changed, or of their receiving an addi-
tional name, when they were admitted into
covenant with God, or into a new relation
with our blessed Lord ; and it was at cir-
cumcision, which answered, in many re-
s))ects, to baptism in the Christian Church,
that the Jews gave a name to their chil-
dren. This custom was adopted into the
Christian Church, and we find very ancient
instances of it recorded. For example,
Thascius Cyprian, at his baptism, changed
his first name to Ctecilius, out of respect
for the presbyter who was his spiritual
father. The custom is still retained, a
name being given by the godfather and
godmother of each child at ba])tism, by
which name he is addressed by the minis-
ter when he receives that holy sacrament.
(See JJaptiswal Service.)
Our Christian names serve to remind us
176 CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS.
CHURCH.
of the duties and privileges on which we
entered at baptism. Our surname is a
memorial of original sin, or of the nature
which we bring into the world.
CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS.
(See Thomas, St., Christians of.)
CIIKISTMAS DAY. The 2oth De-
cember; the day on which the universal
Church celebrates the nativity or birthday
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The observance of this day in the Western
Church is most ancient, although we may
not give much belief to the statement of
the forged decretal epistles, that Telesi-
phorus, who lived in the reign of Antoni-
nus Pius, ordered Divine service to be
celebrated, and an angelical hymn to be
sung, the night before the nativity. While
the persecution raged under Diocletian,
who ke])t his court at Nicomedia, that ty-
rant, among other acts of cruelty, finding
multitudes of Christians assembled together
to celebrate the nativity of Christ, com-
manded the church doors to be shut, and
fire put to the building, which soon re-
duced them and the place to ashes. In
the East it was for some time confounded
with the Epiphany; and St. Chrysostom
mentions that it was only about his time
that it became a distinct festival at An-
tioch.
The Athanasian Creed is ordered to be
said or sung on this day. This is one of
the days for which the Church of England
appoints special psalms, and a special pre-
face in the Communion Service : and if it
fall on a Friday, that Friday is not to be
a fast day. — Cave. Bingham.
It is one of the scarlet days -at Oxford
and Cambridge : and in cathedrals and
choirs the responses and litany (if to be
used) ought to be solemnly sung to the
organ. In the First Book of King Edward,
there were separate Collects, Epistles, and
Gospels appointed for the first and second
communion on this and on Easter day.
The chronological correctness of keeping
the birthday of our Lord on the 25th of
December, has been demonstrated in a
most careful analysis, by the late lamented
Dr. Jarvis, in his Chronological Introduc-
tion to the Jliston/ of the Church. — Jebb.
CHRISTOLYTES. {Xpi<TTo\irni, sejmr-
ators of Christ.) A sect in the sixth cen-
tury, which held, that when Christ de-
scended into hell, he left his soul and
body there, and only rose with his Divinity
to heaven.
CHRISTOPHOEI and THEOPHORI,
[XpiffTotpSpoi Kai Qeocpdpoi, Christ-bearers and
God-bearers,) names given to Christians in
the earhest times, on account of the com-
munion between Christ, who is God, and
the Church. Ignatius commences his Epis-
tles thus, 'lyvciTioQ 6 Kal OsocpopoQ : and it is
related in the acts of his mai'tyrdom, that
hearing him called Theophorus, Trajan
asked the meaning of the name ; to which
Ignatius replied, it meant one that carries
Christ in his heart. " Dost thou then,"
said Trajan, " carry him that was crucified
in thy heart ? " " Yes," said the holy mar-
tyr, " for it is written, I will dwell in them,
and walk in them."
CHRONICLES. Two canonical books
of the Old Testament. They contain the
history of about 3500 years, from the cre-
ation until after the return of the Jews
from Babylon. They are fuller and more
comprehensive than the Books of Kings.
The Greek interpreters hence call them
Uapa\inro[iiva, supplements, additions. The
Jews make but one book of the Chronicles,
under the title Dibree hajamin, i. e. journal
or annals. Ezra is generally supposed to
be the author of these books. The Chroni-
cles, or Paraleipomena, are an abridgment,
in fact, of the whole Scripture history. St.
