The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-08
ANoINTED OF THE LORD.

! JNf' 'hl iNtiJ 0PNbhlllS tliNiV o'N ''' N''NN
 modern times only three temporal soN
 ereigns who can be thus described
 namely, the rulers of Hungary, of Rus
 sia and of Great Britain, who represer
 three of the great Christian denomlna
 tions-the Orthodox, the Roman Catho
 tic and the Anglican churches-th
 occupants of the other thrones of Flu
 rope dispense with the use of the hol
 oils. Some. indeed, like the Germa
 kaiser, the kings of Spain, Italy, Wur
 temburg, Portugal and Belgium, as wei
 as the queen regent of Holland, go
 step further, and do not even conside
 it necessary to have themselve
 crowned, regarding the ceremony no
 only as archaic, but likewise as ana
 chronstic.
 While admitting that there is cer
 tain amount of truth in this argument
 it must be confessed that if the time
 honored and historic ceremony of cor
 onation is to be retained, it is pity tt
 deprive it of one of it's most impressive
 picturesque and solemn features-tht
 feature, indeed, that is the most DOT
 tentous with meaning and that is ot
 most ancient origin, namely the anoint.
 Ing Of the sovereign
 Just at the present moment a bitter
 controversy is raging in England with
 regard to the anointing of King Edward
 and Queen Alexandra on the occasion
 of their coronation next June There
 are many, especially those belonging to
 the Methodost, Baptist and similar dis
 senting denominations, as well as the
 Low Church and evangelical element of the Established Church of England, Wha insist that the amounting of the
 king and queen should be omitted alto
 gether on the ground that the twenty
 fifth of the "rhirty-nine Articles" that constitute the charter and canon law of the Anglican church expressly denies the claim of the Roman Catholic and orthodox churches to the effect that the holy oils are to be counted among the saeraments, denouncing the doctrine as having grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles
 Then, again, there are others who are content that the king and queen shall be anointed with oil, but who deprecate the use of the chrism in connection with the affair. The chrism has not been employed for the anointlng of the Brit ish sovereigns since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, who, as every one knows, was most uncompromising foe of the Roman Catholic church. Her successor, King James, and all the oth- CT kings and queens who followed him on the throne of Great Britain, were content to be anointed with oil alone But the High Church party-that Is to say, the Ritualst branch of the Church of England-urges the revival of the use of the chrism. and both Edward VII. and his consort are reported to be disposed to accede to these views,
 The G6rism is a compound of oil and balsam, forming a sweet ointment. The balSam is kind of perfumed resin, produced by tree which grows in Pal estine and Arabia, and was exclusively | employed until the sixteenth century, 1 when Popes Paul III and Plus w. per l mitted the use of better form of balm | brought by the Spaniards from the new | world
 The amounting of monarehs in token of their sovereignty antedates the Christian era by many hundreds of | years. According to the Old Testament the kings of Israel and of Judea were enthroned by means of anointment with oil, and the expression 1 "Anointed of the Lord" is even used by the Bible in connection with pagan dulers. as Cyrus. the ruler of Persia. is described in that fashion in the Scrip lures. The earliest authentic instances of unction as a feature of Christian cor onations appears in the annals of Spain and is described in "The Acts of | the Sixth Council of Totdo," held in the l seventh century, The old Saxon kings l were all anointed, and in the chronicles | Df Robert of Gloucester, Alfred the Great is described as having been oiled to be king" Pepin was the first king of France to be anointed king by Pope stephen H. while Pope Leo TIT. Charlemagne as emperor in ! St Peter's, on November "A, 800, from he head to the feet, according to the 1 { 'ustom prescribed by the Jewish law" I lsine the words, With this holy oil { thee emperor of the Romans i n the name of the Father, the Son and ! he Holy Ghost" f This phrase indicates that the anont- ! ng of monarehs is performed with the c biect of consecrating them as rulers, 1 [ nd symbolizes the idea of the divine | ight of kings. and the doctrine so fre- T uently voiced by the present kaiser hat sovereiens are responsible for their onduct to no one but to the Almighty, C rom Whom alone they hold their au- , horty. King Edward, more fortunate than k ,ing Richard L. who was stripped to P is shirt and drawers to receive the u nointment, will wear a sort of shirt of rimson carsenet, with holes, where the W oil can be applied to his arms ie nd breast. The head, breast and arms a re anointed in turn, denoting glory, > lnctity and strength, and it is worthy | :, : note that whereas, in the case of the o' zar the anointment follows the coro- ation, in England, in Hungary and rmerly in France, the "oilng'' of the ! onarch precedes the coronation. A For the anointment of King Edward e Archbishop of Canterbury, Prmate
 Ali England will use the so-calei n, lmpulla, which with the golden spoon nj institutes the most ancient portion of II, Q British regala. It is stated that 1 ar hen St Thomas-a Beckett the mar lx, red Archbishop of Canterbury, was in ,rt nishment at Lyons, and was praying ro e night in a church, the Virgin ap- Tr ared to him with gold dove and he nall vial of chrism, which she deIiv- l oo ed to him. assuring him of tho hon