the Western Churches, though
differing in number and in rank, in the
several countries of Europe. The Greek
Church observes only three great festivals
of this description.
The following is a brief enumeration of
the principal festivals in question.
1. The festival of the Purification. Can-
dlemas, Feb. 2, instituted in the sixth
century.
2. Of the Annunciation, popularly styled
Lady Day, March 25th, an early festival,
VISITATION.
iVd
styled by St. Bernhard, radix om)iiiun
fcstonim.
3. Of the Visitation of Mary to Eli2a-
bcth, instituted by Urban VI. 1389.
4. Of the Assumption of Mary into
Heaven, Aup:. loth, early instituted. Mary
was the tutelary divinity of France ; anil
for this reason tliis day Mas observed with
peculiar care. It was also tiie birthday
of Napoleon, and accordin<;ly was ob-
served under his dynasty as the jj^reat fes-
tival of the nation.
5. Of the Nativity of ]Mary, Sept. 8th,
instituted in the Eastern Church in the
seventh century; in the AVcstern, in the
eleventh or twelfth.
6. Of the Naming of Mary, A. D. 1513.
7. Of Conception. This feast, accord-
ing to Bellarmine, Mas not necessarily de-
pendent upon the question so fiercely
discussed in the tM-elfth and thirteenth
centuries respecting the immaculate con-
ception.
VISITATION. This is that office M-hich
is performed by the bishop usually once in
three years, or by his archdeacon every
year, by visiting the churches throughout
the diocese. It is the duty of a com-
missary to summon the churciiM-ardens and
sidesmen to a visitation, but he luis no
authority to summon any other persons ;
but if he does summon those persons, and
they, refusing to appear, should be excom-
municated for this contempt, a prohibition
would be granted. (A'o//, 122.) Two
tilings are requisite in these visitations :
1st, The charge. 2nd, The inquiry. The
charge consists of such things as the visitor
thinks proper to impart to tlie clergy ; but
usually it is to put them in mind of their
duty, and to persuade them to perform it.
The inquiry formerly consisted of several
articles taken out of the canons ; and the
bishop's visitation being accounted an epis-
copal synod, there were at that time cer-
tain persons who attended it, and who
were called Testes Si/tuxlales, or Juratores
Synodi, and they were to i)resent those Avho
were negligent in performing religious
offices, or any irregularities amongst the
clergy, })oth in rcs])ect to their morals and
behaviour, and likewise all dila])idations,
and generally what they found to be amiss
in the diocese. The bishop at first exer-
cised this jurisdiction alone; it was what
was implied in his very ofKce ; and this he
was to do in every parish throughout liis
diocese once a year, there to examine the
minister and the people, which he might
do with more ease at that time, because
pai-ish churches were not so numerous then
as afterwards. AVhen this was disused,
then ecclesiastical persons were to be as-
sembk'd in a certain place, and inipiirv was
made, upon oath, concerning the stale of
the clergy, and at this place ihev were all
bound to a])])ear.
Afterwards, when bishops ranv to lio
ministers of state, and to attend the courts
of kings, which began in the Norman
reigns, then archdeacons Mere vested \\'\\\\
this jurisdiction under the bishop-^, and
visited in those years Mherein the bishops
did not. Ihit still the bishons Mere to
visit owQQ in three years, and being then
the king's barons and statesmen, they came
M-ith very great equipage, insomuch that,
by the Council of Lateran, their nuniber
Mas limited according to their qualities,
viz. if the visitor Mas an archbishop, he was
not to have above fifty horses in his re-
tinue ; if a bisho]), he Mas not to exceed
thirty ; if a cardinal, then tMenty-fivc ; if
an archdeacon, he was to have no more
than seven, and a dean but two ; and if
they respectively exceeded those numbers,
then no ])rocuration Mas due for the main-
tenance of the supernumeraries. But even
this was very chargeal)le to the parochial
clergy, for the visitor Mas to l)e main-
tained at their expense a day and night in
every parish ; and, therefore, it m as thought
fit to turn that charge into a certain sum,
Mhich is now called procurations, and this
is paid to archdeacons in that very year
M'herein bishops visit, for it is by some
affirmed to be due to them rntiime officii ;
and some say it is due to them by virtue
of the statute of 33 Henry VIII. c. o, by
Mhich these duties are made ])ension8.
