A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

This alteration in the eucharistical bread occasioned great disputes between the Eastern and Western Churches, which divided about it; for the Western Church ran so far into an extreme, as almost to lose the nature of the sacramental element, by introducing a thing that could hardly be called bread, instead of that common staff of life, which our Lord had appointed to be the representative of his body in the eucharist. But there wanted not some discerning and judicious men, who complained of this abuse, as soon as it began to be introduced.

The first Common Prayer Book of King Edward VI. enjoins unleavened bread to be used throughout the whole kingdom, for the celebration of the eucharist. It was ordered to be round, in imitation of the wafers, used by the Greek and Roman Churches; but it was to be without all manner of print, the wafers usually having the impression either of a crucifix or the holy lamb; and something more large and thicker than the wafers, which were of the size of a penny. This rubric, affording matter for scruple, was set aside at the review of the liturgy in the fifth of King Edward; and another inserted in its room, by which it was declared sufficient, that the bread be such as is usually eaten at the table with other meats. By the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, wafer bread seems to have been again enjoined, for among other orders this was one, “For the more reverence to be given to these holy mysteries—the sacramental bread, &c., made and formed plain without any figure thereupon, of the same fineness and fashion round, though somewhat bigger in compass and thickness, as the usual bread and wafers, heretofore called singing cakes, which served for the use of private mass.”

WAGER. (See Battle and Ordeal.)

WAKE. (See Dedication.)

WALDENSES. (See Albigenses.) Some difficulty exists as to the origin and history of the sect to which this name has been attached. According to Mosheim, the sect originated with Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, about the year 1160. They flourished chiefly in the valleys of Piedmont; and hence, rather than from Peter Waldo or Valdo, it is supposed by some that they acquired the name of Valdenses or Vaudois. From the perusal of the Scriptures and other writings, and from comparing the doctrines of Scripture with the superstitions and practices of the age in which he lived, Waldo perceived the corruption of the existing mediæval Church, and, in advance of his age, became a reformer. He shared the fate of those who are so circumstanced. He had many followers, and exposed both himself and them to suspicion and persecution. It is probable that, in attacking error, the Waldenses themselves sometimes became erroneous. They are accused of having maintained the unlawfulness of oaths and of infant baptism, and of being seditious. These charges were easily made, but writers of celebrity have undertaken to confute them. The marvel is, that, when every attempt was made to blacken their character, the success of their accusers was not greater than it has proved to be. It is certain that they were austere, if not morose, in their practice; that they prohibited wars and law suits, penal punishments, and all attempts to acquire wealth.

Those of them who dwelt in the valleys of Piedmont in the seventeenth century, were subjected by the Church of Rome to the most barbarous and inhuman persecutions, especially in the years 1655, 1656, and 1696. The most horrible scenes of violence and bloodshed were exhibited in this theatre of papal tyranny, and the Waldenses at last owed their existence and support to the interference of the English and Dutch governments.

WARBURTONIAN LECTURE. A lecture founded by Bishop Warburton, to prove the truth of revealed religion in general, and the Christian in particular, from the completion of the prophecies in the Old and New Testament which relate to the Christian Church, especially to the apostasy of papal Rome. To this foundation we owe the admirable discourses of Hurd, Halifax, Bagot, Davison, and many others.

WARDEN. The head of some colleges, and the superior of some conventual churches, in which the chapter remains, is called a warden. The head of the collegiate church of Galway is called warden: as was the case at Manchester, till the erection of the collegiate church there into a cathedral.

WEDNESDAY. This day has been marked in many cases by the Church with an especial religion. Thus it was often added to Friday as a weekly fast, and in our own Church it is numbered among the rogation and ember days; besides which, throughout the year the Litany is appointed to be sung or said on Wednesday, as well as on Sunday and Friday after Morning Prayer.

WESLEYANS. (See Methodists.)