are others, who make it to consist in deny-
ing the Divinity of the Holy Ghost.
Epiphanius calls these blasphemers irvtv-
fxaTOfiaxoh " fighters against the Holy
Ghost." Others, again, place this sin in
a perverse and malicious ascribing the
operations of the Holy Spirit to the
power of the devil ; and that against ex-
press knowledge and conviction of con-
science.
That the ancients did not look upon the
sin against the Holy Ghost, in the seve-
ral kinds of it here mentioned, as abso-
lutely u'remissible, or incapable of pardon,
appears from hence, that they did not shut
the door of repentance against such of-
fenders, but invited them to repent, and
prayed for their conversion, and restored
them to communion, upon their confession,
and evidences of a true repentance. Wher-
ever they speak of it as unpardonable both
in this world and the next, they always
suppose the sinner to die in obduracy, and
in resistance to all the gracious motions
and operations of the Holy Spirit.
Whence it must be concluded, that they
did not think the sin against the Holy
Ghost, whatever it was, in its own nature
unpardonable, but only that it becomes so
through final impenitence. Thus the au-
thor of the book, " Of True and False lle-
pentance," under the name of St. Austin,
says, they only sin against the Holy
Ghost, who continue impenitent to their
death. And Bacchiarius, an African writer
about the time of St. Austin, says this sin
consists in such a despair of God's mercy,
as makes men give over all hopes of re-
covering that state, from which they are
fallen. — Si/nes. Ep. 58, Buujham, ibid. §
3. Ci/pr. Ep. 10. Hilar, in Mat. Can. 12,
p. 164. Athan. in illud, Qmcunque dixerit
verbuni, t^-o., p. 975. Anihrus. Comment, in
Luc. lib. vii. c. 12. JEpiphan. Hares, ixxiv.
Aa(/. QucBst.in Vet. et Nov. Test.Wl. Bing-
ham, ibid. Aurj. de vera et falsa Pcenit. cap.
iv. Bacchiar. Epist. de recipiend. lapsis.
St. Austin speaks often of this crime,
and places it in a continued resistance of
the motions and graces of the Holy Spirit,
and persisting in impenitency to our death.
" Impenitency is the blasphemy, which has
neither remission in this world, nor in the
world to come ; but of this no one can
judge so long as a man continues in this
life. A man is a Pagan to-day ; but how
knowest thou but he may become a Chris-
tian to-morroAV ? To-day he is an unbe-
lieving JeAV ; to-morrow he may believe in
Christ. To-day he is an heretic ; to-mor-
row he may embrace the Catholic truth."
Out of this notion of St. Austin, the school-
men, according to their usual chymistry,
have extracted five several species of blas-
phemy against the Holy Ghost ; viz. de-
spair, presumption, final impenitency, ob-
stinacy in sin, and opposition to the known
truth.
If we consider the Scripture account of
this sin, nothing can be plainer than that
it is to be understood of the Pharisees im-
puting the miracles, wrought by the power
of the Holy Ghost, to the power of the
devil. Our Lord had just healed one pos-
sessed of a devil, upon which the Pharisees
gave this malicious turn to the miracle ;
" This fellow doth not cast out devils, but
by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils."
(Matt. xii. 24.) This led our Saviour to
discourse of the sin of blasphemy, and to
tell his disciples ; " Wherefore I say unto
you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men, but the sin against
the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven un-
to men," (Ver. 31.) The Pharisees there-
fore were the persons charged with this
sin, and the sin itself consisted in ascribing
what was done by the finger of GoD to the
agency of the devil. And the reason why
our Lord pronounced it unpardonable is
plain, because the Jews, by withstanding
the evidence of miracles, resisted the strong-
est means of their conviction. From all
which it will follow, that no person now
can be guilty of the sin against the Holy
Ghost, in the sense in which our Saviour
originally intended it ; though there may
be sins which bear a very near resemblance
to it. — August., Serm. xi. de Verbis Domini.
Brouqhton.
BLOOD. From the earliest times the
clergy have been forbidden to sit in judg-
ment on capital ofi"enccs, or in cases of
blood ; a rule still maintained among us ;
for the bishops, who, as peers of parlia-
ment, are a com])onent part of the highest
court of judicature in the kingdom, al-
ways retire when such cases are before the
House.
118
BODY.
BOWING.
BODY. The Church is called a body.