The first of these opinions is contrary to
several canons, which not only enjoin j)er-
sonal visitations, but exjjressly forbid any
])rocurations to be j)aid Mhere tlie arch-
deacon himself did not visit in person.
But notwithstanding those canons, cus-
tom has so far i)revailed, that the arch-
deacons receive these fees in the bishop'i
triennials, Mhen they do not visit in per-
son ; but instead of that they hold two
chaj)ters about Kaster and Michaelmas,
and there, by themselves or th- ir oflicials,
they formally iiu]uire into the state and
condition of' the Church, which inquire* in
now called a visitation, and for which ihcy
arc entitled to these fees.
Visitation, as commonly undcrstJ>od, de-
notes the act of the bishop, or other ordin-
ary, going his circuit through his dioccHc
or' district, witli a full noMer of in()uiry
into such matters as relate to church go-
vernment and discipline. By the canon
law visitations were to he once a year,
but that wa« intended of parochial visit-
796
VISITATION.
ations, or a personal repairing to every
church, as appears not only from the as-
signment of procurations, but also by the
indulgence, where every church cannot be
conveniently repaired to, of calling to-
gether the clergy and laity from several
parts into one convenient place, that the
visitation of them may not be postponed.
From this indulgence and the great ex-
tent of the dioceses grew the custom of
citing the clergy and people to attend visit-
ations at particular places. But as to
parochial visitation, or the inspection into
the fabrics, mansions, utensils, and orna-
ments of the church, that care has long
devolved upon the archdeacons, who, at
their fii'st institutions in the ancient church,
were only to attend the bishops at their
ordination and other public services in
the cathedral, but being afterwards oc-
casionally employed by them in the exer-
cise of jurisdiction, not only the work of
parochial visitation, but also the holding
of general synods or visitations, when the
bishop did not visit, came by degrees to
be known and established branches of the
archdiaconal office as such, which by this
means attained to the dignity of ordinary,
instead of delegated jurisdiction ; and by
these degrees came on the present practice
of triennial visitations by bishops ; so as
the bishop is not only not obliged by law
to visit annually, but is actually restrained
from it.
*' By the 137th canon it is enjoined, that
forasmuch as a chief and principal cause
and use of visitation is, that the bishop,
archdeacon, or other assigned to visit, may
get some knoAvledge of the state, suffi-
ciency, and ability of the clergy and other
persons whom they are to visit, we think
it convenient that every parson, vicar,
curate, schoolmaster, or other person li-
censed whatsoever, do at the bishop's first
visitation, or at the next visitation after his
admission, show and exhibit unto him his
letters of orders, institution, and induc-
tion, and all other his dispensations, li-
censes, of" faculties whatsoever, to be by
the said bishop either alloAved or (if there
be just cause) disallowed and rejected,
and, being by him approved, to be "(as the
custom is) signed by the registrar, and
that the whole fees accustomed to be j^aid
in the visitations in respect of the premises,
be paid only once in the whole time of
every bishop, and afterwards but half of
the said accustomed fees in every other
visitation during the said bishop's continu-
ance."
Gibson says, that none but the bisliop
or other person exercising ecclesiastical
authority by commission from him, has
right de jure comniuni to require these
exhibits of the clergy; therefore, if the
archdeacon require it, it must be on the
foot of custom, the beginning whereof, he
says, has probably been encroachment,
since it is not likely that any bishop should
give to the archdeacon and his official a
power of allowing or disallowing such in-
struments as have been granted by himself
or his predecessors. The canon last men-
tioned appears to be in observance now,
for it is the practice for each clergyman to
exhibit these letters of orders, &:c. on his
first attendance at the bishop's visitation,
and on the first appointment to an office,
&c. in any diocese, as well as upon several
other occasions.
By a constitution of Othobon it is or-
dained, that archdeacons visit the churches
profitably and faithfully by inquiring of
the sacred vessels and vestments, and how
the service is performed, and generally of
temporals and spirituals, and what they
find to want correction that they correct
diligently. And it was further ordained
by this, as well as by other constitutions,
that they should not extort money by giv-
ing sentence unjustly.
