CURATE.

served; and it directs that "it shall be served personally upon the spiritual person therein named, or to whom it shall be directed, by showing the original to him and leaving with him a true copy thereof, or, in case such spiritual person cannot be found, by leaving a true copy thereof at his usual or last known place of residence, and by affixing another copy thereof upon the church door of the parish in which such place of residence shall be situate." The notice must, immediately after the service thereof, be returned into the Consistorial Court, (or the Court of Peculiars, in the case of an archbishop's or bishop's peculiar; see sect. 108,) and be there filed, together with an affidavit of the time and manner in which the same shall have been served.

The stipends to be paid to curates by non-resident incumbents must be in strict conformity with the directions of the act of parliament 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106. Clergymen who were incumbents of benefices before July 20th, 1813, cannot be compelled (see sect. 84) to pay more than £75 per annum as a stipend to the curates of such benefices, but the bishop may add to that sum £15 in lieu of a house.

Non-resident incumbents admitted to benefices after the above date, are to allow stipends according to the following scale, prescribed by the 85th section:

or the whole value of the benefice, if it does not exceed these sums respectively. Where the net yearly income of a benefice exceeds £400, the bishop may (by sect. 86) assign a stipend of £100, notwithstanding the population may not amount to 300; and if with that income the population amounts to 500, he may add any sum not exceeding £50 to any of the stipends payable by the last-mentioned incumbent, where the curate resides within the benefice, and serves no other cure. Where the population exceeds 2000, the bishop may require the incumbent to nominate two curates, with stipends not exceeding together the highest rate of stipend allowed

to one curate.

Incumbents who have become incapable of performing their duties from age, sick

T

ness, or other unavoidable cause, (and to whom, from these or from any other special and peculiar circumstances, great hardship would arise if they were required to pay the full stipend,) may (by sect. 87) be relieved by the bishop, with the consent of the archbishop of the province.

The bishop may (by sect. 89) direct that the stipend to a curate licensed to serve two parishes or places shall be less for each by a sum not exceeding £30 per annum than the full stipend.

All agreements for payment of a less stipend than that assigned by the licence are (by sect. 90) declared to be void; and if less be paid, the remainder may be afterwards recovered by the curate or his representatives. When a stipend, equal to the whole value of a benefice, is assigned to the curate, he is (by sect. 91) to be liable to all charges and outgoings legally affecting the benefice; and (by sect. 94) when such a stipend as last mentioned is assigned, and the curate is directed to reside in the glebe house, he is to be liable to the taxes, parochial rates, and assessments of the glebe house and premises; but in every other case in which the curate shall so reside by such direction, the bishop may, if he shall think fit, order that the incumbent shall pay the curate all or any part of such sums as he may have been required to pay, and shall have paid, within one year, ending at Michaelmas day next preceding the date of such order for any such taxes, parochial rates, or assessments, as should become due at any time after the passing of the act.

For other particulars as to curates' stipends and allowances, &c., see the act 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, from sect. 75 to 102, both inclusive.

CURE. The spiritual charge of a parish, or, in a larger sense, the parish itself. When Christianity was first planted in this nation, the bishops were constantly resident at their cathedrals, and had several clergymen attending them at that place, whom they sent to preach and convert the people, where there was the greatest probability of success; and the persons thus sent either returned or continued in those places, as occasion required, having no fixed cures or titles to particular places; for being all entered in the bishop's registry, (as the usual course then was,) they could not be discharged without his consent. Afterwards, when Christianity prevailed, and many churches were built, the cure of souls was limited both as to places and persons. The places are those which we now call parishes, the extent whereof

is certainly known, and the boundaries are now fixed by long usage and custom. The parsons are the ministers, who, by presentation, institution, and induction, are entitled to the tithes and other ecclesiastical profits arising within that parish, and have the cure of souls of those who live and reside there: and this the canonists call a cure In foro interiori tantum, and they distinguish it from a cure of souls, In foro exteriori, such as archdeacons have, to suspend, excommunicate, and absolve, and which is Sine pastorali cura: and from another cure, which they say is In utroque simul, that is, both In exteriori et interiori foro; and such the bishop has, who has a superintendent care over the whole diocese, intermixed with jurisdiction.

