The Duties of Wardens and Vestrymen. 99 per," "Mass,” "Mass," "Communion," "Eucharist," are only different names for one and the same thing. The Reformation in England was brought about on the distinct understanding that the Mass should not be abolished. In the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. the convenient popular title is preserved, "The Holy Communion, commonly called The Mass." NOTE 7.-THE DUTIES OF Wardens and Vestry MEN. The Wardens and Vestrymen of a Parish stand to the Parish and the community as the representative men of that Parish, the representative Churchmen in that community. Whatever, therefore, a Warden or Vestryman may do or not do officially, he is bound above all things to be a man of true and high character. Being an officer in the Church, he ought to be loyal to its doctrine and discipline, intelligent in its principles, and faithful to its traditions. He appreciates the value of the Church to the community, and in accepting the office binds himself to a reasonable devotion to the interests of the Parish. Beyond this, what are the duties of the Church Wardens? The ancient traditions are that by them "Churches be kept in sufficient reparations," "bread and wine be provided against every Communion," "loiterers be not suffered near the Church in time of Divine Service," and 66 disturbers of Divine Service be presented." These, with a few other traditions, suggest the Wardens' duties in three relations. 100 The Duties of Wardens and Vestrymen. (1) THE WARDENS have the care of the fabric of the church, parish-house and rectory. It is their duty to see not only that everything is kept in decent repair, but that the whole appearance of the buildings is worthy of God's temple. (2) The Wardens with the Rector prepare for the administration of the Holy Communion, and indeed for all the services of the Church. They are the body-guard of the Rector, ready to respond to any reasonable request, quick to aid him in his work, attentive to his interests. They "receive the alms in a decent basin and reverently bring it to the Priest." It is a dignified and representative act, that of the Wardens giving the alms of the people into the hands of the Priest. To the Wardens, as the representatives of the people, a wise Rector will turn for counsel, criticism, and advice. (3) The Wardens guard and assist the devotions of the congregation. Whatever tends toward edification-the seating of the people, the reception of strangers, the provision for Prayer Books and Hymnals falls within the Wardens' province. The VESTRYMEN, with the Wardens, and the Rector as their presiding officer, should form the standing or executive committee in the administration of the temporal and general affairs of the Parish; together they form the "Vestry.' Two or three points of the Vestry's duty are: (1) The Vestry as a body stands responsible for the financial condition of the Parish. The duty of raising money cannot be given over to the Rector or the Treasurer or some active vestryman. While one or another may take certain lines of work, the responsibility is with the whole Vestry; and no good Vestryman will hear the Treasurer report a Self-Examination on the Seven Deadly Sins. ΙΟΙ deficit or a delay in the payment of the Rector's salary without a sense of shame and a resolution that he will try to prevent its happening again. Above all other institutions, the Church should bear a high name for financial honor. Business integrity is essential to the efficiency of a Parish. When a Church depends upon fairs, entertainments, and spasmodic effort, it loses in dignity and influence throughout the community. When a Vestry develops and sustains with energy systematic and business-like methods for gathering in the income, it is surprising how steadily the amount increases; the prompt payment of the Rector's salary becomes possible, and there is cheer and buoyancy all along the line. (2) As the Vestry represents the Parish, the members of the Vestry should know personally a large proportion of the people of the Parish. If the people of the Parish knew their officers better, and the officers, being earnest and enthusiastic men, knew the whole people, there would be vastly more unity and more momentum to the Parish life than there is to-day. NOTE 8.-SELF-EXAMINATION DEADLY SINS. ON THE SEVEN "Sin is the transgression of the law." (I S. John iii., 4.) Sin is not outside the man; it is within him. There is no eternal principle of evil; nor is evil a real and positive thing detachable from personal agency. In the abstract it is difficult to comprehend what sin is, but our Mother the Church has a way of systematizing the truth which guards us from loose thought. She tells us that sin is at bottom selfishness; every sin can be traced straight back to self. 102 Self-Examination on the Seven Deadly Sins. CAPITAL, MORTAL, DEADLY.-These are the three titles of the following seven sins: Pride, Anger, Envy, Covetousness, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth. We may clearly understand their awful power by thinking of them as ROOT SINS, because they are the roots from which grows the rank tree of sin. The following diagram illustrates the teaching. Here sin is likened to a tree. Its many branches are many forms of evil. The base of the trunk into which both roots and branches may be traced we call SELF, and the seven roots we call the Seven Deadly Sins. A tree is not killed by lopping off a branch, but by destroying the root. It is similar in dealing with sin. A boy confesses to his father that he has told an untruth. A wise father will not say simply "That was wrong, and you must not tell a falsehood again," but he will examine his son carefully and find out the root sin that prompted him to tell the falsehood, and then by prayer and advice he will do all he can to help his son destroy the root sin. Our Prayer Book tells us that we must examine ourselves before we presume to receive the Holy Communion. There is no better basis or form for self-examination than these Seven Deadly Sins. It is one of the Church's methods. The average devotional handbook method of self-examination with page after page of questions is too introspective, and has a morbid tendency. (See Dr. Morgan Dix, "The Seven Deadly Sins.") I. 2. 3. 4. RULES FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. Pause. Realize the Presence of God. Repeat to yourself these seven roots of |