The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia by William James Miller (thriller books to read .TXT) 📕

Bible divided into chapters 1252

Wickliffe and his work 1377-1384

First book printed, a Latin Bible, at Mentz 1450

Martin Luther and his work 1517-1546

John Calvin 1530-1564 {58}

English Reformation 1534-1559

First English Prayer Book set forth 1549

Present authorized version of the Bible 1611

Present English Prayer Book set forth 1662

Church introduced into America 1578-1607

Bishop Seabury consecrated in Scotland first
  American Bishop 1784

Three additional Bishops consecrated in England for
  American Church 1787-1790

Name changed to Protestant Episcopal 1789

American Prayer Book set forth Oct. 16, 1789

American Prayer Book revised 1883-1892

Church Club.—Throughout the American Church there are a number of Church Clubs composed of laymen, associated together for the purpose of discussing problems of Church work and belief and studying out more thoroughly what this Church teaches and what its history is. In some of these clubs eminent Bishops and other clergy and laymen are invited to deliver lectures which are afterwards printed in book form. The Church Club has done much to raise up a class of intelligent and well-informed Churchmen who are proving to be a great help and blessing to the Church.

Church Colors.—Also called Liturgical colors. From the most ancient times it has been customary to deck the Church's Altar with hangings of rich material which vary in color with the Church Season. As commonly used at the present time the Church colors are five in number, viz., white, red, violet, green and black. Their use may be briefly set forth as follows: White is used on all the great Festivals of our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, and of those Saints who did not suffer martyrdom; it is also the color for All Saints' Day, and the Feast of St. Michael and All {59} Angels; white is the symbol of joy and purity. Red is used on the Feasts of Martyrs, typifying that they shed their blood for the testimony of Jesus; it is also used at Whitsun Tide, symbolizing the cloven tongues of fire in the likeness of which the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles. Violet is the penitential color and is used in Advent, Lent, the Ember and Rogation Days, on the Feasts of the Holy Innocents, etc. Green is the ordinary color for days that are neither feasts nor Fasts as being the pervading color of nature; it is chiefly used during the Epiphany Tide and the long period of the Trinity Season. Black is made use of at funerals and on Good Friday. This use of the colors applies to the stole as well as to the Altar hangings. The black stole is always out of place, incongruous, except at funerals and on Good Friday. Where they are used, the cope, chasuble, maniple, dalmatic and tunic also vary with the Season in the same manner. The use of the Church colors, besides "decking the place of His Sanctuary" is also most helpful to the devotions of the people, in that it teaches them by the eye the various Seasons of the Church's joy or mourning.

Church Congress.—An organization of the Clergy and Laity in the American Church having for its object the general discussion of living questions of the day and the application of Revealed Truth to the needs of our modern life. It was organized in 1874 on the model of the English Church Congress which, no doubt, suggested such an organization for the Church in the United States. It is not a legislative body, but rather an "Open Court" for the free {60} exchange of views. Meetings are held annually and an elaborate programme of subjects is prepared for each meeting, with appointed essayists and speakers, and volunteer speakers are permitted. The proceedings of each Congress are published in book form, of which the Rev. Dr. Wildes for so many years the General Secretary says, "The proceedings, addresses and speeches of the several sessions embodied in annual reports form a thesaurus of ripe learning, vigorous thought and eloquent utterance upon great questions of the times, of which the Episcopal Church may well be proud. To the student in Theology and its cognate topics, no less than to clergymen and thoughtful laymen, these volumes will be found most valuable."

Church Militant.—(See CHURCH CATHOLIC, THE).

Church Missions House.—This is a name that ought to be familiar to every American Churchman. It is the name given to the handsome building which is the headquarters of "The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America." For many years the headquarters of the Society were in rented rooms in the Bible House, New York City. By special offerings given for the purpose by many generous Churchmen, the Society was provided with the means to erect this beautiful and spacious building. The corner-stone was laid on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-Second Street in New York City on October 3, 1892. The building was occupied by the Society on New Year's Day, 1894, and on the 25th of the same month, St. Paul's Day, the building was formally dedicated. "Thus after more than {61} seventy years, during which the Society had been a tenant, the Society, representing our whole Church, was established in its own beautiful home." The Church Mission House is a perfect beehive of Church work. Here all the leading interests of the Church are centred. In its spacious, well-lighted rooms are the offices of the Missionary Society. Here, too, are the headquarters of the Woman's Auxiliary, the American Building Fund Commission, the officers of the General Convention, of the General Clergy Relief Fund, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Girls' Friendly Society and other Church agencies. Here, too, in its beautiful Chapel the noontide prayers are daily offered for the spread of the Gospel of Christ throughout the world. The Church Missions House is well worth a visit by those who are visiting New York even for only a few days. (See DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY).