CUSPS. (In church architecture.) The projecting points from the foliation of arches or tracery. Cusping first appeared in the Geometric period, and was continued so long as Gothic architecture was employed. Besides the more obvious differences arising from the number of cusps, which, however, it is needless to particularize, there is one very great peculiarity of the earlier cusping which ought to be clearly understood. Let the tracery bar consist of three planes, a the wall, b the chamfer, and c soffit plane (the latter of course not being visible in the two larger diagrams, which, being elevations, show no line at right angles to the wall). In the more common cusping, the cusp is formed by carrying out the whole of the soffit and part of the chamfer plane, and leaving an unpierced hollow, or eye, in the tracery

DALMATIC.

the tracery bar is completed all round, and the cusp carries with it no part either of the soffit or of the chamfer, but is let into the soffit, always in appearance, sometimes in fact, as a separate piece of stone, as at B D, fig. II. Here, too, the cusp leaves a free space between itself and the tracery bar, as at B B B in elevation, and section II. D D D, representing the place of departure of the cusp from the tracery bar. This is generally called soffit cusping, from its springing exclusively from the soffit plane.

DAILY PRAYERS. "All priests and deacons are to say daily the morning and evening prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness or some other urgent cause. And the curate that ministereth in every parish church or chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same in the parish church or chapel where he ministereth, and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear GOD's word, and pray with him."-Preface to the Book of Common Prayer. As this is not only a direction of the Church, but also part of an act of parliament, any parishioners desirous of attending daily prayers might compel the clergyman to officiate, by bringing an action against him, as well as by complaining to the bishop. For this, of course, there can seldom be any necessity, as most of the clergy would be too happy to officiate, if they could secure the attendance of two or three of their parishioners. By the general practice of the clergy it seems to be decided, that they are to say the morning and evening prayer in private, if they cannot obtain a congregation; though, even under those circumstances, the letter of the rubric seems to direct them to say the offices at church, if possible. It is a cheering sign of the times, that the number of instances in which the daily prayers are duly said in church is rapidly on the increase.

DALMATIC, was formerly the characteristic dress of the deacon in the administration of the holy eucharist. It was also worn by the bishop at stated times; and in the Latin Church still forms part of the episcopal dress, under the chasuble. It is a robe reaching below the knees, and open at each side for a distance varying at different periods. It is not marked at the back with a cross like the chasuble, but in the Latin Church with two narrow stripes, the remains of the angusti clavi worn on the old Roman dress. In the Greek

DAMNATORY CLAUSES.

Church it is called colobion, is covered with a multitude of small crosses, and has no sleeves. The dalmatic is seen on the effigies of bishops on monuments, and in some old brasses, over the alb and the stole, the fringed extremities of which reach just below it. It has received its name from being the regal vest of Dalmatia. It is the same as the tunicle, which is directed to be worn according to the rubrics of King Edward VI.'s First Prayer Book, by the priests and deacons who may assist the priest at the holy communion. Like all the other ecclesiastical vestures, it was curtailed by the corrupt practice of later ages in the West, so as not to reach further than the knees.-Jebb. DAMNATORY Athanasian Creed.)

CLAUSES. (See

DANIEL (THE BOOK OF). A canonical book of the Old Testament. Daniel descended from the royal house of the kings of Judah, and was contemporary with Ezekiel. (An. 606, before Christ.) He was of the children of the captivity, being carried to Babylon when he was about eighteen years of age. His name is not prefixed to his book; yet the many passages in which he speaks in the first person, are a sufficient proof that he was the author of it. The style of Daniel is not so lofty and figurative as that of the other prophets: it is clear and concise, and his narrations and descriptions simple and natural; in short, he writes more like an historian than a prophet.

He was a very extraordinary person, and was favoured of God, and honoured of men, beyond any that had lived in his time. His prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, and the other great events of after-times, are so clear and explicit, that Porphyry objected to them, that they must have been written after the facts were done.-Prideaux, Connect. P. I. b. iii. Ann. 534. Hieron. in Proam. ad Com. in Dan.

The Jews do not reckon Daniel among the prophets; and the reason they assign is, because he rather lived the life of a courtier, in the palace of the king of Babylon, than that of a prophet. They add, that, though he had Divine revelations given to him, yet it was not in the prophetic way, but by dreams and visions of the night, which they look upon as the most imperfect way of revelation, and below the prophetic. But Josephus, one of the ancientest writers of that nation, reckons him among the greatest of the prophets, and says further of him, that he conversed familiarly with God, and not only foretold

future events, as other prophets did, but determined likewise the time when they should come to pass. But our Saviour, by acknowledging Daniel as a prophet, puts his prophetic character out of all dispute.-Maimonid. in More Nevochim, p. 2, ch. 45. Huet. Demonstr. Evangel. Prop. 4, ch. 14. Joseph. Antiq. lib. x. ch. 12. Matt. xxiv. 15.

