EXPLANATION OF

suffered. Passion in the Bible and Prayerbook means only suffering.

Iassover. The sacred day in the Church

of God before Christ, when a lamb was killed, in remembrance that God had passed over and spared the Israelites in Egypt, for the sake of blood sprinkled by them in faith.

Easter. The holy day of the East or of the rising, when Jesus Christ arose from the dead. It is at the season of the Jewish Passover, and is always the Sunday of the full moon next after that day (21st March), on which day and night are exactly equal over all the world.

Rogation (the week before Ascension-day) means asking; of old it was a chosen time to meet and ask God's mercy and blessing, make up quarrels between neighbours, and go round boundaries to prevent disputes between parishes.

Ascension. The day when Christ ascended to heaven; it is forty days after Easter. Whitsunday.-The day when the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven. Called Pentecost because it was the fiftieth day after Easter, and Whitsunday because many used to be baptized that day, and to be afterwards covered with white robes, as was usual of old at all baptisms.

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Trinity-Three in One. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghostthree Persons and one God.

Cherubim and Seraphim.-Two kinds of holy angels.

Alleluia or Hallelujah means, Praise ye the Lord.

Hosanna means, Save now, I beseech thee. Doxology means, saying or singing Glory to God.

Matins.-The old word for Morning Service.

Evensong. The old word for Evening Service. Commination.-A threatening together. That service which warns all men of God's threatenings against sin.

Vigil or Eve.-The watching-time or evening before a feast; it was usual of old to spend part of such nights in fasting, wakefulness, and prayer. Fast.-A solemn day (as Ash Wednesday) set apart for self-denial, humbling ourselves, and prayer, to bring our souls more and more under the power of godliness. Feast.-A day of gladness and thankfulness (for spiritual blessings), such as Christmas, Easter, &c., or the days when the apostles laid down their lives for Christ,

EXPLANATION OF

and left us an example that we should walk in their steps. When Christianity came to Britain, each village kept as a feast the day when their missionary_or saint had opened them a church. But the Roman Catholics, who came afterwards, often changed those old feasts to the feast-days of the apostles or the Virgin Mary; and the village feasts (or wakes) are now too often kept as mere days of merriment, or even sin.

Ember Weeks at the four seasons of the year. The Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday next after the first Sunday in Lent, after Whitsunday, after 14th September, and after 13th December. Fixed quarterly fast-days, for all to join in praying God to pardon our past sins, and continue his merciful goodness to us; and for bishops to choose proper persons and ordain them ministers. Ember is from an old word meaning ashes (signs of sorrow), or from another old word meaning the course of the seasons. The Church.-The whole company of such as believe in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; among whom the pure Word of God is read, preached, and owned as the rule of right and wrong, and the Sacraments appointed by Christ

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are duly administered in Christ's way. It is called the body of Christ upon earth; and we are made members of it by baptism, as a branch is joined to a tree by grafting.

Sometimes the word Church means professed believers on earth; both those whose hearts really belong to God, and those whose hearts, perhaps, are willingly serving sin. Sometimes it means only such as are already in heaven, and those still on earth, of whom God knows (not of whom man only hopes) that they shall go there. Sometimes it means the holy house set apart for God's worship and honour.

The Church of God began with Adam, and has continued ever since. Before the time of Christ it was called the sons, or children of God, the people of God, the congregation or the heritage of the Lord, Israel, Jerusalem, and Zion; and people were made members of it, while infants, by the Sacrament of Circumcision.

Different countries have their own different branches of the Church, as the Church of England, the Church of Rome, the Church of Alexandria, the Greek Church, the American Church, the Syrian Church in India, and others; some of

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EXPLANATION OF

which have fallen from Bible truth, some from early apostolic rules, and some keep firm to both.

The Church of England means that branch of the Christian Church which began here almost in the lifetime of the apostles; was often greatly broken and scattered by the heathens; was long and cruelly oppressed by Roman Catholics and Romish errors, but cast them off at the Reformation, protesting that God's Word is the only sure guide to God's truth; and now holds fast to the doctrines, rules, ministers, and forms appointed at the very beginnings of Christianity.

Catholic means universal or throughout the whole. The Holy Catholic Church means the one whole Church built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, which is made up of many branches spread throughout the whole world, has continued throughout the whole time since Christ, and keeps to the whole truth revealed by God through the apostles and prophets.

The Catholic Church does not mean the Church of Rome; never call the Romanists Catholics, for they are not so, but have added to God's truth many grievous errors contrary to his Word,