A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

But although, to a certain extent, we perceive that there is such regularity in the order of events, that Nature may be said to be bound by laws; yet, as a matter of fact, we find that there is an occasional and not unfrequent interference with those laws. This fact is expressed in every language in which words occur equivalent to our expressions of luck, chance, good or ill fortune. According to the laws of Nature, the harvest follows the seed-time; but the husbandman is sometimes disappointed in his just hopes: the race is to the swift, and the battle to the strong, according to the laws of Nature; but accidents so frequently occur, that we find that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. These deviations from the laws of Nature, the Scriptures teach us to refer to an interference on the part of God, and this interference with the laws of Nature we regard as his particular providence.

Relying on his general providence, we labour and adopt the best means for the furtherance of our ends: we plant, we sow, we endeavour to be swift or strong. Believing in his particular providence, we pray. (See Prayer.)

PROVINCE. The limits of an archbishop’s jurisdiction, as the diocese is the limits of the jurisdiction of a bishop: and so provincial constitutions, provincial courts, provincial synods, provincial canons, are the canons, synods, courts, and constitutions, which have authority within the rule of a single archbishop.

PROVISIONS. An oppressive invention of the bishops of Rome, whereby the right of patronage of ecclesiastical benefices was arbitrarily suspended by the Pope, that he might present his own creatures, and make provision in the Church of England for foreign ecclesiastics. This usurpation of the pope occasioned much discontent in the Church of England; and at one time the evil had become so intolerable, that it occasioned frightful disturbances. The pope (Gregory IX.) had granted a provision on the patronage of one Sir Robert Thwinge, a Yorkshire knight, who resented it so highly as to associate with himself some eighty others, who had received the like treatment, by whom the persons of foreign ecclesiastics were seized, and even the pope’s envoys murdered. The king, Henry III., set himself to restore peace; and Thwinge, betaking himself to Rome, was reconciled to the pope, and recovered his right of patronage; and the pope conceded that there should be in future no provisions, except in benefices in the patronage of ecclesiastical persons or bodies. These he had usually found more defenceless, and therefore over them he still exercised his usurped authority.

PROVOST. The designation of heads of some colleges in our universities. It was also the title given to the heads of several collegiate churches in England, suppressed at the Reformation, and was their usual designation in Scotland, except in cathedrals. In some foreign cathedrals the head of the chapter is the provost, though there be a dean besides; and in others the dean is head, the provost subordinate. The latter was formerly the case in five out of the six of the cathedrals in the province of Tuam: the name is still retained in some; in others it has been exchanged for that of precentor. Archdeacon Cotton, in his Fasti Ecclesiæ Hiberniæ, (part ii. 114,) says that the title answered to that of chancellor. This observation seems strengthened by the fact, that the dignity of chancellor did not anciently exist in the province of Tuam. Maillane, in his Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, says that the provost had the care of the temporals, the dean of the spirituals; that deans were established to take care of the discipline of the church, and, in many chapters, became in the course of time the first in rank. In Holland and elsewhere, before the Reformation, the provost was sometimes a kind of archdeacon.

PSALMODY. The art or act of singing psalms. Psalmody was always esteemed a considerable part of devotion, and usually performed in the standing posture; and, as to the manner of pronunciation, the plain song was sometimes used, being a gentle inflection of the voice, not much different from reading, like the chant in cathedrals; at other times more artificial compositions were used, like our anthems.—Bingham. The word is now usually limited to the singing of the metrical psalms, but properly it includes chanting also.

PSALMS. The Book of Hymns. Our word Psalm is the translation of two very different Hebrew words. The first, Tehillem, properly means praises, and is the title of the book. The other, Mizmor, means in strictness, a poem. Psalm is derived from a Greek verb, ψάλλω, which means to play or sing to an instrument, being very appropriate to these sacred songs, which we know from Holy Scripture were sung to harps, and other musical instruments. The Book of Psalms is a collection of hymns or sacred songs in praise of God, and consists of poems of various kinds. They are the production of different persons, but are generally called “the Psalms of David,” because a great part of them was composed by him, and David himself is distinguished by the name of the Psalmist. We cannot now ascertain all the psalms written by David, but their number probably exceeds seventy; and much less are we able to discover with any certainty the authors of the other psalms, or the occasions upon which they were composed; a few of them were written after the return from the Babylonian captivity. And the ninetieth psalm, as its title in the original in our Bible translation shows, is attributed to Moses. There is no subject upon which learned men are so much at variance as the authorship of the Psalms, and the meaning of their titles. It is clear, however, that they may be divided into the following classes: Psalms of David; Psalms or Songs of the Sons of Korah; Psalms of Asaph; Songs of Degrees; and again into Penitential Psalms, Hallelujah Psalms, and Historical Psalms.

The whole collection of psalms, usually divided into five books, is eminently prophetical of the Messiah. The first book begins with the 1st and ends with the 41st psalm, and the Hebrew word LeDavid, (of or concerning David, or by David,) occurs before almost every psalm. The 2nd book begins with the 42nd psalm, the 3rd with the 73rd psalm, the 4th with the 90th psalm, and is continued to the 106th. The 5th and last book opens with the 107th. The seven penitential psalms are, 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143. These are appointed to be read in our Church on Ash-Wednesday. For many ages they had been used in the Western churches in token of special humiliation. (See Alphabetical or Acrostical Psalm, and Songs of Degrees; Korah, Psalms of; Asaph, Psalms of; and Hallelujah.)

PSALTER. The word Psalter is often used by ancient writers for the Book of Psalms, considered as a separate book of Holy Scripture. It afterwards assumed a more technical meaning, as the book in which the Psalms are arranged for the service of the Church. The Roman Psalter, for instance, does not follow the course of the Psalms as in Scripture; they are arranged for the different services, in the several accompaniments, as antiphons, &c. In our Psalter, the notice of the divisions for the days of the month, and the pointing in the middle of each verse, are a part of the Psalter, though not of the Psalms; and some part of the Psalms unfit for recitation are omitted, as the titles, the words Selah, Higgaion, &c., and the Hallelujahs with which many psalms begin or end, or both. The division of the Psalms into daily portions, as given in our Prayer Books, has been done with a view to convenience. Something like this has long prevailed in the Church, but without its regularity and system. Thus in Egypt, at first, in some places, they read 60 psalms; in others, 50; and afterwards they all agreed to recite 12 only. Columbanus, in his rule, appointed the number of psalms to vary according to the seasons of the year, and the length of the nights; so that sometimes 75 were sung. In the monasteries of Armenia they repeat 99 psalms to the present day. In the Greek Church, the Psalms are divided into cathismata, or portions, so that the whole book is read through in a fortnight. Previously to the reform of our offices, the English Church prescribed 12 psalms for the nocturn; but at that period the number was reduced on an average to three, by the division of the 119th, and by reckoning some other long psalms as each more than one. Under the present arrangement the Psalms are divided into 60 portions, two of which are appointed for each day of the month. Selections are also set forth by the American Church, which may be used instead of the regularly appointed portions.

The Psalms are pointed as they are to be said or sung in churches; by which is meant the colon in the middle of each verse, indicating the pause to be made, not only in the chant, but also in the recitation, as the words clearly imply; a direction commonly neglected by readers, to the great prejudice of distinct enunciation.