Part of the book of Daniel was originally written in the Chaldee language; that is, from the fourth verse of the second chapter to the end of the seventh chapter; and the reason was, because, in that part, he treats of the Chaldean or Babylonish affairs. All the rest of the book is in Hebrew.-Hieron. in Præf. ad Dan. The Greek translation, used by the Greek Churches throughout the East, was that of Theodotion. In the Vulgar Latin Bible, there is added, in the third chapter, after the twenty-fourth verse, the Song of the Three Children, and, at the end of the book, the History of Susanna, and of Bel and the Dragon: the former is made the thirteenth, and the latter the fourteenth chapter of the book, in that edition. But these additions were never received into the canon by the Jews; neither are they extant in the Hebrew or the Chaldee language, nor is there any proof that they ever were so.

The first six chapters of the book of Daniel are a history of the kings of Babylon, and what befell the captive Jews under their government. In the last six, he is altogether prophetical, foretelling, not only what should happen to his own Church and nation, but events in which foreign princes and kingdoms were concerned; particularly the rise and downfal of the four secular monarchies of the world, and the establishment of the fifth, or spiritual kingdom of the Messiah.

It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldea, and that he did not take advantage of the permission granted by Cyrus to the Jews of returning to their own country. St. Epiphanius says he died at Babylon, and herein he is followed by the generality of historians.

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Amongst the old prophets," says the great Sir Isaac Newton, " Daniel is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood; and therefore, in those things which relate to the last times, he must be made the key to the rest. His prophecies are all of them related to one another, as if they were but several parts of one general prophecy. The first is the easiest to be understood, and every following prophecy adds something new to the former." Observations on Daniel, pp. 15, 24.

DATARY. An officer in the pope's court. He is always a prelate, and sometimes a cardinal, deputed by his Holiness to receive such petitions as are presented to him, touching the provision of benefices. By his post, the datary is empowered to grant, without acquainting the pope therewith, all benefices that do not produce upwards of twenty-four ducats annually; but for such as amount to more, he is obliged to get the provisions signed by the pope, who admits him to audience every day. If there be several candidates for the same benefice, he has the liberty of bestowing it on which of them he thinks proper, provided he has the requisite qualifications. The datary has a yearly salary of two thousand crowns, exclusive of the perquisites, which he receives from those who apply to him for any benefice. This office has a substitute, named the sub-datary, who is likewise a prelate, and has a yearly pension of a thousand crowns but he is not allowed to confer any benefice, without acquainting the datary therewith. When a person has obtained the pope's consent for a benefice, the datary subscribes his petition with an annuit sanctissimus, i. e. the most holy father | consents to it. The pope's consent is subscribed in these words, Fiat ut petitur, i. e. Be it according to the petition. After the petition has passed the proper offices, and is registered, it is carried to the datary, who dates it, and writes these words-Datum Romæ apud, &c.: Given at Rome in the pontifical palace, &c. Afterwards the pope's bull, granting the benefice, is despatched by the datary, and passes through the hands of more than a thousand persons, belonging to fifteen different offices, who have all their stated fees. The reader may from hence judge how expensive it is to procure the pope's bull for a benefice, and what large sums go into the office of the datary, especially when the provisions, issued from thence, are for bishoprics, and other rich benefices.-Broughton.

DEACON. (See Bishop, Presbyter, Priest, Orders, Clergy.) The name Aiákovo, which is the original word for deacons, is sometimes used in the New Testament for any one that ministers in the service of GOD: in which large sense we sometimes find bishops and presbyters styled deacons, not only in the New Testament, but in ecclesiastical writers also. But here we take it for the name of the third order of the clergy in the Church. Deacons are styled by Ignatius, "ministers of the mysteries of Christ," adding that they are" not ministers of meats and drinks, but of the

DEACON.

Church of GOD." In another place he speaks of them as "ministers of JESUS CHRIST," and gives them a sort of presidency over the people, together with the bishops and presbyters. Cyprian speaks of them in the same style, calling them "ministers of episcopacy and the Church," and referring their origin to the Acts of the Apostles; and he asserts that they were called ad altaris ministerium, to the ministry and service of the altar. Optatus had such an opinion of them as to reckon their office a lower degree of the priesthood. At the same time it is to be observed, that in this he was singular. By those who regarded them as a sacred order, they were generally distinguished from priests by the name of ministers and Leuites. The ordination of a deacon differed in the primitive Church from that of a presbyter, both in the form and manner of it, and also in the gifts and powers that were conferred by the ordinance. In the ordination of a presbyter, the presbyters who were present were required to join in imposition of hands with the bishop. But the ordination of a deacon might be performed by the bishop alone, because, as the [fourth] Council of Carthage words it, he was ordained not to the priesthood, but to the inferior services of the Church: "quia non ad sacerdotium sed ad ministerium consecratur." It belonged to the deacons to take care of the holy table and all the ornaments and utensils appertaining thereto; to receive the oblations of the people, and present them to the priest; in some churches, to read the Gospel both in the communion service and before it also; to minister the consecrated bread and wine to the people in the eucharist; in some churches, to baptize; to act as directors to the people in public worship, for which purpose they were wont to use certain known forms of words, to give notice when each part of the service began, and to excite people to join attentively therein; to preach, with the bishop's licence; in extreme cases to reconcile the excommunicated to the Church; to attend upon the bishop, and sometimes to represent him in general councils. Deacons seem also to have discharged most of the offices which now devolve upon churchwardens. -Bingham.