Jerome so calls it, " Omnis traditio Scrip-
turarum in hoc continetur.''^ The First Book
contains a genealogical account of the de-
scent of Israel from Adam, and of the reign
of David. The Second Book contains the
history of Judah to the very year of the
Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity
— the decree of Cyrus granting them li-
berty being in the last chapter of this
Second Book.
CHURCH. (See Catholic.) The word
church is derived from the Greek KvpiaKog {be-
longing to the Lord) — the Teutonic nations
having, at their first conversion, generally
adopted the Greek ecclesiastical terms. The
truth of this etymology is confirmed by the
fact, that in the Sclavonic languages the
names for the Church resemble the Teutonic,
evidently because derived from a common
Greek original. The Church, meaning by
the word the Catholic or Universal Church,
is that society which was instituted by our
blessed Lord, and completed by his apos-
tles, acting under the guidance of the HOLY
Spirit, to be the depository of Divine
truth and the channel of Divine grace.
Every society, or organized community,
may be distinguished from a mere multi-
tude or accidental concourse of people, by
having a founder, a form of admission, a
constant badge of membership, peculiar
duties, peculiar privileges, and regularly
appointed officers. Thus the Catholic
Church has the Lord Christ for its
founder ; its prescribed form of admission
is the holy sacrament of baptism ; its con-
CHURCH.
CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA. 177
stant badge of membership is the holy sa-
crament of the eucharist ; its peculiar
duties are repentance, faith, obedience ; its
peculiar privileges, union with Goi),through
Christ its Head, and hereby forgiveness
of sins, present grace, and future glory ;
its officers are bishops and priests, assisted
by deacons, in regular succession from the
apostles, the first constituted officers of
this body corporate. It has the Bible for
its code of laws, and tradition for prece-
dents, to aid its officers in the interpreta-
tion of that code on disputed points. It is
through the ordinances and sacraments of
the Church, administered by its divinely
appointed officers, that we are brought
into union and communion with the in-
visible Saviour ; it is through the visible
body that we are to receive communica-
tions from the invisible Spirit ; and, says
the apostle, in the fourth chapter to the
Ephesiaus, "There is," not merely one
Spirit, "there is one body afid one Spirit,
even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling." Again, (1 Cor. x. 17,) " We being
many are one bread and one body." And
in the first chapter to the Colossians, the
same apostle tells us that this body is the
Church. And thus we must, if we are
scriptural Christians, beheve that there is
one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Of this one Church there are many
branches existing in various parts of the
world, (not to mention the great division
of militant and triumphant,) just as there
is one ocean, of which portions receive a
particular designation from the shores
which they lave. But of this one society
there cannot be tvro branches in one and
the same place opposed to each other,
either in discipline or in doctrine. Al-
though there be two opposing societies or
more in one place, both or all claiming to
be Christ's Church in that place, yet w^e
are quite sure that only one of them can
be the real Church. So here, in this realm
of England, speaking natmially, there is
but one Church, over which the arch-
bishops of Canterbury and York, with
their sufi"ragans, preside : and in each dio-
cese there is only that one Church, over
which the diocesan presides, a branch of
the national Church, as the national is a
branch of the universal Church ; and
again, in each parish there is but one
Church, forming a branch of the diocesan
Church, over which the parochial minister
presides.
" Religion being, therefore, a matter
partly of contemplation, partly of action, we
must define the Church, which is a religious
society, by such diff'erences as do projicrly
explain the essence of such things ; that is
to say, by the object or matter whereabout
the contemplation and actions of the Church
are projicrly conversant ; for so all know-
ledge and all virtues are defined. Where-
upon, because the onln oh/ecl which sepa-
rateth ours from other religions is Jksus
Christ, in whom none but the Church
doth believe, and whom none but the
Church doth worship, we find that accord-
ingly the apostles do everywhere distin-
guish hereby the Church from infidels and
from Jews, accounting them which call
upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
to be his Church."— 7/oo7i-er's Heel. Pol.
Hooker's assertion as to the Church in this
country must be so far modified, that now,
by change of political circumstances, the
Churches of England and Ireland are
politically united, and form but one Church,
over which two primates, that of Canter-
bury and Armagh, of co-ordinate jurisdic-
tion, preside, with other archbishops and
suff'ragans, &c. — Jebb.
CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA.