(Rom. xii. 5; 1 Cor. x. 17 ; xii. 13; Eph.
iv. 4 ; Col. iii. 15.) Like every other body,
society, or corporation, it has a prescribed
form of admission, baptism ; a constant
badjj^e of membership, the cucharist ; pecu-
liar duties, repentance, ftiith, obedience;
peculiar privileges, forgiveness of sins, pre-
sent grace, and future glory; regularly
constituted officers, bishops, priests, and
deacons. The Church is the body, of
which Christ is the Head.
BOHEMIAN BllETHREN. A sect
which s])rung up in Bohemia in the year
1467. In la03 they were accused by the
lloman Catholics to King Ladislaus II.,
who published an edict against them, for-
bidding them to hold any meetings, either
privately or publicly. When Luther de-
clared himself against the Church of Rome,
the Bohemian Brethren endeavoured to
join his party. At first, that reformer
showed a great aversion to them ; but the
Bohemians sending their deputies to him
in 1535, with a full account of their doc-
trines, he acknowledged that they were a
society of Christians whose doctrine came
near to the purity of the gospel. This sect
published another confession of faith in
1535, in which they renounced anabaptism,
which they at first professed ; upon this
an union was concluded with the Luther-
ans, and afterwards with the Zuinglians,
whose opinions from thenceforth they con-
tinued to follow.
BOUNTY, QUEEN ANNE'S. (See
Aiinates.)
BOWING AT THE NAME OF JE-
SUS. (See East.) It is enjoined by the
eighteenth canon of the Constitutions of
the Church of England, that " AVhen in
time of Divine service the Lord Jesus
shall be mentioned, due and lowly rever-
ence shall be done by all persons present,
as it hath been accustomed ; testifying by
these outward ceremonies and gestures,
their inward humility, Chi-istian resolution,
and due acknowledgment that the Lord
Jesus_ Christ, the ti-ue eternal Son of
God, is the only Saviour of the world, in
whom alone all the mercies, graces, and
promises of God to mankind, for this life
and the life to come, are fully and wholly
comprised." We do not bow when our
Lord is spoken of as Christ ; for when
we speak of him as the Christ, we speak
of his office, the anointed, the prophet,
priest, and king of our race, which implies
his Divine nature. But Jesus is the name
of his humanity, the name he was known
by as man ; whenever, therefore, we pro-
nounce that name, we bow, to signify that
he who for our sakes became man, is also
God.
With reference to turning to the east
when we say the Creed, and bowing at the
name of Jesus, Dr. Bisse remarks : As to
the first, it was the custom of the ancient
Church to turn to the altar or east, not
only at the confessions of faith, but in all
the public prayers. And therefore Epi-
phanius, speaking of the madness of the
impostor EIxebus, counts this as one in-
stance of it among other things, that he
forbade praying towards the east. (Lib. i.
H»res. 18.) Now this is the most honour-
able place in the house of God, and is
therefore separated from the lower and in-
ferior parts of the Church, answering to
the Holy of Holies in the Jewish tabernacle,
which was severed by a veil from the sanc-
tuary; and the holy table or altar in the
one answers to the mercy-seat in the other.
As then the Jews worshipped, " lifting up
their hands towards the mercy-seat," (Psal.
xxviii. 2,) and even the cherubim were
formed with their faces looking towards it,
(Exod. XXV. 19,) so the primitive Chi-is-
tians did in theu' worship look towards the
altar, of which the mercy-seat was a type.
And therefore the altar was usually called
"the tabernacle of God's glory," his " chair
of state," " the throne of God," " the type
of heaven," " heaven itself : " for these rea-
sons did they always in praying look to-
wards it. But in rehearsing our Creeds
this custom is still more proper and signi-
ficant, for we are appointed to perform it
" standing ; " by this posture declaring our
resolution to stand by, or defend, that faith,
which we have professed : so that all these
times we resemble, not so much an assem-
bly, as an army : as then in every well-
marshalled army all look and move one
way, so should we always do in a regular
assembly ; but especially at the confessions
of faith all "Christ's faithful soldiers"
should show, by this uniformity of gesture,
that they hold the unity of faith.
The other usage, of bowing at the name
of Jesus, seems founded on that Scripture,
where it is declared, that " GoD hath given
him a name which is above every name ;
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, and every tongue should con-
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father," (Isa. xlv. 23 ;
Phil. ii. 9,) 8zc. Now though the rubric
be silent herein, yet the canon of our
Church thus enjoins. Now if such rever-
ence be due to that great and ever-blessed
name, when it is mentioned in the lesson
or sermon, how much more in the Creeds,
when we mention it with our own lips,
BOWING TO THE ALTAR.
BRAWLING.
