A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

“I most firmly assert, that the images of Christ, and of the Mother of God ever virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained; and that due honour and veneration are to be given to them.

“I also affirm, that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church; and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.

“I acknowledge the holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all Churches; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman bishop, the successor of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ.

“I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever condemned and anathematized by the Church.

“This true catholic faith, out of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, I, N., promise, vow, and swear most constantly to hold and profess the same, whole and entire, with God’s assistance, to the end of my life. Amen.”

CRESSELLE. An instrument of wood, made use of in the Romish Church during Passion week, instead of bells, to give notice of Divine service. This is done in imitation of the primitive Christians, who, they suppose, made use of such an instrument, before the invention of bells, to call their brethren secretly to prayers. There are mysteries in the Cresselle. It represents Christ praying on the cross, and calling nations to his preaching; as also his humility, &c.—Jebb.

CREST. (In ecclesiastical architecture.) An ornamental finish at the top of a screen, or other subordinate feature.

CROSIER. A crosier is the pastoral staff of an archbishop, and is to be distinguished from the pastoral staff of a bishop; the latter terminating in an ornamented crook, while the crosier always terminates in a cross. At the end of the Common Prayer Book established in the second year of Edward VI., which is referred to as still obligatory, so far as the ornaments of the church and of the ministers thereof are concerned, in the rubric immediately before the Morning Prayer it is ordered,—“Whensoever the bishop shall celebrate the holy communion, or execute any other public office, he shall have upon him, besides his rochet, an alb, and cope or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne by his chaplain.”

CROSS. The cross was the instrument of death to our most blessed Lord and Saviour, and it has been considered in all ages by the Church as the most appropriate emblem, or symbol, of the Christian religion. The sign of the cross was made in the primitive Church in some part of almost every Christian office. The Church of England, in the constitutions of 1603, has a long canon (the 30th) on this subject, wherein it is said: “The Holy Ghost, by the mouths of the apostles, did honour the name of the cross, being hateful among the Jews, so far that, under it, he comprehended not only Christ crucified, but the force, effects, and merits of his death and passion, with all the comforts, fruits, and promises which we receive or expect thereby. Secondly, the honour and dignity of the name of the cross begat a reverent estimation even in the apostles’ times, for aught that is known to the contrary, of the sign of the cross, which the Christians shortly after used in all their actions; thereby making an outward show and profession, even to the astonishment of the Jews, that they were not ashamed to acknowledge him for their Lord and Saviour, who died for them upon the cross. And this sign they not only used themselves, with a kind of glory, when they met with any Jews, but signed therewith their children, when they were christened, to dedicate them by that badge to his service, whose benefits bestowed upon them in baptism, the name of the cross did represent. And this use of the sign of the cross was held in the primitive Church, as well by the Greeks as by the Latins, with one consent, and great applause. At which time, if any had opposed themselves against it, they would certainly have been censured as enemies of the name of the cross, and consequently of Christ’s merits, the sign whereof they could no better endure. This continual and general use of the sign of the cross, is evident by many testimonies of the ancient Fathers. Thirdly, it must be confessed that, in process of time, the sign of the cross was greatly abused in the Church of Rome, especially after that corruption of Popery had once possessed it. But the abuse of a thing doth not take away the lawful use of it. Nay, so far was it from the purpose of the Church of England to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, or any such like Churches, in all things that they held and practised, that, as Bishop Jewel’s “Apology of the Church of England” confesseth, it doth with reverence retain those ceremonies which do neither endamage the Church of God, nor offend the minds of sober men; and only departed from them in those particular points wherein they were fallen, both from themselves in their ancient integrity, and from the apostolical Churches which were their first founders. In which respect, amongst some other very ancient ceremonies, the sign of the cross in baptism hath been retained in this Church, both by the judgment and practice of those reverend fathers and grave divines in the days of King Edward VI., of whom some constantly suffered for the profession of the truth; and others, being exiled in the time of Queen Mary, did, after their return, in the beginning of the reign of our late dread sovereign, continually defend and use the same.”

The sign of the cross is appointed to be used at baptism. After the priest hath baptized the child, he receives it into the congregation, by this solemnity declaring that he is by baptism made a member of the Church. (1 Cor. xii. 13.) “We are all baptized into one body.” And when he thus receives it, he signs it with the sign of the cross, as of old it was wont, according to St. Augustine; and on the forehead, the seat of blushing and shame, that he may not hereafter blush and be ashamed of the disgraced cross of Christ, as St. Cyprian saith. By this badge is the child dedicated to his service, whose benefits, bestowed upon him in baptism, the name of the cross in Holy Scripture does represent. Whosoever desires to be fully satisfied concerning the use of the cross in baptism, let him read the thirtieth canon of our Church, in the year 1603.—Bp. Sparrow.