By a constitution of Archbishop Rey-
nolds, it was enjoined that archdeacons and
their officials in the visitation of churches
have a diligent regard of the fabric of the
church, and especially of the chancel, to
see if they want repair ; and if they find
any defects of that kind, limit a certain
time under a penalty within which they
shall be repaired.
By a constitution of Archbishop Lang-
ton, archdeacons in theii' visitation are to
see that the offices of the church are duly
administered, and shall take an account in
writing of all the ornaments and utensils
of chiu'ches, and of the vestments and
books, and shall require them to be pre-
sented before them every year, that they
may see what has been added and what
lost.
It is said that the archdeacon, although
there be not a cause, may visit once a year;
and if there be a cause, he may visit
oftener ; and that where it is said in the
canon law, he ought to visit from three
years to three years, this is to be under-
stood so that he shall visit from three
years to three years of necessity, but that
he may visit every year if he will.
At these archdiaconal visitations the
churchwardens are to make presentments ;
and though their duty in that particular
has become in practice, to a great extent,
obsolete, yet it may be well to state the
VISITATION.
797
law of the Church upon the subject. The fol-
lowing canons relate to these ])resentments.
Canon 113. " Because it often cometh to
pass, that churchwardens, sidemen, quest-
men, and such other persons of the laity as
are to take care for the su])pressing of sin
and wickedness, as much as in them lieth,
by admonition, reprehension, and denun-
ciation to their ordinaries, do forbear to
discharge their duties therein, either
through fear of their superiors, or through
negligence, more tlian were fit, the licen-
tiousness of these times considered, we do
ordain, that hereafter every j)arson and
vicar, or in the lawful absence of any parson
and vicar, then their curates aiul substitutes,
may join in every presentment with the
said churchwardens, sidemen, and the rest
above mentioned, at the times of visitation,
if they the said churchwardens and the
rest will present such enormities as are
apparent in the parish ; or if they will not,
then every such parson and vicar, or, in
their absence as aforesaid, their curates,
may themselves present to their ordinaries
at such times, and when else they think it
meet, all such crimes as they have in
charge or otherwise, as by them (being
the persons that should have the chief
care for the suppressing of sin and impiety
in their parishes) shall be tliought to re-
quire due reformation. Provided always,
that if any man confess his secret and
hidden sins to the minister, for the un-
burdening of his conscience, and to receive
spiritual consolation and ease of mind from
him, we do not any way bind the said
minister by this our constitution, but do
straitly charge and admonish him, that
he do not at any time reveal and make
known to any person whatsoever any
crime or offence so committed to his trust
and secrecy, (except they be such crimes
as by the laws of this realm his own life
may be called in question for concealing
the same,) under pain of UTcgularity."
Canon 116. " It shall be lawful for any
godly-disposed person, or for any ecclesi-
astical judge, upon knowledge or notice
given unto him or them, of any enormous
crime within his jurisdiction, to move the
minister, clun-chwardens, or sidemen, as
they tender tlie glory of God and reform-
ation of sin, to i)resent the same, if they
shall find sufficient cause to induce them
thereunto, tliat it may be in due time
punished and reformed."
Canon 119. *' For the avoiding of such
inconven.iences as heretofore have happen-
ed, by tlie hasty making of bills and j)rc-
sentments upon the days of visitation and
synods, it is ordered, that always, hereafter,
every chancelli)r, archdeacon, conmiissary,
and every otlier person having ccch-si-
astical jurisdiction, at the ordinary time
when the cliurciiwanUns are sworn, and
the archbishoj) and bishops, vlu-n lie or
they do sununon their visitation, shall
deliver or cause to be delivered to the
churchwardens, questmen, and sidenu-n of
every parisli, or to some of Iheni. such
books of articles as ihcy or any of them
shall require (for tlie year folhnvinjz) tlie
said churchwardens, questmen, and side-
men to ground their iiresentnients ujion,
at such times as they arc to exhibit them.
