SEQUESTRATION. "The process by which the creditor of a clergyman of the Church of England in possession of a living, sues out execution on his judgment, and obtains payment of the debt." "The Bishop puts in force the law, and appoints sequestrators to take possession of the benefice and draw the emoluments, and pay them over to the creditor, first making due provision for the proper celebration of Divine Worship."
SERAPHIM, see ANGELS.
SERMONS. Orations or discourses, delivered by the clergy of the Christian Church in their religious assemblies. In the ancient Church it was one of the chief offices of a Bishop to preach, and it was only in the lesser churches of the city and country that the office of preaching devolved upon presbyters. Deacons were never allowed to preach, and they are only permitted to do so now by special licence of the Bishop (see Ordination Service.) St. Augustine has laid down excellent rules for the practice of Christian eloquence. The subject is to be weighty, the style answering to the subject. It was no part of the ancient oratory to raise the affections of the congregation, either by gesticulations, or the use of external shows. Scarcely any of their sermons would last an hour, and many not half the time. Many of St. Augustine's might be preached in eight minutes. They always concluded their sermons, as we do now, with a doxology to the Holy Trinity. The preacher usually sat, and the people stood.
The sermon in the Church of England is enjoined after the Nicene Creed, according to ancient custom; but nowhere else. (See Preaching.)
SERVICE. In technical language those stated parts of the Liturgy which are set to music; but the term is also used of the whole of Public Worship.
SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. That Sunday which is, in round numbers, sixty days before Easter.
SEXTON. From Sacristan. The name is now generally given to the person who digs the graves, &c.
SHAKERS. A party of enthusiasts who left England for America in 1774. They affected to consider themselves as forming the only true Church, and their preachers as possessed of the Apostolic gift. They disowned Baptism and the Eucharist.
Their leader was Anna Lees, whom they believed to be the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse (Rev. xii. 1, 2).
SHROVE TUESDAY. The day before Ash Wednesday, so called in the Church of England from the old Saxon word shrive, shrif, shrove, which means to confess; it being our duty to confess our sins to God on that day in order to receive the Holy Communion, and thereby qualify ourselves for a more holy observance of Lent. Before the Reformation Auricular Confession was compulsorily made to a priest, and Absolution was sought.