19
making confession of our faith in it, add-
ing the vei'y reason given in the canon,
that we beheve in him as " the only Son,"
or " only-begotten Son of God," the Sa-
viour of the world ; and wlien too wo do
this " standing," which is the proper pos-
ture for doing reverence ! — Dr. Bissc.
BOAVING TO THE ALTAll. A re-
verent custom still })ractised at Windsor
chapel, in college chapels and cathedrals,
of which the synod of 1040 said, " A\'e
heartily commend it to all good and well-
affected people, that they be ready to
tender to the LoKD their reverence and
obeisance, both at their coming in and
going out of church, according to the most
ancient custom of the primitive Church in
the purest times." " In the practice or
omission of this rite, we desire that the
rule of charity prescribed by the apostle
may be observed, which is, that they which
use this rite despise not those who use it
not, and they who use it not, condemn not
them who use it."
BOYLE'S LECTURE. A lecture
founded under the Mill of the Hon.
Robert Boyle, in 1691, which consists of a
course of eight sermons, to prove the truth
of Christianity against infidels,and to answer
new difficulties, Szc, without entering into
controversies existing among Christians.
BRANDENBURG, CONFESSION
OF. A formulary, or confession of faith,
drawn up in the city of Brandenburg by
order of the elector, with a view to recon-
cile the tenets of Luther with those of
Calvin, and to put an end to the disputes
occasioned by the Confession of Augsburgh.
BRASSES. Monumental slabs of brass,
much used in the middle ages, with effigies
carved in outline upon them. An historical
and descriptive account of brasses used as
sepulchral memorials would occupy too
much space for this work. Perhaps as
much of the history as we shall be ex-
pected to give is included in the following-
paragraph from the " Manual of IMonu-
mental Brasses," (Oxford, 1848,) to which
we may refer for a full discussion on this
subject.
" The earliest brass of which we have
any record was that of Simon de Beau-
champ, who died before 1208, thus men-
tioned by Leland, " He lyith afore the
highe altare of S. Panic's chirch in Bede-
ford, with this epitaphie graven in bras,
and set on a fiat marble stone : —
De Bello Campo jacet hie sub mannorc Simon
Fuudator de Newehani."
Several others of the thirteenth century,
now lost, are enumerated by Gough.
At the present time, the earliest brass
known is that of Sir John d'Abernon,
1277 ; one other of the same century still
remains at Trumpington. From this period
their numbers gradually increased until
about the middle of the sixteenth century,
when they became less common. The
latest observed example is at St. IMary
Cray, Kent, 1776. It is remarkable that
the earliest brasses are quite equal, in
beauty of form and execution, to any of a
later date. From the early ])art of the
fifteenth century a gradual decline of the
art is visible, and toAvards the end of the
sixteenth century it became utterly de-
generate.
It seems needless to add, that the interest
of brasses is derived, in a gi-eat degree,
from the hght which they throw on me-
diaeval costume, and the habits of our an-
cestors. The destruction of brasses at the
Reformation was great ; at the Rebellion
still greater. The mention of this spoha-
tion by Drake, the historian of York, is
worth volumes of mere particulars. " Let
no man hereafter say, ^ Exegimoniimentum
cere ])ere7i7ims ; ' for noAV an ceris sacra
fames has robbed us of most of the ancient
monumental inscriptions that were in the
church. At the Reformation this hair-
brained zeal began to show itself against
painted glass, stone statues, and grave-
stones, many of which were defaced and
utterly destroyed, along Avith other more
valuable monuments of the church, till
Queen Elizabeth put a stop to these most
scandalous doings by an express act of par-
liament. In our late civil wars, and during
the usurpation, our zealots began again
these depredations on grave-stones, and
stripped and pillaged to the minutest piece
of metal. I know it is urged that their
hatred to Popery was so great, that they
could not endure to see an " orate p'o
animd^'' or even a cross, over a monument
without defacing it ; but it is plain that it
was more the poor lucre of the brass, than
zeal, which tempted these miscreants to
this act, for there was no gravestone which
had an inscription cut on itself that was
defaced by anything but age throughout
this whole church."
BRAWLING. The act of quarrelling,
and, in its more limited and technical sense,
the act of quarrelling within consecrated
precincts. If any person shall, by words
only, quarrel, chide, or ])rawl in any church
or churchyard, it shall be lawful unto the
ordinary of tiie place, where the same
ofience shall be done, and proved by two
lawful witnesses, to suspend every person
so offending ; if he be a layman, from the
120
BREVIARY.
entrance of the church ; and if he be a
clerk, from the ministi'ation of his office,
for so longj time as the said ordinary shall
think meet according to the fault, {o Sz 6
Edw. VI. c. 4, s. 1.)
