DEPOSITION
749
DERBE
sposildon (1.)t in the ecclesiastical law of the em CliaTch, k the depriving a priest of the privi- ^ and. forbidding him to petform the duties of his Jon , l>ut not depriving him of orders. According te ancient discipline, the deposed person lost not his office and benefice forever, but he also forfeit- le privileges of his rank, and vraa reduced into the Bat since the 12th century, this extended mean- >f the tenn has been expressed by the word dtgra- f» ^q. ▼.^ ; at a later date, distinction was also made eeii verbal and the more solemn degradation. The r only was accompanied by the loss of the privileges erical rank. In daposUioii^ a hope for future rein- tment might be held out, or otherwise. In the ler case it was termed prtpottbn. In the depotiiio }etu€i, a simple judgment of the competent author- ieprives the guilty party forever of his privileges, jurisdiction, and his benefice, but he is still regard- as belonging to the clergy. The crimes which e pnniehed in this manner are murder, peijnry, in- ;, adultery, etc. Dep^mtion^ being-an act of juris- lon, can be inflicted by any diocesan bishop who been confirmed by the Pope, even though he be not aecrated. At the present day deposition cannot be icted, so far as the civil rights of parties are con- ned, without the consent of the secular authorities. Vetzer u. Welte, Kircken-Ltxikon^ iii, 107. 2.) In the Church of England, by Canon 122, sen- ce against a minister, of deposition from the minis- -, shall be pronounced by the bishop only, with the istance of his chancellor and dean (if they may con- nicntly be bad), and some of the prebendaries, if the lit be kept near the cathedral church; or of the ihdeacon, if he may be had conveniently, and two ler at least grave ministers and preachers to be cull- by the bishop, when the court is kept in other places. (8.) In Scotland, " the minister of a parish who has en guilty either of immortd and scandalous conduct, of preaching or otherwise publishing doctrines con- &rr to the standards of the church to which he has dared his adherence, or of contumaciously setting ide the authority of the Preshj'terian church-courts, ay be deposed from his holy oflice by the church- mrts. By this means he is deprived not only of his M^lcsiastiail dignity, but of the temporalities of his mefice (stat. 1692, c. 116), and the benefice becomes ftcant just as if he were dead. He may, however, be mtored to the exercise of the ministry, and to his po- tion as a minister of the Church, by the General As- jmbly, but he cannot, of course, be restored to his enefice ; and it is considered irregular that he should e so even by a new presentation by the patron, be- anse the stigma attached to his clmracter by his de- osition is likely to affect his usefulness. Where sen- ence of deposition is pronounced by an inferior chnrch- ourt, the judgment of which is reversed on appeal to he General Assembly, it is held that it 'had never »een pronounced ; but if the sentence be afilrmed, it akes efifect fW>m the date when it was prononnced by he inferior court, and IVom that date the minister's ight to the profits of bis benefice ceases. Sentence tf deposition cannot be pronounced by a presbytery in ;he absence of the minister, except by the authority )f the General Assembly'* (Chambers, Unrydopadiaf uv.).
(4.) The grounds of deposition in the Protestant Episcopal Church are stated in the 87th Canon of the Convention of 1882; and Canon 89 provides that, " 1. When any minister is degraded from the holy minis- try, he is degraded therefrom entirely, and not from tt higher to a lower order of the same. Deposition, ^splacing, and all like expressions, are the same as degradation. No degraded minister shall be restored to the ministry. 2. Whenever a clergyman shall be degraded, the bishop who pronounces sentence shall, without delay, give notice thereof to every minister &nd vestry in the diocese, and also to all the bishops
of this Church, and where there is no bishop, to the standing committee.*' See Discipline.
Depravity (Lat. prctuus), the moral crookedness and corruption of man's nature. The Scriptures de- scribe moral goodness and obedience as the pursuing of a straight or right line (hence the word "recti- tude"). Depravity is the turning aside out of that straight line. **It is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the ofispring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone {quam longiuimk, as far as possible to he wiihin reach of a recovery) from original righteousness," etc. (ixth Art of Rel. of Church of England ; viith of the M. E. Church). On the nature and extent of depravity, see Sin, Original.
Deprivation, the act of taking away from an ec- clesiastic any benefice or other spiritual preferment which he may hold (see Canon 122 Church of Kngland), " In England this may be done either (1) by a fen- tence declaratory in the proper court, on the ground of attainder or conviction of treason, felony, or any other infamous crime, or of conviction for heresy, in- fidelity, or gross immorality, or for farming or trading contrary to law, 1 and 2 Vict. c. 106, s. 81 ; or (2) in pursuance of divers penal statutes, which declare the benefice void for some nonfeasance or neglect, or elfe some malfeasance or crime, as simony ; for maintain- ing any doctrine in derogation of the king's suprema- cy, or of the Thirty-nine Articles, or the Book of Com- mon Prayer; for neglecting to read the liturgy and articles in the church, and to declare assent to the same, within two months after induction ; for Ufing any other form of prayer than the liturg}' of the Church of England; for continued neglect, after order from the bishop, followed by sequestration, to reside on the benefice. In these latter cases the benefice is void without any formal sentence of deprivation (Stephen's Comment, iii, 37). A bishop may be deprived of his bishopric, but cannot be deposed, the character of a bishop, like that of a priest, being indelible. The tri- bunal by which the bishop of Clogher was deprived in 1822 consisted of the archbishop and the other bishope of the province ; and this precedent having been estab- lished, would probably be adhered to on any future occasion, notwithstanding that the archbishop alone might have fUll authority to deprive" (Cripps's I.atos of the Church, p. 100). — Chambers, Eneychpcedia. See Degradation; DEPOsmoN.