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le jaw is made fast by a key. -- Power of the keys (Eccl.), the authority claimed by the ministry in some Christian churches to administer the discipline of the church, and to grant or withhold its privileges; -- so called from the declaration of Christ, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Matt.…

Of or pertaining to ministry or service; serving; attendant. Enlightening spirits and ministerial flames. Prior.

See Ministry. Milton.

The act of ministering; service; ministry. "The days of his ministration." Luke i. 23.

t with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; to introduce into the office of the Christian ministry, by the laying on of hands, or other forms; to set apart by the ceremony of ordination. Meletius was ordained by Arian bishops. Bp. Stillingfleet.

cclesiastical grade or rank, as of deacon, priest, or bishop; the office of the Christian ministry; -- often used in the plural; as, to take orders, or to take holy orders, that is, to enter some grade of the ministry.

The act of setting apart to an office in the Christian ministry; the conferring of holy orders.

ho makes all payments and disbursements, civil as well as military. He is a member of the ministry, but not of the cabinet.

Plymouth, England, about 1830. They protest against sectarianism, and reject all official ministry or clergy. Also called Brethren, Christian Brethren, Plymouthists, etc. The Darbyites are a division of the Brethren.

One ordained to the second order in the ministry; -- called also priest. I rather term the one sort presbyter than priest. Hooker. New presbyter is but old priest writ large. Milton.

as the meridian of Greenwich or Washington. -- Prime minister, the responsible head of a ministry or executive government; applied particularly to that of England. -- Prime mover. (Mech.) (a) A natural agency applied by man to the production of power. Especially: Muscular force; the weight and motion of fluids, as wa…

sect of the 17th century, in Great Britain, who professed to be seeking the true church, ministry, and sacraments. A skeptic [is] ever seeking and never finds, like our new upstart sect of Seekers. Bullokar.

cerning faith have made shipwreck. 1 Tim. 1. 19. It was upon an Indian bill that the late ministry had made shipwreck. J. Morley.

mysteriously, as if by the agency of a spirit; to kidnap; -- often with away, or off. The ministry had him spirited away, and carried abroad as a dangerous person. Arbuthnot & Pope. I felt as if I had been spirited into some castle of antiquity. Willis. Spiriting away (Law), causing to leave; the offense of inducing a…

erve as so many stays for their vines. Addison. Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry. Coleridge.

One of an order of priests established in France in 1642 to educate men for the ministry. The order was introduced soon afterwards into Canada, and in 1791 into the United States. [Written also Sulpitian.]

o suspend a member of a club. Good men should not be suspended from the exercise of their ministry and deprived of their livelihood for ceremonies which are on all hands acknowledged indifferent. Bp. Sanderson.

of the authors of the three synoptic Gospels, which give a history of our Lord's life and ministry, in distinction from the writer of John's Gospel, which gives a fuller record of his teachings.

ake orders. (a) To receive directions or commands. (b) (Eccl.) To enter some grade of the ministry. See Order, n., 10. -- To take out. (a) To remove from within a place; to separate; to deduct. (b) To draw out; to remove; to clear or cleanse from; as, to take out a stain or spot from cloth. (c) To produce for one's se…

A call to special religious work, as to the ministry. Every member of the same [the Church], in his vocation and ministry. Bk. of Com. Prayer.