BHEVIAliY. A daily office or book of
Divine service in the Komish Church. So
called from being a compilation in an ab-
breviated form, convenient for use, of the
various books anciently used in the service,
as antiphoners, psalters, S:c. After the
prayers of the liturgy, or missal, those held
in the greatest veneration by Roman Ca-
tholics are the prayers contained in the
church office, or canonical hours. This
office is a form of prayer and instruction
combined, consisting of psalms, lessons,
hymns, prayers, anthems, versicles, Sec,
combined in an established order, separ-
ated into different hours of the day. It is
divided into seven, or rather eight parts ;
and, like the English liturgy, it has a re-
ference to the mystery or festival cele-
brated. The festival, and therefore the
office, begins Avith vespers, i. e. with the
evening prayer, about six o'clock, or sun-
set. This office is called, on the eve-s of
Sundays and holidays, the first Vespers.
Next follows compline, to beg God's pro-
tection during sleep. At midnight come
the three nocturns, as they are called, or
matins, the longest part of the office.
Lands, or matin lauds, or the morning
praises of God, are appointed for the cock-
croMing, or before the break of day. At
six o'clock, or sunrise, prime shall be re-
cited; and tierce, sext, and 7ione, every
third hour afterwards. (See Ca?ionical
Hours.) These canonical hours of prayer
are still regularly observed by many re-
ligious orders, but less regularly by the
secular clergy, even in the choir^ When
the office is recited in private, though the
observance of regular hours may be com-
mendable, it is thought sufficient if the
whole be gone through any time in the
twenty-four hours. The church office, ex-
clusive of the mass and occasional services,
is contained in what is called the breviary.
In consequence of a decree of the Council
of Trent, Pope Pius V. ordered a number
of learned and able men to compile the
breviary ; and by his bull. Quod a nohis,
July, 15G6, sanctioned it, and commanded
the use thereof to the clergy of the Iloman
Catholic Church all over the word. Cle-
ment VIII., in 1602, finding that the
breviary of Pius V. had been altered and
depraved, restored it to its pristine state ;
and ordered, under pain of excommunica-
tion, that all future editions should strictly
follow that which he then printed at the
Vatican. Lastly, Urban VIII., in 1631,
had the language of the whole work, and
the metres of the hymns, revised. The
value which the Church of Home sets upon
the breviary, may be known from the
strictness with which she demands the
perusal of it. Whoever enjoys any eccle-
siastical revenue ; all persons of both sexes,
who have professed in any of the regular
orders ; all sub deacons, deacons, and priests,
are bound to repeat, either in public or in
private, the whole service of the day, out
of the breviary. The omission of any
one of the eight portions of which that
service consists is declared to be a mortal
sin, i. e. a sin that, unrepented, would be
sufficient to exclude from salvation. The
person guilty of such an omission loses
all legal right to whatever portion of his
clerical emoluments is due for the day or
days wherein he neglected that duty, and
cannot be absolved till he has given the
forfeited sums to the poor. Such are the
sanctions and penalties by which the read-
ing of the breviary is enforced. The
scrupulous exactness with which this duty
is performed by all who have not secretly
cast ofi" their spiritual allegiance is quite
surprising. The office of the lioman Ca-
tholic Church was originally so contrived,
as to divide the psalter between the seven
days of the week. Portions of the old
Scriptures were also read alternately, with
extracts from the legends of the saints, and
the works of the fathers. But as the ca-
lendar became croAvded with saints, whose
festivals take precedence of the regular
church service, little room is left for any-
thing but a few psalms, which are con-
stantly repeated, a very small part of the
Old Testament, and mere fragments of the
Gospels and Epistles.
The lessons are taken partly out of the
Old and New Testaments, and partly out
of the Acts of the Saints, and writings of
the holy fathers. The Lord's Prayer, the
Hail Mary, or Angelical Salutation, the
Apostles' Creed, and the Confitcor, are fre-
quently said. This last is a prayer, by which
they who use it acknowledge themselves sin-
ners, beg pardon of GoD, and the intercession
on their behalf of the angels, of the saints,
and of their brethren upon earth. No
prayers are more frequently in the mouths
of Iloman Catholics than these four; to
which we may add the doxology, repeated
during the j)salmody in every office, but
though not uniformly at the end of every
psalm, and in other places. In every
canonical hour a hymn is also said, often
composed by Prudentius, or some other
ancient father. The Iloman breviary con-
BRIEFS.