In whieli book shall be contained the
form of the oath which must be taken im-
mediately before every such presentment ;
to the intent that, having beforeiiand time
sufficient, not only to jieruse and consider
what their said oath shall be, but the
articles also whereu])on they are to ground
their presentments, they may frame them
at home both advisedly and truly, to the
discharge of their own consciences, (after
they are sworn,) as becometh honest and
godly men."
Canon 11 j. "Whereas, for the reform-
ation of criminous jiersons and disorders
in every parish, the churchwardens, quest-
men, sidemen, and other such church offi-
cers are sworn, and the minister charged,
to present as well the crimes and disorders
committed by the said criminous persons, as
also the common fame which is spread
abroad of them, whereby they are often
maligned, and sometimes troubled, by the
said delinquents or their friends ; we do
admonish and exhort all judges, both ec-
clesiastical and temporal, as they regard
and reverence the fearful judgment- seat of
the highest Judge, that they admit not in
any of their courts any complaint. ])lea,
suit or suits, against any such church-
wardens, questmen, sidemen, or other
church officers, for making any such pre-
sentments, nor against any minister for
any presentments that he shall make : all
the said presentments tending to the re-
straint of shameless impiety, and consider-
ing that the rules both of charity and go-
vernment do presume that tlieydid nothing
therein of malice, but for the discharge of
their consciences."
Canon 110. '*Xo churchwardens, quest-
men, or sidemen of any j)arish shall be en-
forced to exhibit their presentments to
any having ecclesiastical jurisdiction above
once in every year where it hath been no
oftener used, nor above twice in every
diocese whatsoever, except it be at the
bishop's visitation : provided always, that,
as good occasion shall require, it shall be
^98
VISITATION.
lawful for every minister, churchwardens,
and sidemen, to present offenders as oft as
they shall think meet : and for these volun-
tary presentments no fee shall be taken."
Canon 117. " No churchwardens, quest-
men, or sidemen, shall be called or cited,
but only at the said time or times before
limited, to appear before any ecclesiastical
judge whatsoever, for refusing at other
times to present any faults committed in
their parishes, and punishable by eccle-
siastical laws. Neither shall they or any
of them, after their presentments exhibited
at any of those times, be any further trou-
bled for the same, except upon manifest
and evident proof it may appear that they
did then willingly and wittingly omit to
present some such public crime or crimes
as they knew to be committed, or could
not be ignorant that there was then a pub-
lic fame of them, or unless there be very
just cause to call them for the explanation
of their former presentments : in which
case of wilful omission, their ordinaries
shall proceed against them in such sort as
in causes of wilful perjury in a court eccle-
siastical it is already by law provided."
Canon 118. "The office of all church-
wardens and sidemen shall be reputed to
continue until the new churchwardens that
shall succeed them be sworn, which shall
be the first week after Easter, or some
week following, according to the direction
of the ordinary; which time so appointed
shall always be one of the two times in
every year when the minister, and church-
wardens, and sidemen of every parish
shall exhibit to their several ordinaries
the presentments of such enormities as
have happened in their parishes since
their last presentments. And this duty
they shall perform before the newly
chosen churchwardens and sidemen be
sworn, and shall not be suffered to pass
over the said presentments to those that
are newly come into that office, and are
by intendment ignorant of such crimes,
under pain of those censures Avhich are
appointed for the reformation of such
dalliers and dispensers with their own
consciences and oaths."
Canon 116. "For the presentments of
every parish church or chapel, the registrar
of any court where they are to be exhibited
shall not receive in one year above 4(/.,
under pain, for every offence therein, of
suspension from the execution of his office
for the space of a month, toties qiioties."
Canon 26. "No minister shall in any
wise admit to the receiving of the holy
communion any churchwardens or side-
men, who, having taken their oaths to
present to their ordinaries all such public
offences as they are particularly charged
to inquire of in their several parishes, shall
(notwithstanding the said oaths, and that
theii' faithful discharge of them is the chief
means whereby public sins and offences
may be reformed and punished) wittingly
and Avillingly, desperately and irreligiously,
incur the horrible crime of perjury, either
in neglecting or in refusing to present
such of the said enormities and public
offences as they know themselves to be
committed in their said parishes, or are
notoriously offensive to the congregation
there, although they be urged by some