It is not possible, in such a publication
as this, to give an account of the various
branches of the one Catholic Church,
which are to be found in the various parts
of the world; but it would be improper
not to notice the Church in the United
States of America, since it is indebted for
its existence, under the blessing of the
Great Head of the Church Universal,
to the missionary labours of the Church of
England ; or rather we should say, of
members of that Church acliiig under the
sanction of their bishops, and formed into
the Spciety for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts. Before the
American Revolution it can scarcely be
said that the Church existed in our Ame-
rican colonies. There were congregations
formed chiefly through the Society just
mentioned, and the clergy w'ho ministered
in these congregations were under the
superintendence of the bishop of London.
We may say that the first step taken for
the organization of the Church was after
the termination of the revolutionary war,
at a meeting of a few of the clergy of New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, at
New Brunswick,' N. Y., in May, 1784.
Though this meeting was called on other
business, yet the project of a general
union of the churches throughout the
States became a topic of sufficient in-
terest to lead to the calling of another
meeting, to be held in October following,
in the city of New York. At this latter
meeting, " although the members com-
posing it were not vested with powers
178
CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA.
adequate to the present exif^encies of the
Church, they happily, and with great una-
nimity, laid down a few general principles
to be recommended in the respective States,
as the ground on which a future ecclesi-
astical government should be established."
It was also recommended that the several
States should send clerical and lay depu-
ties to a future meeting in Philadelphia,
on September the twenty-seventh, of the
following year. In the interim, the
churches of Connecticut, having made
choice of the Rev. Dr. Seabury for a bi-
shop, he had proceeded to England with
a view to consecration. In this applica-
tion he was not successful, the English
bishops having scruples, partly of a poli-
tical nature, and partly relative to the re-
ception with which a bishop might meet,
under the then imperfect organization of
the Church in America. Resort was
therefore had to the Church in Scotland,
where Dr. Seabury received consecration
in November, 1784.
According to appointment, the first
general convention assembled in 1785,
in Philadelphia, with delegates from seven
of the thirteen States. At this conven-
tion measures were taken for a revisal of
the Prayer Book, to adapt it to the poli-
tical changes which had recently taken
place ; articles of union were adopted ; an
ecclesiastical constitution was framed ; and
the first steps taken for the obtaining of
an episcopate direct from the Church of
England.
In June, 1786, the convention again
met in Philadelj)hia. A correspondence
having meanwhile been carried on with
the archbishops and bishops of the English
Church, considerable dissatisfaction was
expressed on their part relative to some
changes in the liturgy, and to one point
of importance in the constitution. The
latter of these was satisfied by the pro-
ceeding of the then session, and the for-
mer were removed by reconsideration in
a special convention summoned in October
in the same year. It soon appearing that
Dr. Provoost had been elected to the
episcopate of New York, Dr. AVhite to
that of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Griffith for
Virginia, testimonials in their favour were
signed by the convention. The two former
sailed for England in November, 1786,
and were consecrated at Lambeth on the
4th of February in the following year, by
the ISIost Reverend John Moore, arch-
bishop of Canterbury. Before the end
of the same month they sailed for New
York, where they arrived on Easter Sun-
day, April 7th, 1787.
In July, 1789, the general convention
again assembled. The episcopacy of
Bishops White and Provoost was recog-
nised ; the resignation of Dr. Griffith, as
bishop elect of Virginia, was received ;
and in this and an adjourned meeting of
the body, in the same year, the constitution
of 1786 was remodelled; union was happily
effected with Bishop Seabury and the
northern clergy ; the revision of the Prayer
Book was completed ; and the Church
already gave promise of great future pros-
perity. In September, 1790, Dr. Madison
was consecrated bishop of Virginia at
Lambeth in England, by the same arch-
bishop, who, a few years before, had im-
parted the apostolic commission to Drs.
"White and Provoost. There being now
three bishops of the English succession,
besides one of the Scotch, everything
requisite for the continuation and exten-
sion of the episcopacy was complete.
Accordingly the line of American conse-
cration opened in 1792, with that of Dr.
Claggett, bishop elect of Maryland. In
1795 Dr. Smith was consecrated for South
Carolina ; in 1797 the Rev. Edward Bass,
for Massachusetts, and in the same year
Dr. Jarvis, for Connecticut, that diocese
having become vacant by the death of
Bishop Seabury. From that time the
consecration of bishops has proceeded
according to the wants of the Church,
without impediment, to the present day.