BULLS.
121
tains also a small office, in honour of the
Blessed Virg-in, and likewise wlmt is call-
ed t\ie office of the dead. AVe there find,
also, tlie penitential and the p^radual psalms,
as they are called, together with the litanies
of the saints, and of the Virgin Mary of
Loretto, which are the only two that have
the sanction of the Church. The breviary
is generally printed in four volumes, one
for each season of the year.
BllIEFS (see Bulls) are pontifical letters
issued from the court of Home, sealed in
red wax, Avith the seal of the fisherman's
ring : they are written in lloman cha-
racters, and subscribed by the secretary of
briefs, who is a secretary of state, (usually
either a bishop or a cardinal,) required to
be well versed in the legal style of papal
documents, and in the sacred canons. The
word Brief, in our Prayer Book, signifies
the sovereign letters patent, autliorizing a
collection for a charitable purpose ; as they
are noAV styled. Queen's letters. These are
directed to be read among the notices after
the.Nicene Creed.
BKO ACH. In strictness any spire, but
» generally used to signify a spire, the junc-
tion of which with the tower is not marked
by a parapet. Lancet and Geometrical
spires are generally thus treated ; Decor-
., ated, frequently; Perpendicuhir, rarely.
â– BULL in Ccena Domini. This is the
r^ name given to a bull in the Church of
Home, which is publicly read on the day
of the Lord's supper, viz. Holy Thursday,
by a cardinal deacon in the pope's presence,
accompanied with the other cardinals and
the bishops. The same contains an excom-
munication of all that are called, by that
apostate Church, heretics, stubborn and
disobedient to the holy see. And after the
reading of this bull, the pope throws a
burning torch into the public place, to
denote the thunder of this anathema. It
is declared expressly, in the beginning of
the bull of Pope Paul HI., of the year
1536, that it is the ancient custom of the
sovereign pontifts to publish this excom-
munication on Holy Thursday, to preserve
the piu-ity of the Christian religion, and to
keep the union of the faithful ; but the
original of this ceremony is not inserted
in it. The principal heads of this bull con-
cern heretics and their upholders, pirates,
imposers of new customs, those who falsify
the bulls and other apostolic letters ; those
who abuse the prelates of the Church ; those
that trouble or would restrain ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, even under pretence of pre-
^ venting some violence, though they might
be counsellors or advocates, generals to
secular princes, whether emperors, lungs,
or dukes ; those who usurp the goods of
the Church, &c. All these cases are re-
served to the pope, and no priest can give
absolution in such a case, if it be not at the
point of death. The Council of Tours, in
lolO, declared the bull in Cocna Domini
void in respect of France, which has often
protested against it, in what relates to the
king's prerogative, and the liberties of the
Galilean Church ; and there are now but
fcAV other Popish princes or states that
have much regard to it. So much has the
authority of the papal chair declined since
the Ileformation, even over those who still
remain in the communion of what they
call the Koman Catholic Church.
BULLS (see Briefs) are pontifical let-
ters, in the Itomish Church, written in old
Gothic characters upon stout and coarse
skins, and issued from the apostolic chan-
cery, under a seal {bulla) of lead; which
seal gives validity to the document, and is
attached, if it be a " Bull of Grace,'' by a
cord of silk ; and if it be a" Bull of Jus-
tice," by a cord of hemp.
The seal of the fisherman's ring cor-
responds, in some degree, with the privy
seal ; and the bulla, or seal of lead, with
the great seal of England.
The bulla is, properly, a seal of empire.
The imperial bulla is of gold ; and it was
under a seal of this description that King
John resigned the crown of England to
the Pope.
Briefs and Bulls diff'er from each
other.
1. Briefs are issued from the Roman
court by the apostolic secretary, sealed
with red wax by the fisherman's ring.
Bulls are issued by the apostolic chan-
cellor, under a seal of lead, having on one
side impressed the likeness of St. Peter
and St. Paul ; and, on the other, the name
of the reigning pope,
2. Briefs are wTitten upon fine and
white skins. Bulls, upon those which
are thick, coarse, and rude.
3. Briefs are written in Roman cha-
racters, in a legible, fair, and elegant
manner. Bulls, though in Latin, are
written in old Gothic characters, without
line or stop, or that regard to spelling
which is observed in briefs.
4. Briefs are dated " a die nativitatis ; "
Bulls dated "a die incamationis."
5. Briefs have the date abbreviated;
Bulls have it given in length.