Church Temperance Society.—This Society was organized in 1881, and has for its object the promotion of temperance in its strict meaning. Its adult membership combines those who temperately use and those who totally abstain from intoxicating liquors as beverages. It works on the lines of moral as well as legal suasion, and its practical objects are: 1. Training the young in habits of temperance. 2. Rescue of the drunkard. 3. Restriction of the saloon by legislation, and 4. Counteractive agencies, such as coffee-houses, working-men's clubs, reading-rooms and other attractive wholesome resorts. The Church Temperance Legion deals with boys, seeking to induce them to keep sober, pure, and reverent from the {62} earliest years of manhood and it endeavors to perpetuate those habits in men.

Church Wardens.—The name given to two officers of a parish usually distinguished by the titles, Senior and Junior. In some Dioceses they are elected directly by the people of the parish at the same time the Vestrymen are elected. In other Dioceses they are appointed by the newly elected Vestry. The Senior Warden is usually appointed by the Rector and the Junior Warden is elected by the Vestry. It is the special duties of the Wardens to see that the Church edifice is kept from unhallowed use; that it be kept clean and in good repair, duly lighted and warmed; to provide a sufficient supply of books and ecclesiastical vestments to be used in the public ministrations by the Minister, and to provide proper elements for the celebration of the Holy Communion and preserve due order during service. In the absence of the Rector one of the Wardens presides at Parish and Vestry meetings.

Church Year.—(See CHRISTIAN YEAR).

Churching.—Equivalent to the Purification among the Jews, and which in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary is commemorated as a Feast of the Church on February 2. The reader is directed to the service set forth in the Prayer Book under the title, "The Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth; commonly called, The Churching of Women." "Although every deliverance from peril or sorrow demands a tribute of thanksgiving to God, yet God Himself has placed a mark on the pains of childbirth (Gen. 3:16); and therefore, as bearing special reference to the cause of {63} all other misery, the Church has appointed a special office of praise in acknowledgment of the primeval curse converted into a blessing."

Circumcision, The.—A Feast of the Church observed on January 1st, in commemoration of our Lord's obedience to the Law of Circumcision and His receiving the Name JESUS (which see, also HOLY NAME). Originally this date was observed as the Octave of Christmas. Its first mention as the Feast of the Circumcision was about A.D. 1090. In the Annotated Prayer Book there is the following note: "January 1st was never in any way connected with the opening of the Christian Year; and the religious observance of this day (New Year's Day) has never received any sanction from the Church, except as the Octave of Christmas and the Feast of the Circumcision. The spiritual point of the season all gathers about Christmas. As the modern New Year's Day is merely conventionally so (New Year's Day being on March 25th until about 150 years ago), there is no reason why it should be allowed at all to dim the lustre of a day so important to all persons and all ages as Christmas Day." The Feast of the Circumcision is designed to be observed with great solemnity. There are Proper Psalms, being the 40th and 90th for Morning Prayer, and the 65th and 103d for Evening Prayer, also Proper Lessons and Collect, Epistle and Gospel, these last to be used every day until the Epiphany. The Church color is, white, and the Feast is placed among the DAYS OF OBLIGATION (which see).

Clergy.—A collective name for the Bishops, Priests and Deacons of the Church. The Priesthood and the {64} People are generally distinguished from each other by the titles Clergy and Laity. The term Clergy is derived from the Greek word Cleros, meaning a lot or portion, either because the Clergy—clerikoi—are the Lord's portion, as being allotted to His service; or because God is their portion and inheritance. The Laity are so called from the Greek word Laos, meaning people, as being the chosen and peculiar people of God.

Clerical.—Pertaining to the work and office of the Clergy.

Cloister.—A covered walk about a Cathedral or Church or