At the beginning of the present century
the Church had become permanently
settled in its organization, and its stabi-
lity and peace w'ere placed on a secure
footing. In 1811 there were already eight
bishops and about two hundi*ed and thirty
other clergymen distributed through thir-
teen States. A spirit of holy enterprise
began to manifest itself in measures for
the building up of the Church west of the
Alleghany Mountains, and in other por-
tions of the country, where heretofore it
had maintained but a feeble existence.
The ministry numbers in its ranks men of
the first intellectual endowments, and of
admirable self-devotion to the cause of the
gospel. With a steady progress, unawed
by the assaults of sectarianism and the
reproaches of the fanatic, the Church
gradually established itself in the affec-
tions of all who came with a spirit of can-
dour to the examination of her claims.
The blessing of her Great Head w^as
apparent, not only in the peace which
adorned her councils, but in the demands
w^hich were continually made for a wider
extension of her influence. Hence the
establishment of the General Theological
CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
179
Seminary by Bishop Ilobart (1817—1821),
and afterwards of the Domestic and Foreign
Missionary Society (1885) ; both of -wliich
institutions were instrumental in providing
heralds of the gospel for the distant places
of the West. These were followed by the
diocesan seminaries of Virginia, Ohio, and
Kentucky, and efforts for the founding of
several in other dioceses. At the general
convention of 1835, the whole Church
assumed the position of one grand mis-
sionary organization, and has already her
bands of missionaries labouring in the
cause of the Church in the remotest dis-
tricts of the country ; and her banner has
been lifted up in Africa, China, Greece,
and other foreign parts. The year 1852
was distinguished by remarkable demon-
strations of communion between the
Churches of England and America. The
American Church, in token of her con-
nexion Avith the mother Church, and of
gratitude for benefits received from the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
while the American States were part of
the British dominions, deputed Bishop
M'Coski-y, of Michigan, and Bishop De
Lancey, of "Western New York, to attend
the third Jubilee of the Society. These
bishops were received in England Avith cor^
dial affection, and the bishop of Michigan
preached the Jubilee Sermon at St. Paul's
cathedi-al. A few months later the Eng-
lish bishop Fulford, of Montreal, shared
in consecrating Dr. Wainwright, who had
been a member of the deputation to Eng-
land, coadjutor bishop of Eastern New
York. In 1853 Bishop Spenser, Arch-
deacon Sinclair, and the Kev. Ernest
Hawkins, were deputed by the Society for
Propagating the Gospel to return the visit
of the American prelates, and were re-
ceived with great cordiality by the general
convention of the American Church. An
attempt to excite a llomanizing spirit on
the part of a few half-educated persons has
signally failed, by the suppression, for want
of support, of the Journal they established.
With her 37 bishops, 2000 clergy, and
more than 2,000,000 of lay members;
with her numerous societies for the spread
of the Bible and the Liturgy ; and with her
institutions of learning, and presses con-
stantly pouring out the light of the truth,
may we not predict, under the Divine pro-
tection, a day of coming prosperity, when
Zion shall be a praise in all the earth ;
when her temples and her altars shall be
seen on the far-off shores of the Pacific ;
when even " the wilderness and the soli-
tary place shall be glad for them, and the de-
sert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose ?"
N 2
For a more detailed history of the
Church in America, the reader may con-
sult Bishop Whitens Memoirs of the Pro-
t ('Slant and J^piscopal Church in America ;
CastcaWs America and the American
Church : the Ilistorij of the Church in
America in the Christian'' s Miscellany ;
and the more recent Ilistorj/ hy Uishop
Wilhcrforce, published in the Enylish-
man\s Library.
CHUBCH OF ENGLAND. (See
Anr/lo-CathoIic Church.) By the Church
of England Ave mean that branch of the
Catholic Church Avhich is established under
its canonical bishops in England. Pro-
perly speaking, at present it forms only a
branch of the united Church of England
and Ireland. When and by Avhom the
Church Avas first introduced into Britain
is not exactly ascertained, but it has been
inferred from Eusebius that it Avas first
established here by the apostles and their
disciples ; some haA'e supposed, by St. Paul.