The Church of England enjoins that none shall be admitted a deacon except he be twenty-three years of age, unless he have a faculty;" and she describes the duties of a deacon in her office as follows: "It appertaineth to the office of a deacon, in the church where he shall be appointed

DEACONESS.

to serve, to assist the priest in Divine service, and specially when he ministereth the holy communion, and to help him in the distribution thereof, and to read Holy Scripture and homilies in the church; and to instruct the youth in the catechism; in the absence of the priest to baptize infants, and to preach, if he be admitted thereto by the bishop. And, furthermore, it is his office, where provision is so made, to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell, unto the curate, that by his exhortation they may be relieved with the alms of the parishioners, or others."

In the rubric after the sentences of the Offertory, it is ordered, that "while these sentences are in reading, the deacons, churchwardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose, shall receive the alms for the poor," &c.

The deacon cannot pronounce the absolution, or minister at the holy communion, except as an assistant. And if the rubrics be strictly construed according to the letter, neither can he read the versicles before the Psalms, or after the LORD's Prayer, (at its second occurrence,) nor the latter part of the Litany, beginning at the LORD'S Prayer; nor any part of the Communion Service, except the Gospel, (not according to the rubric, however, but in virtue of the licence in the Ordination Service,) the Creed, and the confession. He is permitted to baptize only in the absence of the priest; and perhaps the same remark may apply to the other occasional offices.

DEACONESS. A woman who served the Church in those offices in which the deacons could not with propriety exercise themselves. This order was also appointed in the apostolic age. They were generally widows who had been only once married, though this employment was sometimes exercised by virgins. Their office consisted in assisting at the baptism of women, in previously catechizing and instructing them, in visiting sick persons of their own sex, and in performing all those inferior offices towards the female part of the congregation, which the deacons were designed to execute for the men. St. Paul (Rom. xvi.) speaks of Phœbe as servant, or deaconess, of the church at Cenchrea, which was a haven of Corinth. Deaconesses appear to be the same persons as those whom Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan, styles "ancillæ quæ ministræ dicebantur;" that is, " female attendants, called assistants, ministers, or servants." It appears, then, that these were

customary officers throughout the churches; and when the fury of persecution fell on Christians, these were among the first to suffer. They underwent the most cruel tortures, and even extreme old age was not spared. It is probable that they were blessed by the laying on of hands, but it is certain they were not permitted to execute any part of the sacerdotal office. This order continued in the Greek Church longer than in the Latin. It was generally disused in the Western Church in the fifth century, but continued in the Eastern Church until the twelfth. The deacon's wife appears sometimes to have been called a deaconess, as the presbyter's wife was styled presbytera, and the bishop's wife episcopa.

DEAD. (See Burial of the Dead.) If all our prayers and endeavours for our friend prove unavailable for the continuance of his life, we must with patience submit to the will of GOD, "to whom the issues of life and death belong :" and therefore, after recommending his soul to GOD, which immediately upon its dissolution returns to Him, it is fit we should decently dispose of his body, which is left to our management and care. Not that the dead are anything the better for the honours which we perform to their corpses (for we know that several of the ancient philosophers cared not whether they were buried or not; and the ancient martyrs of the Christian Church despised their persecutors for threatening them with the want of a grave). But those who survive could never endure that the shame of nature should lie exposed, nor see the bodies of those they loved become a prey to birds and beasts. For these reasons, the very heathens called it a Divine institution, and a law of the immortal gods. And the Romans especially had a peculiar deity to preside over this affair. The Athenians were so strict, that they would not admit any to be magistrates, who had not taken care of their parents' sepulture, and beheaded one of their generals after he had gotten a victory, for throwing the dead bodies of the slain, in a tempest, into the sea. And Plutarch relates, that, before they engaged with the Persians, they took a solemn oath, that, if they were conquerors, they would bury their foes; this being a privilege which even an enemy hath a right to, as being a debt which is owing to humanity.

2. It is true, indeed, the manner of funerals has varied according to the different customs of several countries; but all civilized nations have ever agreed in