“Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.
“XIII. Of Works before Justification.
“Works done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ; neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school authors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin.”
WORSHIP. Besides the usual application of this term to the supreme homage and devotion due only to the Divine Being, it is occasionally used in the Bible and Prayer Book, to denote honour, respect, and reverence given to men. Thus, in the 84th Psalm, it is said that “the Lord will give grace and worship (favour and dignity) to them that live a godly life.” In Luke xiv. 10, we read that the humble guest “shall have worship in the presence of those who sit at meat with him.” And in 1 Chron. xxix. 20, it is said, that all the congregation “bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord and the king.” In the Order of Matrimony in the English Prayer Book, the husband promises to worship his wife, that is, to render to her all that respect and honour to which she is entitled by the command of God, and the station she holds.
For the better understanding of this phrase we must know, that anciently there were two sorts of wives, one whereof was called the primary or lawful wife, the other was called the half-wife, or concubine. The difference betwixt these two was only in the differing purpose of the man, betaking himself to the one or the other: if his purpose was only fellowship, there grew to the woman by this means no worship at all, but rather the contrary. In professing that his intent was to add by his person honour and worship unto hers, he took her plainly and clearly to be his wife, not his concubine. This it is, which the civil law doth mean, when it makes a wife differ from a concubine in dignity. The worship that grew unto her, being taken with declaration of this intent, was, that her children became by this means free and legitimate heirs to their father, (Gen xxv. 5, 6,) and herself was made a mother over his family. Lastly, she received such advancement of state, as things annexed to his person might augment her with: yea, a right of participation was thereby given her, both in him, and even in all things which were his; and therefore he says not only, “with my body I thee worship,” but also, “with all my worldly goods I thee endow.” The former branch having granted the principal, the latter granteth that which is annexed thereto.—Hooker.
The Jews anciently used the same phrase: “Be unto me a wife, and I, according to the word of God, will worship, honour, and maintain thee, according to the manner of husbands among the Jews, who worship, honour, and maintain their wives.” And that no man quarrel at this harmless phrase, let him take notice, that to worship here signifies, to make worshipful or honorable, as you may see, 1 Sam. ii. 30. For where our last translation reads it, “him that honours me, I will honour;” in the old translation, which our Common Prayer Book uses, it is, “him that worships me, I will worship,” that is, I will make worshipful; for that way only can God be said to worship man.—Bp. Sparrow.
These words are objected to by our adversaries, as a great crime in our Church, for obliging the bridegroom to make an idol of his bride, and to declare, in the most extravagant strain of all compliments, that he worships her. But this imputation is owing to the want of a just consideration of the purport of the old English word “worship,” which signifies an honourable regard, as is yet to be seen in our usual expressions still retained in common discourse, as Your Worship, Worshipful &c. And so King James, in the conference at Hampton Court, told Dr. Reynolds, who made this objection. For our Church is not only content that the wife should be endowed with a share of the husband’s goods, but that the husband should oblige himself to promote his spouse to the dignity of the uxorial honour, for she would not have the men joined to concubines by this religious solemnity; and, therefore, she ties the man to make profession, that he is willing to have the person he marries not only to be a partner in his bed, but that she should have all the dignity of a wife allowed her. And that is the meaning of these words, “with my body I thee worship:” I not only give thee a right in my body, but that in the honourable and worshipful way of a wife. For, by the old Roman law, this was the difference between a wife and a concubine: that the husband before marriage promised that he designed to promote the woman he was married to, to the honour of materfamilias, or mistress of the family.—Dr. Nicholls.
The first right accruing to the wife by marriage, is honour; and, therefore, the man says, “with my body I thee worship;” that is, “with my body I thee honour:” for so the word signifies in this place; and so Mr. Selden, and before him Martin Bucer, who lived at the time when our liturgy was compiled, have translated it. The design of it is to express that the woman, by virtue of this marriage, has a share in all the titles and honours which are due, or belong to, the person of her husband. It is true the modern sense of the word is somewhat different: for which reason, I find, that at the review of our liturgy, after the restoration of King Charles II., “worship” was promised to be changed for “honour.” How the alteration came to be omitted I cannot discover; but so long as the old word is explained in the sense that I have given of it, one would think no objection could be urged against using it.—Wheatly.
XEROPHAGIA. (Ξηροφαγία, from ξηρός, dry, φάγω, to eat.) Fast days in the first ages of the Christian Church, on which they ate nothing but bread and salt, the word signifying so much as to eat dry things; afterwards there were pulse, herbs, and fruits added. This great fast was kept the six days of the holy week for devotion, and not by obligation; so that the Church condemned the Montanists, who of their own private authority, would not only oblige all people to observe the Xerophagia of the holy week, but also other fasts that they had established, as well as several Lents. The Essenes, whether they were Jews or the first Christians of the Church of Alexandria, observed Xerophagia on certain days; for Philo says, they put nothing to their bread and water but salt and hyssop.
YEAR, ECCLESIASTICAL. (See Advent, Calendar, and Feasts.)