According to Archbishop Usher, there Avas
a school of learning to provide the British
churches Avith proper teachers in the year
182. But Avhen the Britons Avere conquer-
ed by the Anglo-Saxons, Avho Avere hea-
thens, the Church Avas persecuted, and the
professors of Christianity Avere either driven
to the mountains of AVales, or reduced to
a state of slavery. The latter circum-
stances prepared the Avay for the conversion
of the conquerors, Avho, seeing the pious
and regular deportment of their slaves,
soon learned to respect their religion. We
may gather this fact from a letter written
by Gregory, the bishop of Home, in the
sixth century, to tAvo of the kings of France,
in Avhich he states that the English nation
Avas desirous of becoming Christian ; and
in Avhich he, at the same time, complains
to those monarchs of the remissness of
their clergy in not seeking the conA'ersion
of their neighbours. And hence it Avas
that Gregory, Avith that piety and zeal for
Avhich he Avas pre-eminently distinguished,
sent over Augustine, and about forty
missionaries, to England, to labour in the
good Avork. The success of these mission-
aries, the Avay having thus been paved
before them, Avas most satisfactory. They
converted Ethelbert, Avho Avas not only
king of Kent, but BrtctAvalda, or chief of
the Saxon monarchs. His exam])le Avas
soon folloAved by the kings of Essex and
East Anglia, and gradually by the other
sovereigns of JMigland.
The successful Augustine then Avent
over to Aries in France, Avhere he Avas
consecrated by the prelate of that see ;
and, returning, became the first archbishop
180
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
of Canterbury, the patriarch and metro-
politan of the Church of England. His
see was immediately endowed with large
revenues by King Ethelbert, v\-ho likewise
established, at the instance of the arch-
bishop, the dioceses of Rochester and Lon-
don. Another portion of â– the Anglo-
Saxons were converted by the Scottish
bishops. And thus gradually the Anglo-
Saxon kings created bishoprics equal in
size to their kingdoms. And the example
was followed by their nobles, who convert-
ed their estates into parishes, erecting fit
places of worship, and endowing them with
tithes.
It is a great mistake to suppose, as some
do, that the old churches in England were
built or endowed by laws of the state or
acts of parliament. They were the fruit
of the piety of individuals of all ranks,
]n-inces and nobles, and private citizens.
This fact accounts for the unequal sizes
of our dioceses and parishes : the dioceses
were (though sul)sequently subdivided) of
the same extent as the dominions of the
respective kings ; the parishes correspond-
ed with the estate of the patrons of par-
ticular churches. Nor was the regard of
those by whom the Church was established
and endowed, confined to the spiritual
edification of the poor ; no, they knew that
righteousness exalteth a nation, and esti-
mating properly the advantages of infusing
a Christian spirit into the legislature, they
summoned the higher order of the clergy
to take part in the national councils.
From those times to these, an uninter-
rupted series of valid ordinations has
carried down the apostolical succession in
our Church.
That in the Church of England purity
of doctrine was not always retained may be
readily admitted. In the dark ages, when
all around was dark, the Church itself
suffered from the universal gloom : this
neither our love of truth, nor our wishes,
will permit us to deny. About the seventh
century the pope of JRome began to estab-
lish an interest in our Church. The
interference of the prelate of that great
see, before he laid claim to any dominion
of right, was at first justifiable, and did
not exceed just bounds, while it con-
tributed much to the propagation of the
gospel. That the bishop of Rome was
justified as a Christian bishop, of high
influence and position, in endeavouring to
aid the cause of Christianity here in Eng-
land, while England was a heathen na-
tion, will not be disputed by those who
recognise the same right in the archbishop
of Canterbury with -respect to foreign
heathens. But, in after ages, what was
at first a justifiable interference was so in-
creased as to become an intolerable usurp-
ation. This interference was an usurp-
ation because it was expressly contrary to
the decisions of a general council of the
Church, and such as the Scripture con-
demns, in that the Scripture places all
bishops on an equality ; and so they ought
to continue to be, except where, for the
sake of order, they voluntarily consent to
the appointment of a president or arch-
bishop, who is nothing more than a primus
i7iter pares, a Jirst among equals. This
usurpation for a time continued, and with
it were introduced various corriiptions, in
doctrine as well as in discipline.
At length, in the reign of Henry VIII.,
the bishops and clergy accorded with the
laity and government of England, and
threw off the yoke of the usurping pope