Expectation Week.—The week preceding Whitsun Day is so called.
(See EXPECTATION SUNDAY.) {106}
F
Fair Linen Cloth, Fair White Linen Cloth.—In the Communion Office there are two rubrics, the first of which reads as follows: "The Table, at the Communion time having a fair white linen cloth upon it," etc. By this is meant the long linen cloth the breadth of the top of the Altar and falling over the ends eighteen or twenty inches. The other rubric reads, "When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord's Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth." By this is meant the lawn chalice veil. It is to be noted that when this rubric was made, the word "fair" meant beautiful. The white linen cloth can be made "fair," i.e., beautiful by means of embroidery, and this is done by embroidering upon it five crosses to symbolize the five wounds of our Blessed Lord on the Cross, and by having the ends finished with a heavy linen fringe. Also, the lawn chalice veil is made "fair" by being similarly beautified with embroidery, a cross being worked near the edge.
Faith.—"Divine, or as it is called, Catholic Faith is a gift of God and a light of the soul; illuminated by which, a man assents fully and unreservedly to all which Almighty God has revealed and which He proposes to us by His Church to be believed, whether written or unwritten. It is also a belief in the whole Gospel, as distinguished from a reception of some portion of it only; and it is a faith so full of the love of God as that it leads us to act differently from what we {107} should if we did not believe and marks us out as a peculiar people among men."—From Manual of Instruction.
From the above definition we learn that Faith has a twofold meaning, (1) the act of believing, and (2) the thing believed, or the deposit of Faith or Doctrine which all members of Christ are bound to receive. This Deposit of Faith is embodied in the Holy Scriptures but is summarized for us in the Articles of the Creed which are grouped around the Name into which we are baptized,—the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost. In the American Church two forms of the Creed are used, viz. the APOSTLES' and the NICENE (which see). These embody "the Faith once delivered to the Saints."
Faithful, The.—The New Testament and Prayer Book name for all the Baptized, who, being admitted into the Household of Faith, are the people of the Faith—fideles, that is, believers.
Faldstool.—Literally, a portable folding seat, similar to a camp stool, and formerly used by a Bishop when officiating in any church other than his Cathedral. The name now is generally applied to the LITANY DESK (which see).
Fasting.—Going without food of any kind as a religious discipline and as a help to the spiritual life, especially on the great Fasts of the Church. The Homily on Fasting says: "Fasting is found to be of two sorts; the one outward, pertaining to the body; the other inward, in the heart and mind. The outward fast is an abstinence from meat, drink and all natural food, for the determined time of fasting; yea, from all {108} delicacies, pleasures and delectations worldly. The inward fast consists in that godly sorrow which leads us to bewail and detest our sins and to abstain from committing them."
Fasting Communion.—(See EARLY COMMUNION.)
Fasts, Table of.—The Reformers of the English Church retained and enjoined one hundred and twenty-three days in each year, to be sanctified wholly or in part as Fasts and days of abstinence. These, with the exception of the Table of Vigils, have been retained in the American Prayer Book and are the following: