maker; but where possible it is better to set up the rope by means of a tackle to a strain approximate to what it will have to bear when in use, and whilst on the stretch mark it off in yards, as also the edge of the sail in yards, so that by bringing the marks together in roping the sail will stand flat. In the British navy the largest size of rope sewn on to a sail is 6 inches; sizes above this are used for foot and clew ropes of top-sails and courses, being first wormed, parcelled (that is, wound round with strips of worn canvas), tarred, and served over with spun yarn; the foot of the sail is then secured to it by being marled in. Where two sizes of bolt-rope used in roping a sail have to be connected, it is effected by a tapered splice. Cringles (similar to the handle of a maund) formed by a strand of bolt-rope, mostly having a galvanized iron thimble in them as a protection, are then stuck where necessary, as at the corners, sides or leeches, mast or luff; they are required either for making stationary or hauling “taut” by tackle or otherwise certain parts of the sail when in use. Fore-and-aft sails, such as spankers, gaff-sails, and storm try-sails, are reduced in size by reef-points made of stout line (4 to 20 ), crow-footed in the middle, a hole being pierced through every seam; one-half of the point is passed through and the crowfoot sewn firmly to the sail; the number of reefs depends upon the size of the sail, and the reefs are placed parallel to the foot. The sails—now finished in respect of making—have to be fitted, that is, such ropes have to be attached to each of them as are necessary for proper use; such ropes may be summarily stated as follows:—head-earings, robands, reef-earings, reef-lines, spilling and slab lines, reef-tackle pendant, reef-points, bow-line bridles, bunt-line toggles, bunt-becket, leech-line strops and toggles, toggles in clews, sheet ropes, down-haul, lacings, head and stay, tack-rope (gaff top-sail), tack lashing, bending strops, matting, and gaskets.
The tools and appliances of a sailmaker are not very numerous:—a bench about 7 feet long and 15 inches high, upon which he sits to perform the greater part of his work; palms for seaming and roping to fit the hand, made of hide lined with leather, a plate properly tempered being fixed in it having chambers to catch the head of the needle, thus acting as a thimble in forcing it through the several parts of canvas in seaming, and between the strands and through the canvas in roping; needles of various sizes, that for seaming being the smallest; and fids, splicing, serving, and stretching knife, rubber, sail-hook, bobbin for twine, and sundry small articles. (e. je.)
SAINFOIN (Onobrychis sativa) is a low-growing perennial plant with a woody root-stock, whence proceed the stems, which are covered with fine hairs and bear numerous long pinnate leaves, the segments of which are elliptic. The flowers are borne in close pyramidal or cylindrical clusters on the end of long stalks. Each flower is about half an inch in length with lanceolate calyx-teeth shorter than the corolla, which latter is papilionaceous, pink, with darker stripes of the same colour. The indehiscent pods or legumes are flattened from side to side, wrinkled, somewhat sickle-shaped and crested, and contain only a single seed. In Great Britain the plant is a native of the calcareous districts of the southern counties, but elsewhere it is considered as an escape from cultivation. It is native throughout the whole of central Europe and Siberia; but it does not seem to have been cultivated in Great Britain till 1651, when it was introduced from France or French Flanders, its French name being retained. It is grown as a forage plant, being especially well adapted for dry limestone soils. It has about the same nutritive value as lucerne, and is esteemed for milch cattle and for sheep in winter. Sinclair speaks in high terms of its value for this latter purpose.
SAINT. The New Testament writers have much to say about the relations of the “saints” (as members of the various churches are usually called) with their living contemporaries, but are comparatively reticent on their duties and privileges with regard to their departed brethren. Long before the close of the 4th century, however, certain very definite practices in the way of commemoration and invocation had sprung up, which ultimately found doctrinal expression in the authoritative documents alike of the Eastern and of the Western Church. (1) Commemoration.—Under Funeral Rites, Manes, &c., allusion has already been made to the ancient custom of visiting the tombs of deceased relatives at certain periods and there offering various gifts. With certain modifications, this practice was retained by the early Christians; they celebrated the Eucharist at or near the grave, laid oblations on the altar in the name of the departed, and in the pre-communion prayer made supplication for the peace of their souls. Thus among the usages “originated by tradition, strengthened by custom, observed by faith,” Tertullian (De Cor. Mil., 3; comp. De Exh. Cast., 11) mentions “the offerings we make for the dead as often as the anniversary comes round” (comp. Sacrifice, p. 139). If such commemoration was usual in domestic circles, it was little likely to be omitted by Christian congregations in the case of those who had “spoken to them the word of God,” least of all when the bishop had also been, as was so often the case, a martyr. In the very instructive document of the 2d century, preserved by Eusebius (H. E., iv. 15), in which the martyrdom of Polycarp (q.v.) is described, we are told that the followers of the martyr, having taken up the bones, deposited them “where it was proper that they should be.” “There also, as far as we can, the Lord will grant us to assemble and celebrate the natal day of his martyrdom in joy and gladness.” Cyprian (Ep., 36) exhorts that the days of death of those who have died in prison should be carefully noted for the purpose of celebrating their memory annually; and all the earliest extant liturgies contain commemorations of the departed. The names to be commemorated were written on the diptychs (see Diptych). (2) Invocation.—It is not difficult to understand how a belief in the efficacy of the prayers of departed saints—especially of martyrs—should at an early date have taken a practical form. Martyrs were believed to pass into the immediate presence of God, and the supposed nature of their claims there is not dimly indicated in the document already referred to, which once and again speaks of Polycarp as “a noble victim selected from the flock,” “a rich and acceptable sacrifice to God.” The readers of Cyprian are familiar with the use made of the intercession of living “martyrs” by the lapsed to secure their reconciliation with the church; but positive evidence of the intercession of the dead being invoked for obtaining favour with God is not forthcoming so soon. Perhaps, indeed, Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 350) is the earliest author to make express allusion to the practice (Cat. Myst., v. 9): “we commemorate . . . patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, . . . that God at their prayers and intercessions (πρεσβείαις) would receive our supplications.” In the liturgies, however, the oblation still continued to be offered “for all martyrs and confessors” as well as for others, and Augustine was the first to declare (In Joann., Tract. 84) that “at the table of the Lord we do not commemorate martyrs in the same way that we do others who rest in peace so as to pray for them, but rather that they may pray for us that we may follow in their footsteps.”
For the subsequent development of Catholic practice see the various church histories; compare also Canonization, Litany, Relics, Image Worship, &c. Previous to the Reformation ecclesiastical legislation mainly sought to check the popular tendency towards something like polytheism. The Tridentine doctrine is “that the saints who reign along with Christ are to be honoured and invoked, that they offer prayers for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.” All the churches of the Reformation, on the other hand, while in one form or another commemorating “all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear,” practically concur in the teaching of the Church of England (Art. xxii.), that “the Romish doctrine concerning. . . invocation of saints” is “a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God.”
